Author: roymorgansocial

Federal auditor to probe Labor’s $2.2b rail plan

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Original article by Gus McCubbing
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 13-Feb-24

A Senate estimates hearing has been told that Auditor-General Grant Hehir will examine the federal government’s $2.2 billion commitment to Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop project. Hehir will look at whether this commitment represents value for money and if it was "informed by appropriate departmental advice". Department of Infrastructure secretary Jim Betts said the department will co-operate fully with Hehir’s investigation. Marion Terrill, former director of the Grattan Institute’s Transport and Cities Program, has welcomed the investigation, stating that big projects require more rather than less scrutiny.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Staff disconnects from Tony Burke’s own office

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Feb-24

The Department of Employment & Workplace Relations has disclosed that 36 per cent of its employees had an approved working from home arrangement at the end of October 2023. However, an Australian Public Service employee census survey shows that 72 per cent of the department’s staff had worked remotely at some point during 2023, including on an informal or ad hoc basis. The release of this data has coincided with the federal government’s push to introduce a legislated right for employees to ‘disconnect’ from their workplace outside of their designated working hours. Meanwhile, some 57 per cent of employees across the public service who completed the survey had access to working from home arrangements in 2023, compared with 46 per cent in 2021.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Early blood test to predict dementia is step closer as biological markers identified

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Original article by Ian Sample
The Guardian – Page: Online : 13-Feb-24

Analysis of blood samples collected from over 50,000 healthy volunteers enrolled in the UK Biobank project has resulted in researchers identifying patterns of four proteins that predicted the onset of dementia. When combined with traditional risk factors such as age and gender, it has enabled the researchers to forecast dementia with an estimated 90% accuracy almost 15 years before people received clinical confirmation of the disease. With over 55 million people currently living with dementia worldwide, the research is seen as a major step towards developing a blood test that can predict dementia years before a formal diagnosis

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Lithium, nickel need bailout now

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 13-Feb-24

Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano has called for royalty relief for lithium and nickel producers in a bid to prevent further mine closures and job losses. The Western Australian government implemented a 12-month, 50 per cent royalty break for the lithium sector in late 2020 when lithium prices last tumbled, and Ottaviano says it is time for similar royalty relief for lithium and in the collapsing nickel sector. Ottaviano said royalty relief would not impact Liontown straight away, as its Kathleen Valley lithium project in WA is still around six months away from its first production but it would be good to factor it into cash flow.

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LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

Joyce leadership hopes take a tumble

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Original article by Jess Malcolm, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Feb-24

National Party leader David Littleproud says shadow veterans’ affairs minister Barnaby Joyce will be supported rather than reprimanded in the wake of an incident in Canberra. Littleproud says Joyce is "deeply embarrassed" about the incident, in which he was filmed lying on a pavement while making a profanity-laden phone call. Joyce has acknowledged that he should not have mixed alcohol with prescription medication. However, some Nationals MPs have suggested that he now has little chance of regaining the party’s leadership.

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

No scrutiny of workplace laws

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Patrick Commins, Euan Black
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 13-Feb-24

The Productivity Commission has disclosed that the federal government did not consult it about proposed changes to industrial relations laws, including a legislated right for employees to ‘disconnect’ from their workplace. The revelation has strengthened concerns that the Closing Loopholes Bill No. 2 had been rushed through parliament. In addition, the bill as tabled by the government was subjected to a regulatory impact statement, but subsequent amendments – including the right to disconnect – were not subject to such scrutiny. The bill was passed by the lower house on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

BHP’s train drivers to strike

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 13-Feb-24

BHP’s iron ore shipments from the Pilbara are set to be disrupted after 97 per cent of train drivers who are members of the Mining & Energy Union voted in favour of industrial action. The union has organised a 24-hour strike on Friday as part of negotiations for a new enterprise agreement. The train drivers rejected a proposed agreement in December, and BHP’s Warren Wellbeloved says it was a " fair and generous offer". The strike will be the first since 2008 in the Pilbara’s iron ore industry, which is largely deunionised.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, MINING AND ENERGY UNION

ALP maintains an election winning lead over the Coalition in mid-February: ALP 52% cf. L-NP 48%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Feb-24

Support for the Labor government (52%) is in an election winning position ahead of the L-NP (48%) on a two-party preferred basis, according to the latest Roy Morgan survey on Federal voting intention. This week’s result closely matches the result at the 2022 Federal Election (ALP 52.1% cf. 47.9%), and if a Federal Election were held now the Albanese government would be returned with a narrow majority. Polling trends over the last six months show that during this period, and including interviews with over 30,000 Australian voters, the average two-party preferred result is: ALP 52% cf. L-NP 48% – the same result as this week. Coalition primary support was unchanged at 37% while ALP support was up 1.5% to 34.5%. The Greens were unchanged at 12% and One Nation dropped 0.5% to 4.5%. Support for Independents & Other Parties dropped 1% to 12%. The latest Roy Morgan survey is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,699 Australian electors from February 5-11. Further details will be released in Roy Morgan’s weekly video update presented by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Yang’s death sentence unlikely to stop Li visit

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Original article by Will Glasgow
The Australian – Page: 2 : 7-Feb-24

Sources have indicated that Chinese Premier Li Qiang is still is expected to visit Australia in late 2024. It would be the first visit by a Chinese leader since 2017, and is unlikely to be affected by a Beijing court’s decision to give Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence on espionage charges. Associate professor Feng Chongyi says the federal government should make Li’s forthcoming state visit conditional on the release of Yang, whose sentence could potentially be reduced to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.

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New wage deals to drive up costs, RLB says

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 7-Feb-24

Consulting firm RLB expects a rising wages bill to be a major contributor to construction industry costs in 2024. The CFMEU is still negotiating new enterprise agreements for construction workers in NSW and Victoria, but Domenic Schiafone of RLB notes that building firms are already factoring in wage rises of at least five per cent into their prices. RLB says other risk factors for the construction industry in 2024 include the impact of supply-chain disruptions on access to imported building materials and rising project financing costs.

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RIDER LEVETT BUCKNALL PTY LTD