Author: roymorgansocial

Labor’s changes to listing hate groups will target Islamist and far-right extremists operating just inside the limits of law

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Original article by Josh Butler
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the federal government’s proposed legislation will crack down on hate groups that do not currently meet the criteria for being listed as a proscribed terrorist organisation. Burke has indicated that Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network are among those that will be targeted, stating that such groups hate Australia and should not be operating in this country. He adds that both Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network "have gone right to the limits of the law" but avoided prosecution under existing hate laws. Dr Josh Roose from Deakin University says the new laws should also target individuals who operating outside of established groups and extremist online ‘influencers’.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Pay rises slow but still beat inflation

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 24-Dec-25

Data from the Department of Employment & Workplace Relations shows that the average pay rise in new enterprise agreements across the economy was an above-inflation 3.8 per cent in the September quarter; this compares with 4.2 per cent in the June quarter. The average increase in public sector wages was 3.6 per cent, compared with four per cent in the private sector. Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth says the data shows that Labor’s industrial relations reforms are "reinvigorating" enterprise bargaining. However, the figures show that 2.65 million workers were covered by enterprise agreements in the September quarter, down from a record 2.81 million in the three months to June.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Bleak Xmas for ex-Qantas staff who won $210m payout

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Original article by Tansy Harcourt
The Australian – Page: 14 : 24-Dec-25

It has been revealed that more than 1,800 former Qantas ground staff have received just 10 per cent of the compensation they were awarded for being unlawfully sacked during the pandemic. Qantas had paid $120m into to a compensation fund administered by law firm Maurice Blackburn in early 2025, while a court subsequently ruled that $40m of Qantas’s record fine of $90m should also be distributed to the baggage handlers. However, some of the workers only received a payment this week, and only because the Federal Court’s Justice Michael Lee recently ruked that each worker must recieve an interim payment of $3,333 before Christmas.

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QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Commonwealth Bank bows to ASIC pressure with $68m in fee refunds

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Original article by Angira Bharadwaj
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has belatedly agreed to provide a partial refund to low-income customers who were charged high fees despite being eligible for low or no-fee bank accounts. A report from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in mid-2024 found that welfare recipients had paid $270m in "excessive" fees to the CBA since 2019. ASIC also found that Westpac, Bendigo Bank and the ANZ Bank had charged excessive fees, although they agreed to provide a refund to affected customers. CBA has now advised that it will provide $68m worth of ‘goodwill’ refunds to these customers in early February; it had already paid about $25m in refunds to Indigenous customers in response to the report.

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, asic use AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BENDIGO BANK, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Santos-led GLNG export venture most vulnerable to new gas reservation rules: RBC

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 24-Dec-25

RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay says the federal government’s proposed domestic gas reservation scheme will have more impact on GLNG than its two rival Gladstone-based gas export projects. Ramsay notes that the GLNG project is highly reliant on third-party gas to meet its export contracts, while it also has lower gas reserves compared with the Australian Pacific LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG projects; Santo has a 30 per cent stake in GLNG. Meanwhile, Hamish McKenzie from the Grattan Institute contends that shipping extra gas from Queensland to the southern gas market will be challenging given that the existing pipeline between the states is already near full capacity.

CORPORATES
RBC CAPITAL (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, QUEENSLAND CURTIS LNG PTY LTD, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Golden time as bullion hits new heights

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Original article by Charlie Cunningham
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 24-Dec-25

The gold price has risen by more than 70 per cent so far in 2025, which is the strongest annual performance for the ‘safe haven’ in over four decades. The spot price reached a new peak of $US4,497.80 an ounce on Tuesday, compared with about $US2,624/oz at the start of this year. Factors such as central bank buying and geopolitical tensions have contributed to the rally in the gold price, as well as the shares of Australian-listed gold producers. Meanwhile, Justin Lin from Global X says the gold price could potentially rise to around $US5,000/oz in 2026.

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GLOBAL X ETFS AUSTRALIA

Fortescue aims for 2030 debut in African iron ore

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

Gabon’s President Brice Oligui Nguema has committed to undertaking a "comprehensive audit" of every mining agreement that the developing nation secured between 2010 and 2024. This is likely to include the deal that Fortescue struck with Nguema’s predecessor Ali Bongo in 2021 regarding the Belinga iron ore project. Fortescue’s executive chairman Andrew Forrest recently travelled to Gabon to discuss the project with Nguema. Fortescue aims to complete a feasibility study by the end of 2026, and Forrest has indicated that he wants shipments to begin by 2030.

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FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG

Australians to turn out in force for Boxing Day

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

Data from the Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan shows that consumers are forecast to spend about $1.6bn nationally on Boxing Day, a year-on-year increase of 4.3 per cent. Amongst other things, consumers are forecast to spend $476m on household goods on Boxing Day (up 4.4 per cent), and $216m on clothing, footwear and accessories (up 1.9 per cent); ‘Other retailing’ is also set for strong growth, rising 6.3 per cent to $221m. Spending in the full post-Christmas week (25-31 December) is forecast to reach $3.832 billion, up 4.4 per cent on last year; Boxing Day sales are expected to account for the largest share of this total, supported by strong demand for value, post-Christmas discounts and the redemption of Christmas gift cards.

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AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Do everything you can, Herzog tells PM

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Original article by Noah Yim
The Australian – Page: 5 : 24-Dec-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia in 2026 during a telephone call between the two leaders on Tuesday. Herzog has been Albanese’s main point of contact with the Israeli government in recent times, following criticism of him by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Albanese’s office has released a statement noting that Herzog stressed the need to take action to combat anti-Semitism, extremism and jihadist terrorism in Australia. The Bondi Beach terrorist attack was a key focus of the Christmas messages of both Albanese and Opposition leader Sussan Ley.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Eyes wide shut on extremist threats

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Janet Albrechtsen
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Dec-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his relationship with law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. However, he has declined to confirm whether Labor has implemented all of the recommendations made in Dennis Richardson’s 2019 review of the legal framework of the national intelligence community. The former head of ASIO will undertake a new review of federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies as part of the government’s response to the terrorist attack. Meanwhile, a senior law enforcement figure has accused the government of "wilful blindness" on the issue of anti-Semitism and extremism, contending that it had been repeatedly warned of the "growing and foreseeable threat" in the last several years.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY