Author: roymorgansocial

Australians evenly split on teaching religion in government schools

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Sep-25

New Roy Morgan research reveals a profound shift in Australian attitudes towards religious education in government schools in the year to June 2025. Support was even at 50% in favour and 50% opposed to teaching religion at least once a week. This represents a complete reversal of sentiment over a generation. In 1997-98, support for weekly religious instruction was overwhelming, with 72% of Australians in favour and just 28% opposed. Over the following two decades, support gradually eroded, slipping below 70% in the early 2000s and into the low-60s by the mid-2010s. For the first time, support and opposition reached parity in 2021-22, marking a critical convergence. The trajectory then continued, with the "No" vote overtaking the "Yes" vote for the first time in the 2022-23 period, establishing a narrow majority of 51% to 49%. This shift from majority to minority support signalled the end of long-standing consensus. Support and opposition then held steady in 2023-24 at 51% to 49%. The data highlight a significant cultural shift in Australia, reflecting growing secularisation, greater diversity of beliefs, and evolving expectations about the role of religion in public education.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

New Zealand: In August, support for Labour surges to highest since the 2023 New Zealand Election

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Sep-25

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for August 2025 shows that support for the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) has fallen by 4.5% points to only 46.5%, its lowest level of support this year. In contrast, support for the Labour-Greens-Maori Party Parliamentary Opposition has risen to 50% (up 4% points from a month ago). Within the National-led Government support for National was down 2% points to 29%, support for ACT was unchanged at 10.5% and support for NZ First dropped 2.5% points to 7%. For the Parliamentary Opposition, support for Labour increased by 3% points to 34% (the highest level of support for any party since September 2024); support for the Greens was up 2% points to 13.5%, but support for the Maori Party dropped 1% point to 2.5%. A further 3.5% (up 0.5% points) of electors supported a minor party outside Parliament. This New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile – with a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 873 electors from 28 July to August 24. Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating was unchanged at 83.5 in August.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, ACT NEW ZEALAND, NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI PARTY

Allan off to Beijing – to win over voters

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Original article by Damon Johnson
The Australian – Page: 2 : 3-Sep-25

A Victorian government spokesperson has advised that Premier Jacinta Allan will head a five-day trade mission to China in mid-September. Allan will meet with Chinese politicians and business leaders, and the talks will focus on issues such as trade, education, tourism and innovation. She will be accompanied by a junior minister, as well as four Labor backbenchers whose electorate have a large number of Chinese-Australian voters. It will be Allan’s first major overseas trip since she replaced predecesser Daniel Andrews, who visited China six times when he was in office.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor truth tax set to be blocked

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Original article by Sarah Ison, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Sep-25

The federal government’s proposal to charge a fee for submitting Freedom of Information requests appears set to be defeated. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley contends that Australians "should never have to pay for the truth", while she adds that secrecy is the "refuge of weak governments". The Greens have also criticised Labor’s proposal to impose a fee for FOI requests and ban people from making anonymous applications; justice spokesman David Shoebridge says the latter measure is another attack by Labor against "whistleblowers and truth tellers" within the government. Communications Minister Anika Wells has defended the legislation, arguing that the deluge of automated FOI requests is diverting public servants from important work.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 2pts to 88.0 in late August; driven by more positive views on buying conditions

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Sep-25

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 2pts to 88.0 in the week to 31 August. Consumer Confidence is now 4.9 points above the same week a year ago (83.1), and 1.2pts above the 2025 weekly average of 86.8. Analysis by State shows mixed results, with Consumer Confidence up in New South Wales and Western Australia, down in Victoria and South Australia and virtually unchanged in Queensland. Now 23% of Australians (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 43% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 26% (down 2ppts) of respondents expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 31% (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. Meanwhile, 14% (up 2ppts) of respondents expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months (the highest figure for this indicator since February 2022), while 29% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Just 26% (up 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 32% (down 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

CBA can win big from Klarna float

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 19 : 3-Sep-25

Global digital bank and ‘buy now, pay later’ provider Klarna recently filed documents with the Securities & Exchange Commission for an IPO in the US. Klarna is currently believed to be valued at between $US13bn ($19.9bn) and $US14bn. The Commonwealth Bank’s latest annual report values its stake in Klarna at $956m, compared with a peak of nearly $3bn at the height of the BNPL boom. Analysts expect the Commonwealth Bank to sell down its Klarna stake, either via the IPO or on the open market; Hamish Carlisle from Merlon Capital Partners says Klarna has been "strategically peripheral" for the big four bank.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, KLARNA, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, MERLON CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD

One absent ambassador and two useful idiots

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Original article by Will Glasgow
The Australian – Page: 1 & 11 : 3-Sep-25

The Chinese government’s Victory Day parade in Beijing will be attended by the leaders of Russia, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Australia’s ambassador to China, Scott Dewar, will be a notable absentee, and the nation will be represented by a defence attache and political counsellor from the embassy; in contrast, the then-minister for veteran affairs Michael Ronaldson represented Australia in 2015. Sources have stated that there is "no way" Labor would send a government representative to an event being attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sources have stressed that former state premiers Bob Carr and Daniel Andrews are attending the event in their personal capacity; Carr is also an ex-foreign minister.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Investors calm as government debt nears $1trn

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Original article by Cecile Lefort
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 3-Sep-25

Official data shows that the federal government’s debt currently stands at $961bn, while its monthly interest bill is about $2bn. Meanwhile, gross debt has risen from just five per cent of GDP to 37 per cent in the last 15 years, although this compares favourably with the US (124 per cent) and Japan (216 per cent). Robert Thompson from RBC Capital Markets expects federal government debt to top $1bn in early 2026. However, Oliver Levingston from Bank of America says Australia has low debt and low deficits compared with the majority of advanced countries. He adds that Australian government bond yields are highly attractive at present.

CORPORATES
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION

South32 chief in blast over green tape

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian – Page: 17 : 3-Sep-25

Diversified miner South32 battled the bureaucracy for more than seven years to secure approval to continue operating its Worley bauxite and alumina business in Western Australia. Meanwhile, difficulty in gaining approval for an extension to the Dendrobium coal mine in the Illawarra region of NSW prompted South32 to sell the asset in 2024. South32 CEO Graham Kerr says the Trump administration has made it much easier to gain environmental approval for US mining projects compared with Australia. The company is on track to gain all approvals for its Hermosa critical minerals project in less than four years; it was the first project to be added to the FAST-41 list.

CORPORATES
SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32

High-grade threat to Australian iron ore

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Original article by Jennifer Hewett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 3-Sep-25

Australia exported about $120 billion worth of iron ore from the Pilbara during 2024-25. However, Vale executive Rogerio Nogueira contends that Brazil has a key advantage over Australia because its iron ore is better suited to beneficiation; this process removes contaminants such as silicon or alumina to produce the higher-grade ore that will be needed to make steel using natural gas or hyrogen instead of coal. Australia’s iron ore miners are already facing the problem of decline ore grades in the Pilbara.

CORPORATES
VALE SA