Author: roymorgansocial

Cost of Australia’s aged care system to taxpayers could double, experts warn

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian – Page: Online : 17-Jun-22

Australia’s aged care system costs taxpayers $27 billion a year, or roughly 1.2 per cent of GDP. However, a report by the University of Technology Sydney’s Ageing Research Collaborative claims its cost could rise to 2.1 per cent of GDP within 40 years. The report notes that additional government funding will be needed, but that more money is not the only solution to addressing the system’s problems. Work needs to be done on increasing the independence of older people in order to reduce demand, while government subsidies for aged care need to be used more effectively.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY

Burke’s IR agenda: fix bargaining

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 17-Jun-22

Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke says legislating to include 10 days of paid family and domestic violence in the national employment standards will be his first priority when parliament resumes in July. He adds that overhauling the enterprise bargaining system is the key to addressing Australia’s "wages crisis", and he will consider every proposal that emerges from the government’s jobs summit with employers and unions in September. Burke is open to using a single bill to pursue his workplace reforms, which also including criminalising wage theft and equal pay for labour hire workers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION, SKILLS AND EMPLOYMENT

Red-hot jobs market to push RBA harder on rates

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Original article by Michael Roddan, Cecile Lefort, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 17-Jun-22

The latest labour force data has heightened expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to aggressively tighten monetary policy. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the economy added about 60,000 jobs in May, well above market expectations of 25,000. The official unemployment rate was steady at 3.9 per cent, and the underemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage points to 5.7 per cent. There is now widespread consensus among economists that the RBA will increase the cash rate by 50 basis points in July, and some economists anticipate that this will be followed by 50 basis point rises in both August and September.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Australian Medical Association calls for overhaul of national cabinet secrecy rules

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian – Page: Online : 17-Jun-22

National cabinet will meet for the first time since Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister on 17 June. Albanese was critical of its secrecy prior to Labor’s election, while he also said that local government should be added to it. Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says Australians have a right to know what is being discussed by national cabinet, and that he disagreed with the practice of the previous Coalition government of exempting national cabinet documents from freedom of information laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Albanese calls Greens’ bluff on emissions target

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Jun-22

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has formally informed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that Labor intends to cut carbon emissions by 43 per cent over 2005 levels by 2030. He says legislation to implement that target will be introduced when Parliament resumes on 26 July, along with a target of net zero emissions by 2050. Albanese will need the support of the Greens to get his legislation through the Senate, as the Coalition opposes legislated targets. Albanese has ruled out negotiating a higher target with the Greens, claiming that business groups deserve investment certainty after more than a decade of "dysfunction".

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

China feud helps push Australia down to 27th in peace index

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Original article by Latika Burke
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 17-Jun-22

Global peace has deteriorated for the third consecutive year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it has now fallen 11 times in the last 14 years. This is according to the latest Global Peace Index, which is compiled by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics & Peace. Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and its combative relationship with China saw the nation fall nine places to 27th. Meanwhile, terrorism is at its lowest level globally in the 16-year history of the Index.

CORPORATES
INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE LIMITED

BHP abandons sale of Mt Arthur coal mine

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 17-Jun-22

BHP has shelved plans to sell the Mt Arthur thermal coal mine in New South Wales after the trade sale process did not attract a "viable" offer for the asset. The estimated $1bn cost of rehabilating the site when the mine closes is believed to have been a major deterrent for potential buyers. Mt Arthur had been slated to close in 2045, but BHP has advised that this will be brought forward to 2030. BHP says that keeping Mt Arthur open for another eight years will provide certainty for the mine’s 2,000 workers and the Hunter Valley community.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Energy markets tipped to return to normal as NSW granted emergency powers to secure coal supplies

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Original article by Peter Hannam, Benita Kolovos
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 17-Jun-22

Former Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott has backed the Australian Energy Market Operator’s unprecedented decision to temporarily suspend wholesale electricity trading. Schott believes that the suspension will remain in place for no more than a week, given that coal-fired generation units in several states are coming back online and the cold weather on the east coast is easing. The AEMO has advised that its forecast for reserve supply conditions had improved across all national energy market regions; however, the AEMO cautions that it is too soon to determine when the market will resume normal operations.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, ENERGY SECURITY BOARD

Australia could have 15,000 Covid deaths in 2022 and that’s ‘way too high’, epidemiologist says

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Original article by Melissa Davey
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 17-Jun-22

Professor Margaret Hellard from the Burnet Institute has called for the reintroduction of a face mask mandate to help curb the spread of COVID-19. She has told a parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s pandemic orders that Australia faces a COVID-19 death toll of 10,000 to 15,000 unless some measures are reinstated. Professor Jodie McVernon from the Doherty Institute in turn said that future COVID-19 measures need to be "reasonable and proportionate", and warned that without vaccines the nation’s death toll from the coronavirus would have been "catastrophic". NSW reported 9,117 new COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths on Wednesday; there were 7,889 new infections and 22 deaths in Victoria.

CORPORATES
THE MACFARLANE BURNET INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. PETER DOHERTY INSTITUTE FOR INFECTION AND IMMUNITY

Woolworths freezes price of everyday items

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Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 16-Jun-22

Grocery retailer Woolworths has responded to the rising cost of living by announcing that it will freeze the price of essentials such as sugar, flour and frozen peas until the end of 2022. CEO Brad Banducci says the spike in inflation has now affected prices in most grocery categories, having initially been largely confined to meat and imported products. Woolworths’ average prices rose by 2.7 per cent during the March quarter, and about 40 per cent of its suppliers requested a further price increase in May.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW