Author: roymorgansocial

Cancer screening rates drop amid closures

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 1-Feb-22

Data from the Productivity Commission shows that screening for bowel, breast and cervical cancer declined at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with screening rates down as much as five per cent in high-risk groups. A report released by Cancer Australia in 2021 stated that a decline in cancer testing during the pandemic would increase the likelihood of people being diagnosed with conditions too late to treat or more advanced disease. The Commission’s data was released as part of an annual report on government services across the country, with the report showing that recurrent expenditure on health services by state, territory and federal governments was worth an estimated $122.2 billion in the period covered by the report.

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AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSIONCANCER AUSTRALIA

Record debt to squeeze rate hike

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 1-Feb-22

Data from the Reserve Bank of Australia may strengthen the case for tightening monetary policy earlier than anticipated. The nation’s total household debt to income ratio rose to 185 per cent in 2021. This is slightly below the previous peak in 2019, although it is about 25 per cent higher than in 2009, when the central bank last began increasing the cash rate. Meanwhile, the ratio of owner-occupier housing debt to household disposable has risen to a record high of 103 per cent. Brendan Rynne of KPMG expects the RBA to increase the cash rate to 0.25 per cent in November. He adds that the central bank is likely to announce the end of quantitative easing at its board meeting on Tuesday.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIAKPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Albanese denies going soft on Beijing

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Original article by Geoff ChambersHeidi Han
The Australian – Page: 2 : 1-Feb-22

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has rejected suggestions by senior government ministers that he has "gone soft" on China. He says he holds the same views on issues such as Taiwan and the human rights abuses of Uighurs as the Coalition does. Albanese says he accepts that China is operating concentration camps for Uighurs, while he claims he had been clear in his previous assertion that the relationship between Australia and China would remain "in a difficult position", regardless of who wins the upcoming federal election.

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Profits headed for record

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 27 : 1-Feb-22

Analysts are upbeat about the earnings outlook for listed companies in the February reporting season, despite headwinds such as the coronavirus-induced supply chain disruptions. The consensus of analysts is that S&P/ASX 200 companies’ growth in earnings per share will exceed pre-pandemic levels. However, Karen Jorritsma of RBC Capital Markets says it will be a "very messy" reporting season, due to factors such as rising costs. Ansell has become the latest company to downgrade its earnings per share guidance in response to cost pressures.

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STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEXRBC CAPITAL MARKETSANSELL LIMITED – ASX ANN

RATs become potential tax pests for firms

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Original article by John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 5 : 1-Feb-22

Businesses are having to apply to the Australian Taxation Office for guidance on whether supplying rapid antigen tests to their employees will result in them being hit with fringe benefits tax (FBT). Companies will need to meet two tests to avoid having to pay FBT on RATs, with the first being that a medical person conducts the tests. The other test that companies will need to meet is that all staff are offered an RAT, even if not all staff are actually given one. Applying the FBT to a single $10 RAT would see its cost increase to almost $20.

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AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

China bans Australian meatworks at centre of COVID-19 outbreak

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Original article by Sybilla Gross
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 1-Feb-22

China’s General Administration of Customs has suspended the importation of meat from Teys Australia’s meatworks at Naracoorte in South Australia. The suspension follows a recent outbreak of COVID-19 at the abattoir, which sends around five per cent of its production to China. The suspension is part of an ongoing crackdown by Chinese authorities on overseas food processors, due to reports of COVID-19 spreading through meatworks and other frozen food facilities. China has claimed that the virus disease can be transmitted via frozen food packaging, although the World Health Organization says the chances of such transmission are very low.

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CHINA. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF CUSTOMSTEYS BROS (NARACOORTE) PTY LTDWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

BHP reports second COVID-positive case at Yandi mine

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Original article by Stuart McKinnon
The West Australian – Page: Online : 1-Feb-22

BHP has advised that a close contact of a rail maintenance contractor at its Yandi iron ore mine in the Pilbara has also tested positive for COVID-19. All casual and close contacts of the contractor are now self-isolating at the nearby Spinifex accommodation village; casual contacts will be permitted to return to work if they return a negative PCR test, but 14 workers who are close contacts of the contractor must remain in quarantine for two weeks. Ten close contacts of a Covid-positive worker at 29Metals’ Golden Grove polymetallic mine in Western Australia are also in isolation.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP29METALS LIMITED – ASX 29M

Roy Morgan Business Confidence jumped 7.2pts to 120.2 in December – up strongly in NSW, Victoria and Queensland – before the full impact of the Omicron variant hit

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Feb-22

In December 2021, Roy Morgan Business Confidence increased 7.2pts (+6.4%) to 120.2. The increase came as the country opened up, with border closures ending in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory during the month in the lead-up to Christmas. On a State-based level the big monthly increases in December were in New South Wales, up 8pts (+6.9%) to 124.6, Victoria, up 10.9pts (+10.1%) to 118.9 and Queensland, up 17pts (+17.2%) to 116.0. Business Confidence in December 2021 was at its highest since the Delta wave of COVID-19 began in June 2021 (128.3). However, despite the monthly increase, Business Confidence was 3pts (-2.4%) lower than in December 2020 (123.2). Businesses grew increasingly confident about the Australian economy’s prospects in December, with 63.1% (up 7ppts from November) of businesses expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next year and 53.1% (up 6.5ppts) expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

NSW government has always known Covid deaths would rise after reopening: Perrottet

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Original article by Michael McGowan
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 1-Feb-22

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has defended his government’s decision to ease COVID-19 restrictions in mid-December, following the revelation that health officials had warned days earlier that the Omicron variant could result in a surge in infections. Perrottet has also conceded that the government had been aware that case numbers, hospitalisation rates and deaths from Covid would rise when the state’s economy reopened. NSW recorded 13,026 new COVID-19 cases and 27 additional deaths from the current outbreak on Monday. There were 10,053 new cases and eight deaths in Victoria, while Queensland reported 7,462 new cases and three deaths.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Private hospital staff diverted to public system on deadliest day of Covid pandemic

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Original article by Mostafa Rachwani, Sarah Martin
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Jan-22

The federal government has activated emergency measures which will make more than 100,000 employees of private hospitals available to work in public hospitals that are dealing with staff shortages and a rising COVID-19 caseload. The activation of the surge plan coincided with Australia recording 77 deaths from the coronavirus on Tuesday; it was the nation’s biggest one-day toll since the pandemic began, and included 36 deaths in NSW, 22 in Victoria and 16 in Queensland. NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant says 33 of the people who died in the state had been vaccinated, although most had not received a booster shot. There were 29,830 new COVID-19 cases in NSW on Tuesday, a total of 20,180 in Victoria and 15,962 in Queensland.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH