Author: roymorgansocial

Crossbench test for class action reform

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Original article by Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 7 : 19-Oct-21

The federal government is expected to shortly introduce a bill to cap the proportion of class action payouts received by lawyers and litigation funders at 30 per cent. Shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones says Labor has yet to decide its position on the proposed fee cap. The government will require the support of at least three Senate crossbenchers if Labor and the Greens oppose the bill. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson supports the proposed reforms, but independent senator Rex Patrick contends that the bill should be subject to a Senate inquiry.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Qantas accused of pilot underpay

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 7 : 19-Oct-21

Former Qantas pilot Captain Andrew Hewitt has taken the airline to the Federal Court over what he contends is a shortfall in his termination payout. Hewitt, who is the son of former Qantas chairman Sir Lenox Hewitt, was among a number of pilots who were offered early retirement and redundancy packages when it stopped international flights because of the pandemic. Hewitt alleges that Qantas ‘shortchanged’ him by more than $92,000; a spokesman for Qantas says it intends to defend the claim being made against it by Hewitt.

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QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

PM cites national security as a key climate incentive

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 19-Oct-21

Sources within the National Party are hopeful that it can strike a deal with the Liberals over a net zero emissions target by 2050 by the end of the week, or at the beginning of next week at the latest. The Nationals met for the second day in a row on 18 October to discuss their stance on a climate deal, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the Liberal partyroom on the issue. He is said to have told the meeting that the election of US President Joe Biden has increased the pressure on Australia to commit to a net zero target, apparently saying that Australia needs the Western alliance "now more than ever".

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Work-from-home tax shortcut extended

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 19-Oct-21

Michael Croker from Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand says it might be time to make the working from home ‘coronavirus shortcut’ a permanent feature of the tax system. The shortcut allows people to claim $0.80 for each hour they work from home rather than itemising individual work-related expenses, and Croker was commenting on a decision that has seen its use extended to June 2022. He notes that the percentage of people working from home has risen from less than eight per cent to 40 per cent in just two years, and he says it is likely that people will continue to work from home at least part of the week for the foreseeable future.

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CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

BHP processing breakthrough extends iron ore mine life

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 19-Oct-21

Asian steel mills ‘covet’ iron ore from BHP’s Yindi mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region because of the low level of impurities it contains. BHP had advised investors and customers in 2020 that Yandi’s working life would end in mid-2021, but its application of hyperspectral imaging – traditionally used to determine the value of exploration samples – in a new manner has enabled BHP to indicate that Yandi’s mine life could be extended by at least another five years.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

COVID-19 pandemic leads to more Australians regularly attending their place of worship

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Oct-21

New data from Roy Morgan shows that Australians are more likely to regularly attend their place of worship now than immediately prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 19.1% of Australians aged 14+ now agree that ‘I regularly go to church or my place of worship’, an increase of 2.8% points compared to the March quarter 2020 (16.3% of Australians) just prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 19.1% of women and 19% of men have reported that they ‘regularly go to church or my place of worship’, although the increase has been larger for women during the pandemic (up 4.1% points) compared to a smaller increase for men (up 1.2% points). A look at the different generations shows that are Millennials driving the increase; 21.2% now report that they ‘regularly go to church or my place of worship’, up 5.8% points from pre-pandemic. Also increasing and above the national average is Generation Z, now at 19.8%, up 2.7% points during the pandemic. The only exception among the generations are the Pre-Boomers, those now aged over 75′; now 22.2% say they agree with the statement, down 2% points on pre-pandemic.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

M&A to smash records

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Original article by Kanika Sood, Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 20 : 19-Oct-21

Data from Refinitiv shows that $US350bn ($495bn) worth of takeover bids in Australia and New Zealand have been announced so far in 2021. This is three times the long-term average, and Takeovers Panel president Alex Cartel describes it as the hottest mergers and acquisitions environment in decades. Deal-making activity is being driven by factors such as the large amounts of cash on many companies’ balance sheets in the wake of the pandemic and the prospect of interest rates remaining low for some time. Almost $10bn worth of takeover bids involving Australian-listed were announced on 18 October.

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REFINITIV AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. TAKEOVERS PANEL

‘ABC’s $150k legal costs move flawed’

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 19-Oct-21

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has found that there is no documented advice within the ABC to support the public broadcaster’s decision to pay the legal costs of journalist Louise Milligan in the Andrew Laming defamation case. The Liberal MP’s lawsuit ended up costing the ABC about $150,000 in total. Meanwhile, John McMillan and Jim Carroll have been appointed to head an independent review of the ABC’s in-house complaints unit, which has come under growing scrutiny in recent times. McMillan is a former federal and New South Wales ombudsman, and Carroll has previously worked for SBS and the Ten Network.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Bureaucrat tells ICAC of concerns about gun club grant

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Original article by Lucy Cormack
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 19-Oct-21

The opening day of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into former New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian heard evidence from Office of Sport director Michael Toohey. He was questioned about the fast-tracking of a government grant for the Australian Clay Target Association in the Wagga Wagga electorate of Berejiklian’s former lover Daryl Maguire. It is one of two grants that were approved in the electorate when Berejiklian was the state’s treasurer. Toohey told the inquiry that the intimate relations between Berejiklian and Maguire at the time clearly constituted a conflict of interest, and said the grant application would most likely have been subject to greater scrutiny if this relationship had been known.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, NEW SOUTH WALES. OFFICE OF SPORT, AUSTRALIAN CLAY TARGET ASSOCIATION

WA could not offer site for FMG plant, Govt reveals

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Original article by Stuart McKinnon
The West Australian – Page: Online : 13-Oct-21

The Western Australian government has revealed that Fortescue Metals Group chose to build a $1bn electrolyser plant in Queensland because there was no suitable site for the green hydrogen project in WA. Liberal Party leader David Honey says the fact that Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest selected Queensland for the site of the project rather than his home state demonstrates Labor’s "complete failure" to put in place the necessary infrastructure and incentives to develop green hydrogen export jobs. He has called for State Development Minister Roger Cook and Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan to be removed from their portfolios.

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FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, LIBERAL PARTY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY