Author: roymorgansocial

Victorian restrictions to stay until most have been vaccinated

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Original article by Mitch Clarke
Herald Sun – Page: 7 : 28-Jul-21

Victoria’s 12-day COVID-19 lockdown ended at 11.59pm on 27 July, although "lockdown lite" restrictions will remain in place for at least two weeks. Amongst other things, the 5km travel limit has been scrapped, schools and gyms will reopen and Victorians will be allowed to leave their home for any reason; however, households will continue to be banned from having visitors and face masks will remain compulsory in all public places. Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that some restrictions – and the potential for further lockdowns – can be expected until the majority of Victorians have been vaccinated; about 40.48 per cent of Victorians aged 16+ have received one dose, while 16.98 per cent are fully vaccinated. Victoria has recorded 10 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, but they had all been self-isolating while they were infectious.

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VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Movement of people in Brisbane and Perth CBDs rebounds after recent lockdowns while Sydney and Melbourne CBDs lag well behind

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Jul-21

A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows movement in the Brisbane and Perth CBDs rebounding after recent lockdowns in early July, while movement plunged in the Melbourne CBD as the city entered its fifth lockdown. The average 7-day movement level in the Brisbane CBD was at 35% of pre-pandemic averages, up 13% points from a low of 22% in early July, while in the Perth CBD movement levels rebounded even more strongly to be at 41%, up 17% points from the low of 24% during Perth’s most recent lockdown three weeks ago. In contrast, the extended lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne have forced movement in the two cities towards record lows. In the Sydney CBD the average movement level has remained at only 10% of pre-pandemic levels all of last week while in the Melbourne CBD the average movement level dropped to 16% of pre-pandemic levels after the city entered its fifth lockdown on Friday July 16th. The Adelaide CBD again came out on top for the 168th day in a row with the highest average movement levels at 43% of pre-pandemic levels, but these figures were compiled before the city went into its third hard lockdown on Wednesday last week following an outbreak of COVID-19 sparked by a returned traveller. Hobart is now the only State Capital City to avoid a lockdown this year, but despite this good record at managing COVID-19 average movement levels in the Hobart CBD were at only 36% of pre-pandemic levels last week after the island State closed its borders to nearest neighbour Victoria which provides the largest share of visitors to Tasmania. Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBERMEDIA

Coles abandons enterprise bargaining for staff at its stores

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 28-Jul-21

The existing enterprise agreement for workers in Coles stores expired more than 14 months ago, but the retail giant has refused to negotiate a new deal with unions. The Fair Work Act prohibits workers from taking protected industrial action if their employer refuses to engage in enterprise bargaining. The full bench of the Fair Work Commission recently rejected an application by the Retail & Fast Food Workers’ Union for a majority support determination based on its petition of 2,000 Coles employees. The union plans to take Coles to the Federal Court to force it to the negotiating table. Coles still negotiates agreements with its distribution centres, which are heavily unionised.

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COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Crown pays Victoria $61m in unpaid taxes

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Original article by Elouise Fowler
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 28-Jul-21

Crown Resorts has advised that it will pay some $37m of unpaid gambling taxes to the Victorian government, plus $24m worth of penalty interest. However, counsel assisting the state’s royal commission into Crown Resorts recently told the inquiry that Crown’s total unpaid tax bill dating back to 2012 could potentially be around $480m, a figure that has been disputed by the casinos group. The unpaid tax bill relates to the rewards program associated with Crown’s electronic gaming machines.

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CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops a further 3.6pts to 100.7 as COVID-19 cases numbers remain stubbornly high in NSW, despite lockdown

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Jul-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 3.6pts to 100.7 on July 24/25, as daily NSW COVID-19 cases remain high despite the Greater Sydney lockdown. Consumer Confidence continues to remain well below the 2021 weekly average of 110.6; however, it is still 11.7 points higher than the same week a year ago (89.0). Consumer Confidence was down 2.2pts (-2.2%) to 99.3 in Sydney and down 6.8pts (-6.4%) to 99.0 in Melbourne. Consumer Confidence also fell significantly in Brisbane, but it increased slightly in Adelaide as the state continues to record low COVID-19 case numbers. Now 25% (down 4ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 27% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. In addition, 34% (down 4ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the lowest figure for this indicator since early October 2020), and 15% (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 12% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 27% (up 3ppts) expect ‘bad times’ (the highest figure for this indicator since late November 2020). Meanwhile, 34% (down 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 35% (up 5ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ – to put this indicator in negative territory for the first time since mid-October 2020 during Victoria’s second wave.

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

Super fund satisfaction near record highs in June with HESTA the top fund ahead of Cbus and Unisuper

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Jul-21

New data from Roy Morgan’s Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows an overall super fund satisfaction rating of 71.7% in June 2021 – an increase of 8.6% points from June 2020, and up 6.9% points over the last six months. The rating for June is just below the record high reached a month ago and continues a series of excellent customer satisfaction ratings over the first half of 2021 as the Australian economy recovered and Australian stock markets reached new record highs. HESTA has the highest customer satisfaction rating among Industry Funds, ahead of Cbus, UniSuper, AustralianSuper and Catholic Super. The highest placed Retail Super Fund is OnePath, followed by Colonial First State, MLC and ASGARD. The strong performance of the stock market during the first half of 2021 has helped drive customer satisfaction in Industry Funds to a new record high in June 2021 of 72.3%, up 8.2% points on a year ago. Customer satisfaction is also near record highs for Public Sector Funds at 79.7% in June (up 7.6% points on a year ago), and satisfaction Retail Funds is at 67.8% (up 9.7% points on a year ago). However, the highest customer satisfaction is again for Self-Managed Funds at 80.6%, which have experienced the largest increase of 10.7% points from a year ago. The report’s findings are from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most trusted consumer survey, compiled by in-depth interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Regulate Apple Pay, says CBA

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 22 : 28-Jul-21

Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn appeared before the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services on 27 July. He told the committee that Apple Pay is now an essential service in the payments system and should therefore be subject to greater regulation, given that access to the iPhone’s near-field communication chip is restricted solely to Apple’s own digital wallet. Tom Leuner from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission also noted that restrictions on access to the chip could potentially raise competition concerns. Some 9,000 banks worldwide now use Apple Pay, including Australia’s four major banks.

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COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON CORPORATIONS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, APPLE INCORPORATED, APPLE PAY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

London judges backtrack to revive $9.43-billion Brazil dam lawsuit against mining giant BHP

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Original article by
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 28-Jul-21

BHP faces renewed legal action over the collapse of the Samarco iron ore tailings dam in Brazil in 2015, after London’s Court of Appeal ruled that a $9.4bn lawsuit can proceed. A lower court had struck it out the lawsuit by 200,000 claimants in 2020, ruling that the UK legal action was an abuse of process. The Court of Appeal had upheld this ruling in March. BHP has contended that the case should not proceed in the UK as the tailings dam disaster is also subject to legal action in Brazil.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COURT OF APPEAL (GREAT BRITAIN), SAMARCO MINERACAO SA

NSW lockdown to last extra four weeks

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Original article by Yoni Bashan, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Jul-21

The New South Wales government is set to extend the lockdown of Greater Sydney by four weeks, following a meeting of its crisis cabinet. The state has recorded 172 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily infection rate during the current outbreak; 79 of these people were active in the community while they were infectious. The government is expected to announce a ‘singles bubble’ to allow people to meet indoors during the extended lockdown, while the two-week ban on construction work is likely to be eased from 31 July. The government is also said to be considering the use of rapid antigen tests for essential workers and new support measures for the business sector.

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We’re full partners in Brisbane Olympics: PM

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Original article by Charlie Peel
The Australian – Page: 7 : 23-Jul-21

The federal government has committed to funding half the cost of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. However, in his first press conference after Brisbane was announced as the host city, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was at pains to stress that the arrangement between the federal and Queensland governments is a "50-50 partnership" rather than a "50-50 funding partnership", with the cost of staging the Brisbane Olympic Games expected to be at least $5 billion. The event is expected to generate around $18 billion in economic benefit.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET