Author: roymorgansocial

Rio feels pinch as labour hit slows exports

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Weekend Australian – Page: 25 : 17-Jul-21

Rio Tinto’s iron ore shipments fell 12 per cent to 76.3 million tonnes in the June quarter, while its half-year shipments were down three per cent to 154.1 million tonnes. Rio cited a range of factors for the fall in shipments, including labour shortages and the need to revamp mine plans around Pilbara heritage sites. Rio’s previous full year guidance for shipments was between 325 to 340 million tonnes, and it now expects shipments to be at the lower end of its forecast. However, to even achieve that will require it to ship 171 million tonnes in the second half of 2021

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Contractors face crunch on cash flow

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Jul-21

The New South Wales government has imposed a two-week shutdown on construction across greater Sydney as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Shopping centre developer and owner Scentre Group responded to the shutdown announcement on 17 July by advising that it would close construction sites and place a halt on all shop fitouts at its Westfield centres across greater Sydney, while Multiplex closed all five of its construction sites in Sydney. BuildCorp boss Tony Sukkar says most companies within the construction sector should survive if the shutdown only lasts for two weeks, but things would become more problematic if it is extended.

CORPORATES
SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED, BUILDCORP COMMERCIAL PTY LTD

Victoria’s snap lockdown to be extended

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Original article by Jade Gailberger, John Dagge, Miles Proust
Herald Sun – Page: 7 : 19-Jul-21

Victoria has recorded 16 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while a Mildura man will be added to the case numbers for 19 July. He tested positive after returning home from Melbourne, where he attended an AFL match at the MCG; it is the regional city’s first COVID-19 in more than a year. Meanwhile, the Victorian government is expected to extend the state-wide lockdown until Friday at the earliest, amid concern about a number of potential ‘super-spreading’ exposure sites. Premier Daniel Andrews has ruled out any changes to lockdown restrictions in regional areas, saying the Mildura case shows how quickly the coronavirus can spread. There are currently 60 active locally-acquired cases in Victoria.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Berejiklian relaxes Covid rules on south-west Sydney workers

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Original article by Graham Readfearn
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 105 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; 66 of the cases are linked to known clusters, while 27 people were active in the community while they were infectious. Meanwhile, a woman in her 90s has become the fourth person to die in Sydney’s current outbreak. The state government has backed down on plans to restrict the movements of workers in the Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas, which are the epicentre of the outbreak. It had proposed that only health and emergency workers be permitted to leave these areas for work, but the list of authorised workers has now been expanded to include 35 occupational groups. All workers in these categories will be required to be tested for COVID-19 every three days.

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Sky News numbers boom in crisis

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 17 : 19-Jul-21

Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker says many viewers have discovered the pay-TV group’s content during the pandemic and continued to watch it. He notes that a growing number of viewers are accessing Sky News content via digital platforms rather than Foxtel. An online survey undertaken by Hoop Group shows that Sky News videos were viewed 95.6 million times on YouTube in June, a year-on-year increase of 248 per cent, while viewership on Facebook rose by 170 per cent. Sky News now boasts over 1.8 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1.1 million Facebook followers.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, HOOP GROUP, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Beijing’s second spy ship surprise

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 6 : 19-Jul-21

China has sent two intelligence-gathering ships to monitor military exercises in Queensland involving Australian and US forces. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said that the federal government had expected China to send one ship, but that the second ship was a bit of a surprise. He said he expects the Chinese to conduct themselves in accordance with the international rules of law, while a Defence spokesperson has stated that all participants in the Talisman Sabre exercises have taken appropriate steps to safeguard their information security.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE

Ellume steps up rapid Covid-19 tests in US

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian – Page: 15 : 19-Jul-21

Brisbane-based biotechnology firm Ellume has secured approval from the US Food & Drug Administration to sell its COVID-19 tests to point-of-care providers. The approval came three months after the FDA approved Ellume’s over-the-counter tests, which Australian laws currently ban. Only point-of-care providers are allowed to administer COVID-19 tests in Australia, and Ellume CEO Sean Parsons considers the local point-of-care market to be a small one. Ellume secured a $US235 million ($316 million) contract in February from the US Department of Defense for the rollout of its rapid COVID-19 test, while it is building a factory in the state of Maryland.

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ELLUME LIMITED, UNITED STATES. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Nine dumps Hewson in gender shake-up

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 17 : 19-Jul-21

Nine Entertainment aims to have equal representation of men and women among its newspapers’ opinion writers. Former federal Liberal leader John Hewson has been a columnist for "The Sydney Morning Herald" and "The Age" for nearly two decades, but he has been dropped by Nine due to this policy. However, Hewson believes that the real reason for the decision was the fact that he has become too critical of the federal government. Hewson has tweeted that neither the government or the mainstream media believe in a free press. Former Liberal minister Amanda Vanstone was also recently dropped from the roster of columnists at "The Age".

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

National cabinet ‘a dog’s breakfast’

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Original article by Dennis Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 19-Jul-21

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has criticised the national cabinet, arguing that it is really only a co-ordinating committee. He contends that the national cabinet is contributing to the lack of a clear delineation of responsibilities between the federal and state governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The national cabinet has met 46 times so far, and it has attracted criticism from some state premiers as well as federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Meanwhile, Abbott says the economic liberalisation of China under former leader Deng Xiaoping has merely strengthened the Chinese Communist Party state and resulted in a new Cold War.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, COMMUNIST PARTY (CHINA)

NAB eyes Citi’s retail in $2b deal

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 14-Jul-21

National Australia Bank has emerged as a potential buyer of Citigroup’s local consumer banking business. NAB has advised that it is holding talks with Citigroup but stresses that a deal may not eventuate. Citigroup has an 11 per cent share of Australia’s credit card market, making it the fifth-biggest player in the sector, while it holds $5.5bn worth of household deposits and some $6.6bn worth of home loans. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims recently indicated that it would closely scrutinise any bid for the Citigroup assets by one of the nation’s major banks.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION