Overall satisfaction with Big 4 banks is higher than a year ago with CBA & NAB the top two

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-May-21

New data from Roy Morgan shows that 80.5% of customers are satisfied with their bank(s) in April 2021, an increase of 1.3% points on a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The increase was built upon increases in satisfaction for building societies (up 3% points on a year ago), foreign banks (up 2.3% points) and Australia’s ‘Big 4’ banks (up 0.3% points). Satisfaction for the four major banks as a group is 77.1%, up 0.3% points on April 2020, and up 0.2% points on January 2021. The big improver over the last year has been the NAB which has increased its customer satisfaction by 1.9% points to 78.6%, to be just behind the Commonwealth Bank on 78.8% (down 0.2% points). Third is ANZ on 75.0% (up 0.6% points on April 2020), followed by Westpac on 73.5% (down 0.4% points). Among banks as a whole, Beyond Bank scored the highest in April, on 92.7% (up 1.8% points in 12 months). ING was the highest rated foreign bank on 90.6% (up 1.7% points), Newcastle Permanent led the way for building societies on 94.8% (up 3.1% points), while Credit Union Australia was the highest ranked credit union, on 86.9% (up 3.9% points). The findings, taken from Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction report on Consumer Banking in Australia, reflect the successful way the banking sector responded to financial challenges faced by millions of Australians as a result of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BEYOND BANK AUSTRALIA, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, NEWCASTLE PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY LIMITED, CREDIT UNION AUSTRALIA LIMITED

‘Defies belief’: Brittany Higgins slams lack of action on Parliament complaints process

Original article by Marion Rae
The New Daily – Page: Online : 25-May-21

The Australian Federal Police is continuing its investigation into the alleged rape of Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in a ministerial office in March 2019. However, despite it being over two years since the alleged rape took place, there is still no action on a process to help Parliament House staff to respond to serious incidents. Higgins has tweeted that it "defies belief" that no changes have been made to security within Parliament House, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison says an independent complaints process will be put in place before the end of 2021.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Cheaper electric vehicles could increase uptake in Australia sooner than expected

Original article by
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 25-May-21

The transition towards electric vehicles will present significant challenges to the automotive sector, according to the Motor Trades Association of Australia, in what is its first major review of the sector in four years. The MTAA noted that current uptake of electric vehicles is low, but that this could change if new technologies bring about cheaper prices. The MTAA noted that there were 72,521 businesses operating across the automotive sector at the end of the 2019/20 financial year, while 96.6% of all automotive businesses are small and family-owned enterprises.

CORPORATES
MOTOR TRADES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Threat of major cyber attack on critical infrastructure real, national security boss warns

Original article by Nour Haydar
abc.net au – Page: Online : 25-May-21

Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo says he is deeply concerned about the threat that cyber attacks pose to Australia’s critical infrastructure. His comments to Senate estimates were made as the federal government is planning new legislation aimed at better protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recently urged Australian organisations to protect themselves against cyber attacks. Pezzullo used his appearance before Senate estimates to defend a speech in which he warned the "drums of war" were beating.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Thousands told to get tested, isolate after four new cases in Victoria

Original article by Mitch Clarke, Kieran Rooney
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 25-May-21

Victoria’s run of 86 consecutive days with no locally-acquired COVID-19 cases has ended after four people in Melbourne’s northern suburbs tested positive. They are all said to be close relatives who live in several households. Genomic sequencing is being undertaken to determine if the cases are linked to a man who tested positive after returning to Melbourne following hotel quarantine in Adelaide. A Woolworths store in Epping North that the man had visited while infectious is among the exposure sites that have been identified in the current outbreak. People who have visited the store and other exposure sites will be required to self-isolate and get tested for COVID-19. Meanwhile, eight new COVID-19 cases have been reported in hotel quarantine nationwide in the last 24 hours.

CORPORATES

Industry job losses prove gas-led recovery is failing: Report

Original article by Rod Myer
The New Daily – Page: Online : 25-May-21

The federal government is calling for a gas-led economic recovery, but the Australia Institute claims the gas industry has reduced staff during the recovery from the pandemic. The Institute states the gas industry only employs 42,000 people, and that the sector has shed 3,800 jobs since May 2020. Institute chief economist Richard Dennis claims that if the rest of the economy had declined at the same rate as the gas industry since then, total employment would have fallen by 1.3 million. However, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association CEO Andrew McConville claims the gas industry currently contributes $62 billion to the economy and around 13 per cent of exports

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED

China price blitz raises iron ore threat

Original article by Michael Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 25-May-21

The price of iron ore futures fell on 24 May after Chinese authorities announced plans to crack down on commodity price speculation by domestic traders and firms. The crackdown is also seen as an attempt to curb inflation, with China’s producer price index having risen 6.8 per cent year-on-year in April, compared to 4.4 per cent growth recorded in March. Traders expect the clampdown on commodity price speculation will impact on futures trading, but it is not expected to undermine strong demand for iron ore, which is being driven by "tight supply". The share prices of Australian iron ore producers also fell sharply.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

New Roy Morgan Cross-Platform Audience results show strong results for leading newspapers and magazines

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-May-21

The latest Roy Morgan Cross-Platform Audience results for the year to March 2021 show an estimated 19.9 million (94.4%) Australians aged 14+ read or accessed newspapers or newspaper content in some way – print editions, online via website, app or news platforms (including metropolitan, local and regional titles) in an average four weeks. The total cross-platform audiences for newspaper mastheads in the 12 months to March 2021 includes an estimated 16.8 million (79.4%) reading or accessing metropolitan titles. In addition some 15.6 million (72.8%) Australians aged 14+ read or accessed a magazine or magazine content. The standout newspaper mastheads are Nine Entertainment owned Sydney Morning Herald with a cross-platform audience of over 8.5 million ahead of its Melbourne stablemate The Age with a cross-platform audience of 6 million. News Corp’s national broadsheet The Australian is in third place with a cross-platform audience of nearly 5.1 million just ahead of city-based stablemates The Daily Telegraph in Sydney on 4.9 million and Melbourne counterpart the Herald Sun with a cross-platform audience of well over 4.5 million.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

WIN News axes local bulletins, sacks staff

Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 25-May-21

Regional broadcaster WIN Corporation will replace local news bulletins with state-wide bulletins in Victoria and Queensland when its new affiliation agreement with Nine Entertainment begins on 1 July. WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster says the move will result in job losses, although the company aims to redeploy as many affected employees as possible. Nine will close its own regional newsrooms when its five-year affiliation deal with Southern Cross Austereo ends.

CORPORATES
WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL

McDonald’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s & Domino’s Pizza are Australia’s favourite restaurants

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-May-21

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 15.9 million Australians aged 14+ (75.3%) ate take away food in an average four weeks from fast food outlets in 2020. This was a significant increase on 2019, when there were 13.3 million (63.7%) customers of fast food outlets. There are now ten quick service restaurants with at least one million Australian customers buying food in an average four weeks, with old favourite McDonald’s again the leading restaurant with over 8.1 million. In clear second place is KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) with over 6.8 million customers, while third place is a close contest between burger franchise Hungry Jack’s (4.2 million) and Domino’s Pizza (4.1 million). Filling out the top five is sandwich and salad outlet Subway with 3.2 million customers, followed by chicken-based Red Rooster with over 2.1 million customers. Analysing the leading quick service restaurants by generation shows that Millennials are the biggest customers of all three of the leading fast food outlets, narrowly ahead of the younger Generation Z. Older generations are less frequent customers of fast food outlets, but McDonald’s remains the leading choice for Generation X, Baby Boomers and Pre-Boomers ahead of KFC and Hungry Jack’s.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, KFC, HUNGRY JACK’S PTY LTD, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, SUBWAY SANDWICHES PTY LTD, RED ROOSTER FOODS