Author: roymorgansocial

Cyber attack disables Nine HQ

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 29-Mar-21

Nine Entertainment Company has become the target of a cyber attack that prevented it from broadcasting live programs such as ‘Weekend Today’ on 28 March. Nine was also forced to broadcast a national news bulletin from Melbourne into the Sydney and Canberra markets. All of Nine’s broadcast and newspaper staff have been told to work from home and avoid accessing the media group’s corporate network until further notice. A number of Australian businesses have recently been subjected to ransomware attacks, but Nine says it has not received a ransom demand.

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Biden Covid rescue plan clears Senate

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Original article by Michael Mathes
The Australian – Page: Online : 8-Mar-21

The US Senate has approved President Joe Biden’s US1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) relief package by 50 votes to 49 vote after much negotiation and a marathon voting session. It will now go back to the House of Representatives, where the Democrats have a majority and where it is expected to be adopted. The legislation provides stimulus cheques of $US1,400 for most Americans, along with $US41 billion for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and $US49 billion for increased COVID testing, tracing and research. The bill also allocates $US350 billion to state and local governments and $US130 billion to schools.

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Rise puts union leader on $470k

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 8-Mar-21

United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall received $470,280 in the 2019-20 financial year, $51,000 up on the previous year. This is according to figures released by the Registered Organisations Commission, with Marshall being Australia’s highest paid union official. Former Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Mark Stone was paid $506,366 in 2019-20, while Pharmacy Guild of Australia national president George Tambassis received $394,720 and Aged & Community Services Australia secretary Patricia Sparrow received $323,025. It is understood Marshall is paid more than double the amount earned by ACTU secretary Sally McManus and ACTU president Michele O’Neil.

CORPORATES
UNITED FIREFIGHTERS’ UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, VICTORIAN EMPLOYERS’ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE PHARMACY GUILD OF AUSTRALIA, AGED AND COMMUNITY SERVICES AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, ACTU

Two cabinet ministers attended event at which woman alleged Christian Porter raped her

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Original article by Paul Karp, Christopher Knaus, Katharine Murphy, Naaman Zhou
The Guardian – Page: Online : 6-Mar-21

Attorney-General Christian Porter has strenuously denied allegations he sexually assaulted a woman during a 1988 debating competition at the University of Sydney. It has been revealed that current federal Health Minister Greg Hunt attended the event as a member of the University of Melbourne debating team, while Communications Minister Paul Fletcher is understood to have been one of the event’s adjudicators. A spokesperson for Hunt said he had never met the woman in question to the best of his knowledge, while a spokesperson for Fletcher declined to comment.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Voucher boost for suffering tourist mecca

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Original article by Michael McKenna
The Australian – Page: Online : 8-Mar-21

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a scheme that will see Queenslanders given a $200 voucher to spend on holidays in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. The voucher scheme will cover travel from 15 March to 25 June, with 15,000 vouchers available from 8 to 11 March. In announcing the scheme, Palaszczuk repeated her call for the federal government to extend its JobKeeper program for industries such as tourism beyond its scheduled end of 28 March, while Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwin said other parts of Queensland would also benefit from a voucher scheme.

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QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND TOURISM INDUSTRY COUNCIL LIMITED

Australian workforce hits a record high in February as employment and unemployment both increase

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Mar-21

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows 1.93 million Australians unemployed in February (up 250,000 on January) equal to 13.2% of the Australian workforce. There were more people looking for both full-time work (up 98,000 to 790,000), and part-time work (up 152,000 to 1,140,000), but under-employment was down 300,000 to 1.14 million. Overall, there were 12,703,000 Australians employed (the highest since March 2020), up 28,000. This increase was driven by a rise in full-time employment, up 125,000 to 8,322,000 but part-time employment was down 97,000 to 4,381,000. The combination of these factors led to the workforce increasing to a new record high of 14,633,000 in February. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 13.2% for February is over double the current ABS estimate for January 2021 of 6.4%.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

‘Never going back’: pandemic pushes more to digital wallets

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Original article by Finbar O’Mallon
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Mar-21

Travis Tyler from neobank 86 400 suggests the pandemic has had a bigger impact on the future of banking than the banking royal commission. He notes hygiene concerns have prompted an increase in the number of people using digital wallets in preference to traditional wallets, with financial broker firm Savvy revealing almost 50 per cent of Australians have set up a digital wallet in the past year, while almost half of those people surveyed by Savvy prefer paying with their digital wallet. Marcus Crafter, a developer with digital bank Up, claims that Australians are "never going back to cash".

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86400 PTY LTD, SAVVY, UP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Azura heads for final studies for world-first dry eye treatment

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Original article by Yolanda Redrup
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 8-Mar-21

Biotech start-up Azura Opthalmics is seeking to develop a treatment for a type of dry eye ailment known as meibomian gland dysfunction, which impacts over 30 million people in the US alone. Meibomian gland dysfunction can occur naturally as people age, but it can also be triggered or made worse by co-morbidities such as rheumatoid arthritis. Azura Opthalmics released promising phase two clinical trial results for its treatment in the week ending 5 March, while its backers include Brandon Capital, OrbiMed and Ganot Capital.

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AZURA OPTHALMICS, BRANDON CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD, ORBIMED ADVISORS LLC, GANOT CAPITAL

Jab deliveries to rise despite Italy’s ban

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Original article by Ben Packham, Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 5 : 8-Mar-21

Health Minister Greg Hunt said on 7 March that the federal government was confident in the continuity of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Australia. This is despite France threatening to join Italy in blocking exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia. Hunt was speaking as he received his vaccine jab, as did Julia Gillard, while he said that Australia would soon be delivering more than 500,000 vaccinations a week. GPs will be brought in for phase 1b of the vaccine rollout, which will commence on 22 March, while the federal government is aiming to have four million Australians receive their first vaccine jab by early April.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, ASTRAZENECA PLC

Audiences, ads will return: NOVA chief

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Mar-21

The Australian radio industry’s advertising revenue across the five capital cities fell by 19 per cent over the six months to December. This was significantly down when compared to free-to-air television, which recorded an increase of 0.6 per cent. However, NOVA Entertainment chief executive Peter Charlton is optimistic of a recovery in radio advertising in 2021, with eight out of its biggest 10 advertisers spending the same or more in the first two months of 2021 as in the same period in 2020; the advertisers in question include Harvey Norman, Coles and Woolworths.

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NOVA ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD