Author: roymorgansocial

Rare earth miners want plan backed with cash

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Original article by Jacob Greber, Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 5-Mar-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a 10-year ‘road map’ for the creation of more mineral processing operations in Australia. His plans have won backing from rare earths and critical minerals producers and from green groups such as the Climate Council and WWF-Australia, but producers have called on the government to back up its plans with actual money and support. Charlie Richardson from Accenture notes that Australia has over 90 per cent of the raw materials used to make lithium-ion batteries, but no manufacturers producing them. He says this is both a "both a missed opportunity and a sovereign risk".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC, HASTINGS TECHNOLOGY METALS LIMITED – ASX HAS, WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE AUSTRALIA, CLIMATE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ARAFURA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ARU

How COVID-19 bumped the handshake

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Original article by Andrew Taylor
The Sunday Age – Page: 8 : 27-Feb-21

A recent survey of more than 1,000 people by Roy Morgan has found that just 30 per cent want to shake hands with a colleague or stranger, down from 88 per cent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The percentage of people wanting to hug family and friends has declined from 87 per cent to 67 per cent, while the percentage that are happy to kiss family and friends has fallen from 63 per cent to 37 per cent. Zarife Taylor from the Australian School of Etiquette says the pandemic has resulted in an immediate change to personal greetings, but that shaking hands will remain a fundamental part of personal interaction.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF ETIQUETTE

Increased rollout after jab target miss

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Original article by Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 5 : 1-Mar-21

The federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has fallen well behind schedule; just 30,000 people nationwide received the Pfizer vaccine in the first week of the rollout, compared with the government’s target of 60,000 by the end of February. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the arrival of the first 300,000 overseas-made doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will allow the inoculation of priority groups to be ramped up. Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded no new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, although residents in 10 suburbs in Melbourne’s east have been put on alert after virus fragments were detected in wastewater.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, PFIZER INCORPORATED, ASTRAZENECA PLC

Miners going for gold in record year

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 1-Mar-21

Data from Surbiton Associates shows that Australian mining companies produced a record 327 tonnes of gold in 2020, amid a surge in the price of the precious metal. Newcrest Mining’s Cadia mine in New South Wales produced 822,478 ounces of gold during the year, ahead of Newmont’s Boddington mine in Western Australia (670,000 ounces) and Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville mine in Victoria (640,000 ounces). Sandra Close of Surbiton notes that the high price of gold has prompted a number of new players to enter the sector.

CORPORATES
SURBITON ASSOCIATES PTY LTD, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, NEWMONT CORPORATION, KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD LIMITED – ASX KLA

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence down slightly by 0.7pts to 113.1 in February

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence fell 0.7pts to 113.1 in February, consolidating a bit short of its historical average of 120. Consumers’ perceptions of their current financial situation fell 6 points to -2%, while a net 27% of consumers expect to be better off financially this time next year, down 1 point. Meanwhile, a net 20% of consumers think it is a good time to buy a major household item, down 1 point. Perceptions regarding the next year’s economic outlook lifted 3 points to 2%; the five-year outlook also lifted 3 points to +20%. CPI inflation expectations lifted 0.1%pts to 4.6%.

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

Rex flights bump into Sydney Airport hurdle

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 1-Mar-21

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert says Regional Express (Rex) may find it hard to secure more landing and take-off slots if its new flights between east coast capital cities become popular with consumers. Culbert says Rex cannot secure access to any slots held at the airport by incumbents prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to waivers introduced by the federal government when the pandemic began. Sydney Airport stated in a submission in December to an inquiry on the future of aviation that the waivers could impede new entrants to the aviation market.

CORPORATES
SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX REX

Split over aged-care reforms

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Original article by Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers, Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Mar-21

The federal government will release the final report of the aged-care royal commission on 1 March. The two commissioners, Tony Pagone QC and Lynelle Briggs, are believed to be in agreement on more than 100 recommendations. However, they are said to be in conflict on a number of issues and will make some separate recommendations. Amongst other things, they are believed to have disagreed with regard to the future oversight and funding of the aged-care sector.

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AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO AGED CARE QUALITY AND SAFETY

Competition policy sealed tech giants deal

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 19 : 1-Mar-21

The federal government’s news media bargaining code has already prompted Google to secure commercial deals with some media companies. Facebook in turn has signed a letter of intent with Seven West Media and is negotiating with other news publishers. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says there has been "significant overseas interest" in the approach the government took in treating the code as an issue of competition policy rather than copyright law. He adds that the code provided the leverage needed to ensure a level playing field between traditional media and digital platforms.

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GOOGLE INCORPORATED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Poison pill holds up Facebook deals

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Original article by Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 1-Mar-21

Facebook launched its ‘Facebook News’ product in the US in 2020, but Australia was not included in the launch because of the ongoing discussions about the federal government’s proposed media bargaining code. That code has now passed into law, while Facebook is expected to launch Facebook News in Australia once it has concluded deals with local news publishers. However, such deals are stalling over Facebook’s so-called ‘poison pen’ clause. There are suggestions that publishers could use the code to enter into an arbitration process with Facebook, should it decide to initiate the poison pill.

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FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Fortescue to stem pipeline cash flow

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 1-Mar-21

Fortescue Metals Group recently stated that it is likely to release a final cost figure for its troubled Iron Bridge magnetite project within three months. The pure-play iron ore miner advised that preliminary figures show that the project will cost about $US3bn, compared with initial estimates of $US2.6bn. Fortescue is also believed to be considering a ‘build-own-operate-transfer’ model for water infrastructure associated with the Iron Bridge project, whereby other companies would bear the cost of building the water network and eventually sell it back to Fortescue.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG