Author: roymorgansocial

‘We don’t respond to threats’: PM responds to Google’s ultimatum

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Original article by Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 23-Jan-21

Google has threatened to withdraw its search product from Australia if the federal government’s legislation for a mandatory news bargaining code proceeds in its present form. The code would see Google and Facebook required to strike deals with media publishers to pay for the journalistic content they use on their platforms. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Google the federal government does not respond to threats, while Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has accused Google of attempting to "blackmail" Australian policymakers by threatening to withdraw from Australia.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Giant fertiliser plant would frack Great Sandy Desert

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jan-21

Western Australian consortium Derby Fertilisers & Petrochemical Complex has unveiled plans for a $4.1 billion fertiliser and chemicals plant. Derby Fertilisers claims the project would create 500 production jobs for 25 years, generate annual revenues of $US1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) for that period, and would create 1,500 construction jobs and subsidised power and water for the residents of the WA town of Derby. However, it would rely on gas produced by fracking in the sensitive Great Sandy Desert, with the gas coming from a supplier that has not yet established certified reserves for the project.

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DERBY FERTILISERS & PETROCHEMICAL COMPLEX

Calls for big tech to unmask anonymous online abusers

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 22-Jan-21

Changes to the Online Safety Act could see the eSafety Commissioner given new powers to seek identification behind anonymous accounts on digital platforms. Individuals could be fined up to $110,000 for abusive behaviour, while content hosts could be hit with fines up to $550,000. ESafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has urged the big technology platforms to do more to address the problems caused by anonymous accounts, with such accounts used by backers of the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon being prominently cited by members of the mob that recently attacked the US Capitol.

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Biden orders end of Trump era

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 22-Jan-21

New US President Joe Biden has signed 15 executive orders in his first day in office, while Donald Trump became the first outgoing president in over 150 years not to attend the inauguration of his successor. The executive orders signed by Biden included restoring US membership of the World Trade Organisation and scrapping a controversial oil pipeline project linking Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, on a day that saw Kamala Harris become America’s first female Vice-President. Biden also directed that masks be worn by anyone involved in interstate commerce and on all federal property.

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Australians are divided over the Australian Open

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Jan-21

A special Roy Morgan survey into attitudes regarding next month’s Australian Open shows Australians are split on what they think should happen with the Grand Slam tournament due to start in just over two weeks on Monday February 8. 36% want the Open to go ahead as planned, 18% want the event to be postponed for a week, 20% want the tournament played later in the year and 26% want the event to be cancelled altogether. On a State-by-State basis it is perhaps surprising that South Australians (42%) are the most in favour of the Australian Open ‘going ahead as planned’ next month. This is followed by Victorians (39%), people in New South Wales (38%) and Queenslanders (32%). There is little difference on the question between Melburnians (39%) and Country Victorians (40%).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

PM cool on Qld quarantine camp idea

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 22-Jan-21

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk plans to raise her proposal to relocate the quarantining of returned international travellers from Brisbane hotels to regional mining camps when national cabinet meets on 22 January. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has voiced scepticism about the idea, noting the possibility that resources workers could become infected and thus hamper Australia’s economic recovery. The meeting will also receive an update on the implementation plan for Australia’s vaccine rollout from March and on quarantine arrangements for seasonal workers to be allowed into Australia to harvest fresh produce, as well as discussing the cap on international arrivals.

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QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

NIDA rescued in the nick of time

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Original article by Michael Bailey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 22-Jan-21

Acting school National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) is one of four major arts companies struggling to survive that will share $9 million in funding from the federal government’s $35 million Sustainability Fund. The Fund was announced in June as part of the federal government’s $250 million arts rescue package. The Melbourne Art Foundation, Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are the other three arts companies that will share the $9 million, while Mel Gibson and Cate Blanchett are two of NIDA’s better-known alumni.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DRAMATIC ARTS, MELBOURNE ART FOUNDATION LIMITED, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (NEW SOUTH WALES), MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Top-placed super funds defy virus chaos

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 22 : 22-Jan-21

Suncorp’s Multi-Manager Growth Fund was Australia’s best-performed superannuation fund in 2020, according to research house SuperRatings, returning 9.6 per cent. It was followed by Australian Ethical’s balanced option, which returned eight per cent, and Vision SS’s balanced option, which returned 6.2 per cent. The median return for super funds in 2020 was 3.3 per cent, while the S&P/ASX 200 index fell by 1.45 per cent over the same period.

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SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD, VISION SUPER PTY LTD

Facebook, Google code ‘won’t breach trade pact’

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Original article by John Kehoe, Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 22-Jan-21

There have been claims that proposed laws that would see Google and Facebook pay publishers for their journalism would breach the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement. However, federal government ministers are confident that this is not the case, having received legal and international trade advice on the matter, while Nine Entertainment CEO Hugh Marks stated recently that there is "clearly no breach of the free trade agreement". Executives from news publishers, the big digital platforms and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission will appear before a Senate hearing on 22 January to be questioned about the proposed news media and digital platforms mandatory bargaining code.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Manufacturers’ hopes for cheap gas dashed

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Elouise Fowler, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 22-Jan-21

The federal government’s revised Heads of Agreement with Queensland LNG gas exporters on domestic gas supply has not been well received by industrial gas buyers, with the agreement imposing little or no conditions on pricing. Stephen Bell, the CEO of gas-dependent plastics maker Qenos, says the new agreement offers no basis for any confidence that competitive prices can be achieved, while Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Daniel Walton said the agreement "sells out Australian manufacturing workers". Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt claims the government had never set a specific price target for gas.

CORPORATES
QENOS PLASTICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES