Author: roymorgansocial

Inflation Expectations down to new record low in June of 3.2%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Jul-20

In June, Australians expected inflation of 3.2% annually over the next two years; this result signified a new record low for the index – down 0.1% points on May and 0.8% points on the pre-COVID period of February 2020. Inflation Expectations have declined around the nation; however, the magnitude of the drop has been far larger in some places than others – notably Melbourne where Inflation Expectations have dropped 0.9% points since February to only 2.8% in June. The biggest decline has been in Tasmania, down from 4.9% in February to 2.9% in June, as Hobart’s formerly hot housing market has cooled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adelaide experienced the least change, with Inflation Expectations of 3.7% in June down only 0.1% points since February, while expectations in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth are down by 0.5-0.6%. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the rapid decline in Inflation Expectations in recent months is a sign of ongoing economic weakness as Australia experiences its first recession for three decades.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

News Corp rolls out 50 digital mastheads

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Jul-20

News Corp Australia has chosen Ballarat, Port Lincoln and the Clare Valley as the launch sites for its new digital mastheads. The first 15 digital-only newspapers will be launched by September, with plans to launch more than 50 over the next three years. The mastheads will feature ‘hyperlocal’ news content, while subscribers will have access to content from metropolitan newspapers and the media group’s NCA NewsWire service. News Corp already has 92 digital-only mastheads, including 76 whose print editions were recently discontinued.

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NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Coronavirus restrictions force ski resorts to shut

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Original article by Lisa Allen
The Australian – Page: 15 : 10-Jul-20

Vail Resorts will suspend its ski lifting operations at the Victorian resorts of Falls Creek and Mt Hotham until at least 19 August in response to the state’s new COVID-19 restrictions. Vail Resorts’ third Australian ski resort, Perisher in New South Wales, will remain open. Meanwhile, the Mt Buller ski resort’s website indicates that it is reviewing Victoria’s stage-three lockdown restrictions, but it will continue to operate until at least 12 July. However, it will not accept bookings from residents of metropolitan Melbourne or the Mitchell Shire.

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VAIL RESORTS INCORPORATED, FALLS CREEK ALPINE RESORT, MOUNT HOTHAM SKIING COMPANY PTY LTD, MT BULLER SKI LIFT LIMITED

Morrison: Stay course on reopening economy

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Original article by Tom McIlroy, Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Jul-20

The national cabinet meeting on 10 July will discuss issues such as Victoria’s new coronavirus outbreak, the hotel quarantine system and border controls. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will argue the need for the other states and territories to open their borders. South Australia will impose a mandatory testing and quarantine regime on all residents who are returning from Victoria, while Western Australia will ban entry to anybody who has been to Victoria in the last two weeks.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Victorian health officials took tracing rules short-cut

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Original article by Yoni Bashan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 10-Jul-20

Victoria recorded 165 new coronavirus cases on 9 July, amid a surge in community transmission. The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has indicated that the state’s health officials failed to follow the national guidelines for contact tracing. These require the close contacts of virus patients to be monitored on a daily basis for 14 days after their last contact with the infected person. Teams of specialists from interstate are travelling to Victoria to assist with contact tracing, in the wake of revelations that the state has a shortage of personnel who are trained to undertake this work.

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AUSTRALIAN HEALTH PROTECTION PRINCIPAL COMMITTEE

Australia’s fatality rate one of lowest, but that’s not whole story

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Original article by Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 3 : 10-Jul-20

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that Australia currently boasts a case fatality rate from COVID-19 of just 1.19 per cent. This compares with 15.44 per cent in the UK and four per cent in the US. The case fatality rate is the ratio between confirmed deaths and confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Professor Paul Glasziou of Bond University says a number of factors can contribute to a lower CFR rate, including the number of cases that are detected, the ability of a nation’s healthcare system to cope with the virus, and the age demographic of the population.

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JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BOND UNIVERSITY LIMITED

NZ closure sparks fears for Australian smelters

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 10-Jul-20

The future of Rio Tinto’s loss-making aluminium smelters in Australia is again under scrutiny following the announcement that its Tiwai Point smelter in New Zealand will be shut down. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques indicated in 2019 that the fate of the smelters in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania is uncertain. The Australian Aluminium Council has warned that smelters will not be viable unless action is taken to reduce energy costs. The future of Alcoa’s government-subsidised Portland smelter in Victoria is also in doubt.

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RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIAN ALUMINIUM COUNCIL LIMITED, ALCOA OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALCOA INCORPORATED

Premier should go, struggling businesses say

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 10-Jul-20

Chapel Street Precinct Association general manager Chrissie Maus says Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews should resign over the hotel quarantine fiasco that has seen Victoria placed in lockdown again. Chris Lutz, owner of Design a Space, says he cannot understand why the Victorian government did not use the military to manage the hotel quarantining. Kurt Falkenstein, the owner of shared workspace Revolver Lane, says he does not think "it would inappropriate for Daniel Andrews to resign".

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CHAPEL STREET PRECINCT ASSOCIATION, DESIGN A SPACE

China’s fury at HK haven

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Original article by Andrew Tillett, Michael Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 9 : 10-Jul-20

Australia has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s imposition of new national security laws on the former British colony. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the new laws undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, while he has offered a ‘pathway to permanent residency’ in Australia to more than 12,000 resident of Hong Kong. The Chinese embassy in Canberra has attacked the federal government over its actions, as has China’s foreign ministry; Australian government officials expect the federal government’s actions to result in trade retaliation by China.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Restrictions to ease in eight of Melbourne’s locked-down public housing towers

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Original article by
SBS News – Page: Online : 10-Jul-20

Eight of the nine Melbourne public housing towers that were put in ‘hard lockdown’ on 4 July will move to stage- three restrictions, after 2,515 residents were tested for the coronavirus and a total of 158 tested positive. The 33 Alfred Street estate in North Melbourne, where 53 cases of COVID-19 have been detected, will remain under a hard lockdown for another nine days, although residents will be allowed outside for supervised exercise. The 105 residents in six towers who tested positive will be given the option of hotel quarantine. No coronavirus cases have been detected at two of the high-rise towers.

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