Author: roymorgansocial

Former senator Cory Bernardi is One Nation’s latest recruit

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Original article by Paul Sakkal
The Age – Page: Online : 3-Feb-26

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has confirmed that former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi has joined the right-wing minor party. He will be One Nation’s lead candidate im the upper house in the upcoming state election in South Australia; Bernadi says SA is essentially a one-party state, because it currently has no effective Opposition. Bernadi left the Liberals in 2017 to establish the Australian Conservatives, but he disbanded the party in 2019 and resigned from parliament in early 2020. There is speculation that Liberal senator intends to defect to One Nation, amid growing support for the party in public opinion polls.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Federal Voting Intention: ALP maintains big two-party preferred lead as One Nation support surges to 25%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Feb-26

The Roy Morgan Poll from January 26 – February 1, 2026, shows primary support for the ALP unchanged on 30.5% and One Nation support up 2.5% to a new record high of 25%. Support for the Liberals dropped 2% to 18%, Nationals were unchanged on 2.5%, Greens were down 0.5% to 12.5% and an unchanged 11.5% supported Independents/Other Parties, according to the latest Roy Morgan survey conducted with a representative Australia-wide cross-section of 1,401 electors. On a two-party preferred basis, the ALP is 56% (down 0.5% from a week ago) ahead of the Coalition on 44% (up 0.5%). When preferences are allocated based on how Australians voted at the 2025 Federal Election the two-party preferred result is closer, with the ALP on 54.5% (unchanged) leading the L-NP Coalition on 45.5% (unchanged).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

First steps to seal Coalition rebirth

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Feb-26

The National Party’s 14 MPs are expected to sit on the lower house’s crossbench today, with a deal to rebuild the Coalition unlikely to be struck before parliament sits for question time. Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals counterpart David Littleproud held talks aimed at mending the rift on Monday evening. The Nationals’ deputy leader Kevin Hogan says there was goodwill on both sides and a lot of progress had been made. The Liberals and Nationals will both hold partyroom meetings today, with Gippsland MP Darren Chester expected to receive strong support for a motion to reunite the Coalition as quickly as possible; some Liberals are said to be considering a similar motion. Meanwhile, a leadership challenge against Littleproud failed on Monday after the Nationals’ partyroom rejected a spill motion put forward by backbencher Colin Boyce.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Big business urges $50b spending cut

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Original article by Lea Jurkovic
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Feb-26

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has used its pre-budget submission to call for federal government spending to be scaled back in order to combat inflation. It contends that government spending should be reduced to 25 per cent of GDP, compared with the Treasury’s own forecast of about 27 per cent over the next two years. The ACCI has suggested that the NDIS, childcare, aged care, health and defence should have funding reduced; CEO Andrew McKellar warns that failing to address inflation could undermine Labor’s economic agenda to improve productivity. The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to increase official interest rates today, in response to the latest inflation data.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

New BlueScope boss open to company carve-up

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 18 : 3-Feb-26

BlueScope Steel’s new CEO Tania Archibald announced plans to reduce costs by $150m on her first day in the role. Owen Birrell from RBC Capital Markets estimates thar this represents potential gains of $3 per share. Archibald has also indicated that the listed steelmaker will consider all options for delivering more value to shareholders, which could potentially include demerging its North American business. Archibald has also defended BlueScope’s belated decision to disclose the takeover bid from SGH and Steel Dynamics, stating that the company is "very comfortable" with the position it took. BlueScope has formally rejected the takeover bid.

CORPORATES
BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, SGH LIMITED – ASX SGH, STEEL DYNAMICS INCORPORATED

AI leads Australian start-ups’ $5b funding boom

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Original article by Tess Bennett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 3-Feb-26

Funding for Australian technology start-ups increased by $1 billion to $5.1 billion last year, according to the State of Australian Start-up Funding report. Investments linked to artificial intelligence dominated funding, with 61 per cent going to start-ups using AI in their product offerings, while the 20 biggest deals accounted for 58 per cent of the total capital deployed. Commenting on the 2025 figures, Airtree Ventures partner James Cameron said VC sentiment was "buoyant" again after a subdued couple of years, while diversity among funded start-ups still remains a major issue; all-female founding teams received just two per cent of total capital invested in 2025

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AIRTREE VENTURES PTY LTD

Donald Trump announces trade deal between US and India with tariffs slashed

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Original article by Meghna Bali
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 3-Feb-26

US President Donald Trump has used a social media post to announce that the US and India have struck a new trade deal. It will see the tariff on Indian goods imported into the US reduced from 25 per cent to 18 per cent immediately, while Trump says India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil and instead boost energy imports from the United States. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X that he was "delighted" with the tariff reduction, while he thanked Trump "on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement", while Trump also said that Modi had committed to buying more than $US500 billion ($718b) worth of American energy, technology, agricultural and other products.

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UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Trump administration to unveil rare-earths mineral stockpile to counter China

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Original article by
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 3-Feb-26

The US is set to unveil a $US12 billion ($17.2 billion) investment in a strategic rare earths mineral stockpile in an attempt to counter China’s dominance of the sector. A Trump administration official says that commodities trading firms Hartree Partners, Traxys North America and Mercuria Energy Group would manage the procurement of raw materials for the stockpile, while once established, it will give key US companies access to a 60-day supply of minerals for emergency use

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HARTREE PARTNERS, TRAXYS NORTH AMERICA, MERCURIA ENERGY GROUP

Disney cracks billion-dollar mark, but tax payments slow to follow

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Original article by Kylar Loussikian
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 3-Feb-26

The Australian corporate filings of the Walt Disney Company show that its local arm posted revenue of $1.01bn in the year to 30 September, compared with $743m previously. The increase was partially due to the inclusion of ESPN’s revenues for the first time, while the result was also boosted by strong growth for the Disney+ streaming service. Meanwhile, Disney Australia’s profit was 33 per cent higher at $63m, although the entertainment group paid just $16m in tax; the bulk of its revenue was paid as royalties to its US parent company.

CORPORATES
WALT DISNEY COMPANY, WALT DISNEY COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ESPN INCORPORATED, DISNEY+

Regis revives $1b gold mine halted by bee ruling

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 3-Feb-26

Regis Resources will seek environmental approval from the federal government for an ‘integrated waste landform’ to store waste from its proposed McPhillamys gold mine near Blayney in NSW. Regis contends that the tailings dam that it had originally proposed – and which was blocked by former environment minister Tanya Plibersek on Indigenous heritage grounds – is still the ‘optimal’ solution. However, it has lodged the application to develop the integrated waste landform at an alternative site in case its legal challenge to Plibersk’s 2024 ruling is unsuccessful. Regis estimates that McPhillamys contains at least 2.26 million ounces of gold.

CORPORATES
REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX RRL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER