Author: roymorgansocial

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.5pts to 86.8 in early April after Federal Budget and Election date is set

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.5pts to 86.8 in the week to 4 April. Consumer Confidence is now 4.9 points above the same week a year ago (81.9), and in line with the 2025 weekly average of 86.5. Analysis by State shows that there were increases in Victoria and Western Australia, small declines in New South Wales and Queensland, and no change in South Australia. Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 45% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 30% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 28% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 12% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months (the highest figure for this indicator since July 2024), while 28% (down 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 20% (down 3ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 39% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITEDAUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Emergency RBA rate cut could cause panic

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Original article by Matthew CranstonJack Quail
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Apr-25

The Reserve Bank of Australia is believed to have ruled out an emergency board meeting in response to the global financial market turmoil in the wake of the Trump administration’s tariffs policy. Former RBA governor Bernie Fraser has advocated bringing forward the next board meeting to reduce the cash rate by 50 basis points. However, the RBA is expected to retain its existing schedule, with its next board meeting to be held on 19-20 May. Harvey Norman’s chairman Gerry Harvey contends that a large interest rate cut is not necessary and would merely weigh on financial market and consumer sentiment.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIAHARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Labor lifts spending higher than Covid years

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Original article by Simon BensonJack QuailPerry Williams
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Apr-25

Federal government spending per capita peaked at $25,500 during the pandemic. However, analysis of the recent budget suggests that this will rise to $30,100 by 2029. This would be the highest per-capita spending in the nation’s history, and it is 27.2 per cent higher than the per capita expenditure of $23,700 in the former Coalition government’s last budget in 2021-22. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s economic credentials, arguing that inflation has fallen from a peak of 7.8 per cent to just 2.4 per cent and wages have increased for the last five quarters. Meanwhile, 44 out of 100 undecided voters have deemed Albanese to be the winner of the first leaders’ debate; 35 said Opposition leader Peter Dutton won, and 21 were undecided.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINETLIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Australia’s median home value has increased by about $230,000 in past five years, data shows

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Original article by Cait Kelly
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

Data from CoreLogic has underlined Australia’s housing affordability crisis, with the median dwelling price rose by 39.1 per cent over the five years to March 2025. CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy says this equates to an increase of about $230,000 in the median price. The data also shows that the price of an average home reached a record high of 8.0 times the median income at the end of 2024; this compares with a housing values to incomes ratio of just 4.6 per cent in 2001 and 6.5 per cent in 2020.

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CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Trump’s trade chief admits US running up the score with tariffs on Australia

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Original article by Michael Koziol
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has defended the Trump administration’s decision to impose a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on Australian imports. Democrats senator Mark Warner asked Greer why the US would do so, given that the US has a trade surplus with Australia and the two nations are close allies. Greer argued that Australia will be subject to the lowest tariff rate, adding that the government needs to reduce the $US1.2trn trade deficit that it inherited from the Biden administration. He stated that the US should be "running up the score on Australia", implying that it could use a bigger surplus with Australia to offset its trade deficits elsewhere. Meanwhile, the US has advised that cumulative tariffs of 104 per cent on Chinese imports will take effect on Wednesday.

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UNITED STATES. OFFICE OF TRADE REPRESENTATIVES

AusSuper’s six-day delay on cyber scam

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 2 : 9-Apr-25

The 74-year old woman who lost more than $400,000 from her AustralianSuper account when it was targeted by scammers informed the industry super fund of the fraud on 28 March. The siphoned money was channeled through five separate Commonwealth Bank of Australia accounts, but it has been revealed that AustralianSuper did not inform CBA of the fraud until 3 April. The co-ordinated cyber-attack also targeted several other major industry super funds, although AustralianSuper is the only one to have confirmed that its members have lost money. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has increased its oversight of the super industry in the wake of the cyber-attack.

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AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTDCOMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBAAUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

New mine boosting BHP’s iron ore strategy

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Original article by Dylan Brown
Australian Resources and Investment – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

BHP CEO Mike Henry recently advised shareholders that production at its South Flank iron ore mine in Western Australia has been ramped up since the resources group decided to proceed with in 2017. He said South Flank has reached full production, adding that the project has allowed BHP to increase its average iron ore content and secure higher prices for its ore. BHP aims to increase production in the Pilbara to 305 million tonnes a year in the medium-term, and Henry said the company is assessing its options to lift output to around 330 million tonnes per year.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

DIY projects, travel and food lead Easter holiday spend

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

New data from the Australian Retailers Association in collaboration with Roy Morgan reveals comprehensive retail spending insights this Easter. The data shows that 6.2 million Australians are planning to use the Easter break for DIY projects around the home, with a total spend of $6.7 billion nationwide, and an average spend of $1,082 per person; this is up $230 (27%) on last year’s figures. Some 4.55 million Australians (100,000 more than last year) are projected to use the Easter break for travel this year, with an estimated spend of $11.1 billion on trips within their own state, interstate and overseas. Meanwhile, 15.2 million Australians are planning to splurge on Easter food and chocolate this year, with total food spend of $2.2bn. This ARA-Roy Morgan Snap SMS survey was conducted with an Australian-wide cross-section of 2,041 Australians aged 18+ from 13-17 March.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITEDAUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Marles stays mum on US role in port U-turn

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 8-Apr-25

The federal government continues to attract scrutiny over its decision to terminate a Chinese company’s 99-year on the Port of Darwin if it wins the 3 May election. A review of the lease in 2023 had concluded that it was not necessary to vary or cancel Landbridge’s lease. Defence Minister Richard Marles addressed a press conference on Monday, but he declined to elaborate on why Labor’s position on the port lease has changed. Marles said the government has had discussions with US regarding the lease, and also decline to comment on whether this contributed to Labor’s new stance. Labor pre-empted Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s own announcement on cancelling Landbridge’s lease.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LANDBRIDGE GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, PORT OF DARWIN, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Unions warn Coalition’s job cuts could exceed 41,000

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 8-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton is under scrutiny over his backdown over plans to slash federal public service numbers. The Community & Public Sector Union’s national secretary Melissa Donnelly says the Coalition’s new policy of reducing the public service via natural attrition and hiring freezes over five years could result in the loss of much more than the 41,000 jobs that Dutton had initially flagged. ACTU secretary Sally McManus in turn has criticised Dutton’s backdown on a return-to-office mandate for public servants; she says legal advice suggests that Dutton could not enforce this without legislative changes that would also remove working-from-home rights for all workers.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, ACTU