Author: roymorgansocial

One in five households facing mortgage stress

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 3-Jan-20

Around two million households are finding it hard to make mortgage repayments despite low interest rates, according to comparison website Finder. The number of households in this position has risen since May 2018, the month before the Reserve Bank made the first of its three cash rate cuts. Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute notes that borrowers should be looking around more for better mortgage rate offers, while Kate Browne from Finder comments that "mortgages need constant monitoring"

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FINDER.COM.AU, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Power cut plan no long-term energy fix

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 3-Jan-20

The Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) scheme is not the solution to Australia’s power supply problems during the summer months. This is according to Audrey Zibelman, the CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator, which manages the RERT. Under the RERT, which costs power costumers as much as $40 million a summer, AEMO pays large power users to cut their production in an effort to avoid blackouts. The Energy Security Board is investigating a longer-term solution to the RERT as part of its 2025 market design review.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. ENERGY SECURITY BOARD

Destroyed lines could cause days of blackouts

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 3-Jan-20

January 4 is looming as a concerning day for power supplies in New South Wales and Victoria, due to the combination of forecast high temperatures and ongoing bushfires. Power outages in those areas impacted by bushfires could last for another week, with many electricity lines destroyed by the fires inaccessible to repair crews. Snowy Hydro CEO Paul Broad says the Australian Energy Market Operator has been in close contact with generation and transmission companies to ensure everything possible has been done to ensure power remains available on 4 January.

CORPORATES
SNOWY HYDRO LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED

Home values surge to highest growth in 10 years

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Original article by Nila Sweeney
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 3-Jan-20

Australian home values rose by four per cent in the December quarter, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Value Index. The increase was the highest quarterly increase in a decade, although housing values in December only rose by 1.1 per cent. Sydney and Melbourne both recorded annual growth of 5.3 per cent for 2019, while the combined capitals recorded growth of three per cent in 2019.

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Call to regulate medical devices

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Original article by Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 3 : 2-Jan-20

Sheena Jack, the CEO of health insurance company HCF, has called for the creation of an independent regulator of medical devices. Jack says there should be a review of the ‘clinical efficacy’ of items that are on the prostheses list, similar to what is done for items on the pharmaceuticals list. Research conducted by Private Healthcare Australia indicates big price differences between medical devices in Australia and comparable products provided in other countries, while Jack claims public hospitals often have to pay much less for medical devices than private ones.

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THE HOSPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS FUND OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Melbourne to be Australia’s biggest city in next six years

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 2-Jan-20

Melbourne’s population is tipped to grow 28 per cent faster than Sydney’s over the next six years, according to McCrindle Research. Both cities are tipped to have a population of around six million in mid-2026, but Melbourne’s population will pass Sydney’s by the end of that year. Mark McCrindle of McCrindle Research says Melbourne’s rising population will help to boost its national political power, as well as helping it to attract more companies, along with sporting and cultural events.

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MCCRINDLE RESEARCH

Insurers seek changes to NSW funding

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 2-Jan-20

The Insurance Council of Australia has called for changes to the way that emergency services are funded in New South Wales. ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller claims the ’emergency services levy’, which is imposed on insurance companies, leads to underinsurance and is unfair on policyholders. Victoria had a similar levy, but scrapped it after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, replacing it with a broader property tax. NSW passed legislation in 2016 to enact a similar tax, but deferred its implementation not long before it was due to take effect in 2017. Fuller says that decision was "regrettable".

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INSURANCE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Chinese giant snaps up Beatles

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Original article by James Dean
The Australian – Page: 3 : 2-Jan-20

A consortium led by Chinese internet company Tencent has signed a deal to buy 10 per cent of Universal Music Group, with an option to increase its stake to 20 per cent within a year. UMG, which is the world’s largest music label, is a unit of French company Vivendi, which also owns advertising group Havas and pay-TV company Canal+. The deal gives the Tencent-led consortium access to the back catalogues of Queen and the Beatles, along with artists such as Adele and Taylor Swift.

CORPORATES
TENCENT HOLDINGS LIMITED, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, VIVENDI SA, HAVAS, CANAL PLUS SA

Solar export vision to be put to the test

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 2-Jan-20

The Asian Renewable Energy Hub project in Western Australia is one of a number of large projects that has the potential to make Australia a major solar power exporter. Backed by Macquarie Group, the project will use wind and solar to separate hydrogen from water. As much as 15 gigawatts of wind and solar generation across the East Pilbara will provide up to 12 gigawatts for green hydrogen production and three gigawatts of power for energy users in the Pilbara. Another large project is the $22 billion Sun Cable project, which will export solar power to Singapore via undersea cable.

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MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Perhaps workers should share in the executive pay bonanza

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: Online : 30-Dec-19

Restoring income growth for the majority of Australians is one of the key political and economic challenges for 2020. Median disposable income in 2017 was less than it was in 2009, according to the Melbourne Institute’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. The HILDA figures for 2019 are not available as yet, but private sector wages have increased by around one per cent in real terms since late 2017. One way to increase higher disposable incomes could involve governments changing corporate rules so that companies pay higher wages and invest more, rather than buy back shares and pay executive bonuses. It could be made a requirement that big companies have a certain number of employee representatives on their boards. Interviewing for the HILDA survey is conducted by Roy Morgan.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, ROY MORGAN LIMITED