Author: roymorgansocial

Liberal MP Gladys Liu says she was not clear in gaffe-ridden interview

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Original article by Rob Harris
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 12-Sep-19

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong has called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assure Parliament that Gladys Liu is a "fit and proper person" to be there. Liu, who is the Liberal member of Chisholm and who was born in Hong Kong, has been the subject of allegations that she has links to Chinese propaganda units. In an error-ridden interview with Andrew Bolt on Sky on 10 September, Liu said she could not recall being a member of groups with connections to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. Liu said in a statement on 11 September that she could have chosen her words better, while she said any suggestion that she was not loyal to Australia was "deeply offensive".

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC a systemic tax risk: ATO

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Original article by Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 12-Sep-19

Australian Taxation Office second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn has told the big four consulting firms that they can longer act as if they are boutique operations. Hirschhorn has been speaking to Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC in recent weeks, and has been telling them to rein in what he describes as a small number of arrogant tax partners that Hirschhorn contends are trying to disrupt the tax system with excessively risky advice. The big four firms have hundreds of tax partners; it is understood that the number of partners that the ATO views as problematic is in the "low dozens".

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AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD ERNST AND YOUNG

Bank bosses need a reality check

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 12-Sep-19

Former regulator Graeme Samuel told a parliamentary hearing on 11 September that the ANZ needs a "reality check". Samuel was responding to questions about his review of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), with Samuel noting that the ANZ was one of 32 entities that have chosen not to make their prudential self-assessment public. He said that the National Australia Bank had set the benchmark by releasing its self-assessment in late 2018, and that the ANZ should be compelled to submit to a snap inquiry if it did not release its review.

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AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

We can thrive in low carbon world: Whitehaven

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 12-Sep-19

Whitehaven Coal has undertaken modelling to determine the possible impact on its business of countries cutting their carbon emissions to curtail global warming in line with the Paris climate agreement. Based on a scenario where countries seek to limit temperature increases to under two degrees Celsius, demand for Australian coal would contract by under 4.5 per cent per year over the next two decades. WWhitehaven is confident it would remain cash-flow positive over that period, while it contends demand for its coal will fall less than for other Australian coal, due to low impurity levels and high energy content.

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WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC

BHP escapes shareholder resolution on emissions

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 12-Sep-19

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie has previously flagged plans to set targets for Scope 3 emissions, which are the emissions that its customers generate. Market Forces had been tipped to file shareholder resolutions at BHP’s upcoming annual meetings that would require the mining company to set targets for emission reductions, including Scope 3 emissions. However, after BHP indicated it would publish Scope 3 emission targets when it issues its various annual reports in the week beginning 16 September, Market Forces has indicated it will not submit a shareholder resolution on the matter.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP MARKET FORCES RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Nation weaning itself off benefits

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Original article by Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 8 : 11-Sep-19

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019 welfare report states that the nation’s welfare bill has levelled at $130 billion over the past three years. The report, which will be released on 11 September, also states the proportion of working-age Australians receiving income support declined from 22 per cent in 1999 to 15 per cent in 2018. The AIHW report serves as a picture of Australia’s well-being, with AIHW spokesman Dinesh Indrahara noting Australia is in the top third of OECD countries on a range of measures, including social connectedness and life satisfaction.

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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The wages explanation you won’t hear from Treasury or the RBA

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Original article by David Peetz
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Sep-19

Australian nominal wage growth has been under half the OECD average since 2013, according to Jim Stanford from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work. A senior Treasury official recently suggested low wage growth could be due to workers not changing jobs, while Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has contended caps on civil service pay rises might be another factor. A further factor behind low wage growth that neither Lowe or the Treasury official seemed to take into account is the reduction in worker bargaining power that has resulted from the fall in unionisation over recent decades.

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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Immunotherapy a groundbreaking new cancer treatment, but prohibitively expensive

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Original article by Tracy Bowden
abc.net au – Page: Online : 10-Sep-19

Developed by Swiss company Novartis, Kymriah is an innovative immunotherapy treatment that has been described by University of NSW cancer biologist Darren Saunders as a type of living drug. Saunders notes it has shown to be very beneficial for a large number of people with certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma, but not all patients. Dave Roberts, who has a type of lymphoma, says his doctor has told him that Kymriah is basically his only hope of survival. The federal government is not yet funding Kymriah for people with the type of cancer that Roberts has, so treatment would cost him $500,000.

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NOVARTIS AG, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

US states open Google antitrust probe

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Original article by Brent Kendall
The Australian – Page: 20 : 11-Sep-19

Attorney-generals representing 48 US states have launched an antitrust investigation into online search company Google, with Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia also involved. Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton says the investigation will initially focus on Google’s practices in internet advertising markets. Florida Attorney-General Ashley Mood noted his concerns regarding privacy, while Alaska Attorney-General Kevin Clarkson questioned whether Google’s tactics had increased costs for businesses.

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GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Basin crisis: no water to flush rivers

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Original article by Ean Higgins, Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 11-Sep-19

The Murray-Darling river system is facing a possible environmental catastrophe over the 2019-20 summer, due to a lack of water in dams in the system’s Northern Basin. Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley says this lack of water means that authorities will not be able to replenish the northern river system, as they have done in the past two years. Ley says the possible impacts of not being able to do so include parts of the system drying up, native vegetation dying, and mass fish deaths.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY