Author: roymorgansocial

BHP to review membership of coal lobby

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 6-Sep-19

BHP says the latest review of its membership of industry associations will include Coal21, which has links to the Minerals Council of Australia. The resources giant is under growing pressure to sever its links with pro-coal lobbyists, but it has recommended that shareholders vote against a resolution calling for it to cancel its membership of the MCA due to the latter’s stance on climate change. Meanwhile, CFO Peter Beaven says BHP would be open to selling its coal assets at the right price; he adds that a decision on a proposed brownfield expansion of the Olympic Dam copper mine may be delayed until 2022.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COAL21 LIMITED, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

ANZ tips 0.25pc cash rate by May

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Original article by Melissa Yeo, David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 21 : 6-Sep-19

The ANZ Bank’s head of Australian economics David Plank expects the Reserve Bank to reduce the cash rate by 0.25 per cent in October, and he says it is likely to ease monetary policy again in February and May 2020. Plank says factors such as the outlook for unemployment and global uncertainty will see official interest rates fall to a record low of 0.25 per cent. UBS economist George Tharenou also anticipates rate cuts in October and February, and he has flagged the potential for a third rate cut in March.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Morrison spruiks infrastructure as key

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Original article by Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 4 : 6-Sep-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes the federal government’s massive infrastructure investment program will help stimulate the economy. The government will spend some $100bn on infrastructure projects over the next decade, including $48.2bn over the next four years. However, shadow infrastructure minister Catherine King contends that the government failed to meet its infrastructure spending commitments in its first five Budgets.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Cyber threat to transport, power

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 6-Sep-19

Home Affairs­ Minister Peter Dutton will release a cyber security consultation paper on 6 September. It warns of the growing threat to Australia’s critical infrastructure, including energy, tele­communications and transport networks. The paper will note that industrial plants are also vulnerable to targeted attacks from state-sponsored hackers and cyber criminals. Dutton will also call for greater co-operation between governments and business, warning of the heightened risk since the Coalition released its cyber security strategy in 2016.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, MAERSK, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE LIMITED

Hopes for tariff truce as US, China resume talks

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 28 : 6-Sep-19

Sharemarkets across the Asia-Pacific region rallied on 5 September as investors welcomed news that the US and China will hold trade discussions in early October. Both nations imposed new tariffs at the start of September, while the US is scheduled to increase tariffs on a range of Chinese goods on 1 October. Meanwhile, financial markets have priced in an 88 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce official interest rates in October, followed by another rate cut by May.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, KOSPI INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX

Dragging the chain on wage theft must stop

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 4-Sep-19

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has outlined a range of proposed workplace reform measures in a four-page letter to Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter. Amongst other things, McManus has called for action to combat wage theft, an overhaul of the annual minimum wage review, the winding back of penalty rate cuts and allowing unions to undertake sector-wide enterprise bargaining. Porter has indicated that the government will shortly release discussion papers on issues such as wage underpayments.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Always independent? Lapping it up with the Libs has Fairfax throwbacks foaming

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Sep-19

Nine Entertainment Company’s newspaper journalists have criticised the media group for hosting a fundraising event for the Liberal Party. They contend that the event has undermined the newspapers’ charters of editorial independence, arguing that ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’, ‘The Age’ and ‘The Australian Financial Review’ had been politically impartial under the ownership of Fairfax Media. Senior federal government ministers and business leaders were amongst those who attended the event, which raised $700,000 for the Liberal Party.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

Glencore beats ATO in transfer pricing battle

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Original article by John Durie
The Australian – Page: 20 : 4-Sep-19

The Australian Taxation Office may appeal a Federal Court ruling in favour of mining giant Glencore over a transfer pricing dispute. The case centred on the price that Glencore’s offshore trading arm paid for copper from its Cobar mine in New South Wales. The ATO contended that the transaction should have been done at arm’s length. The ruling may have implications for other transfer pricing investigations being undertaken by the ATO.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, GLENCORE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Watchdog takes aim at Medibank as patients denied payments

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 4-Sep-19

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has launched legal action against Medibank Private, accusing the health insurer of making false representations about the benefits covered by its policies. It will be alleged that Medibank had wrongly advised customers that its AHM Lite and Boost policies did not cover medical procedures such as knee reconstructions and spinal surgery. ACCC chairman Rod Sim says this forced many policyholders to delay necessary surgery.

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AHM HEALTH INSURANCE, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Brokers lift share of housing pie as bank branches lose business

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 21 : 4-Sep-19

Data from UBS shows that Australia’s major banks account for 79 per cent of existing mortgage loans. However, Jon Mott of UBS says their share of new home loans is likely to keep falling as the trend toward alternatives such as mortgage brokers gathers pace. UBS also notes that the proportion of home loans that are sold via bank branches has fallen from 48 per cent in fiscal 2013 to just 37 per cent. Mott notes that the major banks’ aggressive push to close bank branches in recent years has contributed to the growing use of mortgage brokers.

CORPORATES
UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD