Author: roymorgansocial

Labor flags R&D reprieve on clawbacks

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 & 20 : 16-Apr-19

Shadow innovation minister Kim Carr says Labor will look at how to lift expenditure on research and development to three per cent of GDP by 2030 if it wins the federal election. He notes that R&D expenditure is currently at 1.8 per cent of GDP, compared with 2.1 per cent in 2013. Carr says Labor will seek to have start-ups exempted from the R&D tax incentive clawbacks that impacted the technology sector in late 2018, while he claims that over 1,000 scientists have lost their jobs under the current government.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DULUXGROUP LIMITED – ASX DLX, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Why Morrison needs to turn up the fear factor on Labor

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 29 : 16-Apr-19

The Coalition’s best chance of winning the federal election may to be to launch a fear campaign against key Labor policies, such as its franking credit reforms and changes to the negative gearing regime. The latter policy will almost certainly result in lower house values over time; the Coalition should pitch its fear campaign at home buyers who are in or are close to being in negative equity, as well as small business owners who use their homes as capital. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is unlikely to seek to cash in on the fear factor until it is far too late.

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

Cartels cave as ACCC hits three a year

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 16-Apr-19

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims says it plans to run three cartel prosecutions a year for the foreseeable future. He says a memorandum of understanding with the FBI to share information with the ACCC will help it to prosecute criminal cartel behaviour. The ACCC currently has five criminal cartel cases before the courts, covering industries such as banking and construction. Forming a cartel in Australia has only been illegal since 2009, although it has been illegal in the US since 1890.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, NYK LINE (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, VISY INDUSTRIES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA LIMITED

Labor taxes could hinder economy

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 16-Apr-19

The consensus among economists would seem to be that the Coalition’s tax policies will be better for the economy over the medium- to long-term than those of Labor. However, Labor’s short-term tax cuts for low-income earners could provide a stimulus for the economy at a time when it appears to be slowing. AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver says the impact of Labor’s tax policies will depend on what it does with the extra revenue that it raises.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

AMP’s reputation hit harder than big banks

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Original article by Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 16-Apr-19

The rankings of the four major banks and AMP have fallen sharply in the latest corporate reputation index, which is compiled by the Reputation Institute. AMP has fallen 18 places in the annual index, and now ranks last in the list of 60 companies. Oliver Freedman of the Reputation Institute notes that AMP’s corporate reputation has not improved since the Hayne royal commission exposed misconduct at the financial services group in 2018. He adds that AMP and the banks must work harder to restore their reputations.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, REPUTATION INSTITUTE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Industry funds to reach $2trn within 10 years

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Apr-19

KPMG has forecast that Australia’s superannuation industry will boast $5.4trn worth of funds under management by 2029, compared with just $2.7trn at present. The firm’s 2019 Super Insights report also forecasts that industry funds will manage $2trn in 2029, up from $631bn in 2019. Paul Howes of KPMG says union-backed industry funds must ensure that they comply with the ‘sole-purpose test’ as their dominance of the super industry increases.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, SUNSUPER PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, MLC LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Free blood tests: Labor raises health pressure

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 : 16-Apr-19

Healthcare is set to continue to dominate the federal election campaign, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to announce an expansion of Labor’s cancer care package on 16 April. Shorten will commit to providing free blood tests for cancer patients and older Australians, at a cost of $200m. This is in addition to Labor’s previously-announced $2.3bn cancer treatment plan. Meanwhile, Labor has rejected suggestions of a $5.8bn funding shortfall for its cancer policy, stating that the Health Department has advised that it has not costed the policy.

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

Miners place big bets on copper to cash in on electric car boom

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 16-Apr-19

Morgan Stanley has forecast that over 10 million electric vehicles will be sold each year by 2025, up from 600,000 in 2015. The rise in demand for electric cars has been tipped to lead to a corresponding increase in demand for copper, with electric vehicles needing around four times as much copper as an average-sized petrol-driven car. Rio Tinto is making copper a key focus of its future plans, having forecast a copper shortfall of eight million tonnes by 2020.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Rise in vegetarianism not halting the march of obesity

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-19

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that in the year to December 2018, nearly 2.5 million Australians (12.1% of the population) had diets of which the food is all, or almost all, vegetarian. This compares with less than 2.2 million (11.2%) in 2014. However, the rising level of vegetarianism in Australia has yet to stop the increasing trend towards obesity. Now 28.5% of Australians have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30 and are classified as ‘Obese’, up 2.1% points from four years ago. Some 2.7% of Australians are classified as ‘Underweight’, up 0.2% points from four years ago. ‘Underweight’ Australians have a BMI below 18.5. Meanwhile, analysis shows that Metrotechs (18.2%) and Aspirationals (13.1%) have a higher than average share of vegetarians among Roy Morgan’s Helix Personas communities.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Tax cut plan needs $40b off spending

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Original article by John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 16-Apr-19

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is confident that the Coalition can reduce government spending to about 23.6 per cent of GDP over the next decade, as outlined in the April 2019 Budget. Danielle Wood of the Grattan Institute warns that this would require spending to be cut by $40bn a year in order to finance tax cuts and retain a surplus. Meanwhile, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has described the second and third stages of the government’s tax cuts package as "utterly unsustainable, unaffordable and irresponsible". Labor supports the first stage of the tax cuts, and Bowen says further cuts will be considered in the context of each Budget.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY