Author: roymorgansocial

Enterprise deals face extinction

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 13-Dec-18

The proportion of workers in the private sector that are covered by enterprise agreement has fallen from 19 per cent in 2013 to 12 per cent in 2017, according the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work. Its report shows that the number of private-sector employees who are covered by enterprise agreements has declined by more than 660,000 since 2013. It concludes that if the current trend continues, fewer than two per cent of private sector employees could be covered by enterprise agreements by 2030.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Please explain … call for ABC, SBS transparency

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Dec-18

The federal government’s competitive neutrality inquiry into public broadcasting has concluded that the ABC and SBS are competing fairly with their commercial rivals. However, the inquiry has recommended greater transparency with regard to the public broadcasters’ business activities, their use of taxpayer funding and compliance with their charters. Amongst other things, the inquiry also recommended a shift toward longer-term funding arrangements for the ABC and SBS.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, ERNST AND YOUNG, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, ONE NATION PARTY

New housing loans drop 7.4pc in quarter

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Original article by Samantha Bailey
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Dec-18

A new report from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that $89.2bn worth of new mortgage loans were written in the September quarter, which is 7.4 per cent lower than previously. However, authorised deposit-taking institutions have reported a 5.4 per cent increase in the total value of housing loans in the year to September. Chris Bedingfield of Quay Global Investors says the annual rate of house construction is now too high, given that banks are tightening their lending criteria. He adds that the Reserve Bank is now more likely to reduce rather than raise the cash rate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, QUAY GLOBAL INVESTORS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Westpac first to feel wrath of investors

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis, Paul Gardiner
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 13-Dec-18

Westpac’s remuneration report was rejected by 64.2 per cent of shareholders at its AGM on 12 December, the largest "no" vote against a top-20 stock since the "two-strikes" rule was introduced in 2011. Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted has acknowledged investors’ angst and says the bank will consider the issues raised at the AGM. Argo Investments CEO Jason Beddow also expects National Australia Bank and the ANZ Bank to experience a big protest vote at their upcoming AGMs, although he adds that it is uncertain whether this will lead to a significant change in remuneration policies.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ARGO INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX ARG, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Expect the RBA to hold fire on rates

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Original article by James Glynn
The Australian – Page: 27 : 13-Dec-18

The Reserve Bank is still more likely to tighten rather than ease monetary policy, despite recent comments by governor Philip Lowe. He was most likely just outlining how the central bank could be expected to respond – including the potential for quantitative easing – in the event of an economic downturn. Although the Reserve Bank is still concerned about issues such as an emerging credit crunch, the odds still favour a rate rise, although this is unlikely to be for some time.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Early signs of tinsel raise ho-ho-hopes of a rally

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 13-Dec-18

Australia’s benchmark index posted its second-largest one-day gain for 2018 on 12 December, while some key Asian markets also rallied amid signs of a thawing of relations between the US and China. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200’s forward price-earnings ratio fell below its long-term average of about 14 times on 10 December and the index’s estimated dividend yield reached a two-year high of 5.2 per cent. It should also be noted that over the last two decades, the S&P/ASX 200 has gained an average of two per cent during the last two weeks of a calendar year.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, KOSPI INDEX, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

Saltbush Club: The Revolt of the “Yellow Vests”

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For decades now, working people, tax payers and retirees have been battered by the Green elites who shelter in well-paid tax havens like the UN and Greenpeace.

These Green elites have been supported by fellow travellers like the Clintons, Obama and Hollywood in America; Merkel in Germany; David Cameron, Prince Charles, David Attenborough and the BBC in UK; Macron in France; Gillard, Turnbull, Flannery and the ABC in Australia; the Trudeau dynasty in Canada; plus ranks of pious clerics, scheming oil sheikhs, green energy speculators and guilt-stricken big business executives.

This powerful elite has waged ceaseless war on the coal and nuclear power that provides cheap reliable electricity, on the farmers and fishermen who provide food, and on those who refine and manufacture things. They tax the diesel vehicles that provide transport and recreation for ordinary people and fill their suburbs and welfare rolls with imported “refugees”. They have captured their schools and universities that now provide more indoctrination than education. Green dogma infests the government media that people used to trust and is destroying the industries that once gave them well-paid jobs.

But Jack & Jill Public are starting to fight back.

The rise of Donald Trump in the US, Marine Le Pen in France, the Brexiteers in UK, political re-alignments in Denmark, the election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and now the sudden revolt of the “Yellow Vests” in Paris all show that an increasing number of people are fed up with their green overlords.

Australians are now joining this undercurrent of revolt. It is shown by the dethroning of closet-green PM Turnbull, the rise of dissident groups like the energy-focussed “Monash Forum”, the “Advance Australia” movement, the rural-based “Green Shirts” and the surprising early support for “The Saltbush Club” which urges Australia to exit immediately from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Viv Forbes
vforbes@bigpond.com

Disclosure: Viv Forbes is Founding Secretary of the Saltbush Club


Further Reading:

The Yellow Vests in Paris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC0rczrqn5s
https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/french-government-prepared-to-back-down-over-carbon-tax/

Fighting the Green Blob in UK:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/12/will-no-one-ever-take-on-the-green-blob/

The Monash Forum in Australia:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/monash-forum-mps-release-coal-fact-sheets/news-story/75206ac5a00610c4637eba2f43d4f7ec

The Green-Shirt Aussies in the bush:
https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5557095/green-shirts-uncover-alps-raw-spot/

Advance Australia:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/getup-faces-conservative-challenger-advance-australia/news-story/eb0e92c31377a790ea8902d4bfb08f63

The Saltbush Club:
https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/12/australia-should-cop-out-of-cop-24/

Leading researcher pours cold water over link between property prices and the economy

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Original article by
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 12-Dec-18

Australian house prices have fallen 9.5 per cent from their peak in July 2017, and some economists have forecast a peak-to-trough decline of up to 15 per cent. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine discusses the outlook for residential property prices on Radio National. She says the recent downturn in house prices is primarily due to stricter lending criteria rather than a decline in demand for housing. Levine also discusses issues such as mortgage stress and whether a fall in house prices has an impact on consumer confidence.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Unions test Labor with airline fight

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Dec-18

Labor will seek support for industry-wide enterprise bargaining for low-paid workers at its upcoming national conference. However, the Transport Workers’ Union will push for the policy on industry-wide bargaining to be broadened to include the aviation sector. Leaders of rival unions do not believe that there is much support within Labor’s senior ranks for such a move, while Qantas CEO Alan Joyce recently warned of the impact that doing so would have on both the airline’s supply chain and the broader economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

Merged miners see more gold deals on horizon

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 24 : 12-Dec-18

Gold miner Horizon Minerals will have a market capitalisation of around $64m and will be headed by Intermin Resources MD Jon Price. Horizon has been formed via a merger between Intermin and MacPhersons Resources, and Price says the new company already has its sights on potential gold acquisitions in Western Australia. Other recent deals in Australia’s gold sector include the merger between Silver Lake Resources and Doray Minerals.

CORPORATES
HORIZON MINERALS LIMITED, INTERMIN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX IRC, MACPHERSONS RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MRP, SILVER LAKE RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX SLR, DORAY MINERALS LIMITED – ASX DRM, BARDOC GOLD LIMITED – ASX BDC, EXCELSIOR GOLD LIMITED