Author: roymorgansocial

No targets, Taylor warns states

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 12-Oct-18

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor says Australia is on track to achieve a 26 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. He says a priority now is to stabilise the national electricity grid, and with this in mind he intends to push for the states and territories to support a "reliability obligation" at the upcoming Council of Australian Governments’ meeting. Taylor also said the states should not press for the adoption of an emissions target at the meeting, arguing that it would only be necessary if Australia sought to reduce emissions by more than 26 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. ENERGY SECURITY BOARD

2018 ARIA Award Nominees & Early Winners Announced

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom Williams
Musicfeeds – Page: Online : 12-Oct-18

Singer-songwriter Amy Shark has received nine nominations in the 2018 ARIA Awards, including Best Female Artist and Album of the Year. Meanwhile, Courtney Barnett has received eight nominations, while the late indigenous musician Gurrumul has been nominated for seven awards. Melbourne-based synthpop band Client Liaison has been nominated for two publicly-voted ARIA awards, in the categories of Best Video (for "Survival In The City") and Best Australian Live Act (for Expo Liaison).

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Low CSG quality may hit export contracts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 12-Oct-18

Australia Pacific LNG CEO Warwick King has told an energy conference that extracting gas from Queensland’s coal seam gas fields is proving to be more difficult than expected. There has been growing concern among industry analysts that the CSG reserves that have underpinned Queensland’s LNG export projects may not able to be extracted economically. Approval for the Gladstone plants was based on proven and probable reserves, whereas LNG export plants in Western Australia were approved on the basis of proven reserves.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL ENERGY, SENEX ENERGY LIMITED – ASX SXY, JEMENA LIMITED

CBA abusing the law fighting customers: Labor

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 12-Oct-18

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn appeared before the House of Representatives economics committee on 11 October. He admitted that the misconduct exposed by the financial services royal commission had hurt some customers, and said CBA is changing its organisational culture in the wake of the scandals that have rocked the bank. Labor MP Clare O’Neil criticised CBA’s approach to dealing with customers’ complaints, including the use of aggressive litigation tactics.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Morgan Stanley fears 15pc house price fall

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Mackenzie Scott
The Australian – Page: 21 : 12-Oct-18

Investment bank Morgan Stanley has warned that residential property prices in Australia could potentially decline by 10-15 per cent. It had previously forecast a fall of just 5-10 per cent in house prices. Morgan Stanley says a pullback of the magnitude it now forecasts would have a flow-on effect across the economy, including a rise in the official unemployment rate to eight per cent. The firm also says the earnings of companies with exposure to the residential property sector would be hit.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Fortescue in $500m share buy-back

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 12-Oct-18

Shares in Fortescue Metals Group closed nearly 2.5 per cent higher at $3.76 on 11 October, after the pure-play iron ore miner announced plans to repurchase $500m worth of its shares. Peter O’Connor of Shaw & Partners has welcomed the share buyback, which has coincided with the recent rise in the price of lower-grade iron. Fortescue is expected to launch the buyback following the release of its quarterly results in late October.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Labor flags flip on small biz tax cuts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 12-Oct-18

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has signalled that Labor remains open to backing legislation to bring forward tax cuts for small and medium enterprises. He says a prerequisite would be that there is no impact on government funding for hospitals and schools. The tax cuts for businesses with turnover of up to $50m have already been legislated, but the federal government wants to reduce the tax rate to 25 per cent in 2021-22 rather than 2026-27.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Trump blames crazy Fed for rout

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Vesna Poljak, Sarah Turner, Michael Smith, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 29 : 12-Oct-18

The Nasdaq shed more than four per cent on 11 October, as global sentiment toward equities turned bearish. President Donald Trump has linked the global sell-off to the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to increase official interest rates, telling reporters that the central bank is "making a mistake" and it has "gone crazy". Simon Doyle of Schroders says US markets are likely to experience a further big fall, citing factor such as high valuations, rising interest rates and the US-China trade war.

CORPORATES
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, SCHRODER INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, ADOBE CORPORATION, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, WISETECH GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX WTC, APPEN LIMITED – ASX APX, FEDERATION ASSET MANAGEMENT, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Shorten to shake up bank super

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Simon Benson, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Oct-18

Labor leader Bill Shorten has indicated that bank-owned superannuation funds could face tougher regulation under a Labor government. Noting the inherent of conflict of interests associated with profit-focused banks owning retail super funds, he said that one option could be a requirement that such funds appoint independent trustees. He also flagged the possibility of empowering the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to sack trustees of super funds that consistently underperform.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ONE NATION PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE

Fines a reminder of ACTU rally penalties

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 11-Oct-18

The Federal Court has fined 75 construction workers $1,400 apiece for engaging in unlawful industrial action in Perth in 2013. Stephen McBurney, the head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, says the fines are a "timely reminder" of the consequences of breaching workplace laws. The ABCC recently warned that building workers who participate in upcoming union rallies without written approval from their employee could potentially be prosecuted.

CORPORATES
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, WORKPAC PTY LTD, SAS GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS