Author: roymorgansocial

Let voters decide on migration: Hanson

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Jun-18

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wants a plebiscite on the issue of immigration, arguing that the general public has had no input into Australia’s migrant intake. Hanson intends to introduce a bill when federal parliament resumes in August, and says any such plebiscite should be held in conjunction with the next election rather than via a postal ballot. Several Coalition MPs have called for a reduction in the annual migrant intake, including former prime minister Tony Abbott and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Caltex franchisee fined over false pay records

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 24 : 28-Jun-18

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered former Caltex petrol station franchise operator Aulion to pay fines totalling $A80,190 for falsifying its employees’ wage records. The franchise’s owner Peter Dagher in turn has been fined $A16,038. The service station at Five Docks in Sydney is one of 15 that were investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman over concerns about wage exploitation. The penalties for non-compliance have been significantly increased since 2016, when the breaches in question occurred.

CORPORATES
CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, AULION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Union bid for three strikes penalties

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 28-Jun-18

The New South Wales state conference of the Australian Labor Party will be presented with a motion to hold lead contractors on public projects liable for breaches of workplace laws across their supply chain. The motion will be put forward by the Transport Workers’ Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. They will propose that head contractors have their contracts terminated if three separate breaches of workplace laws are identified. The unions also intend to put the motion to Labor’s national conference.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Lawyers’ bills soar under Coalition

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Original article by Nicola Berkovic
The Australian – Page: 7 : 28-Jun-18

New figures show that the outsourcing of legal work to the private sector has significantly increased the federal government’s legal costs since the Coalition took office in 2013. Government expenditure on legal services topped $A825m in 2016-17, compared with $A689m in 2013-14. The proportion of legal work undertaken by in-house lawyers has fallen from 54 per cent to 49 per cent over the same period. Attorney-General Christian Porter has indicated that action will be taken to rein in legal costs.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SOLICITOR, CLAYTON UTZ

Court tells Wilson to pay back $4.2m

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Original article by Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 28-Jun-18

Victoria’s Court of Appeal has ordered Hollywood star Rebel Wilson to pay 80 per cent of the legal costs that Bauer Media incurred in its appeal against her landmark defamation payout. Wilson had initially been awarded a record $A4.7m, which Bauer paid in September 2017. This was subsequently reduced to just $A600,000 plus interest on appeal, and Wilson has been ordered to repay more than $A4.1m.

CORPORATES
BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA)

$1bn increase in company tax take boosts the case for reform

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 6 : 28-Jun-18

The Federal Government has released data showing that company tax revenue for 2017-18 will be $A1.1bn higher than had been forecast in its May 2018 Budget. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has also advised that company tax revenue for 2017-18 is expected to be $A9.2bn higher than the $A78.6bn that the government had forecast in its Budget update in late 2016. Cormann also revealed that a crackdown on tax avoidance has resulted in the recovery of $A2.7bn in unpaid taxes from multinationals.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Pressure on Shorten to fix tax split

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Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 28-Jun-18

Dissent within Labor is continuing over plans to reverse tax cuts for companies with annual turnover of between $A10m and $A50m if Labor wins the next election. Labor’s leadership group is expected to endorse the policy at a meeting on 28 June, despite some Labor MPs expressing concern that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced the policy without consulting the shadow cabinet or caucus. The Federal Government remains hopeful of gaining the support of Senate crossbenchers for its full company tax cuts package.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, REACHTEL PTY LTD

Fortescue bid for Atlas rests on port rights

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 20 : 28-Jun-18

The status of Atlas Iron’s right to develop new berths at Port Hedland is likely to determine whether Fortescue Metals Group makes a takeover bid. The pure-play iron ore miner has asked Atlas to clarify its priority rights to develop the South West Creek berths. The Western Australian Government recently gave indications that Atlas no longer holds these rights, and that junior miners should have priority access to the berths. This would exclude both Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting from using the berths.

CORPORATES
ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF TRANSPORT

RBA sidelined as cost of money rises

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Jun-18

Futures market pricing suggests that investors expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep official interest rates on hold until late 2019. However, the gap between the cash rate and the bank bill swap rate has increased to 61 basis points, compared with an average of 18 basis points for much of the last decade. The rise in the BBSW may eventually prompt Australia’s major banks to increase their mortgage interest rates independently of the RBA, with several of the nation’s smaller lenders having already done so.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, ME BANK, AMP BANK LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD

Disrupt or be disrupted: Netflix co-founder

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Original article by Chris Griffith
The Australian – Page: 21 : 27-Jun-18

Netflix’s co-founder Marc Randolph addressed a conference in Sydney on 26 June. He stressed that companies need to be disruptive themselves in order to avoid becoming a casualty of disruption. He cited the example of former video giant Blockbuster, which declined a deal with Netflix during the streaming video giant’s early years. Blockbuster’s business model was subsequently disrupted by Netflix to such an extent that it is no longer in business. Randolph also said people do not need any skills in order to be innovative and disruptive.

CORPORATES
NETFLIX INCORPORATED, BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO SUPER STORES