O75 Public Administration

Business backs Lowe on productivity

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 19-Jul-23

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox is amongst the business leaders who have expressed support for comments made by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe regarding productivity. Lowe told the G20 meeting on Monday that low productivity worldwide is a bigger challenge than inflation, and that there is no political will to implement measures to address the problem. Willox says there has been a lack of real policy focus on productivity agenda for more than 15 years. Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott in turn contends that industrial relations policy right is the key to addressing the nation’s productivity challenge.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Rate hikes may cost even more jobs: RBA

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 2 : 19-Jul-23

The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board meeting for July show that it considered a 25 basis point increase in the cash rate. The board also discussed the possibility that growing pressure on households’ budgets could result in consumption slowing more sharply than the current forecasts suggest. This would in turn result in slower demand for labour, while the unemployment rate would most likely rise beyond the rate required to ensure that inflation returns to the target range of 2-3 in a timely manner. National Australia Bank’s senior economist Adam Boynton expects interest rates to remain on hold, although he says a rate rise in August is still a possibility.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 0.7pts to 72.6 – third straight week of declines

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Jul-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 0.7pts to 72.6 in the week to 16 July. Consumer Confidence has now spent 20 straight weeks below the mark of 80, the longest stretch below 80 since the index began being conducted on a weekly rather than a monthly basis in October 2008. Consumer Confidence is now 9.2pts below the same week a year ago (81.8), and 5.8pts below the 2023 weekly average of 78.4. Consumer Confidence was down in New South Wales and Victoria, but up slightly Queensland, WA and SA. Now only 17% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 57% (up 4ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially (a new record high for this indicator in 50 years of interviewing). Some 28% (up 1ppt) of Australians now expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 40% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 42% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 18% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 57% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Taxpayers on hook for big bill as Commonwealth Games axed

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Original article by Annika Smethurst, Rachel Eddie, Broede Carmody, Michael Gleeson
The Age – Page: Online : 19-Jul-23

The Victorian government has not disclosed the likely cost of triggering the cancellation clause in its contract to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games. However, legal advice provided to the Queensland government in 2012 about the potential axing of the 2018 Gold Coast Games suggested that the state would be liable to pay for the cost of staging the Commonwealth Games in another city; the state Labor party estimated at the time that this could cost around $1bn. The Victorian government still intends to spend some $2 billion on Games-related infrastructure in regional towns that were to have hosted events. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games Australia CEO Craig Phillips has questioned the government’s estimate that the cost of hosting the Games has blown out from just $2.6bn to at least $6.2bn.

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COMMONWEALTH GAMES AUSTRALIA

Trust and Distrust in the Not-for-Profit Sector

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Jul-23

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine to discover how trusted the not-for-profit sector is, whether high-net-worth donors are more trusted than other Australians in relation to this sector, which Australians are most likely to donate to charities, and what the not-for-profit industry can do to become more trusted. Michele will unpack these insights from more than 100,000 respondents.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Trust and Distrust in the Real Estate Industry

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Jul-23

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine to discover how trusted or distrusted the real estate sector is, where real estate agents are ranked, what is driving trust and distrust in the real estate sector, and what the real estate industry can do to become more trusted. Michele will unpack these insights from more than 100,000 respondents.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Chalmers won’t back the unions on jobless target

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 4 : 17-Jul-23

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he will not ‘pre-empt’ the monetary policy decisions that incoming Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock might recommend to its board. Chalmers adds that it "remains to be seen" as to whether inflation can be brought under control with higher levels of employment, and he says inflation is the main challenge facing the domestic economy. The ACTU has called for a "reset" of the RBA’s full employment target in the wake of Bullock’s appointment, while Australian Workers Union secretary Paul Farrow said the RBA should redefine full employment as being "understood as zero involuntary unemployment". Bullock had suggested in June that the unemployment rate will have to rise to 4.5 per cent to restore inflation to the target range of 2-3 per cent.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES

Casual employment at 10-year low

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Original article by Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 4 : 17-Jul-23

The Australian Industry Group has released a report which shows that the proportion of casual employees in the workforce has fallen to a decade-low of just 22.1 per cent. The Ai Group says the report refutes the union movement’s claim that the Australian workforce is becoming increasingly casualised, noting that the proportion of casual workers had remained relatively steady at between 23.5 per cent and 25.5 per cent in the years immediately prior to the pandemic. The report also notes that casual work is skewed toward younger Australians.

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THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

‘Dangerous and Orwellian’: Tech giants, lawyers warn on Labor bill

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Original article by Rhian Deutrom, Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 12-Jul-23

The federal government continues to attract scrutiny over proposed laws targeting online misinformation and disinformation. Josh Machin of Facebook’s parent Meta has told a parliamentary committee that the digital giant is concerned that the additional powers given to the Australian Communications & Media Authority could potentially be abused, or used in a way that inadvertently ‘chills’ free and legitimate political expression online. Liberal senator James Paterson contends that censorship is not the answer to addressing online misinformation. Paterson and some of his Coalition colleagues have previously expressed concern about the ‘Orwellian’ nature of the proposed misinformation laws.

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META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Inflation Expectations down 0.4% points to 5.5% in mid-July after rising significantly in June and early July

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Jul-23

The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations are down 0.4% points to 5.5% in mid-July after increasing steadily during June. This week Australians expected inflation of 5.5% annually over the next two years. Despite the weekly fall, the measure has averaged 5.7% so far in July after increasing significantly from a weekly low of 5.1% in mid-May. The monthly figure for June showed Inflation Expectations of 5.6%, an increase of 0.4% points from May, and the equal highest monthly figure so far this year after dipping to its lowest in over a year in May. Roy Morgan’s Inflation Expectations during 2023 have consistently been followed weeks later by the ABS CPI figures. The monthly ABS CPI figures dropped to 5.6% in May 2023 – down 1.2% points from April (6.8% annual CPI). If the trend continues, we can expect to see the ABS CPI annual figures for June register an increase after dipping in May. The ABS CPI figures for June are due to be released on 26 July. The data for the Inflation Expectations series is drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source, which has interviewed an average of around 5,000 Australians aged 14+ per month over the last decade and includes interviews with 5,966 Australians aged 14+ in June.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS