O75 Public Administration

Almost three-quarters of dating app users subjected to online sexual violence, study finds

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Original article by Tobias Jurss-Lewis
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 5-Oct-22

Research undertaken by Roy Morgan on behalf of the Australian Institute of Criminology shows that 72.3 per cent of dating app users have been subjected to online sexual violence in the past five years. One in three users had been subjected to in-person sexual violence perpetrated by someone they had met on a dating app or website; this includes being physically or verbally pressured into performing unwanted sexual acts or having their drink spiked. The study, which surveyed 9,987 Australians aged 18+ who used dating apps, found that two-thirds reported being sexually harassed and almost half had been sent an unwanted explicit picture or video.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGY

No lap of honour as Xi loses his hero status

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Oct-22

Chinese President Xi Jinping appears to have the numbers to be given a third term at the Communist Party’s upcoming 20th National Congress. However, nothing has gone right for Xi in the last year, and he no longer has hero status. Xi made a serious mistake in not making it very clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately prior to the Beijing Winter Olympics that China would oppose an invasion of Ukraine; Putin delayed the invasion until after the Olympics. The invasion will also dash Xi’s grand vision to link the Pacific to the Atlantic via fast rail; the rail line would have to pass through both Russia and Ukraine, and Putin had almost certainly assured Xi that victory would come quickly. Meanwhile, China’s property industry is in crisis and COVID-19 lockdowns are hitting the economy.

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ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops 2.3pts to 85.5 as AUD and ASX200 fall and the petrol excise is returned

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Oct-22

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 2.3pts to 85.5 in the week ended 2 October. It is now 19.1pts below the same week a year ago (104.6), and 5.1pts below the 2022 weekly average of 90.6. The fall in Consumer Confidence was broad-based, with the index falling in all five mainland States – the first time that has happened since early August. Now 24% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 42% (also unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 31% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 31% (unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (down 3ppts) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 36% (up 3ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 25% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 43% (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Roy Morgan Business Confidence up for a second straight month and back in positive territory at 100.7

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Oct-22

In September 2022, Roy Morgan Business Confidence rose 4.7pts to 100.7, the first time the index has increased in consecutive months so far this year. The index is now back in positive territory and at its highest since April 2022, before the Reserve Bank started raising interest rates in early May. However, Business Confidence is 12.5pts below the long-term average of 113.2. Some 43.6% (up 3.8ppts) of businesses expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next year, while 54.2% (down 4.1ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 44.4% (up 0.9ppts) of businesses expect the business will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 24.5% (down 2.4ppts) expect the business will be ‘worse off’. Businesses are split on whether to invest in growing their business; 44.8% (up 1.3ppts) say the next 12 months will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, while 46.6% (down 2.8ppts) said it will be a ‘bad time to invest’ in growing the business.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

RBA slows its rate pace from breakneck to merely galloping

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-Oct-22

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has indicated that further interest rises are likely as the central bank seeks to bring inflation under control. The RBA defied the expectations of most economists and investors by increasing the cash rate by just 25 basis points on Tuesday, lifting it to 2.6 per cent. The RBA has become the first major central bank to scale back the size of interest rate increases in the current monetary policy tightening cycle, having increased the cash rate by 50 basis points at each of its previous four monthly board meetings. Australia’s four major banks have increased their variable mortgage interest rates by 25 basis points in line with the cash rate.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Australia’s public education funding went backwards during COVID pandemic

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Original article by Gabriella Marchant
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 4-Oct-22

A report from the OECD shows that Australian governments reduced their spending on public education by nearly two per cent during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hungary was the only OECD member nation that reduced education funding by a higher margin; in contrast, overall spending among OECD nations increased by an average of 1.5 per cent. The report also shows that Australian teachers’ salaries are generally higher than the OECD average, although local teachers spend longer hours in the classroom than their overseas peers.

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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Nats upset by watchdog threat to grants fund

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 7 : 4-Oct-22

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has suggested that the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission could be given the power to investigate the targeting of seats through grant programs. However, Nationals leader David Littleproud says such programs are a mechanism for seeing that regional areas get their fair share of funding, and that they should not come under the remit of the NACC. Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce says it does not view ‘pork barrelling’ as corruption but as a way of taking care of regional towns. Meanwhile, the Coalition has called for a high-ranking judge to make the final decision on whether NACC hearings are held in public.

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AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Government jumped gun with Optus attack

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 4-Oct-22

Optus has hired Deloitte to undertake an investigation into its security systems, controls and processes in the wake of its recent data breach, which was the largest in Australian history. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has denied there is any rift between it and the federal government, and that the telco is fully co-operating with all requests for information. A number of federal government ministers have criticised Optus for not already having supplied it with details regarding compromised Medicare and Centrelink data, despite Services Australia having given it until 4 October to provide the information.

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SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. CENTRELINK, AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Labor canvasses capping stage three tax cuts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Oct-22

The federal government has ruled out scrapping the stage-three income tax cuts that are slated to take effect in mid-2024, although it may be open to scaling them back. The Greens and the majority of independents in the Senate favour winding back the tax cuts, which will primarily benefit people on higher incomes. Labor could potentially announce any change in its stance on the legislated tax cuts in the Budget on 25 October. The British government has reversed its decision to abolish the nation’s top tax rate, and the Greens have urged Labor to follow its example.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Interest rate rises: One in four Aussie mortgage holders could face financial stress

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Original article by Sarah Sharples
News.com.au – Page: Online : 4-Oct-22

Roy Morgan research reveals that close to one in four mortgage holders would be at risk of mortgage stress if the Reserve Bank lifts interest rates by 0.5% in both October and November. It would be the equivalent of 1.1 million people, and would represent the highest number of mortgage holders classed as being at risk since July 2013; Roy Morgan defines mortgage stress as having repayments greater than between 25% and 45% of household income. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the variable that has the greatest impact on whether a borrower falls into the ‘at risk’ category is household income – which is directly related to employment. She says that if employment figures remain strong, the number of mortgage holders at risk should not reach the levels seen during the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2009, when the percentage of mortgage holders at risk peaked at 35.6% in May 2008.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA