O75 Public Administration

Multi-employer wage fight test

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 15-Feb-23

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union will seek to reinstate all clauses that were banned in workplace agreements under the Coalition’s building industry code of conduct. A proposed multi-employer agreement for heating, ventilation and airconditioning manufacturers may become a test case for Labor’s workforce reforms, which scrapped the building code. Actus Workplace Lawyers principal Stephen Smith notes that some airconditioning companies have entered into pattern agreements with the AMWU in recent years; he says hundreds of companies could be forced to adopt the same wages and conditions if the union seeks to vary the agreement to include other employers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, ACTUS WORKPLACE LAWYERS

Put stop to Senate defectors

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Angelica Snowden, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 15-Feb-23

Centre for Public Integrity chair Anthony Whealy says federal parliament should pursue reforms to address the issue of senators who quit their political party but remain in the upper house. He contends that when electors vote for a party’s candidate in the Senate they are registering a vote for that party, so the "will of the people should prevail". Former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has joined a growing list of upper house members who have switched political allegiances in the last decade. Former attorney-­general George Brandis has described Thorpe’s decision to become an independent as a "cynical and egotistical act" and a "blatant insult" to people who had voted for the Greens rather than Thorpe.

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THE CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops to lowest since early April 2020 at only 78.1 after RBA increases interest rates to decade high

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Feb-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 5.5pts to 78.1 in the week to 12 February, after the RBA increased official interest rates to the highest level since October 2012. This was the largest weekly drop in Consumer Confidence following an RBA meeting since a fall of 6.6pts after it increased interest rates by 0.5% in early June. Consumer Confidence is now 25.1pts below the same week a year ago (103.2), and 6.8pts below the 2023 weekly average of 84.9. Consumer Confidence was down in all five mainland States, and under 80 in all of them except Western Australia. Now 19% of Australians (down 3ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year (the lowest figure for this indicator since April 2020), while 49% (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 31% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 35% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 7% (down 2ppts) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 41% (up 8ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 17% (down 6ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the lowest figure for this indicator since early April 2020), while 54% (up 5ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the highest figure for this indicator since early April 2020).

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

Australian unemployment jumps to 10.7% in January – highest since JobKeeper ended in March 2021

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Feb-23

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that 1.61 million Australians (10.7% of the workforce) were unemployed in January, up 223,000 from December. The number of Australians looking for full-time work rose by 49,000 to 644,000 in January, while the number of people looking for part-time work rose by 174,000 to 963,000. Some 1.43 million Australians (9.5% of the workforce) were under-employed – working part-time but looking for more work – up 65,000 from December. In total, 3.03 million Australians (20.2% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in January, up 288,000 on December. This is the highest level of combined unemployment and under-employment since February 2021. Meanwhile, employment decreased by 150,000 to 13,418,000 in January. This was driven by a drop in part-time employment (down 280,000 to 4,517,000), while full-time employment increased by 130,000 to 8,901,000. The movements in both full-time and part-time employment were in line with the normal seasonal trends seen at this time of year following the Christmas retailing season. Roy Morgan’s under-employment figure of 9.5% is over 3% points higher than the ABS estimate of 6.1% for December.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Woodside challenges bargaining orders for offshore gas

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 8-Feb-23

Woodside Energy has appealed the Fair Work Commission’s ruling that it must hold collective bargaining negotiations with unions that represent workers at its offshore gas platforms in Western Australia. The FWC had ruled that the Offshore Alliance had secured the majority support of 200 production workers for a collective agreement. However, Woodside contends that supervisors should not have been included in the bargaining order, and that doing so could compromise their ability to perform their duties. Woodside has had a policy of "direct engagement" with employees at its North West Shelf platforms, where it has used individual contracts rather than enterprise agreements since 1994.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX WDS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, OFFSHORE ALLIANCE

‘Hand back your seat’, says Greens candidate who lost to Thorpe

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Original article by David Crowe
The Age – Page: Online : 8-Feb-23

Barrister and human rights activist Julian Burnside lost the Greens’ 2020 preselection race for the Senate seat that was ultimately won by Lidia Thorpe. Her decision to quit the Greens and become an independent has prompted Burnside to call for her to vacate her seat, arguing that it belongs to the party rather than Thorpe, as voters had backed the Greens and not her. David Risstrom was also a candidate for preselection in 2020; he says the process was fair and Greens members should accept it.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Covid deaths through roof amid age-care warnings

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Original article by Jess Malcolm
The Australian – Page: 6 : 8-Feb-23

Data from the federal Department of Health shows that the number of Covid-related deaths nationwide has risen to 9,332 since Labor was elected in May 2022. This compares with 8,471 deaths from or with COVID-19 under the former Coalition government. The figures also show that the Covid death toll in aged-care homes is 2652 under Labor, compared with 2415 under the Coalition. Shadow health and aged care minister Anne Ruston says the government has failed to protect the nation’s elderly.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down to lowest so far in 2023 as RBA set to meet for first time this year

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 3.2pts to 83.6 in the week to 5 February, the largest weekly drop for six months since early August 2022. Consumer Confidence is now 16.3pts below the same week a year ago (99.9), and 2.7pts below the 2023 weekly average of 86.3. Unusually, Consumer Confidence was down in all five mainland States. Now 22% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 47% (up 3ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 33% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 34% (up 4ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 9% (up 2ppts) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 33% (up 3ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 23% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 49% (up 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

RBA’s rate rises to run for months

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 8-Feb-23

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has signalled that further official interest rate increases are likely in order to bring inflation under control. The RBA increased the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.35 per cent on Tuesday, in a move that was widely expected. Many economists now forecast that the cash rate will peak at 3.85 per cent in April, compared with previous expectations of 3.6 per cent. Lowe has emphasised that the RBA will do "what is necessary" to return inflation to its target range of 2-3 per cent. Lowe has conceded that the RBA’s preferred measure of underlying inflation is higher than expected at 6.9 per cent. Meanwhile, new data shows that Australia’s trade surplus fell to $12.2bn in December.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

New Zealand: Labour support increased in January even before Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Feb-23

The latest Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll shows that support for the Labour/Greens coalition government rose to 42% in January 2023 (up 3.5% points on December 2022). Support for Labour was up 2.5% points to 30%, even before former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her intention to resign on 19 January. Support for the Greens was up 1% point to 12%. In contrast, the main Opposition National Party lost support in January, down 3% points to 32% and support for Act NZ was down by 1% point to 13.5%. Combined support for a potential National/Act NZ coalition is down 4% points to 45.5%, the lowest combined support since October 2022. The results for January suggest that neither Labour/Greens nor National/Act NZ will have enough support to form a majority Government later this year due to increasing support for both the Maori Party and New Zealand First, which are set to hold the ‘balance of power’ on current results. This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile – with a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 948 electors during January. Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating jumped by 16pts to 91 in January, to its highest level since October 2022 (92). This is the biggest monthly increase since a leap of 28 points in April 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, ACT NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI PARTY, NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY