O75 Public Administration

Crossbench test for class action reform

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Original article by Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 7 : 19-Oct-21

The federal government is expected to shortly introduce a bill to cap the proportion of class action payouts received by lawyers and litigation funders at 30 per cent. Shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones says Labor has yet to decide its position on the proposed fee cap. The government will require the support of at least three Senate crossbenchers if Labor and the Greens oppose the bill. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson supports the proposed reforms, but independent senator Rex Patrick contends that the bill should be subject to a Senate inquiry.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Work-from-home tax shortcut extended

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 19-Oct-21

Michael Croker from Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand says it might be time to make the working from home ‘coronavirus shortcut’ a permanent feature of the tax system. The shortcut allows people to claim $0.80 for each hour they work from home rather than itemising individual work-related expenses, and Croker was commenting on a decision that has seen its use extended to June 2022. He notes that the percentage of people working from home has risen from less than eight per cent to 40 per cent in just two years, and he says it is likely that people will continue to work from home at least part of the week for the foreseeable future.

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CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

PM cites national security as a key climate incentive

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 19-Oct-21

Sources within the National Party are hopeful that it can strike a deal with the Liberals over a net zero emissions target by 2050 by the end of the week, or at the beginning of next week at the latest. The Nationals met for the second day in a row on 18 October to discuss their stance on a climate deal, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the Liberal partyroom on the issue. He is said to have told the meeting that the election of US President Joe Biden has increased the pressure on Australia to commit to a net zero target, apparently saying that Australia needs the Western alliance "now more than ever".

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NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Bureaucrat tells ICAC of concerns about gun club grant

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Original article by Lucy Cormack
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 19-Oct-21

The opening day of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into former New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian heard evidence from Office of Sport director Michael Toohey. He was questioned about the fast-tracking of a government grant for the Australian Clay Target Association in the Wagga Wagga electorate of Berejiklian’s former lover Daryl Maguire. It is one of two grants that were approved in the electorate when Berejiklian was the state’s treasurer. Toohey told the inquiry that the intimate relations between Berejiklian and Maguire at the time clearly constituted a conflict of interest, and said the grant application would most likely have been subject to greater scrutiny if this relationship had been known.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, NEW SOUTH WALES. OFFICE OF SPORT, AUSTRALIAN CLAY TARGET ASSOCIATION

ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator – Quarterly Update September 2021

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Oct-21

Financial wellbeing continues to be an important measure of how people are faring in their financial lives and the impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods. The ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator is reported as a 12-month rolling average, with quarterly updates showing changes in aspects of financial wellbeing across locations and for a range of segments in the community. This update compares 12 months of post COVID-19 financial wellbeing data to June 2021 with the pre COVID-19 period (12 months to March 2020). The June quarter was a period of optimism in Australia, with low COVID-19 infection numbers and minimal restrictions in April and May 2021. This is reflected in Australians feeling more positive about their financial situation at the time. However, these feelings were likely short-lived with a new wave of infections and restrictions in Australia’s two most populous cities by the end of the quarter. The ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator shows that the financial wellbeing of Australians declined by 4.4% from 60.7 (as a score out of 100) in the 12 months to March 2020 (pre-COVID-19) to 58.0 in the 12 months to June 2021.

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

Electoral staffer used for Victorian Labor factional work

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Oct-21

Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has heard further evidence of misuse of public resources within the state’s Labor government. Elle Schreiber had a senior role in the office of former Labor minister Adem Somyurek; she has told IBAC that she had often spent as much as 80 per cent of her working hours on party-political activities for Labor’s moderate faction rather than work related to Somyurek’s portfolio. Schreiber subsequently took up a role in the office of federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne, who revealed the extent of branch-stacking and the misuse of taxpayers’ funds in his appearance before IBAC on Monday.

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increases for fifth straight week, up 1pt to 105.6 as Sydney lockdown ends

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Oct-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1pt to 105.6 on 9/10 October. However, Consumer Confidence remains below the 2021 weekly average of 108.3, although it is now 7.9 points higher than the same week a year ago (97.7). Consumer Confidence was up in Sydney as the 106-day lockdown finally came to an end. Consumer Confidence was also up in Brisbane and Adelaide, but down in Melbourne as the lockdown of that city is set to continue for another two weeks. Now 27% (down 2ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 26% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. In addition, 36% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 14% (also unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 17% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 23% (down 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 37% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 30% (down 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

ALP (53%) lead over the L-NP (47%) narrowed slightly before Sydney re-opened this week

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Oct-21

The latest Roy Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention shows that support for the ALP has fallen to 53% (down 1% point since late September), cf. the L-NP on 47% (up 1% point) on a two-party preferred basis. The 1% points swing to the L-NP came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison met foreign leaders in Washington in late September as part of a series of security meetings. However, the swing to the L-NP in recent weeks has merely acted to reverse the similarly sized swing away from the L-NP in September. If a Federal Election were held now the ALP would be elected with a similar margin to that won by Bob Hawke at the 1983 Federal Election (ALP 53.2% cf. L-NP 46.8%). Primary support for the L-NP increased by 1.5% points to 37.5% in mid-October and is now just ahead of the ALP, which is unchanged on 36%. Greens support has dropped 1% point to 11.5%. Support for One Nation was down 0.5% points to 3%, while support for Independents/Others was unchanged at 12%. Interviewing for the latest Roy Morgan Poll was conducted over the weekends of October 2/3 and 9/10, with a nationally representative cross-section of 2,794 Australian electors using a combination of telephone and online interviews (multi-mode).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Victoria’s vaccine passport too easy to forge, says academic

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Original article by Clay Lucas
The Age – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

The trial of a COVID-19 vaccine passport commenced in six local government areas in regional Victoria on 11 October. Cryptography expert Professor Vanessa Teague from the Australian National University has expressed concern that the vaccine passport is easy to forge and argues that it should not be linked to the QR code check-in system; she notes that the latter is highly invasive and already collects too much data on users. Victoria reported 1,612 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases on Monday, plus another eight deaths from the current outbreak. About 59 per cent of Victorian adults are now fully vaccinated, putting the state on track to achieve the 70 per cent target for reopening the economy up to a week ahead of schedule.

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AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Fly-in fly-out mine worker tests positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Adelaide from Melbourne

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Original article by
abc.net au – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

A hotel reception area and a Jetstar flight have been declared Tier 1 exposure sites after a female ‘fly-in, fly-out’ miner tested positive to COVID-19 after arriving in Adelaide from Melbourne. A taxi driver and a reception worker at the hotel have been ordered into quarantine, while Adelaide Airport has been declared a Tier 4 exposure site. South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the woman was very infectious, and is one of three new COVID-19 cases identified in South Australia on Monday.

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