O75 Public Administration

RBA lauds $50bn budget boost

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Apr-21

The federal government had forecast a $198bn Budget deficit for 2020-21 in its mid-year economic and financial outlook. The Department of Finance has advised that the Budget bottom line improved by $23bn during the first eight months of the financial year; some economists now expect the full-year deficit to be about $50bn lower than had been forecast in December. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia says the strong economic rebound has seen national GDP growth return to its pre-pandemic level. The RBA reiterated in the minutes of its monthly board meeting that the cash rate is likely to remain on hold until at least 2024.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

PM pushes jobs on road to net zero

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Apr-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government will adopt a ‘technology-first’ approach to reducing carbon emissions. He will reveal plans for the government to invest in four clean hydrogen hubs in regional Australia, as well as carbon capture and storage technology. These initiatives will cost some $540m, while Morrison says they will create 2,500 jobs. Morrison has also committed to ensuring that the government’s climate policies will not penalise industries that have high carbon emissions, such as mining and agriculture.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 114.0

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

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 0.1pts to 114.0 on the weekend of April 17/18. Consumer Confidence has remained well above the 2021 weekly average of 110.9, and it is now 29.8pts higher than the same week a year ago (84.2). Now 27% (down 4ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 25% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. In addition, 39% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 13% (unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 23% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months (the highest figure for this indicator since March 1, 2020), while 15% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since October 2010). Meanwhile, 44% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 24% (down 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Australians divided over PM Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and all related issues

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

New research by Roy Morgan shows that 51% of Australians disapprove of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and all related issues. A majority of younger Australians under 35 years of age, women, people in capital cities and Victoria, as well as supporters of the ALP and the Greens disapprove of Morrison’s handling of the pandemic. However, there is majority support for Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 related issues among Australians aged 65+, people in country areas, the States of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, and L-NP supporters. Australians who disapprove of Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and related issues have consistently brought up the ‘bungled’ vaccine rollout and the perception that he is always ‘passing the blame’ to the states and others for anything that goes wrong and taking credit when it is the states that have done the greater part of the job dealing with COVID-19. For the 49% of Australians who approve of the way Morrison is handling COVID-19 and all related issues the main reason is that Australia is in a better position than just about anywhere else in the world, and this is a marker of the PM’s good handling of COVID-19.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

New Zealand Labour/Greens lead by over 20% points in March with women’s support for Labour underpinning the big lead

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Apr-21

The latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention shows that support for the Labour/Greens government was down 1% point to 57.5% in March. However, support for the Labour Party was up 0.5% points to 45.5% in March, while support for the Greens dropped 1.5% points to 12%. Support for the National Party dropped 6% points to 23% in March. The National Party is now 22.5% points behind Labour – the largest gap since last year’s election when National trailed Labour by 24.4% points. Meanwhile, Act NZ now has the support of 11% of electors, up by 3.5% points from February. This is a record high level of support for Act NZ, beating the previous record of 10.5% set in November 2020 following the election. Support for the Maori Party is unchanged at 1% in March. 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 924 electors during March

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

Census system rebuilt and ready to go

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 12-Apr-21

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is hoping for 95 per cent participation in the 2021 census, which will take place on 10 August. The ABS has engaged Amazon Web Services, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and PwC to redesign and bolster the systems that operate and protect the census as it seeks to avoid the major failures that hit the 2016 one. Around 63 per cent of Australian households completed the 2016 census online, and the ABS is hoping to increase that figure to 75 per cent in 2021, while around 38,000 temporary jobs will be created as part of the 2021 census.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AMAZON WEB SERVICES LLC, AUSTRALIAN CYBER SECURITY CENTRE, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Australians still set to take the vaccine: but opinion is divided on PM Scott Morrison’s handling of all COVID-19 related issues

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Apr-21

Now 83% of Australians have either already been vaccinated (7%), are willing to be vaccinated (69%) or would be willing to be vaccinated once the Pfizer vaccine becomes available (7%) – a total of 83% and an increase of 3% points since February, according to a special Roy Morgan Snap SMS survey conducted on Friday April 9 and Saturday April 10, 2021. Although the vast majority of Australians across all ages, genders, States and political party allegiances are willing to take the vaccine or have already done so, there is a political divide. Only 13% of L-NP voters say they will not be vaccinated, while more than 1-in-5 Labor and Green voters and those who vote for Independents and other parties express unwillingness to be vaccinated. The nation is evenly split on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s handling of all COVID-19 related issues with 51% disapproving of Morrison’s handling of the pandemic and 49% approving. Clear majority support for Morrison’s handling of all COVID-19 related issues is recorded among Australians aged 65+, people in country areas, NSW, Queensland, WA and Tasmania, as well as L-NP supporters. In contrast a majority of younger Australians, women, people in capital cities and Victoria as well as supporters of the ALP and Greens disapprove.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

PM shelves vaccination targets

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Original article by Remy Varga
The Australian – Page: 4 : 12-Apr-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised that the federal government will not set a revised target for all Australians who want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to receive their first dose. Morrison said there are too many uncertainties regarding the vaccine rollout to set a new target, although he stated that the preference is still for all first doses to be administered by the end of 2021. The government has ordered an additional 20 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine following a recommendation that people under the age of 50 should not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine due to concerns about blood clotting.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASTRAZENECA PLC, PFIZER INCORPORATED

UK halts AstraZeneca jabs for under-30s

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Original article by Hans van Leeuwen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 9-Apr-21

Britain’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has recommended that people under the age of 30 should not be given AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine due to the potential risk of blood clots. MHRA CEO June Raine says the decision was made out of "utmost caution", and notes that the incidence of blood clotting is extremely rare. More than 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered across the UK to date, with 79 cases of blood clots having been reported; 19 of them were fatal. The MHRA has stated that the benefits of vaccination outweigh any risks.

CORPORATES
GREAT BRITAIN. MEDICINES AND HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS REGULATORY AGENCY

Clot fears force vaccine switch

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Original article by Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Apr-21

The federal government has acted on the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which has recommended that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine be restricted to people aged 50+. ATAGI stated that Pfizer’s vaccine is now preferred for people under the age of 50, after the European Medicines Agency concluded that there is a link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and a blood-clotting syndrome. Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy says the government has acted out of an "abundance of caution", given that the extremely rare syndrome mainly affects younger people. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has conceded that the target date for giving all Australians at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will need to be revised.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP ON IMMUNISATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ASTRAZENECA PLC, PFIZER INCORPORATED, EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCY