O75 Public Administration

Unemployment down to 11.7% in January – lowest since March 2020, but under-employment increases again

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-21

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that 1.68 million Australians (11.7% of the workforce) were unemployed in January 2021 (down 44,000 on December). In addition, 1.44 million Australians (10.0% of the workforce) were under-employed – working part-time but looking for more work. This was an increase of 81,000 on a month ago and an increase of 154,000 over the last two months. Meanwhile, some 12,675,000 Australians were employed in January (up 26,000 from December). The rise in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 46,000 to 8,197,000; part-time employment was down 20,000 to 4,478,000. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 11.7% for January is over 5% points higher than the current ABS estimate for December 2020 of 6.6%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Vaccination certificates needed for travel, work and play

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Josh Butler
The New Daily – Page: Online : 8-Feb-21

The federal government has revealed plans to issue digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates via the MyGov website and the Medicare app, while a hardcopy certificate of vaccination will be available from Services Australia. Government Services Minister Stuart Robert has indicated that proof of vaccination is likely to be required to travel overseas, while international visitors will also need proof that they have been vaccinated in order to enter Australia. He adds that the states and territories may also require proof of vaccination in some circumstances, such as to access some workplaces.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, SERVICES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Released traveller tests positive for coronavirus in NSW

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Nicholas Jensen
The Australian – Page: 5 : 8-Feb-21

New South Wales health officials have advised that a returned traveller from the Wollongong region has tested positive for COVID-19 two days after leaving hotel quarantine. The returned traveller returned two negative tests and had no symptoms of the coronavirus during their 14-day quarantine period. The infection was detected via the state government’s ‘day 16’ testing regime. The person is believed to have contracted the virus before returning to Australia. It is the first case of COVID-19 in NSW outside of hotel quarantine for 21 days.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Victorian coronavirus hotel quarantine worker tests positive to COVID-19

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 8-Feb-21

Victorian health authorities have advised that a second worker at a Melbourne quarantine hotel has tested positive for COVID-19. The authorised officer at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn tested positive for the coronavirus on 7 February, after testing negative three days earlier. Close contacts of the woman, including other workers at the hotel, will be required to be tested for COVID-19 and self-isolate for 14 days. The state government reimposed some coronavirus restrictions on 4 February after an employee at the Grand Hyatt quarantine hotel contracted the highly-contagious UK strain.

CORPORATES
HOLIDAY INNS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GRAND HYATT MELBOURNE, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Motor neurone disease: Researchers hope existing drugs can reverse deadly nerve damage

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Elder
The New Daily – Page: Online : 25-Jan-21

Motor neurone disease sufferers gradually lose the use of their limbs and ability to speak, swallow and breathe, although their mind and senses generally remain unimpaired. The average life expectancy of someone with MND is 2.5 years, while over 2,000 people in Australia currently have MND. MND causes damage to the nerve cells, but Scottish researchers may have found a way to reverse this damage, by increasing the energy output from the mitochondria, the nerve cells’ "power supply". They believe that this can be achieved with existing drugs

CORPORATES

China talks only if no conditions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Greg Brown, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 25-Jan-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is happy to meet with China’s leaders to discuss how the strained relationship between the two nations could be improved, as long as there are no conditions attached. The Chinese embassy released in 2020 a list of 14 grievances that China has with Australia; Morrison says that if they are to be the conditions then any meeting will be a long time coming. He says that the relationship between Australia and China has been changing for some years, "not over any one thing but over time". Morrison says he is confident new US president Joe Biden will support Australia in its handling of the China relationship.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Calls to expand vaccine portfolio

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 4 : 25-Jan-21

Australians are likely to be to access three probable COVID-19 vaccines over the coming 12 months, but the Moderna vaccine is currently not one of them. It and the Pfizer vaccine, which five millions Australia are due to receive, have shown the highest efficacy in clinical trials, but Australia has not been able to come to an agreement with Moderna over the supply of its vaccine. Epidemiologist Zoe Hyde says Australia should seriously consider using the Moderna vaccine in preference to the Oxford/Astra-Zeneca vaccine; Hyde says the Moderna vaccine will better prevent disease and is more likely to deliver herd immunity, which she contends should be Australia’s aim.

CORPORATES
MODERNA INCORPORATED, PFIZER INCORPORATED, ASTRAZENECA PLC

Biden orders end of Trump era

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 22-Jan-21

New US President Joe Biden has signed 15 executive orders in his first day in office, while Donald Trump became the first outgoing president in over 150 years not to attend the inauguration of his successor. The executive orders signed by Biden included restoring US membership of the World Trade Organisation and scrapping a controversial oil pipeline project linking Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, on a day that saw Kamala Harris become America’s first female Vice-President. Biden also directed that masks be worn by anyone involved in interstate commerce and on all federal property.

CORPORATES

Australians are divided over the Australian Open

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Jan-21

A special Roy Morgan survey into attitudes regarding next month’s Australian Open shows Australians are split on what they think should happen with the Grand Slam tournament due to start in just over two weeks on Monday February 8. 36% want the Open to go ahead as planned, 18% want the event to be postponed for a week, 20% want the tournament played later in the year and 26% want the event to be cancelled altogether. On a State-by-State basis it is perhaps surprising that South Australians (42%) are the most in favour of the Australian Open ‘going ahead as planned’ next month. This is followed by Victorians (39%), people in New South Wales (38%) and Queenslanders (32%). There is little difference on the question between Melburnians (39%) and Country Victorians (40%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

PM cool on Qld quarantine camp idea

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 22-Jan-21

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk plans to raise her proposal to relocate the quarantining of returned international travellers from Brisbane hotels to regional mining camps when national cabinet meets on 22 January. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has voiced scepticism about the idea, noting the possibility that resources workers could become infected and thus hamper Australia’s economic recovery. The meeting will also receive an update on the implementation plan for Australia’s vaccine rollout from March and on quarantine arrangements for seasonal workers to be allowed into Australia to harvest fresh produce, as well as discussing the cap on international arrivals.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET