O75 Public Administration

Australian workforce hits a record high in February as employment and unemployment both increase

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

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows 1.93 million Australians unemployed in February (up 250,000 on January) equal to 13.2% of the Australian workforce. There were more people looking for both full-time work (up 98,000 to 790,000), and part-time work (up 152,000 to 1,140,000), but under-employment was down 300,000 to 1.14 million. Overall, there were 12,703,000 Australians employed (the highest since March 2020), up 28,000. This increase was driven by a rise in full-time employment, up 125,000 to 8,322,000 but part-time employment was down 97,000 to 4,381,000. The combination of these factors led to the workforce increasing to a new record high of 14,633,000 in February. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 13.2% for February is over double the current ABS estimate for January 2021 of 6.4%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Jab deliveries to rise despite Italy’s ban

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Original article by Ben Packham, Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 5 : 8-Mar-21

Health Minister Greg Hunt said on 7 March that the federal government was confident in the continuity of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Australia. This is despite France threatening to join Italy in blocking exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia. Hunt was speaking as he received his vaccine jab, as did Julia Gillard, while he said that Australia would soon be delivering more than 500,000 vaccinations a week. GPs will be brought in for phase 1b of the vaccine rollout, which will commence on 22 March, while the federal government is aiming to have four million Australians receive their first vaccine jab by early April.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, ASTRAZENECA PLC

Aged care tax killed off

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-Mar-21

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has acknowledged that funding for the aged-care sector needs to be increased, but he says that growing the economy is the best way to do this. The final report of the aged-care royal commission has recommended increasing funding for the sector via the tax system; however, Tony Negline from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand says this is not appropriate, given that the bulk of aged-care funding already comes from taxpayers. Negline has proposed options such as requiring nursing home residents to use the equity in their family home and a reduction in the capital gains tax discount.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO AGED CARE QUALITY AND SAFETY, CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

PM backs Reynolds despite offensive slur on ex-staffer

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Sharri Markson, Tom Dusevic
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Mar-21

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds faces renewed scrutiny and potential legal action as the fallout from the alleged rape of an ex-staffer continues. The media has reported that Reynolds described Brittany Higgins as a "lying cow" in her office on the same day that the former media adviser publicly revealed that she had been raped by a colleague in March 2019. Higgins’ lawyers has raised the threat of legal action if Reynolds does not publicly withdraw her comment and apologise. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described Reynolds’ comment as ‘inappropriate and wrong’, but stresses that she not referring to Higgins’ rape allegation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Italy blocks export of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Australia

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Original article by Daniel Boffey
The Guardian – Page: Online : 5-Mar-21

The Italian government has ruled that AstraZeneca cannot ship 250,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Australia. Italy has become the first country to invoke the European Union’s export authorisation mechanism with regard to coronavirus vaccines. The EU has ordered some 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine; problems at the biotechnology group’s plant in Belgium means that it has now committed to supplying just 40 million doses in the March quarter, well down on the 120 million doses that it was meant to supply.

CORPORATES
ASTRAZENECA PLC, EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Record trade surplus adds to recovery

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-Mar-21

Australia’s trade surplus rose to a record $10.2bn in January, compared with market expectations of just $8.3bn. Strong growth in the resources sector’s exports was a key driver of the record trade surplus; the value of iron ore exports rose by 14.2 per cent month-on-month to $16.1bn, while LNG and coal exports rose by 7.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg notes that in addition to growth in iron ore export volumes in January, the price of the steel input remains well above the Budget forecast of just $US55 a tonne free on board.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Inflation Expectations increase to 3.7% in February – higher in Country Regions than Capital Cities

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Mar-21

In February, Australians expected inflation of 3.7% annually over the next two years, up 0.1% points on January, and the highest since February and March 2020 (4.0% for both). Inflation Expectations are now 1% point below their long-term average of 4.7%. Inflation Expectations have now increased by 0.5% points in the last six months, the fastest increase for the index since late 2016/early 2017 when the index increased by 0.6% points in only two months. Inflation Expectations are higher in Country Regions of Australia (4%) than in the Capital Cities (3.5%) and this is borne out in each mainland State. The largest gap of 1% point is within South Australia with Inflation Expectations of 4.4% in Country SA (the highest figure for any area) compared to only 3.4% in Adelaide. The next largest gap of 0.8% points is within Western Australia, with Inflation Expectations of 4% in Country WA compared to only 3.2% in Perth – the lowest figure for any Capital City. In both Victoria and Queensland there is a gap of 0.6% points between Country Regions and the respective Capital Cities. Inflation Expectations are 4.2% in Country Victoria compared to 3.6% in Melbourne and 3.9% in Country Queensland compared to only 3.3% in Brisbane. The smallest gap of only 0.3% points between the two areas is in NSW. Country NSW has Inflation Expectations of 4% compared to 3.7% in Sydney and in-line with the national average.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

National cost of pandemic response to reach $327bn over five years

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 5-Mar-21

The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that the combined net debt of Australia’s three levels of government will blow out to almost $1.3tn in the five years to 2024. Federal, state and local governments are forecast to collectively spend some $327bn on COVID-19 measures over the five-year period. The independent budget watchdog now expects the national net operating balance across all levels of government in 2020-21 to be a deficit of 11.1 per cent of GDP; it had previously forecast a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the current financial year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE

Porter’s alleged victim insisted we shut the case: police

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Sharri Markson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Mar-21

The family of the woman who was allegedly raped by Attorney-General Christian Porter in 1988 has expressed support for an inquiry into the circumstances that led to her death. Labor leader Anthony Albanese has also pushed for an independent inquiry into the allegations against Porter, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there is no precedent for such an inquiry. Meanwhile, New South Wales police say the alleged victim advised that she did not want to make a formal statement on 23 June, citing medical and personal reasons. The woman took her own life the following day.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE FORCE

How COVID-19 bumped the handshake

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Original article by Andrew Taylor
The Sunday Age – Page: 8 : 27-Feb-21

A recent survey of more than 1,000 people by Roy Morgan has found that just 30 per cent want to shake hands with a colleague or stranger, down from 88 per cent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The percentage of people wanting to hug family and friends has declined from 87 per cent to 67 per cent, while the percentage that are happy to kiss family and friends has fallen from 63 per cent to 37 per cent. Zarife Taylor from the Australian School of Etiquette says the pandemic has resulted in an immediate change to personal greetings, but that shaking hands will remain a fundamental part of personal interaction.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF ETIQUETTE