O75 Public Administration

Unemployment hits 6.9pc as 30,000 jobs go

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 16-Oct-20

The locked-down Victorian economy shed 36,000 jobs in September, although the state’s unemployment rate is estimated to have fallen by 0.5 percentage points due to a decline in the participation rate. The national unemployment rate increased from 6.8 per cent to 6.9 per cent in September, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest estimate. The ABS jobs data does not include people who have given up looking for work. UBS economist George Tharenou suggests that the nation’s real unemployment rate is likely to be around 10 per cent at present.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

ASIO foils plot to infiltrate Australian government

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Original article by Anthony Galloway
The Age – Page: Online : 16-Oct-20

ASIO has stated it uncovered and foiled a plot that could have seen classified information about Australia’s intelligence services fall into the hands of a foreign government. ASIO revealed details of the plot in its latest annual report, stating that the plot was detected and disrupted in 2020. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess says there are currently more foreign spies and their proxies in Australia than there were "at the height of the cold war", while he says right-wing extremists are have become "more organised, sophisticated, ideological and active" than in previous years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Wider travel mooted in Andrews’ revised road map

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Original article by Alex White, Alanah Frost
Herald Sun – Page: 9 : 16-Oct-20

Victoria recorded six new coronavirus cases on 15 October, but the number of active cases fell to 175. Melbourne’s 14-day rolling average of new cases has fallen to 8.9, as the state government prepares to announce some easing of lockdown restrictions from 19 October. Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng has indicated that scrapping the 5km travel limit for Melbourne residents is among the measures that are being considered in the government’s revised ‘roadmap’. There has been speculation that this could be expanded to 20km. Victoria’s death toll from COVID-19 remains unchanged at 816.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Former MP Daryl Maguire tells ICAC he sought Gladys Berejiklian’s guidance on his debts

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Original article by Michael McGowan
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 16-Oct-20

Disgraced former New South Wales Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has appeared before an Independent Commission Against Commission inquiry for a second day. Maguire told the inquiry that he had discussed a deal for the sale of land at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney with Premier Gladys Berejiklian, including the fact that his commission of about $1.5m would be sufficient to clear his debts. However, Maguire said he could not recall how much he had told Berejiklian about his debts. Maguire also admitted that he had assisted property developers to gain access to government ministers and public servants.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Qantas lodges JobKeeper appeal

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 15-Oct-20

Qantas will appeal the Federal Court’s recent ruling that the airline has misused the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. Lawyers have warned that the court’s ruling has implications for all businesses that pay employees in arrears. The Business Council of Australia and the Council of Small Business Organisations are among the employers’ groups that will lobby the federal government to fix the anomaly, which arises if a business has a different pay cycle to that of JobKeeper’s fortnightly pay cycle.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Berejiklian under pressure as former lover admits to cash for visas

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Original article by Josh Butler
The New Daily – Page: Online : 15-Oct-20

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is under growing pressure following the latest revelations at an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry. Disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has told the inquiry that he had used his office in Parliament House for private business dealings. This included receiving large cash payments as part of a ‘cash for visas’ scheme that was operated by G8way International. Maguire was not questioned about his relationship with Berejiklian on his first day of evidence; Berejiklian has reiterated that she had no knowledge of his business dealings.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Older workers face unemployment crisis exacerbated by JobMaker, experts warn

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Original article by Stephen Long
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 15-Oct-20

Professor Marian Baird from the University of Sydney warns that the federal government’s JobMaker hiring credit scheme will encourage employers to ‘cherrypick’ younger unemployed people when recruiting new staff. She is also concerned that some employers will seek to replace older workers with people under the age of 35 in order to receive the subsidy. Professor Baird adds that the scheme could result in greater casualisation of the workforce, given that there is no obligation for people hired via the scheme to work for the same number of hours each week.

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UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Give people their freedom back, Andrews told

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Original article by Greg Brown, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 15-Oct-20

Victoria recorded seven new coronavirus cases on 14 October, while the state’s death toll from the respiratory illness rose by five to 816. However, Melbourne’s 14-day rolling average of new cases has fallen to 9.6, and Premier Daniel Andrews has reiterated that there will be ‘significant’ changes to the state’s lockdown restrictions on 19 October, although they will not be as extensive as had been hoped. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has called for the restrictions to be eased, as have federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Pressure to extend wage plan to all ages

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 12-Oct-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government will not agree to any concessions to get its JobMaker wage subsidy scheme through Parliament. Labor and the Senate crossbenchers have expressed concern that the scheme could be rorted and is too focused, given that it is only available to employers who hire people aged up to 35. Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says the JobMaker scheme leaves 928,000 older Australians "in the lurch", and says the existing incentive scheme for employing people aged 50+ has been a "monumental failure". Unions have warned that the government’s wage subsidy scheme for apprentices could also be exploited.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Deadly cancer genes found

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Original article by Andrew Koubaridis
Herald Sun – Page: 3 : 12-Oct-20

Researchers from Monash University and the Cancer Council Victoria have used genetic sequencing to identify three genes that are linked to aggressive forms of prostate cancer. The research found that genetic alterations in three key genes are linked to men who have a strong family history of the cancer, which kills about 60 Australian men each week. Dr Tu Nguyen-Dumont of the Monash School of Clinical Sciences says that identifying men who are more likely to develop the aggressive form of prostate cancer will in turn enable those who require urgent treatment to be identified.

CORPORATES
MONASH UNIVERSITY, THE CANCER COUNCIL VICTORIA