O75 Public Administration

Shut border risk to jobs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Andrew Tillett, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Jul-20

A record 127 new coronavirus cases were reported in Victoria on 6 July, including 16 at the nine public housing estates that are in a hard lockdown. Another two people in Victoria have died from the virus, lifting the national death toll to 106. Meanwhile, Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has described the decision to close Victoria’s border with New South Wales as a "sledgehammer approach" which will result in immense economic disruption. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian argues that the border closure is necessary because the coronavirus is now being spread in Melbourne via community transmission. She maintains that borders between other states should be re-opened.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Overcrowded towers are virus incubators

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 3 : 7-Jul-20

Fifty-three residents of Melbourne’s nine locked-down public housing towers have tested positive to the coronavirus to date. Victoria’s Housing Minister Richard Wynne says that about 400 residents were tested on 6 July, and four per cent tested positive. The Victorian Public Tenants Association’ executive officer Mark Feenane says there is chronic overcrowding in the towers, adding that it is time to consider scrapping the high-rise buildings in favour of low-density accommodation. Australia’s acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has likened the public housing towers to ‘vertical cruise ships’.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT, LAND, WATER AND PLANNING, VICTORIAN PUBLIC TENANTS ASSOCIATION

Fears of Victorian outbreak acceleration amid rise in intensive care admissions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

Victoria recorded 77 new coronavirus cases on 2 July, including 31 that have been attributed to community transmission. A total of 86 new cases were reported nationwide, with eight in New South Wales. This includes a Woolworths employee who had returned to Sydney after leaving hotel quarantine in Melbourne; 50 workers at the Woolworths store in Balmain are now in lockdown. Meanwhile, the Northern Territory has recorded its first coronavirus case in four weeks, with another person who was in hotel quarantine in Melbourne testing positive after returning to Darwin. Australia now has 807 active coronavirus cases, with the nation’s total number of infections having risen to 8,001.

CORPORATES

Judges urged to report concerns

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Nicola Berkovic
The Australian – Page: 7 : 3-Jul-20

The New South Wales Supreme Court has issued a new policy on unacceptable workplace conduct, covering issues such as sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. It applies to judges and ­judicial staff, and encourages judges and staff to report unacceptable workplace conduct or suspected misconduct. The policy has been introduced in the wake of sexual harassment allegations raised against former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, and includes the appointment of an external consultant to investigate complaints of unacceptable workplace conduct against judges and other judicial staff.

CORPORATES
SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Trad in clear but no recall to cabinet

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael McKenna, Charlie Peel
The Australian – Page: 7 : 3-Jul-20

Queensland’s Crime & Corruption Commission has cleared former deputy premier and treasurer Jackie Trad of deliberately trying to intervene in the appointment of a secondary school principal in her electorate. However, the Commission stated her involvement in the appointment process created a "corruption risk". Trad says she feels vindicated by the Commission’s findings, and that the issue had been turned into a "political witchhunt" by the Liberal National Party. Despite being cleared by the Commission, it is believed Trad will remain on the backbench until the state election on 31 October, when she is expected to struggle to hold her seat of South Brisbane against the Greens.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. CRIME AND CORRUPTION COMMISSION, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

JobSeeker’s $200 boost could cost $4 billion for six months

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Shane Wright
The Age – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s director, Alan Duncan, says the JobSeeker payment should be increased when the coronavirus supplement ends in September. Duncan contends that the unemployment benefit was insufficient prior to the pandemic, and he has suggested that it could be increased by $200 a fortnight; he estimates that this would cost about $3.8bn over six months. Duncan adds that the JobSeeker payment must be scaled back in order to provide people with an incentive to seek work.

CORPORATES
BANKWEST CURTIN ECONOMICS CENTRE

‘A national security scandal’: Kevin Rudd names three gaps in defence strategy

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Anthony Galloway
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

The federal government’s new defence strategy includes expenditure of $270 billion over the next 10 years on boosting the Australian Defence Force. However, former prime minister Kevin Rudd contends there are three major gaps in the strategy: failing to build up Australia’s cyber defences with sufficient speed; insufficient spending in the Pacific region, and delays in the delivery of new submarines. Rudd noted his government’s 2009 Defence White Policy had called for a doubling of Australia’s submarine fleet, and he claims the submarine project has been "comprehensively botched".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE

Australian visa fast track for HK nationals fleeing strife

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 3-Jul-20

Tensions with China may increase after the federal government advised that it will consider options for allowing Hong Kong nationals to migrate to Australia. The skilled migrant visa program is expected to be the government’s preferred option when cabinet discusses the issue on 8 July. However, part of the annual refugee intake could potentially be allocated to Hong Kong nationals who are at risk of persecution under the Chinese government’s national security laws for the former British colony. China has criticised the UK’s decision to offer citizenship to more than three million Hong Kong nationals.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Over 2 million Australians still unemployed in June, down 42,000 on May

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Jul-20

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the unemployment estimate for June shows 2.05 million Australians were unemployed (14.5% of the workforce) and 1.41 million (10.0%) under-employed – a total of 3.45 million Australians (24.5%). The small changes in unemployment and under-employment in June show how much new growth is required to provide jobs for the more than 1 million Australians now unemployed that were working prior to the Australia-wide shut-downs enforced in mid-March. In addition the renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne over the last two weeks demonstrates the virus poses an ongoing threat to lives, livelihoods and the economy more broadly.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Australia to spend $270bn building larger military to prepare for poorer, more dangerous world

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jade Macmillan, Andrew Greene
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 1-Jul-20

The federal government will shift the focus of its defence policy to the Indo-Pacific, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison warning of a heightened risk of conflict in the region in the post-coronavirus environment. The government will increase its defence budget by $270bn over the next 10 years. Amongst other things, it is expected to spent about $800m on long-range anti-ship missiles from the US which have a much larger range than Australia’s current generation of missiles. About 800 additional Australian Defence Force members are expected to be recruited over the next decade, while the defence R&D budget will include research into hypersonic weapons.

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