O75 Public Administration

Shop workers union open to simpler IR rules

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Original article by Natasha Gillezeau, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 26-Jun-20

The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association’s national secretary Gerard Dwyer says it is open to the idea of making enterprise bargaining more straightforward. He says that if an agreement has satisfied the ‘better off overall test’ and the majority of employees are in favour of it, then it should not take 12 months to get the agreement ratified. Dwyer has also attacked the rival Retail & Fast Food Workers Union, which has challenged some SDA agreements in the Fair Work Commission, saying it is a political organisation rather than an industrial one.

CORPORATES
SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Qantas job shock sparks airline help

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 26-Jun-20

The federal government is set to provide a coronavirus assistance package for the nation’s airlines in the wake of plans by Qantas to retrench 6,000 employees. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says it is clear that the sector will continue to require government assistance when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme ends in late September. He has flagged the possibility of extending JobKeeper or providing an industry-specific support package. Morrison has previously rejected a request from Virgin Australia to extend the JobKeeper scheme.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH

Fall in job vacancies largest on record

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: Online : 26-Jun-20

The Australian Bureau Statistics has revealed that job vacancies ads fell by 43 per cent between February and May, making it the biggest fall on record. Ads for private sector jobs were down 45 per cent, while public sector jobs declined by 29 per cent. Job ads in the arts and recreation industry slumped by 95 per cent, ads in the rental, hiring and real estate sector were down 68 per cent, while the accommodation and food services recorded a 66 per cent decline in job ads. However, job ads on the Seek website as of the week to 21 June were at around 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels, suggesting some signs of recovery since April, which was viewed as the worst month for vacancies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK

Supermarkets bring back grocery limits

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 5 : 25-Jun-20

Grocery giants Coles and Woolworths have responded to signs of renewed panic buying in some Melbourne suburbs by reintroducing temporary purchasing limits on high-demand products. Coles will impose limits on items such as toilet paper, paper towels and rice at all of its supermarkets in Victoria, as well as some towns in New South Wales. Woolworths’ purchasing limits apply only to its stores in Victoria at present.

CORPORATES
COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Anthony Albanese vows to set new medium-term emissions reduction target

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Original article by Katharine Murphy, Adam Morton
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 25-Jun-20

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has used a National Press Club speech to call for a bipartisan approach to energy policy. He has also indicated that Labor will set a new medium-term carbon emissions reduction target prior to the next federal election. Labor has a long-term target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and Albanese says the medium-term target will be based on scientific advice. Employers’ groups such as the Business Council of Australia have expressed support for Labor’s stance.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Late payers put on notice

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 21 : 25-Jun-20

The federal government proposes to introduce a new supplier payments disclosure regime for businesses with turnover of $100m or more. They will be required to submit regular reports on how quickly they pay the invoices of small business suppliers. The disclosure regime takes effect at the start of 2021, but the 3,000 or so large enterprises that will be affected need to start preparing for it immediately. The proposed Payment Times Reporting Regulator will be responsible for enforcing the legislation and determining whether a supplier is a small business for the purposes of the disclosure regime.

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Chronic illnesses behind most virus-linked deaths

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 25-Jun-20

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that some 33,066 doctor-certified deaths were recorded nationwide during the first three months of 2020. The figures also show that 68.5 per cent of people whose deaths were attributed to the coronavirus already had a chronic health problem, such as cancer or diabetes. The highest number of deaths were recorded in the final week of March, which coincided with the highest numbers of deaths from respiratory diseases, diabetes and dementia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Moody’s sticks to AAA rating

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Original article by John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 24-Jun-20

Moody’s Investors Service expects the Australian economy to contract by five per cent in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Moody’s notes that the fall in GDP growth will be lower than many other developed nations, and it expects Australia to return to positive growth in 2021. Moody’s has also affirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating; rivals S&P Global Ratings and Fitch have previously placed the nation’s credit rating on negative outlook, but Australia is only one of 10 nations that have an AAA rating from all three agencies. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has described this as an "expression of confidence" in the federal government’s handling of the health crisis.

CORPORATES
MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, FITCH RATINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Wage growth tipped to crash as job market struggles

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Original article by Shane Wright
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 24-Jun-20

ANZ Bank economists Catherine Birch and Bansi Madhavani forecast that Australia’s nominal wage growth will slow to a record low of just 0.7 per cent in the first half of 2021. They warn that wages growth could fall to around zero during some quarters, and note that Australia had lower growth in wages than the US and New Zealand prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Birch and Madhavani add that the unemployment rate is artificially low due to the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme.

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AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Young and lowly paid most vulnerable: RBA

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 24-Jun-20

Research from the Reserve Bank of Australia has found that most households had sufficient wealth at the onset of the coronavirus-induced recession to ride out a temporary fall in income. However, only about half of younger Australians had enough liquid assets such as savings to pay their expenses for three months. A similar percentage of workers in sectors that were hardest hit by coronavirus lockdown measures had limited capacity to meet their expenses at the start of the recession. The RBA research is based of the findings of the Household and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey in 2018.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA