O75 Public Administration

Rich hit hard as households lose $102b

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 7-May-20

Research by the Australian National University highlights the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The ANU’s survey suggests that the nation’s employment rate fell to 58.9 per cent in April, compared with 62 per cent in February. This equates to the loss of about 670,000 jobs. The ANU also estimates that the total loss of income for Australian households since the lockdowns began is about $102bn, while after-tax income on a per capita basis has fallen from $740 a week to $663. The richest 10 per cent of households have been hardest hit, with their income falling from $2,110 per week to $1,688.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

ACTU wage bid ‘damaging’, puts recovery at risk

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-May-20

The ACTU has called for the minimum wage to be increased by four per cent in 2020, or $30 a week. Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has warned that the ACTU’s wage claim could jeopardise Australia’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry contends that it would increase the financial strain on businesses that are already battling during the crisis.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Let’s get 1 million back to work

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-May-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the national cabinet will set a target date of July for the majority of businesses to reopen. The states and territories will decide the exact timeline for businesses to resume trading, but retailers, cafes and restaurants are expected to be amongst the first to have coronavirus restrictions lifted. Morrison argues that while Australia has been successful in ‘flattening the curve’, the focus must now be on getting people back to work. Nev Power, who chairs the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, notes that some sectors of the economy are better placed than others to resume trading.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COVID-19 COORDINATION COMMISSION

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increases for fifth straight week, up 4.5pts to 89.5

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-May-20

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 5.3% to 89.5 in the week to 3 May. Now 23% (up 4ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 39% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Meanwhile, 36% (up 6ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 21% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. However, just 8% (up 2ppts) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 48% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. In addition, 29% (up 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 45% (up 7ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’. The four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ fell 0.3ppt to 3.4%. The weekly reading fell to 3.2% from 3.6%.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Business Council backs Gary Banks on critical IR reform

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 5-May-20

There has been a mixed response to a call by former Productivity Commission chairman Gary Banks to make industrial relations reform a priority in the wake of the pandemic. Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott supports his proposal to revisit the recommendations of the PC’s 2014 inquiry into the IR system, particularly those regarding the Fair Work Act’s ‘better-off-overall test’. However, University of Melbourne labour economist Jeff Borland has questioned the benefits of major IR changes, while the ACTU also opposes any such reforms.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, ACTU

Back to school, except Victoria and Tasmania

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Original article by Robert Bolton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 5-May-20

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced students will start returning to school on 11 May, with all years to be back by 25 May. The New South Wales government is adopting a staggered return of its students, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian hoping this will mean that most students will be back at school by the end of May. This leaves Tasmania and Victoria as the only states resisting federal government advice to return to face-to-face teaching, although Independent Schools of Victoria CEO Michelle Green notes Victoria’s chief health officer will review his current advice on May 11.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS VICTORIA INCORPORATED

Infected patients mingled with others at death home

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Original article by Kieran Gair, Natasha Robinson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-May-20

The Newmarch House aged-care facility in western Sydney continues to attract scrutiny over its handling of a coronavirus outbreak. Amongst other things, questions have been raised as to why residents who have been not been diagnosed with the virus were allowed to remain in a wing of the facility with those who have been infected, and why the infected residents have not been moved to the nearby Nepean Hospital. Some 37 residents have been infected with the virus and 15 have died, while 26 staff members of the Anglicare-operated facility have contracted the respiratory illness.

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ANGLICARE AUSTRALIA

Ardern invited to PM’s bubble

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Original article by Graham Richardson, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-May-20

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will join Australia’s national cabinet meeting on 5 May via a video link. The meeting will discuss a proposal to allow people to travel between the two countries without needing to be quarantined for 14 days. Ardern says that her country would have more to gain economically from resuming trans-Tasman travel; Australia accounted for 17.1 per cent of New Zealand’s exports in 2016. New Zealand recently eased its coronavirus lockdown restrictions, and further restrictions are expected to be lifted shortly.

CORPORATES
NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Cost of Covid: $4bn a week

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-May-20

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will use a National Press Club speech on 5 May to warn that the coronavirus pandemic will reduce GDP by about $50bn in the June quarter. However, he will contend that the GDP hit could have been around $120bn if Australia had imposed the more restrictive lockdowns of some European countries. Frydenberg will add that economic activity will be reduced by nearly $4bn for every week that lockdown restrictions remain in place, and that the economic impact of the pandemic would have been much worse without initiatives such as the JobKeeper scheme.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Roy Morgan’s unemployment measure for April shows 2.16 million Australians were unemployed (15.3% of the workforce) with an additional 1.32 million (9.4%) under-employed

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-May-20

Roy Morgan’s unemployment measure for April shows that in total a massive 3.5 million (24.7%) Australians are now either unemployed or under-employed. This is 439,000 fewer than the 3.92 million (27.4%) during the last two weeks of March (March 20-31, 2020), immediately before the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program was announced. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 15.3% for April is now almost three times higher than the current ABS estimate for March 2020 of 5.2%. The ABS figure for March was based on interviews conducted in reference to early March (pre shut-downs) and did not include data related to the situation in late March (post shut-downs).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED