O75 Public Administration

Home from Hubei, evacuees set up camp

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paige Taylor, Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 2 : 10-Feb-20

The global death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 813, surpassing the 774 casualties of the SARS outbreak of 2002-03. More than 37,000 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness, including 15 in Australia. Meanwhile, a chartered Qantas flight has evacuated another 266 Australian citizens and permanent residents from Wuhan. They will be placed in quarantine at a former mining workers’ camp near Darwin for 14 days, as the Christmas Island facility has reached capacity.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

‘Too good to be true’: ATO warns on parking perks

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 7-Feb-20

The Australian Taxation Office has previously issued changes to fringe benefits tax rules for staff car parks, with the new ruling due to come into effect as from 1 April 2020. The new ruling will impact on suburban employers, with the rule changes resulting from legal rulings involving Qantas and Virgin and their employees. Commenting on the latest update to the ATO’s new rules, which related to the valuation of staff car parks, EY employment tax partner Paul Ellis said it was important that employers use reputable valuers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, ERNST AND YOUNG

Campuses may lose $2bn in fees

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tim Dodd, Heidi Han
The Australian – Page: 7 : 7-Feb-20

The federal government’s travel ban has prevented nearly 100,000 Chinese university students from arriving in Australia for the start of the academic year. S&P Global says the universities’ operating margins will be hit if the travel restrictions are not lifted in the next few weeks. The firm estimates that the travel ban could cost universities up to $2bn in fees, and notes that the broader economy will also be impacted. Some universities will offer online courses for the first several weeks of the semester.

CORPORATES
S&P GLOBAL INCORPORATED

Unions lean on ALP over super choice bill

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 7-Feb-20

The union movement is urging Labor to vote against proposed legislation that would ban enterprise agreements from stating that workers must join a union-backed superannuation fund. Labor senator Tony Sheldon recently warned the party’s caucus against voting for the bill, while ACTU assistant secretary Scott Connolly says the proposed legislation would have a major impact on industry funds such as UniSuper.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, UNISUPER LIMITED

Joyce warns PM: Nats to cross floor

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Dennis Shanahan, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Feb-20

The National Party remains divided in the wake of Barnaby Joyce’s failed bid to oust party leader Michael McCormack. Joyce and two other Nationals MPs have threatened to vote against Coalition bills after opponents of McCormack missed out on portfolios in a cabinet reshuffle. The rebel Nationals are in a position to block Coalition legislation, given that the government has a majority of just two seats in the lower house. Joyce has also criticised a proposal to change the party’s rules governing leadership spills.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Over 15.6 million Australians read magazines in print or online

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Feb-20

Roy Morgan has released the Australian Magazine Readership report for the 12 months to December 2019. A total of 15,644,000 Australians aged 14+ (75.1%) now read magazines in print or online, down 0.6 per cent from a year ago. Readership of print magazines was almost 13.1 million Australians aged 14+ (62.8 per cent), down 3.8% from a year ago. The free ‘Coles Magazine’ remains the most widely-read print magazine, with a readership of 4,573,000 (down 4.8%), while ‘Better Homes & Gardens’ remains the most widely-read paid magazine with a print readership of 1,698,000 million (up 8.4 per cent). Meanwhile, Taste.com.au remains the best-read magazine title across print and digital formats, with a total cross-platform audience of more than 3.1 million (down 2.6 per cent). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 50,422 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

First full year since Nine purchase of Fairfax sees audience increases for SMH, The Age and Australian Financial Review

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Feb-20

Roy Morgan has released the latest readership results for Australian newspapers, for the 12 months to December 2019. Now 15.5 million Australians aged 14+ (74.6%) read or access newspapers in an average seven-day period via print or online; this audience increases to 16.6 million (79.7%) when one considers news portals such as news.com.au and the Huffington Post. The standout performer over the past year is again ‘The Australian Financial Review’, which increased its total cross-platform readership by 14.1 per cent to 1,642,000; this was driven by a substantial increase in its digital audience (up 19.9 per cent to 1,402,000). ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ is still Australia’s most widely-read masthead, with a cross-platform audience of 4,303,000, which is up 4.1 per cent on a year ago. Meanwhile, ‘Good Weekend’ remains Australia’s most widely-read newspaper inserted magazine, with print readership of 819,000 (down 21.6 per cent over the last year). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 50,422 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Darwin next stop for China evacuees

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Amos Aikman, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 7 : 7-Feb-20

The global death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 563, and more than 28,000 people have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness, including 15 in Australia. Meanwhile, the federal government is looking at using Inpex’s former workers’ camp near Darwin to quarantine people returning from China. It is part of a contingency plan in the event that the Christmas Island facility reaches capacity. Some 273 Australian citizens and permanent residents who have been evacuated from Wuhan are currently in quarantine on Christmas Island.

CORPORATES
INPEX CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Senate to investigate key figures in sports rorts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Rob Harris
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 6-Feb-20

The Senate has passed Labor’s motion to hold an inquiry into the so-called sports rorts scandal. Amongst other things, the probe will seek the release of a report into the affair by top bureaucrat Phil Gaetjens. It cleared former cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie of any wrongdoing over the allocation of sports grants, but found that she had breach ministerial standards over her failure to declare her membership of a shooting club that received a grant. Shadow sports minister Don Farrell says McKenzie’s former staffers may want to appear before the inquiry.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

RBA optimism boosts dollar

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 6-Feb-20

The odds of an official interest rate cut in the near-term have lengthened, with financial market pricing now implying that rates will be on hold until September. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar rebounded from its recent four-month low in response to a speech by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe on 5 February. He said the bushfires will have little impact on Australia’s overall economic growth in 2020, due to expenditure on recovery programs. However, he conceded that GDP growth will fall in the short-term. Lowe added that it is too soon to determine the likely economic impact of the coronavirus.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA