O75 Public Administration

Ore exports drive trade surplus

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 10-Jan-20

Official data shows that Australia recorded a trade surplus of $5.8bn for November, after the surplus for the previous month was downwardly revised to $4.1bn. The data also shows that resource exports increased by 0.9 per cent in November and by three per cent year-on-year; the monthly figure was bolstered by a 2.1 per cent rise in iron ore exports and one per cent growth in coal shipments. The total value of goods and services exports increased by two per cent to $40.9bn, while the value of imports was down three per cent at $35.1bn.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

High Court to hear sick leave appeal

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Original article by Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 10-Jan-20

The High Court has granted Mondelez International special leave to appeal against a 2019 Full Federal Court ruling in regard to the payment of sick leave to workers at its Cadbury plant in Tasmania. Amanda Banfield, Mondelez’s president for Australia and New Zealand, had stated that the Federal Court’s ruling meant that employees working the same hours on different rosters would be eligible for different leave amounts. Mondelez’s appeal has the backing of the federal government.

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MONDELEZ AUSTRALIA (FOODS) LIMITED, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CADBURY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Bushfires stoke recession fears as World Bank sounds alarm over debt

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Original article by Euan Black
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Jan-20

Shane Oliver of AMP Capital warns that the bushfires could reduce GDP growth by 0.4 per cent in the March quarter. He says this will be primarily due to the impact of the fires on agriculture, tourism, consumer confidence and consumer spending. Martin North of Digital Finance Analytics adds that the bushfires could reduce national economic output by up to $36bn over coming years. He has also warned of the potential for a macroeconomic recession in the near-term. The bushfires have already had an impact on consumer sentiment, with the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Index falling by 1.7 per cent.

CORPORATES
AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, DIGITAL FINANCE ANALYTICS, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, WORLD BANK

Forrest calls for $500m recovery fund

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Original article by Julie-anne Sprague
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 10-Jan-20

The Minderoo Foundation of Andrew and Nicola Forrest will donate $70m to bushfire relief programs and research into improving Australia’s resilience to bushfires. The Forrests will contribute $10m to a bushfire recovery fund, while another $10m will be used to send Western Australian specialists to assist with the recovery effort. The balance will be invested in a project that will aim to mitigate the impact of future bushfires. Andrew Forrest has also proposed the creation of a $500m global fund for this purpose. He says a number of factors have contributed to the nation’s devastating bushfire season, including climate change and arson.

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MINDEROO FOUNDATION, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Emergency alarms raised ahead of heatwave return

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Original article by Lachlan Moffet Gray, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jan-20

Authorities in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia have issued bushfire emergency warnings for 10 January, amid expectations of extreme weather conditions. The prospect of soaring temperatures and strong winds has prompted the Victorian government to extend its ‘state of emergency’ for an extra two days, with Premier Daniel Andrews stressing that the move is necessary in order to save lives. Residents of some towns in the King Valley were given orders to evacuate late on 9 January. Meanwhile, residents in some areas of South Australia’s Kangaroo Island have been advised to evacuate if it is safe to do so.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES RURAL FIRE SERVICE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE

PM courts states for fire inquiry

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jan-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has emphasised that a national inquiry into the bushfire crisis will only go ahead if it has the support of state governments. He has also told Coalition MPs that it could take the form of a royal commission or a judicial inquiry. Meanwhile, some Liberal backbenchers contend that the Coalition will need to revise its climate change policy in the wake of the bushfire disaster. Morrison has defended the government’s record on climate change, stating that carbon emissions have fallen by 50 million tonnes a year on average since the Coalition took office in 2013.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Pundits expect rate cut despite jobs positivity

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 9-Jan-20

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that there was 1.6 per cent growth in job vacancies in the November quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private sector job vacancies increased by 1.5 per cent, after declining in the two previous quarters. The figures also show that the number of available jobs rose to 239,400 in the year to November, compared with 235,100 in August. However, economics still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to reduce the cash rate in February.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED

Union pushes to overturn BHP’s Fair Work win on enterprise deals

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 9-Jan-20

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union is appealing the Fair Work Commission’s decision to approve two enterprise agreements covering employees of BHP’s Operations Services division. The bulk of these workers are employed at BHP’s coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, and the CFMEU contends that they should be covered by the enterprise agreement for the miner’s other workers in the basin. The CFMEU argues that these workers earn up to $40,000 a year more than the Operations Services employees.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

No tax on disaster payments for fire-stricken Aussies

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Original article by David Crowe
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Jan-20

The federal government has advised that the one-off Disaster Recovery Allowance for bushfire victims will be exempt from income tax. The government will introduce legislation to this effect when Parliament resumes in early February, and it is expected to be supported by Labor. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says accommodation operators in fire-affected areas have been hard hit by the disaster, and he has urged people to support them by not cancelling their bookings and seeking a refund.

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

Many, many billions of animals feared to have died in bushfires

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Original article by Liam Mannix
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Jan-20

More than six million hectares of land have been razed by the bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales, and scientists have warned that the disaster has taken an enormous toll on wildlife. Professor Chris Dickman from the University of Sydney believes that up to 800 million animals may have perished in the NSW fires, compared with his initial estimate of 480 million. Experts have also warned that some endangered species may now be extinct, including the long-footed potoroo, whose last remaining habitat was in the fire zone.

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UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY