O75 Public Administration

$65 million and counting, Clive Palmer labels Labor as sore losers on election spend

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Original article by Samantha Maiden
The New Daily – Page: Online : 21-Oct-19

It is expected that businessman Clive Palmer’s advertising expenditure on the last federal election will be somewhere around $65 million to $70 million when he lodges his final expenditure statement with the Australian Electoral Commission. Labor has apparently blamed Palmer’s extensive advertising as one of the factors behind its defeat, but Palmer has rejected its calls for a cap on advertising expenditure. He says Labor was happy for him to spend as much as he liked when it appeared that he would be giving them his preferences.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Review: Labor base rejected handouts

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-Oct-19

Labor’s review into its surprise 18 May federal election loss is due to be presented to its National Executive on 5 November. It is expected to conclude that a number of factors led to the defeat, including a poor election campaign and the unpopularity of then-leader Bill Shorten. The review is also expected to find that voters who were meant to benefit from Labor’s so-called ‘tax and spend’ agenda deserted it, while those who were targeted by it stuck with Labor.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

IMF vows to do whatever it takes

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 18 : 21-Oct-19

The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2020, after recently scaling back its 2019 growth forecast to three per cent. The IMF’s International Monetary & Financial Committee concluded its annual meeting in Washington on 20 October; it released a communique in which it committed to using all appropriate policy tools to bolster global growth. The communique also acknowledged the need to resolve trade tensions.

CORPORATES
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, BANK OF ENGLAND, WORLD BANK, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

ATO seeks to bankrupt Huang Xiangmo

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Original article by Neil Chenoweth
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Oct-19

The Australian Taxation Office is seeking to have Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo declared bankrupt. Huang, who is at the centre of a New South Wales corruption investigation into political donations, is said to owe the ATO some $140.9m in tax; it will seek to take legal action in Hong Kong as part of its efforts to recover the money. Huang’s Australian residence visa was cancelled in December, and his lawyers claim that he cannot be the subject of a bankruptcy order as the ATO would need to show that he is "personally present or ordinarily present in Australia".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

‘You will pay’: unions threaten Labor over trade

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Oct-19

Labor has attracted criticism from union leaders after the party’s caucus voted to support the federal government’s proposed free-trade agreements with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru. Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union national secretary Michael O’Connor says the decision will cause ongoing tensions between sections of the union movement and Labor. Unions’ concerns about the trade deals include the clauses regarding investor-state dispute settlement clauses and labour market testing provisions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Racing industry punting on renewed interest with The Everest

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Oct-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that just over 5.2 million Australians aged 14+ (25%) now watch horse racing on TV, a drop of nearly 700,000 since 2015. Almost 5.1 million Australians watch the Melbourne Cup race broadcast, and 98% of Australians who watch any type of horse racing on TV watch the Melbourne Cup. The addition of Australia’s richest turf race, The Everest, to the racing calendar in 2017 has attracted a significant audience (over 750,000), but has yet to reverse the overall decline in TV viewership. Analysis shows that a third of Australians who still watch horse racing on TV are aged 65+, and less than a fifth are under 35. The gender split is fairly even, although men slightly outnumber women. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Rate cuts to go on despite jobless drop

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 18-Oct-19

Official data shows that Australia’s unemployment rate fell from 5.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent in September, after the participation rate eased to 66.1 per cent. The economy added 14,700 jobs during the month, with a 26,200-strong increase in full-time jobs being offset by the loss of 11,400 part-time positions. Westpac economist Simon Murray expects the small fall in the jobless rate to be temporary, adding that it will give the Reserve Bank more time to assess the state of the economy before taking any further action on interest rates. The official underemployment rate is currently 8.3 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS

Building slump to hit whole economy

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Original article by Michael Roddan, Elias Visontay
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 18-Oct-19

The Reserve Bank’s deputy governor Guy Debelle has told an industry conference in Sydney that a forecast slump in dwelling investment could reduce GDP growth by one per cent. The Master Builders Association’s chief economist Shane Garrett has called on the federal government to take steps to bring about an end to the current housing downturn as soon as possible, while ­Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says Prime Minister Scott Morrison has no plans for stimulating the economy.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Labor to support Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong free trade deals

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Oct-19

Labor’s caucus will shortly decide whether to support the federal government’s proposed free trade agreements with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru. Sources have indicated that Labor is unlikely to oppose the legislation, although it may seek a number of amendments. The ACTU will lobby Labor MPs to oppose the bill, due to concerns about issues such as the trade deals’ investor-state dispute settlement clauses and labour market testing provisions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

CEOs say big stick unlikely to be deployed

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Robert Guy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Oct-19

Alinta CEO Jeff Dimery says the federal government’s legislation to force energy companies to divest assets will probably never be triggered. Dimery argues that conditions in the energy market would have to be dire for the ‘big stick’ legislation to be used. Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria has in turn questioned whether the legislation will increase energy affordability and reliability, while Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott has doubts about the effectiveness of the government’s Underwriting New Generation scheme.

CORPORATES
ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AUSTRALIA. ENERGY SECURITY BOARD