O75 Public Administration

I lost workers’ trust, admits Shorten

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Oct-19

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten has accepted responsibility for the party’s 18 May federal election loss. He has conceded that Labor’s proposal to abolish cash refunds for excess franking credits caused much anxiety among some electors, while there was a widespread perception that Labor’s election policies were not focused on creating jobs. Shorten intends to remain in politics, although he has ruled out becoming Labor leader again. Labor will shortly complete a review of its election campaign.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Real power, not just position

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 4-Oct-19

The Coalition’s unexpected federal election win has seen Prime Minister Scott Morrison retain top ranking in AFR Magazine’s 2019 Power List. Morrison had been ranked first in 2018 by virtue of the fact that he succeeded Malcolm Turnbull shortly before the list was finalised. Labor leader Anthony Albanese is ranked fifth in the 2019 Power List, behind Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Trade surplus declines on lower iron ore price

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 4-Oct-19

Official figures show that Australia recorded a trade surplus of $5.9bn in August, compared with a record $8bn in June. The total value of exports of goods and services fell by $1.4bn in August, and imports fell by $137m. A downturn in the price of iron and coal was the major contributor to the lower trade surplus. The value of iron ore exports declined by 12 per cent during the month, with the price of the steel input falling from a peak of $US120 per tonne to $US91. However, iron ore export volumes increased by 15 per cent.

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AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

PM slap for UN in new world order

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Oct-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken of his concern regarding a new order that seeks to give global institutions authority over individual countries in terms of dictating their national policies. Morrison was speaking at the Lowy Institute on 3 October, saying that he needs to focus more on international forces that are shaping Australia’s future. Morrison also said he will visit Indonesia in November for the inauguration of President Joko Widodo, and that he will visit India and Japan in early 2020.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY, UNITED NATIONS

AFLW at war

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Original article by Michael Warner
Herald Sun – Page: 62 & 61 : 3-Oct-19

The AFL Players’ Association says the majority of AFLW footballers support a proposed three-year collective bargaining agreement, and a vote on the deal will be held shortly. However, a group of AFLW players who are dissatisfied with the proposed pay deal has engaged the services of law firm Maurice Blackburn to represent them. Amongst other things, the dissident group contends that AFLW players will receive a pay rise of seven per cent in 2020 when based on hourly rates, rather than 21 per cent as the AFLPA has claimed.

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AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATION, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD

Inside a massive cyber hack that risks compromising leaders across the globe

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Original article by Stephanie Borys
abc.net au – Page: Online : 3-Oct-19

Australian National University vice chancellor Brian Schmidt says a cyber attack on its computer network in November 2018 was an ‘extremely sophisticated operation’. It was also very simply executed, with ANU’s systems being compromised after a staffer merely previewed an email with an attachment, which allowed the hackers to create a copy of the university’s network map. The hackers were then able to access ANU’s enterprise systems domain, which enabled them to steal the personal data of ANU students from the last 19 years. The motives of the hackers remain unknown, but the stolen data could potentially include that of former students who are now in positions of power in both Australia and abroad.

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AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

US can have Downer but not the cables: Morrison

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 3-Oct-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison say the federal government will co-operate with any request from the US to interview Alexander Downer as part of an investigation into the Mueller probe into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election campaign. Downer was Australia’s high commissioner to the UK in 2016, when he was told by a former Trump adviser that Russia had access to emails that could damage rival presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. However, Morrison has ruled out giving the US access to classified diplomatic cables associated with the meeting.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

RBA one step away from QE

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, John Kehoe, Aleks Vickovich
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 2-Oct-19

The Australian dollar reached an intra-day low of $US66.94 in local trading on 1 October, after the Reserve Bank of Australia reduced the cash rate to 0.75 per cent. RBA governor Philip Lowe signalled that the central bank is prepared to further ease monetary policy if necessary. The third rate cut in 2019 has heightened expectations that the cash rate will fall to 0.5 per cent in November. Andrew Boak of Goldman Sachs warns that this may be insufficient to lift inflation to within the RBA’s target range over the next several years. He adds that this in turn could necessitate further rate cuts, as well as the potential for quantitative easing.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Wesfarmers underpaid staff

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 19 : 2-Oct-19

Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers has attributed its latest wage underpayment scandal to a payroll error. A preliminary estimate suggests that the staff were underpaid about $15m in total, although the final figure could potentially be much higher. The error was detected during testing of a new payroll system, which found that some 2,000 current and 4,000 former employees of its industrial and safety division had been underpaid for nine years. Wesfarmers’ Bunnings hardware chain recently admitted to underpaying the superannuation entitlements of some part-time employees.

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WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, BLACKWOODS, WORKWEAR GROUP, COREGAS, GREENCAP LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Uni funding: job success gets more weight

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Original article by Robert Bolton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 2-Oct-19

Education Minister Dan Tehan has advised that the federal government will give more weighting to graduate employment outcomes when allocating additional money to the nation’s universities under a new performance-based funding model. The increased focus on ensuring that university graduates are equipped with the skills to obtain employment quickly follows the government’s move to provide an extra $80m in performance-based funding in 2020. Meanwhile, the Australian Learning Lecture Project has questions the relevance of ATAR entry scores for admission to university courses.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, AUSTRALIAN LEARNING LECTURE PROJECT, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY