O75 Public Administration

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up to 116.3

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Jul-19

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 0.3% to 116.3 in the week ended 21 July. The financial and economic conditions subcomponents were positive, implying the detail was better than the headline suggested. Households’ views towards current financial conditions rose 2.8%, while views towards future financial conditions were up 0.3%; both indices are comfortably above their respective long-term average. Consumers’ views toward current economic conditions rose 3.4% and views toward future economic conditions rose 1%. The ‘time to buy a household item’ index was the only subindex that fell, dropping 4.4%. The four-week moving average for inflation expectations was flat at 4.0%, though weekly inflation expectations rose for the third consecutive week.

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

Today 2 million Foxtel subscribers are set to gain access to Netflix

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Jul-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows 13.355 million Australians now have access to either Netflix or Foxtel via a household subscription to either service equivalent to nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of all Australians aged 14+. Of the 13.355 million subscribers a majority of over two-fifths (62.6%) only have Netflix access, a further 23% (3 million) have access to both and 2 million (14.4%) only have Foxtel access. Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says the tie-up between Subscription TV giants Foxtel and Netflix set to be announced today carries opportunities for both: "Enabling the 5 million Australians with household access to Foxtel to view the streaming service through their Foxtel IQ box is a solid defensive measure for Foxtel to help prevent existing subscribers ditching the service to move to cheaper alternatives and provides an extra incentive for new users to sign up. The more Foxtel can be regarded as the ‘gateway’ to video content from the likes of Netflix, and perhaps other rival services in future, the more access Foxtel will gain to detailed user data metrics that will help them tailor their services, and advertising, to individual viewing preferences and the more valuable their service will in turn be to advertisers looking for an audience."

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Donald Trump grants his second state dinner at White House to Scott Morrison

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Original article by
abc.net au – Page: Online : 24-Jul-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend a state dinner at the White House on 20 September, as part of an official visit to the US. It will the second state dinner that President Donald Trump has hosted, and the first to be attended by an Australian prime minister since John Howard in 2006. The White House has released a statement saying that the visit will celebrate the "close friendship and shared history" of the two nations.

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

Ambition fulfilled for Boris Johnson. But what next for Britain?

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Original article by Heather Stewart, Jessica Elgot
The Guardian – Page: Online : 24-Jul-19

Britain’s incoming prime minister Boris Johnson says he is committed to the Brexit deadline of 31 October. Johnson will succeed Theresa May after defeating Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative Party’s leadership ballot. Johnson gained 92,153 votes, well clear of Hunt with 46,656 votes. Some MPs have indicated that Johnson has said that he will not call an election before the Brexit deadline, although it is believed that he has not ruled out dissolving parliament before the next general election in 2022.

CORPORATES
GREAT BRITAIN. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, CONSERVATIVE PARTY (GREAT BRITAIN)

RBA to look past weak GDP in June quarter

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 23-Jul-19

Economists expect that annualised GDP growth will be less than that recorded in the March quarter when figures for the June quarter are released. IFM Investors’ chief economist Alex Joiner says the expected weak result could explain why the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to cut interest rates in June and July. The RBA and the federal government are expected to look at other economic data in preference to the June GDP figures when deciding whether further monetary or fiscal stimulus is needed.

CORPORATES
IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Super is about unions rather than our retirement

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 12 : 23-Jul-19

Australia’s superannuation system is now valued at $2.8 trillion, but parliament has yet to agree on what it is for. The current federal government tried a few years ago to enact a bill that would define the purpose of superannuation, but it was never passed. The main aim of superannuation should be to help people to provide for themselves in retirement, but cynics would suggest that the ‘real’ beneficiaries include fund managers, superannuation and financial planning associations, the union movement and the Labor party. It is little wonder that all these groups want the superannuation guarantee to be increased to 12 per cent, as has been legislated, although some government MPs are now against this idea.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Showdown brewing over union ban laws

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 23-Jul-19

ACTU president Michele O’Neill has expressed concern that a key provision of the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill could be misused. It allows any party with a vested interest to apply to the Federal Court to have a union official disqualified. O’Neill warns that this provision could be exploited in order to remove union officials for relatively minor breaches. Attorney-General Christian Porter has downplayed such concerns, arguing that the bill is consistent with Australia’s international obligations.

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ACTU, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

PM to Senate: no deals on drought aid

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-Jul-19

The federal government will table its bill for a future drought fund in the Senate on 22 July; it was passed by the House of Representatives in 2018 but was not put to a vote in the Senate. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the bill will not be changed in any form to satisfy the demands of Labor or crossbenchers; he adds that drought funding should be a "no-brainer" and not something on which deals need to be done. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese claims that the government’s proposed legislation would see money taken from the Building Australia Fund.

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

Tax office targets lawyers’ privileges

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Taxation Office is hoping a new industry code of conduct that is being developed with the Law Council of Australia and other professional bodies will lead to improved auditing of multinationals. The ATO is finding it difficult to conduct such audits because lawyers are making blanket claims that documents being sought are subject to legal privilege. ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says law firms have no interest in seeing privilege claims that turn out to be false, as this could put the concept of privilege at risk.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COMMOTION SYSTEMS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

ABCC pursues workers on strike over union flags

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Building & Construction Commission is prosecuting 66 members of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union for engaging in unlawful industrial action. It is alleged that they failed to return to work after a meeting with CFMMEU delegates at a construction site in Brisbane. Amongst other things, the meeting is said to have discussed the issue of union flags being removed from union sites. The CFMMEU and its officials are not subject to the legal action. The workers each face a fine of up to $42,000.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, ACTU