O75 Public Administration

Business Confidence down slightly at 114 in July

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

In Australia, Business Confidence eased 0.7pts (-0.6%) to 114.0 in July 2019, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Business Confidence has now averaged 114.4 over the last three months, after an 11.2% jump in May. Business Confidence is now 0.4pts above its level of July 2018, but 1.6pts below its long-term average of 115.6. Now 53.9% (unchanged) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the equal highest figure for this indicator since April 2018), while 19.8% (up 5.7ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’ financially this time next year. Meanwhile, 49.1% (down 0.4ppts) of businesses expect the Australian economy to have ‘good times’ over the next year, while 43.2% (up 3.5ppts) expect the economy to have ‘bad times’. However, 48.7% (up 7.5ppts) of businesses say the next year will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, while only 38.9% (down 4.5ppts) say it will be a ‘bad time to invest’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Push for Darwin Port to be nationalised to end Chinese ownership of strategic northern asset

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Original article by Andrew Greene
abc.net au – Page: Online : 5-Aug-19

Federal Labor MP Nick Champion has called for Chinese company Landbridge’s 99-year lease on Darwin Port, which it was awarded by the Northern Territory Government in 2015 under a $500 million deal, to be scrapped. Champion, who is the Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, says he does not think that placing the port back into Commonwealth control will anger the Chinese government. Neil James from the Australian Defence Association says the suggestion to nationalise Darwin Port is a sensible one.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LANDBRIDGE GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE ASSOCIATION

Union’s EBA push for indigenous voice

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 3 : 5-Aug-19

Menzies Research Centre director Nick Cater has criticised the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union’s proposed enterprise bargaining agreement with subcontractor Gabba Waterproofing. It includes a First Nations People clause, which amongst other things requires the subcontractor to hold ‘welcome to country’ ceremonies when the number of workers on the North Queensland Stadium project reaches 20. Cater says the CFMMEU’s demands are all about union turf wars rather than Aboriginal land rights. The EBA was lodged with the Fair Work Commission in July.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, GABBA WATERPROOFING PTY LTD, THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Job snobs leave bosses in the lurch

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Aug-19

Almost 60 per cent of businesses looking for lower-skilled roles are finding it hard to find new staff, while almost 50 per cent are finding it hard in general to recruit new employees. This is according to research by the Department of Employment, which found amongst other things that many potential employees were disinterested in the job, lacked personal presentation skills or submitted applications that were of poor quality. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson says the survey demonstrates that action is needed to address the problem of prospective employees who are not job-ready.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Adani-style red tape tops Canberra’s hit-list

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 5-Aug-19

The federal government will announce on 5 August that the Productivity Commission will be asked to examine the approvals process for resource projects. This coincides with the announcement by Ben Morton, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, of his intention to adopt a sector-by-sector approach to abolishing unnecessary regulation. Morton says he expects businesses to pass on any benefits that result from this review to the broader economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ADANI MINING PTY LTD

New wage deals push 3pc pay rises

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-Aug-19

Data from the Attorney-General’s Department shows that public sector enterprise agreements that were approved in the March quarter included wage increases of 2.4 per cent, while wages growth under private sector agreements was 2.7 per cent. However, the data excludes 29 per cent of new agreements because they featured ‘non-quantifiable’ wage increases. They included enterprise agreements for Woolworths and David Jones employees, which link pay rises to increases in the minimum wage.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, DAVID JONES LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, BUPA AGED CARE, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK

Trump to impose more tariffs on Chinese goods

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Original article by
bbc.com – Page: Online : 2-Aug-19

Wall Street has retreated after President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that the US government will impose a tariff of 10 per cent on an additional $300bn worth of goods imported from China. The move means that all Chinese imports will now be subject to an impost. Trump has indicated that the latest move is a short-term measure and that the tariff could progressively be increased to at least 25 per cent. The US Chamber of Commerce has warned that Trump’s latest tariff move will undermine the strong US economy.

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UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Setka power play: brutal and radical

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Original article by David Penberthy
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 2-Aug-19

The Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been accused of ‘infiltrating’ the militant union’s South Australian branch, with a view to taking it over. Aaron Cartledge was the CFMMU’s SA secretary until 2018, when he was forced out of the role he had held for six years. He notes that prosecutions against the state branch for breaching workplace laws have increased significantly since Victorian officials began exerting their influence. Victorian state secretary John Setka has not responded to Cartledge’s allegations.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE, MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Bring global giants to heel on tax

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Original article by Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 5 : 1-Aug-19

Labor senator and former union official Tony Sheldon says the federal government should follow the example of other nations and ensure that multinational companies pay their "fair share" of tax in Australia. Sheldon also used his maiden speech in parliament to urge the government to take action to ensure that gig economy workers are entitled to superannuation and a fair rate of pay.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FOODORA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DELIVEROO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Back door to access data deliberately left open

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Original article by Mark Schliebs
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-Aug-19

The federal government’s Telecommunication Interception and Access Act is under growing scrutiny amid revelations that a wide range of agencies are bypassing it to access Australians’ metadata. The data retention laws authorise 21 government agencies to access metadata without a warrant, but many other agencies are doing so via the Telecommunications Act. The Department of Home Affairs has indicated that this loophole was intentional, and that non-authorised agencies can access metadata on grounds other than law enforcement and national security.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY