O75 Public Administration

Rich Lister hemp campaigner backs Abbott

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 23-Apr-19

Barry Lambert, the chairman and biggest shareholder of hemp company Ecofibre, is urging voters in the seat of Warringah to re-elect former prime minister Tony Abbott. Lambert is keen to get medical cannabis legalised, and he says Abbott has been supportive of his campaign. Lambert has urged Labor leader Bill Shorten to legalise hemp extract for medical purposes if he wins the election; Lambert also says Shorten should exempt existing investors from Labor’s proposed franking credit reforms.

CORPORATES
ECOFIBRE INDUSTRIES LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY, COUNT FINANCIAL LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, ONE NATION PARTY

Morrison fund woos small enterprises

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 17 : 23-Apr-19

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will launch a $100 million government-backed fund that will provide equity funding to small businesses. The Australian Business Growth Fund is based on similar initiatives in the UK and Canada. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to create 250,000 new small businesses over the next five years, with 230,000 small businesses having been launched over the last five years. National Australia Bank is in charge of efforts to launch the Australian Business Growth Fund.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Fightback on penalty rates

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ben Packham, Dennis Shanahan, Alice Workman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 22-Apr-19

Labor plans to reconvene federal parliament before 30 June if it wins the election, in order to capitalise on a Senate that may be more amenable to its proposed industrial relations reforms. Amongst other things, Labor intends to reverse cuts to penalty rates within its first 100 days in office. However, Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has written to Senate crossbenchers warning that Labor’s workplace reforms would require more extensive consultation than would be possible by the end of June.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CENTRE ALLIANCE

CFMEU pushing closed shop ahead of possible Labor win

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 23-Apr-19

The New South Wales branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has declined to comment on claims that it has adopted a ‘no ticket, no start’ policy at construction sites in Sydney. The Master Builders Association has raised concerns about the practice, with executive director Brian Seidler fearing that the push for compulsory union membership on building sites will spread to other states. The federal government’s building code – which Labor wants to abolish – prohibits ‘no ticket, no start’ arrangements.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Room for unions to work with super funds: Combet

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet says he has no concerns with union officials raising industrial relations issues with trustees of superannuation funds. However, he stresses that trustees must be mindful of their duty to act in the best interest of fund members when considering such issues. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority recent advised that trustees must not be influenced by "sponsoring organisations" in carrying out their duties. Combet has previously been ACTU secretary and a Labor minister.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, GLENCORE PLC

Lecturer sues Sydney Uni over sacking

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 18-Apr-19

Former lecturer Tim Anderson has launched an unfair dismissal claim against the University of Sydney and deputy vice-chancellor Stephen Garton. The university claims that he was dismissed for breaching its code of conduct and public comment policy. The National Tertiary Education Union in turn alleges that the teaching material and social media posts that led to Anderson’s sacking are protected under clauses in the university’s enterprise agreement relating to intellectual freedom. In addition, it contends that his sacking was unlawful under provisions of the Fair Work Act concerning political opinion.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

Revealed: Bill’s carbon costs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Apr-19

The Greens believe that Labor’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target is too dependent on the use of international carbon credits. Greens MP Adam Bandt has signalled that the party could use its numbers in the Senate to block any legislation that mandates the use of international carbon credits. Meanwhile, some estimates suggest that Australian businesses could be forced to pay up to $25bn to purchase international carbon credits under Labor. This is based on an average price of $50 per carbon credit over the next decade.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, BAECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence up to 115.3

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Apr-19

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 1.9% to 115.3 in the week ended 14 April. This reaffirms our prognosis that the post-Budget dip in consumer confidence was likely noise. Households’ views towards current financial conditions rose 2.1%, after three consecutive falls, while views towards future financial conditions inched up 0.1%. Consumers’ views toward current economic conditions rose 4.2%, to the highest level for this year; views towards future economic conditions rose 1.5%. The ‘time to buy a household item’ index was up 1.7%.

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

Shorten’s $34b super gaffe

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Andrew Tillett, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 17-Apr-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten used a press conference on 16 April to state that Labor will not increase existing taxes on superannuation or introduce new taxes if it wins the federal election. Shadow finance minister Jim Chalmers later clarified Shorten’s comments, stating that he meant there will be no changes to super policy apart from those that have been previously announced. Labor has in fact previously announced four proposed changes to super policy. The Coalition has estimated that these reforms could increase tax revenue by about $34bn over a decade.

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

Real unemployment jumps to 10.9% as Australians prepare to vote in election

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Apr-19

The latest data for the Roy Morgan employment series shows that 12,158,000 Australians were employed in March 2019, down 216,000 over the past year. The fall in employment was driven by a significant decrease in part-time employment of 203,000 over the past year (to 4,228,000); full-time employment was virtually unchanged, down by 13,000 (to 7,930,000). The figures also show that 1,491,000 Australians (10.9% of the workforce) were unemployed in March, up 281,000 on a year ago, and the unemployment rate was up by 2%. In addition, 1,321,000 Australians (9.7% of the workforce) were under-employed, working part-time and looking for more work, a decrease of 41,000 in a year (down 0.3%). In total, a record high 2,812,000 Australians (20.6% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in March, an increase of 240,000 in a year (up 1.7%). Roy Morgan’s real unemployment figure of 10.9% for March is significantly higher than the current ABS estimate for February of 4.9%. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the disappointing employment figures suggest the real problem facing the Morrison Government has been an inability to solve Australia’s continuing problem of high unemployment and under-employment. Roy Morgan has consistently shown over 2 million Australians looking for work (unemployed) or looking for more work (under-employed) since the L-NP Government was first elected in September 2013 and that problem remains a large one to this day.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, MORGAN POLL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA