O75 Public Administration

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence continues rises to 119.5

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Dec-18

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 0.8% to 119.5 in the week ended 2 December. Households’ views towards current financial conditions rose 7.2% while future financial condition rose by 2.3%. However, consumers’ views toward current and future economic conditions fell by 2.5% and 0.3% respectively. The ‘time to buy a household item’ sub-index was down 1.9%.

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

Lawyer X scandal: jailed gangsters could go free

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Original article by John Ferguson, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Dec-18

Premier Daniel Andrews has launched a royal commission into Victoria Police’s use of a defence barrister as a registered informant. The High Court was scathing on 3 December in its attack on Victoria Police’s actions, accusing it of "reprehensible conduct" and of potentially corrupt behaviour. Well-known criminals and underworld figures may have to be released as a result of Victoria Police’s actions, while having to compensate criminals is not out of the question.

CORPORATES
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA POLICE, VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

Australia makes its mark on trade-barrier league table

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 2 : 4-Dec-18

G20 nations have imposed over 9,000 protectionist measures since 2008, according to a study by Global Trade Alert. The G20 leaders first gathered in that year, at which time they committed to resist protectionism; that commitment was abandoned at the most recent meeting. Global Trade Alert’s study looked at various trade-distorting measures, including anti-dumping actions, at which Australia leads the G20 in initiating. Global Trade Alert states the federal and state governments have implemented 50 trade-distorting measures in the first 10 months of 2018.

CORPORATES
GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20)

PM to end leadership turmoil

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Dec-18

The federal government has announced changes to the Liberal Party’s leadership rules that will prevent a prime minister from being challenged during their term in office. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the government understands the frustration and disappointment of ordinary Australians when an elected prime minister is ousted in a partyroom ballot. Morrison sought the views of former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott regarding the reforms, although his immediate predecessor Malcolm Turnbull was not consulted. Labor implemented similar reforms under Kevin Rudd in 2013.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND

Turnbull’s bid to force early poll

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Original article by Andrew Clennell, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Dec-18

The future of Liberal MP Craig Kelly remains uncertain, with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull urging several members of the party’s moderates faction to reject his pre-selection. Kelly has threatened to resign from the Liberal Party and become an independent MP if he is disendorsed. Turnbull told New South Wales minister Matt Kean that he had reached agreement with Scott Morrison while in office that an election would be held on 2 March, three weeks before the state election. Turnbull also said an early federal election would boost the re-election prospects of the NSW government, allowing it to avoid an anti-Coalition backlash.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Business Confidence up for third straight month to 113.8 in November

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Dec-18

In Australia, Business Confidence rose 0.7pts (+0.6%) to 113.8 in November 2018, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Business Confidence has continued a rebound which began following the Liberal leadership instability in late August. Business Confidence is now above where it was in July (113.6), prior to the leadership challenge, for the first time. Business Confidence so far during 2018 has averaged 115.6, the highest yearly average since 2014. Businesses are largely positive, with 51.1% (up 5.9ppts) expecting the business to be ‘better off financially’ this time next year and 51.8% (up 2.3ppts) expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next five years. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says there is rising confidence across a broad number of industries compared to this time a year ago.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Manufacturing, mining to power capex rebound

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 30-Nov-18

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that capital expenditure in the private sector is now expected to top $114.1bn in 2018-19, compared with a previous forecast of $102bn. The mining and manufacturing sectors are tipped to be the key drivers of the upturn in capital expenditure. Meanwhile, the figures show that private sector capex fell by 0.5 per cent in the September quarter, primarily due to lower expenditure in the mining sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, JP MORGAN SECURITIES AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TD SECURITIES, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Leaked email: how Libs marched off cliff

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Original article by John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 30-Nov-18

The fallout from the Liberals’ rout in the Victorian election is continuing, with the party’s federal vice-president Karina Okotel criticising the ill-fated campaign in an email to some party members. Amongst other things, Okotel has described the Liberals’ advertising campaign as "hopeless" and said the party had failed to respond to internal polling which showed that the election campaign was not resonating with voters. Okotel also said senior Victorian Liberals such as president Michael Kroger and former leader Matthew Guy should accept responsibility for the election loss.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF VICTORIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Fewer workers are joining unions

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 30-Nov-18

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the number of workers who are union members has fallen by 11,700 overall since 2016. A total of 1.5 million Australians were union members in August 2018, comprising 1.133 million full-time workers and 402,000 part-time employees. However, union membership as a proportion of the workforce has fallen from 15.3 per cent in 2016 to 14.6 per cent. The education and training sector has the highest proportion of union membership.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Trade spat a global threat: PM

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 30-Nov-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the US-China trade war could undermine global economic growth. He has stressed the importance of the upcoming G20 leaders’ summit to the outlook for the global economy, and he has urged the US and China to use the summit to resolve their trade spat. Many world leaders regard the G20 summit in Buenos Aires as the most important one to be held since the global financial crisis.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION, ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND