O75 Public Administration

ATO targets legal privilege

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Original article by Neil Chenoweth
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 9-Oct-18

The Australian Taxation Office is questioning the use of legal professional privilege by companies and their advisers. Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan stated in March that the ATO’s views of what constitutes professional privilege seem to differ from those held by taxpayers and their advisers. Deputy commissioner Mark Konza has stated that when he sought to audit the tax affairs of one company, every document he sought access to was claimed to be the subject of professional privilege. The ATO may seek to impose tax promoter penalties on large accounting firms like KPMG and PwC over their role in the promotion of schemes that seek to avoid tax.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, ERNST AND YOUNG, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, GLENCORE PLC, APPLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT AUSTRALIA, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Scott Morrison: No issue with nuclear power but it doesn’t stack up

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 9-Oct-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has questioned the merits of nuclear power from an investment perspective. While Morrison says he does not have any issues with nuclear energy, he argues that there is a stronger investment case for Hydro Tasmania’s proposed pumped hydro project. Several nuclear power projects in the US and the UK have been marred by cost blowouts, while a recent report by Deloitte noted that the all-in cost of nuclear power has risen over the last eight years. In contrast, there has been a sharp fall in the cost of solar and wind power.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, SOUTHERN COMPANY, EDF ENERGY PLC, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST

Labor, Coalition square off in Reef election

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 9-Oct-18

Labor’s acting energy spokesperson, Penny Wong, has claimed that the federal government has given up on trying to tackle climate change. Wong was commenting on the release of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which warned that coral reefs would be wiped out by global warming of two degrees celsius. Wong said Labor is committed to its 45 per cent emissions reduction target, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he is confident Australia can easily meet its Paris emissions reduction target.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, UNITED NATIONS

IPCC coal call not for us: PM

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Original article by Graham Lloyd
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 9-Oct-18

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that coal-fired power generation would need to be almost completely phased out worldwide by 2050 if global warming is to be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The IPCC’s special report argues that meeting this target would require global net human carbon ­dioxide emissions to be reduced to zero by 2050. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia is not bound by any of the report’s conclusions, while Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says removing coal from the nation’s energy mix would result in power blackouts on the east coast.

CORPORATES
INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GLOBAL CARBON PROJECT, CSIRO, GLOBAL CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE INSTITUTE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INCORPORATED

ALP launches fair go policy manifesto

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Oct-18

Labor released a five-point plan that it will take to the next federal election at a rally in south-western Sydney on 7 October. The rally included speeches from Opposition leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, and was held on the same day as latest opinion polls showed that the federal government could lose up to 19 seats on the mainland at the next election. Shorten said that if Labor is elected, it would be the first time that Australia would have a government with 50 per cent female representation. He also stated that Labor is targeting 50 per cent of power to be generated from renewable energy by 2030.

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

Nation’s economic success little more than good luck

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Original article by David Uren, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 8-Oct-18

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott argues that the nation’s GDP growth is primarily due to factors such as population growth, consumption and government spending, rather than productivity gains. She notes that productivity growth has fallen to its lowest levels since the 1970s, and she has stressed the risks facing the domestic economy. Westacott and Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson have both highlighted the federal government’s failure to deliver on policies such as the national energy guarantee and company tax cuts.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Unemployment down to 9.4% in September off two-year high

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

A Roy Morgan survey shows that 12,164,000 Australians were employed in September, up 192,000 over the past year. The increase was driven by equivalent increases in full-time employment (which was up 97,000 to 7,694,000) and part-time employment (up 95,000 to a record 4,470,000). The figures also show that 1,256,000 Australians (9.4% of the workforce) were unemployed in September, an increase of 54,000 on a year ago (up 0.3%). In addition, 1,127,000 Australians (8.4% of the workforce) were under-employed, working part-time and looking for more work, a fall of 169,000 in a year (down 1.4%). In total 2,383,000 Australians (17.8% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in September, a fall of 115,000 in a year (down 1.1%). Roy Morgan’s real unemployment figure of 9.4% for September remains substantially higher than the current ABS estimate for August of 5.3%. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says total unemployment and under-employment in Australia has now exceeded 2 million for three straight years. As we have noted previously, the persistent high level of unemployment and under-employment is not because jobs aren’t being created, but because the workforce continues to grow at a faster rate than the growth in employment.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Business Confidence in September rebounds after leadership instability

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Oct-18

In Australia, Business Confidence rose 1.3pts (+1.2%) to 111.5 in September 2018, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Business Confidence had improved in early August before plunging late in the month following the Liberal leadership instability. Business Confidence remains 1.7pts below its level in September 2017 and 4.7pts below its long-term average of 116.2. However, Business Confidence so far during 2018 has averaged 116.0, the highest yearly average since 2014. Businesses remain largely positive, with 51% (up 0.5ppts) expecting "good times" for the Australian economy over the next five years and 48.2% (up 0.4ppts) saying now is a "good time to invest in growing the business". Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that analysing Business Confidence by State shows that falls in Business Confidence in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have driven the overall figure down compared to a year ago. Importantly, both Victoria and New South Wales face State elections during the next six months.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Board ordered inquiry before Guthrie’s firing

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 5-Oct-18

The ABC board has advised it decided on 23 September to hire an external adviser to investigate claims raised by then MD Michelle Guthrie against then chairman Justin Milne. Guthrie was sacked on the day after its decision, while Milne resigned a few days later. Guthrie claims that Milne had tried to pressure her to sack journalists because they had upset the federal government. It is understood that the external adviser has not yet been in contact with Guthrie, while the board has stated that as the investigation is ongoing that it will not comment further on the matter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Brett Kavanaugh: Hopes of confirmation rise as Democrats label FBI report a whitewash

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Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 5-Oct-18

The FBI’s report into sexual misconduct claims against Brett Kavanaugh appears to have been favourably received by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins. Kavanaugh is Donald Trump’s nominee for the US Supreme Court, with the FBI’s report being sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee "in the middle of the night". However, the Democrats have labelled the report a "whitewash", with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein noting that neither Kavanaugh or his accuser Christine Blasey Ford were interviewed by the FBI.

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UNITED STATES. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), DEMOCRATIC PARTY