O75 Public Administration

Labor urges Senate censure of Dutton

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 5 : 20-Sep-18

Greens MP Adam Bandt will push for a no-confidence motion against Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton over his intervention in the issuance of visas to two au pairs. This follows a Senate committee’s recommendation that the upper house should consider a censure motion against Dutton over his role in the scandal. Labor and Greens members of the committee have alleged that Dutton deliberately misled parliament regarding the controversy, a view that has been rejected by Coalition members of the committee.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

China won’t bow to US, Rudd warns

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 20-Sep-18

Australia’s former prime minister Kevin Rudd says there seems little prospect of the US-China trade dispute being resolved prior to the US mid-term elections in November. Tensions between the two nations have been heightened by the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on $US200bn worth of Chinese imports, with China retaliating in kind. Rudd says China is aware that it will need to compromise on its stance on trade and investment rules, but it will not want to be seen to be backing down. He recently warned that the trade war could escalate into a new cold war.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, ASIA SOCIETY POLICY INSTITUTE, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX

Tax Office hunts for undeclared income

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 19-Sep-18

The Australian Taxation Office will use data-matching technology to recoup up to $1.4bn in unpaid taxes from foreign income and cash payments. As part of the crackdown, the ATO will increase its co-operation with around 100 foreign tax agencies, with data from Austrac showing that the US, the UK, New Zealand and China are among the leading countries from which Australians receive undeclared foreign income. The ATO’s assistant commissioner Kath Anderson says there is also a growing trend for taxpayers to fail to declare income from sources such as cryptocurrency trading and gig economy earnings.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE

Hanson warns against bid for gas pipelines

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 19-Sep-18

Cheung Kong Infrastructure’s $13 billion takeover of pipeline operator APA Group remains subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board. However, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson opposes the deal, arguing that key infrastructure should remain locally-owned, whether by governments or the private sector. Hanson has vowed to campaign against the deal if it receives government approval, while Liberal senator Jim Molan has also called for the deal to be blocked.

CORPORATES
APA GROUP – ASX APA, CHEUNG KONG INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY LIMITED, CENTRE ALLIANCE

ALP states to support Shorten if NEG revived

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 5 : 19-Sep-18

Queensland’s Energy Minister Anthony Lynham and Victorian counterpart Lily D’Ambrosio have indicated that they would back the national energy guarantee if Labor wins the next federal election. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten recently signalled that a Labor government would be open to adopting some aspects of the Coalition’s NEG. Lynham has also criticised the federal government’s lack of action regarding energy policy following its decision to abandon the NEG under new Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENERGY AND WATER SUPPLY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT, LAND, WATER AND PLANNING, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS

Technology’s part in the puzzle of why wages won’t rise

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 19-Sep-18

The Reserve Bank still anticipates a gradual increase in wages growth, according to the minutes of its monthly board meeting. Meanwhile, independent economist Geoff Weir has suggested that the rate at which companies adopt new technologies is contributing to the low growth in wages. The central bank will publish a paper by Weir in which he notes that companies which act more quickly to embrace new technologies tend to enjoy higher productivity and profits, with some of these gains being passed on to employees via wage rises.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Union laws facing Senate stumbling block

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 19-Sep-18

The crossbenchers may determine the fate of the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill, which will be put to the Senate on 19 September. Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick says the party may support the bill, although this would be conditional on certain amendments. Other independent senators are also still considering their stance on the bill, although Tim Storer has ruled out supporting it. He is particularly concerned about the provisions that allow union officials to be disqualified for misconduct, noting that the sanctions are tougher than those for company directors under the Corporations Act.

CORPORATES
CENTRE ALLIANCE, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVES, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

RBA warns over trade war fallout

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Uren, Cameron Stewart, Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Sep-18

President Donald Trump has vowed to escalate the trade war with China, after announcing that the US will impose a tariff of 10 per cent on $US200bn worth of Chinese goods from 24 September. This will rise to 25 per cent on 1 January. The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest board meeting show that the central bank is concerned about the potential impact of the trade war on the Australian economy. Modelling by KPMG indicates that the Trump administration’s new round of tariff hikes would cut Australia’s GDP by about 0.3 per cent by the early 2020s.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHINA. MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence bounces to 118.0

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Sep-18

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 1.5% to 118.0 in the week ended 16 September, more than reversing the prior week’s 1.3% fall. Households’ views towards current financial conditions improved 3.7%, partially reversing the 4.8% fall in the previous week. Sentiment towards future financial conditions fell 0.4% following three straight weekly rises. Households were a touch less optimistic about current economic conditions (down 1.2%), although sentiment towards future conditions improved by 3.3%. The "time to buy a household item" subindex reversed its 2.3% decline in the previous week to remain unchanged over a two-week period.

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

Legal test looms over Qantas’ bonus bribes

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Patrick Hatch
The Age – Page: 21 : 18-Sep-18

The Fair Work Commission may be asked to rule on the validity of its cash performance bonus scheme. The airline’s employees will be eligible for a cash bonus of $2,000 provided they sign a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Unions have expressed concern about a provision of the scheme which excludes all employees in a work group from receiving the bonus if one or more of them engages in conduct that causes harm to the airline. Unions believe that this may breach workplace laws, as the "harm" caused could potentially be interpreted to include protected industrial action.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE