O75 Public Administration

PM apologises for lack of action on banks

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Original article by Michael Roddan, Elizabeth Redman
The Australian – Page: 2 : 13-Sep-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told question time on 12 September that he regretted not holding the banking royal commission sooner. He described as appalling the evidence concerning the treatment of Baptist minister Grant Stewart who had tried to get Freedom Insurance staff to cancel a useless life insurance policy sold to his Down Syndrome son, with one employee calling Stewart a "bloody whinger". Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was highly critical of the misconduct of life insurer ClearView, which has admitted to 300,000 alleged breaches of criminal law over the provision of unsolicited advice.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, FREEDOM INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX FIG, CLEARVIEW WEALTH LIMITED – ASX CVW

Victoria rushed by renewable bidders

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 12-Sep-18

Victoria has announced the results of its first renewable energy tender, with the Andrews government easily reaching its 650 megawatt target. The tender attracted a total of 928MW, with six wind and solar projects being successful. Brett Wickham, the MD of Acciona Energy, whose 158MW Mortlake South Wind Farm was one of the successful projects, says it is currently focusing on just Victoria and Queensland at the moment, due to the current uncertainty regarding energy policy in Canberra.

CORPORATES
ACCIONA ENERGY OCEANIA PTY LTD, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, MERIDIAM INFRASTRUCTURE

Sexual harassment at work doubles: survey

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 12-Sep-18

The information, media and telecommunications industry is Australia’s worst sector when it comes to sexual harassment, according to a Australian Human Rights Commission survey. Eighty-one per cent of its employees stated they had been sexually harassed in the last five years, despite the sector accounting for just two per cent of the workforce. The number of women who state they have been sexually harassed at work has risen from 21 per cent to 39 per cent over the past six years. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says the results of its survey reveal that sexual harassment is "widespread and pervasive".

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AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Dutton accuses Quaedvlieg of grooming young woman

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Sep-18

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on 11 September that Labor should not rely on Roman Quaedvlieg as it continues to pursue Dutton over the issuing of visas to two au pairs. Dutton claimed that Quaedvlieg, who is a former Australian Border Force commissioner and who Dutton has accused of trying to smear him over the au pair case, had "groomed" a young woman 30 years his junior. Dutton also continued to deny he had any personal link to the people involved in the two au pair cases.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

PM clings to Paris target, RET

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 12-Sep-18

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told broadcaster Alan Jones that the federal government will not abandon the Paris climate change targets, in spite of pressure from conservatives to do so. Morrison said that climate change is an incredibly important issue for nations in the Pacific region, with Morrison noting the region is very important to Australia in terms of strategic influence. The government has previously stated that abandoning the Paris targets could jeopardise a free trade agreement with the European Union. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who has joined the Coalition’s backbench energy and environment committee, has called for the Renewable Energy Target to be scrapped immediately.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence eases to 116.2

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Sep-18

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence eased 1.3% to 116.2 in the week ending 9 September, following two straight weekly rises. Improvements in sentiment toward future finances and current economic conditions were not strong enough to offset falls in the remaining subindices. Households’ perception of current financial conditions fell 4.8% last week, more than reversing a cumulative 1.7% gain over the previous two weeks. Meanwhile, sentiment towards future financial conditions rose 2.1%, its third straight weekly increase. Encouragingly, households’ assessment of current economic conditions bounced 2.1%, entirely reversing the prior week’s fall. Consumers were less optimistic about future economic conditions, however. Their assessment fell 3.5% to 111.5 (versus a long term average of 113.9).

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

Lib accuses Nats of treachery in Wagga

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 6 : 11-Sep-18

A spokesperson for New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro has denied claims he helped independent candidate Joe McGirr win the seat of Wagga Wagga. The Liberal party lost the seat after incurring a 29 per cent primary vote swing against it. Its loss has cut Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s majority to just six seats, with the next NSW election due in March. Upper house Liberal MP Matthew Mason-Cox had accused Barilaro of undermining the Liberal’s campaign by giving National members the "green light to "hand out" for McGirr

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LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Polling shows Wentworth winnable with Liberal woman candidate

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Original article by Andrew Clennell, Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 11-Sep-18

Andrew Bragg has advised that he will not be seeking Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Wentworth, despite having been one of the early favourites to win. The seat has been made vacant by the resignation of Malcolm Turnbull, with Liberal members due to vote on his replacement on 13 September. Recent polling that Bragg himself paid for has indicated that the Liberals would have a four per cent better chance of winning Wentworth if it had a female candidate; Bragg says he commissioned the polling as he had heard Prime Minister Scott Morrison had wanted a women candidate to contest Wentworth.

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

Malcolm Turnbull’s daughter scolds Liberal Party over female representation

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Original article by Sam Clench
news,com.au – Page: Online : 6-Sep-18

Daisy Turnbull Brown agrees with former foreign minister Julie Bishop that it is "unacceptable" that less than 25 per cent of federal Liberal MPs are female. Turnbull Brown, who is the daughter of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, says it is not just parliament’s "kid/family unfriendly" nature that puts women off wanting to become MPs, but its toxic culture as well. Although not a big fan of the idea of quotas, Turnbull Brown says they may be the only way to boost the number of female federal Liberal MPs.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Berejiklian fails to sell a message

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 10-Sep-18

The New South Wales Liberal government suffered a 30 per cent primary vote swing against it in the Wagga Wagga by-election, held on 8 September. The seat had been held by Daryl Maguire, who resigned over corruption allegations. Latest counting in the seat has independent candidate Joe McGirr with 25.5 per cent of the primary vote, followed by Liberal candidate Julia Ham on 25.3 per cent and Labor on 23.8 per cent. McGirr is expected to win with the help of Labor preferences. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian sought to blame much of the swing against her government on the federal Liberal leadership spill.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY