O75 Public Administration

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence ends 2017 on a high at 116.5

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Dec-17

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 1.2% to 116.5 in the week ended 17 December. The details were positive, with all sub-indices except "time to buy a household item" posting gains. Sentiment towards both current and future economic conditions rose for the third straight week (2.4% and 1.1% respectively). This and other gains are indicative of the sustained turnaround in overall sentiment since the low for the year in August. Views towards current financial conditions jumped a solid 3.6%, more than offsetting the 2.7% fall previously. Views towards future financial conditions improved 0.5%, following a 2.8% fall in the previous week. Both sub-indices currently sit above their long-term averages.

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

NAB’s Henry calls for action on forgotten tax system review

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Original article by James Eyers, James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 18-Dec-17

Ken Henry prepared a major report into Australia’s tax system in 2010, when he was secretary of the Treasury under former prime minister Kevin Rudd. Henry is currently chairman of National Australia Bank. When asked by a shareholder at its AGM on 15 December whether he favoured tax reform, he said that there were lots of proposals in his 2010 report that he would like to see adopted, including a reduction in the company tax rate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

ATO’s $75bn crackdown on debt

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 13 : 18-Dec-17

The Australian Taxation Office is understood to have reached settlements with 12 multinational companies in regard to related party debt. The value of the borrowings in question is put at $A75 billion. ATO Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says the term of the settlements provide for future tax revenues, as well as resolving past disputes. He says the ATO is now working with an additional 60 taxpayers, with the value of their related party debt accounting for around $A120 billion.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Trump set for business tax cut

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Original article by John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 12 : 18-Dec-17

US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are hopeful that his corporate and income tax package will be passed by legislators before Christmas. The package includes a cut in the US company tax to 21 per cent, to take effect from January. Japan has also announced that its company tax rate will be reduced from 30 to 20 per cent, but only for firms that increase local capital spending and boost wages. Meanwhile, Labor and some crossbenchers remain opposed to the Federal Government’s plan to reduce the tax rate for all Australian companies to 25 per cent over 10 years.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES), UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, STRATEGAS RESEARCH PARTNERS LLC, TAX FOUNDATION

Australians oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem Israeli capital

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

A special Roy Morgan SMS Survey taken on December 14-15 shows that 76% of Australians aged 18+ are opposed to US President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Only 24% of Australians expressed support for the decision. Analysis by age and gender shows that 82% of women and 69% of men oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, while just 18% of women and 31% of men support the decision. Meanwhile, respondents of all age groups strongly oppose Trump’s decision, while analysis by federal voting intention shows that supporters of the Greens (96%) and Labor (88%) are far more likely to oppose Trump’s decision than Liberal-National Party supporters (59%). L-NP support for the decision is 41%, which is more than double supporters of Labour and the Greens. A separate Roy Morgan SMS Survey shows that 75% of New Zealanders oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, while 25% of New Zealanders support the decision.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Lord mayor Robert Doyle takes leave after sex harassment claim by councillor who quit

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Original article by Miki Perkins, Clay Lucas
The Age – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has vowed to clear his name after standing down in the wake of allegations that he sexually harassed and indecently assaulted city councillor Tessa Sullivan. Doyle says he will co-operate fully with an investigation into the allegations, and he will take a month’s leave while the investigation takes place. Sullivan, who was elected to the Melbourne City Council on the "Team Doyle" ticket in 2016, has resigned from the council and is expected to be replaced by Team Doyle candidate Beverley Pinder-Mortimer.

CORPORATES
MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL

Budget to slice $23bn off debt pile

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Dec-17

Australia’s gross debt is now expected to be about $A583bn in 2020-21, which is $A23bn lower than forecast in the Federal Government’s May 2017 Budget. Treasurer Scott Morrison says the revised debt forecast, which will be outlined in the mid-year Budget update on 18 December, will reduce the government’s annual interest bill by $A1bn. He adds that the government will now no longer be reliant on debt to finance recurrent expenditure, and borrowings will only be used for capital expenditure.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Disney, Fox deal combines two of world’s biggest entertainment giants

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Original article by
CBS News – Page: Online : 15-Dec-17

Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Igor is confident that the group’s $US52.4bn deal to acquire key assets from 21st Century Fox will be cleared by regulators. The assets to be bought by Disney include the 20th Century Fox film studio and cable TV networks such as National Geographic, while assets to be retained by 21st Century Fox include the Fox free-to-air and pay-TV networks. These will be spun off into a new listed company. Igor has flagged the possibility of Fox CEO James Murdoch taking on a role at Disney.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL

Turnbull takes credit for jobs boom

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 15-Dec-17

The Australian workforce has increased by 3.2 per cent in the last year, which is the fastest rate of growth since early 2008. Some 440,000 jobs have been created since September 2016, including 62,000 in November 2017, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull notes that the labour market had not previously grown for 14 months successive months since 1994. He has attributed the strong jobs growth to the Coalition’s policies, although Labor employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor argues that the underemployment rate remains close to its record high.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LATROBE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICE, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Stronger economy to cut size of deficit

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Original article by David Uren, Joe Kelly, John Ross
The Australian – Page: 2 : 15-Dec-17

The Federal Government’s May 2017 Budget had forecast a total deficit of $A46bn over four years. However, Westpac economists Bill Evans and Andrew Hanlan expect the mid-year budget update to revise this down to $A40bn. Westpac also forecasts a deficit of $A1.5bn in 2019-20, followed by a modest surplus in 2020-21. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled that higher education funding will not be reduced in the budget update, although he has flagged new savings measures after the government’s proposed university funding cuts were rejected by the Senate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, THE GROUP OF EIGHT LIMITED, GRATTAN INSTITUTE