O75 Public Administration

Dastyari doubt after Shorten sacks him, again

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Original article by Primrose Riordan, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Dec-17

Bill Shorten says Sam Dastyari will have to work hard to regain the trust of his fellow Labor party colleagues. Shorten’s comments come after Dastyari was forced to resign from a Labor leadership role in federal parliament for the second time in just over a year over his links with Chinese political donor Huang Xiangmo. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for Dastyari to resign from parliament over the issue. Shorten does not believe Dastyari is "unloyal" to Australia, while he denied government claims that Dastyari is a "traitor"

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

Bank probe hits union super

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 1-Dec-17

The federal government announced on 30 November that it would hold a royal commission into the financial services sector. The royal commission will cost $A75 million and run for 12 months. Its terms of reference are not as broad as the private members’ bill that Nationals Senator Barry O’Sullivan was looking to introduce and which was seen a major factor in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison’s decision to hold a royal commission. The government’s decision to include an examination of union-backed industry superannuation funds as part of the commission’s terms of reference is seen as "payback" to Labor for its part in forcing the government to change its mind on the issue.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, JCP INVESTMENT PARTNERS LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Anger bottled up over botched deposit scheme

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 3 : 30-Nov-17

A container deposit scheme is due to come into effect in New South Wales on 1 December, but Deputy Premier John Barilaro wants Premier Gladys Berejiklian to delay its introduction. Under the scheme, consumers get a refund of $A0.10 for each container they take back to collection points or reverse vending machines. However, Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton has been accused of failing to ensure that there are enough collection points available, particularly in regional areas, despite consumers already being charged at least $A3 more for a carton of beer.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SHOOTERS AND FISHERS PARTY INCORPORATED, LION NATHAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

$5bn hit targets tech giants

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 30-Nov-17

Australian Taxation Office commissioner Chris Jordan says its clampdown on multinationals has unearthed $A5 billion in unpaid taxes in just 16 months. Jordan claims that multinationals have tried to intimidate the ATO into giving them reduced assessments, and that they have tried to "bamboozle" him with excessive documentation and diagrams. Jordan is particularly critical of the manner in which Google has structured its business affairs in Australian to avoid paying as little tax as possible.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, CHEVRON CORPORATION, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Port operator to sue MUA over illegal picket line

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 30-Nov-17

Victoria International Container Terminals is planning legal action against the Maritime Union of Australia over what it claims is an illegal picket at Melbourne’s Webb Dock terminal. The picket has been in place since 27 November, and is aimed at pressuring VICT to re-deploy a stevedore who was denied a security clearance that would allow him to work in the dock’s restricted zone. VICT contends the MUA’s action puts at risk business growth in the order of $A100 million.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINALS, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN MARITIME OFFICERS’ UNION, CONTAINER TRANSPORT ALLIANCE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, DP WORLD AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED

Euthanasia to be legal from 2019

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Original article by Noel Towell
The Age – Page: 2 : 30-Nov-17

Victoria’s lower house passed the government’s voluntary assisted dying bill on 29 November, bringing to an end over 100 hours of debate on the legislation. Denis Hart, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, said he was extremely disappointed that the legislation had been passed, although its passage was welcomed by Lisa Fitzpatrick from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. The legislation will not come into effect until 2019.

CORPORATES
CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Marriage bill clears Senate

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Nov-17

The Senate has approved legislation allowing same-sex couple to marry, with the vote 43-12 in favour of the bill. The legislation will now go to the House of Representatives in the week beginning 4 December, when conservatives will be seeking to move amendments to the legislation to allow for religious protection, something they were not able to achieve in the Senate. Labor Senate leader Penny Wong said the bill’s passage was cause for great celebration.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

Governments, Treasury officials and RBA forecasters all work in sheltered workshops

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Original article by P.D Jonson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 29-Nov-17

In developed nations, governments have opted for definitions of unemployment that make things look better than they really are. For over a decade, Roy Morgan (and myself) have been pointing this out. The latest Roy Morgan survey shows 2.3 million Australians unemployed or underemployed. In percentages of the workforce, this is 9.5 per cent unemployed and 8.5 per cent under-employed, well above the official 5.4 per cent unemployment figure. Hardly shooting the lights out. One might be tempted to imagine that governments, Treasury officials and RBA forecasters all work in sheltered workshops and are the last to accept messages that run against their workshop’s findings. Indeed, their proven blindness has larger consequences. Click for PDF version.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Woolworths facing union boycott threat

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Nov-17

The New South Wales branch of the National Union of Workers has called on consumers to boycott Woolworths in the lead-up to Christmas. This follows the supermarket chain’s decision to stand down union delegates in early November over alleged breaches of safety rules. The delegates, who work at its Minchinbury warehouse, were stood down after allegedly telling other workers to take off their protective vests, in protest at the alleged bullying of staff there by a manager. A Woolworths spokesperson says it hopes to conclude an investigation into the matter in the week ending 2 December.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, UNILEVER AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERIES

Windsor apology after Mundine defamed on Twitter

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 2 : 29-Nov-17

Tony Windsor has apologised to indigenous leader Warren Mundine after the latter claimed comments made by Windsor on Twitter amounted to defamation. Windsor, the former member for the federal seat of New England, had made the comments while watching Mundine on the ABC’s "Q&A" program on 27 November. Mundine said Windsor had implied he was "in the pocket" of mining company Adani. Windsor used Twitter to apologise to Mundine, and deleted the offending tweet.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, TWITTER INCORPORATED, ADANI MINING PTY LTD