O75 Public Administration

Corporate penalties to be tripled

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 23-Oct-17

The Federal Government will give incoming Australian Securities & Investments Commission chairman James Shipton greater powers to impose penalties on companies that do the wrong doing. The changes stem from recommendations by an ASIC taskforce and David Murray’s Financial System Inquiry. Amongst other things, the ASIC taskforce suggested that penalties for corporate wrongdoing be increased from $A1 million to $A3 million. ASIC has long been concerned that the extent of the penalties it can impose do not match those available to other regulators such as the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and AUSTRAC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

Exploited worker told ‘keep quiet or else’ about underpayment

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 23-Oct-17

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered Haim and Rina Diamond to pay more than $A70,000 after breaching workplace laws. They were found to have underpaid employees – who were primarily foreign students or visitors on working holiday visas – more than $A34,000 over a six-month period. The couple were also accused of providing false and misleading records to Fair Work inspectors and threatening to report an employee to immigration officials for breaching the conditions of her student visa if she did not withdraw a complaint about her wages.

CORPORATES
FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION

Shorten faces ‘donation’ probe

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Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 23-Oct-17

The Registered Organisations Commission is believed to be investigating a $A25,000 donation by the Australian Workers’ Union to the 2007 election campaign of current Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. He had been the head of the AWU at the time. The union also made large donations to the election campaigns of two other Labor candidates. The ROC recently began a separate probe into the AWU’s donation to activist group GetUp in 2006, whose board members at the time included Shorten. Labor MP Brendan O’Connor alleges that the ROC investigations are part of a smear campaign against Shorten.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, GETUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Women have propelled Australian employment growth

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Oct-17

Roy Morgan Research’s analysis of long-running trends in the Australian labour market by gender shows that strong increases in employment this century have been driven by large increases in both full-time and part-time employment for both women and men. However, although these increases have been shared between both genders, the increasing number of women joining the workforce has led to larger overall gains for women across overall employment, full-time employment, and also part-time employment. Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine says the Australian workforce is undergoing generational change, with women entering the workforce in increasing numbers while men are driving the trend towards increasing part-time employment.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Jobs market ‘a thing of beauty’ set to boost pay

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Oct-17

More than 300,000 jobs have been created in Australia during the last year, but Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that this will slow to less than 200,000 in the next 12 months. He also expects wages to begin increasing, while inflation will continue to rise at a slow pace over the next several years. Richardson adds that official interest rates are likely to remain low for some time, while a range of factors suggest that business investment will increase.

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED

NZ shock: losers take power

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Original article by Ean Higgins, Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 20-Oct-17

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have congratulated incoming New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. The Labour Party leader will form a coalition government with the support of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who has been offered the role of deputy prime minister. Labour won 46 seats in the recent election, while New Zealand First won nine. The Greens, with eight seats, may also become part of the new coalition government, ensuring it of a two-seat majority in parliament. The National Party won 56 seats and won seven per cent more of the popular vote than Labour.

CORPORATES
LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY, GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Income tax rises to save budget

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 4 : 20-Oct-17

The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that personal income tax will account for 12.5 per cent of Australia’s GDP by 2020-21. This compares with 11.3 per cent of GDP at present and a record low of 9.3 per cent in 2009-10. The Federal Government’s May 2017 Budget had forecast that revenue from personal income tax will top $A253bn in 2021, which is 30 per cent higher than in 2016-17. Factors such as "bracket creep" and an increase in the Medicare levy to finance the National Disability Insurance Scheme are expected to offset low growth in wages.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Peak penalty for ‘nefarious’ building union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 20-Oct-17

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union has fined a total of $A306,000 over a confrontation between former Queensland CFMEU president David Hanna and site managers at a Brisbane construction project in 2015. This is the maximum penalty at present, but Federal Circuit Court judge Salvatore Vasta said the fine would have been much greater if industrial relations laws allowed it. He noted that the CFMEU habitually breaches industrial laws and existing penalties are not acting as a deterrent.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR

Labor vows crackdown on sham collective wage deals

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 20 : 20-Oct-17

Shadow employment minister Brendan O’Connor says the Australian Labor Party will take action to prohibit the use of "no-stake" enterprise agreements if it wins the next federal election. Labor will target companies that get a small number of employees to vote in favour of an enterprise agreement and then apply it to their general workforce, including those at other work sites. Mr O’Connor says Labor will also pursue reforms to allow employees and unions to renegotiate sham enteprise agreements via the Fair Work Commission.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR ADVISORY COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERIES

Inflation Expectations fall to 4.4% in September

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

Australians aged +14 expect inflation of 4.4% per year over the next two years, according to the Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations Index for September 2017. This is down 0.1% in a month, although it is up 0.3% from September 2016. However, it remains well below the seven-year average of 5.0%. Analysis by State shows that Inflation Expectations are highest in Tasmania at 5.4%, followed by Victoria (4.7%) and New South Wales and Queensland (4.3%). Analysing Inflation Expectations by Federal voting intention shows that L-NP supporters (3.9%) and Greens supporters (4.1%) have the lowest Inflation Expectations, while ALP supporters (4.4%) are in line with the national average.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED