O75 Public Administration

Taxpayers cop up to $400,000 Hadgkiss bill

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Weekend Australian – Page: 5 : 30-Sep-17

Former Australian Building & Construction Commission head Nigel Hadgkiss has been found by the Federal Court to have breached the Fair Work Act by the Federal Court. He has been directed to pay a penalty of $A8,500 for the breach, with the sum to be paid to the Construction, Forestry Mining & Energy Union. Dave Noonan from the CFMEU said it would give the money to a refuge that helps women escaping domestic violence. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said taxpayers would be footing Hadgkiss’s legal bill for the case. The amount is expected to be between $A300,000 and $A400,000.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Trump tax cut exposes local business

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Sep-17

Business leaders have warned that the tax plan of US President Donald Trump highlights the need for tax reform to ensure that Australia remains internationally competitive. However, the Opposition has reiterated that it will not support the Federal Government’s proposal to progressively reduce the tax rate for all companies to 25 per cent, despite Trump’s plans to reduce the US company tax rate to just 20 per cent. Treasurer Scott Morrison says Australia will not be able to compete with nations such as the US and the UK unless Labor supports the tax package.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM

Income slump hits the middle

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 29-Sep-17

The Department of the Treasury has released a report which shows that wages growth slowed to 1.9 per cent in the year to June 2017. Meanwhile, real wages growth has been significantly lower over the last five years than in the previous decade. The figures also show that despite claims of growing income inequality, university graduates have experience lower growth in wages than people with no higher education since 2010. The report identifies a number of factors that have contributed to the low growth in wages over recent years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Green foes hit ACTU chief’s bid for seat

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian – Page: 4 : 28-Sep-17

Ged Kearney will step down as president of the ACTU in July 2018 to become the Australian Labor Party’s candidate for the lower house seat of Brunswick at the Victorian election. Labor holds the seat with a margin of 2.2 per cent, and incumbent Jane Garrett will seek to move to the upper house. However, the Greens are gaining support in Melbourne’s inner-city and are seen as a real threat in the seat of Brunswick. Kearney had been widely tipped to pursue a seat in federal parliament if she entered politics.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

PM’s ‘agile’ agenda fails auditor test

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Sep-17

The Australian National Audit Office has released a report which questions the economic benefits of the Federal Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda. Amongst other things, the ANAO has raised concerns about the limited time-frame in which the innovation agenda was developed and the criteria used to measure the performance of the scheme. The NISA was launched in late 2015, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated in December 2016 that it had resulted in increased jobs and investment.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, CSIRO, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Business slams grand final holiday as fans flock on expensive flights

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 27-Sep-17

PwC estimates that Victoria’s Australian Football League grand final eve public holiday costs the state’s businesses around $A1.2bn a year. Business leaders have urged the State Government to abolish the public holiday or at the very least shift it to the Monday after the grand final, to bring Victoria into line with several other states. Meanwhile, airlines have been criticised for increasing their airfares on some routes to Melbourne and Sydney, which will host the AFL and National Rugby League deciders.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB, ADELAIDE CROWS FOOTBALL CLUB, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, VICTORIAN EMPLOYERS’ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AFL FANS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

RBA keeping close eye on home owners

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Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Age – Page: 23 : 27-Sep-17

The Reserve Bank’s assistant governor for the financial system, Michele Bullock, says the central bank is closely monitoring the high levels of household debt. She has warned that mortgage borrowers who have capitalised on historically low interest rates would be especially vulnerable to any "economic shock". Bullock adds that consumer spending may be affected when interest rates begin to rise. She also notes that measures aimed at restricting growth in higher-risk mortgage lending have made the banking system less vulnerable to a financial shock.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Eastern exodus as job mine runs dry

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Original article by Victoria Laurie
The Australian – Page: 4 : 27-Sep-17

The downturn in Western Australia’s resources boom has prompted a growing number of people to move interstate, reversing the internal migration trend that boosted the state’s population at the peak of the boom. Data from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre shows that just 7,700 people moved to WA in 2016, while 11,300 left the state. Rebecca Cassells of Curtin University notes that the number of people moving to WA has traditionally been closely aligned with the iron ore price, but this is no longer so despite the recent rebound in the price of the steel input.

CORPORATES
CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY. BANKWEST CURTIN ECONOMICS CENTRE

Labour market holding us back

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 27-Sep-17

Switzerland, the US and Singapore are the highest-rated countries in the World Economic Forum’s latest global competitiveness index. Australia is ranked 21st out of 137 countries, with the nation performing poorly on a number of key indicators. Australia is ranked 28th in terms of labour market efficiency and 72nd for co-operation in labour-employer relations. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey has found that restrictive labour market practices, taxes and government bureaucracy are the biggest problems when doing business in Australia.

CORPORATES
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

China behind budget’s improved look

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 27-Sep-17

The Federal Government has reported a Budget deficit of $A33.2bn for 2016-17. This is $A4.4bn lower than was forecast in May, and it is the nation’s smallest deficit since 2013. The improvement has been attributed to factors such as higher commodity prices due to continued strong demand in China, as well as reduced government expenditure on welfare as a result of growth in jobs. Goods and services tax and corporate tax revenue also rose.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY