O75 Public Administration

We’re on the brink of recession but the government has its head buried in the sand

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Original article by John Hewson
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 18 : 23-Dec-16

The Australian Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, issued on 20 December 2016, is based on assumptions of dubious validity. Australia’s GDP declined 0.5 per cent in the September 2016 quarter and yet the Government forecasts consistent economic growth over the next five years. Contrary to optimistic forecasts of the Government, Australia may soon experience a recession.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

CFMEU to pay official’s fine after court rescinds order

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-Dec-16

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union will be able to use its own funds to pay an $A18,000 fine on behalf of union official Joe Myles after a May 2016 court ruling was overturned. The full bench of the Federal Court has ruled in favour of the CFMEU, with Chief Justice James Allsop finding that the Fair Work Act did not permit him to ban the militant union from paying Myles’ fines for breaching workplace laws. However, he ruled that the fines themselves were appropriate.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD

National Party support down in December as PM Key resigns and Labour score easy by-election victory in Mt. Roskill

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Morgan Poll Update – Page: Online : 22-Dec-16

A New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention has found that support for the ruling National Party fell by 4.5% to 45% per cent in December 2016. The poll also shows that support for a potential Labour/Greens alliance has risen by 5.5% per cent to 43%, while the NZ Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has fallen by 10 points to 131 points. Roy Morgan Research executive chairman Gary Morgan says New Zealand ends 2016 with a new Prime Minister after former Finance Minister Bill English stepped into the top job following the shock resignation of John Key early in December, and New Zealanders can now look forward to a competitive election later in 2017. Key’s leadership had seemed to assure National of winning a fourth term next year. However, if the results of today’s Morgan Poll are repeated at the election it will be NZ First – 7.5% (down 0.5%) – that will get to determine who forms New Zealand’s next Government.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY, CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, INTERNET PARTY, NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Smelter’s future hanging on power supply deal

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Original article by Pia Akerman, Tessa Akerman
The Australian – Page: 2 : 22-Dec-16

The Federal and Victorian environment ministers, Greg Hunt and Wade Noonan, have held talks with Alcoa CEO Roy Harvey in New York. Harvey declined to make a commitment regarding the future of the Portland aluminium smelter, despite being offered some $A230m worth of federal and state financial assistance to keep the plant open. He said the smelter’s fate depends on the outcome of negotiations with AGL Energy regarding a new power supply agreement.

CORPORATES
ALCOA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, VICTORIA. DEPT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, JOBS, TRANSPORT AND RESOURCES, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, AUSTRALIA. CLEAN ENERGY FINANCE CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, KEPPEL PRINCE ENGINEERING PTY LTD

Bernardi on brink of Libs split

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Dec-16

Senator Cory Bernardi has declined to comment on speculation that he plans to leave the Liberal Party and establish a new conservative party. Bernardi established the Australian Conservatives website in mid-2016, and a recent message on the site said some "important campaigns" will be launched in 2017. There has also been speculation that the Australian Conservatives party will receive financial support from mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who has praised the policies of US president-elect Donald Trump.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY

Australian journalists finally waking up to Australia’s real problem of massive under-employment

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Original article by Gary Morgan, Michele Levine, Julian McCrann
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Dec-16

The past week has seen a procession of journalists finally mentioning Australia’s largest problem that’s never talked about – the massive level of under-employment throughout the Australian economy. Today Jessica Irvine in The Age asks the simple question – does working one hour a week sound like a good job? Well of course not, and Jessica’s column highlights the problem of under-employment – working a few hours but wanting to work far more hours, or indeed, work full-time. Jessica’s column follows articles by her Age colleague Ross Gittins, and columnists in The Australian including Judith Sloan and Graham Richardson in the past week who have all highlighted the rising level of part-time work at the expense of full-time work and alongside that comes an increasing level of under-employment – now at 8.4% (1.1 million Australians) in November according to the latest Roy Morgan employment estimates. The Turnbull Government’s recent announcements on plans to crack-down on the ‘cash economy’ are also long overdue. However the real challenge facing Federal, State and Local Governments is to ensure employment, or more specifically the eradication of unemployment and under employment, is top of the agenda. This means a ‘line by line’ analysis of policy and legislation of all kinds to remove everything that is a barrier to employment, or is contributing to unemployment and underemployment.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Treasurer won’t pledge to a surplus

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Dec-16

The expected Budget surplus of $A1.087bn in 2020-21 equates to about 0.05 per cent of GDP. Ratings agencies have warned that the Federal Government must achieve a surplus by 2020-21 in order to retain its triple-A credit rating, but Treasurer Scott Morrison claims that he has never committed to that target date. He says the Government will seek to balance the Budget as quickly and responsibly as possible, and stressed that this will require the support of Parliament.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, MYOB GROUP LIMITED – ASX MYO, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Blocked $13.2bn in savings to secure AAA: Morrison

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Original article by David Uren, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 21-Dec-16

Treasurer Scott Morrison argues that delivering on savings measures that have been blocked by the Senate would enable the Federal Government to achieve a modest Budget surplus in 2020-21. He has ruled any budget cuts in addition to those that have already been put to Parliament and blocked. Many of these measures were announced in the Coalition’s first Budget in 2014, and it still appears to be unlikely that some will be passed by the upper house.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS

Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov shot in Ankara

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Original article by
CBS News – Page: online : 20-Dec-16

Andrey Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, is in hospital after being shot by a gunman who fired at least eight shots at the victim. The incident occurred at a photo exhibition in Ankara on 19 December 2016. The gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "For Aleppo!" before being shot dead by the police.

CORPORATES
RUSSIA. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Canberra cans plan to privatise ASIC Registry

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 20-Dec-16

The Federal Government has decided against privatising the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)’s registry business. The Government informed on 19 December 2016 that final bids for the business were not high enough to justify the change in the status of the registry. ASIC collected $A768 million in fees in 2015-16.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, GETUP LIMITED, COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED – ASX CPU, BOREALIS INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED, TERANET, LAZARD AUSTRALIA PRIVATE EQUITY PTY LTD, VEDA GROUP LIMITED, INFORMATION SERVICES GROUP, BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED