O75 Public Administration

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence falls 2.2% to 117.9

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Oct-16

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell by 2.2 per cent to 117.9 in the week ended 2 October 2016, unwinding part of last week’s rise. The fall in the index was broad based, with each sub-index posting a small decrease. Consumers’ views towards their current and future finances fell by 2.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. Households’ views of the 12-month economic outlook fell by 2.1 per cent, while views of the five-year economic outlook fell by 1.4 per cent.

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

Stop point scoring and plan, says industry

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 4-Oct-16

Bruce Mountain of Carbon Market Economics rejects suggestions that the state-wide power outage in South Australia could have been avoided if its coal-fired power plant had not been decommissioned. Meanwhile, Energy Users Association of Australia chairman Brian Morris has urged both sides of federal politics to co-operate in developing a national energy policy. A similar view has been expressed by Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute.

CORPORATES
CARBON MARKET ECONOMICS PTY LTD, ENERGY USERS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ARRIUM LIMITED – ASX ARI

Jail time for rate riggers

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Oct-16

The Australian Government will implement the Council of Financial Regulators’ recommendations on sanctions for manipulating the bank bill swap rate. The reforms will include a new regulatory regime for administrators of financial benchmarks such as the BBSW, as well as criminal penalties for those found to have manipulated such benchmarks. Westpac, ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank are all under scrutiny for allegedly manipulating the BBSW between 2010 and 2012.

CORPORATES
COUNCIL OF FINANCIAL REGULATORS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS, FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE OMBUDSMAN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Corruption in daycare costs $1bn

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Original article by Rick Morton
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 4-Oct-16

Australia’s family daycare industry is under scrutiny amid revelations of widespread fraud in the sector. Leaked documents show that 13 family daycare providers have been charged with fraud in the last 10 months, while the Australian Federal Police have seized some $A8m worth of assets. It is estimated that fraudulent conduct in the sector has cost taxpayers around $A1bn in the last two years, and there are concerns that some of this money could have been redirected to terrorist organisations such as Islamic State by their supporters in Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITIES, VICTORIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ATO culture put to the test

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 32 : 30-Sep-16

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has taken a married couple to court on the charge of tax evasion. The couple operates a business at Port Hedland, Western Australia, as a 50/50 partnership. The tax case before the Federal Court will have ramifications for other partnerships formed by tradespeople with their spouses. Many ATO officers seem to be hostile to small business. They often use their power to destroy businesses by making unfair accusations of tax evasion.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

ASIC slaps ex-Deutsche trader with lifetime ban for $50m fraud

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Original article by Sally Rose
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 30-Sep-16

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has imposed a lifetime ban on providing financial services on former Deutsche Bank trader Andrew Donaldson. ASIC found that Donaldson made "false entries" in order to cover his losses in 2013 and 2014. He was at that time employed as a foreign exchange options and futures trader at the bank.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, ABBEY LIFE, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE

SA crisis: PM demands cut to renewable targets

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Original article by Primrose Riordan, Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 : 30-Sep-16

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has used the blackout in South Australia (SA) to stress the need for a new national renewables target. He said on 29 September 2016 that the Labor state governments of SA, Queensland and Victoria adopted targets that are "extremely unrealistic". Queensland has a renewable target of 50 per cent, while the current level of renewables is only about 4.5 per cent. Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the matter will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of state energy ministers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS

‘Loaded’ hourly rates could replace penalties

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Original article by James Thomson, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Sep-16

Australia’s penalty rates system needs to be modernised. In its current form, it is incompatible with a 24-hour retail world. Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross suggested at "The Australian Financial Review"’s retail summit on 29 September 2016 that weekend penalty rates should be abolished in exchange for a higher hourly rate for workers employed at retail and fast-food outlets. Ross gave an example of the Hospitality Industry Award as a model that could be used in the retail sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, ACTU, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION

Finals fever part 2: Storm and Sharks fans compared

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: online : 29-Sep-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks have very different-sized fan bases. As of June 2016, Melbourne Storm was the second-most popular team in the National Rugby League (after the Brisbane Broncos), with 836,000 supporters – no less than 15.1% of total NRL fans. In contrast, the Sharks’ 202,000 supporters account for 3.7% of the League’s total fans. While it is relatively small, the Sharks fan base is noteworthy for being composed of more women than men. Almost 65% of Sharks supporters are female. On the other hand, nearly 61% of Storm fans are men.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, MELBOURNE STORM RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, CRONULLA SHARKS, BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED

Extra tax perks to boost R&D

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Original article by Michael Bailey, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Sep-16

The Federal Government wants to encourage large companies to be more technologically innovative. The existing research and development scheme was reviewed by Innovation Australia chairman Bill Ferris, chief scientist Alan Finkel and Treasury Secretary John Fraser, who recommended doubling the value of tax breaks for large companies to a maximum of $A17 million a year. They also proposed an annual cap of $A2 million on cash claims by smaller companies.

CORPORATES
INNOVATION AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, DULUXGROUP LIMITED – ASX DLX, CSIRO