O75 Public Administration

Morrison mulls super cap retreat

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 19-Aug-16

The Australian Government may make further changes to its proposed lifetime cap on non-concessional superannuation contributions. Treasurer Scott Morrison is considering options such as lifting the proposed cap from $A500,000 to $A750,000 or leaving it unchanged but not backdating it to 2007. Meanwhile, Morrison has stressed that inheritances or lottery wins will not be regarded as "life events" that will qualify for an exemption from the lifetime cap. H has also ruled out any changes to the policy on limiting retirement balance transfers to $A1.6m.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY

$100bn hit to deepen budget debt crisis

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 19-Aug-16

Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics has warned that the Federal Budget may remain in deficit for some time. The Treasury has forecast that net debt will peak at $A356bn before falling to around $A335bn in 2021-22. However, Richardson’s analysis suggests that net debt could rise to $A440bn by 2021-22 if the nation records nominal GDP growth of 3.5 per cent and the Senate continues to reject the Government’s proposed spending cuts. May 2016 Budget forecasts are based on nominal GDP rising from 2.5 per cent in 2015-16 to five per cent by 2017.

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, STANDARD AND POOR’S CORPORATION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Shorten kills hope of deal on budget savings

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 18-Aug-16

The Opposition has signalled that it will not support all of the Federal Government’s proposed $A6bn worth of cost-saving measures, despite backing most of the reforms during the 2016 election campaign. A proposed $A1bn reduction in funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency in particular is likely to be opposed by the Australian Labor Party, which is also likely to vote down a plan to progressively reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent. The Government plans to introduce a so-called "omnibus" bill containing 21 separate Budget-repair measures.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Wages growth stuck at record low of 2.1pc

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Aug-16

The Wage Price Index for the June 2016 quarter indicates that wages growth has stagnated at 2.1 per cent for the past 12 months. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on 17 August 2016 show that wages in the private sector increased by 1.9 per cent over the period, while the public sector recorded wages growth of 2.3 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, ACTU, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Union claim for casual workers’ upgrade a ‘threat to full-time jobs’

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Aug-16

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has warned of the economic cost of the ACTU’s push for casual workers to become permanent employees after being in a job for six months. ACCI CEO James Pearson says modelling by Australian National University economists suggests that the proposed reform would cost the economy about $A3.7bn a year and result in the loss of 19,000 full-time equivalent jobs. The Fair Work Commission is likely to rule on the matter later in 2016.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Australian real unemployment jumps to 10.5% (up 0.9%) in July during post-election uncertainty

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Aug-16

A Roy Morgan Research survey on Australia’s labour market has found that the real unemployment rate rose by 0.9 per cent to 10.5 per cent in July 2016. Some 1.365 million Australians (up 268,000 since July 2015) are now unemployed. Meanwhile, the number of people in the workforce has risen to 13,007,000 (up 334,000 since July 2015), and 11,642,000 Australians are employed (up 66,000 in the last 12 months). The number of people who are under-employed has risen by 194,000 in the last 12 months to 1,171,000 (9.0 per cent of the workforce). The official unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in June 2016.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence bounces back – up 2.9pts to 117.6

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Aug-16

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence has risen by 2.5 per cent to 117.6 in the week ending 15 August 2016, largely offsetting the decline over the previous week. Sentiment is now 4.3 per cent above its long-run average. The improvement in confidence was driven by a sharp rebound in consumers’ views of the economic outlook. Households’ views of the economic outlook in the next 12 months rose by 9.6 per cent, while consumers’ views of their future finances rose by 1.7 per cent.

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

Beijing to Canberra: expect investments to be scaled back

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal, Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Aug-16

China’s embassy in Australia has expressed concern that the Federal Government’s decision to block Chinese bids for Ausgrid and S Kidman & Company may signal a shift toward protectionism in Australia. The embassy says the rulings may deter Chinese companies from investing in Australia. The Government cited national security concerns as the reason for its preliminary decision to block the Ausgrid bids of State Grid and Cheung Kong Infrastructure.

CORPORATES
AUSGRID PTY LTD, S KIDMAN AND COMPANY PTY LTD, STATE GRID CORPORATION OF CHINA, CHEUNG KONG INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, TRANSGRID, ELECTRANET SA, SHANGHAI PENGXIN GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, CHINA MINMETALS CORPORATION

Casual hours to count in redundancy

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 23 : 17-Aug-16

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled that permanent employees who were initially hired as casual staff should have the latter period of service recognised in a termination payout. The FWC had ruled earlier in 2016 that redundancy payments at engineering and shipbuilding firm Forgacs should be based only on an employee’s period of permanent employment. However, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has succeeded in having the ruling overturned on appeal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FORGACS ENGINEERING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, ASC PTY LTD

PM’s $6.5b budget challenge to Labor comes with AAA warning

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 17-Aug-16

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will call for bipartisan political support for the Coalition’s economic agenda in a Committee for Economic Development of Australia speech on 17 August 2016. Turnbull will also reveal plans to present a single bill to Parliament which will include 21 separate initiatives aimed at reducing government spending by $A6.49bn in total. He will stress the need for action in order to protect Australia’s coveted "AAA" credit rating. The Australian Labor Party is expected to support some of the measures.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION