O75 Public Administration

Greens’ divisive rhetoric is fuelling domestic terror threat: PM

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-Aug-24

The federal government has advised that the nation’s terrorism threat alert will be raised from ‘possible’ to ‘probable’. ASIO’s director-general Mike Burgess has warned that the chance of a terrorist attack in the next 12 months is now more than 50 per cent. He adds that young ‘lone-wolf’ terrorists armed with guns and knives pose the biggest risk. Burgess says that while the Israel-Hamas war is contributing to the growing threat of a terrorist attack, social media is being used to radicalise people and to spread ­extremist ideologies and conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Greens have contributed to the growing tensions within the community with their stance on issues such as the war in Gaza.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Unis capped at 40pc overseas students

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Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-24

Sources within the federal government have indicated that it proposes to enforce new caps on international student numbers from the start of 2025. Labor is expected to announce specific caps for each university and college within days, but they will be required to limit foreign student numbers to 40 per cent of their total enrolment. The proposed caps will be based on 2019 figures, when there were 671,200 foreign students in Australia; this compares with an estimated 780,100 in 2024. Sydney University, Monash and RMIT are among at least 10 universities that currently exceed the cap.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, MONASH UNIVERSITY, RMIT UNIVERSITY

Lynas boss backs Dutton’s nuclear plan

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 6-Aug-24

Lynas Rare Earths CEO Amanda Lacaze contends that Australia should be ‘energy-supply agnostic’, so adding nuclear power to the nation’s energy mix needs to be considered. Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Diggers & Dealers mining conference in Kalgoorlie, Lacaze said that anything that improved baseload power in the Western Australian town would be a "very good thing". Kalgoorlie’s power is currently supplied via a single transmission line covering more than 600 kilometres, plus a backup generator with a maximum capacity of four hours.

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LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC, DIGGERS AND DEALERS FORUM

Roy Morgan Poll: Labor edges further ahead as inflation is lower than expected and interest rates set to remain unchanged: ALP 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-24

If a Federal Election were held now the result would be a narrow win for the Labor Party with the ALP on 51.5% (up 1%) ahead of the Coalition on 48.5% (down 1%) on a two-party preferred basis, the latest Roy Morgan survey finds. Although neither major party increased their support this week, the flow of preferences from minor parties tipped further in favour of the ALP, once again highlighting the importance of preference flows to determine the overall two-party preferred result. The Coalition primary vote decreased by 0.5% to 37% while ALP primary support was unchanged at 30.5%. Support for the Greens dropped 1% to 12% and support for One Nation was down 1% to 5.5%. It was smaller parties and independents that gained support. Support for Other Parties was up 1% to 5% and support for Independents increased 1.5% to 10% – the highest level it has been so far this year.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Google violated antitrust laws to dominate online search, US judge rules

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Original article by Nick Robins-Early
The Guardian – Page: Online : 6-Aug-24

Shares in technology stocks such as Apple and Google have fallen sharply in response to the US District Court’s ruling that the latter has breached anti-trust laws. Judge Amit Mehta has concluded that Google is a ‘monopolist’, and it has acted as one to maintain its market dominance with regard to search services and advertising. Department of Justice prosecutors had contended amongst other things that Google has suppressed competition by paying billions of dollars to smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung to use it as their default search engine.

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GOOGLE INCORPORATED, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, APPLE INCORPORATED, SAMSUNG CORPORATION

Share rout heat on RBA

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Original article by Sarah Jones, Joanne Tran, Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 28 : 6-Aug-24

The global sharemarket downturn has coincided with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s two-day monetary policy meeting. Governor Michele Bullock will be among the first central bankers to publicly comment on the equities slump when she holds a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. Financial market traders now expect the RBA to reduce the cash rate in December, compared with previous expectations of February 2025. Meanwhile, there is speculation that the US Federal Reserve may be forced to intervene and reduce official interest rates before its next scheduled meeting in September.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

Labor vows to force banks to compensate Australians tricked out of money by scammers

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Original article by Karen Middleton
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

The federal government intends to pursue further reforms aimed at protecting consumers from scams. Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones will note in a National Press Club on Wednesday that the government’s crackdown helped to reduce losses from scams to $2.74bn in 2023, compared with $3bn in 2022. Jones will add that losses due to social media-based scams rose by 17 per cent in 2023, and he will argue that the ‘social licence’ of digital platforms requires them to do more to protect their users from fraudsters. Jones will also flag reforms that will require banks to compensate customers for losses incurred due to scams.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

BHP warns on made in Australia

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 31-Jul-24

The federal government aims to pass its Future Made in Australia bill when parliament resumes in August. However, BHP has used its submission to a Senate inquiry to warn of the risks associated with Labor’s signature Future Made in Australia policy, which amongst other things is aimed at attracting increasd investment in the nation’s critical minerals sector. BHP notes that many countries have large deposits of critical minerals, and are competing for private sector investment in this sector. BHP adds that factors such as Australia’s workplace laws, an uncompetitive tax system and proposed environmental laws could undermine the policy.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP

Roy Morgan wins three-year contract to deliver international tourism statistics for Austrade

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

From 2025, Roy Morgan will provide Austrade with the world’s best practice survey methodology, big data integration and modelling techniques to deliver accurate international tourism statistics. This is in addition to the contract to deliver domestic tourism statistics awarded to Roy Morgan earlier this year. Roy Morgan’s expertise and experience in measuring travel and tourism behaviour in depth, will provide Austrade – and its stakeholders in government and industry – with accurate tourism statistics as well as new insights and understanding of Australia’s tourism industry. Roy Morgan has a deep understanding and appreciation of the travel and tourism industry – estimated to be worth in excess of $160 billion annually – and a proven track record working with Austrade and its stakeholders. Collected via Roy Morgan’s highly trained and proficient interviewers at key international entry points around Australia, these critical tourism metrics will provide tourism organisations with data that they can rely upon and trust.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRADE

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence eases 1.3pts to 83.1 in late July due to concerns about the Australian economy after biggest weekly jump in over three years

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1.3pts to 83.1 in the week to 28 July; the index has now spent a record 78 straight weeks below the mark of 85. However, Consumer Confidence is now 4.7 points above the same week a year ago (78.4), and 1.3 points above the 2024 weekly average of 81.8. A look at Consumer Confidence by State shows that there were decreases in most states, including New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia; the index was unchanged in Victoria and went against the trend with an increase in Western Australia. Now 21% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 49% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 32% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 31% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 9% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 35% (up 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 23% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 48% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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