O75 Public Administration

Vile expo protesters’ sickening horse play

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Original article by John Ferguson, Mohammad Alfares
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Sep-24

Protestors who took part in demonstrations against the Land Forces 24 Expo in Melbourne on Wednesday have been accused of squirting an irritant up the nostrils of some police horses and the visors of some riders. Victoria Police stated that some Mounted Branch members and stable hands had shown signs of skin irritation when washing down horses after their shift, while an assessment of horses on Thursday morning revealed that their symptoms had subsided. Five protestors were arrested during more subdued demonstrations on Thursday, while police are investigating the assault of a conference attendee, who also had urine and faeces tipped on him when he was trying to enter the event.

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VICTORIA POLICE

Bunnings, Aldi and Kmart are Australia’s three most trusted brands, while Toyota, Bendigo Bank and Nike are on the up

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Sep-24

Bunnings has again been crowned Australia’s most trusted brand in the 12 months to June 2024, retaining top spot ahead of supermarket Aldi and discount department store Kmart in third place. The hardware chain has now held top spot as the nation’s most trusted brand for three consecutive quarters, after previous leaders Woolworths and Coles fell down Roy Morgan’s rankings earlier this year. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the rapid slide down the rankings for both major supermarkets shows how quickly distrust can gain momentum and devalue a brand’s reputation. Meanwhile, Optus is once again the most distrusted brand in Australia, ahead of Qantas and Facebook/Meta.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK

June 2024 Quarterly Update – Trust, Distrust and Australia’s Energy Dilemma Webinar

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Sep-24

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine to discover Australia’s most Trusted and Distrusted brands (including dramatic changes in the rankings); if the plummeting distrust in Woolworths and Coles has continued; which form of energy Australians trust to provide a reliable supply; what percentage of Australians want nuclear power plants; if more men or more women want nuclear power, and whether Australians trust the government to make decisions on energy. Watch the webinar on YouTube.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Yarra City Council and Port Phillip City Council could be abolished under plan by lord mayoral candidate Gary Morgan

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Original article by Laura Placella
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 13-Sep-24

Port Phillip City Council and the City of Yarra would be abolished under a plan being put forward by City of Melbourne lord mayoral candidate Gary Morgan. Morgan says he will urge the state government to include the two councils within an expanded City of Melbourne if his campaign to be elected mayor is successful, saying that to do so would deliver significant cost efficiencies, and that it made sense to "bring them together". He said that if the state government implemented his plan, reviews would then be held to see if other neighbouring councils could be brought into an expanded City of Melbourne.

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PORT PHILLIP CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF MELBOURNE, CITY OF YARRA

Greens are gambling their future on violent activists

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Original article by John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 5 : 13-Sep-24

The Greens are being accused of supporting the actions of violent pro-Palestinian activists at demonstrations in Melbourne in a cynical attempt to secure the pro-Palestinian vote in Labor seats like Wills and Calwell at the next federal election. However, while there may some short-term gain in supporting the protestors, the repulsive nature of the demonstrations, which saw protesters going after police horses with plastic bread crates and deliberately trying to scare them, could damage the Greens’ brand over the longer term.

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AUSTRALIAN GREENS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 0.8pts to 82.3, Inflation Expectations remain at lowest since November 2021

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Sep-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down 0.8pts to 82.3 in the week to 8 September; the index has now spent a record 84 straight weeks below the mark of 85. However, Consumer Confidence is now 4.7 points above the same week a year ago (77.6), and virtually identical to the 2024 weekly average of 81.9. Consumer Confidence was down in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, but up in Queensland. Now 23% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 47% (down 3ppts) 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 32% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 9% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 34% (up 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Now 20% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 48% (down 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’. Meanwhile, Inflation Expectations were stable at a 32-month low of 4.6% this week.

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

In August Australian unemployment dropped to 9.1% due to significant increase in part-time jobs

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Sep-24

In August 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment fell by 174,000 to 1,423,000 (down 1% to 9.1% of the workforce). Part-time employment increased by 136,000 to 4,901,000 in August, although full-time employment was virtually unchanged at 9,387,000; overall employment for the month increased by 133,000 to 14,288,000. In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.5 million Australians (9.5% of the workforce) were under-employed, i.e. working part-time but looking for more work, down 38,000 from July. In total, 2.92 million Australians (18.6% of the workforce, down 1.2%) were either unemployed or under-employed in August. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.1% for August is clearly more than double the ABS estimate of 4.2% for July, but it is approaching the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.5%.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Strategic error in age-limit plan for social media

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 11-Sep-24

The federal government has yet to specify an age limit for restricting teenagers’ access to social media. In constrast, the Coalition has committed to introducing an age limit of 16 if it wins the upcoming election; it plans to do so within 100 days of taking office. Meanwhile, technology investor Daniel Petrie contends that rather than spending $6.5m on a trial of age verification technology, the government should be putting the onus for restricting teenagers’ access to social media on the companies that own these platforms. He contends that social media companies would quickly find ways to block access to their platforms if the penalties for failing to do so were severe enough.

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Roy Morgan Business Confidence jumps 6.2pts to 101.3 due to increased confidence about the economy

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Sep-24

In August 2024, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was 101.3 (up 6.2pts since July). The boost to Business Confidence came after the Stage 3 tax cuts were introduced for income taxpayers in July and the latest inflation figure dropped to 3.5%. However, Business Confidence is now 9.9pts below the long-term average of 111.2, although it is up 6.6pts on August 2023. Now 56.4% (up 7.1ppts) of businesses expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next year (the highest figure for this indicator since February 2022), while 41.7% (down 7ppts) expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since February 2022). Meanwhile, 46.2% (up 7.4ppts) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 19.7% (down 0.9ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’ financially (the lowest figure for this indicator since February 2022). The latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for August are based on 1,481 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

BHP hits back: we paid for half of all hospitals

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 11-Sep-24

BHP’s Australia president Geraldine Slattery has released a statement which highlights the resources group’s economic contribution. She noted that BHP pays an adjusted tax rate of 32 per cent, which rises to 44 per cent when royalties are taken into account. Slattery added that governments in Australia received a total of $14.5bn from BHP in 2023-24, via taxes, royalties and other payments; she noted that this is about half of the federal government’s annual expenditure on public hospitals. Slattery’s comments follow recent animosity between Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable and the federal government over the latter’s industrial relations reforms.

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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA