AusSuper’s offer to Origin

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 15 : 5-Dec-23

A spokeswoman for Brookfield has indicated that the Canadian group will consider its "next steps" regarding Origin Energy, after a $20bn takeover bid was rejected by 68.9 per cent of the target’s shareholders on Monday. This was well short of the 75 per cent threshold required for the bid from Brookfield and EIG to succeed. Meanwhile, AustralianSuper has indicated that it is open to providing Origin with capital to help finance its energy transition, while Simon Mawhinney from Allan Gray Australia says Origin should consider demerging its energy markets business and its gas export venture.

CORPORATES
ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED, EIG GLOBAL ENERGY PARTNERS, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Westpac suffers online banking outage with customers shut out of accounts

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Original article by Martin Farrer
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 5-Dec-23

Westpac advised late on Monday evening that it was working to restore its mobile and online banking services following an outage that left customers unable to access their accounts. Westpac has attributed the outage which began at around 8pm to a ‘routine technology update’. Many people were unable to make payments via credit cards or mobile phone due to the outage, while others reported that they could log into Westpac’s platform but their accounts were missing. Some customers criticised Westpac for advising of the outage via social media rather than its website. Westpac had fully restored all affected services by 5.15am on Tuesday.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Coverage by ABC favoured Yes vote

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 2 : 5-Dec-23

The ABC has released its 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum report, with editorial policies manager Mark Maley concluding that the public broadcaster’s coverage of the referendum favoured the Yes vote. The report revealed that ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron had received 382 complaints relating to the referendum coverage, with 82 per cent relating to claims of bias or lack of balance. 121 of the complaints were investigated, but only four were found to have breached editorial standards.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Amazon snaps up key cricket rights

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 5-Dec-23

Amazon Prime Video has secured an exclusive deal with the International Cricket Council. The deal includes the Australian broadcasting rights for the Cricket World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship Final until 2027. Data from OzTAM shows that the Nine Network’s recent coverage of the 2023 Men’s World Cup final in India was watched by more than 1.6 million people nationwide; the final also attracted record viewer numbers on Foxtel and its Kayo Sports streaming service. World Cup and Championship matches are not subject to the anti-siphoning list unless they are played in Australia or New Zealand.

CORPORATES
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL, OZTAM PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS

Two former detainees arrested and charged – one for sex offence, the other for drug possession

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-Dec-23

A total of 148 people have now been released from immigration detention in the wake of the High Court’s landmark "NZYQ" decision, of which two have already been arrested. One of those arrested had allegedly assaulted a woman in a South Australian hotel and was a known sex offender. The second former detainee was arrested and charged with drug possession in Sydney. The Opposition has described the two arrests as a "catastrophic failure" and has repeated its calls for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neill to be sacked. The federal government has released preventative detention legislation that seeks to protect the public from the non-citizens, with the Opposition challenging the government to state how many of the 148 it would make applications for under its proposed legislation, with Peter Dutton suggesting it could be as few as four.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Protect critical minerals: Lynas

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Original article by Matt Bell
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 5-Dec-23

Lynas Rare Earths CEO Amanda Lacaze says Australia should not give up control of its mineral firms, particularly those involved in the supply of critical minerals. She was speaking at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Rare Earth and Lithium – The Australian Advantage’ event, while Pilbara Minerals CEO Dale Henderson told the event that the recent decision by the US Department of Energy to bar lithium companies with substantial Chinese ownership from getting access to US grants was "not good news".

CORPORATES
LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC, AUSTRALIAN-BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PILBARA MINERALS LIMITED – ASX PLS, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF ENERGY

There were nearly two million extra vehicle insurance policies in 2023

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Dec-23

New data from Roy Morgan shows that there were 33.7 million vehicle insurance policies across Australia in October 2023, compared with 32.1 million in October 2022. The year-on-year increase of 1.6 million follows the substantial rise in Australia’s population after the winding down of COVID-19 restrictions, which contributed to an increasing number of registered motor vehicles on the nation’s roads. The research also shows that cost-of-living pressures are prompting more Australian to look for the best vehicle insurance deals; some 7.7% of vehicle insurance policies were switched to another company in the year to October, while 25.9% were renewed after approaching another company. These are some of the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source insurance data, derived from in-depth personal interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians per annum.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Roy Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention shows support increasing for both major parties as two-party preferred result narrows: ALP 51% cf. L-NP 49%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Dec-23

The ALP is now on 51% (down 1.5% on a week ago) ahead of the Coalition on 49% (up 1.5%) on a two-party preferred basis, according to the latest Roy Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention conducted last week. The primary vote of both major parties strengthened with the Coalition now on 37.5%, up 2.5% ahead of the ALP on 32.5%, up 0.5%. The Greens are down 1% to 12.5% and One Nation is unchanged on 5%. Support for Independents dropped 0.5% to 8.5% and was down 1.5% to 4% for Other Parties. This Roy Morgan Poll is based on interviewing a representative cross-section of 1,730 Australian electors from November 27 – December 3, 2023. For further details watch Roy Morgan’s weekly Market Research Update video presented by Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine on Tuesday afternoon.

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

Albanese insists ALP will honour its stage three tax cut promise

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Nov-23

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated in parliament that Labor remains committed to implementing the Coalition’s legislated stage-three personal income tax cuts, which are slated to take effect in mid-2024. Labor had committed to proceeding with the tax cuts during the 2022 federal election campaign. Albanese has also told Labor’s final caucus meeting for the year that keeping election promises is critical to maintaining trust with voters, with the nation due to go the polls again in 2025.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

‘Uncharted territory’: 60pc of public servants now working from home

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 30-Nov-23

New data shows that 57 per cent of federal public servants now have access to working from home arrangements, compared with 46 per cent in 2021. Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer says the growing number of public servants who are working from home has implications for resources, property management and workplace design. Meanwhile, de Brouwer says the latest ‘state of the service’ report shows amongst other things that bullying and harassment rates in the public service are still too high, while the gender pay gap has narrowed to 5.2 per cent.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION