ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 0.3pts to 111.0 after Melbourne’s two-week lockdown ends but restrictions remain

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Jun-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 0.3pts to 111.0 on June 12/13, after Melbourne’s two-week lockdown ended, although restrictions remain including a 25km travel limit. Consumer Confidence is just below the 2021 weekly average of 111.3, but it is 13.5pts higher than the same week a year ago (97.5). Now 27% (down 2ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 28% (up 2ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. In addition, 39% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 15% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 18% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 15% (down 3ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 45% (up 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 25% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

IR reform will avoid project blowouts

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 10-Jun-21

The federal government has received support from the resources sector for its plans to put greenfield workplace agreements back on the industrial relations agenda. The Australian Resources & Energy Group says protected and unprotected industrial action have contributed to significant cost blowouts at number of major resources projects in recent years. Greenfield agreements would cover the entire construction phase of a project. Such agreements were included in the omnibus industrial relations bill that was rejected by the Senate earlier in 2021.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES AND ENERGY GROUP

Producers fight industry oil levy

Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 17 : 10-Jun-21

It will cost taxpayers some $47.4m to maintain the Northern Endeavour in 2020-21, according to the federal government’s Budget papers. Meanwhile, oil and gas producers will lobby against a proposed industry levy to help finance decommissioning and remediation costs associated with the offshore oil production vessel in the Timor Sea. Some industry players believe that the Northern Endeavour’s former owner Woodside Petroleum should bear the cost; in 2015 it sold the vessel to Northern Oil & Gas Australia, which subsequently went into administration.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, NORTHERN OIL AND GAS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Roy Morgan unveils Annual Customer Satisfaction Award winners for 2020 across all categories

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Jun-21

Roy Morgan’s Annual Customer Satisfaction Awards have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but after rigorous examination of the data recorded from Australians during 2020 we are able to announce the deserving winners who have excelled with high customer satisfaction ratings despite the challenges of the pandemic. Nineteen of the 40 award winners are repeat winners backing up from a victory a year ago, while there are 21 new winners. Respondents name the companies they deal with in various categories across more than 30 industries, and rate how satisfied they are with them. Monthly Customer Satisfaction winners are cited in each category throughout the year, with the annual award going to the company with the most wins. Several companies scored a clean sweep of 12 monthly victories during 2020, including first-time winners Aussie Broadband and Health Partners, as well as back-to-back 2019 & 2020 winners Myer, The Reject Shop, Powershop, Bunnings Warehouse, Rebel, RAC and Defence Health. Costco also returned to the winners’ circle with an unblemished record in 2020 after last winning the annual award in 2017. The data that determines who wins comes from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, compiled from in-depth interviews with over 50,000 consumers from all around Australia.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Australia to discuss travel bubble with Singapore as leaders meet ahead of G7

Original article by Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 10-Jun-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will meet with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on 10 June. A proposed quarantine-free travel bubble between the two nations will be on the agenda, although the two leaders are expected to make a commitment to implementing such an arrangement rather than agreeing to a firm start date. The issue of China is also likely to be on the agenda, including China’s growing military presence in the South China Sea and the increasing strategic competition between the US and China. Morrison will then attend the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in the UK, where he will have guest status.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, SINGAPORE. PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE, GROUP OF SEVEN (G-7)

Two states on high alert after infected case fled Melbourne lockdown

Original article by Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jun-21

Health authorities in New South Wales and Queensland are trying to identify all close contacts of a Melbourne couple who travelled interstate on 1 June, three days after Victoria’s latest COVID-19 lockdown began. The 44-year-old woman subsequently tested positive on 8 June, although her partner has tested negative so far. The couple stopped in four towns in regional NSW before arriving in Queensland on 5 June; they visited family members on the Sunshine Coast on the following day. Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young says the woman may have been infectious while travelling through NSW; she adds that it is too soon to consider whether parts of southeast Queensland should go into lockdown.

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND HEALTH

Shell keen for all options in the NW Shelf gas hunt

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 20 : 10-Jun-21

Shell Australia chairman Tony Nunan says the energy giant is still open to processing LNG from the Scarborough gas field via the North West Shelf venture’s Karratha gas plant. Shell one of six partners in the NW Shelf project, along with Woodside Petroleum. The latter’s acting CEO Meg O’Neill says the Karratha plant is not suitable for processing ‘dry’ gas from Scarborough. Woodside instead plans to process the gas at a new processing train at its Pluto LNG plant near Karratha. Some analysts believe that the NW Shelf project’s declining output may force several of its five LNG trains to close down in coming years.

CORPORATES
SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, NORTH WEST SHELF LNG PTY LTD

US review boosts Australian minerals

Original article by Matthew Cranston, Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 10-Jun-21

The Biden administration has released the findings of its review of the nation’s critical mineral supply chain vulnerabilities. Amongst other things, the report has called for the US to source more critical minerals such as rare earths from its key allies and partners in order to reduce its reliance in imports from China. The report noted that the US will still be highly dependent on China for the processing of critical minerals, given that the nation has limited onshore processing and refining capacity. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia has a "responsibility" to expand its endowment of critical minerals.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

House price growth among fastest in world

Original article by Mackenzie Scott
The Australian – Page: 3 : 10-Jun-21

Data from Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index shows that dwelling prices in Australia increased by 8.7 per cent in the six months to March. The nation ranked fourth in terms of house price growth among the 56 countries and territories that were surveyed. Meanwhile, Australia ranked 18th on an annualised basis, with house price growth of 8.3 per cent over the 12 months to March. Michelle Ciesielski of Knight Frank says Australia’s housing market has been "particularly resilient" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORPORATES
KNIGHT FRANK

ALP (51%) leads L-NP (49%) on a two-party preferred basis on the back of big lead in Victoria

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Jun-21

During the Victorian lockdown in early June, support for the Federal ALP is 51% on a two-party preferred basis, up 0.5% points since March 2021 and ahead of the L-NP on 49% (down 0.5% points) despite a relatively well received Federal Budget delivered in May, according to the latest Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention. Primary support for the L-NP is at 40% (down 1% point) compared to the ALP on 35.5% (up 1% point). Greens support has dropped by 1% point to 11.5% while support for One Nation is up 0.5% points to 3% and support for Independents/Others is up 0.5% points to 10%. Voting analysis by State shows the ALP’s national lead is built upon a strong two-party preferred result in Victoria, with the ALP 53.5% cf. L-NP 46.5% in the State enduring its fourth lockdown – although set to end this Friday after two weeks. The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is down 5pts from March 2021 to 113 and now at its lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Now 48.5% (down 3% points) of Australians say the country is ‘heading in the right direction’, while more than a third, 35.5% (up 2% points) say the country is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

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