Catalano not working with Gordon

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 11-Dec-19

Australian Community Media’s Antony Catalano says he is not working with WIN Corporation owner Bruce Gordon to block Seven West Media’s takeover bid for Prime Media Group. Their combined stake in Prime is sufficient to prevent Seven from reaching the 75 per cent acceptances threshold to complete the deal. Catalano says that himself and Gordon seem to be of the shared view that the Seven offer does not represent good value for Prime’s shareholders. Both have stressed the need for further changes to Australia’s media ownership laws.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

RBA chief has confidence in consumers

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Original article by David Rogers, James Glynn
The Australian – Page: 23 : 11-Dec-19

George Tharenou of UBS says the Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to reduce the cash rate twice in the first half of 2020, to a record low of 0.25 per cent. He adds that the federal government’s mid-year Budget update is unlikely to include any "material" fiscal stimulus. Meanwhile, RBA governor Philip Lowe concedes that it is taking longer than usual for consumers to spend the extra cash from the three interest rate cuts in 2019 and the federal government’s income tax offset. However, he expects consumer spending to increase.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Forrest locks horns with WA government over native title court fight

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 11-Dec-19

Fortescue Metals Group is seeking special leave to appeal against a Federal Court ruling with regard to its Solomon iron ore mining hub in the Pilbara. Western Australia’s State Solicitors Office wants the High Court to dismiss Fortescue’s application, arguing that there are major flaws in its case. The Federal Court dismissed Fortescue’s appeal against a 2017 ruling in early October, effectively stating that it had constructed the mining hub without the consent of traditional land owners.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, YINDJIBARNDI ABORIGINAL CORPORATION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Australian workers have 146 million days of annual leave just waiting to be used

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Dec-19

New figures from Roy Morgan show that Australians in paid employment have over 146 million day’ worth of annual leave accrued in total; this is up 11 million days (+8.3%) on a year ago. The accrued annual leave equates to an average of just over 16 days for each paid worker in Australia. Only 10% of paid workers have no annual leave owed to them, while a further 13% have up to 2 weeks accrued. Nearly a quarter of paid workers (23%) have between two and four weeks of annual leave accrued, and another tenth have around a month owed to them. More than a fifth of paid workers (21%), have at least five weeks’ worth as yet unused. These results are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with around 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Leaders say fiscal stimulus is the answer

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Original article by James Thomson, Tony Boyd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 27 : 10-Dec-19

Tax cuts and increased spending on infrastructure are among the suggestions from business leaders to help stimulate the Australian economy. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques has urged the federal government to revive its push for corporate tax relief, while Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman has called for the introduction of an investment allowance to boost business confidence. Meanwhile, Telstra CEO Andy Penn has stressed the importance of innovation to Australia’s future economic growth.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, COCA-COLA AMATIL LIMITED – ASX CCL, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Labor MP pushes industry bargaining to fix IR system

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 10-Dec-19

Labor senator Tim Ayres says Australia’s long period of sustained economic growth has led to complacency with regard to industrial relations. He argues that factors such as low wages growth and the decline in enterprise bargaining means Labor needs to rethink its policy on IR. Ayres adds that Labor should consider the sector-wide bargaining model of Scandinavian countries. Former Labor leader Bill Shorten had flagged a shift to sector-wide bargaining, although employer groups warned that it would lead to the levels of industrial unrest of the 1970s.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED WORKERS UNION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Business Confidence improves, up 2.4pts to 108.4 in November

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Dec-19

In Australia, Business Confidence rose 2.4pts (+2.3%) to 108.4 in November 2019, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Driving the first increase since August was improving sentiment about the year ahead. Business Confidence is 5.4pts lower than it was year ago and 7pts below the long-term average of 115.4. Now 50.8% (up 9ppts) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 20.4% (virtually unchanged) expect the business to be ‘worse off’. Meanwhile, 44.8% (up 4.1ppts) of businesses expect the Australian economy to have ‘good times’ economically over the next year, while 50.8% (down 1.6ppts) expect the economy to have ‘bad times’. Some 49.0% (down 1.4ppts) of businesses say the next year will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, while 37.9% (up 2.1ppts) say it will be a ‘bad time to invest’. The Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for November are based on 1,086 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Slide in wages could risk tax cuts, surplus

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 10-Dec-19

The Wage Price Index growth rate for 2019-20 is forecast to be 2.75 per cent, but wages increased by just 2.2 per cent in the September quarter. Westpac economist Bill Evans expects the federal government to downgrade its wage growth forecast in the mid-year budget update; he warns that this in turn may affect the size of the surplus and the Coalition’s ability to bring forward the second stage of its income tax cuts package. Evans notes that the price of iron ore is trading well above the government’s forecasts, which will help offset any revenue shortfall from slowing wages growth.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

World Anti-Doping Agency bans Russia from Olympics for four years over doping scandal

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Original article by
abc.net au – Page: Online : 10-Dec-19

The World Anti-Doping Agency has imposed a four-year ban on Russia taking part in major sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 soccer World Cup in Qatar. The ban results from WADA’s finding that Russia had manipulated laboratory data in an effort to prevent drug cheats being detected. Russian athletes deemed to be ‘clean’ will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag. Russia has also been banned from bidding for, hosting or being awarded major championships.

CORPORATES
WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY

Westpac open to settlement

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 10-Dec-19

The Federal Court has been told that Westpac and Austrac could potentially finalise a statement of agreed facts with regard to the bank’s breach of anti-money laundering laws by late February. Westpac has also advised that it will not contest the bulk of the 23 million civil charges that it is facing, which could allow the case to be settled quickly. Westpac is also under scrutiny by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, while the bank could face a board spill at its annual meeting.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA