AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Canberra, refiners talk fuel security

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 16 : 8-May-20

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor has held talks with Caltex, Viva Energy, ExxonMobil and BP about increasing the amount of oil they store in Australia. Taylor flagged plans to establish a domestic oil reserve earlier in 2020, when the government spent $94m on a strategic fuel reserve in the US. Caltex’s acting CEO Matt Halliday has told a conference that the coronavirus pandemic has put the issue of fuel security on the agenda, while Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said demand for petrol is rising as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, VIVA ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX VEA, EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BP AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Slow crawl out of Covid hole

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Original article by Simon Benson, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 8-May-20

The national cabinet meeting on 8 May will decide on a timeframe for relaxing the coronavirus lockdown. The restrictions are expected to be progressively eased over the next two months. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson has called for restrictions to be lifted at the same time across all states and territories, arguing that maintaining ‘artificial barriers’ between jurisdictions will merely increase costs for businesses and make it harder for them to retain jobs. However, some states have signalled that they will follow their own timetable for easing restrictions.

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Fiscal stimulus is almost the world’s biggest

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 7-May-20

Analysis by BIS Oxford Economics shows that 46 advanced and emerging countries have spent a combined US8trn ($13trn) on direct stimulus measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Qatar tops the list, with its stimulus measures equating to 13 per cent of GDP; it is followed by Australia and Thailand, with stimulus worth 10.6 per cent and 8.9 per cent of GDP respectively. Gabriel Sterne of BIS Oxford Economics says Australia’s stimulus package was much bigger than the firm had expected, and he notes that the nation was in a strong fiscal position at the onset of the pandemic.

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BIS OXFORD ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Coal vital to post-virus boost: minister

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 6-May-20

Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt has stressed the importance of resources projects to the Australian economy as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. He has urged banks to continue to support coal projects, as a growing number of lenders move to reduce their exposure to the sector. Pitt has also emphasised the need to address the issue of ‘green lawfare’, which resulted in Adani’s Carmichael coal project being subject to multiple legal challenges.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES, ADANI MINING PTY LTD

Let’s get 1 million back to work

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-May-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the national cabinet will set a target date of July for the majority of businesses to reopen. The states and territories will decide the exact timeline for businesses to resume trading, but retailers, cafes and restaurants are expected to be amongst the first to have coronavirus restrictions lifted. Morrison argues that while Australia has been successful in ‘flattening the curve’, the focus must now be on getting people back to work. Nev Power, who chairs the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, notes that some sectors of the economy are better placed than others to resume trading.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COVID-19 COORDINATION COMMISSION

Ardern invited to PM’s bubble

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Original article by Graham Richardson, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-May-20

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will join Australia’s national cabinet meeting on 5 May via a video link. The meeting will discuss a proposal to allow people to travel between the two countries without needing to be quarantined for 14 days. Ardern says that her country would have more to gain economically from resuming trans-Tasman travel; Australia accounted for 17.1 per cent of New Zealand’s exports in 2016. New Zealand recently eased its coronavirus lockdown restrictions, and further restrictions are expected to be lifted shortly.

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NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Cost of Covid: $4bn a week

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-May-20

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will use a National Press Club speech on 5 May to warn that the coronavirus pandemic will reduce GDP by about $50bn in the June quarter. However, he will contend that the GDP hit could have been around $120bn if Australia had imposed the more restrictive lockdowns of some European countries. Frydenberg will add that economic activity will be reduced by nearly $4bn for every week that lockdown restrictions remain in place, and that the economic impact of the pandemic would have been much worse without initiatives such as the JobKeeper scheme.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Covid kickstart: states fire up

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Original article by David Penberthy, Paul Garvey, Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 4-May-20

The easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions will be considered by the national cabinet earlier than expected, due to the rapid take-up of the CovidSafe app. However, the South Australian government will relax some restrictions, such as allowing children to visit playgrounds and skate parks, while travel within the state may be permitted within days. Premier Steven Marshall says the state is on track to eliminate the virus rather than simply suppressing it. Western Australia recently permitted residents to gather in groups of 10 and lifted restrictions on some recreational activities. Meanwhile, the eastern states are keeping lockdown restrictions in place for now.

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SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Business cashflow assistance tops $6bn

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-May-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government’s tax-free cashflow payments have assisted employers to remain in business during the coronavirus pandemic. New figures show that some 343,211 small businesses and non-profit organisations had collectively received $6.09bn worth of cashflow payments by 28 April. Eligible businesses are entitled to receive payments of between $20,000 and $100,000; the average amount received to date is $17,700 per business. The government estimates that about 720,000 businesses will be eligible for the payments.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Budget impact may be lessened by quicker recovery

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 29-Apr-20

The federal government is hopeful that Australia’s success in containing the coronavirus will result in the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme costing far less than the $130bn that has been budgeted. The government had expected about six million workers to access the payment; Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy has told a parliamentary inquiry that there have been 540,000 applications from employers to date, covering about 3.3 million workers. The cost of the JobSeeker package for the unemployed may also end up being less than forecast.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY