AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

$20bn resources boost to budget

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Mar-19

The federal government’s April 2019 Budget bottom line is expected to be boosted by a sharp rise in earnings from resource and energy exports. The value of such exports is forecast to have grown by about $20bn since the December quarter, due to a rise the prices of key commodities. Meanwhile, the Budget is set to include $2.2m worth of additional funding for road safety programs over the next four years, with about half of this to be allocated to regional projects. The government will also establish an Office of Road ­Safety.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Union wants Labor to fix free rider problem

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 28-Mar-19

The National Tertiary Education Union’s industrial relations policy identifies several options for addressing the issue of workers who benefit from enterprise agreements without being a union member. They include requiring non-union members to pay a bargaining agents fee. The NTEU has lobbied Labor to put the issue of so-called "free riders" on its industrial relations agenda. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says bargaining fees are contrary to the right to freedom of association. Such fees have been banned in Australia since 2003.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, ACTU, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD

Greens push to ban $25bn coal industry

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 6 : 28-Mar-19

Coal-fired power stations will be a key target of the Greens’ new climate policy, which will be released on 28 March. The Greens aim to ban both thermal coal mining and the use of coal to generate electricity, while it proposes to progressively reduce thermal coal export quotas with the goal of eventually phasing out an industry that is estimated to be worth about $25bn a year. The Coal Council of Australia has warned that up to 150,000 direct and indirect jobs could be at risk under the Greens’ policy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, COAL COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY

Small business contract safeguards beefed up

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 28-Mar-19

The federal government has outlined plans to extend its laws on unfair contract terms to a broader range of small businesses. Firms with annual turnover of up to $10m will be covered by the laws under the proposed reforms, while the threshold will be increased from 20 employees to 100. Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert has stressed that the government will not pursue any reforms without consulting with all relevant stakeholders.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Meat sector calls for drought relief funds

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 19 : 28-Mar-19

The Australian Meat Industry Council has released a report which shows that the industry’s regulatory cost burden is significantly higher than that of other major red meat-producing nations. The AMIC has called for government action to reduce export certification charges, which are estimated to cost the industry about $110m a year. CEO Patrick Hutchinson says these fees – which local producers must pay in full – are a key reason why Australian red meat is becoming globally uncompetitive.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEAT INDUSTRY COUNCIL

LNG Asia price slump irks east coast manufacturers

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 28-Mar-19

The Asian spot price of LNG has fallen to a three-year low of around $US4.50 per million British thermal units, which equates to about $6.30 per gigajoule. In contrast, the spot price in Sydney is trading at around $11.25/GJ. Some gas buyers have urged the federal government to intervene by imposing restrictions on Queensland’s LNG exporters, but Resources Minister Matthew Canavan says the best way to put downward pressure on domestic prices is to find new sources of supply.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, WESTON ENERGY, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, CLAYPAVE PTY LTD, REMAPAK PTY LTD, WORRELLS SOLVENCY AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTANTS

PM’s war chest to reach $70bn

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Original article by Simon Benson, David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Mar-19

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia estimates that the federal government could post a combined surplus of about $60bn between 2019-20 and 2021-22. CBA adds that the government could have up to $70bn at its disposal for spending initiatives during the upcoming election campaign, including scope for up to $6bn in additional tax cuts. Meanwhile, economists at National Australia Bank have flagged the possibility that the Budget will be returned to surplus in 2018-19, which is a year earlier than the government has forecast.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

New public interest test just one part of Greens’ wide-ranging media reforms

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Original article by Samantha Maiden
The New Daily – Page: Online : 26-Mar-19

The Greens want to encourage public interest journalism by extending tax breaks for news media subscriptions. Its plans are part of a media reform package that would also involve a clampdown on false news on social media and the possible breakup of media companies such as News Corporation. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says regulators should be given stronger powers so that they can penalise broadcasters that provide proponents of hate speech a platform for their views.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, SKY NEWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Social media chiefs get jail term warning

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 26-Mar-19

Social media companies and internet service providers will meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 26 March. The meeting has been convened in the wake of the live-streaming of the Christchurch mosque shootings on Facebook. Morrison says the federal government will act if social media companies are not prepared to take steps to prevent the use of their platforms in a similar fashion. The threat of jail terms for social media executives who are not seen to be co-operating with the government on the issue has been raised.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TWITTER AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Living wage for 1.2m in Labor pitch

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 26-Mar-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has indicated that Labor’s living wage policy would boost the income of low-income earners from mid-2020. Details of the policy will be announced on 26 March, but Shorten has signalled that the living wage will apply only to people on the minimum wage rather than workers who are on award wages. Shorten also says Labor will legislate to require the Fair Work Commission to take into account a broader range of factors than at present in setting the living wage. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox is among the critics of Labor’s living wage policy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, ACTU