AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Indonesia stops military co-operation

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 5-Jan-17

Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne has issued a statement about Indonesia’s decision to suspend military co-operation with Australia. According to Payne, suspension applies only to certain areas of defence cooperation between the two countries but Indonesian armed forces spokesman Major General Wuryanto said all forms of cooperation had been suspended. Wuryanto stated technical reasons were behind the suspension.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY

All options open in PRRT review

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Original article by Joanna Mather, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 5-Jan-17

The review of the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT), led by former Treasury official Michael Callaghan, will be dispassionate, analytical and objective. Callaghan stressed these qualities of the review in an interview given on 4 January 2017. Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the review in November 2016. Its objective is to find out why PRRT receipts declined from a peak of $A2.5 billion in 2000 to about $A900 million a year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT WORKERS’ FEDERATION

Bernardi on brink of Libs split

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Dec-16

Senator Cory Bernardi has declined to comment on speculation that he plans to leave the Liberal Party and establish a new conservative party. Bernardi established the Australian Conservatives website in mid-2016, and a recent message on the site said some "important campaigns" will be launched in 2017. There has also been speculation that the Australian Conservatives party will receive financial support from mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who has praised the policies of US president-elect Donald Trump.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY

Australian journalists finally waking up to Australia’s real problem of massive under-employment

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Original article by Gary Morgan, Michele Levine, Julian McCrann
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Dec-16

The past week has seen a procession of journalists finally mentioning Australia’s largest problem that’s never talked about – the massive level of under-employment throughout the Australian economy. Today Jessica Irvine in The Age asks the simple question – does working one hour a week sound like a good job? Well of course not, and Jessica’s column highlights the problem of under-employment – working a few hours but wanting to work far more hours, or indeed, work full-time. Jessica’s column follows articles by her Age colleague Ross Gittins, and columnists in The Australian including Judith Sloan and Graham Richardson in the past week who have all highlighted the rising level of part-time work at the expense of full-time work and alongside that comes an increasing level of under-employment – now at 8.4% (1.1 million Australians) in November according to the latest Roy Morgan employment estimates. The Turnbull Government’s recent announcements on plans to crack-down on the ‘cash economy’ are also long overdue. However the real challenge facing Federal, State and Local Governments is to ensure employment, or more specifically the eradication of unemployment and under employment, is top of the agenda. This means a ‘line by line’ analysis of policy and legislation of all kinds to remove everything that is a barrier to employment, or is contributing to unemployment and underemployment.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Blocked $13.2bn in savings to secure AAA: Morrison

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Original article by David Uren, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 21-Dec-16

Treasurer Scott Morrison argues that delivering on savings measures that have been blocked by the Senate would enable the Federal Government to achieve a modest Budget surplus in 2020-21. He has ruled any budget cuts in addition to those that have already been put to Parliament and blocked. Many of these measures were announced in the Coalition’s first Budget in 2014, and it still appears to be unlikely that some will be passed by the upper house.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS

Treasurer won’t pledge to a surplus

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Dec-16

The expected Budget surplus of $A1.087bn in 2020-21 equates to about 0.05 per cent of GDP. Ratings agencies have warned that the Federal Government must achieve a surplus by 2020-21 in order to retain its triple-A credit rating, but Treasurer Scott Morrison claims that he has never committed to that target date. He says the Government will seek to balance the Budget as quickly and responsibly as possible, and stressed that this will require the support of Parliament.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, MYOB GROUP LIMITED – ASX MYO, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Tax take smashed and getting worse

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 20-Dec-16

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, released by Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison on 19 December 2016, shows that government revenue will be $A30 billion lower than forecast in the May 2016 budget. A positive effect of higher commodity prices will not be strong enough to compensate for lower tax revenue resulting from weak wages growth and lower than projected corporate tax collection in non-mining sectors.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Shepherd’s banana republic warning

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 19-Dec-16

Business leader Tony Shepherd says "serious reform" is necessary to reduce Australia’s national debt, warning that it will be hard to achieve any progress until Australians fully appreciate the extent of the problem. Shepherd, who says the nation is in danger of becoming a banana republic, is heading a seven-person expert panel which plans to release a series of discussion papers on key issues, as well as recommendations for further action. Shepherd chaired the Federal Government’s National Commission of Audit in 2014.

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AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BUILDCORP COMMERCIAL PTY LTD, H2 VENTURES, GETUP LIMITED

Western Australian Senator Rod Culleton resigns from One Nation

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 19-Dec-16

Senator Rod Culleton has accused One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby of "disunity and distrust" in a statement in which he announced his resignation from the party. He has also alleged that Hanson and Ashby tried to force him to resign, and claimed that One Nation policies were devised without any consultation with the party room.

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ONE NATION PARTY, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Budget’s $100bn reality check

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Original article by David Crowe, David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Dec-16

The Australian Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook is expected to show that the combined Budget deficit for the next four years will be close to $A100bn. Finance Minister Mathias ­Cormann has warned that the rally in the price of iron ore and coal will not be sufficient to offset falling revenue from corporate and income tax. The MYEFO is tipped to scale back the May 2016 Budget forecasts for growth in wages and employment.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB