BUSINESS AND POLITICS – AUSTRALIA

Tax break idea worthy, but unworkable

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 4 : 17-Aug-17

Senator Nick Xenophon’s proposal to provide a 40 per cent tax break for smaller media companies has merit, and it is likely to benefit the publishers of newspapers such as "The Saturday Paper" and websites like "The New Daily". However, the Federal Government would need to determine whether the local editions of overseas publications would be eligible for the tax break. There is also the question of whether taxpayers should subsidise small media outlets that would be competing with the monolithic ABC for both funding and audiences.

CORPORATES
NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SCHWARTZ MEDIA PTY LTD, THE NEW DAILY, THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA, DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA, THE HUFFINGTON POST, POLITIFACT AUSTRALIA

Super reforms blasted for favouring banks

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 14-Aug-17

Industry Super Australia contends that proposed superannuation legislation favours retail funds at the expense of those that ISA represents. ISA is of the view that the legislation will impose less scrutiny on bank-owned funds than not-for-profit funds, even though it states that the latter sector has outperformed bank-owned funds in recent years. ISA also contends that the proposed legislation will increase compliance costs and is in conflict with the Corporations Act.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Energy chiefs forced to reveal cheaper plans

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Original article by Mark Ludlow, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 10-Aug-17

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has secured an in-principle agreement with the CEOs of seven major power retailers to address the rising cost of electricity. Electric utilities will be required to disclose to customers on discount plans how much they will pay if they do not switch to an alternative plan when the discount period ends. The Australian Energy Market Commission estimates that the electricity contracts of about 50 per cent of customers have expired. Snowy Hydro CEO Paul Broad notes that some consumers miss out on lower rates because they simply never switch electricity suppliers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET COMMISSION, SNOWY HYDRO LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, POWERSHOP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RED ENERGY PTY LTD, LUMO ENERGY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY COUNCIL

Morrison warns all options open

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Original article by Andrew Tillett, James Eyers, Sally Patten, James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 9-Aug-17

Proxy advisers and institutional investors have welcomed the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s decision to reduce executives’ short-term bonuses in the wake of the money-laundering scandal. However, they argue that CBA must take further action, while federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has told CBA chair Catherine Livingstone that the Government will look at a range of sanctions. The CBA scandal has resulted in increased pressure for the Government to hold a royal commission into banks, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned that doing so could jeopardise AUSTRAC’s case against CBA.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CGI GLASS LEWIS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SUPERANNUATION INVESTORS INCORPORATED, UNISUPER LIMITED, OWNERSHIP MATTERS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SHAREHOLDERS’ ASSOCIATION

Ferguson leads IR reform push

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 8-Aug-17

Martin Ferguson will advocate changes to the Fair Work Act on behalf of the Minerals Council of Australia. He will urge the Federal Government to introduce reforms that would allow workers to sign individual workplace agreements rather than an enterprise agreement if their income is above a certain threshold. Ferguson, a former Labor minister and ex-ACTU president, will argue that individual agreements are already widely used in the mining sector. Other workplace reforms to be proposed by the MCA include changes to the rules on unions’ right of entry and restrictions on adverse actions.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, GLENCORE PLC, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Morgan blasts Morrison’s bank tax as a grab for revenue

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 8-Aug-17

Former Westpac CEO David Morgan has dismissed claims by Treasurer Scott Morrison that the Australian Government’s levy on the nation’s five largest banks. levy will merely offset the implicit government guarantee on bank deposits. However, Morgan supports a regulatory push to ensure that banks are "unquestionably strong", but he notes that higher capital ratios are just one of the measures that are aimed at achieving this. The Chi-X Australia chairman adds that the stock exchange operator will begin offering transferable custody receipts to local investors in late 2017.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, CHI-X AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, NASDAQ, JC FLOWERS AND COMPANY LLC, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, DIGITAL ASSET HOLDINGS, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

PM demands power chiefs act on prices

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Aug-17

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has requested that the heads of Australia’s main electricity retailers attend a meeting with him in the week beginning 7 August. Turnbull will tell them that the Federal Government wants retailers to provide customers with greater detail about how their power costs are incurred, so as to help them to reduce their expenses by either changing plans or retailer. A recent report from St Vincent de Paul concluded that the average Victorian power customer could save $A830 a year on electricity costs by changing from the most expensive plan to the least expensive one.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY COUNCIL, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY REGULATOR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, SNOWY HYDRO LIMITED, MOMENTUM ENERGY PTY LTD, ALINTA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, SIMPLY ENERGY, ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

Cut power prices or ‘firms will go bust’

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Original article by Matt Chambers, Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Aug-17

Glencore executive Peter Freyberg has called for a national energy policy that exempts heavy industry from carbon emission targets. He has warned that government intervention is needed to ensure that the rising cost of electricity does not make such industries economically unviable in Australia. Amongst other things, Freyberg says federal and state renewable energy targets should be scrapped, while he has questioned whether a clean energy target – as recommended by the Finkel review – would be sufficient to combat climate change without other measures.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, MANUFACTURING AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, BRICKWORKS LIMITED – ASX BKW, CSR LIMITED – ASX CSR, RHEEM AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DULUXGROUP LIMITED – ASX DLX, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Banks growl at BEAR necessities

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 26 : 2-Aug-17

Australian banks have expressed concern about the Federal Government’s proposed Banking Executive Accountability Regime. Criticisms include the lack of sufficient industry consultation and the fact that while non-bank financial services providers such as insurers will be excluded from the regime, it will apply to such businesses that are owned by banks. The Australian Bankers’ Association has also questioned the length of consultation period, although it is generally supportive of the push to increase the accountability of bank executives.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, CUSTOMER OWNED BANKING ASSOCIATION

Shorten ‘lie’ on growth exposed

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Aug-17

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott has criticised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for claiming that reducing the company tax rate will adversely affect economic growth. She notes that Shorten has previously argued that a lower company tax rate would boost productivity and investment, resulting in higher economic growth and wages. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has criticised Shorten’s proposal to tax the distributions of discretionary trusts, which are used by some small and family businesses.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION