Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Dec-21
The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting for December show that the central bank remains upbeat about the outlook for the economy. The RBA does not expect the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 to "derail" the nation’s economic recovery. However, the variant may affect the RBA’s timetable for winding back quantitative easing.
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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA
Original article by Geoff Chambers, Michael McKenna, Jess Malcolm
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Dec-21
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ruled out the reintroduction of lockdowns to combat COVID-19, arguing that the nation must shift from a "culture of mandates" to a "culture of responsibility". The snap meeting of the national cabinet on Wednesday will receive updated modelling from the Doherty Institute; according to its worst-case scenario, about 200,000 people in Australia could become infected with the Omicron variant each day by late January unless action is taken to curb its spread. However, infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon says overseas evidence suggests that the new variant does not result in higher rates of hospitalisation or death than the Delta strain.
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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET
Original article by Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 5 : 1-Dec-21
State and territory leaders have ruled out lockdowns and domestic border closures in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A meeting of the national cabinet on Tuesday agreed to press ahead with the roadmap for reopening the remaining state borders, and backed the federal government’s decision to delay reopening the nation’s international borders to eligible visa holders by two weeks. Any returned travellers who have visited one of nine southern African countries that of concern will be required to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days, while other international arrivals must self-isolate at home for 72 hours. There are six confirmed cases of the Omicron strain in Australia; they are all said to either have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Dec-21
A special Roy Morgan analysis of movement data in the Melbourne CBD during recent protests against vaccine mandates and the Andrews Government’s new pandemic legislation has brought an entirely different type of Melburnian to the city centre than we usually see in the CBD. A special Roy Morgan ‘Heat Map’ shows the home locations of people attending the Melbourne CBD protest. To determine who these people were, and where they came from, Roy Morgan ‘geo-fenced’ the area in front of Victoria’s Parliament House from 11am – 2.30pm on Saturday November 20, 2021. The devices that were seen in this area during the protest time period were then profiled by Helix Community and home location to produce the ‘Heat Map’ showing where the protesters had come from. The ‘Heat Map’ shows the areas with the heaviest concentration of protesters were led by outer suburban areas of the Melbourne metropolitan region such as South Morang (Postcode 3752), Tarneit (3029), Cranbourne (3977), Langwarrin (3910), Werribee (3030), Caroline Springs (3023) and Sunshine (3020). There were also protesters in the Melbourne CBD who came from as far afield as Ballarat, Geelong, Ocean Grove, Torquay, Wallan, Warragul, Hastings, Traralgon and Wonthaggi.
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ROY MORGAN LIMITED
Original article by Anton Nilsson
The Daily Telegraph – Page: Online : 25-Nov-21
The New South Wales government’s response to the Delta variant outbreak is under further scrutiny. It follows the revelation that chief health officer Kerry Chant and senior NSW Health officials were urged to lock down Greater Sydney on 24 June. A NSW Health official in the Hunter Region called for such action due to the widespread detection of coronavirus fragments in wastewater in areas of Sydney and Wollongong. A lockdown was imposed in some parts of Sydney on 25 June, but Greater Sydney was not locked down until the next day. NSW recorded 248 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths on Wednesday.
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NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH
Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 25-Nov-21
BHP has advised that fewer than 35 workers at its Mt Arthur coal mine have yet to provide evidence that they are vaccinated against COVID-19. The resources group recently stood down nearly 80 of the mine’s workers under its mandatory vaccination policy. The CFMEU and the ACTU are challenging the validity of this policy in the Fair Work Commission, contending that BHP did not comply with the consultation requirements of the Work, Health and Safety Act.
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BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION
Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Nov-21
The federal government remains divided over the issue of COVID-19 vaccine mandates by its state counterparts. The government is under pressure from senators Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic to take legislative action to override such mandates, and they have raised the prospect of voting against government bills in the final session of parliament for the year. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told a party room meeting that the Coalition risks losing the 2022 election if the dissent within its ranks continues.
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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET
Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Nov-21
New research from Roy Morgan shows that an estimated 584,000 mortgage holders (15.8%) were ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress in the three months to September 2021. This period encompassed the recent lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, which finally ended during the month of October. Mortgage stress dropped to record lows during this period with fewer than 600,000 mortgage holders considered ‘At Risk’ for the first time. The level of mortgage stress is down on a year ago during Victoria’s long second lockdown when an estimated 668,000 mortgage holders (18.3%) were considered ‘At Risk’. The low rate of ‘At Risk’ mortgages during this period continues the trends seen during the pandemic in which record low interest rates, record levels of Government financial support, and considerable measures taken by banks and financial institutions to support borrowers in financial distress have combined to lower mortgage stress to record lows. Mortgage stress today is at less than half the level it was during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, when it reached a high of 35.6% of mortgage-holders. Meanwhile, 18.7% of Australians with negative employment changes due to COVID-19 are now in mortgage stress – almost 3% points higher than for all mortgage holders. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 50,000 Australians each year including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.
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ROY MORGAN LIMITED
Original article by Shannon Deery,Mitch Clarke,Kieran Rooney
Herald Sun – Page: 9 : 17-Nov-21
Premier Daniel Andrews says the Victorian government will not back down on its controversial pandemic laws, despite growing opposition. Andrews is confident that the bill will be passed by parliament’s upper house with the support of three crossbenchers and with no further amendments. Victorian Bar president Roisn Annesley says the amendments that have been accepted by the government do not go far enough in protecting the rule of law, and contends that they do not address the most fundamental problems with the bill
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VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET,VICTORIAN BAR INCORPORATED
Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Nov-21
A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows that movement in the Brisbane CBD has reached 81% of pre-pandemic levels in early November – its highest level since March 2020 when the pandemic began. Queensland has ramped up its vaccination drive in recent weeks as the State gets set to fully re-open its domestic borders to NSW, Victoria and the ACT in just over a month’s time. Meanwhile, the average 7-day movement level in the Sydney CBD was at 41% (up 8% points on a week earlier) of pre-pandemic levels in early November, while movement level in the Melbourne CBD was at to 36% (up 9% points on a week earlier) of pre-pandemic levels. Despite these low numbers these are the highest average movement levels in both city CBDs since late May 2021. The Adelaide CBD has returned to an average 7-day movement level of 94% of pre-pandemic levels – the highest level of movement since reaching a high of 98% during the Easter holidays in April 2021. Also performing well are the Capital Cities of two States that are yet to fully re-open to domestic travellers. The movement levels in the Perth CBD are now at 82% of pre-pandemic levels, while movement levels in the Hobart CBD are at 71% of pre-pandemic levels. Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ROY MORGAN LIMITED,UBERMEDIA
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