VIRUS DISEASES – AUSTRALIA

Infection rate falls below one raising hopes virus is fading

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Original article by Tom Burton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 14-Apr-20

The global death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 119,113; more than 1,917,000 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness. There are 6,359 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Australia, and the nation’s death toll has risen to 61. Professor James McCaw of the Doherty Institute says there is now sufficient local data on the virus to publish an ‘effective reproduction rate’, which his research team hopes to do shortly. The team estimates that Australia’s effective reproduction rate has fallen below one, as social distancing measures help to curb the virus’s spread. Meanwhile, the death toll in the US has risen to 23,485 after an additional 1,380 deaths were reported in the last day.

CORPORATES
PETER DOHERTY INSTITUTE FOR INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Records to fall as miners defy crisis

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Original article by Dennis Shanahan, Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 13-Apr-20

Factors such as a resilient iron ore price and a rally in the price of gold have prompted expectations that the value of Australia’s resources exports will top $$299bn in 2019-20. This is $18bn higher than was forecast in December. The nation has exported $65.4bn worth of iron ore since 1 July, including $13.9bn in the first two months of 2020. Iron ore for delivery to China is trading at almost $US80 per tonne, compared with the Treasury’s forecast of $US55 a tonne. The resources and energy sector is largely continuing to operate during the pandemic.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Jobless rise to hit 10pc: Treasury

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 14-Apr-20

The Treasury estimates that the coronavirus pandemic will see unemployment peak at 10 per cent in the June quarter, compared with an official jobless rate of just 5.1 per cent in February. It would be the first time Australia has recorded double-digit unemployment since April 1994. The Treasury’s analysis also concludes that unemployment would have risen to around 15 per cent without the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme. Former AMP CEO Andrew Mohl is among the business leaders who have called for lockdown measures to be progressively wound back, noting that the restrictions are costing the economy some $550m per day in lost GDP.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

We may be over-reacting to an unremarkable virus

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 10 : 14-Apr-20

Australia’s low death toll from the coronavirus and the nation’s comparatively low infection rate suggests that the lockdown measures may have been an over-reaction. Dire forecasts of hospitals being swamped with patients needing ventilators have not materialised, while government debt and the unemployment rate will rise sharply due to the coronavirus response. Indeed, a Roy Morgan survey for March found that the jobless rate is likely to double. Maintaining the lockdown for six months is unsustainable, and attention must soon turn to restarting the economy.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Coronavirus JobKeeper package passes Parliament after Labor amendments fail

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Original article by Matthew Doran
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Apr-20

More than 730,000 businesses have registered with the Australian Taxation Office to access the federal government’s wage subsidy scheme. A special sitting of parliament has passed the JobKeeper legislation, with eligible businesses to receive $1,500 per fortnight for each worker they continue to employ during the pandemic. Labor backed the legislation despite failing in its push for the scheme to be expanded to include casual workers who have been with their employer for less than a year and temporary visa holders.

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AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Coronavirus data due within weeks to reveal Australia’s path out of health crisis

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Original article by Sophie Scott, Nick Sas
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Apr-20

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy recently said that Australia’s progress on containing the coronavirus will become clearer within a week or so, as people returning from overseas are skewing the infection data at present. Health experts state that more data on the rate of community transmission will be needed before any decisions are made about relaxing the coronavirus restrictions. Health Minister Greg Hunt says the nation will be able to commence lifting the restrictions once the rate of community transmission is under control, although he warns that the restrictions are unlikely to be eased for some time.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Now for start of on-shoring era: Liveris

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 9-Apr-20

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted renewed scrutiny of Australia’s dependence on imports for essential goods such as medical equipment. Manufacturing now accounts for six per cent of the domestic economy, compared with about 40 per cent in the 1970s. Business leader Andrew Liveris says Australia needs to increase local manufacturing, but he stresses that the focus should be on high-end sectors such as health and technology.

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DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY

Extra leave bid for frontline staff

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 9-Apr-20

The ACTU will push for eight industry awards to be amended to provide workers in the health, aged care, pharmacy and disability sectors with paid pandemic leave. The peak union body contends that such workers should also be entitled to paid leave more than once, as they are generally at greater risk of both being exposed to the coronavirus and having to self-isolate for 14 days. The Fair Work Commission has ruled that workers who are covered by some awards are entitled to two weeks of unpaid pandemic leave. It will consider the ACTU’s proposal to provide frontline workers with paid pandemic leave.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Coronavirus data shows job advertisements in freefall

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Original article by Catherine Hanrahan
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Apr-20

Data from job listings group Seek shows that the number of job advertisements has declined by 65 per cent year-on-year due to the coronavirus pandemic. New South Wales has recorded a 72 per cent fall in job listings, ahead of Victoria with a 67 per cent decline. The sport and recreation sector has been the hardest hit, recording a 98 per cent decline in job advertisements. In contrast, job ads in the mining, resources and energy sector have fallen by just 30 per cent.

CORPORATES
SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK

Bank shareholders face $7bn hit

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 9-Apr-20

Shares in Australia’s major banks retreated on 8 April, after the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority asked them to consider delaying or reducing their dividend payments due to the coronavirus crisis. The Bank of Queensland has already advised that it will defer its interim dividend, while investors in Westpac, National Australia Bank and the ANZ Bank were slated to receive a combined $7bn worth of dividends in May. Commonwealth Bank shareholders recently received their interim dividends.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA