VIRUS DISEASES – AUSTRALIA

Fans dunked as NBL postpones season opener on virus outbreaks

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Original article by Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Jan-21

The first game of the 2021 National Basketball League was due to be played in regional Victoria on 10 January between the NBL’s two Melbourne teams. However, the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne has seen that game postponed, and the first game will now be held on 15 January between the Cairns Taipans and the Hawks in Cairns. The first two rounds of the season will be restricted to virus-free locations, while the postponed Melbourne derby has been tentatively scheduled for Bendigo on 31 January.

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NATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE

Australia did 2020 pretty damn good

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Original article by Terry McCrann
Herald Sun – Page: 45 : 24-Dec-20

Despite the spectacular failure of Victoria’s first hotel quarantine program – which has accounted for nearly 90 per cent of Australia’s COVID-19 death toll – the nation’s policymakers have handled the pandemic remarkably well. Three factors enabled the nation to get it right – not perfect, but right – in containing the virus and balancing the economic and medical costs of the pandemic. Closing the nation’s international borders prevented an outbreak on the scale seen in Europe, while the national lockdown and stimulus measures ensured that the decline in economic growth in the June quarter was limited to just seven per cent.

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Tax Office to review rejected JobKeeper bids

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 21-Dec-20

Karen Payne, the Inspector-General of Taxation & Taxation Ombudsman, has found that some businesses may have been unfairly denied coronavirus assistance by the Australian Taxation Office. As a result of her findings, the ATO will re-evaluate rejected applications for business cashflow payments and the $90 billion JobKeeper program. However, despite her findings, Payne and professional bodies such as the Institute of Public Accountants have praised the ATO for the way in which it quickly implemented government assistance programs during the pandemic.

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF TAXATION AND TAXATION OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Covid laggards beat Aussies to top of the class for economic performance

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 6 : 21-Dec-20

Data from the OECD shows that Australia’s real GDP contracted by 4.2 per cent over the first nine months of 2020. In contrast, real GDP in the US and Brazil declined by just 3.5 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively during this period, despite the fact that they have been hit much harder by COVID-19 case numbers and deaths. The economies of many countries also rebounded more quickly in the September quarter than Australia, despite having been hit harder in the June quarter. Elliot Clarke of Westpac attributes this to Australia’s tougher lockdown restrictions and the second wave in Victoria.

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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Age divide in queue for Covid vaccine

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Original article by Sue Dunlevy
Herald Sun – Page: 13 : 16-Dec-20

The federal government will compile the list of people who will be given priority in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine when it releases expert advice on the roll-out strategy in late January. However, frontline health workers and aged-care staff will be the first to receive a vaccine. The government will also prioritise people based on age, with the nation’s population to be divided into 12 age brackets. People aged 70+ will receive a vaccine first, followed by those in the 65-70 age group. The rest of the population will be divided into five-year increment age groups. The UK has adopted a similar strategy for its COVID-19 vaccination program.

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‘Solvency phase’: RBA warns of new bank pain

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 16-Dec-20

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s head of stability Jonathan Kearns says the liquidity phase of the COVID-19 crisis is giving way to a solvency phase, which is emerging as a new challenge for the banking sector. Kearns says the economic shock from the pandemic has been much worse than the global financial crisis, but notes that Australia’s banks have been resilient during COVID-19 and have continued to lend. Banks are likely to start encouraging customers to resume loan repayments in the March quarter, after many opted to defer repayments due to the pandemic.

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RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

New data shows COVID-19’s impact on Australians’ personal finances, including debt and insurance

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Dec-20

New data from Roy Morgan shows the financial impact COVID-19 has had on Australians. Almost six million Australians (28%) have had their employment negatively impacted by COVID-19 and 51% of them made resulting changes to their personal finances, as did many whose employment was not impacted directly. Throughout September and October, more than 7,000 Australians were surveyed about changes they had experienced in their employment since March and about the impact on their payments of mortgage, rent, insurance, utility bills, credit cards and personal loans. Some 28% of respondents (5.9 million Australians) reported experiencing one or more negative employment changes. Of those who have experienced negative employment changes due to COVID-19, (51.0% reported reducing housing and insurance payments or utility bills, cutting back on debt repayment, and/or making early-release withdrawals from their superannuation. In all, 27.3% of all Australians, including those who did not experience employment changes, made such changes to their finances due to the impact of COVID-19. The single largest financial change was early access to superannuation. The option was taken up by almost 10% of all Australians, and by 18.5% of those who experienced negative employment changes due to COVID-19.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Workers in private sector turn their backs on unions

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Stephen Lunn
The Weekend Australian – Page: 2 : 12-Dec-20

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that just 9.2 per cent of workers in the private sector are now members of unions, down from 12.1 per cent in 2014. In percentage terms, union membership in the public sector has fallen from 39.6 per cent to 36.8 per cent in the last six years; however, the number of union members has actually risen from 570,00 to 710,000 over this period. The ABS figures also show that casual workers were the hardest hit during the downturn in the labour market in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

NSW to consider testing international travellers before they board for Sydney

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Original article by Amelia McGuire
The Age – Page: Online : 14-Dec-20

New South Wales has reported no new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases for 11 consecutive days, but the number of cases among returned travellers has risen to 34. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has indicated that the state government is looking at the viability of requiring airlines to test passengers and flight crews for the coronavirus before they board a plane to Australia. Meanwhile, six returned travellers in hotel quarantine in Victoria have tested positive for COVID-19, and an additional 24 have symptoms of the virus.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH

COVID travel ban extended, as Australia reaches astonishing virus milestone

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Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 9-Dec-20

Australians will be prohibited from travelling overseas until at least 17 March. Health Minister Greg Hunt has cited the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis overseas for the decision to extend the ban, which was slated to expire on 17 December. The ban also prevents international cruise ships from entering Australian waters. Meanwhile, the number of active cases across Australia has fallen to 42, with returned travellers in hotel quarantine accounting for all but one of these cases. Victoria has had no active cases for 39 days; however, six returned travellers have been isolated in a special ‘hot’ hotel in Melbourne after showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Another returned traveller has tested negative for COVID-19 after arriving in Melbourne on 7 December.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH