|
| |||||||||||
Weekday News Bulletin
PortMac Menu
This Page Code
Source : PortMac.News | Independent :
Source : PortMac.News | Independent | News Story:
 |
|||
|
|
|
| |
 |  |
PortMac.News Indexes Summary:
Australian Dollar: $0.6921 USD (up $0.0001 USD)
Iron Ore Aug Spot Price (SGX): $95.60 USD (up $0.42 USD)
Oil Price (WTI): $40.29 USD (up $0.58 USD)
Gold Price: $1,775.71 (up $5.28 USD)
Dow Jones: 25,827.36 (up 92.39 points)
All changes compared to 7am yesterday.
Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate, arrested for recruiting and abusing girls in sex-trafficking ring
Ghislaine Maxwell, the onetime girlfriend and alleged accomplice of accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested Thursday morning and charged by federal prosecutors in New York for her alleged role in recruiting, grooming and sexually abusing underage girls as young as 14 as part of a years-long criminal enterprise.
Maxwell, 58, whose whereabouts were being tracked by federal agents, was taken into custody in New Hampshire without incident and charged with six criminal counts.
The charges include enticement and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Between 1994 and 1997, according to the indictment, "Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things.
Maxwell and deceased multimillionaire Epstein are accused of luring the girls to an array of residences, including his Upper East Side mansion, his Palm Beach estate, and his sprawling Santa Fe ranch.
Maxwell was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire, nearly a year after federal authorities in New York arrested Epstein as he returned to the United States on a private jet from Paris.
Roy Morgan shows over 2 million Australians still unemployed in June, down 42,000 on May
Market Research Update - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Roy Morgan
PortMac.News Summary
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the unemployment estimate for June shows 2.05 million Australians were unemployed (14.5% of the workforce) and 1.41 million (10.0%) under-employed - a total of 3.45 million Australians (24.5%).
The small changes in unemployment and under-employment in June show how much new growth is required to provide jobs for the more than 1 million Australians now unemployed that were working prior to the Australia-wide shut-downs enforced in mid-March.
In addition the renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne over the last two weeks demonstrates the virus poses an ongoing threat to lives, livelihoods and the economy more broadly. [Click to view full article here]
Australian visa fast track for HK nationals fleeing strife
The Australian - Page 1 & 2 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
PortMac.News Summary
Tensions with China may increase after the federal government advised that it will consider options for allowing Hong Kong nationals to migrate to Australia.
The skilled migrant visa program is expected to be the government's preferred option when cabinet discusses the issue on 8 July. However, part of the annual refugee intake could potentially be allocated to Hong Kong nationals who are at risk of persecution under the Chinese government's national security laws for the former British colony.
China has criticised the UK's decision to offer citizenship to more than three million Hong Kong nationals.
Fears of Victorian outbreak 'acceleration' amid rise in intensive care admissions
The New Daily - Page Online : 3 July 2020
PortMac.News Summary
Victoria recorded 77 new coronavirus cases on 2 July, including 31 that have been attributed to community transmission.
A total of 86 new cases were reported nationwide, with eight in New South Wales.
This includes a Woolworths employee who had returned to Sydney after leaving hotel quarantine in Melbourne; 50 workers at the Woolworths store in Balmain are now in lockdown.
Meanwhile, the Northern Territory has recorded its first coronavirus case in four weeks, with another person who was in hotel quarantine in Melbourne testing positive after returning to Darwin.
Australia now has 807 active coronavirus cases, with the nation's total number of infections having risen to 8,001.
Cases surge outside closed suburbs
The Australian - Page 5 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Rachel Baxendale
PortMac.News Summary
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has downplayed the prospect of coronavirus restrictions being expanded beyond the 10 Melbourne postcodes that are currently in lockdown.
Analysis shows that at least 60 of the new cases that were detected in the last two days were in local government areas that are not currently designated as coronavirus hotspots.
This includes 29 in the City of Melbourne and 22 in Wyndham. Sutton says all Victorian residents should stay at home as much as possible in order to contain the virus.
Victorian hotel horror is truly sickening
Herald Sun - Page 9 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Mark Buttler, Kieran Rooney
PortMac.News Summary
The Victorian government is continuing to attract scrutiny over its awarding of contracts to provide security guards at quarantine hotels.
Further claims of rorting have emerged, with allegations that some employees of the private security firms had been paid the JobKeeper wage subsidy while being paid in cash to work at the quarantine hotels.
Meanwhile, United Workers Union official Kazim Shah claims that some subcontractors were more concerned about making money than ensuring that security guards had sufficient training in infection control.
The government has launched a judicial inquiry into the hotel quarantine program.
Stamford hotel blames government and guards for outbreak
The Age - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Clay Lucas
PortMac.News Summary
The Victorian government will cease using private security firms at Melbourne's quarantine hotels.
Corrections Victoria staff will take over management of the quarantine program, with assistance from Australian Defence Force personnel.
At least 32 people have contracted the coronavirus at the Stamford Plaza in the CBD, but its management has stressed that the hotel has not breached infection control protocols and none of its staff have contracted the virus.
It says the state government and private security firms were solely responsible for the outbreak.
Vaxine starts human trials
The Australian Financial Review - Page 5 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Yolanda Redrup
PortMac.News Summary
The Royal Adelaide Hospital's PARC unit has commenced a phase one clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine that was developed by South Australia-based Vaxine Pty Ltd.
Two doses of the company's COVAX-19 vaccine will be administered to participants over a three-week period, and Vaxine chairman Nikolai Petrovsky says the results should be available within 6-8 weeks.
As US coronavirus cases soar, Trump says economy is 'roaring back'
The Sydney Morning Herald - Page Online : 3 July 2020
PortMac.News Summary
The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US rose to a record high of more than 50,000 on 2 July, with 40 of its 50 states recording a rise in the infection curve.
The jump in infections has been blamed on Americans not complying with social distancing rules following the recent easing of lockdowns.
Commenting on a gain of 4.8 million jobs in June, US President Donald Trump claimed the US economy was "roaring back", while he contended his administration had done a great job in dealing with the virus.
However, his comments were attacked by Joe Biden, his likely Democrat opponent in the November presidential elections, with Biden saying Trump should not be "claiming victory" when nearly 15 million people were out of work because of the pandemic.
'A national security scandal': Kevin Rudd names three gaps in defence strategy
The Sydney Morning Herald - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Anthony Galloway
PortMac.News Summary
The federal government's new defence strategy includes expenditure of $270 billion over the next 10 years on boosting the Australian Defence Force.
However, former prime minister Kevin Rudd contends there are three major gaps in the strategy: failing to build up Australia's cyber defences with sufficient speed; insufficient spending in the Pacific region, and delays in the delivery of new submarines.
Rudd noted his government's 2009 Defence White Policy had called for a doubling of Australia's submarine fleet, and he claims the submarine project has been "comprehensively botched".
Qantas faces legal action on JobKeeper
The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman
PortMac.News Summary
The Australian Services Union has accused Qantas of wage theft over its application of the JobKeeper wage subsidy to employees who are paid on a monthly basis.
The Australian Tax Office recently advised that the JobKeeper scheme does not allow companies to split the earnings of such employees across fortnights, which can significantly reduce top-up liabilities for the subsidy.
Qantas responded by indicating that it will provide back-day to employees who are paid monthly. However, the ASU says it will take immediate legal action against Qantas.
'Robodebt 2.0' fears over payment checks
The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Tom McIlroy
PortMac.News Summary
The Australian Taxation Office is to assess some small businesses and sole traders to determine whether they are eligible for JobKeeper payments.
The entities in question are those who had no assessable business income in 2018-19 or who started operating after 1 January, with around 8,000 businesses potentially under scrutiny.
The ATO may move to recoup payments from businesses found to be ineligible, possibly through an automated process that has already been dubbed 'Robodebt 2.0'.
JobSeeker's $200 boost could cost $4 billion for six months
The Age - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Shane Wright
PortMac.News Summary
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre's director, Alan Duncan, says the JobSeeker payment should be increased when the coronavirus supplement ends in September.
Duncan contends that the unemployment benefit was insufficient prior to the pandemic, and he has suggested that it could be increased by $200 a fortnight; he estimates that this would cost about $3.8bn over six months.
Duncan adds that the JobSeeker payment must be scaled back in order to provide people with an incentive to seek work.
MUA facing $80 million damages claim for illegal picket
The Australian Financial Review - Page 2 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman
PortMac.News Summary
Victorian International Container Terminals will pursue the Maritime Union of Australia for $80 million in damages over an illegal picket in 2017.
The picket ran for 19 days at Webb Dock in Melbourne, and the company claims that the blockade held up more than 1,000 containers.
VICT has already secured a contempt ruling over the picket.
The MUA's national assistant secretary Will Tracey has described the damages claim as "baseless", while VICT CEO Tim Vancampen says the claim is the only way of recovering its losses from the picket.
University staff agree to salary cuts to save jobs
The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Robert Bolton
PortMac.News Summary
The University of Melbourne's vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell has warned that job cuts are likely after staff rejected a proposal to reverse a recent pay rise under its enterprise agreement.
Staff at the University of Wollongong have also voted against cost-cutting measures.
However, staff at six universities have backed changes to enterprise agreements in order to save jobs, including the deferral of pay rises.
Universities Australia estimates that the higher education sector faces losses of $4.8bn in 2020 due to the coronavirus.
Warning costs to rise without tax reform
The Australian Financial Review - Page 6 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by John Kehoe
PortMac.News Summary
EY Port Jackson Partners director Blair Comley says greater reliance on the goods and services tax to raise revenue will be needed over coming years.
He says this is because company tax and personal investment income tax will be harder to raise.
Comley was a senior Treasury adviser when the GST was introduced 20 years ago. Former Australian Taxation Office second commissioner Andrew Mills, who is now the Tax Institute's director of policy, says the GST's base needs to be expanded while stamp duty needs to be replaced by a broad land tax.
Air freight flight subsidy to continue
The Australian Financial Review - Page 11 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Andrew Tillett, Michael Smith
PortMac.News Summary
The federal government is to inject a further $240 million into its International Freight Assistance Mechanism, enabling subsidised air freight flights to continue until the end of 2020.
The scheme was introduced following the virtual cessation of international flights because of COVID-19, with 90 per cent of air freight being carried by passenger planes.
It has allowed the export of fresh seafood and agricultural produce to continue, and it is estimated around $1 billion of produce has been transported by over 1,800 flights since the scheme commenced.
GST to stay as is but Cormann flags incentives
The Australian - Page 4 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Simon Benson, Patrick Commins
PortMac.News Summary
The federal government will provide additional tax incentives for businesses in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has emphasised that fiscal stimulus measures must eventually be wound back.
He has also signalled that there will be 'ongoing and targeted' measures for businesses and households when the JobKeeper scheme and the JobSeeker supplement end.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has ruled out any changes to the goods and services tax.
Cormann poised to leave politics after budget
The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Phillip Coorey
PortMac.News Summary
Sources within the federal government have advised that Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will quit politics before the end of the year, although he has declined to comment.
Cormann's departure will prompt a cabinet reshuffle, with Trade Minister Simon Birmingham tipped to take over the finance portfolio. Cormann was elected to the Senate in 2007.
Bolton tells Australia: 'Stand up to China'
The Australian Financial Review - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Jacob Greber
PortMac.News Summary
Donald Trump's former national security adviser Robert Bolton claims the US and its allies, including Australia, need to stand up more against China.
Bolton has just realised a book covering his 17 months with Trump that the White House tried to have supressed and which sold 780,000 copies in its first week of release in Australia.
He says the US and its allies risk becoming little more than "vassal states" of China if they do not take a stronger stand against it over issues such as trade and national security, while he contends Trump does not represent the true Republican Party.
Push to kick-start Asia trade links
The Australian Financial Review - Page 11 : 3 July 2020 -Original article by Tom McIlroy, Patrick Durkin
PortMac.News Summary
Australia has made limited progress in building ongoing trade and investment relationships with countries in Asia, according to a joint Business Council of Australia and Asia Society Australia taskforce.
The taskforce has called for a 'Team Australia' approach to improving trade and investment ties with Asia, with taskforce chair and Compass Group Asia Pacific MD Mark Van Dyck says the idea is something it picked up from countries that Australia competes with, like New Zealand and Singapore.
Van Dyck claims Asia is no longer 'optional' for Australian companies in the "post COVID-19 world".
Tense times for investors as China flexes muscles
The Australian - Page 20 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
PortMac.News Summary
Rising Chinese nationalism presents risks on a number of fronts in the post-pandemic world. However, the sovereignty of Taiwan is the biggest concern.
Chinese warplanes have made 10 incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone in the last month, prompting fears that China may attack Taiwan before the US presidential election.
With growing doubt that Donald Trump will be re-elected, the US may not be willing to engage in a military confrontation with China over the issue of Taiwan.
Regimes such as North Korea and Iran could also seek to capitalise on a lame-duck presidency in the US during the next four months.
Watchdog finds builders' elections improper
The Australian Financial Review - Page Online : 3 July 2020 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman
PortMac.News Summary
Master Builders Victoria has handed over supervision of its internal elections to the Australian Electoral Commission.
This follows an investigation by the Registered Organisations Commission that found MBA Victoria breached its organisational rules by the manner in which it selected its presidents and vice-presidents for elections in 2016 and 2018.
The ROC's investigation was prompted by claims of a cover-up regarding the apparent ineligibility of two MBA Victoria directors in 2018. The officials in question remain in their positions.
Judges urged to report concerns
The Australian - Page 7 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Nicola Berkovic
PortMac.News Summary
The New South Wales Supreme Court has issued a new policy on unacceptable workplace conduct, covering issues such as sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying.
It applies to judges and judicial staff, and encourages judges and staff to report unacceptable workplace conduct or suspected misconduct.
The policy has been introduced in the wake of sexual harassment allegations raised against former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, and includes the appointment of an external consultant to investigate complaints of unacceptable workplace conduct against judges and other judicial staff.
Banks, tech stocks drive gains
The Australian - Page 20 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Melissa Yeo
PortMac.News Summary
The Australian sharemarket rallied on 2 July, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 1.66 per cent to close at 6,032.7 points. Fortescue Metals Group rose two per cent to $14.03, the Commonwealth Bank was up 1.8 per cent at $71.10 and Afterpay advanced 9.5 per cent to $68.16. However, Webjet shed 2.8 per cent to end the session at $3.47.
AMP women stage revolt
The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 10 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Michael Roddan
PortMac.News Summary
Women employees at AMP are said to be very unhappy about the promotion of Boe Pahari to the role of CEO of AMP Capital, its $192 billion fund management unit.
Pahari was previously head of infrastructure equity for AMP Capital.
His appointment was in spite of AMP knowing that he had been financially penalised as a result of sexually harassing a female subordinate who had brought a claim against the company.
Female AMP staff have called for Pahari to be sacked and for cultural change within the company.
Provisional liquidator for Mayfair firms
The Australian Financial Review - Page 15 & 19 : 3 July 2020 - Original article by Jonathan Shapiro, Liam Walsh
PortMac.News Summary
Mayfair 101 founder James Mawhinney says he will cooperate with the provisional liquidators who have been appointed to companies connected to the $80 million IPO Wealth Fund.
The now frozen IPO Wealth was set up in March 2017 and was Mayfair 101's inaugural offering.
Mawhinney had hoped to avoid the appointment of provisional liquidators to IPO Wealth companies; he appointed a voluntary administrator to them in June and had proposed a deed of company arrangement with the hope of recovering investors' funds.
However, IPO Wealth's biggest creditor Vasco stated that it would not support the proposal, claiming it "offered nothing for investors".
Same | News Story' Author : Staff-Editor-02
Users | Click above to view Staff-Editor-02's 'Member Profile'
