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Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators
Australian Dollar: $0.7075 USD (down $0.0017 USD)
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All changes compared to 7am Friday, except gold.
Jacinda Ardern's Labour must now decide what it really stands for
A pandemic can change the foundations of a society. But if this happens in New Zealand over the next three years, it will be for reasons beyond the control of the sixth Labour government.
When it comes to the fundamental structure of state and economy, Labour is broadly committed to the status quo.
This was confirmed on election night when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, wearing a Labour red dress before a National blue background, declared: "We will be a party that governs for every New Zealander."
In times of upset, people yearn for normality — and Ardern's Labour Party was awarded a landslide for achieving something close to this. The risk of a further COVID-19 outbreak is ever present, as Sunday's announcement of a community transmission case in Auckland reminded us.
Nevertheless, international spectators view the New Zealand pandemic response with a wistful gaze.
At a time when many nations went sour on liberal democracy and rolled the populist dice, New Zealand appears on the world stage like a tribute act to third-way politics, a nostalgic throwback to the relative sanity and stability of the long 1990s.
Yet for many people who live in New Zealand, the status quo isn't working, and hasn't for some time. These tensions are only intensifying.
Housing unaffordability is on the rise again, with implications for wealth inequality and deprivation.
This is compounded further by the cascading economic effects of the global pandemic and unconventional manoeuvres in monetary policy that are pushing house prices higher.
Without remedial action, this inequality will leave New Zealand society more exposed to future shocks, not only from COVID-19, but also the multiplying risks of climate change, biodiversity collapse, digital disruption and international instability.
Inequality ensures uneven impacts, a recipe for further discontent and
Entering a second term, Jacinda Ardern's policy agenda is more recognisable by what she won't do than what she will — no capital gains tax, no wealth tax, indeed no new taxes at all beyond a tweak for the highest earners.
This leaves us with the longstanding conundrum of what the NZ Labour Party is and what it really stands for these days. Ardern and her colleagues are not ideologues, but no politics is without ideology — a system of ideas, values and beliefs that orients its efforts.
Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen & Co-driver Garth Tander win Bathurst 1000
supercars.com - Original story by Stefan Bartholomaeus - PortMac.News Summary
Heavy rain that was expected to dominate Sunday’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 never came, but the few drops that did fall decided it.
Shane van Gisbergen and co-driver Garth Tander’s victory will be remembered for the Kiwi’s efforts to hold out a determined Cameron Waters over the final three stints of the 161-lap contest.
What won the race though were two sublime laps from van Gisbergen in slippery conditions following a lap 54 Safety Car restart that culminated in passing the Monster Mustang for the lead.
“It was crazy,” van Gisbergen reflected of those critical damp laps where, expecting the rain to be light and brief, all the front-runners remained on slick tyres.
Victoria could have eliminated Covid in six weeks
The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Melissa Davey - PortMac.News Summary
Modelling published in the 'Medical Journal of Australia' contends that Victoria could have eliminated COVID-19 in six weeks had the state gone into stage-four lockdown from 9 July, when there were 860 active cases.
The modelling was led by Professor Tony Blakely from the University of Melbourne; he says elimination of community transmission in Victoria is now unlikely.
NZ flight sparks border fight, as WA, Victoria slam arrivals
The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Andrew Tillett - PortMac.News Summary
A federal government spokesman has defended the travel bubble with New Zealand, arguing that it is working as intended.
However, the travel bubble has been criticised by the Victorian and Western Australian governments.
The latter still has a hard border closure, and Premier Mark McGowan says the issue of 'border-hopping' needs to be addressed.
Some 23 people have caught flights to Perth after arriving in Sydney from New Zealand, and they are now in quarantine.
Victorian authorities have traced just 23 of the 55 arrivals from New Zealand who listed a Victorian address on their incoming passenger card.
Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge says there is a low risk of people from New Zealand bringing the coronavirus into Australia.
Westpac, mint, hundreds of Australians ensnared in global tax evasion probe
The Age - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Nick McKenzie, Charlotte Grieve, Joel Tozer - PortMac.News Summary
About 100 Australians are being investigated for tax evasion under a joint international investigation known as 'Operation Atlantis'.
Puerto Rico-based Euro Pacific Bank is a focus of the tax probe; the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has designated the bank as a 'top tier' organised crime threat to Australia, as it is suspected of being used by local and international organised crime syndicates.
Westpac and the Perth Mint have previously had links to Euro Pacific Bank; former Australian Federal Police financial crime expert John Chevis says they could inadvertently have facilitated tax evasion and money laundering by partnering with the bank.
Economy set for a 'beautiful recovery': Deloitte
The Australian - Page 4 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Patrick Commins - PortMac.News Summary
Deloitte Access Economics' latest Business Outlook report forecasts that Australia's real GDP growth will contract by 3.4 per cent in 2020-21.
However, the firm expects the economy to rebound in coming years, with real GDP growth of 4.4 per cent in 2021-22 and 4.1 per cent in the following financial year.
Chris Richardson of Deloitte says historical analysis shows that the domestic economy tends to recover from deeper recessions the most quickly.
Deloitte's forecasts are based on expectations that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available by the end of 2021 and the nation does not experience another major outbreak.
Labor lashes Coalition's 'failed' trade diplomacy
The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Andrew Tillett - PortMac.News Summary
Shadow trade minister Madeleine King claims that the federal government is mismanaging Australia's relationship with China and does not know how to alter its approach.
King says China appears to be systematically moving to replace Australian exports, and that exporters urgently need the government to fix the crisis.
King adds that the government needs to work more closely with businesses and groups that have a good understanding of China, but she has no confidence that it is doing this.
Defence boosts power rating in Indo-Pacific regional politics
The Australian - Page 7 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Will Glasgow - PortMac.News Summary
The Lowy Institute's latest Asia Power Index shows that Australia, Vietnam and Taiwan are the only three countries that have increased their power in the Indo-Pacific region in 2020.
Australia is now rated as the sixth-most powerful country in the region, compared with seventh in 2019.
The US is still the top-ranked country, although China has significantly narrowed the gap between the two nations over the last two years.
The index rates countries on a number of factors, including military capability, defence networks, economic resources, diplomatic influence and resilience.
Labor demands 200 big companies reveal if they used JobKeeper to pay dividends
The Guardian - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Ben Butler - PortMac.News Summary
The federal government's JobKeeper program could result in expenditure of more than $100 billion, but the government has elected not to disclose which companies have received it.
Listed companies have been told to tell the ASX how much they got in JobKeeper payments, while Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh has written to around 200 companies that are either privately held or foreign-owned.
He has asked them whether they have received JobKeeper payments and if they used the money to pay shareholder dividends or executive bonuses, with some people having dubbed the payment 'dividendkeeper'
Covid rewrites Australia's future with huge drop in population signalling challenges ahead
The Guardian - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Amy Remeikis - PortMac.News Summary
Deloitte has forecast that Australia's population will grow by at least 600,000 fewer people than had previously been estimated for 2022 due to the closure of its international borders because of COVID-19.
Lower rates of population growth will impact in all sorts of areas, including less schools and homes likely to be built and governments to receive less revenue.
When combined with falling fertility rates, the substantial drop in migrants means Australia's population will be significantly older than was forecast only 12 months ago.
Injecting politics into pandemic policy may be disastrous
The Weekend Australian - Page Online : 17 October 2020 - Original article by Katrina Grace Kelly - PortMac.News Summary
Most Australians expect the pandemic to be managed without politics and ideology, but the current criticism of Victoria over its harsh lockdown policies seems to involve a lot of politics.
The federal government is telling Victoria to open up, but Victorians will not be able to travel freely around the country unless its virus cases meet the tough standards set by the other states.
Meanwhile, there is a view among some health professionals and media commentators that the most vulnerable should be protected from the virus while the non-vulnerable live as normal and achieve immunity to the virus through herd immunity.
Once the virus has run its course, the theory suggests that the vulnerable can then choose to remain isolated or return back into society. However, some observers have noted that in some nations almost half the population are susceptible to COVID-19.
'Red flag' in CBA push for mass individual contracts
The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary
Individual flexibility arrangements (IFAs) were originally introduced under Labor's Fair Work Act, and the Commonwealth Bank has almost 15,000 staff on them, far more than any other company.
However, its failure to ensure that pay in some of the IFAs remained better than the relevant enterprise agreement between 2010 and 2019 has resulted in millions of dollars in underpayments.
University of Adelaide employment law professor Andrew Stewart says he has not witnessed such a "mass use" of IFAs during the time that the Fair Work Act has been in place, and such widespread use of them raises legal 'red flags'.
CFMEU set to strike as builders baulk
The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary
The Fair Work Commission recently approved the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union's proposal to hold ballots on protected industrial action.
The union is targeting construction firms Probuild and Watpac, with the aim of getting them to sign new enterprise agreements that include annual pay rises of five per cent and revised arrangements for rostered days off.
FWC commissioner Ian Cambridge found that Probuild did not have any legal grounds to oppose the ballot.
Virgin unions put off pay talks
The Australian - Page 15 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Robyn Ironside - PortMac.News Summary
Flight Attendants Association of Australia secretary Teri O'Toole says Virgin Australia employees feel "cheated" by the departure of CEO Paul Scurrah.
O'Toole noted that new Virgin owner Bain Capital had said very publicly that Scurrah would be staying, and that Virgin employees had a lot of trust in him.
Scurrah's sudden departure has prompted unions representing Virgin staff to request that enterprise bargaining talks with Bain be put on hold for a year, while unions are worried Bain wants to push staff onto pay rates that are lower than Jetstar, with cabin crew looking at wage cuts of between $12,000 and $24,000.
Class action launched against West Australian Government over Indigenous stolen wages
abc.net au - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Sarah Collard - PortMac.News Summary
All indigenous Australians were governed under various protection acts until the late 1970s, and the acts allowed their wages to be held in trust by state and territory governments.
Shine Lawyers is launching a class action against the Western Australian government on behalf of Indigenous workers who had their wages paid to the government, with the hope it will result in them receiving compensation and lost earnings.
Over 1,000 people have registered for the claim, but it is estimated up to ten thousand workers and their descendants could be eligible.
It has been estimated that up to $500 million in entitlements were held from indigenous workers in Queensland alone in the period between 1920 and 1970.
NSW Nationals fear Berejiklian will hurt poll hopes
The Australian - Page 6 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Yoni Bashan - PortMac.News Summary
The future of New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian remains under scrutiny in the wake of revelations about her relationship with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
Berejiklian's Liberal cabinet ministers have expressed support for her, but some National Party MPs are concerned that the scandal may affect the state Coalition's re-election chances in 2023 if she does not step down.
However, some note that a leadership change could also have an impact on support for the Coalition at the next election.
'ACT gain a Greens power pointer'
The Australian - Page 7 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Richard Ferguson - PortMac.News Summary
Greens leader Adam Bandt is hoping to win three seats at the Queensland election on 31 October, after the ACT Greens look to set to pick up as many as six seats following the ACT election.
The ACT Greens are likely to return to a coalition government with Labor in the ACT, with Labor likely to secure 11 or 12 seats.
Bandt says its success in the ACT says it is capable of securing the balance of power both in Queensland and federally, while ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has advised other Labor leaders that the ACT Labor-Greens coalition would be difficult to replicate elsewhere; Barr says the ACT Greens are more moderate than their federal counterparts.
Palaszczuk puts euthanasia at centre of campaign
The Australian - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Sarah Elks, Charlie Peel - PortMac.News Summary
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will introduce legislation in February to allow voluntary assisted dying if Labor wins the 31 October election.
Palaszczuk made her announcement regarding euthanasia as both Labor and the Liberal National Party launched their election campaigns on 18 October, with pre-polling to start on the following day.
Palaszczuk's other commitments included $171 million for palliative care funding and $21 million for free TAFE study and apprenticeships for people under the age of 25 in areas of skill shortages, while LNP leader Deb Frecklington expressed doubt about Labor's pledge not to introduce new taxes
Curbs may 'destroy' Olympic bid
The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Michael Bleby - PortMac.News Summary
Independent senator Rex Patrick is seeking legislation that would subject the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to national foreign relations policy, while he wants Australia to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.
AOC president John Coates contends the International Olympic Committee would de-recognise the AOC if Patrick is successful, making it ineligible to take part in participate in Olympic activities and potentially ruining south-east Queensland's bid to host the 2032 games.
Neither the federal government or federal Labor are backing Patrick's call for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Trump will be back for more, says Bannon
The Australian - Page 7 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Sharri Markson - PortMac.News Summary
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon says the result of the upcoming US presidential election "won't be settled anytime soon".
Bannon says that if Donald Trump was to lose to Joe Biden in November's presidential race that Trump will announce that he will run for the presidency again in 2024.
'The New York Post' has recently published emails and photos it claims came from the laptop of Biden's son Hunter and which Hunter Biden failed to collect from a repair shop.
Bannon says lawyers acting for Hunter Biden have made many attempts to recover the laptop, with the photos and emails potentially damaging to Joe Biden's campaign.
RBA to force banks to come clean on outages
The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by James Eyers - PortMac.News Summary
Payment system outages have risen to around 2,300 total hours in 2020, according to the Reserve Bank's Payments Systems Board annual report.
Software failures are the main cause of outages, while third parties services and telecommunication infrastructure can also cause problems.
The RBA will require banks to report on details of outages from mid-2021.
Latitude to supersize BNPL limits
The Australian - Page 15 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Jared Lynch - PortMac.News Summary
More than 500,000 customers of non-bank lender Latitude Financial now use its 'pay-now, buy-later' platform, LatitudePay.
The BNPL service also now boasts more than 900 retail brands. Latitude CEO Ahmed Fahour says the company will respond to consumer demand by expanding LatitudePay's credit limits to include higher-value purchases such as home renovations and medical procedures.
Fahour notes that Latitude's credit card business has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, as part of a growing trend for consumers to shun credit cards in favour of payment options such as BNPL.
Harmoney touts new model using Google
The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by James Eyers - PortMac.News Summary
Personal lender Harmoney is due to list on the Australian sharemarket before the end of 2020, and it is looking to raise $60 million in an IPO led by Ord Minnett and Jarden.
Founded in 2014 as a peer-to-peer lender in New Zealand, Harmoney's prospectus states that it had revenue of $78 million in 2020, has a loan book of $480 million and more than 46,000 customers.
It identifies potential customers using Google's Smart Bidding technology, with half of Harmoney's loans originating from Google referrals.
Covid gives Chemist Warehouse online boost
The Australian - Page 15 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Glenda Korporaal - PortMac.News Summary
Chemist Warehouse co-founder Jack Gance says the discount chemist chain's online sales have doubled during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
He suspects they will fall back a bit as restrictions ease, but Gance does not think they will return to pre-pandemic levels.
He says popular products bought online during the pandemic include haircare products, face masks and thermometers, while Gance says the increase in Chemist Warehouse's online sales had helped offset a fall in purchasing from Australian-based Chinese shoppers, known as the 'daigou' market.
Forrest chases more icons after boot deal
The Australian Financial Review - Page 13 & 18 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Brad Thompson, Simon Evans - PortMac.News Summary
Billionaire Andrew Forrest's private investment company Tattarang will acquire leather boot, clothing and accessory maker RM Williams from private equity firm L Catterton for around $190 million.
Actor Hugh Jackman is selling his five per cent stake in RM Williams via the transaction, but he will continue to be a 'brand ambassador'.
RM Williams was founded by Reginald Murray Williams in 1932 and employs around 800 Australians, including about 400 at its factory at Salisbury in Adelaide.
Ausgrid rolls out community battery solution for greener network
The Australian Financial Review - Page Online : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Brad Thompson - PortMac.News Summary
New South Wales electricity distributor Ausgrid will install three community batteries in 2021, with CEO Richard Gross claiming the trial of the community batteries will be "a game changer for our industry".
Consumers with solar panels who are connected to a community battery can use them to store their excess solar power and can access that power when required.
The three batteries will be installed in suburbs under the control of Lake Macquarie City Council, City of Canterbury Bankstown and Northern Beaches City Council. Under the trial, consumers will be able to select storage levels to suit their needs.
Seven locks horns with regional names
The Australian Financial Review - Page 29 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Max Mason - PortMac.News Summary
The 'Save Our Voices' campaign is seeking to abolish laws which prevent regional media companies from merging.
However, Seven West Media CEO James Warburton opposes any further relaxation of cross-media ownership laws, arguing that media diversity will be reduced if regional media companies merge.
Seven had committed to maintaining the news services of its regional TV affiliate Prime if its proposed merger deal had proceeded in 2019.
The deal was blocked by Antony Catalano and Bruce Gordon, two of the media executives behind the 'Save Our Voices' campaign.
Networks eye grand finales
The Australian - Page 19 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by James Madden - PortMac.News Summary
Ratings for Seven Network's coverage of the 2020 AFL season have been 20 per cent higher than in 2019, prompting hopes that the decline in viewership of the grand final can be reversed.
The 2019 grand final attracted an audience of just 2.94 million. The Nine Network has also had strong ratings for its NRL coverage in 2020, and it too will be hoping for an audience boost for the grand final after the 2019 event boasted just 2.64 million viewers nationally.
Global Media & Sports MD Colin Smith says the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a global trend toward higher viewership of live sports in 2020.
Media monitor Streem makes peace with publishers
The Australian Financial Review - Page 29 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Natasha Gillezeau - PortMac.News Summary
Media companies will receive a fixed percentage of Streem's revenue for the use of their news stories and images by the media monitoring firm's clients under its new licensing agreement with the Copyright Agency.
The deal covers news content in print editions, paywalled websites and 'digital snippets. Rival media monitoring firm Isentia is seeking a reduction in its interim copyright fees in a case that is currently before the Copyright Tribunal.
PUSH is on to look for fresh influence
The Australian - Page 19 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Lilly Vitorovich - PortMac.News Summary
Founded in Shanghai 2014 by Jonathon Lim, Kristian Kvam Hansen and Charles Lanceplaine, creative agency PUSH has established offices in Sydney.
Lim, who is PUSH's creative officer, grew up in the Victorian town of Leongatha and has returned to Australia after 10 years in China and the US.
He says there is a growing overlap between youth in Australia and youth in Asia, while Western companies that have used PUSH in Asia include The North Face, Red Bull and Adidas.
Outgoing Rio chief facing US class action
The Weekend Australian - Page 24 : 17 October 2020 - Original article by Nick Evans - PortMac.News Summary
Shareholders in Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill Resources have filed a class action in the US against both companies over the $US7bn underground expansion of the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia.
A number of senior executives at both companies have been named in the lawsuit, including outgoing Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques.
It will be alleged that the two companies and their executives made 'materially false and misleading statements' about cost over-runs at the mine.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto has advised that its Pilbara iron ore shipments fell five per cent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to June, to 82.1 million tonnes.
Foreign investors desert Australian residential property market
The Australian - Page 4 : 19 October 2020 - Original article by Mackenzie Scott, Ben Wilmot - PortMac.News Summary
Investment in Australian residential property by foreign investors fell by 11 per cent between the 2018 and 2019 financial years, according to figures from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
The 11 per cent fall occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Boston Capital chairman Bill Moss is critical of the federal government's decision in March to launch a review of the Foreign Investment Review Board, with Moss claiming it was a big mistake at such an uncertain economic time.
The FIRB's figures reflect a trend towards buying brand new properties over existing ones, along with a growing interest in more expensive properties.
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