Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators

Australian Dollar: $0.7410 USD (down $0.0015 USD)

Iron Ore Jan Spot Price (SGX): $144.54 USD (up $0.71 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $45.61 USD (down $0.12 USD)

Gold Price: $1,869.66 (up $11.07 USD)

Dow Jones: 30,163.02 at 3.10pm NY time (up 154.33 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Pilots eject from Super Hornet in aborted take-off at Amberley RAAF Base

A $75 million Air Force jet has hit the runway during an aborted take-off at the Amberley RAAF Base outside Brisbane.

Witnesses have told the ABC they saw pilots eject from a F/A-18F Super Hornet as it was about to take off from RAAF Base Amberley.  

Photos from the scene suggest the Super Hornet has suffered some damage to its forward starboard fuselage.

Analysis of photos suggests the plane has a collapsed nosewheel, or the nosewheel is in a drain.

A Defence Department spokesperson said the aircrew of the aircraft were safe and no other personnel were involved in the incident.

"Defence will provide more information once the immediate actions associated with the incident are completed.

"The cause of the incident is not known at this time and will be subject to investigation."

The plane was taking off from south to north.

Plane only a decade old

Australia has 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets, based out of Amberley approximately 20km west of Brisbane.

They entered operation in December 2012 and have participated in a range of exercises and operations including Operation OKRA in the Middle East.

Defence says the Super Hornets "ensure that Australia's air combat capability edge is maintained until the full introduction of the F-35A Lightning II".

Australia is due to accept another 15 F-35s in 2021, as part of a $17 billion deal to eventually acquire 72 of the newer jets.

But the F-35 program has been beset by delays exacerbated by the pandemic.

Labor snubs job-saving IR reboot

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 14 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Phillip Coorey - PortMac.News Summary

Labor has advised that it will not support a key provision in the federal government's industrial relations omnibus bill.

The controversial reform would allow the Fair Work Commission to approve enterprise agreements that do not comply with the 'better-off-overall test' in the Fair Work Act.

The FWC will be able to take into account factors such as the impact of COVID-19 in approving non-compliant agreements.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says the proposed reform is 'diabolical', although it has been welcomed by business groups

IR shake-up will boost flexibility: employers

The Australian Financial Review - Page 14 : 9 December 2020 -Original article by Natasha Boddy - PortMac.News Summary

Australian Retailers Association CEO Paul Zahra is among the business leaders who have backed the federal government's move to introduce 'part-time flexibility' for workers covered by 12 industry awards.

He says retailers will be able to offer more hours of work during busy periods while part-time employees will have the option of working additional hours and increasing their take-home pay.

Australian Hotels Association CEO Stephen Ferguson says the move will help to address the issue of underemployment, as it will enable employers to give workers more hours at their standard hourly rate without incurring overtime penalties.

Kelty approves of super-union 'Divorce' move

The Australian - Page 5 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Ewin Hannan, Greg Brown - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government's hopes of getting the unions demerger bill through parliament before it rises for the year have been boosted after Labor signalled that it will not opposed the legislation.

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty has expressed support for the legislation, and he contends that breaking up the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union would be quite easy as it is an 'amalgamation of divisions'.

However, Electrical Trades Union national secretary Allen Hicks says that despite targeting the CFMMEU, the legislation would have 'unintended consequences' for the entire union movement, and he has urged Labor to reject it.

Union takes Tax Office bosses to Federal Court in work from home row

The Age - Page Online : 9 December 2020 -Original article by Noel Towell - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian Services Union has commenced legal action against senior executives at the Australian Taxation Office.

The ASU alleges that the executives - including Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan - were in breach of workplace laws and the ATO's enterprise agreement, which includes working at home provisions.

The union claims that ATO staff who had been working from home due to the pandemic were ordered to return to their offices without the required notice period when the federal government announced stimulus measures such as the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme.

Thousands underpaid at G8 Education group

The Australian - Page 15 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Giuseppe Tauriello - PortMac.News Summary

Listed childcare group G8 Education is the latest company to be embroiled in Australia's wage underpayment scandal.

G8 Education has advised that its 'inadvertent noncompliance' with relevant industry awards had been self-reported to the Fair Work Commission following an audit by external lawyers and advisers.

It is believed that about 27,000 current and former employees have been underpaid by around $80m since 2014. G8 Education expects to complete its remediation program by mid-2021.

COVID travel ban extended, as Australia reaches astonishing virus milestone

The New Daily - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - PortMac.News Summary

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.

Oxford Covid vaccine 'safe and effective', study shows

bbc.com - Page Online : 9 December 2020 -Original article by Michelle Roberts - PortMac.News Summary

Medical journal 'Lancet' has reported that the COVID-19 vaccine candidate of Oxford University and AstraZeneca has an overall efficacy rate of 70%.

The efficacy rate was 62% for clinical trial participants who received two standard doses of the vaccine and 90%t for those who were given half-doses.

Oxford University and AstraZeneca are now seeking regulatory approval for the vaccine, which can be stored and transported at normal fridge temperature. Meanwhile, a 91-year-old woman was the first person to receive the Pfizer vaccine as the UK commenced its COVID-19 vaccination program. 

China 'Not playing by trade pact rules'

The Australian - Page 4 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Ben Packham, Will Glasgow - PortMac.News Summary

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says the federal government is considering "all dispute settlement options" in response to China's recent move to ban a range of imports from Australia.

He has also suggested that the targeted nature of the import bans raises questions about China's adherence to the free-trade agreement that the two nations signed in 2015.

China has yet to explain why it has banned meat exports from Queensland-based abattoir Meramist, although there is speculation that it is in retaliation to the federal government's Foreign Relations Bill.

Canberra turns spotlight on Victoria's Belt and Road deal as veto laws pass

The Age - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Michael Fowler, Anthony Galloway, Benjamin Preiss - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government will immediately begin to scrutinise some agreements with overseas governments after its Foreign Relations Bill was passed by Parliament on 8 December.

Sources have confirmed that this will include the Victorian government's controversial deal to participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative.

The state government will have three months to justify its BRI deal and explain why it believes that it is in the national interest. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has defended the deal and urged the federal government to take action to improve Australia's relations with China.

Dangers for everyone in ATO's gold case appeal

The Australian - Page 20 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

Australia's economic recovery will be significantly hindered if the High Court upholds an appeal by the Australian Taxation against the Federal Court's ruling in the so-called 'gold case'.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had ruled in the ATO's favour; the Federal Court subsequently criticised the ATO's gold refining model, although it also ruled that the AAT proceedings were a denial of 'procedural fairness'.

The ATO wants the High Court to rule that the Federal Court was wrong, and that what happened in the AAT was fair.

In essence, if the ATO's appeal succeeds, it may be given the ability to convict businesses of tax offences without cross examination in a court of appeal.

Bourse shrugs off US virus concerns

The Australian - Page 19 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Rebecca Le May - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a modest gain on 8 December, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.19 per cent to close at 6,687.7 points.

Fortescue Metals Group was up 0.3% at $21.34, the Commonwealth Bank rose 1.24% to end the session at $81.74 and Link Group advanced 13.7% to $5.64 in response to a takeover bid.

However, Rio Tinto was down 1.02% at $114.80 and G8 Education shed 6.59% to close at $1.20.

AusSuper goes solo in $5bn Infratil bid

The Australian - Page 13 & 19 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Cliona O'Dowd - PortMac.News Summary

AustralianSuper is offering $NZ7.43 ($7.04) per share in an indicative, non-binding takeover offer for New Zealand-based Infratil.

The offer comprises a cash component of $NZ5.79 per share and an in-specie distribution of shares in renewable energy provider Trustpower.

The bid for the dual-listed Infratil is the first major deal that AustralianSuper has pursued on its own; the industry fund has previously teamed up with co-investors to bid for companies such as Navitas and Healthscope.

AustralianSuper is said to have been looking at Infratil for at least a year.

Nine opposes concession to tech giants

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 8 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Max Mason, Natasha Gillezeau, John Kehoe - PortMac.News Summary

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the federal government's mandatory news media bargaining code for digital platforms is a "world-first".

He has dismissed suggestions that the government has made too many concessions in the final version of the code to gain the support of digital giants such as Google and Facebook.

These include adding a 'two-way value exchange' clause which reflect the benefits that news publishers receive from having digital platforms direct users to their content.

A Nine Entertainment spokesman says this will merely entrench both the monopoly powers of digital companies and the unfair imbalance in media regulation.

'Value of journalism recognised': Miller

The Australian - Page 5 : 9 December 2020 - Original article by James Madden - PortMac.News Summary

News Corp Australasia's executive chairman Michael Miller has welcomed the federal government's legislation to enact a revenue-sharing code of conduct for digital platforms.

He says the media company has simply wanted "fair payment for fair usage" of its content from the outset.

He adds that News Corp has had commercial relationships with Facebook and Google for several years, and it is a large reseller of their products.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has in turn welcomed the government's decision to include public broadcasters the ABC and SBS in the code.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher threatens to sack Ita Buttrose

The New Daily - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Quentin Dempster - PortMac.News Summary

The ABC continues to attract scrutiny in the wake of a controversial 'Four Corners' story which examined the personal lives of federal government ministers Alan Tudge and Christian Porter.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has raised a number of concerns about the issue in a letter to ABC chair Ita Buttrose, including the question of whether the board was in breach of the ABC Act in allowing the story to be broadcast. Fletcher has given the ABC board until 15 December to formally respond to his letter.

However, it may have been more appropriate for him to lodge a complaint about the 'Four Corners' program with the Australian Communications & Media Authority.

Nine Entertainment newspapers quit carrying China Watch supplement

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Amanda Meade - PortMac.News Summary

Nine Entertainment Company has advised that its flagship newspapers will no longer publish the 'China Watch' insert.

The eight-page supplement has been produced on behalf of Nine by the Chinese Communist party's official English-language newspaper, the 'China Daily'.

The insert has been published in Nine's former Fairfax Media newspapers since 2016.

Fairfax stated at the time that the arrangement with China Daily was a commercial one aimed at increasing revenue.

It argued that a number of newspapers worldwide also publish the supplement. 

'Less and less important': Ikea scraps catalogue after 70 years

The New Daily - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - PortMac.News Summary

Swedish furniture giant Ikea has advised that its last annual shopping catalogue will be published in October 2021.

Ikea has attributed the move to the increasing trend for consumers to shop online.

Ikea's online sales rose by 45 per cent in the year to August, with some four billion people visiting its website.

The first edition of the Ikea catalogue was published in 1951, and its global distribution peaked at more than 200 million copies in 2016. The first digital edition of the catalogue was published in 2000.

Iron ore - the commodities sector's runaway train

Small Caps - Page Online : 9 December 2020 - Original article by Robin Bromby - PortMac.News Summary

Three factors have contributed to the surge in the price of iron ore, which recently reached its highest level since March 2013.

China's steel-makers are ramping production, while iron ore stockpiles at the nation's ports are continuing to decline.

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale has in turn downgraded its full-year production guidance for 2020. Meanwhile, China's demand for iron ore means that Australian producers are unlikely to be targeted by import bans, at least in the near-term.

The outlook for the iron ore price is likely to be driven by China's fiscal stimulus program, which will probably not be wound back until at least the second half of 2021.