Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators

Australian Dollar: $0.7740 USD (down $0.0020 USD)

Iron Ore Apr Spot Price (SGX): $159.75 USD (up $2.10 USD

Oil Price (WTI): $64.68 USD (down $0.70 USD)

Gold Price: $1,731.59 (down $0.04 USD)

Bitcoin: $56,258.36 USD (down 0.48% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 32,825.95 at 3.12 pm NY time (down 127.51 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

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Coronavirus restrictions set to be eased further in NSW

The NSW government is expected to announce a further relaxing of coronavirus restrictions, despite a new case linked to a Sydney quarantine hotel where a COVID-positive security guard worked.

The case is in a returned traveller who has been quarantining on the same floor of Sydney's Sofitel Wentworth where the security guard is believed to have caught the virus off a confirmed positive case.

It's believed the person caught COVID-19 after arriving in Sydney.

The infected person has been in quarantine and does not present a risk to the wider public.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said health officials were now investigating how the virus spread.

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China suspected of cyber attack on Western Australia's Parliament

Western Australia's parliamentary email network was hit by suspected Chinese hackers earlier this month as part of a massive global cyber-attack involving Microsoft software.

The ABC has confirmed the online strike, which was detected on March 4 in the middle of the state election campaign, prompted intervention from Australia's cyber security watchdog in Canberra.

"Please be advised that the Parliament mail server has been hit with a cyber-attack," WA politicians were warned at the time.

"Consequently, the mail server will be down until further notice," a text message sent by the Department of Parliamentary Services advised.

An investigation by Western Australia's Parliamentary Services Department has since concluded no sensitive data was stolen in the attack.

"As soon as we became aware of the attack, we immediately disconnected the email server," WA's Executive Manager of Parliamentary Services Rob Hunter told the ABC.

"The situation was resolved by the following morning … and a forensic audit found there was no data breach."

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No evidence AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Elias Visontay - PortMac.News Summary

Australia's chief medical officer Paul Kelly has downplayed concerns about AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.

He has expressed confident that the vaccine is safe and says there is no evidence that it causes blood clots.

A growing number of countries in Europe have put their rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine on hold, and National Party senator Matt Canavan has called for the vaccine's Australian rollout to be halted.

The federal government will begin distributing locally-made doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in late March.

Seven new COVID-19 cases have been reported nationwide in the last 24 hours, all in hotel quarantine.

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Christian Porter to delegate some duties

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Paul Karp - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised that Attorney- General Christian Porter will not be involved in any decisions relating to the Federal Court and the ABC when he returns to work on 31 March.

This is in order to avoid any perception of a conflict of interests, given that Porter has launched legal action against the public broadcaster.

Shadow finance minister Katy Gallagher has criticised the federal government for obtaining legal advice about which aspects of Porter's role he can perform, while refusing to seek legal advice about allegation that he raped a 16-year-old in 1988. 

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MP Nicolle Flint calls for safety of women to be 'Above politics'

abc.net.au - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Stephanie Dalzell - PortMac.News Summary

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint says the culture within federal political parties needs to change in order to ensure that female parliamentarians and staffers feel safe at work.

Flint has also criticised Labor leader Anthony Albanese for attacking Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his refusal to attend a recent protest against violence against women, arguing that Albanese and his colleagues did not defend her when she was harassed and subjected to vile abuse by activists in the lead-up to the 2019 election.

Flint recently advised that she will not contest the next election.

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Bosses put IR heat on crossbench

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 6 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government is said to be close to securing One Nation's support for its industrial relations omnibus bill in the upper house.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says One Nation must reveal all of the amendments that it is seeking, warning that the party may suffer the same fate as the Australian Democrats over the WorkChoices regime if it makes a secret deal with the government.

Scott Barklamb from the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged crossbenchers to support the bill,

He says the enterprise bargaining system has become too unreliable and unpredictable, and many employers are better off with industrial awards.

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Industry fund fees unions' bonanza

The Australian - Page 1 & 5 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Richard Ferguson - PortMac.News Summary

Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that 23 industry superannuation funds paid $9.8m of members' money to trade unions in 2019-20, compared with just $5.03m in 2014-15.

The money was spent on directors' fees, sponsorships and major advertising deals with the unions.

The ACTU has rejected the federal government's contention that such payments constitute political donations.

The government is of the view that the use of members' money for union activities and marketing is outside the scope of super funds; its proposed super reforms include the introduction of a 'best financial interest duty test'.

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Doubling uptake of wind & solar power - net zero emissions by 2040

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Adam Morton - PortMac.News Summary

A report produced by engineering researchers from the Australian National University has concluded that the nation will not become carbon-neutral until well after 2050 if the current pace of the transition to renewable energy is maintained.

However, the researchers contend that Australia could achieve the target of net zero emissions by around 2040 if the rollout of wind and solar power is ramped up to 14 gigawatts per annum, compared with about seven gigawatts in 2020.

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Greensill axe swings on staff jobs

The Australian - Page 13 & 17 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Perry Williams, Jared Lynch - PortMac.News Summary

Matthew Costello, the head of Greensill Capital in Australia, has defended the failed company's financial record and revealed that its 35 local employees have been retrenched.

He has praised the supply chain financier's local staff, stating that they built one of the strongest working capital finance books in Australia's finance industry.

It is believed that about 500 of Greensill's employees in the UK will also shortly lose their jobs.

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APRA on alert as heavily indebted home buyers double

The Australian Financial Review - Page 19 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by James Frost - PortMac.News Summary

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that 21,551 home buyers had a debt-to-income ratio in excess of six times in December 2020, compared with just 11,397 in March 2019.

Will Peterson of Rhizome notes that the proportion of heavily indebted borrowing as a percentage of new loans has risen from 14.%t to 16.9%.

He says the figures may put pressure on APRA to temporarily cap new lending at six times income.

However, APRA has downplayed concerns about the rise in debt-to-income ratios.

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Insurance in superannuation is becoming more expensive

The New Daily - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Rod Myer - PortMac.News Summary

Michael Abrahamsson of Flinders Private Wealth says there has been a sharp increase in premiums for insurance coverage provided within superannuation funds, particularly income protection insurance.

Xavier O'Halloran of Super Consumers Australia in turn warns that there is a growing trend for insurance policies within super to feature more restrictions and exclusions when making claims, such as for pre-existing medical conditions.

Likewise, many funds are increasing the waiting period before members can make an insurance claim.

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Why Forrest's green power station is being blocked

The Australian Financial Review - Page 15 & 18 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Brad Thompson - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government says it will not support Andrew Forrest's proposal to build a new power station at Port Kembla unless it is approved by the Australian Energy Market Operator.

The gas and hydrogen-fired power station would have a capacity of between 850 and 1,000 megawatts; the AEMO argues that this is too big for a single-unit power station, as the majority of coal-fired power plants in New South Wales produce about 650 megawatts.

The state government has expressed support for Forrest's proposed power station, which would eventually switch exclusively to 'Green' hydrogen.

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News Corp, Nine sign Facebook deals

The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Miranda Ward - PortMac.News Summary

Social media giant Facebook has struck revenue-sharing deals with two of Australia's biggest news publishers under the media bargaining code.

The value of the deals with Nine Entertainment Company and News Corp Australia has not been disclosed.

However, Nine is believed to have signed a letter of intent with Facebook regarding content from its flagship titles and the nine.news.com.au website.

News Corp in turn has struck a three-year deal for content from its national and metropolitan mastheads, as well as regional and community publications.

Seven West Media recently struck a deal with Facebook, which is still in talks with the ABC and Guardian Australia.

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Juukan Gorge disaster cues better management at Rio

The Australian Financial Review - Page 21 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Peter Ker - PortMac.News Summary

Australian Foundation Investment Company MD Mark Freeman says Rio Tinto's iron ore mines in the Pilbara are "Outstanding assets", and as a Rio Tinto shareholder it expect them to be appropriately managed.

Freeman adds that the listed investment company is confident that there will be "better management outcomes" at Rio Tinto following the departure of key executives in the fallout from the destruction of ancient indigenous rock shelters at Juukan Gorge.

AFIC's head of investor relations Geoff Driver says it had a number of conversations with Rio Tinto's chairman Simon Thompson and former CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques in the aftermath of the Juukan Gorge scandal.

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China clean-up hits iron ore

The Australian Financial Review - Page 25 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Neil Hume - PortMac.News Summary

Data from S&P Global Platts shows that the iron ore price has fallen to around $US163 per tonne, having peaked at a 10-year high of $US178/tonne earlier in March.

Nicholas Snowdon of Goldman Sachs says speculation that the Chinese government will impose new restrictions on the nation's steel industry in order to combat pollution is weighing on the iron ore price.

Analysts estimate that the steel industry accounts for about 15 per cent of China's carbon emissions.

Snowden expects the price of the steel input to be trading at $US100/tonne in 12 months' time.

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We can steer Asia sales: Mitsui

The Australian - Page 13 & 19 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Damon Kitney - PortMac.News Summary

Hiroyuki Tsurugi, the CEO of Mitsui & Co's Australian subsidiary, says it is keen to invest in the nation's hydrogen industry.

He notes that hydrogen is an ideal fuel, given that it has no carbon emissions and the Japanese government is aiming for a net zero target of 2050.

Mitsui's resources and energy investments in Australia include coal and iron ore, the North West Shelf LNG project, and renewable energy projects. Mitsui also exports Australian beef to Japan, and Tsurugi has indicated that it may seek to expand into food processing.

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ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 1pt to 110.9

Market Research Update - Page Online : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Roy Morgan - PortMac.News Summary

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1pt to 110.9 on March 13/14.

Consumer Confidence is now nearly level with the 2021 weekly average of 110.5 and is 10.9pts higher than the same week a year ago (100.0).

Now 27% (up 1ppt) of Australians say their families are 'Better off' financially than this time last year, while 30% (up 3ppts) say their families are 'Worse off' financially.

In addition, 39% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be 'Better off' financially this time next year, and 14% (up 1ppt) expect to be 'Worse off' financially.

Some 21% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect 'Good times' for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 17% (up 1ppt) expect 'Bad times'.

Meanwhile, 41% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a 'Good time to buy' major household items, while 25% (also unchanged) say now is a 'Bad time to buy'.

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ASX follows Wall Street higher

The Australian - Page 19 : 17 March 2021 - Original article by Rebecca Le MayPort - Mac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a modest gain on 16 March, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.8% to close at 6,827.1 points.

The Commonwealth Bank was up 0.9% at $87.18, CSL rose 2.33% to $261.81 and Temple & Webster advanced 10.23% to $10.13.

However, BHP was 2.17% lower at $46.84 and Santos fell 0.82% to end the session at $7.29.