Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators

Australian Dollar: $0.7708 USD (down $0.0049 USD)

Iron Ore Apr Spot Price (SGX): $153.05 USD (down $7.05 USD

Oil Price (WTI): $61.42 USD (up $2.21 USD)

Gold Price (19 Mar): $1,745.32 (up $10.13 USD)

Gold Price (22 Mar): $1,745.31(down $0.01 USD)

Bitcoin: $57,791.85 USD (down 2.88% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 32,627.97 (down 234.33 points on Thursday's close)

All changes compared to 7am Friday, except gold.

Myanmar junta stops Aussie couple leaving

The Australian - Page 3 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Amanda Hodge - PortMac.News Summary

Christa Avery has been blocked from leaving strife-torn Myanmar by security officials and she and partner Matthew O'Kane have now been placed under house arrest in Yangon.

Avery is a former Sydney-based executive who runs international aid programs in Myanmar, and had been accompanied to Yangon airport by O'Kane as she tried to secure a flight on 19 March.

Their detention follows that of Sydney economics professor Sean Turnell, a long-time adviser to ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held in detention since 6 February.

At least 247 people have been killed in Myanmar since the military coup on 1 February.

(See main story on PortMac.News today)

State of disaster - and there's worse to come

The Australian - Page 1 & 4 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Stephen Rice - PortMac.News Summary

Sixteen local government areas in New South Wales have been declared natural disaster zones as the state's floodwater crisis continues.

The floods are being regarded as a one-in-a-100-year event on the state's north coast and a one-in-50-year event in western Sydney, where some residents have been ordered to evacuate.

Meanwhile, authorities have warned that the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers have not yet peaked, while Sydney's major dam has reached its total capacity of 2,000GL and is now spilling more than 450GL of water every 24 hours.

NSW employees have been advised to work from home if possible, while a number of schools across the state will be closed. There is also concern about flash flooding in some parts of Queensland.

(See main story on PortMac.News today)

Crown receives $8 billion takeover offer from Blackstone

The ASX-listed Crown has confirmed an unsolicited, non-binding offer of $11.85 a share was submitted to the company by Blackstone yesterday.

With just over 677 million shares in the company, the initial offer price values Crown at slightly more than $8 billion, which the company said is a 19 per cent premium to its share price since its most recent financial report was released last month.

Blackstone already owns nearly 10% of Crown, which it bought off Melco Resorts in April 2020 for $8.15 per share.

(See main story on PortMac.News today)

China Covid researchers 'In first cluster'

The Australian - Page 1 & 7 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Sharri Markson - PortMac.News Summary

There is speculation among US intelligence officials that COVID-19 may have emerged as a result of vaccine development being undertaken by China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Three researchers working on coronaviruses at the institute were hospitalised in November 2019 with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and influenza.

David Asher, the US State Department's former lead investigator into the origins of COVID-19, has suggested that their illnesses represented the first cluster.

CSL gets go-ahead to make vaccine

The Australian - Page 7 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Olivia Caisley, Nicholas Jensen - PortMac.News Summary

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has given CSL formal approval to commence production of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in Melbourne.

The TGA notes that locally-manufactured doses had to be specifically approved to ensure that they are identical to overseas-made vaccines in terms of their composition and quality.

TGA approval has coincided with the start of phase 1B of the federal government's vaccination rollout, with GPs to begin inoculating people from 22 March.

The rollout in New South Wales is likely to be affected by flooding across large parts of the state.

Quarantine reprieve for vaccinated Aussies

Herald Sun - Page 8 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Tamsin Rose - PortMac.News Summary

Department of Health secretary Brendan has flagged that possibility that Australians who receive a COVID-19 vaccine while travelling overseas may eventually be permitted to self-isolate at home upon their return, rather than in a quarantine hotel.

Murphy says COVID-19 rules are likely to change in the second half of 2020 as more people in Australia and abroad are vaccinated.

He also cautions that the length of time that vaccines protect against the coronavirus is still unknown.

Murphy is also optimistic that international travel will resume in 2022.

$100m in taxpayer-funded bonuses lavished on public servants as others lose jobs

Herald Sun - Page 9 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Tom Minear - PortMac.News Summary

Employees in 11 federal government departments and agencies were paid nearly $100m in bonuses during the 18 months to December 2020.

Staff at NBN Co, Australia Post and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission are among those to have benefited from the largesse.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching notes that OECD data shows that senior federal public servants are the highest paid in the world, and it was not appropriate to give them large bonuses when many Australians had lost their jobs or had their working hours reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Treasurer to remake $4b JobMaker

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 6 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Matthew Cranston - PortMac.News Summary

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has advised that the federal government's May 2021 Budget will include changes to the eligibility criteria for its JobMaker hiring credit scheme.

The program has performed well below expectations to date, with just 521 new jobs being created in its first six weeks; many large employers have indicated that they are either not aware of the scheme or have no intention of using it.

Critics have called for the wage subsidy to be available for new employees aged 35+, but Frydenberg says eligibility for the scheme will continue to be restricted to people between the ages of 16 and 35.

JobKeeper not perfect, but a resounding success

The Weekend Australian - Page 34 : 20 March 2021 - Original article by Terry McCrann - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government's JobKeeper program was one of the two big things it got right in 2020, along with its closure of international borders.

Although not perfect, JobKeeper helped to ensure that the Australian economy did not decline as much as most global economies did during the height of the pandemic, while at the same time it kept businesses alive and the people that worked for them in a job.

With JobKeeper due to end soon, it remains to be seen how many people currently on it will keep their job once it finishes.

IR victory means genuine reform is coming to a workplace near you

The Weekend Australian - Page 34 : 20 March 2021 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

The bulk of the federal government's industrial relations omnibus bill was rejected by the Senate, but the elements that were passed represent a major victory for both the government and small businesses.

The legislation has clarified the situation with regard to 'double dipping' by casual workers, after courts had ruled that they should receive standard employee entitlements as well as a casual loading.

In addition, there will now be a definition of casual employment for the first time.

Other upcoming reforms that will benefit small businesses include those relating to large companies' payment terms for suppliers and laws regarding unfair contracts.

Kristina Keneally slams 'laughable' government plan to bring in more skilled migrants

The New Daily - Page Online : 22 March 2021 -Original article by Euan Black - PortMac.News Summary

A federal parliamentary committee's proposal to increase the number of skilled migrants has been criticised by shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally.

She has accused the Joint Standing Committee on Migration of putting the interests of employers and skilled migrants ahead of those of Australian workers.

Keneally contends that the federal government's priority should be ensuring that unemployed and underemployed Australians have the skills that are needed to fill job vacancies.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil argues that skilled migration should be restricted to areas where there is a genuine skills shortage.

Spy threat to overtake terrorism

The Weekend Australian - Page 1 & 2 : 20 March 2021 - Original article by Simon Benson - PortMac.News Summary

ASIO's director-general Mike Burgess says the spy agency expects espionage and foreign interference to supplant terrorism as the greatest threat to Australian security by 2025.

Burgess recently revealed that ASIO had cracked a major spy network operating in Australia, with intelligence operatives of the opinion that Russia was the unnamed country behind the network.

Burgess has also hit back at criticism of ASIO's decision to no longer refer to right-wing extremism and ­Islamic extremism when referring to terror threats, while he says he will resist efforts to politicise ASIO.

AFP probes 'Minister phone hack'

The Australian - Page 6 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Sharri Markson, Olivia Caisley - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian Federal Police has confirmed it is investigating a possible message scam involving Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.

The investigation was launched after his phone began sending unsolicited messages to his contact book.

The investigation comes as a report from the Auditor-General indicates that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the ­Attorney-General's Department are among nine government entities to have failed cyber resilience checks.

ASX blunder delays Airtasker's debut

The Australian - Page 15 & 18 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Joyce Moullakis - PortMac.News Summary

Task outsourcing platform Airtasker had been due to list on the Australian sharemarket on 22 March with an expected market capitalisation of $226.9 million.

However, its listing has been delayed by one day, due to what the ASX has described as an internal processing delay.

The Airtasker float was oversubscribed, and institutional investors who took part in its IPO are believed to include Regal Funds Management and L1 Capital, while the ASX's blunder follows its trading outage in November.

Staff go back to office to get a break from work

The Australian Financial Review - Page 11 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Natasha Boddy - PortMac.News Summary

Research suggests employees who work remotely are working longer hours and taking less breaks, and that many have become 'burnt out'.

Many companies are now pushing for staff to resume working in the office, but Aaron McEwan from research and advisory firm Gartner warns some employees may see it as an opportunity to escape from the "Grind" of working from home, and that productivity may fall as a result.

He notes that executives who fail to see that workplaces have changed will "struggle".

PNG's top paper backs staff - and a free press

The Australian - Page 22 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by James Madden - PortMac.News Summary

Matthew Vari was appointed as editor of Papua New Guinea's national newspaper in November.

The 'Post-Courier' is owned by News Corp, and Vari says the media giant's decision to invest in housing for the newspaper's staff demonstrates its commitment to a free press in PNG.

Three apartment blocks to be built near the newspaper's offices in Port Moresby will house 33 staff members and their families, alleviating concerns about them returning home safely in a city with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.

Other staff will receive a rental allowance and have access to secure transport when their shifts end. The 'Post-Courier' was established in 1969 and has an average daily circulation of about 26,000.

How an Australian newsman's clever idea grew into a powerful global Conversation

The Australian - Page 22 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Misha Ketchell - PortMac.News Summary

Launched a decade ago, 'The Conversation' now employs over 100 journalists in countries that include the US, Australia and Canada, and has over 30 million users onsite each month.

It was born out of an idea by former 'Age' editor Andrew Jaspan of getting academics to write newspaper-type articles about areas that they were expert in, and everything 'The Conversation' publishes is free to reuse and republish.

It is funded by the CSIRO and Australian Universities and almost 20,000 individual donors, along with a small number of foundations.

Gretel Packer, Gladys Berejiklian dig deep for STC's $18m hole

The Australian Financial Review - Page 10 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Michael Bailey - PortMac.News Summary

Money from philanthropists such as Gretel Packer has helped the Sydney Theatre Company to keep going after it lost $18 million in revenue in 2020 after almost its entire season was cancelled due to the pandemic.

An emergency grant of $6 million from the New South Wales government has also helped the STC, which was recently given permission by NSW Health to operate at 100% capacity in 2021.

The STC will stage 16 plays in 2021, equivalent to what it was producing prior to the pandemic.

Investors wary as US-China tensions rise

The Australian Financial Review - Page 24 : 22 March 2021 - Original article by Sarah Turner - PortMac.News Summary

Futures pricing suggests that the Australian sharemarket will shed about 0.2% when trading resumes on 22 March, following a mixed lead from Wall Street.

Renewed tensions between the US and China in the wake of a bilateral meeting in Alaska are also expected to weigh on local investors. Meanwhile, Jun Bei Liu of Tribeca Investment Partners says investors are unlikely to be as bullish about technology IPOs in 2021 as they were in the previous year.