Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators

Australian Dollar: $0.7579 USD (down $0.0011 USD)

Iron Ore Apr Spot Price (SGX): $155.55 USD (down $0.20 USD

Oil Price (WTI): $58.41 USD (down $2.40 USD)

Gold Price: $1,727.07 (down $7.21 USD)

Bitcoin: $52,473.79 USD (down 5.68% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 32,619.48 (up 199.42 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Return to work : Taxes deliver $23bn boost to budget bottom line

The Australian - Page 1 & 4 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Geoff Chambers, Patrick Commins - PortMac.News Summary

Higher tax revenue and the labour market's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the federal government's budget deficit for the first eight months of 2020-21 to $134.6bn.

This is $23.1bn lower than had been forecast in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook.

Tax receipts have increased by $10.7bn so far in the financial year, while Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says that more people now have jobs than prior to the pandemic.

However, Birmingham notes that Australia is still facing the biggest deficit in the nation's history.

ScoMo backs Reynolds and Porter for now

The Australian Financial Review - Page 4 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Phillip Coorey - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that an imminent cabinet reshuffle will result in Attorney-General Christian Porter and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds being given new portfolios.

Labor has called for both ministers to be relegated to the Coalition's backbench in the wake of recent scandals.

Meanwhile, Morrison has conceded that the Liberal Party needs to do more to increase female representation; Morrison says he is not opposed to gender quotas, but he has stressed that the outcome is what matters rather than how it is achieved.

Dossier of 'Lewd acts' to spark sackings

The Australian - Page 1 & 5 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Olivia Caisley - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told journalist Tracy Grimshaw that he would be happy to have a talk with Brittany Higgins.

His comments come after a number of weeks of criticism over the way that he has dealt with allegations by Higgins that she was raped in the office of then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds in March 2019.

Meanwhile, the whistleblower who revealed details of Coalition staffers performing lewd sex acts in the offices of female MPs is believed to have passed on information that could lead to more sackings of government staffers and "Expose serving MPs".

Health experts reveal PNG variant of virus

The Australian - Page 6 : 26 March 2021 -Original article by Michael McKenna, Ben Packham - PortMac.News Summary

Queensland health authorities have advised that genomic testing has confirmed that a new strain of COVID-19 has emerged in Papua New Guinea.

The new variant has been identified among people in hotel quarantine who have returned from PNG, and is believed to be less contagious than the UK strain.

PNG has recorded 560 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, and there are now 4,660 active cases in the country. Australia has recorded 10 new cases in hotel quarantine in the last 24 hours, including three in Queensland and five in New South Wales.

Lockdown towers class action

Herald Sun - Page 13 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Shannon Deery - PortMac.News Summary

The Victorian government is facing a class action on behalf of 3,000 residents of nine public housing towers that were put in a COVID-19 lockdown for two weeks in July 2020.

Documents filed in the Supreme Court show that the class action will seek damages for false imprisonment, battery, assault and negligence, as well as a ruling that the lockdown was unlawful.

Victoria's integrity watchdog ruled in late 2020 that the lack of sufficient notice of the lockdown was a violation of the residents' human rights.

Hundreds of traders qualify for delayed JobKeeper stimulus

The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 26 March 2021 - PortMac.News Summary

Hundreds of new businesses that have previously missed out on JobKeeper and cash flow support measures will now receive delayed stimulus payments.

This follows a 2020 review by Inspector-General and Taxation Ombudsman Karen Payne, with Payne finding that the Australian Taxation Office did not give a number of new entities the opportunity to provide evidence of making taxable supplies before it decided they were not eligible for JobKeeper and the cash flow support measures.

Meanwhile, the ATO and Treasury have told Senate estimates they will conduct a major review of the $93 billion JobKeeper program over the coming months.

Backpay of $45m not CBA's cup of tea

The Australian - Page 19 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Anthony Keane - PortMac.News Summary

The Finance Sector Union's national secretary Julia Angrisano says the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has failed to honour a 2016 enterprise agreement that includes paid 10-minute tea breaks.

The FSU has signalled that it may pursue legal action over the issue, contending that about 3,000 of the bank's employees are each entitled to an average of $15,000 in back pay. Angrisano says wage theft is as much of a problem in the finance sector as the broader economy.

A CBA spokesman says the union has not presented any evidence to support its ambit claim.

Ambassador labels China 'Vindictive'

The Australian - Page 1 & 2 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Will Glasgow, Geoff Chambers - PortMac.News Summary

Australia's ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, has described China as an "Vndictive" and "unreliable" trading partner in an online briefing to the Australia China Business Council.

His comments come amid a new dispute between the two nations over human rights abuses against the Uighur minority group in Xinjiang, while the Chinese government has attacked Australia over its record on human rights matters such as alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and offshore detention centres.

The ongoing rift has seen almost $20 billion in annual exports from Australia banned from the Chinese economy.

China's trade ban impacting Australia's prosperity

The New Daily - Page Online : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Matthew Doran - PortMac.News Summary

Figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade indicate the value of Australia's trade with China for almost all sectors has fallen 40% since the trade dispute between the two nations began.

China has blocked imports of products such as cotton and lobsters and imposed high tariffs on wine and barley.

DFAT officials have told a Senate estimates hearing that barley producers have been able to find other markets to compensate for China's actions, but that the wine industry has not been so lucky.

Overall trade between Australia and China is down just two per cent in value, due to strong demand for Australian iron ore.

(See full story on PortMac.News today)

Labor faction pushes to harden China stance

The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Phillip Coorey = PortMac.News Summary

Labor's Right faction is believed to be wanting to toughen the party's stance on human rights in China when its national conference starts in the week beginning 29 March.

However, Penny Wong and others in the Left faction are said to be resisting the Right's push, with Wong said to want a resolution that is line with Australia's national interest.

The conference is also expected to see disagreement on trade and on the issue of Israel/Palestine, with some parts of the Left against Australia's participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Serial conman Foster may walk free

The Australian - Page 3 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by David Murray - PortMac.News Summary

Konstantinos Stylianopoulos has been told that conman Peter Foster is likely to be released on bail on 26 March.

Stylianopoulos is the alleged victim of a alleged scam by Foster, with Foster having been arrested in August at Port Douglas in Queensland and then extradited to New South Wales.

The charges against Foster are expected to be dropped within two weeks, as it is viewed that the chances of securing a conviction against him in NSW are slim.

Stylianopoulos is said to have lost almost $2 million as a result of the scam, while it is believed he has been told that it was a mistake to charge Foster in NSW rather than Queensland.

Bitcoin is dirty money

The Australian - Page 15 & 18 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Richard Gluyas - PortMac.News Summary

Bank of America Securities has rated as "Poor" the environmental credentials of Bitcoin, stating that the cryptocurrency network's carbon emissions are already in line with those of Greece.

BofA contends that an additional $US1 billion inflow of funds into Bitcoin would lift emissions by the equivalent of 1.2 million cars with internal combustion engines.

Tesla recently invested $US1.5 billion in bitcoin and has stated that it will soon start accepting bitcoin as payment for its electric cars.

However, founder Elon Musk has been accused of "Staggering hypocrisy" by Gen Y investor Nick Bolton over his pro-environment stance; Bolton claims that Bitcoin is one of the most "Significant and offensive polluters" in the world.

Proposed solar energy export charges would 'Penalise' households

abc.net.au - Page Online : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Alina Eacott - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian Energy Market Commission has defended its proposal to impose a charge on households that export surplus solar power to the electricity grid.

It argues that it would help address the growing problem of congestion in parts of the grid as more homes get solar panels, while providing more money for network upgrades.

The AEMC's modelling suggests that an export charge would have a minimal impact on the amount that households earn from feed-in tariffs, while all households in Australia would benefit from lower electricity bills.

Cattle out, renewables in, Forrest set for win

The Australian Financial Review - Page 19 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Brad Thompson - PortMac.News Summary

The Western Australian government intends to make changes to land tenure laws as regards pastoral leases.

The changes would allow cattle station owners such as Fortescue Metals Group founder and chairman Andrew Forrest to use them for large solar and wind farms to support green hydrogen production, with Forrest having told the WA government that he has aspirations in this area.

WA is home to the $US36 billion ($51 billion) Asian Renewable Energy Hub project, which is intended to produce 26 gigawatts of power through the use of over 1,700 large wind turbines and a "Sea of solar panels".

CEO of Bruce Gordon's WIN Corp takes spot on Nine board

The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Miranda Ward - PortMac.News Summary

Nine Entertainment Company has advised that Andrew Lancaster will become a non-executive director, replacing Patrick Allaway on the listed media group's board.

Lancaster is the CEO of both regional broadcaster WIN Corporation and Birketu, the private investment company of WIN's owner Bruce Gordon.

Nine recently struck a new affiliation agreement with WIN, five years after the long-standing alliance ended. Gordon is Nine's biggest shareholder.

Tech giants allowed Mayfair 101 trickery

The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Paul Smith - PortMac.News Summary

The Federal Court recently ruled that investment company Mayfair 101 used the platforms of Google and Microsoft to dupe investors into thinking that risky investment products were as secure as bank term deposits.

Its ruling has been welcomed by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, which has indicated that it might take further court action against companies that seek to deceive investors via the use of tricky marketing.

The ruling has also been seen as an indication that the online advertising polices of Google and Microsoft failed to adequately protect their users from such marketing.

Tradies shortage 'To get worse'

The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Simon Evans - PortMac.News Summary

Brickworks has reported a net profit of $71.2 million for the six months to 31 January, up 22%.

It declared an interim dividend of $0.21 per share, up 5%, while its Australian operations' EBIT rose 60% to $16 million.

Brickworks MD Lindsay Partridge says all of its manufacturing plants on Australia's east coast are "Flat out", while he claims that the current shortage of tradespeople will be made worse by urgent insurance work from flood repairs.

Energy stocks lead bourse's rise

The Australian - Page 23 : 26 March 2021 - Original article by Rebecca Le May - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a small gain on 25 March, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.17% to close at 6,790.6 points.

Oil Search was up 0.48% at $4.15, National Australia Bank advanced 0.5% to $26.97 and CSL ended the session 1.43 per cent higher at $269.83. However, Rio Tinto shed 1.55 per cent to finish at $108 and Airtasker was down 22.86% at $1.35.