Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Australian Dollar: $0.6910 USD (down $0.0013)

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All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Turkey agrees to support Sweden and Finland's bid to join NATO

Turkey has backed down on its threat to veto the applications of Sweden and Finland to join NATO and agreed to support their bids for membership of the military alliance.

It comes after four hours of talks between the leaders of the three nations during a summit of the military alliance in Spain's capital, Madrid.

"I am pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO," Mr Stoltenberg told reporters..

"Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum that addresses Turkey's concerns, including around arms exports and the fight against terrorism."

Sweden and Finland, both historically non-aligned countries, made the decision to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Our foreign ministers signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will… support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO," Finnish President Niinisto said in a statement.

"The concrete steps of our accession to NATO will be agreed by the NATO allies during the next two days, but that decision is now imminent."

Mr Stoltenberg said NATO's 30 leaders would now invite Finland, which shares a 1,300 km border with Russia, and Sweden to join NATO and that they would become official "invitees".

He told reporters: "The door is open — the joining of Finland and Sweden into NATO will take place."

PM condemns Russian missile strike

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 6 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Phillip Coorey - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined world leaders in condemning Russia's missile strike on a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk.

He says the attack on a civilian target has reinforced the atrocities being committed by Russia in the "illegal war of aggression".

US President Joe Biden has also criticised the missile attack, stating that this nation stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

At least 18 people have died in the attack, while many more have been injured.

Albanese has also confirmed that Australia will reopen its embassy in Ukraine; it was one of the first nations to withdraw its diplomatic staff when the invasion of Ukraine began.

'Workforce Australia' : Labor unveils 'Clean slate policy' tweak

abc.net.au - Page Online : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Evan Young - PortMac.News Summary

The former Coalition's government's Jobactive scheme will be replaced with a new program called Workforce Australia on 1 July.

The new government has announced some changes to Workforce Australia ahead of its implementation, after Employment Minister Tony Burke recently conceded that it is too late to scrap the program completely.

Amongst other things, there will be some changes to the points-based system for job seekers, while any penalties or demerit points that were accumulated under the Jobactive scheme will be waived. Burke says the new system will be a "Fresh start".

(See full story on PortMac.News today)

French thaw puts FTA back on agenda

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 6 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Phillip Coorey - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will use his trip to Madrid for the NATO summit to press Australia's case for the proposed free trade agreement with the European Union.

Talks regarding the trade deal stalled in the wake of the fallout from the cancellation of a contract for France's Naval Group to build a new fleet of submarines.

Relations between the two nations have improved following Labor's election win in May, and the government hopes this will provide the impetus to get the trade talks back on track.

Albanese has stressed that France is much more than just a defence partner.

Albanese 'Not Scott Morrison', Turnbull tells French media

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Kim Willsher, Daniel Hurst - PortMac.News Summary

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is scheduled to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Friday.

Relations between the two nations have become strained in the wake of the former Coalition government's decision to scrap Naval Group's contract to build a fleet of conventional submarines in favour of acquiring nuclear-powered ones under the AUKUS alliance.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says Albanese will find it easier to mend relations with France because he is not Scott Morrison.

Macron recently accused Morrison of lying to him about the submarines deal.

Howard's industrial umpire agrees with union chief that wage spirals are 'In the past'

Brisbane Times - Page Online : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Angus Thompson - PortMac.News Summary

Professor Ian Harper from the University of Melbourne has downplayed the prospect of across-the-board pay rises in line with the increase in the minimum wage.

Harper, who was the inaugural chairman of the Australian Fair Pay Commission, says employers no longer face the 1970s-style indexing of pay to the consumer price index that heightened the likelihood of a wages spiral.

Employers' groups have warned that excessive pay rises would increase cost-of-living pressures, while Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe recently argued that wage increases of around 3.5% are appropriate in the current environment.

ALP may push for new price and wage accord

The Australian - Page 20 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

Unions began the "Softening up" process for enterprise bargaining negotiations shortly after Labor won the recent federal election.

The clear message to employers was that annual pay rises of less than five per cent would not be acceptable.

Unions in NSW are already pushing for the 'Albanese' wage rise of at least five per cent, and the outcome of these negotiations will set a national precedent.

Meanwhile, the new federal government has organised an employment summit, much as Labor did in 1983 and which led to the prices and wages accord.

However, Australia is very different now, and many people work in non-unionised family enterprises.

Australians' personal financial assets up 13.5% to $10.62 trillion

Market Research Update - Page Online : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Roy Morgan - PortMac.News Summary

New data from Roy Morgan's Banking and Finance Report shows that Australians' personal financial assets (Traditional Banking, Wealth Management, Owner-Occupied Homes & Direct Investments) sat at $10.62 trillion in the year to March 2022.

This result represents an increase of $1.27 trillion (+13.5%) from two years ago pre-pandemic. However, the total value of Australians' personal financial assets fell by $145 billion (-1.3%) after reaching a peak of $10.77 trillion in March 2021.

This is the same month that government stimulus programs including the $90 billion JobKeeper program and the 'boosted' JobSeeker payments ended.

Despite this fall following the end of the extensive government stimulus programs, the increase over the last two years is far larger than the increase seen in the preceding two years.

The total value of Australians' personal financial assets increased from $9.02 trillion in March 2018 to $9.36 trillion in March 2020, an increase of $340 billion (+3.8%).

Judith Neilson stepped in over institute's $10m a year 'Massive vanity project'

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Amanda Meade - PortMac.News Summary

The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas continues to attract scrutiny following the recent resignation of four independent directors over concern about a change in its direction.

The institute was intended to be independent and non-partisan when it was founded by philanthropist Judith Neilsen in 2018.

The four directors resigned after Neilsen intervened because she did not agree with plans to expand a proposed international prize for ideas to include events, conferences and international speakers.

It had initially been proposed by Neilsen, but sources say she "Baulked" at plans to change the concept for the prize.

China's attack on Aussie miner

The Australian - Page 2 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Sarah Ison - PortMac.News Summary

Australian-listed Lynas Rare Earths has been targeted by an online disinformation campaign, according a report from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

The 'Dragonbridge' campaign is allegedly using social media platforms and websites to spread messages promoting the interests of the People's Republic of China and an industry that is of Strategic significance" to the PRC.

China dominates the rare earths industry, and Lynas plans to build a processing plant in Texas via an agreement with the US Department of Defense.

ASX told: be ready to shift trades to rival Cboe exchange

The Australian - Page 13 & 19 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Glenda Korporaal - PortMac.News Summary

Stock exchange operator ASX Limited is continuing to attract scrutiny over a software upgrade that forced share trading to be suspended for an entire day in November 2020.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has told the ASX that it expects all market participants to have access to an alternative exchange by early to mid-2023 in the event of a similar outage.

There is also uncertainty regarding the progress of the ASX's project to replace its CHESS trading and settlement system with a blockchain-based platform.

The project has been delayed several times.

ASX firms 0.9% in fourth day of gains

The Australian Financial Review - Page 26 : 29 June 2022 - Original article by Tom Richardson - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a solid gain on 28 June, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 57.60 points to close at 6,763.6 points.

Fortescue Metals Group was up 3.8% at $18.56, Beach Energy rose 7% to $1.77 and Tassal Group finished 16.1% higher at $4.61.

However, BWX shed 40.6% to end the session at $0.69 and Coles Group was down 0.3% at $17.87.