Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Australian Dollar: $0.7283 USD (up $0.0030 USD)

Iron Ore Oct Spot Price (SGX): $119.25 USD (up $8.25 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $75.42 USD (up $1.44 USD)

Gold Price: $1,750.16 USD (down $1.54 USD

Copper Price (CME): $4.2790 USD (down $0.0025 USD)

Bit-coin: $42,701.84 (down 2.18% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 34,869.37 (up 71.37 on Friday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

'Lights Out' in China as power crunch spreads

Widening power shortages in China have halted production at numerous factories including many supplying Apple and Tesla, while some shops in the northeast operated by candlelight and malls shut early as the economic toll of the squeeze mounted.

China is in the grip of a power crunch as a shortage of coal supplies, toughening emissions standards and strong demand from manufacturers and industry have pushed coal prices to record highs and triggered widespread curbs on usage.

Rationing has been implemented during peak hours in many parts of north eastern China since last week, and residents of cities including Changchun said cuts were occurring sooner and lasting for longer, state media reported.

On Monday, State Grid Corp pledged to ensure basic power supply and avoid electricity cuts.

The power crunch has hurt production in industries across several regions of China and is dragging on the country's economic growth outlook, analysts said.

The impact on homes and non-industrial users comes as night-time temperatures slip to near-freezing in China's northernmost cities.

The National Energy Administration (NEA) has told coal and natural gas firms to ensure sufficient energy supplies to keep homes warm during winter.

NSW Premier reveals 'Roadmap'

abc.net.au - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Ursula Malone - PortMac.News Summary

The New South Wales government has been criticised for ignoring the national plan for reopening the economy.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has revealed that some COVID-19 restrictions will be eased for fully-vaccinated people from 11 October, when 70% of residents aged 16+ are expected to have had two vaccine doses.

Restrictions will be further relaxed by 25 October, when the fully-vaccinated target of 80 per cent is slated to be achieved. However, most restrictions are set to remain in place for unvaccinated people until 1 December, when 90% of the eligible population is expected to be fully vaccinated.

NSW has reported 863 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases and 7 additional deaths from the current outbreak.

Frydenberg flags home loan curbs

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 2 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by John Kehoe - PortMac.News Summary

Growing concern about the high debt-to-income ratios of home buyers may prompt the federal government to push for regulatory intervention.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg discussed the issue at the Council of Financial Regulators' recent quarterly meeting, although the CFR is not expected to announce any macro-prudential measures in its quarterly statement on 29 September

Frydenberg says Australia's macro-prudential settings must be continually assessed, and they should be adjusted if this is deemed to be necessary.

Small business calls for consistent rules

The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Tom McIlroy - PortMac.News Summary

CPA Australia wants governments to provide answers to 10 key questions on how the nation will operate once the 80% vaccination threshold is achieved.

The questions include access to business for unvaccinated people and the management of positive cases.

The questions are similar to those that small business groups would like to see answered, with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee being urged to issue guidelines to national cabinet on infections, close contacts and isolation rules once the 80% threshold is reached.

Green light for ultra-fast 'At home' Covid tests

Herald Sun - Page 1 & 10 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Clare Armstrong, Courtney Gould - PortMac.News Summary

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is set to approve the use of self-administered rapid antigen tests that will allow Australians to know if they have COVID-19 within 20 minutes.

Home test kits are already widely available in countries such as the US and the UK, but in Australia their use must currently be supervised by a health professional.

TGA head John Skerritt expects home test kits to be approved for sale and use from 1 November, with the nation on target to have 70% of the eligible population fully vaccinated by the end of October.

Vax rollout for disabled 'Seriously deficient'

abc.net au - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Nas Campanella, Celina Edmonds - PortMac.News Summary

The disability royal commission has labelled as 'Seriously deficient' the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for people living with disability.

The commission claims in its draft report that it released on 27 September that the states and territories should not open up until all disabled people have been given the opportunity to be fully vaccinated.

University of Melbourne Disability and Health chair Professor Anne Kavanagh contends there will be a significant number of deaths among disabled people if Australia 'Opens up' too soon, with Kavanagh citing 2020 data from the UK that indicated 60% of people who had died from COVID-19 had a disability.

WHO Inquiry team's 'Conflicts' over Wuhan probe

The Australian - Page 4 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Sharri Markson - PortMac.News Summary

The World Health Organization is forming a new group to investigate the origins of novel pathogens, which might involve a second mission to China to investigate the origins of COVID-19.

However, it has been revealed that a number of the investigators who were involved in the WHO's first investigation had conflicts of interest, including one Chinese official said to be involved in the cover-up of how the virus originated.

This has prompted questions as to whether the WHO is the appropriate body to carry out a second investigation.

U.S 675,000 Covid deaths : Making history, but not in a good way

The Australian - Page 11 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Adam Creighton - PortMac.News Summary

The US death toll from or with COVID-19 recently passed 675,000.

This milestone prompted some media outlets to claim that the current pandemic is now deadlier than the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.

However, such comparisons are absurd, and a sign of how ignorant and hysterical we have become.

However, Spanish flu helped to end World War I and laid the foundation for World War II and the rise of Adolf Hitler.

COVID-19 will also change history, thanks to the hysterical overreaction and self-inflicted damage of measures aimed at curbing the virus.

Compulsory jab 'Medical apartheid'

The Australian Financial Review - Page 8 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has issued its first ruling on the issue of mandatory workplace vaccination.

The FWC found the dismissal of an aged-care receptionist was lawful after she refused to get a flu shot due to a previous allergic reaction.

The ruling is expected to apply to employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccinations. However, the FWC's deputy president Lyndall Dean issued a dissenting judgment, stating that the decision was a 'Serious injustice'.

She also expressed concern that limiting a person's access to work and society based on their COVID-19 vaccination status could be a breach of human rights.

Stranded immigrants losing hope

The Australian Financial Review - Page 10 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Michael Read - PortMac.News Summary

The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised that there are close to 8,500 skilled migrants with '489' or '491' visas who are unable to enter Australia.

This is because they have not been able to get exemptions to Australia's COVID-19 border restrictions, and is in spite of them having secured employment and having spent thousands of dollars on moving expenses and application costs.

Their inability to enter Australia and spend enough time there to qualify for permanent residency comes at a time when Australia is suffering from a skills crisis.

Don't claw back JobKeeper

The Australian - Page 21 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

There is growing support among some Liberal Party backbenchers for large companies to return some of the taxpayers' money that they received via the JobKeeper scheme.

However, reversal of the JobKeeper rules would be a blatant exercise in retrospective taxation, and it would set a dangerous precedent.

Labor could also seize on the increasing support for repaying JobKeeper funds by making it an election issue.

Labor would need to set out rules as to how the retrospective taxation would be imposed.

The research grants debacle under the previous Labor government shows that retrospective clawbacks can have unintended consequences.

Steeled for Ore fall budgetary blow

The Australian - Page 2 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Patrick Commins - PortMac.News Summary

Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics says the sharp fall in the iron ore price has major implications for the federal and Western Australian budgets.

He says the 2021-22 budget forecasts of both governments may not have been conservative enough in the wake of the price crash.

The fall in the iron ore price has been attributed to factors such as the Chinese government's environmentally-driven restrictions on steel production and the financial problems of property developer Evergrande.

Surging commodity prices saw overall tax revenue from the mining sector top $30bn in 2020-21, compared with just $12bn in 2015-16.

Liberal Democrats seek to challenge new laws on political party names

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Michael McGowan - PortMac.News Summary

Recently enacted legislation requires new political parties to seek permission from existing parties if they want to use any words in their name that are already used by that party.

The Liberal Democrats have flagged their intention to challenge the legislation in the High Court, seeing it as a direct attack on them by the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party has previously tried to force both the Liberal Democrats and another new party called the New Liberals to change their names, claiming it causes voter confusion.

Andrew Constance willing to lose job over assisted dying

abc.net au - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Sarah Gerathy - PortMac.News Summary

Independent MP Alex Greenwich will table a private members' bill in October that calls for the legalisation of voluntary assisted dying in NSW.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance says he supports the legislation, and is prepared to resign from his job if Liberal MPs are not allowed a conscience vote on the bill.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says it is a matter for the Liberal party room to decide whether a conscience vote should be allowed on the legislation, while both Labor and the Nationals have indicated their MPs will be granted a conscience vote on the bill.

'Sign now, pay later' Insurance player launches

The Australian Financial Review - Page 22 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Paul Smith - PortMac.News Summary

Coverpay managing director Steve Gilbert is looking to adapt the 'Buy now, pay later' concept to the general insurance sector.

Coverpay will launch its services in October after completing a $2.5 million funding round, with Gilbert saying that its product is targeted at individuals and small to medium-sized businesses.

He claims that under-insurance is a significant issue in Australia, and he hopes Coverpay will encourage more small business owners to take out insurance

Eftpos first to be accredited for digital identity

The Australian Financial Review - Page 19 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Ben Potter, James Eyers - PortMac.News Summary

Eftpos will be able to facilitate online transactions needing a digital identity, following its accreditation under the federal government's Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF).

Minister for Employment, Skills and Small Business Stuart Robert contends that a safe and flourishing digital economy is the best way by which the Australian economy can be grown, but that a safe and flourising digital economy is not possible without digital identity.

The federal government's digital identity program is being delivered as part of the $800 million Digital Business Plan.

'We're democratising loyalty': App to reward debit card use

The Australian Financial Review - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Sue Mitchell - PortMac.News Summary

Loyalty Republic has launched a new customer loyalty scheme that enables members to get reward points when they use their debit card at one of its partners.

Retailers and partners that have joined up to its scheme include Adairs, Windsor Smith and The Athlete's Foot, while Loyalty Republic co-founder Katrina Gravelle contends that its program is 'Democratising loyalty'.

Consumers spent around $418 billion on debit cards in the year to July, but it is estimated that about 75% of this expenditure was not rewarded.

ABC 'Was duped' by Nielsen sting tale

The Australian - Page 3 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Sophie Elsworth - PortMac.News Summary

The ABC has recently withdrawn a mini-series examining the 1975 disappearance of Sydney activist Juanita Nielsen from its streaming platform.

It said it had done so because new information had been received that cast doubt on claims made in the program that an undercover 'Sting' had unearthed her murderer.

Author Peter Rees, who has followed the Nielsen case for decades, contends that the ABC had been 'Duped' by the claims, which he says were 'Preposterous'.

Rees says it shows the ABC needs to improve its fact checking.

Public figures expected to turn off 'Facebook comments'

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Josh Taylor - PortMac.News Summary

The High Court recently ruled that the owners of Facebook pages are liable for defamatory comments made on them.

The ruling prompted Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein to announce on 24 September that some posts on his Facebook page would have comments turned off, a feature that Facebook introduced in March.

Defamation expert Professor David Rolph says he expects other politicians and public figures will adopt similar strategies to that of Gutwein.

NSW construction rules a 'Work in progress'

The Australian Financial Review - Page 30 & 32 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Martin Kelly - PortMac.News Summary

Construction companies have welcomed the lifting of the 50% capacity cap by the New South Wales government on 27 September.

However, they contend that the 'one person per four square metre' rule means that not all construction sites can operate at full capacity, and will not be able to do so until the rule is changed to one person per two square metres.

Another issue for some construction companies is the requirement for workers in the 12 Sydney local government areas of concern to be vaccinated, which is resulting in staff shortages.

Stocks rebound as bulls return

The Australian - Page 20 : 28 September 2021 - Original article by Rebecca Le May - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a solid gain on 27 September, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.57% to close at 7,384.2 points.

Fortescue Metals Group was up 2.67% at $15.75, Beach Energy rose 4.22% to $1.23 and the Commonwealth Bank added 2.84% to end the session at $104.59.

Flight Centre rallied 7.48% to $21.27 and takeover target Australian Pharmaceutical Industries advanced 3.07% to $1.51.