Today's News - Monday 22 June 2020
Today's News - Monday 22 June 2020
Our Backyard
The minimum wage will increase by $13 a week, affecting the pay packets of more than 2.2 million Australians as the nation deals with its first recession in decades. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) made the decision to lift the minimum wage by 1.75 per cent on Friday morning, well down from the demands from the union movement for a 4 per cent increase. The increase takes the minimum wage to $753.80 per week, or a $19.84 hourly rate.
Key points:
- The Fair Work Commission has decided to raise the national minimum wage
- More than 2 million workers will benefit from the decision
- The changes come into effect from July 1
Victorian authorities have announced a new cash incentive to encourage people who are sick to stay at home after a new spike in cases forced the reintroduction of restrictions amid fears of a second wave. The dramatic escalation in cases, with a further 25 new coronavirus cases recorded in the past days, were partly blamed on people who knew they were infected but continued to work and socialise.
The government are now offering people a $1500 incentive to stay at home if they know they’re sick. The $1,500 payment is part of a Hardship Fund aimed at covering people who can’t rely on sick leave.
A national audit of labour hire firms in the construction industry by the government regulator found almost 80 per cent had broken workplace laws, with 64 per cent underpaying workers. The Australian Building and Construction Commission said it had recovered $563,850 for 1337 affected workers, however, it did not fine or name the companies. Of the 63 labour hire construction businesses audited last year by the commission, 79 per cent were found to be in breach of industrial laws. This included not paying workers correctly, not keeping proper records and not giving workers pay slips. Sixty-four per cent had underpaid workers.
Hoteliers, brewers, winemakers and other representatives of Australia's powerful alcohol industry are calling for a temporary freeze on automatic tax hikes on booze, saying coronavirus lockdowns have devastated their sector and the change would help kickstart their recovery. Brett Heffernan, chief executive of the Brewers Association, said total beer sales in Australia were down a massive 44 per cent in May compared to May last year.
Qantas is offering customers a refund for flights cancelled or suspended due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, as the Government orders Australia's competition watchdog to monitor anti-competitive behaviour of airlines. The ACCC said the agency's COVID-19 Taskforce raised concerns with Qantas after receiving hundreds of complaints from passengers whose flights were suspended or cancelled due to travel restrictions, but who were given credits by Qantas instead of the refunds they were entitled to.
Northern Territory tourists are once again allowed to tread in two of Australia's most spectacular ancient landscapes, with the Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu national parks now back open for business.
Key points:
- Travellers within the NT could return to the parks from Friday
- A major accommodation site in Kakadu had only four bookings when the park reopened.
- The NT's borders are set to reopen on July 17
Principals, academics and parents are concerned about the impact of new university fees on already-stressed year 12 students who have chosen HSC subjects based on degrees that have suddenly become more expensive.
A near $7 billion shortfall in funding for more than 20 new and expanded roads projects promised by the Coalition has been identified in internal advice to the NSW government. Roads and Maritime Services warned of 26 "unfunded" commitments totalling $6.7 billion, which included the cost of duplicating the Great Western Highway between Katoomba and Lithgow, in a document completed in May last year. It also outlined hundreds of millions of dollars in shortfalls for "partly unfunded" projects in Sydney, including the widening of Stacey Street in Bankstown ($365 million), upgrades to King Georges Road in Hurstville ($300 million) and upgrading technology along the M4 ($160 million).
Bushfire victims fear they will miss out on the federal government's HomeBuilder scheme due to the tight deadline to have contracts signed and begin construction. Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, urging him to "make special considerations around access to the HomeBuilder program, so that bushfire victims ... are not unfairly excluded from the scheme".
World News
Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, says his country has a legitimate right to intervene in neighbouring Libya and has ordered his army to be ready to carry out any mission outside the country, if necessary. Mr Sisi's comments came amid high tensions over regional rival Turkey's intervention in Libya.
Key points:
- Khalifa Haftar is backed by Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt
- The GNA is recognised by the United Nations and backed by Turkey
- Earlier this month, Egypt called for a ceasefire in Libya
China has released details of its new law for Hong Kong, which includes setting up a new national security bureau to target certain political crimes. Directed by Beijing and led by Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, the legislation will target secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. Ms Lam will have the power to appoint judges to hear cases related to national security. No details of penalties for specific crimes were released.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-21/china-releases-details-of-security-law-for-hong-kong/12377562
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to announce a new "one metre plus" rule for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, factories and parks, in an overhaul designed to unlock swathes of the economy. The change, which would take effect from July 4, is understood to entail allowing people to remain a metre away from others if they take additional measures to protect themselves, such as wearing a mask. In restaurants, pubs and bars, firms will be expected to introduce measures such as partitions between tables that are less than two metres apart.
A top US federal prosecutor has stepped down from his role after days of simmering political tension. US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who is currently investigating President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, announced he would step aside after two days of confusion about his position.
US President Donald Trump says he ordered authorities to slow down the rate of coronavirus testing because it was adding to the number of COVID-19 infections being recorded. Mr Trump described testing as a "double-edged sword", saying: "When you do testing to that extent you're going to find more people.". "You're going to find more cases, so I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down please.'”.
Key points:
- Mr Trump said he ordered authorities to: "Slow the testing down please"
- The outbreak has so far killed more than 120,000 people across the US
- Mr Trump's campaign said six staffers tested positive to COVID-19 hours before the rally
One man is dead and 11 people have suffered non-life-threatening wounds in a shooting in the United States city of Minneapolis on early Sunday local time. Minneapolis police had first said 10 people had been shot with “various severity levels of injuries,” but revised their total in a tweet posted just after 3am.
A murder investigation is underway after three people died and a further three were rushed to hospital after a mass stabbing in Reading, a large UK town located in Berkshire west of London. Police have now declared it a “terrorist incident”.
Covid-19 update
Mr Andrews said the jump of cases in his [VIC] state left him with no option but to tighten restrictions, barring Victorians from hosting more than five visitors in their homes. Over the past week, Victoria has recorded 116 new cases of COVID-19, compared to 35 cases in the previous week.
Key points:
- Victoria is reimposing some coronavirus restrictions after a surge in new cases
- Federal health authorities say other states are unlikely to reconsider plans to ease restrictions
- Australia today recorded 25 new coronavirus cases
India now has the fourth highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, trailing only the US, Brazil and Russia, with more than 380,500 confirmed cases and more than 12,500 deaths. Countries like the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom have significantly smaller populations but much higher death counts — 117,000, 46,000, and 42,000 respectively.
- The head of the Australian Medical Association says people may have coronavirus restriction fatigue, leading them to fail to heed health messages, risking of a second wave of coronavirus infections.
- Victoria has recorded 19 new coronavirus cases on Saturday night, the fifth day in a row of double-digit increases, prompting the Government to extend the state of emergency for a further four weeks. Victoria Police will take a tougher approach to enforcing coronavirus restrictions over the school holidays, in the wake of a recent spike in cases.
- More than 725,000 people have now been tested for COVID-19 in NSW, with 13,643 tests run in the 24 hours to 8:00pm on Saturday. Five new confirmed cases were recorded in that 24 hours, all of whom were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
- Essendon are waiting for a decision on how many players and staff will be required to follow Conor McKenna into quarantine, after the Irish defender's positive COVID-19 test.
- New South Wales residents struggling financially could have their fines cut in half. The changes will only apply to those people on Commonwealth benefits, including JobKeeper.
- The South Australian Government says it will not open the border to Victoria if the number of coronavirus cases in that state continues to rise. The SA Government had planned to open the border to all states on July 20.
- The Queensland Deputy Premier says from next weekend, stadiums will be allowed to host up to 25 per cent of their usual crowd, up to a cap of 10,000 people. For another day, Queensland has not recorded any new cases of coronavirus. Only three cases remain active across the state.
- South Africa has recorded a record daily jump in coronavirus cases, with more than 5,000 infections in the last day. More than half of the country's 92,000 cases are in Western Cape province and are centred in the city of Cape Town.
- South Korea continues to struggle to contain a coronavirus resurgence that has seen some of the country's hard-won gains erased since social-distancing rules were eased in mid-April. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 48 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the national caseload to 12,421 infections, with 280 deaths.
- The reproduction rate for COVID-19 has jumped to 1.79 in Germany.
- In Chile, the new count raises the number of deaths from just over 4,000, to 7,144.
- Officials in Beijing are carrying out tests to detect traces of coronavirus on all food and parcel delivery workers in an effort to rein in a new outbreak, state-backed media reported. On Saturday, China reported 26 new cases of the virus, 22 of which are in Beijing, the same number as the day before.
Property News
Jewish Care Victoria is offloading an old four-level aged care home on the corner of Punt Road and Raleigh Street in Windsor. The 4,293 square metre building is on a 4300 sq m site and includes a large car park. It is understood to carry a price tag in the high-$30-40 million range.
Nine Dings, led by Yubin Tong, is looking for an exit from its 11-storey Hayball-designed project in Doncaster Hill. Nine Dings is selling its massive 8176 sq m site at 548-588 Doncaster Road on the corner of Elgar Road. It’s expected to fetch more than $40 million or around $5000 a sq m. The 260-unit project is at the gateway to the Doncaster Hill metropolis anchored by the former Doncaster Shoppingtown, now known more prosaically as Westfield Doncaster.
Four owners in a CBD warehouse apartment block have banded together to sell their two-level building neighbouring the Kelvin Club (21-23 Coromandel Place, Melbourne).
The Guardian chilcare centre at 82 Ferntree Gully Road, fetched more than $8.1 million and sold on a 5.4 per cent yield. It returns 440,072 a year in rent. It’s on a 1415 sq m site and has capacity for 106 children. Guardian’s 15-year lease started in 2016.
Market News
The Australian sharemarket is expected to slide into a quieter week, as the spectre of an earnings “confession season” adds to a landscape of heightening risk. The SPI futures market is pointing to a fall of 1.3 per cent or 78 points for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 at Monday’s open, as the last full week of the financial year gets underway. Wall Street will provide a weak lead for local stocks on Monday after the Dow Jones lost 0.8 per cent and the S&P 500 fell by 0.5 per cent on Friday.
Preliminary merchandise trade data will be published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, with ANZ expecting the goods balance surplus to drop a touch on the previous month. Commonwealth Bank will also release its weekly card spend data, while the bureau’s latest business survey on Wednesday will show how firms fared in mid-June following the easing of social distancing restrictions.
CBA expects job vacancy data on Thursday to decline, given the recent deterioration in the labour market, though it said the timing of the survey - the third Friday in May - could complicate the result.
NAB has flagged it will also update its consumer spending and business cashflow report this week.
