Today's News - Thursday 11 June 2020
Today's News - Thursday 11 June 2020
Our Backyard
Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has backed criticism by New Zealand that Australia's state border restrictions are holding up a return to travel between the two countries. New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters complained the "roadblock of federalism" was getting in the way of plans to create a trans-Tasman 'travel bubble' between the two countries. While some states are now welcoming interstate tourists, others, such as Queensland and Western Australia, are still banning visitors from outside the state.
Key points:
- New Zealand's Deputy PM says internal borders in Australia are delaying trans-Tasman travel
- Winston Peters says he does not want the plans to be held up by the "slowest state in Australia"
- Pressure is mounting on the Federal Government to have a travel bubble by the winter school holidays
The Federal Government is not considering booting more workers off of its JobKeeper program before it responds to a review of the scheme next month, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has said. On Monday, the Government announced that as part of a transition off its childcare support package, childcare workers would no longer be paid the $1,500-per-fortnight JobKeeper support. Instead their employers would be paid support payments and be required to maintain staffing levels through to September. The surprise move sparked criticism from Labor, which pointed out the decision came just days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison answered "yes" when asked if the payment would remain in place until September. This morning, Senator Cormann said the Government was not considering removing further sectors from the scheme before it responded to a review of it next month.
Key points:
- On Monday, childcare workers were told they would be taken off JobKeeper from July 20
- Treasury is reviewing the program, with the Government to respond next month
- Finance Minister Mathias Cormann expects any announcements to be timed with the Treasurer's economic update on July 23
Scott Morrison has urged premiers to nominate a date for restarting interstate travel, declaring reopening borders crucial to saving jobs. The prime minister wants state leaders to outline a July date for relaxing restrictions to give the coronavirus-battered sectors certainty.
Australia's economy could contract by 6.3 per cent this year if there is a second wave of coronavirus infections, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's [OECD} latest economic outlook. The report urges the Morrison Government to introduce further policy measures to support households and businesses, including extending income support payments, such as the $70 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy, and building social housing. "Even in the absence of a second outbreak, GDP could fall by 5 per cent in 2020." The OECD suggests if a second outbreak occurs, triggering a return to lockdowns, world economic output is forecast to plummet 7.6 per cent this year before climbing back 2.8 per cent in 2021.
Key points:
- The OECD's latest economic outlook makes predictions for growth and jobs based on two scenarios
- If a second outbreak of coronavirus occurs, Australia's growth will fall by 6.3 per cent this year, and global growth will fall by 7.6 per cent
- The report calls for further stimulus including extending JobKeeper, but some economists question whether there's been too much stimulus already
Virgin's administrator has written to the Federal Government, saying it is worried bidders for the troubled airline might pull out in the absence of government support for the airline industry. The letter calls on the Government to extend the JobKeeper program for the airline's 10,000 workers for at least another six months, and guarantee Virgin tickets.
Key points:
- Virgin's administrator Deloitte has written to the Federal Government requesting the airline get financial support including an extension of JobKeeper
- The sale process is at a stage where there are two strong bidders wanting to purchase the company but the uncertainty surrounding air travel could threaten it
- The letter comes as airport workers head to Canberra to urge the Senate to pass a motion reversing changes to JobKeeper that would deny them the $1500 fortnightly wage subsidy
China’s state media has unleashed an extraordinary attack on Australia, saying our “chronic” problem with racism is worsening. In a scathing piece overnight, the government-friendly Global Times said that, for its citizens, “hanging out with friends and shopping could be dangerous” in Australia.
Meanwhile, Chinese international students have defended Australia as a "safe" destination for study, despite a travel warning issued by the Chinese Government urging students to reconsider.
Key points:
- International students say they felt safe in Australia despite warnings
- Educators say Chinese students would still apply to study at Australian universities
- Some Chinese parents have expressed concern about their children studying in Australia
It might have been an awkward moment for the 34,000 National Australia Bank staff when chief executive Ross McEwan told them the bank was embarking on a massive re-education program - teaching them how to be bankers. It should also come as no surprise that under McEwan, NAB is the first of the big four banks to move towards bankers having accreditation and appropriate qualifications. He followed the same playbook in Britain during his time running the RBS - a time in which that bank was reeling from both misconduct issues and the financial ravages of the global financial crisis.
Moreover, Ross McEwan has dismissed concerns the Australian economy is heading towards a financial cliff in September when emergency measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic including loan deferrals and JobKeeper are withdrawn. But Mr McEwan promised NAB will assess potential extensions on loan deferrals on a case by case basis and said the lender had already started to engage with customers about their financial positions to help them get back on their feet as the coronavirus crisis recedes. NAB has provided 40,208 business loan deferrals totalling $22 billion as at May 22. It has also approved 4,841 business support loans under the government's business loan guarantee scheme.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been served with a class action by customers who claim they were sold insurance they were never eligible to collect on. Law firm Slater and Gordon lodged the suit in the Federal Court on Wednesday and said it would be funded on a no-win, no-fee basis. Senior lawyer Andrew Paull said it was an open class, meaning hundreds of thousands of customers could sign up.
Hong Kong casino giant Melco Resorts has failed in a last-ditch attempt to avoid handing over secret company documents to a NSW government inquiry into probity issues at James Packer's Crown Resorts. The state's Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) began an inquiry in January investigating - among other things - whether Crown's Sydney casino licence was breached when Mr Packer sold a 20 per cent stake in Crown to Melco for $1.76 billion in May last year. But the inquiry was derailed in February when Melco successfully challenged its royal commission-like powers in the Supreme Court and refused to hand over nine documents requested as evidence because they were covered by legal professional privilege. The NSW Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in March. Melco then took the case to the High Court, which on Wednesday backed the Court of Appeal's decision.
Four Labor MPs and senators have been told to get tested for COVID-19 after attending Black Lives Matter protests on the weekend. Queensland MPs Graham Perrett and Anika Wells, plus the Northern Territory's Warren Snowdon and Malarndirri McCarthy left Parliament on Wednesday for testing.
Key points:
- Four Labor MPs are being tested for COVID-19 out of an "abundance of caution"
- The group will not return to Parliament unless they receive negative tests
- The current health advice is people should only be tested if they develop symptoms
A father has been praised a hero for giving up his life to save others in a horrific fire that tore through a Victorian holiday home at the weekend. Michael Lolicato and his six-year-old son Louis were killed in the blaze in Tyaak that left a third person dead and 10 others injured. Mr Lolicato’s wife Nicci and their two other children, Harvey and Rafael, are still recovering in hospital.
Three men have been charged after allegedly stealing $270,000 of raw gold ore and a two-tonne safe from a mine in Western Australia. One of the men has links to the Gypsy Joker bikies, WA Police said in a statement today. The alleged gold mine robbery came unstuck when a member of the public reported “explosions in bushland”, leading police to a two-tonne safe.
World News
Russian investigators have detained three managers of an Arctic power station whom it blamed for a fuel spill last month, which leaked 21,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil. Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement it was continuing to look into what caused the fuel spill in Norilsk, home to Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer.
Key points:
- Investigators say the managers illegally used an unsafe fuel tank that needed repairs
- Much of the spilled diesel fouled nearby waterways, and there are concerns for wildlife
- The plant's owner said the decision to detain the managers was overly harsh
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and near zero at its meeting Wednesday as the central bank projected high unemployment for several years and a long slog back from the pandemic-induced recession. In their first economic projections this year, Fed officials indicated that they expect the unemployment rate to end 2020 at 9.3 per cent and remain elevated for years, coming in at 5.5 per cent in 2022. That would be well above the level they expect to prevail over the longer run in a healthy economy. The Fed is projecting a particularly sharp hit in 2020, with officials expecting output to contract by 6.5 per cent at the end of this year compared to the final quarter of 2019, before rebounding by 5 per cent in 2021.
Athens has called on Australia's Greek diaspora to "come home" for a holiday to help salvage the economy amid forecasts the Mediterranean nation is about to plunge into a severe recession. Greece is poised to reopen its airports to international traffic, with light-touch health regulations for those travellers coming from countries with low COVID-19 infection numbers — including Australia. The invitation has yet to sway the Australian Government, however, with all international tourism still banned.
Key points:
- Greece has recorded just over 3,000 cases of COVID-19
- It will reopen its borders to tourists from 29 countries including Australia
- All international travel is banned for Australians unless they get an exemption
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/greece-opens-arms-to-aussie-tourist-post-coronavirus/12323460
Boko Haram gunmen have killed at least 69 people and razed a village to the ground in northern Nigeria's Borno state, three sources have said. The men attacked the village of Faduma Koloram, in Gubio local government area in the state, starting about noon on Tuesday, local time. They arrived in vehicles and on motorcycles, shooting with AK-47s, razing the village and stealing 1200 cattle and camels. A resident, a Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) member and a soldier each confirmed the same account. They said the men attacked because they suspected residents of sharing information on the terror group's movements with security authorities.
South Korea's Government has said it will press charges against two activist groups for allegedly breaking the law by sending unauthorised materials to North Korea with balloons. The groups have allegedly been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and trying to send bottles filled with rice to the rival nation. The announcement by Seoul's Unification Ministry came a day after North Korea announced it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea over its inability to prevent North Korean defectors and other activists from flying the leaflets across the border.
Key points:
- Brothers Park Sang-hak and Park Jung-oh are in charge of the two activist groups
- They are both North Korean defectors who allegedly violated a law governing inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation
- The announcement of the charges came a day after North Korea announced it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea
Tesla's stock jumped above $US1000 ($1422) a share after chief executive Elon Musk told his staff it was time to bring the Tesla Semi commercial truck to "volume production."
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, a fitness enthusiast who relied on religion and repression to rule the impoverished and unstable central African nation for 15 years, has died, according to a government announcement. Burundi is largely cut off by international donors after the United Nations documented the widespread rape, torture and murder of political opponents by ruling party activists and state security forces. Independent journalists are largely in exile or in jail.
Key points:
- Burundi's Government has declared seven days of mourning
- Mr Nkurunziza was due to stand down in August
- He planned to remain active in politics as supreme guide of patriotism
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-10/outgoing-burundi-president-nkurunziza-dies/12338122
Ongoing headlines regarding protests in around the world:
- The White House has said it was President Donald Trump's "prerogative" to raise questions about an incident in Buffalo that saw police injure a 75-year-old protester, after Mr Trump shared an unsubstantiated theory about the man.
- HBO has temporarily removed multiple Oscar-winning film Gone With the Wind from its streaming platform as global protests against racism continue.
- Newly uncovered video appears to show police officers in Louisiana repeatedly punching and tasering a black man they were arresting shortly before he died in police custody.
- A toppled statue of a 17th Century English slave trader will be retrieved from the harbour and exhibited in a museum, Bristol City Council said on Wednesday.
- Anti-racism protesters pulled down the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday and threw it into the harbour, triggering a debate about Britain's imperial past.
Covid-19 Update
- Chief executive of the planning committee for the Tokyo Olympics, Toshiro Muto, is managing expectations for the Games after they were postponed until next July. The Games, originally scheduled to start next month, were postponed for a year in March by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese Government, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Johnson & Johnson is aiming to start human trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of July, two months earlier than planned, as drug makers race to develop a shot for the deadly respiratory disease.
- France will end special government powers brought in to deal with the coronavirus pandemic on July 10 but it will retain the ability to curb gatherings and freedom of movement for four months.
- Austria has announced it will open its borders to most European neighbours from June 16, with the exceptions of Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Britain.
- Africa's confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed 200,000 according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 54-nation continent has 202,782 cases and 5,516 deaths. South Africa leads the continent with 52,991 cases, with almost two-thirds of them in the Western Cape province, centred on the city of Cape Town.
- Officials in South Korea now require nightclubs, karaoke rooms and gyms to register their customers with smartphone QR codes so they can be easily located when needed. The country reported 50 new cases of COVID-19 overnight and the figures from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought national totals to 11,902 cases and 276 deaths.
- Britain is planning to reopen zoos, safari parks and drive-in theatres as part of the easing of lockdown measures from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Mr Johnson is facing criticism for the failure to reopen schools for all primary school students before summer, as had been planned.
- The city of Mumbai has recorded more than 51,000 cases of the coronavirus, taking it past the peak in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The number of coronavirus cases in India continued to rapidly increase yesterday, with officials reporting nearly 10,000 new cases over the past 24 hours. India has recorded 276,583 positive cases, the fifth highest in the world, and 7,745 deaths. The actual numbers, like elsewhere in the world, are thought to be fair higher due to a number of reasons such as limited testing.
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus
Property News
Almost a third of rental properties in Sydney have been discounted since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Australian shores, new figures show, as landlords battle it out to secure tenants. At the height of the lockdown, 29.9 per cent of rental listings on the market saw discounted asking prices, according to Domain data, reaching a median price rent decrease of 6.4 per cent.
Market News
The Australian share market has closed higher for its seventh consecutive session, making a small gain despite falls for mining, bank and energy stocks. The ASX 200 closed three points higher at 6,148 points, while the All Ordinaries index rose 0.1 per cent to 6,269. The Australian dollar fell sharply but regained some ground to around 69.8 US cents by 4:50pm AEST.
Healthcare and technology were among the best-performing sectors, thanks to CSL (+2.6pc) and Afterpay (+7.5pc). Many of the best-performing stocks were gold miners including Saracen Mineral (+8.5pc) and Gold Road Resources (+6.1pc). The spot price of gold jumped (+1.2pc) to $US1,715.23 an ounce.
The major banks also fell, including Commonwealth Bank (-0.8pc), Westpac (-0.9pc) and NAB (-1.5pc). ANZ shares fell 1.1 per cent, after the stock was downgraded from "buy" to "neutral" by brokers at Goldman Sachs.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index dropped 300 points (or 1.1 per cent), while the S&P 500 shed 0.8 per cent.
Michael Tran
Director Relationships
Judo Bank