Welfare groups want more spending
About 6.5 million Australians — including nearly 3.7 million pensioners — will be given $750 oneoff payments under the Morrison government’s coronavirus stimulus package but seniors and welfare groups say the money does not go far enough in helping people on low incomes. The Aus
Trump slump: $127bn shock to shares
Panic swept through global markets as America’s decision to suspend US-EU travel slammed the energy, travel and leisure sectors, while the broader market judged US and Australian fiscal stimulus plans insufficient to prevent a recession caused by the worsening global spread of coronavirus. The Aus
Coronavirus threatens Woodside meeting
Coronavirus is threatening one of WA’s biggest shareholder gatherings, with oil and gas giant Woodside Petroleum considering whether to proceed with its annual meeting on April 30. The West
World escalates pandemic battle
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used a live address to the nation to quell rising community anxiety over the coronavirus, reassure that Australia will emerge from the crisis in strong shape, and urging all citizens to do their bit to help with challenging months ahead. The Fin
Oil price rout throws Caltex bid into doubt
Takeover target Caltex’s stock has plunged 30 per cent below Canadian group Couche-Tard’s $34.50 a share bid price, suggesting investors have all but given up on a deal being executed at that price. The Fin
Woolies to pay self-isolating casuals
Woolworths will pay its casual employees up to two weeks’ wages if they are quarantined, infected or have to care for others affected by the coronavirus. The Fin
EY, Atlassian join corporate exodus home
Fears about COVID-19 infecting Australian workplaces hit in a wave yesterday, as staff from major companies including big four consulting firm EY, tech giant Atlassian and law firm King & Wood Mallesons were sent home after it emerged employees may have been exposed to coronavirus. The Fin
Campaign to holiday in WA
An intentionally cheeky slogan of Do It In WA is at the centre of a $5 million campaign the State Government hopes will soften the coronavirus blow to WA’s tourism industry. The West
Trump slaps entry ban on Europeans
Donald Trump has ordered an unprecedented 30-day ban on most travel from Europe, excluding the UK and US permanent residents among a few other nationalities, to stymie the spread of the ‘‘foreign’’ coronavirus into the US. The Fin
Childcare sector in stimulus SOS
The childcare sector says it will be pushed to the brink of collapse unless there is major government intervention to help with the coronavirus fallout — leaving thousands of parents without a centre to send their kids and workers without a job. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used a live address to the nation to quell rising community anxiety over the coronavirus, reassure that Australia will emerge from the crisis in strong shape, and urging all citizens to do their bit to help with challenging months ahead.
Donald Trump’s coronavirus rescue plan backfired and led global shares deeper into bear territory yesterday, escalating the market panic triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and turning up the pain for airline and tourism stocks as more travel bans are deployed.
Page 3: Dexus, Australia’s largest owner of office towers, expects the effects of coronavirus to disrupt the economy for the next six months and for the crisis to only ease by year-end.
Page 5: Almost 700,000 small and medium businesses nationwide will get access to special cash flow payments of as much as $25,000, part of the federal government’s push to save jobs in the coronavirus downturn.
Page 6: Woolworths will pay its casual employees up to two weeks’ wages if they are quarantined, infected or have to care for others affected by the coronavirus.
Page 9: BHP CEO Mike Henry will push ahead with plans to hire 1000 new workers in the wake of the federal government’s $17.6 billion stimulus package, while car dealers hope it might ‘‘breathe some life into an industry on the ropes’’.
Page 10: Online retail king Ruslan Kogan was warned not to label his firm’s end-of-year financial sale a ‘‘discount’’ to avoid legal trouble, internal emails produced in the competition watchdog’s case over misleading discounts reveal.
Page 11: COVID-19 has spread to every state and territory in Australia, as the number of cases exceeded 150 and the Prime Minister sought advice on a travel ban on all travel from Europe.
Page 13: Fears about COVID-19 infecting Australian workplaces hit in a wave yesterday, as staff from major companies including big four consulting firm EY, tech giant Atlassian and law firm King & Wood Mallesons were sent home after it emerged employees may have been exposed to coronavirus.
There are new threats to the $38 billion international student market as university staff are barred from travelling to overseas recruitment fairs, putting stress on projected earnings for the second half of the calendar year, according to the Global Reputation Taskforce for higher education, which met yesterday.
Page 14: British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced a torrent of emergency spending measures and infrastructure investment worth at least £30 billion ($59.4 billion) in an anti-coronavirus budget.
Page 15: Donald Trump has ordered an unprecedented 30-day ban on most travel from Europe, excluding the UK and US permanent residents among a few other nationalities, to stymie the spread of the ‘‘foreign’’ coronavirus into the US.
Page 17: AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says it is ‘‘incredibly dangerous’’ to sell stocks after a huge market fall, as the wealth management industry frantically attempts to quell investor panic over the dawn of the coronavirus bear market.
Page 19: Takeover target Caltex’s stock has plunged 30 per cent below Canadian group Couche-Tard’s $34.50 a share bid price, suggesting investors have all but given up on a deal being executed at that price.
Oil and gas group Santos has agreed on a price of $US390 million ($604 million) for the sale of a 25 per cent stake in the Darwin LNG project and the associated Bayu-Undan gas field to South Korea’s SK E&S.
Page 20: The boss of Australia’s biggest toilet paper manufacturer says output at the company’s three factories has been increased by 15 per cent in the past two weeks, but the restrictions on shoppers by supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles hasn’t stopped panic buying.
Page 21: Ramsay Health Care, the nation’s largest private hospitals operator, says it’s in talks with the government about taking the public overflow of patients slated for elective surgeries that could be pushed aside if the coronavirus outbreak ramps up.
Page 22: Decmil has delayed reporting its interim results until early April and extended a trading halt as the engineering group assesses whether it needs to raise equity after losing a contract to build prisons in New Zealand.
Australian businesses fear the COVID-19 outbreak could prompt a flood of workers’ compensation claims, putting insurance schemes and businesses under pressure and leading to a surge in premiums.
Page 23: CIMIC’s construction subsidiary CPB Contractors has been told by Queensland regulators to prove it has enough cash to keep building projects such as Brisbane’s $5.4 billion Cross River Rail after concerns were raised over its financial viability.
Rio Tinto has been forced to pay its former chief executive Sam Walsh $6.8 million before tax after he refused to agree to a further suspension of entitlements earned during his leadership.
Page 24: Andrew Forrest lost more than $1 billion from the value of his shares in Fortescue Metals Group as the market crashed on Monday, but that didn’t stop him buying more.
The Australian
Page 4: The federal government’s fiscal “bazooka” aimed at defending the economy from recession over the first half of the year is likely to be effective, economists said, even as they highlighted the difficulty of modelling the impact of a rapidly evolving health crisis.
Page 5: About 6.5 million Australians — including nearly 3.7 million pensioners — will be given $750 one-off payments under the Morrison government’s coronavirus stimulus package but seniors and welfare groups say the money does not go far enough in helping people on low incomes.
Page 8: Former ACTU president and business lobbyist Martin Ferguson has been appointed by the Coalition to the Fair Work Commission’s annual minimum wage review expert panel for five years.
Page 17: Panic swept through global markets as America’s decision to suspend US-EU travel slammed the energy, travel and leisure sectors, while the broader market judged US and Australian fiscal stimulus plans insufficient to prevent a recession caused by the worsening global spread of coronavirus.
Page 18: The coronavirus that has sent most companies reeling could in fact be good news for Chemist Warehouse, which had been planning a float some time from the end of this year.
Page 19: Australian Taxation Office commissioner Chris Jordan has told businesses struggling to keep compliant in the face of the coronavirus crisis to “reach out” to the government revenue agency.
Page 20: The $53bn Hostplus super fund is stepping up its investment in the sharemarket as world equity markets have been hit by fears of the coronavirus.
Page 21: The nation’s most powerful travel executive, Graham Turner, the founder of the global travel behemoth Flight Centre, has called on governments and citizens to stop panicking about the coronavirus.
The West Australian
Page 1: The childcare sector says it will be pushed to the brink of collapse unless there is major government intervention to help with the coronavirus fallout — leaving thousands of parents without a centre to send their kids and workers without a job.
Page 4: The potential economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on WA will be significantly worse than the 2008 global financial crisis, Mark McGowan has warned.
Page 10: A study has been launched into building a public swimming pool at the WACA Ground to help revitalise the city amid concerns the pandemic will stall ambitious plans for a CBD university campus.
An intentionally cheeky slogan of Do It In WA is at the centre of a $5 million campaign the State Government hopes will soften the coronavirus blow to WA’s tourism industry.
Page 11: Patients will be able to get a prescription and have it filled without leaving home as the Federal Government fast tracks bringing in electronic prescriptions.
Business: Coronavirus is threatening one of WA’s biggest shareholder gatherings, with oil and gas giant Woodside Petroleum considering whether to proceed with its annual meeting on April 30.
The boss of a bank aimed at small to medium businesses says those companies have long been taken for granted by the big banks in WA, a situation it’s aiming to change when it opens in Perth next month.
Still basking in the glow of a $1.2 billion deal to snap up a half-share of Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit, Northern Star Resources boss Bill Beament’s stellar run of success continued last night when he was crowned WA Pinnacle Awards’ Business Leader of the Year.
