Fast-track quarantine plan for key travellers
Individual corporations could lease entire hotels, and universities could commandeer campus accommodation to quarantine foreign students, under plans being devised to safely and dramatically expand international travel and get the economy rolling. The Fin
Border bites food supply
Spudshed chief executive Frankie Galati has warned the price of some fruit and vegetables will soar this Christmas thanks to labour shortages and WA’s hard border. The West
Unions tell Labor: back off coal, gas
Leaders of the two biggest mining and manufacturing unions have urged Labor MPs to tone down attacks on coal and gas, warning that the fuel sources would be needed for years to come and the party was continuing to lose blue-collar voters. The Fin
WA could give ground as border pressure mounts
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan appears set to give some ground on the state’s hard border closure, based on new advice from the state’s chief health officer and amid mounting pressure to join the rest of the country in easing movement restrictions. The Fin
RBA ‘has firepower to back economy’
The Reserve Bank has scope to ease monetary policy settings further and any suggestion it has run out of firepower can be dismissed, says Ian Harper, a board member of the central bank. The Aus
New High Court judges a move against legal adventurism
The Morrison government has put a conservative stamp on the High Court with the appointment of two justices who are expected to shift the dynamic of the court to the right. The Fin
Public backlash coming to firms that abuse payments, warns ATO
Companies that receive pandemic-related government subsidies should not then pay executive bonuses or increase dividends, Australian Taxation Office second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says. The Fin
Pandemic is a ‘sales changer’: Coles chief
Coles boss Steven Cain expects supermarket sales growth to remain higher than normal for as long as consumers are spending more time at home and restricted from travelling overseas. The Fin
‘Ponzi’ talk falls $2b short
The corporate watchdog has accused Crawley investment promoter Chris Marco of running a Ponzi scheme of “significant proportions” that left alleged victims more than $2 billion short on promised returns. The West
Inpex delays moving chopper base back to Broome
Oil and gas giant Inpex will not consider shifting its helicopter transfer operations for the offshore Ichthys project back to Broome until the WA hard border comes down. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Leaders of the two biggest mining and manufacturing unions have urged Labor MPs to tone down attacks on coal and gas, warning that the fuel sources would be needed for years to come and the party was continuing to lose blue-collar voters.
The Morrison government has put a conservative stamp on the High Court with the appointment of two justices who are expected to shift the dynamic of the court to the right.
Page 4: Individual corporations could lease entire hotels, and universities could commandeer campus accommodation to quarantine foreign students, under plans being devised to safely and dramatically expand international travel and get the economy rolling.
Page 5: Australia’s largest blue-chip company auditor, PwC, has opposed a key recommendation from a parliamentary inquiry into audit quality, saying COVID-19 means now is not the right time to force companies to go to market for their audit every decade.
Companies that receive pandemic-related government subsidies should not then pay executive bonuses or increase dividends, Australian Taxation Office second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says.
Page 6: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday the government would await an independent report by the former inspector-general of intelligence, Vivienne Thom, before considering the future of ASIC and its chairman James Shipton, who has stood aside.
Page 8: All states and territories are being pushed to support the roll-out of electronic customer check-in systems to enable rapid contact-tracing as part of a program to stress-test their outbreak response.
Page 9: West Australian Premier Mark McGowan appears set to give some ground on the state’s hard border closure, based on new advice from the state’s chief health officer and amid mounting pressure to join the rest of the country in easing movement restrictions.
Page 11: Europe’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has swept past the light-touch restrictions put in place in most parts of the continent, sparking warnings that tougher measures could follow.
Page 15: Coles boss Steven Cain expects supermarket sales growth to remain higher than normal for as long as consumers are spending more time at home and restricted from travelling overseas.
Page 20: Japan’s commitment to speed up its journey to net-zero carbon emissions by 10 years should accelerate the emerging trend towards carbon-neutral LNG shipments as well as putting hydrogen exports on a fast-track, according to Australia’s gas exporters.
The Australian
Page 1: ANZ will implement the most ambitious net zero emissions action of the big four banks and adopt climate change as a condition of lending, increasing pressure on farmers, construction firms and a range of companies to establish low-carbon transition plans by next year.
Page 3: Scott Morrison has demanded Qatar’s government immediately reveal who authorised the invasive strip-search and examination of 13 Australian women at Doha airport, issuing a deadline of Friday for answers.
Page 5: Consumer prices lifted by 1.6 per cent over the three months to September, as the expiry of free childcare and a bounce in petrol prices ended Australia’s brief flirtation with deflation.
It’s a six for Victorian cricket fans, with a crowd of up to 25,000 confirmed for the Boxing Day test at the MCG, a win for fans fittingly announced on Melbourne’s first day of freedom from the coronavirus lockdown.
Page 6: The CFMEU has threatened Federal Court action against the Australian Electoral Commission over delays in the holding of elections for the union’s construction division, declaring the agency needs to “get out from under the COVID doona”.
Page 13: The Reserve Bank has scope to ease monetary policy settings further and any suggestion it has run out of firepower can be dismissed, says Ian Harper, a board member of the central bank.
Page 15: Dutch brewing giant Heineken has clinched a small portfolio of beer and cider assets, including Strongbow and Stella Artois, from Asahi as part of the Japanese brewer’s $16bn acquisition last year of Carlton & United Breweries, marking the latest shake-up of beverage brands in Australia.
Coles chief executive Steven Cain believes Australia is likely to suffer from protracted high unemployment for some time, despite the Reserve Bank declaring this week the nation was technically out of a recession, with the supermarket business proving resilient in good and bad economic times.
The West Australian
Page 6: The proposed banned drinkers’ register trial for the Kimberley has been delayed due to its “excessive cost”.
Fire Protection Technologies will be forced to fork out $500,000 for importing a highly polluting gas.
Page 9: The Shire of Esperance wants urgent answers from the State Government about last year’s coronial inquest into the fatal 2015 bushfires as a new season of danger looms.
Page 10: Spudshed chief executive Frankie Galati has warned the price of some fruit and vegetables will soar this Christmas thanks to labour shortages and WA’s hard border.
Page 11: While boys bully less as they age, bullying among girls can persist at elevated levels into secondary school, according to research from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Australian scientists and surgeons have given patients with disabilities the power to work computers with their minds in a world-first “bionic spine” breakthrough.
Page 12: The failure of backup generators plunged Fiona Stanley Hospital into a three-hour partial blackout that delayed surgery for a “critical cardiac patient”, trapped eight people in lifts and caused “significant interruption to clinical and critical infrastructure service delivery”.
Business: The corporate watchdog has accused Crawley investment promoter Chris Marco of running a Ponzi scheme of “significant proportions” that left alleged victims more than $2 billion short on promised returns.
It is early days in WA’s grain harvest but farmers are already enduring extra stress because of a shortage of skilled machinery operation staff.
The Ampol brand is officially back in business in WA after a 25-year absence, with the opening of the first revitalised store in Cockburn.
Oil and gas giant Inpex will not consider shifting its helicopter transfer operations for the offshore Ichthys project back to Broome until the WA hard border comes down.
