PM backs Sydney rules over lockdowns
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s ‘common sense’ rules to avoid a lockdown, after a birthday party in Sydney’s west sparked 10 new COVID-19 cases.
- Live
- Need to Know
Sydney braces for new restrictions
Sydneysiders face new restrictions from 4pm after 16 new cases were reported, with workers expected to wear masks in the office and home visitors capped. WA and SA have imposed hard borders on NSW. Victoria has eased more restrictions. Follow the latest here.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Sydney outbreak amplifies Woolworths’ CBD warning
The pandemic has weighed heavily on activity in Australia’s CBDs. Woolworths’ latest move suggests it’s not sure that pain is going away.
Iron ore sales hit record as China exports lift 20pc
Exports increased by $3.7 billion – or 11 per cent – in May, driven primarily by iron ore exports to China, while imports of lithium-ion batteries hit a fresh record.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX falls 0.6pc as major banks tumble
The Australian sharemarket closed Wednesday’s session 43.7 points lower at 7298.5. Follow the latest here.
Vanguard hits back at ‘climate laggard’ claims
Anti-fossil fuel lobbyist IEEFA launched a blistering attack on Vanguard, but the $9 trillion investment giant says it is doing its bit to push a green agenda.
Gupta’s GFG cements standstill deal with Credit Suisse
The billionaire has six weeks of extra breathing space to get a separate refinancing deal with White Oak finalised.
How to negotiate the new world of work. Expert advice in your inbox every Thursday.
Companies
BHP sacks worker facing rape charges
The mining giant has sacked a second fly-in, fly-out worker over rape allegations involving female colleagues.
Woolworths to build $400m NSW distribution centre
The 76,000 square metre facility at Wetherill Park will service more than 280 stores and will replace the supermarket chain’s fragmented temperature-controlled network.
Costa bets on China in Queensland citrus farm deal
Costa said after the $220 million buyout of 2PH that it has an established presence in Asia and its citrus season offers up the chance to supply this market year round.
Hunger for news, sparked by the pandemic, drops away
A new report reveals The Australian Financial Review is Australia’s most trusted national newspaper, while coverage of the pandemic has resulted in Australians becoming more trusting of news in general.
Virgin to give away business class flights
The airline said 65 per cent of its flight crews and airport teams have been vaccinated as it launched a competition to promote COVID-19 jabs.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Investors the winners in Soul Patts’ $4b transformation
The marriage of two of the country’s oldest investment houses should provide retail investors with access to assets available only to institutions.
Regulator puts power, gas suppliers on notice
The warning from the Australian Energy Regulator comes as wholesale prices have surged higher due to generator outages.
Companies in the News
Commonwealth Bank
National Australia Bank
Macquarie Group
Woolworths
ASX Limited
Westpac Banking Corporation
Updated: Jun 23, 2021 – 3.55pm. Data is 20 mins delayed.
Search companies
View stories and data from an ASX listed company
Markets
- Exclusive
- Small business
Labour shortages starting to lift wages
Specialty coffee roaster Industry Beans has been forced to lift wages to attract new staff, but its best drawcard is employment stability.
Higher inflation won’t tip RBA’s hand on rates: SSGA
State Street Global Advisors’ expectation that near-term rate hikes by the RBA are unlikely runs counter to a growing number of economists.
NGS Super buffs climate credentials with green bond buy
It is the first super fund to invest in Australian Unity’s green bond fund, responding to calls from regulators for climate-friendly investments.
Bitcoin is worthless and blockchain is useless, Nassim Taleb says
In a new paper, the acclaimed author of ‘The Black Swan’ and ‘Antifragile’ has laid out four key arguments against the controversial cryptocurrency.
- Opinion
- Home loans
Why house prices are making central bankers nervous
As property values continue to surge globally, the institutions are growing increasingly anxious about financial stability risks.
Opinion
Why the superannuation reforms are a very big deal
The changes will divert billions of dollars from vested interests and ticket-clippers. They are the biggest reforms the Coalition has wrought so far.
Economics editor
Three reasons why this recovery is fragile
A region rife with infection, a recovery reliant on stimulus, and the downsides of debt could all derail the recent good economic news.
Contributor
Virus management, housing boom boosts NSW budget recovery
The strong performance of NSW’s public finances stand out. But the claim this was reforming budget is a stretch.
Editorial
AMP Capital digs in over community infrastructure fund
AMP Capital is putting on a brave face, but asset consultants say the damage caused by the defection of core members of its community infrastructure fund can’t be papered over.
Columnist
States charge ahead on electric vehicles
Electric vehicle sales are still a tiny part of the Australian car market but the rules of the roads are changing and the states are gazumping Canberra’s policy vacuum.
Columnist
How China broke the Asian model
Unlike Taiwan or South Korea, which turned from one-party states to democracies as they grew richer, China under Xi has entrenched the dominance of the Communist Party.
Columnist
Politics
United Nations-backed group seeks peace in Treasury’s proxy war
The Principles for Responsible Investment has warned the government’s proxy adviser reforms are backed by little evidence and may flood consumers with useless information.
Bragg makes New Daily Press Council complaint
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has complained to the Press Council the online news site The New Daily campaigned against government super reforms in breach of the media watchdog’s guidelines.
Labor, Greens kill off carbon capture funding
Labor and the Greens have managed to kill government plans to expand the remit of ARENA to invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen production from gas, and electric car infrastructure.
Nationals rebuff net zero emissions truce
Deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud tried to offer an olive branch to the Liberals, but MPs allied to Barnaby Joyce rejected the prospect of any deal.
- Opinion
- Employment
Australia should look to the Nordics for policy tips
Not only are the Nordics among the world’s most prosperous nations, they have also dealt with many of the issues that Australia finds so difficult.
SPONSORED
World
- Analysis
- Coronavirus pandemic
Why some of the most vaccinated countries are battling huge outbreaks
Examples from several countries suggest the Chinese vaccines may not be very effective at preventing the spread of the virus, particularly the new variants.
Jabbed-up Britain getting on top of delta wave
More people are now dying from flu and pneumonia than COVID-19 in Britain, as the country moves towards a full release from lockdown on July 19 and starts vaccinating 18-year-olds.
Pro-Beijing legislators intervene in Hong Kong judicial appointment
Justice Maria Yuen withdrew her candidacy for the city’s top court after legislators raised concerns over the appointment.
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
Powell looks to have passed key re-appointment test
The Federal Reserve chairman is up for re-nomination in six months. His straight-bat testimony on everything from inflation and spending to immigration and tax hikes may save him from his predecessor’s fate.
Morgan Stanley to bar unvaccinated staff and clients from NY office
Chief executive James Gorman says the tough stance will get workers back to its New York workplace more quickly.
Property
Blundy’s Aventus hits new high as homemaker centre values soar
Homemaker centre values rose 12 per cent in the six months to June 30 across the 20 large-format properties owned and managed by Rich Lister Brett Blundy’s Aventus.
Record smashed as Rich Listers buy $180m cattle station
Peter and Jane Hughes have bought the Miranda Downs station in Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria and 55,000 head of cattle in the biggest single pastoral land sale in history.
Chadstone expands upwards with new office tower
The new tower is part of the latest expansion at Chadstone, which has rolled out successive waves of redevelopment over its 60-year history.
Fast-food, medical premises in hot demand at auction
A KFC restaurant in Forster on the NSW Mid North Coast sold on a yield of just 2.9 per cent, while all four medical premises sold on yields below 5 per cent.
Brisbane office market pops with another two CBD sales
The city’s CBD office market has recorded another two major sales to consolidate its status as Australia’s most active through the first six months of 2021.
Wealth
ATO reveals top targets for this year’s tax returns
Investment property deduction, home office claims and cryptocurrency records head the hit list.
- Opinion
- Superannuation
Super tax wins before June 30
There are ways to reduce your ATO bill but you need to get them in place before the end of the tax year.
No applause yet for super shake-up
The government’s plan to return $18 billion in fees to superannuation members will be applauded if successful, but critics say it bears little resemblance to the review that inspired it.
Technology
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Zoom CEO’s blunt message on the future of work
After a year of extraordinary growth, Zoom CEO and founder Eric Yuan says hybrid work is here to stay. Now he wants to tackle the challenges it brings.
- Opinion
- Social media
Will boredom kill Instagram?
It turns out that the rest of the world is not, in fact, having a better, more special, more colour-saturated time than you.
- Exclusive
- Research
The magic box that’s a unicorn in the making
A spinout from Nobel Prize-winning research into gravitational waves is transforming the daily work of scientists and engineers.
Work & Careers
From age six, this exec wanted to be an investment banker
When she was a child, Tara Osborne, general manager of strategy and investor relations at Bingo, was always being told she was good with numbers and money.
Foreign auditors, accountants, chefs to get priority visas
The Morrison government has more than doubled its priority occupations for skilled visas after lobbying from business.
Life & Luxury
The Adelaide Hills’ accidental winemakers
After buying a burnt-out Paracombe dairy farm in 1983, the Drogemuller family realised their land was steeped in a rich viticultural heritage.
Cruising in a new era: An Aussie tests the waters in the Greek islands
A small luxury cruise through Greece’s Cyclades island group, a land immersed in myths and magic, delivers plenty of pinch-me moments.
This family spent the 2020 Sydney lockdown alone in a luxury hotel
Last year, when the world stopped and the Langham Sydney closed, its splendour went ignored for months. That is, except by the one family in residence.
The greatest bicycle journeys on the planet
A recently released book will have cyclists dreaming of reopened international borders and the chance to pedal some spectacular touring routes.
- Opinion
- Motoring
A flagship Lexus for a dwindling crowd
Despite its high levels of refinement and magnificent sound system, the brand’s halo limousine, the LS500 F Sport, feels dated next to its competition.
