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Peter Hannam
Downturn in overseas markets leads to 1.7% drop in early trade on ASX200
Treasurer Jim Chalmers might have stated the obvious this morning that Australia was “not immune” to a global downturn, but it’s still worth taking a lot how the “market mania” is playing out this morning.
After overseas stock markets’ extended falls at the end of last week, it was a given that the ASX200 index of top 200 companies would follow suit this morning.
And so, we’re down about 1.7% in early trade – and not a lot of local economic information out this week to lure investors back.
Currency markets, too, are in a bit of tizz, with pretty much everything falling against the US dollar (although that’s the rate you’re more likely to hear on the news, etc).
In other words, if you’re heading to Japan or the UK, say, the conversion rates might even look appealing if you’re starting with Australian dollars.
Still, big policy shifts, such as the UK’s deep tax cuts to arrest the slowdown in that economy, don’t usually calm most investors. Capital flight, mostly back to the “haven” of the US dollar, is posing issues from Beijing to Tokyo, and Australia is exposed too.
Investors, meanwhile, have been lifting their bets that the Reserve Bank will hike its cash rate to 2.85% (another 50bp rise, or the fifth in a row) when its board next meets on 4 October.
As of Friday, those investors were also predicting the cash rate would reach 4% by next April – but frankly, who knows? If the global economy tanks, we’ll probably see the RBA cutting rates by then.
Key events
Bill Shorten’s office has announced a press conference for 1pm:
The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, will be making an announcement regarding National Disability Insurance Agency leadership.
Josh Taylor
In a trainwreck of an interview on 2GB radio this morning, Optus has continued to refuse to confirm reports that the company’s data is on sale online, with the person who obtained the data offering to sell it back to the company for $1m.
Optus’s director of corporate affairs, Sally Oelerich told Chris Smith she too was a victim of the attack.
She said:
Chris, I’m on here and I’m really trying to be informative and transparent for your listeners… however, big however, this is under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. There’s a criminal behind all of this who has attacked Australians, including me. My driver’s licence has been compromised.
Oelerich explained how she had contacted her bank to put lower transfer limits on to stop the transfer of large sums of money from her account, and said she was taking the initiative as a victim to prevent further harm.
When asked specifically about reports from cyber security journalist Jeremy Kirk that a user on a data breach forum is giving Optus the option to buy back the data from $1m, Oelerich would not confirm it.
That’s what Jeremy is reporting…. We have not been approached… obviously that’s on the internet but no one has picked up the phone and called us, so to speak. I cannot actually validate if that’s legitimate. Part of that is … it is under investigation.
Smith: Does it seem to you that this hacker is legitmate?
Oelerich: To me? Personally? Or me at Optus?
Smith: Well, you’ve seen what he posted on the forum.. And Jeremy Kirk has gone out and double check one of the email addresses and it has led to a former Optus customer.
Oelerich: Yes, that’s that’s what Jeremy has been reporting. So Chris, as someone who’s actually been compromised as well, I’m actually trying to do everything I’ve been advised to protect customers and that includes following advice from the Australian Federal Police.
Queensland wants to build Australia’s biggest wind farm.
As AAP reports:
Australia’s largest publicly-owned wind farm will be built in Queensland, with the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, pouring $766m into the project as she seeks to reboot the state’s energy policy.
The project in South Burnett, north-west of Brisbane, will include up to 150 turbines and potentially generate enough electricity to power 230,000 homes.
“It will also create around 200 jobs during construction and 15 ongoing jobs when operational,” Palaszczuk said.
“It’s investments like this that will ensure we deliver on our net-zero ambitions and our promise to Queenslanders to become a global renewable energy superpower.”
The project is about 30 kilometres southwest of Kingaroy, in the state’s Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone.
Palaszczuk has signalled a major climate and energy announcement at her State of the State address on Wednesday.
The energy minister, Mick de Brenni, said the project would increase the state’s renewable energy fleet by 7%.
“It will eliminate a million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year from our energy system,” he said on Monday.
“That’s the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road.”
The treasurer, Cameron Dick, said the Tarong West wind farm project would be funded through the Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs fund.
Building the wind farm through the publicly owned Stanwell Corporation means the state will have dispatch control of significant renewable generation capacity, he said.
Final approvals are expected in 2024.
In case you missed it, this happened on Friday evening (from Adam Morton and Paul Karp):
A United Nations committee has found the Australian government has failed to adequately protect Torres Strait islanders, and violated their right to enjoy their culture and lives, by failing to act on the climate crisis.
The landmark decision found they should be compensated.
The decision by the UN human rights committee comes more than three years after eight adults and six children from four low-lying islands off the northern coast of Australia lodged a complaint against the Morrison government, claiming it had failed to take adequate action to cut emissions or pursue proper adaptation measures.
In what the committee described as a groundbreaking decision, it found the government had “violated their rights to enjoy their culture and be free from arbitrary interferences with their private life, family and home”.
There has been a bit of chatter about this – but just because the parliament potentially could, doesn’t meant the parliament actually will.
Health minister says monkeypox infection numbers ‘stabilising significantly’
Mark Butler is holding a press conference urging non-government members to vote for the government bill to cut the maximum cost of medications on the PBS by 30%, as well as outlining the new medications being added to the scheme (you can see a list a little further down in the blog).
He was also asked about the monkeypox outbreak and said:
It does appear that new infection numbers are stabilising significantly in the area of monkeypox. The latest data is there’s been 135 infections in total since monkeypox first appeared in Australia.
As people would know, monkeypox is not a virus known to Australia before. There’s about 65,000 new cases that the US Centers for Disease Control – which is monitoring the spread of this virus in non-endemic countries, essentially countries outside of parts of central Africa – about 65,000 cases through North America, South America, UK, Europe and elsewhere; 135 of those are in Australia.
Only about three new cases have been reported over the last seven to 10 days. And the reporting period before that, only five new cases. We can take some confidence those numbers of new infections are stabilising substantially.
As you recall, we were one of the very few countries to be able to negotiate access to the third generation vaccine for monkeypox; 22,000 doses of that vaccine have already been delivered. That’s been now administered in a very productive way in particularly the two major states, but elsewhere as well. And we are due to receive an additional 78,000 doses very shortly. Once those time frames are a little clearer, I’ll provide further advice about second doses.
Parliamentary committee to scrutinise reviews of government grants
Have a story about some previous government grants?
There is a parliamentary committee who want to hear from you.
Four auditor general’s reports relating to grants administration (Building Better Regions; Grants Hubs; Safer Communities; and Commuter Car Parks) will be considered by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit in this inquiry.
The administration of three other grant programs (the Urban Congestion Fund; Regional Growth Fund; and Modern Manufacturing Initiative) as well as the implementation of recommendations in the Committee’s previous report on grants will also be reviewed.
The committee chair, MP Julian Hill, said that parliamentary scrutiny of these programs was important to ensure that future grants programs are administered consistent with the intent of the Commonwealth Grant Rules and guidelines and in line with community expectations.
“The committee will amplify the auditor general’s work, and also examine additional programs of interest administered by the previous government to learn lessons and to try to improve grants administration in the future,” Hill said.
The committee invites submissions to the inquiry addressing the terms of reference to be received by Friday, 28 October 2022. Details of public hearings will be made available on the inquiry website.
Mostafa Rachwani has looked at what reinstating the fuel excise will mean:
New listings on PBS to cut costs of prescription medicines
From October 1, new medications are being listed on the PBS.
From the government statement:
Medicines treating common conditions that will be cheaper for general (non-concessional) patients include:
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Up to half a million patients with stomach ulcers or gastroesophageal reflux disease will pay lower prices for their scripts. Patients can now expect to pay $26.74 per script for esomeprazole 40 mg tablets, a saving of up to $6.84 per script.
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For over 60,000 patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, scripts for quetiapine 200 mg tablets will cost $28.42, a saving of up to $6.22 per script.
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More than 20,000 migraine sufferers and people with epilepsy can now expect to pay $34.90 per script for topiramate 200 mg tablets, a saving of up to $6.63. Similarly, scripts for the antiepileptic drug lamotrigine 200 mg tablets will cost $33.45 which represents a saving of up to $4.66.
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Around 15,000 patients suffering from severe psoriatic arthritis and prescribed leflunomide 20 mg tablets can expect to pay $37.19 per script, a saving of up to $5.31 per script.
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Women using anastrozole to inhibit the progression of breast cancer can now save up to $2.36 per script. Around 13,000 patients per year can now expect to pay $22.07 per script for a 1 mg tablet.
The PBS listing of pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) will be expanded to treat patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Pembrolizumab is an immunotherapy which works by helping the immune system fight certain cancers.
Without subsidy patients can pay more than $135,000 per course of treatment with pembrolizumab. An average of 500 patients per year could benefit from this expanded listing.
Avelumab (Bavencio®) will also be expanded as maintenance treatment for locally advanced (Stage III) or metastatic (Stage IV) urothelial carcinoma, a cancer that affects the bladder or urinary tract.
This expanded listing is expected to benefit 400 patients who would pay more than $106,000 per course of treatment without subsidised access to avelumab.
Decitabine with cedazuridine (Inqovi®) will list for the first time on the PBS to treat myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML).
Without subsidy, Australians would pay more than $43,500 per course of treatment.
The government will also list mecasermin (Increlex®) for the first time to treat children with primary insulin-like growth factor 1 deficiency (Primary IGFD). Children with Primary IGFD are very short for their age because their bodies do not make enough insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).
Without subsidy, families might pay more than $40,500 per year for mecasermin.
Through the PBS, these treatments will cost just $42.50 per script, or $6.80 with a concession card.
NSW government will not provide information to Queensland for land tax purposes, state’s premier says
The NSW government is stepping in to stop the Queensland government from claiming land tax on properties outside of Queensland.
Under the Queensland government’s somewhat complicated proposal, Queensland investors will have to pay land tax on their investment portfolio of properties – so not just what they own in Queensland. So if they own an investment property in Queensland and then a property they live in in NSW, they would have to pay the Qld government tax based on what those two properties are worth together (pushing them into a higher tax break)
As our Queensland correspondent Ben Smee explains it:
Land tax rates are calculated based on an investor’s entire property portfolio, and some people will be pushed into a higher bracket / rate than they were currently because of what they own interstate. But tax is still only payable on Queensland investment properties.
It is a little bit of a mess though – the legislation is based on people owning up to their other properties, although there are penalties if the Qld government finds out you have not been telling the truth.
But the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, is not a fan of the Qld legislation and won’t be providing Queensland with any data that would help them work out a property portfolio’s worth.
This is a tax implemented by a state that impacts the residents of NSW … It is wrong and we are not going to comply with it, so we are not going to provide that information.
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