Morning Headlines

Jobs subsidy plan to bust recession

Wage subsidies to prevent small and medium businesses laying off workers are being actively considered as part of the government’s multibillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package. The Fin

Resources industry on notice over quarantine

Unions have put the resources industry on notice about quarantine conditions for workers returning from overseas and other emergency plans to contain coronavirus on the eve of a summit involving mining and oil and gas heavyweights operating out of Western Australia. The Fin

Perenti still best bet to buy Downer’s mining division, but talks crawl

Diversified mining services company Perenti Global is understood to be still in talks with Downer about an acquisition of its mining business after final bids were due last month. The Aus

Senate questions PwC report on underpayments

PwC has been accused by the Fair Work Ombudsman of sharing ‘‘misleading’’ and ‘‘inaccurate’’ data about the extent of the underpayment crisis facing corporate Australia, casting doubt on the firm’s data-crunching capability, which is core to its consulting work. The Fin

Exodus leaves tourism on rocks

Australia faces an “unprecedented” fall in international visitor arrivals from key countries as the coronavirus outbreak feeds a record number of holiday cancellations and a 36 per cent fall in bookings since December. The Fin

Carbon offsets boost the key to target

Major corporations and state governments face a mammoth task in living up to their promises to achieve zero net emissions, with 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide currently emitted into the atmosphere for every one tonne captured through Australia’s carbon offset projects. The Aus

Chinese back Rio ore mine in Africa

A giant “Pilbara-killer” iron ore deposit in Guinea could be moving closer to development, amid reports the Chinese government is preparing to back the $US20bn ($30.2bn) development of the Simandou deposit, part-owned by Rio Tinto. The Aus

Economy was weak pre-virus

Sections of Australia’s economy were weak before the coronavirus outbreak, leaving vulnerable areas such as non-mining investment particularly exposed to the looming COVID-19 economic fallout, Treasury has revealed. The West

Shell-shocked abalone venture defers harvest

Augusta-based Ocean Grown Abalone has revealed it is harvesting less than half its usual volume, as the world comes to grips with coronavirus. The West

OPEC to slash oil production

The oil-producing countries of the OPEC cartel are considering slashing output to contain a plunge in prices that has been worsened by concerns about the coronavirus outbreak’s disruption to the world economy. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Wage subsidies to prevent small and medium businesses laying off workers are being actively considered as part of the government’s multibillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package.

Page 3: A national inquiry has recommended new powers to investigate workplaces over sexual harassment and new orders to stop employees sexually harassing their co-workers.

Page 4: A union peak body has called for employer groups as well as unions to audit businesses over underpayments as part of a crackdown on the ‘‘wage theft epidemic’’.

Scott Morrison has raised the prospect of beating Labor’s target of net zero emissions by 2050 without actually mandating it.

Page 6: PwC has been accused by the Fair Work Ombudsman of sharing ‘‘misleading’’ and ‘‘inaccurate’’ data about the extent of the underpayment crisis facing corporate Australia, casting doubt on the firm’s data-crunching capability, which is core to its consulting work.

Page 8: The federal government is monitoring the security of Australia’s supply of prescription drugs and other medicines amid growing concerns that it, too, may be affected by the coronavirus disruption.

Page 9: First it was toilet paper and hand sanitiser – now Australia’s largest retailer is rationing packets of rice as panic hoarding by shoppers alarmed about the growing coronavirus crisis clears supermarket shelves.

Page 10: Unions have put the resources industry on notice about quarantine conditions for workers returning from overseas and other emergency plans to contain coronavirus on the eve of a summit involving mining and oil and gas heavyweights operating out of Western Australia.

Page 11: The Morrison government has cancelled its Festival of Australia business week in China because of the spread of the coronavirus.

Page 17: Coles, Costco and Aldi have followed Woolworths’ lead and rationed toilet paper after panic buying triggered by the coronavirus crisis, with the hysteria underlined by police tasering a man after an incident in the toilet paper aisle of the Tamworth Big W.

Page 19: Myer will buttress itself against the coronavirus by ramping up online sales and luring customers into stores with tactical discounting while continuing to slash costs and shrink floor space.

Page 21: The Port of Brisbane has warned of a ‘‘significant economic impact’’ from the spread of COVID-19 as Australian transport and logistics groups claim they are struggling to pay bills due to falling imports of containerised goods.

Page 22: TPG Telecom has upgraded its 2020 full-year earnings guidance by $35 million on the back of softer NBN headwinds, in what is likely to be its final set of results before merging with Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

The BBC and ITV are set to add their arsenal of programming to Australia’s streaming wars with the launch of a subscription video-on-demand joint venture later in 2020.

The Australian

Page 1: Australia faces an “unprecedented” fall in international visitor arrivals from key countries as the coronavirus outbreak feeds a record number of holiday cancellations and a 36 per cent fall in bookings since December.

Page 2: The Federal Circuit Court does not have enough judges to get through a massive backlog of migration cases, with the Law Council of Australia’s president warning that the “strain, delay and frustration will continue” unless more appointments are made.

Page 4: Major corporations and state governments face a mammoth task in living up to their promises to achieve zero net emissions, with 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide currently emitted into the atmosphere for every one tonne captured through Australia’s carbon offset projects.

Page 7: Doctors and nurses fear they will be forced to confront a viral pandemic with a scant supply of protective equipment while GPs say they are “dangerously” under-resourced.

Page 22: Diversified mining services company Perenti Global is understood to be still in talks with Downer about an acquisition of its mining business after final bids were due last month.

Page 23: Tabcorp is skipping lower jackpots as it aims to create more excitement and sales around larger prize pools.

Page 24: A giant “Pilbara-killer” iron ore deposit in Guinea could be moving closer to development, amid reports the Chinese government is preparing to back the $US20bn ($30.2bn) development of the Simandou deposit, part-owned by Rio Tinto.

The West Australian

Page 5: Premier Mark McGowan will not be represented at a coronavirus summit today being attended by the State’s biggest mining, oil and gas companies.

Page 7: There are calls for WA to secure early supplies of the flu vaccine to mitigate the risk of people being hit by a double-whammy of the flu and coronavirus at the same time.

Page 50: Mike Bloomberg has quit the Democrats’ White House race after spending more than $750 million to win the most votes in a single territory.

Business: Augusta-based Ocean Grown Abalone has revealed it is harvesting less than half its usual volume, as the world comes to grips with coronavirus.

Former Future Fund boss Mark Burgess has warned the coronavirus crisis threatens to end a four-decade easy streak for investment managers and hard yakka could be here to stay.

Sections of Australia’s economy were weak before the coronavirus outbreak, leaving vulnerable areas such as non-mining investment particularly exposed to the looming COVID-19 economic fallout, Treasury has revealed.

Myer is undertaking a major overhaul of its womenswear division as it looks to better differentiate its private-label brands and roll-out a more basic, affordable offering.

The oil-producing countries of the OPEC cartel are considering slashing output to contain a plunge in prices that has been worsened by concerns about the coronavirus outbreak’s disruption to the world economy.