Morning Headlines

Higher rates, taxes crunch consumers

Rising mortgage repayments and an increasing income tax take have crunched household budgets and consumer spending, as lower commodity prices and falling productivity squeeze corporate profits and national income. The Fin

Dutton targets King over Qantas as ‘evasive’ in a ‘murky situation’

Transport Minister Catherine King says she does not recall being lobbied by former Qantas boss Alan Joyce before she blocked more Qatar Airways flights, which the Coalition says commercially benefited Qantas. The Fin

Bendigo puts $1 billion Homesafe on the block

Regional banking player Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has been seeking to offload a key unit, its $950 million Homesafe business. The Fin

Mining, the industry at transition’s heart

Resources Minister Madeleine King jokes she plans to steal one of the Minerals Council of Australia’s slogans: ‘‘Before it was yours, it was mined.’’ But she warns the mining industry it must do much more to promote its importance to our standard of living and way of life. The Fin

New ‘power of one’ gift for unions

Contentious new rights for union delegates to intervene in work- places where they have as few as one or two members risked inserting “a union presence into every workplace in Australia”, employers have warned. The Aus

English speakers top WFH ladder

Australians, along with counter- parts from other English-speaking countries, lead the world in working-from-home rates, far ahead of our economic peers in Europe and Asia. The Aus

Housing crisis costs city $10bn a year

Sydney now ranks as the world’s second least affordable major housing market after Hong Kong, having overtaken London, Amsterdam and Toronto in the past decade, with a damning new report claiming the “chronic housing crisis” is costing the city’s economy $10bn a year. The Aus

BGC class action

Angry BGC Housing Group customers are set to launch a class action against the builder against chronic delays and contractual breaches. Omni Bridgeway, which describes itself as a global leader in litigation financing, has agreed to fund the legal action. The West

Climate fears put youth on red alert

New figures have laid bare the enormous impact of eco-anxiety on young Australians, with more than half fearful of their future because of the effects of climate change. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 3: NSW’s largest miners have demanded the Minns government speed up approvals and be more transparent over planning decisions if it is to restore investment certainty after imposing a $2.7 billion coal royalty tax hike.

Page 4: Labor’s new Productivity Commission boss has previously backed slashing defence spending, increasing the GST to 15 per cent, redesigning the stage three tax cuts, including the family home in the aged pension asset test and rolling back generous superannuation tax concessions.

Page 5: A new economic blueprint to bolster two-way trade between Australia and South-East Asian nations is as critical for national and regional security as it is for business prosperity, the Albanese government says.

Page 5: Resources Minister Madeleine King says tax breaks for critical mineral projects and lithium processing are ‘‘on the table’’, as the government seeks to compete with the United States and allied nations for international investment.

Page 6: The method regulators use to measure competition in Australia’s aviation market reveals it is highly uncompetitive – and a far cry from Albanese government claims it is the most competitive in the world, new analysis shows.

Page 8: Labor will come under pressure from the Greens to give workers the right to block their bosses’ calls and ignore emails as part of tense negotiations over the government’s latest round of industrial relations changes.

Page 8: Labor’s new definition of a casual worker reopens a path for backpay claims in mining, construction, IT and hospitality, says a lawyer who led a wave of class actions on behalf of more than 80,000 regular casuals in 2018.

Page 13: The need to build huge amounts of extra electricity transmission capacity worldwide is threatening to become a serious bottleneck in many countries’ push towards renewable energy, consultancy firm BCG has warned.

Page 15: Albemarle chief executive Kent Masters says the US battery chemical giant is already eyeing the need for a new lithium hydroxide plant as part of its $6.6 billion takeover of Liontown Resources.

Page 17: Global private equity giant TPG’s Australian pathology business, TissuPath, has suffered a data breach with a decade’s worth of patient request forms being released on the dark web.

Page 17: Less than a year since returning to banking, Julian Peck, JPMorgan’s head of investment banking for Australia and New Zealand, helped Albemarle draft an offer of $6.6 billion for local lithium player Liontown Resources on Monday; on Tuesday, JPMorgan put pens down on a $US4.75 billion ($7.4 billion) bond sale supporting BHP’s $9.6 billion acquisition of OZ Minerals; and the US bank advised gold miner Newcrest on its $26.6 billion agreement with peer Newmont Mining earlier this year.

Page 18: South Korean power companies say they are preparing to sue Australian laboratory giant ALS over claims of fake-coal testing, and are also considering action against miners.

Page 18: Woodside Energy will kick off seismic testing today for its delayed offshore Scarborough gas project, despite two ongoing legal actions filed in court challenging a regulator’s decision to approve the work.

Page 19: National Australia Bank plans to cut 222 jobs in the personal lending, technology, corporate finance and client coverage departments.

Page 25: Universal Music has struck a deal to reshape the economics of music streaming, with changes aimed at directing more money to professional musicians and away from a ‘‘sea of noise’’ that chief executive Lucian Grainge has criticised this year.

Page 27: The Aussie dollar slipped 0.1 per cent to US63.84¢ yesterday after falling as far as US63.56¢ as the market shrugged off gross domestic product data that beat forecasts and reinforced expectations of a soft economic landing. The currency hit US63.55¢ on Tuesday, the lowest since November.

Page 27: In a move that risks a fresh inflationary impetus for the global economy, Saudi Arabia will continue its unilateral production cutback of 1 million barrels a day until December, according to a statement on the state-run press agency. The move will hold output at about 9 million barrels a day, the lowest level in several years, for six months in total.

Page 29: The threat of the fixed-rate mortgage reset sparking widespread distressed selling has somewhat abated, but rising unemployment is emerging as an even bigger risk to house prices, says Mark Bouris, money guru and chairman of Yellow Brick Road.

The Australian

Page 6: Australia’s Covid hangover is lingering as life satisfaction remains lower and psychological distress higher than before 2020, a new report has found.

Page 8: Starting in 2024, Venice will make day trippers pay €5 to get into the city on 30 of the busiest days in the year in an attempt to curb crowds that are making life unbearable for residents.

Page 15: New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hud- son has ordered her senior leaders to focus on fixing pain points and delivering quick wins as immediate priorities after a horror week that saw her predecessor Alan Joyce depart the airline early.

Page 17: BHP chief executive Mike Henry says the mining giant is tracking well in reaching female leadership targets, but is rolling out a new “third wave” of training to try and cut the level of sexual harassment and improve workplace conduct.

Page 17: Gas production from Victoria’s offshore gas fields plummeted by more than a third in the second quarter of 2023 to the lowest level since 2002, consultancy EnergyQuest said.

Page 18: Wesfarmers has revamped its customer loyalty program, stepping up the fight against the tech giants and other retailers chasing online sales in the lead-up to the peak pre-Christmas trading period.

Page 18: Development of hydrogen as a fuel source could be a catalyst to new industries emerging in Australia, but only if the government seizes the opportunities, Australian Industry Group head will warn.

Page 18: More than 20 Australian mining companies including Paladin, Deep Yellow Limited and Bannerman Energy are already present in uranium-rich Namibia, but the country, like its African neigh- bours, wants to expand into other economy-boosting activities.

Page 18: A major consultancy firm will receive almost $1.2m in taxpayers’ money for eight weeks work to provide economic analysis for the Albanese government’s plans to reduce emissions.

The West Australian

Page 18: Trade Minister Don Farrell has officially proposed suspending Australia’s wine complaint against China in exchange for a review on punitive tariffs, but is yet to hear back.

Page 22: The cost-of-living crisis has been laid bare in a new report that shows nearly 60 per cent of Australian familiesare struggling to make ends meet.

Page 38: Mine safety experts say deaths on site are not improving and, despite the best efforts of industry, change will not occur without more companies encouraging the flow of bad news.

Page 38: Shell is exploring a number of liquefied natural gas export projects in North America and Africa as the company expects strong demand for the fuel during the energy transition.

Page 38: The Perth Mint continues to post disappointing sales figures with one senior manager chalking up another lacklustre month to unfavourable tax changes affecting German buyers and a reduction in US demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Page 39: Lithium junior Azure Minerals says it will close an oversubscribed share purchase plan early after receiving applications exceeding its $10 million target.

Page 40: The world’s second largest iron ore miner Vale said the outlook for China’s steel-intensive property sector is “more encouraging” despite uncertainties, and reiterated its long-term view of the global steel market remains intact.