Category Archives: Business

Nicola Forrest to become Australia’s second richest woman after split from billionaire Andrew Forrest

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Pair say decision to live apart will have no impact on their shared business interests and philanthropy

Australia’s wealthiest couple Andrew and Nicola Forrest have separated after more than three decades of marriage, but they say the split will not affect their shared business or philanthropic interests.

Most of their wealth comes from a more than one-third stake in iron ore miner Fortescue, which is attempting to diversify into hydrogen production.

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CEOs at Australia’s biggest companies earn 55 times more than typical worker, report finds

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Acsi says earnings at 100 largest listed firms show ‘more restraint’ but ‘everyone wins a prize’ attitude still prevails

Chief executives at Australia’s biggest companies are earning 55 times more than a typical worker, according to the country’s biggest governance adviser.

CEO pay at the 100 largest listed firms averaged at $5.2m in the 2022 financial year, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (Acsi) said in a new report. The report found executive pay fell from 2021 levels, but noted that period had particularly high CEO pay rates.

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US vinyl sales up 21.7% for first half of 2023, report finds

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Vinyl boom continues with another major leap and Taylor Swift’s Midnights leading the pack

Vinyl sales in the US are up 21.7% for the first half of 2023 over the same period last year, according to a new music industry report.

The vinyl resurgence is itself not new – 2022 marked the 17th consecutive year that sales of vinyl records rose, according to Luminate’s music midyear report. But the growth rate this year has reassured experts that the vinyl market did not hit a natural plateau after surging during the pandemic, which caused a 108% increase in 2021.

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Ladbrokes adverts banned for attracting under-18s with football managers

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Advertising Standards Authority rules against two promoted tweets featuring Premier League coaches

The advertising watchdog has banned two adverts run by the sports betting business Ladbrokes for appealing to under-18s by featuring well-known Premier League managers including Frank Lampard and Eddie Howe.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation into the two promoted tweets, published in January and February, after concerns that the use of images of managers of top flight teams would break UK rules banning ads that have a “strong appeal” to young people under 18 years old.

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Financial firms must boost protections against AI scams, UK regulator to warn

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Financial Conduct Authority chief to highlight risks of ‘deepfake’ fraud as well as benefits of Artificial Intelligence

The head of the UK’s financial regulator is to warn that banks, investors and insurers will have to ramp up their spending to combat scammers using artificial intelligence to commit fraud.

Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will say that there are risks of “cyber fraud, cyber-attacks and identity fraud increasing in scale and sophistication and effectiveness” as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more widespread, in a speech in London on Wednesday.

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China delays decision on Australian barley tariffs in setback on resolving trade disputes

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Exclusive: The Albanese government says it is ‘disappointed’ Beijing’s review couldn’t be completed in the initial three months

China has asked for an extra month to decide whether to scrap hefty tariffs on Australian barley, dashing hopes of an imminent breakthrough in one of the biggest trade disputes between the two countries.

The Albanese government said it was disappointed by the delay, and warned that it was ready to revive its case at the global trade umpire, the World Trade Organization, if Beijing doesn’t scrap the measure by August.

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UK pay growth hits record 7.3%, despite calls for wage restraint from Bailey and Hunt – business live

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Basic pay rises at joint-fastest rate on record, protecting workers from soaring inflation but adding to pressure on Bank of England

Bloomberg agrees that the Bank of England will not be pleased by today’s jobs report, saying:

UK wage growth held at a level that Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said is fueling inflation, maintaining pressure for higher interest rates.

Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses held at 7.3% in the three months through May after figures for the period through April were revised up, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.

“These figures are another dismal reflection of the Tories’ mismanagement of the economy over the last thirteen years.

“Britain is the only G7 country with a lower employment rate than before the pandemic and real wages have fallen yet again – just as more and more families feel the devastating impact of the Tory mortgage bombshell.

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Record UK pay growth adds to pressure for interest rate rise

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Jeremy Hunt and Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey call for wage restraint to help curb inflation

Wages increased at a faster rate than expected in May, putting pressure on the Bank of England to push up the cost of borrowing at its next meeting in August.

Earnings growth hit 7.3%, driven by the strongest rise in private sector pay growth outside the pandemic period of 7.7%, the Office for National Statistics said.

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Controversial Sydney developer goes into administration as police search for owner Jean Nassif

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Administrator appointed to Toplace a month after arrest warrant issued for Nassif

A major Sydney development firm owned by accused fraudster and fugitive Jean Nassif has gone into administration.

Records filed with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission show an administrator was appointed to his company, Toplace Pty Ltd, on Monday.

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London Underground train drivers to join strikes in late July

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Aslef union announces industrial action on 26 and 28 July to coincide with tube strike by RMT members

London Underground drivers will strike on Wednesday 26 July and Friday 28 July in a dispute over pensions and working conditions, the Aslef union has announced.

The latest industrial action will coincide with previously announced strikes by RMT members who work on the capital’s tube network, causing more disruption for commuters and tourists.

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Nuclear option to the fore as Tories prepare to unveil roadmap to net zero

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Energy security secretary Grant Shapps will this week outline plans for Britain’s atomic power’s renaissance and 2050 emissions commitment

In London’s Science Museum sit full-size turbine engines that tell the story of 300 years of steam power. This week, the museum will play host to the government’s dreams for a new industrial renaissance – this time for nuclear energy.

The secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Grant Shapps, has chosen the venue to set out his ambitions for the UK’s nuclear programme. He is expected to illuminate the path towards the government’s existing commitment to build 24 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity – the equivalent of a quarter of Britain’s total generating capacity – by 2050.

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UK tax cuts unlikely before election, says Jeremy Hunt

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Chancellor calls on firms to tackle high prices as government remains far from pledge of halving inflation to 5%

Jeremy Hunt has said he must “double down” on high prices after admitting a package of pre-election tax cuts this autumn was looking unlikely.

The government would not make moves to “pump billions of additional demand” into the economy, the chancellor added.

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PwC to repay $800,000 for work on robodebt after damning royal commission report

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Embattled consulting firm also reveals it no longer employs partner involved in work on the scheme for the Department of Human Services

The consulting firm PwC will repay more than $800,000 it pocketed for work it completed on the robodebt scheme and has confirmed a partner involved in the work is no longer employed by the embattled company.

The firm’s acting CEO, Kristin Stubbins, confirmed that it would repay the $853,859 it was paid by the Department of Human Services to review the scheme.

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UK house prices fall at fastest annual rate since 2011, says Halifax

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Average price of property drops by 2.6% year on year in June as mortgage rates climb

UK house prices experienced their biggest annual fall in 12 years, according to Halifax, the latest sign that soaring interest rates on mortgages is bringing a halt to the housing boom.

The average price of a UK home tumbled 2.6% year on year last month, the largest annual decrease the lender has reported since June 2011, a significant acceleration from the 1.1% decline record in May.

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Older UK workers who retired early in pandemic were ‘forced into poverty’

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Thinktank challenges view that those taking early retirement under Covid were relatively well off

Half of older adults who left the UK workforce amid mass redundancies in the first year of the Covid pandemic ended up falling into relative poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Britain’s foremost economics thinktank said job losses during the early stages of the crisis, coupled with the additional health risks faced by older workers, were likely to have forced many people into early retirement.

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Robodebt royal commission report handed down – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Bill Shorten: robodebt commission report will be a ‘vindication’ for victims and their families

The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, says today “is a vindication” for victims of the robodebt scandal with the royal commission report being handed down. He told ABC’s RN this morning:

The heart of this story today is the fact that real people unlawfully had debt notices … raised against them by the most powerful institution in Australia, the commonwealth government.

Two of these people, after receiving robodebt notices, subsequently took their own lives that I’m aware of.

Today is not the day [their mothers] want. What they really want is their sons to be alive.

One of the challenges we’re seeing across the country is great teacher shortages … COVID brought that timetable forward.

Classrooms are more complex, there is a great diversity of needs across the classroom, and as society changes a lot of teachers and education ministers are testifying about the impact of technology in classrooms.

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London Underground staff to take week of industrial action at end of July

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‘Rolling action’ by RMT members between 23 and 28 July likely to cause widespread disruption across capital

London Underground staff will take industrial action over a week at the end of July, spelling widespread transport disruption in the capital.

Members of the RMT union will take “rolling action” between Sunday 23 July and Friday 28 July. The RMT said there would be no strike on Monday 24, with staff in different sections and grades halting work on different shifts on each of the other days.

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PwC Australia allegedly provided confidential tax law information to Google

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Google, the first of the firm’s customers directly linked to the tax scandal, was not told the information was confidential and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the company

PwC Australia allegedly provided Google confidential information about the start date of a new tax law leaked from Australian government tax briefings, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

This is the first time a company has been directly linked to the national scandal involving the “big four” accounting firm that was revealed in January.

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UPS workers edge closer to strike as talks break down with shipping giant

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A strike has already been authorized by union members – who number 340,000 – should negotiations for a new contract fail

UPS workers moved closer to their first strike action in 27 years on Wednesday after the Teamsters Union said United Parcel Service “walked away” from negotiations over a new contract. The shipping giant denied the claim, lobbing its own accusation that the union had stopped negotiating.

The two sides traded salvoes in early morning statements even as they attempted to come to an agreement to prevent a strike when the current contract, which covers about 340,000 workers, expires at the end of the month.

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Former KPMG partner urges royal commission into consulting industry following damning report into PwC scandal

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Whistleblower tells Senate inquiry into federal government’s use of consultants that ‘self-regulation is failing’ across the industry

A former KPMG partner turned whistleblower has urged the federal government to consider a royal commission into the consulting industry and to formally ban firms that breach legal and ethical standards.

In late 2021, Brendan Lyon told a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry that he was pressured to amend his work, which found the state’s budget was $10bn worse off than Treasury claimed.

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