Category Archives: Business

Victorian government hired KPMG to consult on tobacco changes despite firm’s links to industry

Posted on by

Exclusive: transparency advocates condemn arrangement as ‘appalling’ while health department refuses to say how much consultancy was paid

The Victorian government paid a consultancy firm that has spent decades working for big tobacco to lead the state’s consultation on changes to tobacco and vaping laws, before the process was abandoned.

The state’s health department has repeatedly declined to say how much KPMG was paid for the work this year and did not answer questions about whether the international firm’s long association with big tobacco and its ongoing work for the industry were declared.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Integrity expert says officials should turn down Qantas Chairman’s Lounge memberships

Posted on by

Memberships of the heads of the Reserve Bank and the Productivity Commission further evidence of airline’s soft power among political decision-makers

The incoming Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, and outgoing chair of the Productivity Commission, Michael Brennan, are members of Qantas’s high-end Chairman’s Lounge – an invitation-only perk a top public integrity expert says officials should turn down.

The memberships, contained in the gifts and benefits registers of the agencies, show how the airline has used its soft diplomacy to build relationships in Australia’s most important institutions, including the competition and corporate regulators and aviation safety authority.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Politics live: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she does not believe legacy of colonisation continues to impact Indigenous Australians

Posted on by

Shadow Indigenous affairs minister last spoke at forum alongside Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman in 2016. Follow live news updates today

We’ll be hearing from Michael Long and the Long walkers very soon.

In other news ahead of us, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will give an address to the national press club and then she is down for an event with the Australian newspaper later this afternoon.

[It’s an issue that’s been identified across international media and domestically, but we need to make sure that there are absolutely no loopholes or ability for people to think that they can operate contrary to Australia’s national interest.

And so we’re making sure that our laws clearly identify and make it clear to any veteran to any firm former service personnel to public servants that have worked in defence that we take the integrity of our information, our national security information and training very seriously, and that we are going to properly regulate any work that they do for a foreign military or companies associated with them so that we’re protecting our national interest.

Continue reading...

Brazilian Indigenous group expresses solidarity with voice yes campaign amid fight with BHP

Posted on by

Brazilian Indigenous leaders who are fighting a class action suit against BHP over a tailings dam collapse say they face similar struggles to First Nations Australians

A group of First Nations Brazilians taking on the mining company BHP say a voice to parliament will give Indigenous Australians a critical avenue they were not afforded – the chance to consult.

The delegation is visiting Australia to meet with politicians this week amid their multibillion-dollar class action suit against the Australian mining firm over its role in the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in 2015.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australian economy adds 65,000 jobs in August, raising prospect of further rate hikes

Posted on by

Unemployment rate remains steady at 3.7% in a sign that the economy could avoid a hard landing as impact of 12 interest rate rises is felt by households

Employers hired almost 65,000 more workers in August, many more than expected, improving the prospects that the economy will avoid a hard landing but also raising the possibility the Reserve Bank may hike interest rates again.

The unemployment rate last month was 3.7%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Economists had forecast the economy would add 25,000 jobs in August, which would have left the jobless rate at July’s reported level of 3.7%.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

New £1bn government upgrade to plug Great Britain’s draughtiest homes

Posted on by

Households could save £400 a year on energy bills via means-tested insulation scheme

Households could save up to £400 a year on energy bills under a new means-tested scheme to insulate more than 300,000 of Great Britain’s draughtiest homes.

The government is spending £1bn on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands.

Continue reading...

US inflation in August rose to 3.7% amid sharp increase in energy prices

Posted on by

Growth in prices still remains far below the decades-high inflation rates that were seen last summer, when rate peaked at 9.1% in June

US inflation in August rose for the first time since June 2022, rising to 3.7% as a sharp increase in energy prices pushed prices up toward the end of the summer.

Growth in prices still remains far below the decades-high inflation rates that were seen last summer, when the rate peaked at 9.1% in June. Still, an increase in inflation means the US economy is further from the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2% and will likely make officials consider pushing interest rates up later this year.

Continue reading...

Unity seeks to clarify new game engine charges amid outrage from developers

Posted on by

Games creators attack the fees, due for implementation in 2024, as company executive dials back on initial plan

Tech company Unity has sought to clarify its decision to charge a controversial new fee to game developers. A blogpost on its official site last night announced the company would be introducing a “runtime fee”, which would require developers to pay a fixed sum each time a game built using the Unity Engine was installed by a player.

Unity stipulated that the fee would only be chargeable after a game made $200,000 (£160,000) in 12 months and had at least 200,000 lifetime game installs, but developers nevertheless vented outrage on social media.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson made to ‘look like a chump’ as ex-aide shuns Tories in Lords

Posted on by

Dan Rosenfield decides to sit as independent after being nominated by former PM in resignation honours list

Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield has decided not to sit on the Conservative benches following his elevation to the Lords in a move that has outraged some Tories, with one saying it made the former prime minister “look like a chump”.

Rosenfield, a former Treasury official, was one of several ex-aides nominated in June for peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list.

Continue reading...

Calls for Starbucks boycott grow amid aggressive union-busting activities

Posted on by

Boycott would aim to use consumer power to pressure company to negotiate its first union contract

Calls for a consumer boycott of Starbucks are growing amid mounting criticism of the coffee chain’s aggressive union-busting activities.

A boycott, supporters say, would aim to use consumer power to pressure Starbucks to stop its union-busting and illegal actions and to finally negotiate its first union contract.

Continue reading...

Women’s World Cup fuelled uptick in Australian household spending last month, CommBank data shows

Posted on by

Increase in nominal spending contrasts with other recent surveys showing consumer confidence was languishing at depressed levels

Spending on the Fifa Women’s World Cup and a jump in education, insurance and petrol outlays nudged national spending higher last month, according to CommBank data capturing the spending of about 7m households.

The household spending insights index picked up 0.7% to 137 in August. Compared with a year earlier, the index was up 2.3%, improving from the 1.9% annual rise in July.

Continue reading...

Poundland moves to buy 71 Wilko sites with possible jobs guarantee for staff

Posted on by

PwC says owner plans to reopen stores under Poundland brand throwing lifeline to as many as 1,800 staff

Poundland is to acquire up to 71 Wilko sites that it intends to reopen under its own brand in a deal that could throw a lifeline to some of the about 1,800 staff who will lose their jobs at the stricken retailer.

Under the deal struck by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with Poundland’s parent company Pepco, the sites will be acquired only after all 408 Wilko stores are shut and more than 12,000 staff made redundant.

Continue reading...

The owner of Bunnings and Kmart is now in the prescriptions business, raising fears over patient data

Posted on by

Doctors and pharmacists concerned that Wesfarmers’ acquisition of InstantScripts could end the notion that ‘health data is sacrosanct’

The integration of a controversial online doctor service alongside Bunnings, Kmart and hundreds of pharmacies in the Wesfarmers portfolio has raised concerns among medical practitioners about potential risks to patient data security.

InstantScripts sprang to prominence during the pandemic, offering an alternative to the GP by generating prescriptions via an online form that was then remotely checked by a doctor. The business covers 300 low-risk drugs that patients can either pick up from a pharmacist or get delivered directly to their home.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

ACCC delays decision on Coles buying milk processing plants from Saputo

Posted on by

Dairy farmers warn the deal could reduce competition and lead to lower prices for producers

The Australian consumer watchdog has delayed its decision on the acquisition by supermarket giant Coles of two major milk processing facilities, which dairy farmers warn would further reduce competition and lower milk prices.

In April, Coles announced it had purchased two fresh milk processing plants from dairy processor Saputo for $105m, subject to regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

UK ‘mortgage meltdown’ looms amid ‘terrifying’ growth in arrears

Posted on by

Jump in borrowers unable to make payments with landlords particularly hit and ‘worse to come’

Mortgage arrears jumped by 13% in the second quarter of the year to the highest level since 2016, according to Bank of England figures that underscore the stress in the UK mortgage market.

Rising interest rates and unemployment over recent months have put pressure on household disposable incomes, forcing some families to cut or suspend their monthly mortgage payments.

Continue reading...

Sarah Burton to leave fashion house Alexander McQueen after two decades

Posted on by

The brand’s creative director shot to international fame for creating the Princess of Wales’s wedding dress

Sarah Burton, the creative director of Alexander McQueen who designed the Princess of Wales’s wedding dress, is leaving the fashion house after more than two decades.

In a statement released on Monday, Kering, the brand’s parent company, announced that its show on the 30 September during Paris fashion week will be Burton’s last.

Continue reading...

Coalition and employers back David Pocock over splitting contentious industrial relations bill

Posted on by

ACT senator wants to move forward with workers’ compensation for PTSD and banning discrimination against employees experiencing domestic violence

Employer groups and the Coalition have backed calls from David Pocock to split Labor’s industrial relations bill and deal with uncontentious parts this year, including workers’ compensation and discrimination law reforms.

The influential crossbencher is considering moving a private senator’s bill to move forward with provisions improving access to workers compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder in the ACT as a priority.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Soft landings, sticky inflation: a top economist on key challenges for Australia and the world

Posted on by

S&P Global’s chief economist Paul Gruenwald believes interest rates will stay elevated for some time

Soft landings, sticky inflation, the dash to decarbonise and great power rivalry including the emergence of India are among subjects exercising Paul Gruenwald, S&P Global’s chief economist.

New York-based Gruenwald, whose career includes stints at the International Monetary Fund and ANZ, was speaking ahead of an economists’ briefing in Sydney on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Politics live: James Paterson calls for security vetting of Australian parliament staff in wake of UK espionage scandal

Posted on by

Shadow home affairs minister calls for extra checks ‘at the very least for MPs who work on sensitive committees’. Follow today’s live news updates

Ley defends pharmacists’ opposition to 60-day dispensing rule for prescriptions

The interview then gets to the issue of pharmacists and the change the government made to allow for 60-day dispensing (two-for-one prescriptions) which will save chronically ill patients up to $180 a year (as well as money on less trips to the doctor, travel etc.) but will cost pharmacists up to $150,000 a year (from the fourth year of the change) in lost dispensing fees (plus people buying fewer ‘incidentals’ such as jelly beans).

I’ve been in contact with many pharmacists over recent weeks, including those who left their businesses and assembled here a couple of weeks ago and I really am concerned about the impact this policy change is going to have.

I’m hearing [about] pharmacies who are already laying off staff. They’re already letting people go and most importantly, they can’t continue to provide the previously free support services that they used to …

Because they’ve told me.

Because if the government has changed the contract it has with pharmacy and is paying them less, they have to change their business in response. It’s as simple as that.

I would like to absolutely recognise the contribution she has made. She has been a trailblazer for our party. She has changed national politics and I have seen the work that she’s done over many years, much of it very modest, very behind the scenes, very in community.

So people often think of her as a defence and foreign affairs minister. I’ve seen her as a local champion for Western Sydney, and disadvantaged people across this country, and I have yeah, I mean, I’ll be really sad to see her go.

Always standing up for Australia’s national interest and a safer, stronger region. It’s as simple as that.

I think we did extremely good work with the Solomon Islands and, indeed, with the Pacific and people are looking at this through the lens of Covid and suggesting that we could have done more when, in fact, travel was an impossibility. I think that issue is well and truly being put to bed.

Continue reading...

Former rubbish dump in Essex becomes UK’s third largest solar farm

Posted on by

Ockendon solar farm to generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 15,000 homes


The largest solar farm in Europe to be built on a closed landfill site has begun generating renewable electricity from a former rubbish dump in Essex.

The Ockendon solar farm, the third largest in the UK, includes more than 100,000 solar modules covering 70 hectares (173 acres) of land.

Continue reading...