CANBERRA, Australia — The Reserve Bank of Australia will hold its monthly board meeting faced with a vastly different set of circumstances than when they last gathered early in July. Last month, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe talked about a “positive path” for the economy after recovering from the recession stronger than expected. But four weeks on, the outlook has darkened, with economists now predicting a sharp economic contraction in the September quarter. This is largely the result of the lengthy Covid-19 lockdown in Greater Sydney and regional New South Wales areas. Last month’s lockdowns in the southeastern state, Victoria, and South Australia will…
Author: zenger.news
CANBERRA, Australia — Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned until 70 percent of Australians are vaccinated, it is an economic imperative that governments move fast to get on top of coronavirus cases. Joshua Anthony Frydenberg is an Australian politician who has been federal treasurer and deputy leader of the Liberal Party since August 2018. He has been a Member of Parliament for Kooyong since the 2010 election. “If they do not, we see lengthier and more severe lockdowns which have a much higher economic cost,” he said. The treasurer provided a briefing on Treasury’s modeling in conjunction with the Doherty Institute, which…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australians will be able to make free calls from public payphones across the country under a new Telstra initiative. Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television, and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 and Australia’s largest telecommunications company by market share. Standard national calls and short message service from Telstra’s network of more than 15,000 payphones will be made free from August 3, while payphones will become completely coinless from October 1. “Forget the coins, @jimmyrees darling, haven’t you heard the…
SYDNEY — A turtle is found dead on average every 20 days in a shark net lining beaches in and around Sydney, new data shows. The annual report on 51 shark nets running from the harbor city, Newcastle, to the coastal city, Wollongong, shows 40 of the 375 animals found dead or alive in nets in the latest season were its target species: white, bull, and tiger sharks. It was more common to find southern eagle rays (95), smooth hammerheads (60), and bronze whalers (38). While most rays are released alive, the vast majority of other animals caught were dead by…
DARWIN, Australia — Traditional owners have aimed at the Top End‘s Indigenous representative body, accusing it of abandoning them during gas fracking negotiations. The Northern Land Council is only consulting with malleable native-title holders, who will sign agreements to progress gas development in the Beetaloo Basin, a parliamentary inquiry has been said. “Northern Land Council so far has done nothing for us. If they did something, these wells wouldn’t be on our country in the first place,” said Johnny Wilson, Beetaloo’s traditional owner, in a Senate inquiry into oil and gas exploration and production in the basin. He said some Beetaloo…
Badou Jack was set to avenge what many boxing insiders felt was an unjust split-decision loss to Jean Pascal on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s June 6 exhibition bout against YouTuber Logan Paul. Instead, Jack was notified at the end of May that Pascal had tested positive for several performance-enhancing drugs and the fight was canceled. Jack went on to knock out undefeated late replacement Dervin Colina in the fourth round. Jack has seemingly put Pascal and the light heavyweight division in his review mirror as he prepares to move up to cruiserweight in hopes of capturing his third world…
CANBERRA, Australia — There are fears a parliamentary session that starts on August 3 could bring Covid-19 to the virus-free Australian Capital Territory. Government senate leader Simon Birmingham has defended the Australian parliament’s health safeguards as politicians converge in the capital city of Australia, Canberra, during Covid-19 outbreaks. Parliament is sitting under tight health restrictions, with the public banned from Parliament House and some members of parliament and senators video-linking to debates from their home states. Around 85 members of parliament will be present in the House of Representatives and 45 to 50 senators in the upper house. Senator Birmingham said there…
WASHINGTON — As part of his overall goal of promoting competition to help keep the economy on track, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is pushing for a ban or limits on employers’ non-compete agreements. Three states and the District of Columbia already ban these agreements, while a dozen other states ban their use for low-wage employees. “Roughly half of private-sector businesses require at least some employees to enter non-compete agreements, affecting some 36 to 60 million workers,” states Biden’s July 9 executive order. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivers remarks on the May jobs report at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center…
ADELAIDE, Australia — When Annette Shun Wah signed up as OzAsia Festival’s new artistic director, she looked forward to the travel opportunities that would ensue from curating the Adelaide Festival Centre’s marquee spring event. Wah is a writer, broadcaster, actor, producer, and theater-maker. “Finally, a job where I had to travel internationally and to Asia,” she said. “The whole point of the festival is to foster cultural engagement between Australia and Asia, so you have to be able to go there and see what people are thinking, making, and talking about.” That was March 2020, and she had three months to lock in that year’s…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s federal government will focus on measures to limit damage to the economy as the Delta variant of Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc in the southeastern Australian state, New South Wales, and northeastern state, Queensland. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will, on August 3, introduce to federal parliament a draft law to make changes to the worker and business support. Labor will support the bill if it is consistent with what the government has previously said it would do. It is understood the bill will allow the rollout of national business support payments for those impacted by significant lockdowns and make the…