That's it for today. Thanks for joining us. We'll back tomorrow with more business and finance news.
Until then, take care of yourselves.
That's it for today. Thanks for joining us. We'll back tomorrow with more business and finance news.
Until then, take care of yourselves.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says the privacy commissioner’s determination on Bunnings, released today, creates more confusion and complexity for employers trying to balance Work Health and Safety obligations with the changing privacy act legislation and the evolving issue of consent.
In a statement, ACCI says new technologies can make work safer for employees, and the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) is an important example of how to alert retail employees of the potential risk of customers who have previously acted aggressively while at retail stores or who have stolen goods.
ACCI chief executive officer Andrew McKellar said one of the main objectives of the review of the Privacy Act was to bring the law into the 21st century.
And that means setting the right conditions for using new technology to the advantage of all, including making the workplace safer for employees.
"As ACCI has previously raised, a key issue left unresolved during privacy act reform consultations, is the interplay between ‘consent’ obligations and the actions an employer might take to protect their workers and visitors to the workplace ensuring their duty of care under Work Health and Safety laws," Mr McKellar said.
"Not only is this issue emerging under privacy law, but it is also a key issue being considered as part of artificial intelligence (AI) inquiries and possible regulation.
"We must have certainty on this moving forward if we want businesses to be better equipped to both protect their staff and embrace productivity gains through new tech."
Mr McKellar said businesses like Bunnings that are faced with increasing security concerns had a duty of care to protect their workers and others.
"The actions of Bunnings point to genuine risk mitigation efforts that have been undone by a technicality," Mr McKellar said.
"Businesses looking to protect their staff could rightly be confused by today’s decision.
"We look forward to a Tribunal review outcome which enables clarity for business."
The top performing stock today was TechnologyOne, up 10.05% to $29.45 a share. It was followed by Sonic Healthcare (+6.83%) and Block Inc (+6.25%).
The worst performing stock was Elders, which shed 9.49% to $7.71 a share. It was followed by Neuren Pharmaceuticals (-5.31%) and Pilbara Minerals (-5.18%).
Trading's finished on the ASX today, and the ASX200 index has settled on 8,374 points, up 73.80 points (+0.89%) on yesterday's close.
Kyle Rodd, a senior financial market analyst from Capital.com, had this to say about the behaviour of stocks today.
"The ASX200 experienced an unexpected mini-melt-up to push the index to record highs and above 8,400 points for the first time.
"The index was up by as much as 1.5%, with the move pushing every sector of the market higher.
"Tech stocks surged mostly due to a strong lead from Wall Street, which saw a rebound in US-tech shares. A rally in Technology One shares after it revealed a 15% jump in full year profits padded the day’s returns. Lower yields were also a part of the story and that augurs well for equities across the globe.
"However, the outsized gain by the ASX200 suggests this is a local quirk, with there no obvious impetus for such a powerful and broad-based move.
Cbus says all existing and new directors on the Cbus board have satisfied a "fit and proper persons test" as part of an ongoing independent review being conducted by Deloitte at the direction of APRA (the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority).
It says under Commonwealth law, directors on the boards of superannuation funds such as Cbus have an ongoing obligation to satisfy a "fit and proper persons test" to evaluate whether they have appropriate skills, experience and knowledge, are honest and trustworthy, and have the personal integrity and independence of mind necessary to be effective guardians of members’ savings.
It says after applying the "fit and proper persons test" the Cbus board has now confirmed the appointment of three directors nominated by the CFMEU.
The CFMEU can nominate thre of the 14 positions on the board. Those confirmed are:
Nicole Manison has been hired by Tamboran Resources, a US-owned company operating in the NT with which her former government signed lucrative gas contracts.
The former NT deputy chief minister and mining minister will be Tamboran's new vice-president of government relations and public affairs.
Tamboran is operating in the Beetaloo Basin, a burgeoning fracking hub in the territory outback, which was previously subject to a moratorium by Ms Manison's Labor government.
Our colleague Matt Garrick reports:
And more.
The ABS says Australia tends to have a higher proportion of new houses than other types of dwellings, and this increased further at the start of the pandemic, with approvals increasing 40.2% between 2019-20 to 2020-21.
It says the increase in the proportion of new houses was partly due to shorter lead times qualifying more easily for government stimulus in 2020 than larger apartment buildings, which require longer lead times for developing and commencing construction.
The number of apartments approved were flat from 2019-20 to 2022-23 and fell to just 29,470 approvals (18.1% of total new dwellings) in 2023-24.
This is the lowest number of apartments approved since the 2008-09 financial year, when 21,233 dwellings were approved.
It says this reflects the increasingly challenging conditions for apartment buildings owing to long lead times and high construction costs.
Well we've just had a tense period in the ACCC inquiry with Woolworths CEOs past and present.
The ACCC's barrister Naomi Sharp SC has been trying to get to the heart of the concern voiced by some farmers that they're "price takers" from the major supermarkets.
Sharp went in first to ask former CEO Brad Banducci if farmers were at a disadvantage in price negotiations.
Then she hit the current CEO with the same line of questioning.
Naomi Sharp SC: Is it your evidence that Woolworths does not have superior bargaining power when it comes to price negotiations when it comes to fruit and vegetable suppliers?
Amanda Bardwell: I think as we've shared this morning, we would agree that we play an incredibly important role in the fruit and vegetable market in Australia. And as Brad's just talked to, the reality of the way that that market works at the moment is supply and demand, and we make up roughly 25% of that when it comes to fruit and vege.
Naomi Sharp SC: So does Woolworths have superior bargaining power to fruit and vegetable suppliers when it comes to price negotiations?
Amanda Bardwell: I think we play a very important role but each individual circumstance is different in terms of the context in terms of what might have happened to each indivudal product and weather patterns.
Naomi Sharp SC: I'm not going to leave this question until I get a square answer. Does Woolworths have a superior bargaining position in price negotiations as compared to the suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables?
Amanda Bardwell: We provide the opportunity for fruit and vegetable suppliers to be able to access roughly 25% of total release of supply, which remains 80% of opportunity across a number of other retailers and wholesale markets as well. We play a really important role within that.
Naomi Sharp SC: I appreciate Woolworths plays an important role. But I am asking about your understanding as the CEO of one of the largest single acquirers of fruit and vegetable in this country, does Woolworths have a superior bargaining position?
Amanda Bardwell: I think I've already given my answer to that question.
Unlike another time a Woolworths boss tried to talk around a yes or no question in the Senate, Ms Bardwell wasn't threatened with jail time.
And let's continue.
The ABS says the construction delays led to a large increase in the time from commencement to completion for new houses.
The average new house completion time for Australia increased 50% since September 2019, from 2.2 quarters (6 months, 3 weeks) to 3.3 quarters (9 months, 4 weeks) in June 2024.
Completion times in Western Australia increased the most, from 2.3 quarters (6 months, 4 weeks) in September 2019, to a high of 5.4 quarters (16 months, 1 week) in March 2024.
It says during the pandemic, construction demand increased significantly, coinciding with global supply chain disruptions, rising material and freight costs, and labour shortages.
These all contributed to the increased cost to build new homes.
Many new houses are built with fixed price contracts, where the builder agrees to perform the work for a fixed sum. This meant during 2020-23, many builders had signed fixed price contracts for permits which were approved before demand and costs increased. The nature of these contracts and their impacts on builder margins further contributed to the challenging construction environment and the backlog of houses under construction.
The average cost to build is a lagged indicator of the current construction environment, as it is calculated based on houses which have completed, not those currently under construction.
The average cost of completed homes in Australia has risen from $345,410 in 2019-20 to $443,828 in 2023-24. Across this period, the average annual cost increase was 6.7%.
All states and territories experienced a cost increase over this 5-year period.
The highest growth rate in new house construction costs over this period was in Queensland, increasing from $312,857 in 2019-20 to $450,612 in 2023-24, an average annual increase of 9.9%.
The lowest cost growth rate can be observed in Western Australia, increasing from $316,846 in 2019-20 to $382,044 in 2023-24, an average annual increase of 5.2%. However, WA has the longest completion times of all states and territories which may contribute to a lagged increase in construction costs recorded.
The Bureau of Statistics has published some very good data today that looks at the state of our home building industry.
It says the conditions for residential building in Australia have changed considerably over the past 5 years.
It says following the end of a large expansion of apartment buildings in the mid-2010s, total sector approvals (174,528 dwellings) and commencements (172,959 dwellings) had, by 2019-20, on the eve of the pandemic, declined to their lowest annual level since 2013-14.
But they surged in the second half of the 2020-21 financial year following the introduction of record-low interest rates and government stimulus programs directed at home building.
But since 2020-21, dwelling approvals and commencements have fallen each year, coinciding with increasing interest rates and construction costs.
See the graph below:
It says the surge of commencements in June 2021 created an influx of new houses being built and moving through construction stages at the same time.
This led to competing demand and shortages for the same trades and materials, which caused construction delays.
With projects stalling at various stages of construction, new houses took longer to complete.
Extreme weather events and construction industry insolvencies further added to the construction delays, leading to a bottleneck of houses under construction, which has started to ease through mid-2023.
It says dwellings under construction peaked in March quarter 2023 at 104,315 dwellings, which is 48.4% higher than the pre-pandemic record of 70,306 in June quarter 2018.
Since then, there have been improvements in the trade and material supply, and lower approvals have led to less work in the under-construction pipeline.
The industry has gradually worked through the backlog of houses, resulting in a reduction in the number of private new houses under construction to 87,149 in June 2024.