Weekly Update 12.08.22

Parliamentary Update:

• Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers has commenced roundtable meetings in preparation for the Jobs & Skills Summit, holding meetings in Central Queensland and the Sunshine Coast this week. The ACTU has generated public discussion on its summit proposals, which reference the charter of the RBA and other economic policies.
• The Albanese Government has released a discussion paper for public consultation on multinational tax integrity and transparency. Submissions close on 2 September 2022.
• Small Business Minister Julie Collins and Dr Andrew Leigh wrote an op-ed on Unfair Contract Terms legislation that was published in The Australian.

Economic Update:

• Household spending rose 10.2% in June, 2022. COVID-impacted industries (transport, hotels, cafes and restaurants, and clothing and footwear) have now returned to pre-pandemic levels. Strong growth was seen in spending on hotels, cafes and restaurants (up 17.1%), clothing and footwear (up 16.3%) and recreation and culture (up 15.5%).
• The ABS released its Monthly Business Turnover indicator. In the year to June, 2022, rises were seen across all published industries. Mining (42.3%) and electricity, gas, water and waste services (39.7%) registered the biggest change.
• The Chinese mortgage securities market has fallen 92%, a ripple effect of record defaults by developers, as owners of unfinished homes boycott mortgage payments. New-home sales plunged 32% in the first half of 2022, according to government data.
• The ABS released building approvals statistics: total dwellings approved fell 0.7%. The value of non-residential building fell 6.1%. Private sector houses approved rose 1.2%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 5.7%.
• The Productivity Commission’s 5-Year Productivity Inquiry outlines a drop in productivity. Australia has slipped down the productivity rankings (the slowest growth in 60 years), with Australia’s service sector (employing almost 90% of workers) less productive than our goods sector.

Regulatory Update:

• The CPI will now be monthly. “The ABS intends to publish the first standalone monthly CPI Indicator publication in October, alongside the regular quarterly CPI release.” An Information Paper will be released next week, with data from 2018 to June 2022.
• ASIC will investigate its breach reporting regime – ASIC Commissioner Sean Hughes said, ‘We are aware that the regime has led to a number of implementation challenges.” – after an explosion of irregular breach reports.
• Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has announced the commencement of a review of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Industry Funding Model (IFM). Terms of Reference.
• The Assistant Treasurer has also asked Treasury to develop a consultation paper (commencing soon) on options to streamline the education requirements for financial advisers.

Communications:

• The ABA’s national anti-scams campaign is entering its final weeks, with an encouraging uptick in the ratio of payments made to PayIDs.
• ABA CEO Anna Bligh appeared on Nine News, where she discussed interest rates: “Some of them (deposit accounts ) paying over 3% and I think it’s important for people to shop around.”
• Anna also spoke at the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering on the changing nature of payments and the role of banks in the shifting digital landscape.

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