"Intelligent Insight"
The education sector in Australia is highly leveraged towards China.
As a result of the current travel ban their finances are at risk. So they are finding ways around the ban, with the approval of the Government, who is trading off public health against economics. In other words, our health is being put at risk.
I discuss this troubling episode with Salvatore Babones, Adjunct Scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies, and Associate Professor University of Sydney.
Australia’s six dual-sector universities are calling on federal, state and territory governments to work together to implement landmark recommendations reforming the tertiary education system – in order to better meet the needs of students and the changing world of work.
The plea for action will be made during a speech today at Universities Australia’s Higher Education Conference. Australia’s economy depends on workers with future-ready skills and access to retraining throughout their working lives. According to recent figures, of the 1.1 million jobs to be created by 2021, 96 per cent will require skills acquired through both higher education and vocational education training (VET).
Over ten years since the Bradley Review proposed a more coherent tertiary education system, connections between the vocational and higher education sectors have instead weakened due to increasingly entrenched differences between systems of governance, funding and regulation.
In 2019, the Australian Government released the final report of The COAG Review of the Australian Qualifications Framework which recognised that students need more flexibility in combining vocational and higher education to access skills and knowledge they need to be successful.
Australia’s six dual-sector Vice-Chancellors said that federal, state and territory governments must begin to implement the recommendations of this crucial review as a matter of urgency.
The Vice-Chancellors outlined a path forward in their 2019 report, Reforming Post-Secondary Education in Australia, which called for:
“We need policy reforms that create greater connections between vocational and higher education systems, which in turn will create a more coherent, comprehensive and modern set of opportunities for Australian students,” said spokesperson for the Vice-Chancellors, Professor Peter Dawkins.
“The AQF review was a great start to this reform agenda and we were delighted with the response from the Federal Minister of Education. We now need the Australian Government, and all state and territory governments, to get behind it through COAG. Setting up the necessary government body to implement the recommendations as a staged approach would be a great start.
“We need to act now to safeguard Australia’s economy and create new opportunities for our workforce,” Professor Dawkins said.
The Vice-Chancellors of Australia’s six dual-sector universities are:
The New Zealand Reserve Bank has launched a new future-proofed payment settlement system, replacing New Zealand’s inter-bank settlement system and central securities depository.
The new platform replaces a 20-year-old system with two separate systems, ESAS 2.0 and NZClear 2.0. The new platform comprises the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Central Security Depository (CSD) applications supplied by SIA – a European technology and banking infrastructure leader and its wholly owned subsidiary Perago. Infrastructure support services are supplied by Datacom Systems Limited.
The extent of change is significant, says Assistant Governor/Chief Financial Officer Mike Wolyncewicz.
“Every day, transactions with a value of more than $30 billion are settled, so there has been a focus on getting this right, and not rushing out a replacement until we were confident that it was ready.
“The buy-in from the industry has been fantastic. This week’s successful changeover is the result of months of rigorous testing and we appreciate the cooperation of the system’s key users.”
The Reserve Bank’s payment settlement system is used by 57 member organisations including banks, custodians, registries and brokers. This equates to around 600 users of the system, from New Zealand, Australia and Asia.
“Our members now have access to far more modern, future-proofed and leading edge systems for them to manage their day-to-day interactions with the Reserve Bank,” Mr Wolyncewicz says. The systems replacement follows a strategic review of the incumbent payment and settlement systems operated by the Reserve Bank, completed in 2014 in anticipation of the need to align with today’s operational and technological standards.
The Australian government touts compulsory income management as a way to stop welfare payments being spent on alcohol, drugs or gambling. Via The Conversation.
The Howard government introduced the BasicsCard more than a decade ago. About 22,500 welfare recipients now use it, mostly in the Northern Territory. Now the Coalition government has big plans for a more versatile Cashless Debit Card, trialled on about 12,700 people in four regional communities in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
These trials aren’t complete, nor the findings compiled, but a string of senior ministers, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have indicated they are already sold on expanding the program.
Our research, however, adds to the evidence that compulsory income-management policies do as much harm as good.
Over the past year we have conducted the first independent, multisite study of compulsory income management in Australia. It has involved 114 in-depth interviews at four sites: Playford (BasicsCard) and Ceduna (Cashless Debit Card) in South Australia; Shepparton (BasicsCard) in Victoria; and the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region (Cashless Debit Card) in Queensland. We also collected 199 survey responses from around Australia.
Proponents of compulsory income management champion its potential to “provide a stabilising factor in the lives of families with regard to financial management and to encourage safe and healthy expenditure of welfare dollars”, as the then social services minister, Paul Fletcher, said in March last year.
Our study found some individuals experience these benefits. But most face extra financial challenges. These include not having enough cash for essential items, being unable to shop at preferred outlets, being unable to buy second-hand goods, and cards being declined even when they are supposed to work.
In Playford, Jacob* told us about being on the BasicsCard, which can only be used with merchants that have agreed to not allow cardholders to buy excluded goods.
The limits on where he could shop made it harder for him to manage his finances.
“I couldn’t make decisions about saving money,” he told us. He and his wife used to catch the train to shop at the Adelaide markets, for example, but vendors there couldn’t take the BasicsCard.
The Cashless Debit Card is intended to overcome the limitations of the BasicsCard. It’s like a debit card except it can’t be used to withdraw cash or at businesses that sell prohibited items.
But Emma*, a single mother in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay area, told of her struggles to make basic purchases using the card. It often failed – even at businesses that purportedly accepted it – and her family went without. She also felt excluded from the markets and second-hand retailers where she used to shop.
Her greatest stress, however, was rent. Emma* said she had always been on time with rental payments until the Cashless Debit Card. She described one occasion when, two days after paying the rent, the money “bounced back” into her account. When she rang the card’s administrator (card payment company Indue), she was told: “It’s just a minor teething issue, just keep trying.”
The extra stress from “worrying about which payments were going to get paid” was considerable. Others shared similar experiences.
Supporters of compulsory income management claim it brings people back into the community by combating addiction and encouraging pro-social behaviour and economic contribution. As federal Attorney-General Christian Porter said in 2018: “The cashless debit card can help to stabilise the lives of young people in the new trial locations by limiting spending on alcohol, drugs and gambling and thus improving the chances of young Australians finding employment or successfully completing education or training.”
However, our study found the card can also stigmatise and infantilise users – pushing people without these problems further to the margins.
One of the problems is that compulsory income management is routinely applied based on where a person lives and their payment type, and not on any history of problem behaviour. The large majority of our respondents indicated they did not have alcohol, drug or gambling issues.
But as Ray* in Ceduna explained, having the card meant others viewed him as a problem citizen.
I’m embarrassed every time I have to use it at the supermarket, which is about the only place I do use it. I sort of look around and see who’s behind me in the queue. I don’t want anybody to see me using it.
This was a common experience across the interview sites.
Maryanne* in Shepparton told about being judged for shopping for groceries with her BasicsCard.
I got called a junkie and I said: ‘I’m not a junkie, do you see any marks or anything?’ They were like: ‘No, but you have a BasicsCard.’ I said: ‘What’s that got to do with it? Centrelink gave it to me. I can’t do nothing.’
The overwhelming finding from our study is that compulsory income management is having a disabling, not an enabling, impact on many users’ lives. As the policy has been extended, more and more Australians with no pre-existing problems have been caught up in its path.
This does not mean a genuine voluntary scheme could not be maintained, but it would need to sit alongside evidence-based measures to tackle poverty.
Addressing the inadequacy of income support payments, ensuring decent employment and training opportunities, and providing accessible social services and secure and affordable housing would be a better starting point for creating healthy lives and flourishing communities.
Names have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy.
Authors: Greg Marston, Head of School, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland; Michelle Peterie, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland; Phillip Mendes, Associate Professor, Director Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research Unit, Monash University; Zoe Staines, Research fellow, The University of Queensland
In mid-February around 1-in-6 Australian businesses (15%) have already been affected by the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. This new threat to business comes after over a quarter of Australian businesses (28%) said they have been affected by the extensive bushfires over the last few months according to a special Roy Morgan Snap SMS Survey of 1,170 Australian businesses.
Coronavirus hits Education, Manufacturing and Wholesale industries hard
A little over a week after the Australian Government stopped all direct commercial flights to China in early February the coronavirus (COVID-19) is already striking several industries.
Around two-fifths of Manufacturers are already reporting being affected and closely followed by a third of Education & training businesses and those in the Wholesale industry.
Other industries to already be feeling the effects of the coronavirus include Accommodation & Food services which includes travel and tourism businesses, Community services, Administrative & Support services and Property & Business services.
Respondents to the survey described in their own words the impact the coronavirus was already having and these responses fell into a few broad categories including the issue of workers, or students, being quarantined and kept away from work/study; the impact on supply lines for the import or export of goods and parts to and from China; the decline in forward bookings from Chinese tourists and cancellations by customers in Asia as well as the general hit to confidence which includes a weaker stock-market as well as lower foot traffic in stores due to a combination of the aforementioned.
Bushfires/Floods strike Tourism, Retail and Property & Business services industries
A deeper analysis of the industries most heavily impacted by the bushfires/floods shows that over 40% of businesses in the Accommodation and Food services sector, which includes travel and tourism, say they have been affected either ‘A great deal’ or ‘Somewhat’.
Around a third of businesses in the Retail and Property & Business services industries have been affected while there have also been disproportionately large impacts on Manufacturing, Transport, Postal and Warehousing, Public administration & defence, Education & training and Recreation & personal.
Businesses in the East Coast States of Victoria (39%), NSW (31%) and Queensland (23%) have been the most heavily affected by the bushfires/floods. In contrast only 14% of businesses in Tasmania and 11% of businesses in both South Australia and Western Australia have been affected at all.
Further details on how the recent bushfires affected Australian businesses can be found here.
Roy Morgan Chief Executive Officer Michele Levine says the long bushfire season has finally ended with drought-breaking rains in recent weeks however the new threat of coronavirus is a growing threat to the recovery of the Australian economy:
“The new threat of coronavirus (COVID-19) that has emerged in recent weeks is already hitting the business community in much of Australia – and in several states including Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania – has already had a bigger impact than the bushfires..
“The Australian Government halted all flights from China in early February and that ban is still in place on a week-to-week basis as the spread of COVID-19 in China is being monitored.
“Already feeling the effects are Manufacturing businesses which rely on China for the importation of many parts, Education & training – China is the largest source of foreign students in this $35+ billion industry and Wholesale which imports many goods manufactured in China for sale at Australian retail outlets.
“The Tourism industry is also in the firing line as Chinese tourists (the largest inbound tourism market) are barred from visiting Australia until further notice. In addition, the all-round impact of the coronavirus is having an increasing impact on general confidence which in turn has a negative effect on retail foot traffic. We’ve already seen restaurants close due to the decline in customers particularly in places heavily reliant on Chinese-owned businesses such as Chinatown.
“It is hard to predict exactly how the full impact of the coronavirus will be felt in the Australian economy over the next few months although it’s safe to say that the negative economic ‘shock’ is set to grow after outbreaks of the virus have been seen in such diverse places as South Korea, Iran and Italy over the last few days.”
Businesses affected by the bushfires/floods cf. coronavirus around Australia by State
Source: Roy Morgan Special
Snap SMS Poll of Australian businesses in February 2020, n=1,170.
Base:
Australian businesses.
Australia’s first neobank, Volt, is partnering with Australia’s largest global retailer, the Cotton On Group, to introduce team members and customers to the Volt experience.
It will be the first partnership of this type between a neobank and major retailer in Australia, putting both companies at the forefront of digital innovation in the retail banking sector and taking an important step to support the financial literacy and good spending and saving habits of millennials.
Cotton On team members, and in time Cotton On Perks members, will be introduced to the Volt Savings Challenge in an effort to help them create better financial habits. The Volt Savings Challenge encourages customers to set targets and sends gentle reminders for weekly saving, tracking their progress over a 6 week period by which time the savings ‘habit’ should be embedded behaviour.
According to Steve Weston, CEO & Co-Founder of Volt, the partnership is also heavily centered on a deep philosophical and values alignment between the two customer-focused companies.
“Both Volt and the Cotton On Group are built upon a foundation of delivering great value to customers, a foundation that starts with a commitment to genuinely solve customer pain points whilst dealing ethically and transparently with customers, staff, and suppliers,” said Mr. Weston. “We feel really comfortable partnering with a company that’s as customer-focused as we are.
“The partnership will help us continue to show millions of Australians how to quickly develop and improve their savings and spending habits with Volt. We recently introduced to our waitlist a “no catches” 2.15 per cent variable interest rate, which complements our savings challenges that are designed to help people become financially healthy and masters of their own money.
“We look forward to bringing this experience to many more Australians in the coming years,” Mr Weston concluded.
The Cotton On Group is partnering with Volt to bring a roadmap of innovation and value to customers in Australia by introducing banking services tailored to millennials that provide a supportive environment for healthy savings habits, said Brendan Sweeney, General Manager, E-Commerce, who leads the Group’s digital and loyalty strategy.
“Our millennial team and customers are highly engaged, digital-first and have told us that they are looking for trusted partners who can help them achieve their financial goals,” said Mr. Sweeney.
“We really like the Volt approach of simplicity, trust, and great value coupled with a digital customer experience designed to help customers understand their finances and achieve their goals. We look forward to making the Volt experience available to our team members and customers over the coming months.”
The Cotton On Group partnership follows others Volt has signed including PayPal. The partnership strategy is an important element in delivering competition to the banking sector.
For more information: www.voltbank.com.au and www.cottonongroup.com.au
Economist John Adams and Analyst Martin North explores what bank deposits really are. The answer may change your perspective significantly! Who is calling the shots – who should be?
Tony Locantro from Alto Capital discusses his thoughts. Note the important disclaimers. This is not financial advice.
The inf0rmation contained in this video is GENERAL IN NATURE and not should be relied upon. Do not act on the content provided without first consulting your advisor to determine whether the advice is appropriate for your investment objectives. This is not intended to influence your decisions. DFA and Martin North have not received any benefit from this video, and it’s the opinion of Tony Locantro only and not Alto Capital or associates.
Tony Locantro/clients have extensive holdings and has raised money for the companies covered and paid fees for such service.
All companies are to be considered HIGHLY SPECULATIVE IN NATURE
I discuss the upcoming halving of Bitcoin in May with Adrian Przelozny, CEO of local crypto exchange Independent Reserve.
Is the Bank of England right to say its trading volatility means Bitcoin cannot be a real currency?
Domain released their latest preliminary results last Saturday. This is posted late due to DFA maintenance, but we have been asked to share as normal, if delayed.
Canberra listed 60 auctions, with 43 results in and 30 sold, 1 was withdrawn and 13 passed in to give a Domain clearance of 68%.
Brisbane listed 68 auctions, with 30 results in and 19 sold, 6 were withdrawn and 11 passed in to give a Domain clearance of 53%.
Adelaide listed 56 auctions, with 30 results and 20 sold, 5 were withdrawn and 10 passed in.
