Palmer buying Tourism: Billionaire Clive Palmer, Australia’s eighth richest man, purchased a Club Med in Tahiti for $10m, part of buying frenzy to boost tourism sector and gain exposure. Over $100.6m has been spent on sales of island resorts since 2006. [CR: Most people just rent a cabin]
Mining women in the workforce and shift work: To increase productivity, Griffen’s Colloe coalmine has a nanny crew, introduced to take meal shift from 11:30am to 3:30pm. Boddington has a female outfit trained for work from 9am to 2pm. PWC research found there were 40,000 women working in the mining sector, 18% of mining roles. Women represent 45% of Australian workforce. Rio Tinto stops employees flying before 6am before a 12-hour shift, creating a grey-zone shift arrangement.
Retailers issues with internet competition: Harvey Norman, Big W., Bunnings, Coles, Super Retail Group cite trading hour restrictions, $1,000 tax- and duty-free threshold for imported purchases, and penalty rates. Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page, “I don’t care who buys what from which country but I absolutely do believe that whoever ships in this country must pay the tariffs, must pay the GST, the GST collection, the compliance costs, the on-costs for wages, the carbon tax and the company tax.” [CR: Makes buying online feel like stealing.]
Survey of Australian income perceptions by Fidelity Worldwide Investments: 5,186 residents across Asia-Pacific, 500 from Sydney. 85% of Australians underestimated their income bracket, viewing “high income” as $136k (government reference point is $180k). Similar sentiment in China and India, whereas Japan and South Korea have a better sense of relative wealth. 38% of Australians anticipate an income boost in the next decade, 17% expect a decline. 92% expect their children will be high or middle income earners by the time they are in their 40s as a result of good education and that their kids will “work hard”. Those expecting a low income for their kids cite causes of lack of economic opportunities and poor education.39% of high income earners expect their kids to drop, 83% of low income earners expect their kids to increase. 8% identified friends and colleagues as high earners. Almost 66% expect the income gap to widen in the next decade. [CR: Are we as rich as we think we are?]
Telstra stops recording mobile site visits: Telstra has 13.2 million phone users, was recording websites visited sans personal information and sending to Netsweeper as part of a mobile voluntary internet filter called Smart Controls. Has now stopped after customer protests and Greens senator Scott Ludlam. [CR: Then again, what do we have to hide?]
Governor of Bank of England says Britain faces five more years of financial pain. Mervyn King: “We’re facing an enormous economic problem”. [CR: Not looking pretty for the 92% who think their kids are going to do better.]
China air quality: China releasing reading for hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Centre draws data from 10 monitoring stations, the US consulate has one station. China reporting an Air Pollution Index of 28, US consulate of 57. 0 to 50 = good, 51 to 100 = moderate, 301 to 500 is hazardous. Reading on 27 June was 115: US embassy website stated “People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion”. China said it was illegal to publish the information. US State department said it had no plans to stop publishing the information.
Carbon tax offset being spent: Super Retail Group says same store sales increased from 3% to 4% in past few weeks, when first payments of the government’s average $476 Clean Energy package were made available to low and middle income earners and pensioners. Woolworth’s Big W saw increases in baby good’s and children’s wear, consumer electronics, and women’s apparel. Coles CEO says consumer sentiment is at its lowest in 20 to 30 years, excluding the GFC downturn. [CR: Does this really help?]
Vivendi to focus on cutting costs at French wireless unit SFR., said CEO of seven years Levy. Vivendi owns Universal Music Group, Activision, Blizzard, and phone operators in France, Morocco, and Brazil. Vivendi is at second lowest investment grade of BBB, stocks near the lowest in nine years. European regulators to rule by September 6 if Universal can acquire EMI Group’s recorded music business, which would create a company nearly twice as big as the next nearest competitor. [CR: Needs more World of Warcraft players.]
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