February
22, 2018 Edition.
In
Trump world the big news is that the Special Prosecutor has indited
13 Russians with systematic interference with the US Election. Heaven
knows where this goes from here but I suspect it won't end well for
many people!
In
OZ the Barnaby saga has reached escape velocity and who knows what
will happen when it returns to Earth, as surely it must! Maybe by the
time you read this we will know more.
-----
Here
are a few other things I have noticed.
-----
Major Issues.
-
Feb 11 2018 at 11:24 AM
Volatility bets should not be available to retail investors
How
much protection do people deserve when they venture into markets?
After the longest period on record without a stock market sell-off —
or "correction" — capital
markets reminded last week that setting prices is painful.
It
involves the interaction of greed and fear, with markets rising
steadily, falling more suddenly, and overshooting in both directions
as they go. It is a wasteful and expensive process, but it works.
Paraphrasing Winston Churchill on democracy, a free capital market is
the worst way to allocate capital — apart from all the others ever
tried.
All
that said, we should not be too relaxed about this equity market
sell-off. It is unusual for markets to drop this quickly and
violently from an all-time high. This 10 per cent fall took only nine
trading days; London's Longview Economics reports that the S&P
has never fallen so far so fast from a record high.
-----
So thanks, Captain Obvious. But what if the market is wrong?
Scott
Phillips
Published:
February 11 2018 - 9:07AM
The
past week has been a tough one for many investors. The sudden, if
inevitable, return of volatility woke many from their bullish
slumber, as nervous traders tried to work out what to do - and
whipsawing share prices were the result.
The
cause, if you’ve been asleep for a week, was some stronger than
expected employment, wages and inflation numbers in the United
States, which were released last Friday night, our time.
All
of a sudden, it seems, many in the market were confronted with what
the rest of us had known was always obvious - that continued economic
strength in the US would mean higher official interest rates
(courtesy of the US Federal Reserve).
Yes,
thanks, Captain Obvious.
-----
The price of your pizza, pad Thai or butter chicken depends on your postcode
Nigel
Gladstone
Published:
February 12 2018 - 2:49AM
Residents
of the north shore and northern beaches of Sydney are paying up to
twice as much for home delivered food as people in the south and
west.
The
highest prices, on average, for popular dishes such as pad Thai, a
large Margherita pizza and Indian butter chicken curry were
all found north of the bridge, a Herald
analysis of Menulog data covering more than 3000
NSW restaurants found.
Generally,
a Sydney restaurant will deliver to 12 or more suburbs, so
the data reflects what is available for home delivery
in a postcode - not what is delivered from a suburb.
-----
With $30b in wealth, why is the Catholic Church struggling to pay for justice?
Ben
Schneiders, Royce Millar, Chris Vedelago
Published:
February 11 2018 - 7:00PM
After
a lifetime contributing to the Catholic Church, Neil Ormerod could
give no more.
Following
a Sunday mass in 2014, the Australian Catholic University theology
professor told his parish priest he no longer trusted the church to
use its resources in a way Jesus Christ would approve.
The
trigger for his rebellion was the Royal Commission into Institutional
Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2014 - in particular, Cardinal
George Pell’s testimony about the church’s brutal legal assault
on John Ellis, a former altar boy abused by a priest in the 1970s.
-----
Australian power prices worse than banana republics
Cole
Latimer
Published:
February 11 2018 - 8:06PM
Australia
has power prices worse than a third world country, a global renewable
energy guru says.
"For
a country that has a very high standard of living, stable economic
situation and tremendous opportunities, it makes no sense at all for
the price of power to be more than a banana republic," the
Australian head of global renewable firm SunEnergy1, and part-time
racecar driver, Kenny Habul said.
Speaking
at the Bond Business Leaders Forum on the Gold Coast, Mr Habul said
Australia needs to dramatically change its energy landscape in order
to escape the energy price crisis, adding that there is a disconnect
between Australian standards of living and electricity costs.
-----
Economists do little to promote bank competition
Ross
Gittins
Published:
February 12 2018 - 12:15AM
The
royal commission into banking, whose public hearings start on Monday,
won't get a lot of help from the Productivity Commission's report on
competition within the sector. It's very limp-wristed.
The
report's inability to deny the obvious - that competition in banking
is weak, that the big four banks have considerable pricing power,
abuse the trust of their customers and are excessively profitable –
won it an enthusiastic reception from the media.
Trouble
is, its distorted explanation of why competitive pressure is so weak
and its unconvincing suggestions for fixing the problem. It offered
one good (but oversold) proposal, one fatuous proposal (to abolish
the four pillars policy because other laws made it "redundant")
and a lot of fiddling round the edges.
-----
The three horsemen: Bonds, ETFs and the Vix
-
The Australian
-
6:30AM February 12, 2018
Alan Kohler
Last
week’s market sell-off prompts some thoughts about bonds, ETFs and
the Vix.
Bonds
It
seems fairly clear (but not certain, since nothing is certain) that
bonds have entered a generational bear market.
Over
200 years or more, bonds have moved in long waves of 20-50 years. The
greatest bond bear market in history was 1946-1980, as a result of
the post-war boom and 1970s inflation, and the greatest bull market
was from that peak in yields to July 2016 after Fed chairman Paul
Volcker crushed inflation and the 2008 Great Recession killed it.
In
1980, a 10-year US bond was priced to yield 15 per cent, a rate only
approached once before, in the panic of 1837. By mid 2016 the world’s
most important interest rate had fallen to a low of 1.36 per cent.
-----
-
Updated Feb 12 2018 at 2:45 PM
Industry should have retirement products ready within 12 months
by
Sally
Patten
Superannuation
funds should develop retirement strategies for their ageing members
now rather than wait for the Coalition government to formulate its
policy on comprehensive retirement income products, argues respected
wealth industry veteran Jeremy Duffield.
Mr
Duffield, the
founder of Vanguard Australia, argued
that the super industry had been too slow to create appropriate
products and services for members in retirement to help ensure they
did not run out of money or live too frugally.
Mr
Duffield argued that funds would not need to come up with a single
retirement product but could offer a range of products to meet the
objectives of different member cohorts.
-----
Banking inquiry will counter 'moral hazard' inherent in Australian banks
Jessica
Irvine
Published:
February 12 2018 - 12:15AM
On
level six of an unassuming office block at the "Paris-end"
of Melbourne's CBD, the Turnbull government's much anticipated –
but reluctantly embraced - banking royal commission kicked off today.
Former
High Court justice Kenneth Hayne, has, as Commissioner, until
September 30 to deliver his interim report, and until February 1 next
year to deliver his final report and recommendations.
The
race is on.
Already,
unions say they have received more than 500 complaints of misconduct
by the institutions under scrutiny, which include not only banks, but
life insurers, superannuation companies, mortgage brokers and pay-day
lenders.
------
Ninety per cent of incarcerated youths have a brain disorder: study
Esther
Han
Published:
February 13 2018 - 10:16PM
Australian
researchers say a shocking 90 per cent of young people in detention
have at least one severe brain disorder and they hope their findings
will act as a "catalyst for change" in the justice
system.
The
Telethon Kids Institute study of about 100 young people aged 10 to 17
incarcerated at Western Australia’s only youth detention facility,
Banksia Hill Detention Centre, found 89 per cent had at least one
area of severe neurodevelopmental impairment, such as problems with
memory, cognition, motor skills or attention.
“What
they do is socially unacceptable but it’s arisen from a brain that
isn’t working properly, and that underlying, innate difference of
brain function has not been previously recognised nor understood,”
Dr Raewyn Mutch, a paediatrician and one of the researchers, said.
-----
The three principles of reform done right
Chris
Bowen
Published:
February 13 2018 - 7:54PM
It
would be understandable to be sceptical about the prospects for
serious economic reform in Australia. A decade of a revolving-door
prime ministership and stop-start policy arguments has led many
people to conclude the reform machine is broken and the political
class has let us down. Fair enough, but I am much more optimistic
about the prospects of reform, if it is done right.
And
reform is essential. Our 26 years of uninterrupted economic growth
didn’t happen by accident and changes will be necessary to keep
them going. Our budget won’t return to balance without tough
decisions, and social mobility and economic equality won’t
magically improve just by wishing it so.
So
what is reform “done right”? What lessons are there from reforms
that have succeeded and failed in recent years? I think there are
three principles to seeing good reform through and they are the
principles that have underpinned federal Labor’s approach to policy
change since 2013.
-----
A modest proposal for better behaved banks
Peter
Martin
Published:
February 14 2018 - 6:03PM
Suddenly,
banks are behaving nicely. They are no longer charging for the use of
teller machines, the chief executive of the National Australia Bank
took a day out of his $6.6 million a year job to sell copies of The
Big Issue,
and from this week it’ll be really, really easy to transfer funds.
It’ll take seconds rather than days, and you won’t need to look
up a BSB. You’ll be able to use a phone number or email address
instead.
Could
it get any better? Absolutely, and the route is spelt out in one of
the submissions to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into
competition in the financial system, which is running in parallel
with the banking industry royal commission.
The
Productivity Commission has found that, notwithstanding the banks’
belated success in bringing service into the 21st century, they and
their competitors aren’t particularly competitive. There’s half
as many of them as there used to be in 1999. Instead of charging all
their customers the best possible rate as competitive firms would,
they charge their existing mortgage holders $66 to $87 a month more
than new ones, in what amounts to a penalty for loyalty.
-----
Superannuation is where the gender pay gap really stings
Nick
Dyrenfurth
Published:
February 14 2018 - 8:20PM
More
than 95 per cent of workers – 12 million Australians – hold
superannuation accounts, double that of 20 years ago. We have built
the fourth largest pool of savings globally in just 25 years.
Yet
Australia’s population size and age profile pose significant
challenges to our system. We are getting older and are having fewer
children. If not addressed by policy makers, an ageing population may
affect both economic growth and the viability of our retirement
income system. We need as many taxpayers as possible to fund our aged
pensions, or, preferably, maximise the super accounts of workers.
It
is incumbent upon government to deal with other challenges to our
retirement system. Non-payment of superannuation is rampant. Workers
have been fleeced of $17 billion since 2009 - an average $2.81
billion every year between 2009 and 2015. Some businesses are
reducing entitlements for workers who choose to make voluntary
contributions through salary sacrificing. Government must prosecute a
zero-tolerance approach towards employers who don’t pay super.
-----
CBA bans customers from using credit cards to buy bitcoin
Clancy
Yeates
Published:
February 14 2018 - 3:53PM
The
Commonwealth Bank has banned its customers from buying bitcoin on
credit cards after the recent plunge in the cryptocurrency's
value, saying such purchases are no longer "appropriate."
The
country's largest bank on Wednesday started sending text messages
alerting affected customers to the ban, which follows similar
action by large banks overseas in the wake of a more than 50 per cent
plunge in bitcoin's value from last year's peaks.
The
crackdown comes amid concern among banks overseas that further sharp
falls in the price of bitcoin could leave some customers with large
debts, creating extra risk for banks.
-----
APRA issues another warning on risky investor loans
Clancy
Yeates
Published:
February 14 2018 - 5:29PM
Banks
would be forced to set aside more capital against mortgages to
property investors and home buyers who are are only paying interest,
under a new plan to counter risks in the home loan market.
The
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on Wednesday highlighted
the risks to financial stability from the high level of property
investor debt, in a paper setting out plans to make banks more
resilient to potential housing shocks.
The
latest warning, which follows last year's moves to cap new
interest-only loans, follows a long-term rise in the popularity of
property investment, amid strong house price growth and low interest
rates.
-----
Plan to increase defence exports at odds with our peacekeeping role
Zac
Rayson
Published:
February 14 2018 - 3:35PM
The
latest plank in the government's "jobs and growth" strategy
- to turn Australia into one of the world's 10 biggest defence
exporters in the next decade - takes the country down a path that is
fundamentally at odds with our nation's values.
We
have long pictured ourselves as a leader in our region, maintaining
peace and a rules-based international order. From myriad projects
supporting democracy, to our peacekeeping missions in the Solomon
Islands, Timor-Leste and further afield, promoting peace and
stability is a mission at the core of our Australian identity.
But
the $3.8 billion defence export strategy announced by Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull at the end of January puts our role as a
peacekeeping nation at risk.
-----
Ominous warning for Sydney in Cape Town water crisis
Eamon
Waterford
Published:
February 15 2018 - 12:03AM
Within
months, a city sitting on the same line of latitude as Sydney could
become the first major metropolis in modern history to run out of
water.
When
Cape Town hits its projected "Day Zero", millions of taps
will suddenly run dry. Schools, hospitals and other institutions will
retain access to some water but households will be cut off
completely.
Obviously
Sydney enjoys a range of advantages over Cape Town.
-----
Government establishes ‘one-stop shop’ for small business financial services complaints
Caleb Triscari / Thursday, February 15, 2018
Small
businesses will soon have access to a new financial complaints
authority, with the federal Parliament this week successfully passing
legislation to establish the Australian Financial Complaints
Authority (AFCA).
The
Treasury
Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First – Establishment of the
Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Bill, passed
the Senate on Wednesday.
The
AFCA will be an amalgamation of the Financial Ombudsman Service
(FOS), the Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and the
Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) and will hear complaints
around products and services offered by financial firms, such as bank
loans, insurance and superannuation.
-----
Putting tax cuts before budget is 'problematic'
-
11:03 AM 18/2/2018
Lowe
has jumped into the debate on corporate tax cuts in a big way.
He
says Donald Trump's tax cuts are 'very problematic' because they blow
out the budget deficit and Australia should not go the same way.
He
says that over the next six years US budget deficits will
average 5 percent of GDP even though unemployment is low
and the economy is strong.
"That's
very problematic and if we were to go down the direction of
having lower corporate tax rates it is really important
that it does not come at the expense of higher budget deficits."
-----
The Aussie wasn’t meant to be this way
Michael
Pascoe
Published:
February 15 2018 - 6:43PM
It
wasn’t meant to be like this. Rising US interest rates while ours
remained steady were supposed to result in a weaker Australian dollar
against a stronger greenback, supporting our exporters and helping
import a little inflation.
Instead,
we have a stubbornly strong Aussie and a weaker greenback even as the
outlook for American rate increases is faster and further.
Specifically,
indications of higher American inflation (and therefore higher
interest rates) were supposed to weaken the Aussie. Instead, it was
the greenback that went down overnight.
-----
RBA more relaxed on housing, next rate move some way off
Matt
Wade
Published:
February 16 2018 - 10:01AM
The
Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, says the next move in interest
rates is likely to be up rather than down, although that change is
still some way off.
The
timing of any rate hike will depend on further reductions in the
unemployment rate and how quickly the inflation rate climbs from its
current low levels, Dr Lowe told a parliamentary committee in Sydney
on Friday.
In
Australia, the pick-up in inflation was expected to be “only
gradual”.
Dr
Lowe did not see a “strong case for a near-term adjustment in
monetary policy” but eventually the need to keep interest rates at
the current historic low of 1.5 per cent would dissipate.
-----
When the next financial crisis hits, there will be little the RBA can do about it
John
Hewson
Published:
February 15 2018 - 2:58PM
What
if governments and policy authorities are unable to handle the next
global financial crisis? Indeed, what if their declared strategy of
“normalising” interest rates actually triggers the next GFC and
leaves them powerless to respond?
Rather
than deal with its structural causes, the response of authorities to
the last crisis 10 years ago was to flood the world with liquidity –
key central banks launched QE (quantitative easing) and aggressive
bond-buying programs which pushed interest rates down to near zero,
even negative, levels, and then held them there, supported by all
sorts of budgetary injections to avoid a recession or stimulate
growth and/or to bail out certain financial institutions and
companies. All this has now been magnified by massive (and
unparalleled) leverage, with grossly overvalued stock and bond
markets.
Of
course, it should also be recognised that the GFC was itself
essentially created by excess liquidity; Federal Reserve chairman
Alan Greenspan held US rates too low, for too long, causing a global
quest for yield, resulting in a mountain of debt that was built on
the securitisation and financial engineering of high risk sub-prime
housing loans and other securities.
-----
Banking royal commission: be thankful our banks were better than the rest of the West's
Crispin
Hull
Published:
February 17 2018 - 12:15AM
Now
that the banking royal commission is under way, it's a good time to
reflect on the Australian financial system over the past decade and
be grateful that we're kicking the banks while they're up, not down.
Far better to have obscenely profitable banks than grotesquely
bankrupt ones.
The
popular mythology is that Australia was saved from the great
recession of 2008 by prime minister Kevin Rudd and treasurer Wayne
Swan following Treasury advice to increase public spending and to get
cash into people's hands.
But
that's only part of the story. Remember, the US government did a
similar thing, pushing $700 billion into the economy, but it didn't
save the US from recession. Similarly with Britain.
-----
Royal commission chief Kenneth Hayne should break up banks
-
12:00AM February 17, 2018
“Right
then, what have you been up to? Come on you lot, I haven’t got all
year. Out with it!” (Arms folded, foot tapping.)
All
responded with their 50 pages, on time, but some of the essays were
not up to scratch.
“You
there, what do you call this?” he said this week. “I asked you to
specify the nature, extent and effect of your misconduct, but you
just listed the nasty things you did, you disgusting bank. Not good
enough!”
-----
National Budget Issues.
Wages growth is worse than the headlines claim
Michael
Pascoe
Published:
February 11 2018 - 8:58AM
For
once the headlines have been underplaying bad news. That stubbornly
weak wage price index (WPI)? The reality is worse.
The
Reserve Bank's quarterly statement on monetary policy, released on
Friday, highlights two broader and arguably better wages
measures that are tracking lower than the low WPI.
And
the RBA, like much of the rest of the world, remains uncertain about
when and how the trend might change, clinging somewhat hopefully to
the old economic textbook explanations while acknowledging the world
has changed.
The
bank does have a hot tip on how to get a decent pay rise: change
employer.
-----
Why both Turnbull and Shorten are lying to us about the budget fix
Shane Wright,
Economics Editor | The West Australian
Monday,
12 February 2018 10:20AM
The
Turnbull Government and Shorten Opposition are lying to you, me and
the fence post over their long-term plans to get the Budget back into
shape.
The
lie is laid out in the Government’s own Budget papers and in the
Opposition’s promises.
And
it’s time they were both called out.
The
starting point is the current Budget deficit which, this year, is
likely to be about $20 billion. A similar-sized deficit is expected
next year.
-----
Labor considers company tax reform after budget returns to surplus
Eryk
Bagshaw
Published:
February 13 2018 - 11:04AM
Labor
has been accused of "hypocrisy" by Treasurer Scott Morrison
after the opposition indicated a shift in its stance on company tax
reform - if it is able to win the election and get the budget back
into surplus.
The
opposition has spent the past year arguing big business did not
deserve a bonus and campaigning strongly against the Turnbull
government's proposal to cut tax for all companies to 25 per
cent, but Tuesday marked the first time the party said it would
consider business tax reform in the latest round of debate.
Shadow
treasurer Chris Bowen said his focus remained returning the
budget to balance in an effort to place Labor as sensible economic
managers, traditionally a Coalition strong suit, as it moves towards
an election footing.
-----
-
Updated Feb 16 2018 at 5:04 PM
RBA head Philip Lowe rings alarm over Trump inflation threat
The
first rate hike from the RBA probably will not be before year-end.
Louie
Douvis
-
by
Reserve
Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has slammed as "very
problematic" the inflationary forces being unleashed by Donald
Trump's unprecedented borrowing surge to fund company tax cuts,
saying they are landing on a US economy already running at full tilt.
Over
three hours of politically
sensitive testimony before a House of Representatives committee,
Dr Lowe lamented the global shift toward lower company taxes, arguing
that if every country joined the race downwards the economic benefits
would only be shortlived.
Markets can 'turn against you'
Dr
Lowe warned that financial markets "can
turn against you" fast if governments overreach in borrowing
to fund tax cuts, warning the Coalition government against blowing
its planned return to surplus by 2020-21.
-----
Health Budget Issues.
Day surgery can ‘save millions if spared red tape’
-
The Australian
-
8:02PM February 11, 2018
Sean Parnell
Day
surgery providers argue they are the “future of elective surgery”
in Australia and can keep costs down if they are not strangled by
government red tape and caught up in disputes between doctors and
health insurers.
The
Australian earlier revealed at that insurers were spending almost
$700 million a year on common hospital procedures and treatments that
could be performed as day surgery, in doctors’ rooms or in the
hospital at a fraction of the cost.
The
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists
recommends intravitreal injections be performed in day surgery unless
there are clinical reasons for hospital admission, yet Bupa has
calculated the cost to insurers of eye injections in hospital at $44m
a year.
-----
Obesity crisis hits Australia's maternity wards
Aisha
Dow
Published:
February 12 2018 - 12:05AM
Australia’s
obesity crisis is hitting the nation's maternity wards, with a
significant proportion of serious pregnancy complications and trauma
caused by women’s excess weight, new research has found.
The
study published in The
Medical Journal of Australia
has analysed data from more than 42,500 first-time mothers and found
a major increase in the number of pregnant women who are overweight
or obese.
Researchers
believe that if overweight or obese women had moved down one
BMI (body mass index) category, 7.1 per cent of all stillbirths,
3.8 per cent of fetal abnormalities, 6.8 per cent of post-partum
haemorrhages and 8.5 per cent of caesarean deliveries of all
deliveries could have been avoided.
-----
Colleges call for an end to health waste
-
The Australian
-
12:00AM February 13, 2018
Sean Parnell
Sarah-Jane Tasker
Senior
specialists at two influential health organisations have called on
their peers to help insurers, governments and patients keep
costs down, amid concerns over unnecessary and wasteful procedures.
The
Weekend Australian revealed that insurers were spending almost
$700 million a year on common hospital procedures or care that could
be performed as day surgery, in doctors’ rooms or in the home at a
fraction of the cost. This is contributing to rising insurance
premiums.
The
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists
recommends intravitreal injections be performed in doctor’s
rooms unless there are clinical reasons for hospital admission,
yet Bupa has calculated the cost to insurers of eye injections
in hospital at $44m a year.
------
Location rules locked in
“Certainty and stability” ensured, Guild believes as bill passes both houses
The
National
Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical Benefits – Budget and Other
Measures) Bill 2017
has now passed through the Senate,
In
the words of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia the bill provides “much
needed certainty and stability for Australia’s 5700 community
pharmacy small businesses”.
Among
other measures, the bill abolishes the sunset clause of the Pharmacy
Location Rules, ensuring that the rules do not automatically expire
at the end of the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement in June 2020.
-----
More Australians dispose of health insurance because of rising premiums
Esther
Han
Published:
February 14 2018 - 12:01AM
More
than 12,000 Australians ditched their hospital cover in the three
months to last December, new figures show, as a separate survey
suggests the key reason was they felt it wasn't worth the money.
Fresh
quarterly data from the Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority shows the percentage of Australians with hospital cover
fell 0.2 percentage points in the December quarter to 45.6 per cent -
the lowest in seven years.
Meanwhile,
a new survey by consumer group Choice has found 70 per cent of
Australians who don't have health insurance say it's because it's too
expensive.
-----
Private health insurance is a con job
Ross Gittins
Published:
February 14 2018 - 12:05AM
You won't believe
it, but my birthday was on Tuesday and I got a present from the
federal government. I also got a card from my state member, sending
his "very best wishes" for reaching such an "important
milestone" in my life.
I almost wrote
back asking him to alert the Queen to be standing by in 30 years'
time. Instead, my ever-sceptical mind told me the pollies have
awarded themselves privileged access to the private information we're
obliged to give the electoral commission.
So, what was my fabulous federal
birthday present? Apparently, I'm now so ancient and infirm I get a
bigger private health insurance tax rebate.
-----
Funding cuts threaten flying doctor services
-
12:00AM February 14, 2018
The
Turnbull government’s budget-repair measures slashed $10.2 million
in funding from the RFDS this financial year in a move the
90-year-old organisation says can no longer be sustained without
cutting services.
Corporate
and private donors covered some of the shortfall from the budget cut
— which reduced commonwealth funding to $57m — with the RFDS also
using cash out of reserves normally used to buy aircraft.
-----
Health waste: spinal fusion added to list
-
12:00AM February 14, 2018
The
move comes after The Australian revealed health insurers had
nominated a reduction in spinal fusion surgery as one of the
doctor-led responses required to contain the rising costs that are
driving up premiums. Even a 20 per cent reduction in hospital cases
would save the industry $60 million a year, with flow-on savings for
members.
The
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned that insurers
are “under duress” and more work needs to be done to reduce costs
and stabilise the industry. Its latest figures, released
yesterday, showed the proportion of Australians with hospital cover
had fallen again, to 45.6 per cent, the lowest rate since mid-2011.
-----
Healthscope boss in swipe at insurers over costs of clinical care
-
1:40PM February 15, 2018
The
Healthscope chief executive made the comments after reporting a 12.8
per cent dip in first-half profit to $77.5 million, with an “adverse
patient case mix” fuelled by a strong flu season impacting the
result.
Shares
in Healthscope (HSO)
were today trading lower on the back of the financial result, down
3.4 per cent at $1.80
-----
Veil of secrecy leaves Australian patients in the dark
Stephen
Duckett
Published:
February 15 2018 - 3:20PM
One
in four patients who stay overnight in an Australian hospital will
have something go wrong, but a veil of secrecy hangs over which
hospitals – and which doctors – have higher rates of
complications and which are safety leaders.
The
Grattan Institute has also found that a patient’s risk of
developing a complication also varies dramatically depending on which
hospital they go to. While researching our report All
complications should count: Using data to make hospitals safer,
we found that in some cases, the additional risk at the
worst-performing hospitals can be four times higher than at the best
performers.
Safety
statistics are collected for both public and private hospitals but
they are kept secret, not just from patients but also from doctors
and hospitals, who should be able to access this information to see
how they are performing compared to their peers – and to learn from
those who do things best.
-----
Health insurance gains buoy Medibank profit
Published:
February 16 2018 - 9:04AM
Medibank
Private has lifted half-year profit nearly 6 per cent, but cost
pressures on consumers have kept growth in health insurance premium
revenue to less than 2 per cent.
The
health insurer booked a $245.6 million profit in the six months to
December 31, thanks to improved operating profit in health insurance
and Medibank Health businesses offsetting lower earnings from
investments.
The
company's shares rose as much as 4.8 per cent to $3.185 in early
trade - their biggest intraday percentage gain since late August.
-----
An old age overspent on health
-
12:00AM February 16, 2018
Australia
is not the highest spender on health, or the lowest. The US is an
outlier when it comes to spending, at more than 17 per cent of GDP,
but there are plenty of countries that spend more than Australia —
France, Germany, Canada and the Nordic countries. Britain spends a
little less while other examples of low spenders include Israel,
South Korea, Greece (not surprisingly) and Hungary.
While
it is true that overall spending on health in Australia has slowed in
recent times — in the year ending 2015-16, for instance, spending
rose by only 3.6 per cent, which is well below the 10-year average of
4.7 per cent — the pressures of an ageing population have only
just begun to emerge.
-----
Medibank to return $20m to customers as a ‘loyalty bonus’
-
The Australian
-
8:42AM February 16, 2018
-
Sarah-Jane Tasker
Craig
Drummond, chief executive of the Australian-listed health insurer
(MPL),
announced today that the company was launching a “priority”
program for its customers, to formally recognise and thank customers
who had been with Medibank for 10 years or more.
“To
mark the launch of this program, we are pleased to announce a $20m
one-off loyalty bonus to our Medibank customers in June this year,
starting with our priority customers,” Mr Drummond said.
-----
The unhealthy portion of Medibank premiums not spent on health
Michael
Pascoe
Published:
February 16 2018 - 12:07PM
There
are different ways of looking at Medibank’s first-half profit
announced this morning.
Let’s
consider two of them:
The
market sees a 1.8 per cent rise in premium income to $3.2 billion and
total revenue of $3.5 billion, yielding a sweet 5.9 per cent rise in
net profit to $245.6 million with the interim dividend up 4.8 per
cent to 5.5 cents a share, fully franked.
The
rise in claims (what Medibank paid out to customers) was held down to
1.3 per cent at $2.6 billion. The gross health insurance profit
(premiums minus claims) was $550.5 million, a gross margin of 17.3
per cent. The management expense ratio eased from 8.9 per cent to 8.6
per cent.
-----
International Issues.
In the US, white supremacists have infiltrated police and military to get weapons training
Matthew
Hall
Published:
February 11 2018 - 2:40PM
New
York:
Law enforcement, the military, and politics in the United States have
been infiltrated by white supremacists, who use it to recruit others
and gain paramilitary training.
The
claim, by a former neo-Nazi skinhead who now works as an anti-racist
activist, is supported by internal reports on local policing by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the top domestic law enforcement
agency in the US.
Christian
Picciolini, a 44-year-old, award-winning activist from Chicago who
now works to deradicalise racist extremists, says members of his
former neo-Nazi gang pursued careers with police departments, joined
the military, or ran for political office.
-----
'International Space Station for sale': NASA documents reveal Trump selloff plan
Christian
Davenport
Published:
February 12 2018 - 8:12AM
Washington:
The
Trump administration wants to turn the International Space Station
(ISS) into a kind of orbiting real estate venture run not by the
government, but by private industry.
The
White House plans to stop funding for the station after 2024, ending
direct federal support of the orbiting laboratory. But it does not
intend to abandon it altogether, and is working on a transition plan
that could turn the station over to the private sector, according to
an internal NASA document obtained by The
Washington Post.
"The
decision to end direct federal support for the ISS in 2025 does not
imply that the platform itself will be deorbited at that time – it
is possible that industry could continue to operate certain elements
or capabilities of the ISS as part of a future commercial platform,"
the document states.
-----
Trudeau holds firm as Duterte vows to end Canada and US arms buys
Clarissa
Batino & Andreo Calonzo
Published:
February 11 2018 - 6:30PM
Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is undeterred by Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte's vow to end military purchases from countries
including the US and Canada that impose conditions on how the
weaponry is used, standing by his country's review of a helicopter
sale.
"The
statements that have been coming out of the Philippines on the
potential or possible uses of those helicopters have given us cause
to need to follow up on that, and that's exactly what we're doing,"
Trudeau said Saturday in Los Angeles, during a visit with the city's
mayor.
Trudeau
responded after Duterte on Friday said he's scrapping the acquisition
of 16 Canadian Bell helicopters.
-----
OxyContin maker to stop promoting opioids to doctors
Published:
February 11 2018 - 11:48AM
OxyContin
maker Purdue Pharma LP said that it has cut its sales force in half
and will stop promoting opioids to doctors following widespread
criticism of the ways that drugmakers market addictive painkillers.
The
drugmaker said it will inform doctors on Monday that its sales
representatives will no longer visit their offices to discuss its
opioid products. It will now have about 200 sales representatives,
Purdue said.
"We
have restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation
and will no longer be promoting opioids to prescribers," the
Stamford, Connecticut-based company said in a statement.
-----
The risks of Trump’s pump-priming policies
-
12:13PM February 13, 2018
The
Trump administration’s budget “request’’, issued overnight,
points to soaring US government deficits and debt. That should be
sounding an alert for overly-indebted corporates and households
around the world.
While
the proposals will probably be reshaped by Congress, the overall
direction of economic policy in the US is clear.
Trump
is pursuing a supercharged growth strategy (he sees no reason,
reportedly, why the US economy can’t grow at 6 per cent) that will
see the US produce a deficit of close to $US1 trillion this year and
more than $US1 trillion in 2019. US government debt, now just above
$US20 trillion, is expected to reach $US30 trillion within a decade.
With
the US economy growing quite strongly and unemployment at 4.1 per
cent, the Trump tax cuts and infrastructure and defence spending
agendas represent the priming of a pump that was already functioning
at full capacity.
-----
Israeli police recommend indictment of Netanyahu on corruption charges
Loveday
Morris and Ruth Eglash
Published:
February 14 2018 - 6:44AM
Jerusalem:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be indicted in two
corruption cases, police recommended on Tuesday, ramping up pressure
on the leader who has served more than a decade in office.
After
months of investigations, Israeli police handed over their
recommendations to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on
Tuesday evening.
Netanyahu
maintained his innocence in a televised address to the nation on
Tuesday night.
-----
A whirlwind envelops the White House, and the revolving door spins
Peter
Baker
Published:
February 14 2018 - 3:11AM
Washington: The
doors at the White House have been swinging a lot lately. A deputy
chief of staff moved on. A speechwriter resigned. The associate
attorney general stepped down. The chief of staff offered to quit.
And that was just Friday.
All
of that came after the departure of Rob Porter, the White House staff
secretary who cleared out his office last week amid accusations of
spousal abuse. The White House had overlooked reported problems with
his security clearance last year in part, officials said, because of
a reluctance to lose yet another senior aide, particularly one seen
as so professional and reliable.
More
than a year into his administration, President Donald Trump is
presiding over a staff in turmoil, one with a 34 per cent turnover
rate, higher than any White House in decades. He has struggled to
fill openings, unwilling to hire Republicans he considers disloyal
and unable to entice Republicans who consider him unstable. Those who
do come to work for him often do not last long, burning out from a
volatile, sometimes cutthroat environment exacerbated by tweets and
subpoenas.
-----
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma resigns 'with immediate effect'
Published:
February 15 2018 - 11:59AM
South
African President Jacob Zuma resigned on Wednesday, bringing an end
to his scandal-marred tenure and leaving the nation's leadership in
the hands of the ruling African National Congress's new leader, Cyril
Ramaphosa.
"The
ANC should never be divided in my name," Zuma said in a
30-minute farewell address to the nation.
"I
have therefore come to the decision to resign as the president of the
republic with immediate effect," he said.
-----
Former Playmate alleges she had affair with Donald Trump
Brent
Lang
Published:
February 17 2018 - 3:48AM
US
President Donald Trump engaged in elaborate efforts to cover his
tracks while engaging in multiple extramarital affairs, according to
Ronan Farrow's latest blockbuster report in the New
Yorker.
The
story relies heavily on the firsthand account of Karen McDougal, a
former Playmate of the Year, who recounts her consensual affair with
the President before he was elected.
The
White House called the report "fake news," its default
response to unflattering stories.
-----
Russia indictments present new reality for Trump crying ‘hoax’
Michael
Shear
Published:
February 17 2018 - 8:29AM
Washington:
In November, President Donald Trump told reporters that he believed
Russian President Vladimir Putin when he vigorously denied having
meddled in the 2016 presidential election, an allegation that Trump
has repeatedly called a hoax.
"Every
time he sees me he says I didn't do that, and I really believe that
when he tells me that, he means it," Trump said at the time.
On
Friday, Robert Mueller, the special counsel, indicted 13 Russian
nationals and described a vast, sophisticated Russian operation to
interfere in the election, delivering to Trump the kind of evidence
that the president has long sought to dismiss as political attacks
from his rivals.
-----
Trump's top security adviser says Russian meddling 'incontrovertible'
Tracy Wilkinson
Published: February 18 2018 - 4:27AM
National security adviser HR McMaster said on
Saturday that evidence of Russian interference in the 2016
US election was "now really incontrovertible" after
indictment of 13 Russian individuals and three companies.
Speaking at an international security conference
in Munich, Germany, McMaster lent credence to a widening scandal that
President Donald Trump has routinely dismissed as a hoax.
"The evidence is now really incontrovertible
and available in the public domain," McMaster said. The US was
becoming "more and more adept at tracing the origins of this
espionage and subversion," he said.
-----
I
look forward to comments on all this!
-----
David.
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