Talking Business with Leon Gettler

Australian construction sector insolvencies have surged over the past three months as costs for everything from materials to insurance continue to blight the troubled $360bn industry.   ACCC report finds the average Australian family with two children under three is spending up to 16% of their household income on child care, ranking Australia 26th out of 32 countries in the OECD.   Coal...

Soaring petrol prices pushed inflation higher in August Rupert Murdoch will be entitled to pension benefits worth nearly $219 million from his US operation Fox Corp. Super fund HESTA warns the largest listed companies it intends to vote against male directors of boards with low female representation. Qantas shareholders have demanded chairman Richard Goyder's resignation and placed the rest of the...

Cyber criminals already using generative artificial intelligence to craft more persuasive scams ASIC warns that company directors could be in breach of their duties if their companies fail to adequately deal with cyberattacks   Research reveals that almost every person in NSW and Queensland was hit with a natural disaster in the past 12 months Qantas chairman Richard Goyder faces a fresh batt...

 World leaders agree a strategic effort to counterbalance Chinese influence   Prized Australian tourism and holiday destination Hamilton Island looks set to sell with its current owners understood to be discussing the move.   News Corp CEO Robert Thomson warns AI will create a "tsunami" of job losses at publishers.   Gina Rinehart has not ruled out launching a bid to rival Albe...

Qantas announces that Alan Joyce has stood down as CEO of Qantas early. For the first time, Qantas is ahead of schedule. Forrest empire exodus spreads with two more CEOs leaving, The Australian arm of Hilton Worldwide has gone to battle with the Australian Tax Office over allegations that it hasn't paid over $80 million in taxes, penalties and interest.   ASIC takes Westpac to court, alleging...

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has been grilled over the airline's contribution to the cost of living crisis during an inquiry conducted by the Senate.    The Morrison Government’s Modernising Business Register, designed to save business money, blew out by $2 billion.   460 company directors urge "yes" vote in Voice referendum calling constitutional recognition a critical step towards a more...

China’s $18 trillion economy is decelerating, consumers are downbeat, exports are struggling, prices are falling and more than one in five young people are out of work.     Australia is set to lose it’s AAA credit rating because of ‘Climate Change’ Optus is the most distrusted brand in Australia in the 12 months to June 2023, replacing Facebook/Meta for the first time since Roy Morgan be...

Russian rouble falls to 16-month low against US dollar   Major companies like Unilever, Siemens, and Maersk are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to navigate complex supply chains, address geopolitical tensions, and ensure environmental and human rights compliance.   Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart committed “egregious fraud” and then lied about it, a trial over bi...

How far back does the PwC tax leaks scandal go? The battle between the ATO and PwC has been going for at least six years. Consulting firms caught promoting tax exploitation schemes will be fined up to $780 million, a 100-fold increase, under the Albanese government’s sweeping response to the PwC tax leaks scandal KPMG overcharged Defence while raking in billions of dollars. Former supreme court ju...

Could the RBA’s aggressive rate hike cycle be over?   Electric vehicle sales surge in Australia with more sold in the first half of 2023 than in all of 2022    Ben Roberts-Smith’s key supporters at Seven West Media forced to hand over thousands of documents showing their involvement in the former soldier’s failed defamation case     DFD Rhodes stakes claim on Gina Rinehart...

Elon Musk’s decision to turn Twitter into X wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value, according to analysts and brand agencies   Kathryn Campbell quits top defence job after robodebt royal commission report. Let’s see where she turns up next. Australian home loan delinquency rates are on the rise with 1.41% of all home loans in arrears Employers have expressed deep dissa...

New RBA governor Michele Bullock has warned unemployment has to reach 4.5% in the next 18 months to tame persistently high inflation.   Philip Lowe has used his final foray on the world stage to blast governments and political leaders for their indolence on structural reforms to boost productivity growth, imperilling ­material living standards, worsening income inequality and hollowing out so...

Meta's Twitter rival Threads overtakes ChatGPT as fastest-growing platform   China on brink of consumer deflation   Kathryn Campbell goes on leave - – a day before the robo-debt royal commission makes its damning findings against her. Prominent class action lawyer Peter Gordon is seeking compensation for victims of robo-debt, the illegal welfare debt recovery program that he described as...

The RBA holds cash rate at 4.1% but keeps the door open for a rate hike in August, citing ongoing concerns around the trajectory of inflation   PwC finishes up internal investigations into, booting out people. It still faces the Switkowski review, on-going Senate inquiries, the AFP criminal investigation and the potential National Anti-Corruption Commission probe.   In a world first...

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PwC tax leaks: Parliament demands names of 63 partners and staff caught up in saga Australian Treasury slammed in ANAO audit for failing to fix country’s the country’s $75 billion black economy   Westpac and ANZ economists believe a per-capita recession – two quarters of negative growth in gross domestic product per person – is likely in the next year   Communications minister Michelle R...

 Australia’s leading super funds halt future contracts with PwC amid tax scandal fallout Consumer sentiment at "recessionary levels" - Westpac: Aged Care Minister Anika Wells says the government has a “genuine duty to deliberate” a levy on taxpayers to help fund a better-aged care system. Westpac will sack about 300 of its staff in its business and retail banks as part of an ongoing push to r...

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has signed the cheque’s death warrant to end its use in Australia by 2030. Australia's misery index has skyrocketed & is almost on par with the GFC period.   PwC has identified a list of 76 current or former partners associated with its tax leaks scandal, handing over their names to Australian lawmakers   Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Qan...

Nvidia chief Jensen Huang says AI is creating a ‘new computing era’    The strength of the Qantas brand has been dented by high airfares, negative publicity and performance issues, according to new analysis of the world’s top airlines.  Australians have enthusiastically embraced champagne since the end of lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions, propelling the nation to become the sixth...

Economists say US can weather ongoing crises, but recession remains on the table   Facebook’s parent Meta has been ordered to pay a record $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) fine by the European Union, for failing to adhere to the bloc’s stringent privacy rules   UBS says food price inflation is continuing to climb as its Australian supermarket price tracker survey suggests food inflation was 9...

 Linda Yaccarino: an advertising veteran enters the wild world of Musk’s Twitter Former RBA Governor Glenn Stevens warns that interest rates are unlikely to fall amid a 'once-in-a-generation' inflation battle PwC targeted Apple, Google, Microsoft with leaked tax plan PwC tax leak crisis could see more executive heads roll with corporate veteran Ziggy Switkowski to lead internal probe. ATO cra...

A complete analysis of the Albanese government budget.   Jenny Craig will close its doors after nearly four decades “due to its inability to secure additional financing"   Australia’s 30 largest superannuation funds have increased their exposure to industries with high greenhouse gas emissions, despite many commitments to net zero, PwC CEO stands down over tax leak scandal. It was inevit...

The second largest bank collapse in American history took place as the Biden admin seized First Republic Bank and JP Morgan Chase Bank swooped in to assume all of the deposits for insured and uninsured. The big banks again get bigger with the help of the US government.   RBA surprises with 25 bps rate hike; cash rate raised to 3.85%. Time for a pause or more hikes? There aren't many female CE...

Analysis of Fox sacking Tucker Carlson, one week after the settlement with Dominion,   Twitter is adding verified check marks to the accounts of dead celebrities, making them look like paid Twitter Blue subscribers   Central bankers are loading up on gold as geopolitical tensions including the war in Ukraine rise   News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch’s battle against small news ou...

China will be the top contributor to global growth over the next five years, with its share set to be double that of the US, according to the International Monetary Fund A last minute settlement has been reached in the defamation lawsuit against Fox News, sparing Murdoch a damaging trial. The settlement comes after the case looked quite horrific from Fox News' standpoint.   Business collapses...