RESOURCE company donations to the flood recovery in North Queensland have been further boosted, to almost $3 million, with a $250,000 donation by the BHP Foundation to the Australian Red Cross and a $100,000 donation from Incitec Pivot.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said with the recovery well underway the costs would start rolling in which meant every dollar donated was critical.  

“I’d like to thank the BHP Foundation and Incitec Pivot for these donations which will go a long way in supporting people who are trying to get back on their feet after this widespread and damaging flood,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“The Queensland resources sector is 100 percent behind Queenslanders who have been affected by this significant weather event and the total contribution from the sector and QRC members has grown to $2.95 million. Glencore and South32 donated $1,000,000 each, MMG Dugald River contributed $250,000, Aurizon gave $250,000 and Adani Australia $100,000.”

Townsville is an important part of the Queensland resources sector, within the Townsville City Council area the sector contributed $925 million to the gross regional product and supported 5996 full-time employees last financial year. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk started the appeal with a $200,000 donation and her government listed The Australian Red Cross, UnitingCare, Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland as the non-government partners and said people can also donate to GIVIT.

www.qrc.org.au

Link to QRC economic contribution forTownsville City Council area https://www.qrc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Townsville_LGA_2018.pdf

ends

PROPERTY research house RiskWise is calling on the Council of Financial Regulators to introduced legislation to ban borrowing for property against Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs).

In December last year, as reported in The Australian, the regulator "offered the sector a new lease of life indicating no apparent appetite to quash the practice in its quarterly statement" due to a "shift in dynamics in the housing market".

However, RiskWise Property Research CEO Doron Peleg said all of the major banks had stopped loans to SMSFs, and this had flowed on to their subsidiaries, including the AMP. The ATO has also expressed concerns about the risk to the retirement savings of individual SMSF trustees in the event of property decline, while the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) has recommended a ban on direct borrowing by SMSFs to prevent an "unnecessary build-up of risk in the superannuation system".

“Lending to SMSFs is an accident waiting to happen as people gamble with their retirement funds,” Mr Peleg said.

“It really is high risk and, in fact, Labor will move to ban borrowing against SMSFs if they are returned to power in the next Federal election, which is extremely likely according to polls.  And David Murray’s Financial System Inquiry in 2014 even recommended the practice be outlawed.

“Super is the only asset class you can leverage against but using it to buy property is definitely high risk if things go wrong.”

Mr Peleg said this risk had been acknowledged by the major banks and the regulator should take notice and implement it across the entire industry. However, while most banks have halted the practice, non-banks lenders are filling the void and continued to do so.

The good news is the banking Royal Commission findings will now require advisers to tell clients in writing if their advice is not independent and why this is the case. They will also be required to outline each year the total fees they are paying and services they are receiving.

Over the past few years, Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) have gained such popularity there are now more than 600,000 in Australia, managing around $700 billion in assets. This is according to figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

In fact, according to the ATO, in the five years to 2017, SMSF assets grew by $274.3 billion, or a staggering 65 percent. However, the Productivity Commission says SMSFs with balances lower than $500,000 deliver significantly lower returns than average ones.

Borrowing on super to feed into property is governed by strict conditions known as 'Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements'. And according to Industry Super Australia, there has been a 200 percent rise in the past few years.

RiskWise research shows off-the-plan (OTP) properties are very popular with SMSFs, however, many carry a high level of risk largely due to potential oversupply - leading to squashed property values, high vacancy rates and a cooler market.

Mr Peleg said in many cases marketers generated very large commissions that were factored into the property price, in some cases up to 8 percent of the property value and that meant there was an increased settlement risk. In addition, generally the buyer had no idea how high the commission was or that the sellers were not independent.

Inner-city Brisbane is a case in point where weakness in the market has led to a high level of risk for investors and therefore lower valuations and rising defaults on settlements, as well as huge price reductions and lower rents.

“What this means is that many individuals fall into debt they can’t climb out of as their SMSF hits the ‘rock bottom’ known as a ‘property bust’,” he said.

“The three major types of risks associated with over-supplied OTP high-risk suburbs are Equity Risk, Cashflow Risk and Settlement Risk and they all add up to potential disaster for the anyone staring retirement in the face, especially as set-up costs for these types of borrowings often have higher fees.”

Mr Peleg said when considering buying property through a superannuation fund it was important to identify loss of income if there was an oversupply in the area and there was a problem finding tenants to rent the property, especially as these dwellings appealed to a limited market and not families with children seeking bigger homes and a decent-sized block.

www.riskwiseproperty.com.au

ends

AUSTRALIA is on the edge of a transport revolution, as governments and industry prepare for the introduction of automated vehicles on our road and rail networks.

According to the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities, “The use of automated vehicles for ride-sharing or ride-hailing, for automated on-road mass transit services, and for the provision of ‘last-mile’ connectivity, could deliver benefits such as significantly improved safety outcomes, greater efficiency and reduced congestion, better access to transport services for those unable to drive, as well as more liveable urban and regional communities”.

The Department noted, however, that “deploying automation on a crowded, mixed-user road system is a complex engineering and transport planning challenge”.

The Department will be appearing at a public hearing tomorrow as part of the House Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities’ inquiry into automated mass transit.

The Department’s submission outlines the challenges for government and the measures being put in place to meet them.

Committee Chair, John Alexander OAM MP, said the Committee is very interested in exploring how governments can facilitate and manage the introduction of automation in our transport systems.

“A critical role for government is ensuring that automated vehicles enhance the sustainable development of our cities and regions. Transport automation should figure in the master planning of the urban and interurban environment alongside everything else,” Mr Alexander said.

“The Committee is also keen to explore how new fuel sources, such as electricity and hydrogen power, can augment our mass transit systems."

Public hearing details: 5pm – 6.30 pm, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 Committee Room 1R3, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live

ends

A CAMPAIGN demanding the Morrison Government take action to save Australia’s coastal shipping industry will kick off today, with television advertisements highlighting the plight of the nation’s last iron ore vessels, which were axed by BHP last month.

Seafarers from aboard the MV Mariloula and MV Lowlands Brilliance, who were informed by email that they no longer had a job transporting iron ore for BHP from Port Hedland to the BlueScope steelworks in Port Kembla, took their message directly to Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of his address at the National Press Club today.

They will be spending the week meeting with key MPs and Senators to outline the personal impact of BHP’s decision, the broader impacts on the viability of the local shipping industry, and the urgent actions the Federal Government must take to save Australia’s remaining coastal trading fleet.

Their experience also features in a television commercial (see link to video at end) which states:

"BHP has sacked nearly 80 Australian workers. These skilled and passionate seafarers were sacked by email while at sea, hundred of kilometres from home. With the help of Scott Morrison’s Government, BHP replaced the Aussie jobs with exploited overseas visa workers."

"Scott Morrison says: “If you have a go, you’ll get a go”. Really Mr Morrison?"

Ben Sirasch, a seafarer of 10 years who was onboard the MV Mariloula when the news came through, said he entered the profession because he thought it was “an industry that was going to last a lifetime”.

He believes that shipping is not only an important industry for an island country, but it also plays an important role in ensuring the economic security of the nation.

“There’s no Aussie [fuel] tankers left in Australia,” Mr Sirasch said.

“It’s pretty scary that we only hold less than two weeks of fuel in the country, but we don’t have any tankers to run fuel around, so basically we’re sitting ducks if anything happens.”

Maritime Union of Australia National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said BHP’s decision to replace Australian seafarers with foreign vessels crewed by exploited workers was only possible because of the willful inaction of the Federal Government.

“BHP’s decision to axe these last Australian iron ore vessels — ending more than a century of local seafarers carrying resources for BHP — was only possible because the Morrison Government issued permits to foreign-crewed ships to undertake this work,” Mr Crumlin said.

“It is essential that the Australian public understand that this could not have occurred without the direct involvement of the Morrison Government.

“It is the government that provides the Temporary Licences to the foreign ships that will continue to undertake the work. It was also this government that allowed Maritime Crew Visas to undermine local workers, leading to their replacement and sacking.

“The Australian Government not only has the power to save these jobs, but they must do so for the sake of the entire industry and the critical role it plays.

“Our campaign has a simple demand: we want the Morrison Government to immediately withdraw all temporary licences for foreign ships that have been contracted to replace these Australian ships in this domestic trade.”

Mr Crumlin said that as an island nation it was essential Australia maintained a strong domestic shipping fleet.

“Ensuring coastal trade is undertaken by Australian vessels with appropriately trained crews adhering to Australian laws and regulations doesn’t just support local jobs, it protects our national security, insures us against global conflicts and economic shocks, and protects our natural environment.

“When local seafarers are replaced by vessels registered in tax havens and crewed with exploited foreign labour, all of that is put at risk

“With each Australian vessel that is lost, the viability of our local shipping industry takes a hit. As a country, we also lose the contribution these ships provide to the Australian economy through employment, tax revenue, and supporting local maintenance and provisioning businesses.

“Australia’s increasing reliance on foreign shipping is not in the national interest and it is undermining our economic and national security.”

See television commercial, and an interview with Ben Sirasch and his partner Erin Sharpley, at:

https://www.saveaustralianshipping.com.au/media

ends