QUINN Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan (QE) today has filed class action proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales against embattled financial giant AMP Limited (AMP).

The class action has been filed on behalf of affected shareholders who have seen AMP’s market capitalisation plummet by approximately $2 billion following its recent admissions of misconduct at the banking Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. QE will pursue the class action, which has the potential to be one of Australia’s largest shareholder claims, with the backing of global litigation funder Burford Capital.

The class action alleges that, amongst other things, AMP breached its continuous disclosure obligations and made misleading statements, causing shareholders significant loss.

Revelations of AMP’s misconduct have caused its share price fall to a six year low – with AMP’s share price dropping by 14 percent since 16 April 2018. At close Wednesday, AMP shares were trading at $4.08.

QE Partner Damian Scattini said: “I don’t think there’s anyone in Australia who hasn’t been shocked and appalled by the behaviour exposed by the Royal Commission. AMP admitted that it has been misleading its customers and the market for years – it knowingly charged its loyal customers fees for advisory services it never provided, and then repeatedly lied about it to the corporate regulator. The deceit of AMP and its board is reprehensible and they must be held financially accountable.

“We have been examining AMP’s conduct for some time, but these revelations show irrefutably the contempt and disregard that AMP has for both its shareholders and customers. We will be watching AMP’s annual general meeting tomorrow with great interest to see what they say about this.

“The fact that AMP’s chairman, CEO, general counsel and three directors have resigned or been stood down as a result of the evidence heard at the Royal Commission shows that even AMP realises the depth of wrongdoing that has occurred at the highest levels of the company.”

Craig Arnott, managing director of Burford said: “AMP’s directors and executives have demonstrated a serious lack of regard for their responsibilities and the legitimate expectations of the company’s shareholders, many of whom are retail investors.”

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THE RESOURCES sector has helped Queensland maintain its record high export results with strong growth in coal, LNG and mineral exports over the last 12 months, Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said.

Mr Macfarlane said based the latest trade figures for the 12 months to the end of March 2018 showed that the resources sector contributed more than $55 billion – or 78 percent – of the State’s $70 billion goods exports.

Premier and Minister for Trade Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “Queensland has always been a trading state. Our future is underpinned by trade, which comprises almost one-third of our economy. Our growth in exports is driven by coal, LNG and crops. We are always looking to do more to create jobs and boost the economy.”

Mr Macfarlane said he welcomed the Premier’s confidence in the sector and its ongoing contribution to Queensland’s exports.

“The fact is our exports are at record levels.  That’s good news for the Government’s budget and its capacity to reinvest in services and infrastructure.  It’s very good news for Queensland jobs and household budgets,” he said.

“Resources sector exports from Queensland are now the equivalent of $1 billion every week.”

The trade data shows coal exports increased by 12.4 percent – or $3.324 billion – to $30.174 billion over the last 12 months, while minerals increased by 9.9 percent – or $654 million – to $7.286 billion over the same period.

“LNG continues to be a growing contributor to our exports performance.  Combined the QCLNG, APLNG and GLNG projects, working off Curtis Island, have sent more than 750 shipments overseas from the Port of Gladstone,” he said.

Mr Macfarlane said stable policy and commodity prices were essential to the resources sector's strong export performance.

“However, the major threat to our export performance is a homegrown one.  Aurizon’s new maintenance regime will cut the movement of an estimated 20 million tonnes per annum.  This is the equivalent of $4 billion in lost export sales.  For the Government, and more importantly for the people of Queensland, it is a $500 million loss in royalties – in money the Government can reinvest in services and infrastructure for the people of Queensland,” he said.

“QRC repeats its call on Aurizon to resume normal maintenance practices and await the outcomes of both the Supreme Court action, which Aurizon initiated, and the Queensland Competition Authority assessment.”

QRC is the peak representative body for Queensland’s resource sector. The sector provides one in every $6 in the Queensland economy, sustains one in eight Queensland jobs, and supports more than 16,400 businesses across the State, all from 0.1 percent of Queensland’s land mass.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE INSTITUTE of Public Accountants (IPA) has analysed the tax policies as announced by the two major political parties and questions how it can be that we have such divergent views when it comes to tax. 

“We understand that next week’s Federal Budget is a pre-election Budget and by their very nature, Budgets and Budget replies are inherently political,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“However, there is too much at stake for political posturing when we have very real and growing expenditure pressures on the budget brought about by our ageing population and increasing tax complexity.

“We strongly encourage the parliament to put the national interest ahead of political interest and partisanship when it comes to tax.

“The ‘tax-talk’ from both sides of politics is so divergent that the layperson has even less of an idea of what the tax system will look like if the changes come into force. 

“As a community, we need to give politicians the license to be bold when it comes to tax reform. A tax system built on simplicity and equity should be our collective goal. 

“We have kept track of the announcements to date:

Labor’s announced tax policies:

1. A restoration of the company tax rate to the full 30 percent coupled with a possible lower rate for smaller corporate entities with turnover less than $2m;
2. Higher personal tax rates at the top end of the income scale and lower personal tax rates at the lower end;
3. An increase in the Medicare levy to 2.5 percent coupled with a more generous Medicare levy arrangement for lower paid workers than currently available;
4. A prohibition on negatively gearing investment properties other than newly built investment properties;
5. A halving of the capital gains tax (CGT) discount to 25 percent for individuals;
6. A minimum tax of 30 percent on all distributions from discretionary trusts;
7. A denial of any refund in respect of excess imputation credits;
8. A new deduction (the Australian Investment Guarantee) which will enable a 20 percent deduction in respect of the purchase of any new eligible asset worth more than $20,000;
9. Capping of deductions for managing tax affairs to a maximum of $3,000;
10. Whistle-blower rewards for tax evasion; and
11. Superannuation:

• · Oppose catch up contributions on concessional contributions and tax deductibility on personal superannuation contributions;
• · Lower annual non-concessional contribution cap to $75,000 and further lower high income super contribution threshold to $200,000; and
• · Increasing the Superannuation Guarantee to 12 percent when fiscal circumstances allow.

In contrast, the Coalition’s current tax policies (prior to the May Budget) are:

1. A reduced corporate tax rate for all companies eventually with a target rate of 25 percent;
2. A likely reduction in personal tax rates particularly for income levels up to $100,000;
3. No change to current arrangements regarding negative gearing of investment property;
4. No change to the CGT discount which currently sits at 50 percent for individuals;
5. No change to the current arrangements regarding trust distributions from discretionary trusts;
6. No change to the current arrangements regarding imputation in particular, full refund of excess imputation credits; and
7. No changes in relation to depreciation – the $20,000 immediate asset write-off available to 30 June 2018 is not currently being extended by the Coalition. This may change on 8 May.

“Our key concern is that with the Budget just days away, we seem to be headed for more tinkering and less substantive tax reform. Either way, the Federal Parliament seems unwilling or unable to talk about holistic tax reform where the total tax mix is taken into consideration,” said Mr Conway. 

www.publicaccountants.com.au

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THE top 10 tech start-ups at CeBIT 2018 will go head-to-head for the coveted title of PitchFest winner at ICC Sydney on May 17.

CeBIT Australia’s PitchFest is a 'Shark Tank' style competition giving ten of the nation's most promising start-ups the opportunity to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to an esteemed panel of judges, before an audience of fellow start-ups, investors and potential customers.

The ultimate winner of CeBIT PitchFest 2018 will not only get extraordinary exposure but will receive a prize package valued at over $20,000; comprising a fully-paid exhibition stand at CeBIT Australia 2019, three Square Contactless and Chip Readers from Vodafone, a Norton Small Business 10, which protects 10 devices for 12 months, a $10,000 USD Alibaba Cloud credit valid for one year, three months free co-working space at Tank Stream Labs in Sydney, a one-year membership to TIE Sydney, and ongoing support and mentorship. 

The 10 finalists battling it out to win PitchFest are:

• AdvancedCateringSolutions – provide specialist cloud and Blockchain technology software that liberates chefs, giving them unrivalled food traceability, cost-savings and operational efficiencies.
• BenchOn – focused on solving the problem of employee under-utilisation, providing an online B2B platform solution for companies to manage the peaks and troughs of their business cycle by matching staff with current short-term contracts.
• Diffuse Energy – offers a small wind turbine that's twice as efficient while being quieter and safer than other products currently on the market.
• HeadsafeIP – offers the Concussionometer, a portable headset using clinically validated, patented technology to measure the brain’s electrical activity when concussed and send results to a smartphone.
• Inspace XR – builds augmented and VR software for the real estate sector, allowing designers to visualise their VR CAD files within seconds, communicate with stakeholders easily with scale-accurate, on-demand walkthroughs, reviews and sync automatically allowing users to virtually step inside a design.
• KnowHowHere – is an IoT app platform that improves safety and performance for workers who perform complex tasks in the real world of mining, construction, infrastructure, transport, and defence. 
• Littlescribe – is helping combat illiteracy, enabling children to create original books from their hand drawn and written pages – encouraging kids to read and providing positive curriculum outcomes and tools for schools.
• Oppizi – is technology powering offline marketing acquisition initiatives that allow clients to seamlessly track and optimise their campaign performance.
• Sourcr – a recruitment platform allowing businesses to find and compare recruiters and manage their existing relationships more effectively.
• Ping Data – technology that brings paper receipts into the modern age by digitally capturing payment data to create PINGreceipts, which are then matched to the transactions in a user's banking app.

Each finalist will have four minutes to pitch their tech-related start-up idea, followed by a four minute Q&A session with this year's four revered judges; Adam Cook, Investment Associate AirTree Ventures, Bradley Delamare, Chief Executive Officer, Tank Stream Labs, Kara Frederick, General Partner, Reinventure and Noga Edelstein, Co-Founder, UrbanYou.

Previous winners of CeBIT PitchFest have gone on to become multi-million-dollar, multinational companies. The 2017 winner Look Who's Charging, helps Australians easily identify merchant charges to our credit cards. Since showcasing at CeBIT Australia last year, the business has had enormous success and were recently crowned the winner of Money Magazine’s 2018 – Most Innovative Banking Feature Award.

Harvey Stockbridge, Managing Director of Hannover Fairs – organiser of CeBIT Australia – said the annual PitchFest competition is a hugely popular segment on the CeBIT Australia program.

“CeBIT PitchFest has a proud history of unearthing and supporting Australia’s leading technology start-ups and this year is sure to be no exception. It is an absolute privilege to be in a position to help launch the next generation of tech-industry game-changers," said Mr Stockbridge.

According to a report released by KPMG in mid-2017[i], investment in Australian start-ups is growing significantly, with a noticeable maturation of our start-up ecosystem.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business, Hon. John Barilaro said nine out of the ten finalists were NSW based start-ups, including six companies that have been supported by the NSW Government-backed Jobs for NSW.

“Start-ups and small businesses are the big job generators of our economy and events like PitchFest help unearth and launch the best new companies of the future. 

“Congratulations and best of luck to all the finalists, your breakthrough technologies demonstrate the breadth and excellence of the start-up community in this country.

“The NSW Government's support for CeBIT Australia and for our start-up industry will continue to grow our state's global reputation as a technology industry leader,” said Mr Barilaro. 

PitchFest is one of Australia’s premier start-up launch platforms, showcasing innovative talent and pitch presentations held on the FutureTech Stage from 2pm - 4.15pm on Thursday 17 May, wrapping up the three-day CeBIT Australia 2018 event at ICC Sydney.

www.cebit.com.au

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