Victoria stole all the headlines this week with spiking coronavirus cases and planes being turned away by the premier.
The Australian economy is still suffering but is doing better than most according to the IMF.
Queensland has reopened its borders but it is not soon enough for swimwear company Seafolly which has gone into administration.
Lastly, I’m sorry to tell Queenslanders that the Big Pineapple is not the biggest pineapple but as a consolation Yale is offering a free course in happiness!
The one-minute weekly recap
- Australia is alone among advanced economies in having its 2019 GDP forecast upgraded by the IMF (from -6.5 percent to -4.5 percent). Good but still bad.
- The government’s budget deficit has hit a record $65bn on the back of stimulus during the pandemic. Keep it coming please!
- The Grattan Institute says the government needs to spend an additional $70m to $90m to boost the post COVID-19 recovery and to prevent many workers from becoming long-term unemployed. Like I said, keep it coming.
- The ASX climbed 1.4 percent on the last day of the financial year but that could not distract from the worst return for a financial year since the GFC – the ASX was down 11 percent. Ouch!
- A report by environmental think tank, Beyond Zero Emissions, has calculated that “1.78m job years” could be created by decarbonizing the Australian economy. I would have thought it will be far more likely that the planet will still be inhabitable for humans to fill those jobs too.
- Bain Capital has agreed to buy Virgin Australia while Qantas will sack 6,000 workers (around 20 percent of their current workforce) as part of a three year recovery plan. They do not expect to resume international flights for 12 months. I still call Australia home (because I can’t leave).
- Cases in Victoria have spiked this week with the army called in. Premier Daniel Andrews has even turned international flights away. Queensland has opened its border to the other states but is requiring a quarantine for people coming from Victoria.
- German fintech firm, Wirecard, went bankrupt last week with a missing $2.1bn USD. If you happen to find it, please let them know.
A Sniippet for You
One in three businesses in cash crunch (AFR, 24 June)
- One in three businesses say their cash on hand would allow them to survive less than three months according to a June ABS survey
- Two-thirds of companies experienced a revenue decline compared with the same period last year
- 14 percent had more than 75 percent of their revenue wiped out
Australia bans nicotine vaping imports for 2021 (The Guardian, 26 June)
- An import ban will apply from 1 Jan 2021 rather than the originally announced 1 July 2020
- Vaping supplies will still be available through a GP prescription as a last resort for cigarette quitters
- The sale of vaping products in Australia is already illegal
Dirty dancing breaks the rules as WA moves to open nightclubs (AFR, 26 June)
- WA has reopened nightclubs but patrons must observe 1.5m social distancing
- The WA health minister says police will not be using a measuring tape but implores people to be sensible at club
- WA’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has soared to 8.1 per cent
Tough times at the box office for reopening cinemas (AFR, 26 June)
- Cinema’s revenue to fall 26 percent this financial year
- 83 percent of Event Cineme’s Cinebuzz members plan to return to cinemas within three months
- Going to the movies ranked higher than going out with friends, going shopping or going to a restaurant as an activity people were most looking forward to once restrictions are eased
Slack could kill email for businesses with new Slack Connect (The Verge, 24 June)
- Slack is a popular instant messaging service for companies’ internal communications
- Slack has announced a new product which will allow companies to communicate with each other securely
- Microsoft teams has been making headway against Slack during the pandemic but this could change things
Bikini icon Seafolly dives into voluntary administration (9 News, 29 June)
- Popular swimwear brand has gone into administration citing the pandemic
- The company was founded in 1975 and has 44 stores in Australia and 12 stores overseas
- Stores will remain open for now and gift-cards remain redeemable
A Sniippet of Finance advice
What financial apps do Australians use everyday? (Mozo)
- Five types of financial apps used by Australians everyday are:
- banking apps
- mobile payment apps
- International transfer and travel apps
- Budgeting and savings apps
- Investing apps
A Sniippet of Brain food
Yale offering a free course in happiness (entrepreneur.com)
- Yale’s course on happiness, Psychology and the Good Life, is now available online for free
- It is one of Yale’s most popular courses ever, back in 2018, 1 in 4 Yale students took it
- Happiness can be measured and you will measure it before and after you finish the course to see the effect of the course
A Sniippet of Trivia
The Big Pineapple is not the biggest (Medium)
- South Africa’s big pineapple is 4ft higher
- It was built in the 1980s
- Queensland’s big pineapple was built in 1971
- South Africa’s big pineapple is the largest fruit-shaped building in the world