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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, the second of April twenty twenty six. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know in just five minutes. O'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, Sean.

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Speaker 1: Five stories, five minutes. Let's go Story number one. Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister Anthony Albanezi last night appealed to the nation to

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Speaker 1: do their bit in conserving petrol and diesel, but he

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Speaker 1: stopped short of suggesting fuel rationing as on the way.

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Speaker 1: In a five minute pre recorded address, mister Albinezi made

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Speaker 1: it clear that he will be the primary voice during

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Speaker 1: the energy crisis, unlike COVID when the different state leaders

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Speaker 1: all took over, and he also sought to calm fears

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Speaker 1: about running out of petrol. He did say that the

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Speaker 1: months ahead would not be easy, but the people should

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Speaker 1: go about their business as usual, including following through with

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Speaker 1: their easter plans.

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Speaker 2: He also asked people to exercise common sense and consider

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Speaker 2: others like farmers and miners and tradespeople whose livelihoods depend

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Speaker 2: on getting diesel into their trucks significantly, he asked, but

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Speaker 2: not told people to make sensible choices. The PM suggest

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Speaker 2: that people switch to catching trains or buses or trams

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Speaker 2: to work. Also yesterday, Church of Jim Chalmers said the

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Speaker 2: Tax Office and banks had agreed to provide temporary relief

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Speaker 2: of payments for small businesses struggling to pay their bills

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Speaker 2: due to the spike and fuel prices.

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Speaker 1: It's not often that we get the Prime Minister addressing

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Speaker 1: the nation and all four broadcast networks covering it and

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Speaker 1: all the radio stations as well. Kevin Rudd did it

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Speaker 1: back in the Global Financial Crisis and the GFC back

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. Scott Morrison did it at

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Speaker 1: the start of COVID. What's the point here, sean project?

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Speaker 1: Is it just to make it look as though the

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Speaker 1: government is in control of this situation?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so, and specifically that Anthony Albernezi is

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Speaker 2: in control, even though the government has little control over supply.

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Speaker 2: The Prime Minister has been criticized for not doing enough

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Speaker 2: to calm Australian's nerves. Now he's doing what he can

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Speaker 2: to reduce demand, which is about all he can do.

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Speaker 2: Last night was definitely stage managed to make it looked

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Speaker 2: like he was running things, not helping a few things

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Speaker 2: yesterday when they announced it about lunchtime that the pain

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Speaker 2: was talking. Last night, apparently there was a run on

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Speaker 2: service stations. People thought rationing was on the way. That

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Speaker 2: didn't help things. Also, US President Donald Trump told the

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Speaker 2: countries to get your own oil now. The presidents also

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Speaker 2: said he expected the war and I ran to end

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Speaker 2: it the next two to three weeks. That helped equity

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Speaker 2: markets reading between the lines. No matter what Donald Trump says,

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Speaker 2: and he's due to make another announcement in a couple

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Speaker 2: of hours time, the federal government is not confident that

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Speaker 2: the war will end quickly or that oil will be

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Speaker 2: flying through this strait off Homuz anytime soon.

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Speaker 1: Story number two sean ahead of last night's addressed, the

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Speaker 1: local share market went on an absolute tear yesterday, kicking

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Speaker 1: off the new quarter up two point two percent, following

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Speaker 1: a strong lead in from Wall Street. After those comments

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Speaker 1: that you just mentioned from US President Donald Trump that

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Speaker 1: the Middle East wall would be over in weeks. It

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Speaker 1: was almost like the eight percent sell off in March

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Speaker 1: had been forgotten, kind of right. It was the best

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Speaker 1: one day gain in twelve months, at about sixty eight

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Speaker 1: billion dollars to the value of the asx two hundred.

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Speaker 2: Trump's comments and reports that the Iranian president was also

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Speaker 2: seeking an end to the war sent oil prices lower,

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Speaker 2: so Brent ended back closer to one hundred US dollars.

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Speaker 2: A barrel gold jumped above forty seven hundred US dollars,

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Speaker 2: announced briefly the local miners in the end with the

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Speaker 2: biggest winners. BHP was up five percent, forty few metals

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Speaker 2: four percent. Ria did pretty well. All the banks did well,

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Speaker 2: led by Comwealth Bank. Some of the property and consumer

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Speaker 2: discretionary stocks were among the worst performers. If you look

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Speaker 2: through that and underneath all the noise around the war,

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Speaker 2: there are clearly still concerns about the state of the

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Speaker 2: Autraian economy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, story number three is kind of link to that.

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Speaker 2: Really.

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Speaker 1: The supply of housing across the country is rising, with

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Speaker 1: building approvals jumping thirty percent in February thanks to a

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Speaker 1: surge in units. Figures for units, though a notoriously volatile

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Speaker 1: so if you look at the trend sean and the

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Speaker 1: trend as your friend, as we often say on this podcast,

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Speaker 1: building approvals are rising steadily the last few months. Rovi

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Speaker 1: Hoard at a level just under two hundred thousand units annually.

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Speaker 1: That is, of course below the government's housing accord goal

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Speaker 1: of two hundred and forty thousand units, but above where

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Speaker 1: we were six months ago.

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Speaker 2: So with slowing population growth, demand and supply is about

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Speaker 2: that two hundred thousand level. Probably is. There was a

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Speaker 2: boom in recent years and immigration as a result. We

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Speaker 2: are still trying to catch up. Approvals is the first part.

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Speaker 2: Second part is building completions that really hasn't started to

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Speaker 2: pick up yet, though they should hopefully. What's all this

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Speaker 2: means for house prices, which we know have come off

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Speaker 2: the boilert less than New South of As and Victoria.

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Speaker 2: More supply will help keep lid on prices, though there's

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Speaker 2: a bunch of things. Home first home buyer helped to

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Speaker 2: buia schemes. They're fueling the market.

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Speaker 1: Still Story number four, How about this one? The world's

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Speaker 1: most populoust nation, India, has just kicked off a census.

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Speaker 1: So it's one point four billion people hoping to count

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Speaker 1: every single person in the nation over a twelve month

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Speaker 1: time frame. It is the first population counting more than

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Speaker 1: fifteen years. There are thirty three questions. It is quite

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Speaker 1: a logistical exercise. More than three million officials will spend

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Speaker 1: the year counting people. It is the sixteenth census for India,

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Speaker 1: the eighth since independence in nineteen forty seven. It's going

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Speaker 1: to cover a whole stack of stuff and it is

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Speaker 1: crucial for policy and welfare delivery and political representation. Just

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Speaker 1: in such a massive country.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so thirty six states and federally administered territories, seven

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Speaker 2: thousand subdistricts, almost ten thousand towns, six hundred and forty

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Speaker 2: thousand villages. Basically data collectors, they're called enumerators, are going

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Speaker 2: to wander around and take this information. Basically, they'll be

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Speaker 2: like school teachers, government staff, local officials. Some are questions

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Speaker 2: in the first phase does your house have a concrete

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Speaker 2: roof for a thatched one? What is your main ceial?

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Speaker 2: Do you have internet access or just basic mobile phone?

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Speaker 2: Second phase will be more about demographics, education, migration and fertility.

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Speaker 2: But wow, what an exercise.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, last one, story number five, approximately twelve tons of

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Speaker 1: the Formula one KitKat chocolate bars have been stolen while

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Speaker 1: transitting through Europe, showing a truck carrying precisely four hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirteen thousy seven hundred and ninety three units of

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Speaker 1: Kitkat's new chocolate range has gone missing, having left central

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Speaker 1: Italy on a one thy three hundred kilometer journey to Poland.

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Speaker 2: You know when there's a war on. This is the

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Speaker 2: sort of news you need to know. KitKat became F

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Speaker 2: One's official chocolate.

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Speaker 1: Bar last year.

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Speaker 2: In January, they released the first ever chocolate molded F

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Speaker 2: one car features i Quate, a Smith Miok chocolate shell

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Speaker 2: with embedded Crispy Cereal and way for pieces. Then they

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Speaker 2: had the F one KitKat Chunky Anyway. A whole shipment

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Speaker 2: of the F one chocolates has gone missing. A statement

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Speaker 2: from KitKat said, We've always encouraged people to have a

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Speaker 2: break with KitKat, but it seems these have taken the

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Speaker 2: message too literally and made a break with more than

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Speaker 2: twelve tons of our chocolate.

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Speaker 1: There you go, a least they're embracing it. There we go.

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Speaker 1: The top five business stories in five minutes. Thank you Sean,

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Speaker 1: Thank you Michael. It's Thursday, the second of April twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty six. Remember to hit follow on the podcast Andy.

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Speaker 1: Five minutes isn't enough. You can find our longer daily

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Speaker 1: show called Fear and Greed wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson and that was the Fast five Business

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Speaker 1: news by fear and greed. Have a great day.