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Speaker 1: It's Monday, the sixteenth of December twenty twenty four. 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. I'm Michael Thompson,

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Speaker 1: and good morning, Sean Aylmer, Good morning, Michael Shawn. Five stories,

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Speaker 1: five minutes. Let's go a story. Number one. Federal Treasurer

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Speaker 1: Jim Chalmers says new appointees to the Reserve Bank Interest

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Speaker 1: Rates Setting Committee could happen as soon as today, as

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Speaker 1: he highlighted the government's economic credentials following last week's somewhat

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Speaker 1: surprising drop in the unemployment rate of three point nine percent.

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Speaker 2: He certainly was crying about that extraordinary result, but he

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Speaker 2: wouldn't be drawn about when the Reserve Bank will cut

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Speaker 2: interest rates. Of course, a lower unemployment rate does nothing

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Speaker 2: to add the argument that we need to cut rates

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Speaker 2: infected does the opposite. On the new interest rate setting committee,

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Speaker 2: Doctor Chalmers said he'd had collaborative discussions with his opposition counterpart,

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Speaker 2: Angus Taylor. He said he will also have hosed down

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Speaker 2: speculation of an election early next year, saying that thement's

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Speaker 2: working on a March twenty five budget. Now the government's

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Speaker 2: in caretaker mode, like if it's called an election, hit

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Speaker 2: won't hand down a budget. Doctor Chalmers rejected suggestions that

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Speaker 2: the timing of the next election could depend on the

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Speaker 2: potential for an interest rate cut in our first half

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Speaker 2: of next year.

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Speaker 1: And the other big issue that was being discussed over

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Speaker 1: the weekend show on Dr Chalmers it wasn't quite so

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Speaker 1: positive about Opposition leader Peter Dutton's nuclear plans.

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Speaker 2: NAH a very free cap coalition claims its nuclear power

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Speaker 2: plan will cost three hundred and thirty one billion dollars

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Speaker 2: to sixty three billion less than Labour's renewable plans over

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Speaker 2: the next twenty five years. Peter Dutton released the costings

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Speaker 2: of the option on Friday. It's based on the goal

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Speaker 2: of net zero missions electricity by twenty fifty Under the

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Speaker 2: coalition's model, renewable energy is still the dominant source fifty

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Speaker 2: four percent, but nuclear would provide thirty eight percent to

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Speaker 2: the national electricity market. Under government's policy, about ninety four

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Speaker 2: percent would be renewables. Really, it's costings which is driving

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Speaker 2: the debate at the moment. Doctor Chalmers yesterday said the

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Speaker 2: only way for the Opposition to achieve its costings would

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Speaker 2: be to shrink the economy. Basically, he said, it's ridiculous

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Speaker 2: to think that the economy will need less power in

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Speaker 2: the future. So he wasn't really, ah well a fan

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Speaker 2: of the opposition's costings.

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Speaker 1: No, it doesn't sound sean storyed over two. Things are

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Speaker 1: winding back for the summer break in the auction market.

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Speaker 1: They having said that there were still more than two

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Speaker 1: thousand homes up for sale last week, and in a

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Speaker 1: reversal of most of the year, Melbourne is now looking

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Speaker 1: stronger than Sydney.

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Speaker 2: In fact, just on this week's auction preliminary clearance right,

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Speaker 2: Melbourne was the number one capital city across the country.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that's happened all year. Adelaide normally wins

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Speaker 2: that it was down to sixty three percent. Melbourne came

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Speaker 2: in at sixty nine percent, Sydney sixty three percent. As

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Speaker 2: we said last week, the market is ending with a whimper,

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Speaker 2: but still prices have risen by five and a half

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Speaker 2: per cent over twenty twenty four. According to core Logic

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Speaker 2: shows that housing markets do more than just tries and

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Speaker 2: fall on rates. Supply and population growth matters as well,

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Speaker 2: and those two factors have been keeping pressure on prices

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Speaker 2: all year.

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Speaker 1: Okay, moving on to story number three. Cash sean isn't

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Speaker 1: going anywhere, with the Reserve Bank saying it is committed

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Speaker 1: to lowering merchant card payment costs and ensuring cash is

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Speaker 1: a viable means of payment for shoppers and businesses.

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Speaker 2: One of the Reserve banks Assistant Governors, Brad Jones, says

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Speaker 2: Australia's payments system is world class, but a concerted efforts

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Speaker 2: needed to keep it that way. He said cash remains

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Speaker 2: an important means of payment for many people, particularly more

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Speaker 2: vulnerable members members of society. He said it remains an

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Speaker 2: important store of value, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty,

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Speaker 2: and aids the resilience of the overall payments system. For

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Speaker 2: these reasons, the government and the Bank are committed to

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Speaker 2: supporting access to cash. That happened as the Ager will see.

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Speaker 2: The Competition Watchdog issued to draft determination, basically saying the

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Speaker 2: Banking Association, the banks that retailers, supermarkets zipasts can work

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Speaker 2: together to ensure the future continuity of cash in transit services.

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Speaker 1: Story number four Consulting Giant McKinsey sean out of the

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Speaker 1: US will pay US six hundred and fifty million dollars,

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Speaker 1: which is what about a bill and ossie to end

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Speaker 1: a criminal investigation by the US Justice Department into the

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Speaker 1: company's role in bolstering sales of addictive pain pills.

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Speaker 2: In what officials describe as a landmark case, US attorneys

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Speaker 2: in Massachusetts and Virginia file charges of conspiracy to misbranded

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Speaker 2: drug and obstruction. It comes from McKinsey's work advising Perdue

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Speaker 2: Farmer on how to turbo charge sales of the blockbuster

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Speaker 2: opioid OxyContin. State and federal officials alleged Purdue helped kickstart

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Speaker 2: the nation's opioid crisis in the late nineteen nineties and

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Speaker 2: two thousands by aggressively marketing the drug to doctors while

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Speaker 2: downplaying its addiction risk. It marks the first time a

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Speaker 2: management consulting company has faced criminal charges related to work

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Speaker 2: with the opioid industry. According to report in The Washington Post,

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Speaker 2: the agreement adds to more than or nearly a billion

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Speaker 2: dollars that mckinzie's has already agreed to pay to set

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Speaker 2: all lawsuits from states, local government, school districts, health insurers,

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Speaker 2: and benefit plans. In a statement, McKinzie said it should

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Speaker 2: never have worked with perdue.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five, Sean, how about this? Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: has put together its annual edition of the Richest Families

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Speaker 1: in the World, and unfortunately the Aylmers and the Thompsons

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Speaker 1: were not on the list Sean. But back at number

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Speaker 1: one after an eighty percent rally in the price of

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Speaker 1: retail giant Walmart this year is the Walton family.

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Speaker 2: Sixty two years after the first Walmart opened, the family

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Speaker 2: is now worth four hundred and thirty two billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: Sam Molton died in nineteen ninety two. He divided his

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Speaker 2: fortune among his children to maintain family control. That really

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Speaker 2: has helped keep wealth in the family. At number two

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Speaker 2: was last year's number one, the al Nain family from

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Speaker 2: Abu Dhabi, families presided over at the oil rich Emirate

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Speaker 2: Cathedral Generations. Number three is the Alfahani family in Qatar

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Speaker 2: oil again. The Jemez family, the French plan famous for

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Speaker 2: their luxury goods, comes in at number four. Randing out

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Speaker 2: the top five are the Kosh family. Four brothers there

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Speaker 2: and inherited their father's oil firm. Now they own all

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Speaker 2: sorts of things all right.

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Speaker 1: There we go the top five business stories in five minutes.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Sean, thank you, Michael. It is Monday,

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Speaker 1: the sixteenth of December twenty twenty four, remembered hit follow

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Speaker 1: on the podcast and if five minutes isn't enough, you

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Speaker 1: can find our longer daily show called Fear and Greed

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Michael Thompson and that

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Speaker 1: was the past five business news by Fear and Greed.

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Speaker 1: Had a great day,