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Speaker 1: It's Monday, the twenty fourth of March twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Welcome 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, Sean. Five

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Speaker 1: big stories to race through in five minutes. Let's go.

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Speaker 1: Story number one. The federal government will hand down a

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Speaker 1: budget tomorrow night, with deficits expected for the foreseeable future,

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Speaker 1: potentially a better economic outlook, and spending initiatives very likely

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Speaker 1: to be aimed at winning an election.

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Speaker 2: In fact, nightly do we get a budget by Sunday night,

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Speaker 2: we could well have an election called. What that means

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Speaker 2: is that the budget tomorrow night is definitely not going

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Speaker 2: to include too many nasties. Many of the government spending

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Speaker 2: initiatives have already been announced, such as the lwering of

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Speaker 2: the out of pocket expenses for pharmaceuticals. Over the weekend,

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi said he'll extend the energy rebate

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Speaker 2: instituted last year until the end of twenty twenty five

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Speaker 2: to help with cost of living pressures so everyone gets

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Speaker 2: seventy five bucks off their energy build each quarter.

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Speaker 1: Shawn, we know about the hear a lot more obviously

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Speaker 1: about the cost of living relief by the pharmaceutical and

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Speaker 1: Energy bill promises. What else do we know at this stage? Though?

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Speaker 2: Economists think the budget deficit for this financial year or

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Speaker 2: come in around twenty billion, maybe twenty five billion. It's

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Speaker 2: a bit lower than the previous forecast. Treasury Jim Chalmers

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Speaker 2: yesterday said the budget will outline a reduction in net

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Speaker 2: overseas migration. There'll also be a refoecast of economic figures.

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Speaker 2: Headline inflation later this year will be lower thanks to

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Speaker 2: the energy we rebate. More important figure is underlying inflation

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Speaker 2: that might be a touch higher.

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Speaker 1: Politically, Sean, How does this play out as having a

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Speaker 1: budget a good thing for the government ahead of an election?

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Speaker 2: Probably not. Remember this budget wasn't supposed to happen. We're

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Speaker 2: supposed to be in a week in about week three

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Speaker 2: now of the election cycle. But excyclone Alfred had something

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Speaker 2: to say about that. It also means that Opposition leader

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Speaker 2: Peter Dutton gets a national audience with his budget reply

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Speaker 2: speech on Thursday night. But given where we are in

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Speaker 2: the electoral cycle, it probably won't make too much of

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Speaker 2: a difference, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Okay under story number two now and sean the S

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Speaker 1: and p ASX two hundred rebalance will take place today.

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Speaker 1: It's when companies are put in and out of the

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Speaker 1: AX fifty, ASEX one hundred and the ASEX two hundred,

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Speaker 1: and that can make a big difference. Karn't it to

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Speaker 1: share prices.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and to investors because passive investors often mirror indices,

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Speaker 2: so they just want to hold stocks that are in

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Speaker 2: one of those main categories of fifty one hundred to

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Speaker 2: two hundred. The big one really is the top fifty.

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Speaker 2: The two companies going in to the top fifty Promedicus

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Speaker 2: on the back of an incredible performance. It's now the

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Speaker 2: twenty fourth biggest company on the burs worth about twenty

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Speaker 2: seven billion dollars. The other one Sigma Healthcare, on the

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Speaker 2: back of the Chemist Warehouse takeover, now the seventeenth largest company.

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Speaker 2: In fact, it's bigger than Coal's and just behind Woollies.

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Speaker 2: Now the two meting out of the top fifty Minimum

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Speaker 2: Resources and Ramsey Healthcare.

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Speaker 1: Story number three. Health Minister Mark Butler is seeking advice

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Speaker 1: as to where the private health insurers are price gouging

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Speaker 1: members after hitting top tier policy holders with premium increase

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Speaker 1: of up to nine percent.

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Speaker 2: Major funds including Booper, Medibank, t CFNNIB have written to

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Speaker 2: policy holders in the past Fortnite advertising them a premium

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Speaker 2: high ex ranging from seven percent to nine point four

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Speaker 2: percent on the Gold and Silver policies, as well above

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Speaker 2: the three point seven percent industry average approved by Minister Butler.

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Speaker 2: Last month, the finn Is reporting that while insurers are

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Speaker 2: allowed to increase annual premiums more than the average because

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Speaker 2: some policies rise more than others, Butler's asked the Health

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Speaker 2: Department to advise him if insurers are price gouging customers.

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Speaker 2: Is particularly relevant at the moment because the ALP has

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Speaker 2: put healthcare at the center of its election campaign.

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Speaker 1: Story Number four. Australians are taking overseas trips in record numbers,

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Speaker 1: with short term offshore travel hitting a new record.

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Speaker 2: One point six million short term trips were recorded in January.

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Speaker 2: That's eleven percent higher than a year earlier. It's also

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Speaker 2: eleven percent higher than the pre COVID level of January

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, the most comparable month. Now New Zealand's the

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Speaker 2: most popular country accounting for about thirteen percent of travel

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Speaker 2: than Indonesia I e. Balley and then Japan I suspect

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Speaker 2: everyone went skiing with that exchange rate so positive for

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Speaker 2: the Aussie dollar back in January. One cohort that still

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Speaker 2: hasn't recovered from covid it is international students. In January

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Speaker 2: eighty one thousand international students arrived, down two and a

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Speaker 2: half percent from a year earlier, in ten percent lower

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Speaker 2: than January twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five, a consortium led by private

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Speaker 1: equity investors, has agreed to take a majority stake in

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Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics basketball franchise. The staggering thing about this Sean, though,

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Speaker 1: is the valuation six point one billion US dollars.

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Speaker 2: The deal tops the six point oh five billion valuation

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Speaker 2: paid in twenty twenty three for the Washington Commanders franchise

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Speaker 2: in the National Football League. According to the ft Now,

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Speaker 2: the Celtics is one of the best known brands in sport,

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Speaker 2: no doubt about that. They've won a lot of championships.

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Speaker 2: William Chisholm, who's co founder of private equity firm STG

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Speaker 2: and buyer of the team, has described himself as a

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Speaker 2: die hard Celtics fan, undoubtedly. Sixth Street, the private equity

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Speaker 2: firm led by former Golden Sex partner Alex Waxman, is

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Speaker 2: also part of the consortium. It's an interesting company. It's

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Speaker 2: already invested in NBA franchise at San Antonio Spurs. Last

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Speaker 2: week it agreed to buy into the San Francisco Giants

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Speaker 2: baseball team. It's invested in Spanish football all over the place.

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Speaker 2: It's got money in sport.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, all right, there we go to the top five

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Speaker 1: business stories in five minutes. Thank you very much, Sean,

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Michael. It is Monday, the twenty fourth of

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Speaker 1: March twenty twenty five. Remember to hit follow on the podcast,

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Speaker 1: and if five minutes isn't enough, you can find our

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Speaker 1: longer daily show called Fear and Greed wherever you listen

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Speaker 1: to podcasts. I'm Michael Thompson and that was the fast

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Speaker 1: five business news by Fear and Greed. Have a great day.