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Speaker 1: It's Friday, the seventh of November twenty twenty five. 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 and just five minutes. I'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. Storry Number one A big one.

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Speaker 1: The country's government's increased spending on public service wages to

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Speaker 1: nearly two hundred and fifty billion dollars last financial year.

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Speaker 1: That's up sixteen percent over two years, and the Commonwealth

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Speaker 1: workforce is growing fastest.

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Speaker 2: Soever the past couple of years, all levels of government

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Speaker 2: have boosted their wages bill, in part due to wage rises,

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Speaker 2: but also due to hiring more people. State governments are

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Speaker 2: the biggest employer, making up seventy seven percent of public

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Speaker 2: sector employment, Commonwealth banks fifteen percent, local governments eight percent.

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Speaker 2: But the Commonwealth government's wages bill has grown faster. It

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Speaker 2: paid forty one billion dollars last financial year, twenty percent

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Speaker 2: more than two years ago. It now employs three hundred

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Speaker 2: and eighty six thousand people, up from three hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty thousand a couple of years ago. In contrast, average

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Speaker 2: weekly the winnings raised about three percent last year four

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Speaker 2: percent the year before.

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Speaker 1: The numbers shonne are huge, particularly among the six states

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Speaker 1: and the two territories. Nearly two million people are employed

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Speaker 1: by the states.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so most of the jobs are in public administration

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Speaker 2: and safety, think policing, education and training, teachers, health care

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Speaker 2: and assistance, nurses, cares, etc. The surgeon spending comes as

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Speaker 2: economists and analysts have criticized the federal governments for spending

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Speaker 2: too much. Yesterday, the Opposition pushed the point, asking whether

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Speaker 2: government spending is driving inflation. Treasure Jim Chalmers said no,

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Speaker 2: saying the Reserve Bank was clear in the course of

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Speaker 2: coming to its decision earlier in the week to not

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Speaker 2: cut rates that government spending had nothing to do with it.

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure that the Reserve Bank said that at all,

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Speaker 2: And of course government spending does add to inflation, as

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Speaker 2: does all spending. The point is whether or not there

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Speaker 2: is too much public spending. Charmers argues that the last

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Speaker 2: two quarters, during the last two quarters, public demand to

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Speaker 2: make no contribution to growth. Mind you, that's different to

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Speaker 2: not adding to inflationary pressure.

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Speaker 1: On to story number two now National Australia Bank has

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Speaker 1: reported a drop in net profit for the full year

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Speaker 1: to the end of September, though boss Andrew Irvine says

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Speaker 1: there's good momentum in the country's second largest lander.

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Speaker 2: The bank reported an annual cash profit of seven point

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Speaker 2: one billion dollars, slightly below expectations, and an unchanged final

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Speaker 2: dividend of eighty five cents to share mind you, its

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Speaker 2: share price fell three point four percent on the day,

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Speaker 2: investors not real happy. Irvine said the bank was making

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Speaker 2: good progress in key target areas business banking, driving deposit

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Speaker 2: growth and strengthening home lending via its own workforce. NAB

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Speaker 2: is the country's largest business land of twenty two percent

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Speaker 2: of the market, but facing stiff competition from Commonwealth and Westpac.

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Speaker 2: In particular, its profit margins are being squeezed somewhat expenses

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Speaker 2: will hire, in part because of a one hundred and

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Speaker 2: thirty million dollar cost after the bank was found to

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Speaker 2: be underpaying employees. Irvine nominated housing as Australia's biggest societal

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Speaker 2: and policy challenge.

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Speaker 1: Story number three. Microsoft will refund millions of dollars to

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Speaker 1: Australian customers after the consumer watchdog alleged that it duped

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Speaker 1: two point seven million Aussies into paying more for expensive

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Speaker 1: software plans that included the co pilot Chapbot, even if

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Speaker 1: they didn't want it.

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Speaker 2: Microsoft wrote to customers yesterday apologizing to those affected. The

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Speaker 2: tech giant said it should have been more transparent about

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Speaker 2: the existence of a cheaper plan for those who did

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Speaker 2: not think It's artificial intelligence features were worth paying for. Now,

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Speaker 2: customers can request a refund before the end of this year.

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Speaker 2: Last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged that

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Speaker 2: Microsoft concealed the option to switch to a less expensive

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Speaker 2: subscription known as a Classic plan, which didn't include Copilot.

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Speaker 2: The case highlights the potential challenge for Microsoft and other

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Speaker 2: big tech companies upgrading customers into paying more money the services.

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Speaker 2: That is, how they're going to make their money back,

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Speaker 2: so long as customers want to pay for it.

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Speaker 1: Story number four sean It's been a rough week for

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Speaker 1: US President Donald Trump. Midweek, the voters of four different

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Speaker 1: states voted in Democrat can candidates for office, just as

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Speaker 1: the president's approval rating fell below forty percent. Then you

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Speaker 1: add in the Supreme Court appearing skeptical of Trump's tariffs

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Speaker 1: It's all just building, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So there was an election of a democratic, well,

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Speaker 2: a Democrat as a mayor of New York. We had

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Speaker 2: Democrats winning governor races in Virginia and New Jersey, a

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Speaker 2: Democratic majority in the state Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a

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Speaker 2: democratic vote in California as well. We then oral arguments

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Speaker 2: were heard in the country's Supreme Court on tariffs. A

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Speaker 2: bit like winging the tea leaves this one, but analyst

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Speaker 2: said justices appeared skeptical of the legal basis for the tariff.

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Speaker 2: Then the US was forced to cut flights by ten

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Speaker 2: percent at forty airports because of the government shutdown, which

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Speaker 2: earlier in the week resulted in the ending of food

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Speaker 2: stamps for many families. It is now the longest shutdown

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Speaker 2: in history, and polls from middle of the road organizations

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Speaker 2: like NBC suggested the Republicans are shouldering most of the blame.

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Speaker 2: Had Russian President Vladimir Putin talking about starting nuclear tests

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Speaker 2: to match Donald Trump. Not a great week for the president.

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Speaker 1: No, not a great one. Last story, story number five.

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Speaker 1: This is a heck of a story. Sean Lost Songs

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Speaker 1: of legendary rock singer Jim Morrison that turned up in

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Speaker 1: a house in remote Tasmania of all places, have been

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Speaker 1: returned to his family in the US.

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Speaker 2: Labels unreleased or never released. The real to real recordings

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Speaker 2: were found in the Huon Valley home of US music

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Speaker 2: producer of the late John Haney. According to The Australian, Haney,

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Speaker 2: a producer, mixing engineer and sound designer who worked with

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Speaker 2: the Doors and its frontman Frontman, died in his Adopted

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Speaker 2: Island home a couple of years ago among a treasure

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Speaker 2: trove of recording equipment found with a reel to reel

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Speaker 2: recordings which Haines's labeling suggests include at least six unreleased

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Speaker 2: Morrison tracks. There are tracks were returned and the Morrison

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Speaker 2: family will make a donation to various charities at Haines's

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Speaker 2: that appear in Haney's will. At least one tape was

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Speaker 2: recorded after Morrison left the Doors. It was a session

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Speaker 2: on his twenty seventh birthday, December eight, nineteen seventy Basically

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Speaker 2: de session turned into a drunk drunken party that tapes

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Speaker 2: kept running. Morrison died in July nineteen seventy one.

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Speaker 1: All right, there we go The top five business stories

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Speaker 1: in five minutes. Thank you Sean, Thank you Michael. It

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Speaker 1: is Friday, the seventh of November twenty twenty five. Remember

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Speaker 1: to hit follow on the podcast, and if five minutes

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Speaker 1: isn't enough, you can find our longer daily show called

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Speaker 1: Fear and Greed wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: Thompson and that was the fast five Business news by

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Speaker 1: Fear and Greed. Have a great day.