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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, the eighteenth of December 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 in just five minutes. Oh 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 roll with story number one.

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Speaker 1: The federal government has forecast higher inflation and slower economic

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Speaker 1: growth in its midyear budget update. Also a lower than

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Speaker 1: forecast deficit. No thanks to a higher tax take. A

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Speaker 1: surge in taxes on income companies and superannuation accounts, plus

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Speaker 1: some longer term spending restraint has improved the federal budget

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Speaker 1: and reduced government debt by almost thirty billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: That's right. The deficit this year is expected to come

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Speaker 2: in around thirty seven million dollars, down five billion dollars

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Speaker 2: over the next three years. Treasury's forecasting cumulative deficits of

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Speaker 2: one hundred and forty three billion previously without one hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty two billion dollars. There, you know, each deficit

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Speaker 2: a little bit smaller. That's the good news. The government

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Speaker 2: had downgraded the tobacco exercise take by twenty five percent

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Speaker 2: this year, Alyowing tobacco excise is expected to collect five

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Speaker 2: point five billion dollars, the smallest tax take on cigarettes

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Speaker 2: in twenty years. It's also forecasting lower debt levels. We

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Speaker 2: thought it was going to be over at trillion dollars.

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Speaker 2: It's about nine hundred and ninety three billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: Much of the talk before this budget update was about

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Speaker 1: how much the federal government is contributing to the economy.

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Speaker 1: The critics say it's spending too much. But government spending

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Speaker 1: is slightly lower than had been forecast, at twenty six

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Speaker 1: point nine percent of GDP.

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Speaker 2: That's right, so it's better, but it is still the

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Speaker 2: highest share of the economy the government is since nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty six eighty seven, if you take the pandemic out,

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Speaker 2: and it's forecast to state that sort of level for

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Speaker 2: twenty for the rest of this decade, about twenty seven

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Speaker 2: percent of GDP. There are some savings the home battery program,

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Speaker 2: this cust to travel cuts, the use of consultants, more

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Speaker 2: spending though SIRO non government school support for cares, not

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Speaker 2: saying they're bad things, but the government has done any

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Speaker 2: fiscal repair.

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Speaker 1: And just quickly the economic growth forecasts.

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Speaker 2: Growth about the same this year and then downgraded next

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Speaker 2: year to two and a quarter percent, lifted inflation expectations sharply.

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Speaker 2: That's the big one. Unemployment has been revised upwards from

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Speaker 2: four and a quarter to about four and a half percent.

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Speaker 2: No change to migration forecasts.

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Speaker 1: Okay, on to story number two now and the first

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Speaker 1: funerals for Bondai Beach massacre victims were held yesterday on

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Speaker 1: a very emotional day in which former Treasurer Josh Fridenberg

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Speaker 1: said Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi should accept personal responsibility for

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Speaker 1: the killings and he called for a Royal commission into

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Speaker 1: anti Semitism.

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Speaker 2: That's right. Six funerals were held yesterday. It was a

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Speaker 2: somber day, A very angry Josh Fridenberg in Bondi said

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Speaker 2: what had happened. He claimed that the Prime Minister had

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Speaker 2: allowed Australia to be radicalized on his watch. I quote him,

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Speaker 2: it's time for him to accept personal responsibility for the

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Speaker 2: death of fifteen innocent people, including a ten year old child.

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Speaker 2: Senior members of the federal government, yes, I agreed that

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Speaker 2: more needed to be done to combat anti Semitism, as

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Speaker 2: Didney South Wales State Premier Chris Means. Meanwhile, the younger

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Speaker 2: suspected shooter, Navid achrem awoke from a coma yesterday. He

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Speaker 2: was hit with fifty nine charges, including fifteen counts of

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Speaker 2: murder in one count of committing a terrorist attack.

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Speaker 1: Story number three. Treasury Winer States will start a cost

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Speaker 1: reduction program and rain in its growth in China and

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Speaker 1: the United States, which are two of US biggest markets.

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Speaker 1: After a sharper than expected slow down in global wine demand.

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Speaker 1: It's in a bit of trouble.

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Speaker 2: It sure is Penfolds, the Penfil's owner, Toll Shareholders. It

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Speaker 2: expected first half twenty twenty six earnings to be about

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Speaker 2: thirty per cent below consensus. Chief executive Sam Fisher will

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Speaker 2: commence a cost reduction program. Now the US earnings in

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Speaker 2: particular tumbled by about fifty percent. They've already written down

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Speaker 2: a big number on that business. Treasury will take deliberate

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Speaker 2: strategic action to protect brand equity by cutting shipments off

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Speaker 2: seven hundred thousand cases of wine across China and the

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Speaker 2: US in a bid to stabilize prices. After yesterday's nine

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Speaker 2: percent share price tumble, the stocks off fifty six percent

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Speaker 2: this year. Looks like winning the unwanted title of worst

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Speaker 2: performing ASEX two hundred company for twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Story number four, the competition regulator is suing home meal

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Speaker 1: delivery company Hello Fresh in federal court for allegedly misleading

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Speaker 1: more than one hundred thousand consumers over subscriptions.

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Speaker 2: Yes so the ahriblec has launched proceedings against its parent

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Speaker 2: company and another group called You Foods Proprietary Limited. The

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Speaker 2: HBC started an investigation into Holofresher New Foods in October

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Speaker 2: last year after a bunch of consumer complaints. Basically, the

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Speaker 2: regula is alleged that the two breached the consumer laws

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Speaker 2: by advertising that new customers could easily cancel subscriptions before

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Speaker 2: it specified cutoff time. Over one hundred thousand consumers were

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Speaker 2: charged for their first order despite canceling their subscription before

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Speaker 2: the cutoff. A TABLEC is not happy about that.

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Speaker 1: One last one. Story number five, Tesla's share price has

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Speaker 1: hit a record, surpassing its prior all time high reached

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Speaker 1: almost a year ago, and a value to the company

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Speaker 1: at one point five to four trillion US dollars.

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Speaker 2: They searched after CEO Elon Musk said Tesla had been

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Speaker 2: test driving or testing driverless vehicles, so not test driving

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Speaker 2: at all, testing driverless vehicles in Texas with no occupants

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Speaker 2: on board. Well, driverless vehicles wouldn't have occupants, but up

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Speaker 2: until now they've got to have someone a fail safe

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Speaker 2: sitting in the driver's seat. Not so, they've been testing

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Speaker 2: driverless vehicles that boost sentiment among investors. They reckon the

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Speaker 2: company could soon make good on its promised to turn

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Speaker 2: electric vehicles into robot taxis.

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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's Thursday,

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Speaker 1: the eighteenth of December twenty twenty five. Remember to hit

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

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Speaker 1: you're going to find our longer daily show called Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed where ever you listen to podcasts. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: Thompson and ives the past five business news by Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed. Have a great day.