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Speaker 1: Welcome to the weekend edition of the Fast five Business

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Speaker 1: News by Fear and Greed. I'm Michael Thompson and hello

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Speaker 1: Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Hello Michael Sean.

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Speaker 1: On weekdays, it's all about the Fast five, the top

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Speaker 1: five business stories in five minutes. On the weekend, we

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Speaker 1: still keep it to five minutes, of course, but we're

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Speaker 1: going to pick out the biggest story of the week,

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Speaker 1: the sleeper story, one that's flying under the radar a

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Speaker 1: little bit, the most remarkable business story, and then our

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Speaker 1: favorite story as well. Do you want to kick us

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Speaker 1: off with the biggest story of the week. Yes.

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Speaker 2: Politics plenty going on with Parliament hitting. Let's start with

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Speaker 2: the NDS Minister Bill short and struck a deal with

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Speaker 2: the States and territories to pass Labour's overhaul of the scheme,

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Speaker 2: bringing to an end a month's long standoff over legislation

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Speaker 2: designed to slow the ballooning cost of the program, trying

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Speaker 2: to say fourteen billion dollars over four years. The debate

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Speaker 2: over Gaza and refugees coming into Australia, we're starting to

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Speaker 2: impact the government. Prime Minister Anthony, I'll be needsy this week,

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Speaker 2: have to confirm that a number of visitor visas granted

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Speaker 2: to Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza have been canceled. The issue

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Speaker 2: there is a visit of visa versus a refugee visa

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Speaker 2: less stringent security checks than the visit of visa. The

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Speaker 2: deal done between the Gunment Coalition meaning every state and

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Speaker 2: territory construction division of the CFOMMEU will soon be administration.

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister had to bat back attacks about his proposed

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Speaker 2: gambling reforms. There's changed to pornography rules, pay hike's nearly

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Speaker 2: two thousand federal public staffers as well. Plenty going on

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Speaker 2: in politics.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly was quite a week on the economics front.

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Speaker 1: But one big story the release of the Reserve Bank

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Speaker 1: Board minutes. Really it was a surprise because we obviously

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Speaker 1: hear a lot now with Governor Michelle Bullock speaking after

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Speaker 1: every meeting, So it was a bit of a surprise

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Speaker 1: to see in the Reserve Bank Board minutes just how

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Speaker 1: worried they are about inflation and about the strength of

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Speaker 1: the economy, perhaps more worried than we would previously have thought.

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Speaker 1: They did consider lifting the cash rate to four point

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Speaker 1: six percent from four point three five percent because the

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Speaker 1: economy is too hot, inflation isn't falling as quickly as possible,

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Speaker 1: about a looming increase in economic growth and a rise

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Speaker 1: in household spending and the outlook for government spending. But

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Speaker 1: in the end, the message that we really took out

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Speaker 1: of that this week, Sean, is that everything is uncertain

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Speaker 1: at the moment. They use the word uncertain thirteen times

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Speaker 1: in the board minutes. That sounds like there's a little

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Speaker 1: bit of uncertainty.

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Speaker 2: Sure does, Michael. What was your most remarkable story for

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Speaker 2: the week?

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Speaker 1: I think there's only one nominee for this one, Sean.

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Speaker 1: It was the sheer weight of celebrity behind Kamala Harris

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Speaker 1: at the Democratic National Convention this week in the US.

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Speaker 1: They are officially there to award her the nomination, which

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Speaker 1: she accepted, But it does have the feel of a

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Speaker 1: giant pep rally because they busted out the star power

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Speaker 1: all the biggest names in US politics as far as

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Speaker 1: the Democrats go, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton,

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Speaker 1: Bill Clinton. He had a few entertainers there as well.

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Speaker 1: Carl Harris spoke obviously, roll out of the big guns

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Speaker 1: with Oprah, didn't they. She's a registered independent, which is

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Speaker 1: quite significant because she has very broad appeal. She sure

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Speaker 1: knows how to get people fired up. By the end

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Speaker 1: of the week, though it was almost possible forget that

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Speaker 1: the week actually started with Joe Biden. He was the

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Speaker 1: big name on night one. He is still the president.

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Speaker 1: He delivered a more powerful address than we've seen from

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Speaker 1: him in a while, did kind of lose his way

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Speaker 1: though once during it, perhaps confirming that the right decision

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Speaker 1: has been made. In the end, it is all now official.

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Speaker 1: The stage is set for Harris v.

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Speaker 2: Trump going to be fun seventy five days away. Can

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Speaker 2: I tell you my Sleepers story?

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Speaker 1: Michael Oh, please do? What have you found?

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Speaker 2: But it's been a while since there's been good news

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Speaker 2: from the shopping mall owners. They've been buffeted by COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 2: the Surgeon online retailing, more recently higher interest rates and

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Speaker 2: costs of living problems. But this week two of the

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Speaker 2: biggest moor owners have provided some good news. Vicinity, which

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Speaker 2: owns Chadsten in Melbourne and the Queen Victoria building in Sydney,

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Speaker 2: said occupancy rates back to their highest level since before

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Speaker 2: the pandemic in some CBD mauls and pouring them in

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Speaker 2: Melbourne for example, QVB and Sydney ninety nine point six

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Speaker 2: percent occupancy rates better than pre pandemic. Great news for

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Speaker 2: the CBDs, particularly Melbourne which has really hit hard. So

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Speaker 2: all those smaller retailers coffee shops in the city, they're

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Speaker 2: going to benefit from that Center Group, which Owans. The

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Speaker 2: Westfield Malls in Australia said its occupancy rate at its

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Speaker 2: forty two destinations is ninety nine point three percent. Pretty good.

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Speaker 2: Guess what, Michael, the shopping mall is back in fashion.

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Speaker 1: It does seem that way, it doesn't it? All right?

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Speaker 1: Favorite story, Sean, what have you got?

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Speaker 2: Mine came from sun Corp, the insurance company. Read and

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Speaker 2: insurance earnings report and you find out what's going on

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Speaker 2: in the world. Sun Corp of course owns Amy and

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Speaker 2: Jero among other brands. Basically, they said, premiums are going

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Speaker 2: to hike. Bad news. But why are they going to hike? Well,

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Speaker 2: a few things. The abundance of water pipes in homes

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Speaker 2: is causing many the problems. People now have three or

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Speaker 2: four basrooms, not one or two. They also have lots

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Speaker 2: of those fridges that dispense ice and chilled water. Lower

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Speaker 2: quality piping is used in construction over the years isn't helping. Nowadays,

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Speaker 2: homes are more likely to be open plants, so I

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Speaker 2: leak in the kitchen flows through to other rooms. Then

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Speaker 2: there's the issue of how close homes are built to

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Speaker 2: each other. Damage in one can lead to damage in another. Then,

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Speaker 2: of course, people now have many more lithium batteries, upping

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Speaker 2: the fire risk. The point here is when you look

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Speaker 2: at a profit result like sun Corpse, you actually really

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Speaker 2: see how changes in society interact with business and how

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Speaker 2: that flows back to our premiums.

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Speaker 1: I love how serious your favorite story was, Sean. When

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Speaker 1: I'm about to tell you about one of the most extravagant,

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Speaker 1: possibly ridiculous stories I've ever heard. It is out of

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Speaker 1: the US. It is about the new trend to save money.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps it's about weddings. They're expensive. They cost about thirty

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Speaker 1: five thousand US dollars each in the US at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Except for this couple who decided to charge guests to

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Speaker 1: attend their wedding, they weren't having one of those thirty

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Speaker 1: five thousand dollars weddings though, Sean, no, no, no, this

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Speaker 1: was one hundred and fifty thousand US dollars for theirs.

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Speaker 1: They charged guests three hundred and thirty three US dollars

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Speaker 1: each for a ticket. They had three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: people on the guest list. Sixty people bought tickets, secured

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Speaker 1: them a place on a double decker bus on a

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Speaker 1: twelve hour adventure in New York. What do they get

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Speaker 1: for the money, Well, they got to be on that

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Speaker 1: bus that was fully customized. It was fully decorated with

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Speaker 1: the couple's faces and QR codes, everything that sound, meditation

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Speaker 1: on the bus, a whole lot of other treats. They

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Speaker 1: even shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan so they could

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Speaker 1: have their first dance in the street. No wonder at

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Speaker 1: cost a bomb. It may be the new trend though,

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Speaker 1: treating your wedding as an experience and selling tickets to it.

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Speaker 1: See what I mean? It was a little bit frivolous

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Speaker 1: After your very worthy story there, Sean hm mad I

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Speaker 1: think a little bit crazy. All right. There we go

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Speaker 1: five minutes and pretty much everything you need to know

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Speaker 1: in the world of business. Thanks Sean, Thanks Michael. We'll

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Speaker 1: be back on Monday morning with the top five business

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Speaker 1: stories in five minutes. Don't forget to hit follow and

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Speaker 1: join us online on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and X

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Speaker 1: are Michael Thompson and it's the past five. If you're

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Speaker 1: a great