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Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, the thirty first of March twenty twenty six.

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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. O'm Michael Thompson

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

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Speaker 1: five minutes. Let's go. Story number one. The federal government

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Speaker 1: has announced a three month cut to the fuel xis

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Speaker 1: taking it from just over fifty two cents ale to

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Speaker 1: harving it to about twenty six cents in a bid

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Speaker 1: to take immediate pressure off diesel and petrol prices. The

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Speaker 1: move follows another national Cabinet meeting as the Middle East

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Speaker 1: conflict pushes oil prices beyond one hundred and fifteen US

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Speaker 1: dollars a barrel and squeezes supply lines. Treasurer Jim Chalmers

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Speaker 1: says the excise cut will cost the budget about two

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Speaker 1: point five five billion dollars. The PM is urging service

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Speaker 1: stations to pass the reduction through at the bowser. The

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Speaker 1: cut will start this week. It'll run for three months

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Speaker 1: and as part of all of this, federal Government's also

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Speaker 1: going to reduce their head vehicle road user charged to

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Speaker 1: zero for that same three month period just to keep

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Speaker 1: truckes operating trucking' that's right.

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Speaker 2: This is a clear pivot. Labor spent days resisting an

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Speaker 2: excise cut, warning it was expensive and blunt, but politics

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Speaker 2: and household budgets have taken over. The risk is that

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Speaker 2: it becomes too hard to unwind. Once you cut a levy,

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Speaker 2: people see it on every receipt. Putting it back in

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Speaker 2: can look like a tax hike, even if it is

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Speaker 2: simply returning to the previous setting. Also leaves a hole

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Speaker 2: in the budget right when the government is trying to

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Speaker 2: frame itself. Michael as disciplined.

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Speaker 1: Indeed. Now the decision Sean comes after a meeting of

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Speaker 1: the National Cabinet yesterday morning. The meeting adopted a fuel

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Speaker 1: security plan along with the States and territories. It has

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Speaker 1: four levels. The first plan and prepare Level two, which

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Speaker 1: is where we are now, is keep Australia moving.

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Speaker 2: Level three, which the government has to avoid, is targeted

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Speaker 2: action albneaz He said that involves voluntary practical measures to

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Speaker 2: limit fuel use four Level four protecting critical services for

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Speaker 2: all Australians. Think of that as rationing ongoing supply disruptions

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Speaker 2: would require government action to ensure critical users are protected

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Speaker 2: the economy remains open and operating.

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Speaker 1: How much are we going to pay sean about after this?

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Speaker 2: About two bucks thirty in Sydney, About two bucks thirty

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Speaker 2: in Melbourne, Brisbane as well? About the same in perse

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Speaker 2: theory is from you know, sort of two fifty something

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Speaker 2: to two thirty something.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, moving on to story number two, now

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Speaker 1: certainly linked to story one, though, Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi

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Speaker 1: has called for more certainty from US President Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: on the objectives of the war in the Middle East.

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Speaker 1: The PM said that while he had nothing but contempt

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Speaker 1: for the Iranian regime, he wanted to see more certainty

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Speaker 1: around the objectives for the war. He wants to see

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Speaker 1: a de escalation. He said that the goals of preventing

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Speaker 1: Iran developing a nuclear weapon and degrading the opportunity that

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Speaker 1: Iran engages in military action have substantially been achieved. The

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Speaker 1: third goal, regime change, was harder to achieve from outside

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Speaker 1: the country, that's right.

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Speaker 2: His comments came as US President Donald Trump said he

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Speaker 2: could take the oil in Iran and seize its major

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Speaker 2: fuel hub off carg Island, but added that a peace

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Speaker 2: deal could be reached fairly quickly. Pakistan's foreign minister said

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Speaker 2: his country was preparing to host peace talks in coming

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Speaker 2: days or very promising. However, Iran's parliamentary speaker said forces

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Speaker 2: were waiting for American troops so they could rain fire

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Speaker 2: upon them. Iran also threatened to expand retaliatory strikes against

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Speaker 2: the universities and homes of US and Israeli officials.

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Speaker 1: All right back home now for story number three. Opposition

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Speaker 1: leader Angus Taylor has rejected calls from frontbencher Andrew Hasty

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Speaker 1: for the coalition to rethink its economic approach, shutting down

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Speaker 1: suggestions that the party should consider a windfall profits tax

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Speaker 1: on gas exports and wind back tax concessions for property investors. Hasty,

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Speaker 1: he's the opposition's industry spokesperson, had urged the Liberals to

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Speaker 1: adopt humility after heavy election defeats, arguing the his primary

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Speaker 1: vote was being cannibalized from both the right and the left.

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Speaker 1: He said there was no medal for defending neoliberal politics

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Speaker 1: and the coalition needed to listen to community concerns, including

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Speaker 1: overhauling the tax system.

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Speaker 2: Then, yesterday, his boss Angus Taylor kind of gave him

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Speaker 2: kind of a heat. Well, he didn't support him, shall

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Speaker 2: we say that? He said core economic principles have not changed,

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Speaker 2: arguing higher taxes would discourage supply. He said, if you

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Speaker 2: want more of something, you don't tax more of it.

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Speaker 2: He Taylor insisted Australia needed more housing as well as

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Speaker 2: expanded gas and oil development, who also blamed government approvals

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Speaker 2: for constraining new drilling and extraction. The point here it

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Speaker 2: just highlights already emerging internal debates of the coalition's policy

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Speaker 2: on tax and some really important issues.

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Speaker 1: A story number four. Star Entertainment has secured a major

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Speaker 1: debt lifeline with a new funding package reported at about five

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars from an American private credit player.

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Speaker 1: The casino operator has been under intense pressure as it

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Speaker 1: tries to stabilize its.

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Speaker 2: Fin Answers, Yeah, I think this is a crunch time

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Speaker 2: for Star and a new management. It needs to move

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Speaker 2: beyond rescue packages and find its own sustainable way. It's

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Speaker 2: as private credit to help. They can move fast when

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Speaker 2: banks hesitate. That's what's happened, But it really comes cheaply

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Speaker 2: for Star and shareholders The question is whether the new

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Speaker 2: money buys time for a sustainable turnaround or just delays

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Speaker 2: the next crisis.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five. This sounds really serious, sean.

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Speaker 1: An Italian authority is investigating beauty brands Benefit and Sophora

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Speaker 1: after they appeared to adopt what the authority called a

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Speaker 1: particularly insidious marketing strategy of using young influences to market

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Speaker 1: skincare to children. The Italian Competition Authority said it had

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Speaker 1: launched an investigation into the brand's owner, Luxury Goods Giant LVMH,

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Speaker 1: for possibly attempting to sell anti aging treatments to kids

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Speaker 1: younger than ten. Said the company's actions may have helped

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Speaker 1: fuel so called cosmetic eurexia, an unhealthy obsession with skincare

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Speaker 1: in young people, and experts they may well be on

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Speaker 1: the rise.

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Speaker 2: LVMH said it would fully cooperate with the authorities, but

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Speaker 2: didn't say much more. According to the bb SEE, the

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Speaker 2: Competition Authority said the firms may have failed to make

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Speaker 2: clear the cosmetics they sold were not intended for children,

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Speaker 2: while appearing instead to have encouraged their purchase through COVID

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Speaker 2: marketing strategies involving young micro influencers. The investigation centers on

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Speaker 2: possible unfair commercial practices linked to the premature use of

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Speaker 2: adult cosmetics, including and encouraging the compulsive purchase of face marks,

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Speaker 2: serums and anti aging creams to children under the age

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Speaker 2: of ten. Sephora, which is nearly twenty three million followers

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Speaker 2: on Instagram more than two million on TikTok, has been

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Speaker 2: at the center of the Sephora Kids' social media trend,

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Speaker 2: in which children share their skincare routines and purchases.

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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 Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: the thirty first of March twenty twenty six. Remember to

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Speaker 1: hit follow on the podcast and five minutes isn't enough.

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Speaker 1: You're going to find our long did 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 I was passed by Business News by Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed. It a great day.