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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the seventh of May 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. O'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning Sean Ale.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael Shawan.

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Speaker 1: Five stories in five minutes. Let's go. Story number one

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Speaker 1: is interesting. The bosses of Macquarie Bank, Westpac and West Farmers,

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Speaker 1: among others, are confident about the Australian outlook amid global uncertainty,

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Speaker 1: saying that we benefit from a new stable government and

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Speaker 1: being really an attractive destination for global capital.

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Speaker 2: More than one hundred companies are presenting at the annual

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Speaker 2: mcquarie conference this week. The message is, amid all the

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Speaker 2: Trump craziness, Australia's looking pretty good. Mcquarie CEO Shamara wick

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Speaker 2: Rameni Yaka said, Australia's well positioned as we head into

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Speaker 2: troubled waters flowing from the US. The economy's okay inflations,

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Speaker 2: falling recession is unlikely, and we have a stable government

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Speaker 2: as demonstrated by the weekend's poll. All those factors are

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Speaker 2: in contrast to the US. Now. The result is that

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Speaker 2: capital could flow into Australia out of the US as investors,

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Speaker 2: as big time investors look to park funds during the

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Speaker 2: Trump years. It's an argument similar to one Anthony Miller,

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Speaker 2: the CEO of Westpact, made on Monday after the bank's results.

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Speaker 2: Another taking on the topic yesterday was West Farmer's boss

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Speaker 2: Rob Scott, who said the election result gave the Labour

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Speaker 2: government a unique opportunity to lean into so much needed reform.

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Speaker 2: Seven groups. Ryan Stokes was another, arguing that there's plenty

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Speaker 2: of opportunity in Australia at the moment.

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Speaker 1: It seems somewhat ironic, doesn't it. The big business is

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Speaker 1: talking so positively about a center left government. How much

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Speaker 1: of this is wishful thinking, how much is actually reality?

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Speaker 2: A bit of both, but no doubt there's a sense

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Speaker 2: that Labor will govern Australia for quite some time, likely

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Speaker 2: six years, and that gives them runway to create change.

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Speaker 2: Now business once that changed, to boost economic growth fundamental

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Speaker 2: to earnings. The union movements came for the LP to

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Speaker 2: look at after workers think wages, conditions, community groups will

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Speaker 2: want other priorities whatever they ask. The ALP does have

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Speaker 2: an opportunity to make a difference to reform and business

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Speaker 2: leaders want anything else and easy in his team to

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Speaker 2: do just that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, moving on to story number two. Now Sean and Netflix,

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Speaker 1: how about this has reported a sharp jump in Australian

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Speaker 1: revenue to one point three billion dollars, but most of

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Speaker 1: that was sent overseas to reduce its local tax obligations.

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Speaker 2: Netflix has an estimated six point two million subscribers in Australia.

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Speaker 2: It posted a twenty three point three million dollar profit

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Speaker 2: last calendar year, according to the annual account's lodge with

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Speaker 2: azig I mean the previous year was one point one

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Speaker 2: billion made in revenue twenty two million in profit. This

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Speaker 2: tiny margin. It's one point seven percent profit margin last

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Speaker 2: year came primarily because the company paid one point two

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Speaker 2: billion dollars in distribution fees whatever they are to other

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Speaker 2: companies in the Netflix group. That means it shifted ninety

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Speaker 2: three percent of its local revenue abroad didn't have to

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Speaker 2: pay tax on it.

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Speaker 1: Story number three. The boss of building group Mervak says

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Speaker 1: the collapse of almost seven thousand builders and subcontractors in

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Speaker 1: the last three years as weighing on developers, pushing up

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Speaker 1: the cost of building a new home. Amid the housing Cristy.

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Speaker 2: Campbell Hannon said that building costs are one of the

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Speaker 2: sector's greatest challenges according to report in The Australian. And

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Speaker 2: what mister Hannon said, I quote the fact that you

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Speaker 2: have wonderful t one builders losing money still four years

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Speaker 2: after COVID. That's a sign that things have to correct

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Speaker 2: in a certain way. And what he fears that the

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Speaker 2: cost of building is going to keep going up. We

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Speaker 2: also got figures from the Bureau of Statistics yesterday which

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Speaker 2: kind of backed up what he was saying. Building approvals

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Speaker 2: stalled well and truly in march's running about one hundred

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Speaker 2: and ninety five thousand a month, which is reasonable but

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Speaker 2: not great. Sorry.

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Speaker 1: Number four household spending disappointed in March, with spending actually

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Speaker 1: going backwards.

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Speaker 2: So it's the first fall after five consecutive positive months

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Speaker 2: and it was hit by ex tropical cyclone Alfred that

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Speaker 2: affected Queensland spending. This is a new series. It will

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Speaker 2: replace retail sales. A bit of caution around the figures,

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Speaker 2: but it is quite broad so it is quite interesting.

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Speaker 2: No doubt consumers are still being very cautious about spending.

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Speaker 2: Drop in spending on things like alcohol to our hotels,

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Speaker 2: cafes and restaurants. The consumer sector really does seem to

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Speaker 2: have stalled, which will wane into the preserve banks thinking

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Speaker 2: on interest rates when it meets in a couple of

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Speaker 2: weeks time.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five sean, we can't have a

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Speaker 1: show entirely devoid of Donald Trump. We could in theory,

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Speaker 1: but we would be missing out on some great stories.

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Speaker 1: Today's contribution, Donald Trump wants to reopen the notorious Alcatraz,

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Speaker 1: which is the prison island in San Francisco Bay.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's been closed as a prison for sixty years.

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Speaker 2: Trump wants to substantially enlarge and rebuild Alcatraz to Howes

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Speaker 2: and I quote him America's most ruthless and violent offenders.

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Speaker 2: In fact, he went on to say on Truth Social

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Speaker 2: the reopening of Alcatraz or caps will serve as a

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Speaker 2: symbol of law, order and justice, all caps. He's instructed

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Speaker 2: the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department of the Homeland

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Speaker 2: Security Apartment to work on his idea along with the FBI.

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Speaker 2: Not that they incarcerat people. Who knows what that one's about.

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Speaker 2: It would cost billions of dollars nowadays Alcatraz is a

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Speaker 2: national park and a major tourist attraction.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, it is all right. There we go the top

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

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Speaker 2: Michael.

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Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, the seventh of May twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Remember to hit follow on the podcast. And if five

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

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

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson and now it's the past five business news

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