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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the nineteenth of June twenty twenty four. 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 into five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson and

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Speaker 1: good morning Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, Sean.

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

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Speaker 1: is a big one. The Reserve Bank has left the

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Speaker 1: benchmark interest rate on hold, meaning no relief for homeowners,

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Speaker 1: and it's warned that it is still worried about persistent inflation.

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Speaker 2: Or in Reserve Banks speak. Governor Michelle Bullock said the

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Speaker 2: Central Bank is still alert to upside risks. In fact,

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Speaker 2: the board discussed lifting interest rates, though a rate cut

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Speaker 2: wasn't even considered. The official cash rate remains at a

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Speaker 2: twelve year high of four point three five percent after

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Speaker 2: this week's two day board meeting for the boards worried

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Speaker 2: that inflation remains above target and is proving very persistent.

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Speaker 2: The April monthly CPI data, which was up three point

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Speaker 2: six percent for the year in headline terms, was noted

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Speaker 2: in the statement, as was the strong labor market and

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Speaker 2: in decent wages growth. Recent federal and state budgets and

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Speaker 2: a lack of productivity improvement in the Reserve Bank reckons

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Speaker 2: there's still excess demand in the economy. That's not what

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Speaker 2: we want. The Bank said the outlook is highly uncertain

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Speaker 2: and the process of returning inflation to the two to

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Speaker 2: three percent target band is unlikely to be smooth, noting

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Speaker 2: that services inflation is a particular problem. As always, the

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Speaker 2: bank said, the main priority is getting inflation back to target.

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Speaker 2: Perhaps the silver lining and all. This is a comment

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Speaker 2: from Michelle Bullock during the press conference. She believes the

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Speaker 2: Board has done enough to get inflation back in control.

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Speaker 1: Now just quickly, Sean, How did markets and economists react

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Speaker 1: to this? Yesterday?

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Speaker 2: Shares fell after the two thirty pm announcement, bon Neils

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Speaker 2: rose Ossie dollar jump back above sixty six US sense.

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Speaker 2: That suggests that the tone of the statement was a

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Speaker 2: little more hawkish, a little more supportive of higher interest

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Speaker 2: rates rather than lower interest rates. The critical reference point

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Speaker 2: will be the GYM quarter CPI figures, which are due

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Speaker 2: out in six weeks time. If that's higher than expected,

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Speaker 2: then a rate rise at the August Board meeting is

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Speaker 2: a possibility. The consensus view among economy still that the

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Speaker 2: Reserve Bank's next move will be down late this year

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Speaker 2: or early next.

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Speaker 1: All right, Sean on to story number two. Now, the

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Speaker 1: federal government has lodged a protest with the Chinese embassy

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Speaker 1: after members of Premier Lee Chung's delegation attempted to block

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Speaker 1: journalist Chung Lay from view at a press conference on Monday.

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Speaker 2: Miss Chung was detained for three years in China on

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Speaker 2: national security grounds, but was released as relations stabilized. She

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Speaker 2: now works for Sky News. Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi told

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Speaker 2: the ABC yesterday that the attempt by Chinese officials to

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Speaker 2: block her from site during a parliamentary ceremony was concerning.

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Speaker 2: Now she actually moved seats during the signing ceremony, but

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Speaker 2: her view was again obstructed. Mister Alberanzi said there should

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Speaker 2: be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job.

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Speaker 2: He said that the government has made that clear to

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Speaker 2: the Chinese embassy.

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Speaker 1: Showing story number three, there could be major changes coming

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Speaker 1: to the buy Now Pay laser sector, including retailers adding

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Speaker 1: on a surcharge for the service, after the Reserve Bank

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Speaker 1: said it will launch a review of payments regulation now.

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Speaker 2: One of the selling points of buying pay later is

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Speaker 2: that there is no surcharge like there is with a

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Speaker 2: credit card. But the Reserve Bank's inquiry will consider whether

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Speaker 2: it should force buy our Pay later operators to allow

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Speaker 2: retailers to pass on the cost of services through something

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Speaker 2: like a surcharge. It might mean a small percentage increase

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Speaker 2: when you pay using a buy and Our paylated product.

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Speaker 2: The Central Bank set it will launch a review once

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Speaker 2: the Federal Parliament passes its bill to provide it with

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Speaker 2: stronger powers over digital wallets such as Apple Pay and

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Speaker 2: other buy and Our Pay later operators. The Bank yesterday

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Speaker 2: said that the buy and Our Pay Later sector continues

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Speaker 2: to go. It was worth about twenty billion dollars in

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Speaker 2: value last year, but the average fee charged to retailers

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Speaker 2: from a buy and Our Pay later services three point

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Speaker 2: four percent, way above what they get charged for debit

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Speaker 2: cards and credit cards.

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Speaker 1: Story number four. Australia has been placed thirteenth out of

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Speaker 1: sixty seven countries in terms of competitiveness, helped by global

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Speaker 1: commodity prices and a healthy jobs market.

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Speaker 2: The Swiss based Institute for Management Development is considered one

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Speaker 2: of the top schools in the world and its rankings

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Speaker 2: are highly regarded. Australia's ranking this year is its best

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Speaker 2: since twenty eleven, helped along by business and government investment,

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Speaker 2: population growth in a reasonable budget position. IMD's rankings consider

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Speaker 2: economic performance, governm efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. Singapore came

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Speaker 2: in at number one, Switzerland was two, Denmark was three.

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Speaker 2: Survey respondents were also asked to consider what factors would

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Speaker 2: have the greatest impact on business this year. II came

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Speaker 2: in at the top, then the global economic slow down

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Speaker 2: and then geopolitical conflicts.

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Speaker 1: All right, last one story number five. Johnson and Johnson

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Speaker 1: has been hit with a new lawsuit from former users

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Speaker 1: of Talc, who claimed that the world's largest maker of

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Speaker 1: healthcare products hid the cancer risks of its iconic baby powder.

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Speaker 2: Lawyers representing ex Talc users have asked a new Jersey

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Speaker 2: federal judge to set up a medical monitoring class to

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Speaker 2: cover the expenses of doctors, visits and tests for women

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Speaker 2: worried about kindeological and ovarian cancers. JJ officials dismissed the

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Speaker 2: proposed class action as a meriteless complaint. Jane j now

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Speaker 2: faces more than sixty one thousand lawsuits blaming talk used

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Speaker 2: in baby powder and similar products for different types of cancers.

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Speaker 2: Many of those cases have been consolidated before the judge

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Speaker 2: in New Jersey that we're talking about here. Jane Jay

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Speaker 2: maintains its help based products don't cause cancer and it's

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Speaker 2: marketed it's baby powder appropriately for more than a century.

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Speaker 2: It's also asked the thousands of people doing it to

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Speaker 2: vote for a settlement that would resolve all litigation for

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Speaker 2: about eleven billion dollars.

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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.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Sean, Thank you Michael.

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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the nineteenth of June twenty twenty four. Remember

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Speaker 1: hurry though, because it comes out this morning, so don't

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Speaker 1: miss out. I'm Michael Thompson and that was the fast

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