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A review of things you need to know before you go home Wednesday; Labour provides direction; Labour Inspectorate investigation; Australian CPI, Fletcher earnings guidance, China PSC, rates higer, NZD lower

A review of things you need to know before you go home Wednesday; Labour provides direction; Labour Inspectorate investigation; Australian CPI, Fletcher earnings guidance, China PSC, rates higer, NZD lower

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes to report here today.

DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No changes here either.

LABOUR PROVIDES DIRECTION
Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern has released a list of her portfolio ministers coupled with some new portfolios that will be created. New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Labour Deputy Leader Kelvin Davis takes on a new Crown/Maori Relations portfolio, Grant Robertson will be Minister of Finance and Jacinda Ardern will take on a new portfolio as Minister for Child Poverty Reduction. There will be a special emphasis on their KiwiBuild strategy and regional development.

BOTTOM OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN
The Labour Inspectorate is calling on large brands and franchisors to ensure that the bottom of their supply chain is being fairly compensated. This comes after employees of 17 Caltex stations were paid more than $125,000 as a result substantive minimum wage breaches and other systemic breaches. Poor systems in place at the stations meant that holiday pay and minimum wage were not correctly paid and 232 former and current employees were owed arrears. The Labour Inspectorate said that a survey conducted by Consumer Protection noted that knowing a business treats its workers fairly or not impacts consumers' purchasing decisions.

AUSTRALIAN CPI
The Australian CPI rose by +1.8% in the year ending September 2017 and rose +0.6% for the September quarter. This compares to a +1.9% increase in the year ending June 2017 and +0.2% for the June quarter itself. Most significant price rises were in electricity, tobacco, international holiday travel and accommodation and dwelling purchases by owner occupiers. The largest falls were in vegetables, automotive fuel and telecommunication equipment and services.

FLETCHER EARNINGS GUIDANCE
Fletcher Building has issued its earnings guidance for the FY18 year to be $520 mln to $640 mln. This includes a $160 mln loss for the buildings and interiors team. Chairman Sir Ralph Norris said that a considerable amount of remedial action has been taken to address the issues they have with the buildings and interiors team. However, these actions will not alter the trajectory of projects that have already started. Instead they will focus on bidding, contracting and managing of future projects. For now, Fletcher Building's focus is to deliver the existing projects, while mitigating future losses and ensuring client satisfaction.

CHINA TO ANNOUNCE PSC
After months of intense negotiations, China is set to announce its Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) for the next five years. The committee will consist of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang and the rest will be new faces.

WHOLESALE RATES HIGHER
Swap rates higher and steeper today with 2 yr rate up +1 bps, 5 yr up +2 bps and 10 yr up +4 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 1.94%.

NZ DOLLAR LOWER
The NZ dollar is nearly 0.8 cents lower from this time yesterday, trading at 69 USc. On the cross rates we are at 89.2 AUc and 58.6 euro cents. The TWI-5 is still about 71.9. The bitcoin price is down to US$5,432.

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10 Comments

Saudi Arabia announces plans to build 500 Billion mega city Neom. I wonder where the labour will be sourced from. Perhaps Fletchers should tender.

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Feeling a little tender today, I hear.....so thanks, but... no thanks...

Might jump in myself....and take a punt...if built on the Coast.

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I wonder if Jeff Boycott would mind someone using his name.

Coke may be Innocently used, in Wellington to boot, those innocent, but guilty by name only.

(Coke is bad for you, but needs must...for some, it is Addictive, I know...I have to snort a few...with RUM.)...

But I am willing to forego that and drink Anything not know to Global Man...kind..

What a kick in the teeth, which may add insult to injury as sugaring this poor taste, is also a large reason why dentists deplore this fad, but make money from it....coals to Newcastle...maybe.

So please Jeff, can we please use your name and invoke a counter production Charge. for a simple Cafe in Wellington....at no cost to the poor Cafe owner, that may help him get started to beat this use

I think Boycott will be useful in this instance....what do others think....is it Registered Jeff....or will we have to use "Another Name" to avoid all contention with this Mega Buck Company.

(Or maybe use Mega Buck Company to Advertise it and go World Wide, with this poor Chaps....Cafe, make it a Franchise caught in this fiasco, inter-Nationally known that was created by taking a drug.... knowingly. and freely using that name.)..

Boycott, or Mega Bucks...or Maybe...Cafe Culture...Innocently chosen...you choose.??..or will I need to consult a dictionary and take a spell...Sniff sniff...

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and were these employees exploited because they were working towards becoming residents HMMMM
time for the labour inspectorate to be strengthened and for those caught to pay a higher price
The 17 stations were owned by six companies with a single set of directors, Sanjai Bagia and Dipak Bagia.

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Maybe their systems were crap. Didn't the government buy a crap system for teachers - but that's what you get when you buy software from 2nd rate countries.

At least the employees weren't paying their employer for the privilege of having a job or being obliged to provide sexual favours. See https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2…
The best policy labour has is an increase in the labour inspectorate and targeting it towards places potential permanent migrants are employed. Not only a serious moral issue but once the system is changed we can reduce the labour inspectorate back to normal so it is only a temporary one of cost.

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80%of the loss is attributed to the two big projects. Their contract management issues were far greater than I anticipated.

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I realised the big news from today is missing: National lost the copyright case and have to pay $600k which will mostly be paid to Eminem. National are losing big this week.

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Taking "lose yourself" to the next level.

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$600,000 plus interest. Oh to be a fly on the wall at the next donors' meeting.

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JK will reimburse, plus 25million, with Interest for the Flag fiasco too.

Waste of money...no sweat..equity.

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