India court grants Australia cricketer bail
Posted on | May 20, 2012 | No Comments
Australian cricketer Luke Pomersbach was granted bail on Saturday by a New Delhi court following accusations he molested a woman and beat up her fiance.
The 27-year-old batsman, who has one cap for Australia, is signed up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Royal Challengers Bangalore team, which took on the Delhi Daredevils on Thursday night.
He faces up to two years in jail if found guilty of allegations of molesting a woman and assaulting her fiance at a post-game party at a swanky five-star hotel in the Indian capital.
The cricketer has denied the charges against him.
His lawyer, Ajay Bhargava told AFP: “He has received bail on condition that he surrenders his passport and pays a surety of 30,000 rupees ($550) on each charge.”
He added the court ruled that “a trespassing charge cannot be maintained” against Pomersbach after CCTV footage filmed outside the alleged victim’s room proved inconclusive on whether the cricketer had forcibly entered her suite.
A visibly relieved Pomersbach told reporters outside the court: “I am happy that I have been granted bail and looking forward to getting to the bottom of it (the case).”
He said he had faith in the Indian justice system but added: “I am disappointed with the way the allegations were made against me. It’s sickening.”
His arrest was headline news in Indian and Australian newspapers on Saturday with reports detailing the sensational allegations in the case and the chequered history of the money-spinning IPL.
The powerfully built cricketer, with his right arm in a cast, fainted during an earlier court appearance on Friday. The Press Trust of India reported that the cricketer had suffered a fractured hand in the alleged incident.
Pomersbach has battled depression and drug problems and narrowly avoided a jail sentence in Australia after admitting assaulting a police officer who was trying to arrest him for drink driving.
He arrived in India to play for the IPL, saying he was now “on top of things”, adding he was determined to make the most of the Indian league in order to get his career back on track.
The alleged woman victim, a 27-year-old from the US, told Indian media Pomersbach had “tagged along” with her and her Mumbai-based fiance and said the cricketer grabbed her while they drank together in a hotel room.
When her fiance asked Pomersbach to leave her alone, Pomersbach “turned around and started hitting him”, she alleged.
The man was in a stable condition in hospital. He has yet to make a statement to police.
The charges against Pomersbach are the most recent in a string of scandals that have rocked the glitzy, headline-grabbing IPL tournament.
Earlier this week, five Indian players signed to IPL teams were suspended after an undercover TV report alleged they were prepared to take money for spot-fixing, an illegal practice in which parts of the game are fixed.
On Wednesday night, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, was involved in an ugly late-night row with officials at Mumbai’s main Wankhede cricket stadium.
As a result, he was banned by the Mumbai Cricket Association for five years from entering the stadium.
The annual IPL tournament also faces allegations of massive corporate corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams’ real owners and even links to India’s criminal underworld.
This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire.
Original article © Agence France Presse 2012
Article source: http://india.nydailynews.com/article/0a4dca11fe3880131de9613681a753c1/india-court-grants-australia-cricketer-bail
Tags: australia > australian cricketer > australian newspapers > court grants > informations > News > press trust of india
Sex-Harassment Lawsuit Abuses Process, Slipper Says
Posted on | May 18, 2012 | No Comments
Peter Slipper, who stepped aside as
speaker of Australia’s parliament amid claims he sexually
harassed a male staff member, said today the lawsuit was an
abuse of court processes that had damaged his reputation.
The filing was “accompanied by a publicity blitz” with
the complainant making no attempt to communicate with the
speaker or the government, Slipper’s lawyer Josh Bornstein told
a judge in Sydney. “The publicity has been extremely damaging
to Mr. Slipper.”
James Ashby claims he was the victim of unwelcome sexual
advances while he worked as an adviser to Slipper and is seeking
unspecified damages. The civil case, and a police investigation
into whether Slipper misused taxpayer-funded travel vouchers,
has weakened Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s minority government.
Slipper, who stepped aside as speaker of the House of
Representatives on May 8, has denied wrongdoing. He is “deeply
disturbed and distressed” by the allegations, Bornstein said by
video link from Melbourne and called the tactics used by Ashby
“an ambush” and “character assassination.”
Ashby is pressing for a speedy trial before a jury, his
lawyer Mark Lee told the court — a move opposed by the
government, which is also named in the lawsuit.
Federal Court Justice Steven Rares ordered the parties to
exchange information and set the next hearing, which may
determine how the case will proceed, for June 15.
‘Dark Cloud’
Gillard’s government had been relying on Slipper to boost
its numbers in the lower house since he defected from the
opposition coalition to become speaker in November. The prime
minister said last month that a “dark cloud” was hanging over
the Australian parliament amid the allegations against Slipper
and claims Craig Thomson, a former member of her Labor party,
misused a union credit card to pay for prostitutes.
Ashby said in his original application that in his first
week working for the speaker in the nation’s capital, Canberra,
Slipper insisted he stay at his apartment.
Slipper asked Ashby to massage his neck and after a minute
began to moan in a way that “indicated intense sexual
pleasure,” according to the complaint. The next day Slipper
allegedly called Ashby “a strange one” for showering with the
door shut.
‘Sexual Relationship’
Following other incidents and mobile phone text messages,
Ashby concluded that Slipper hired him in order to pursue a
sexual relationship with him, according to the complaint.
The conduct consisted of sexual harassment, which is
illegal under Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 and
Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act of 1991, according to the
court document.
Ashby has named the government in the lawsuit, claiming it
was aware that Slipper had formed a sexual relationship with a
male member of his staff in mid-2003. The government failed to
take reasonable steps to prevent Slipper from using his office
to foster sexual relationships with young male staff members,
according to the filing.
Ashby has filed a separate complaint with the Australian
Human Rights Commission, saying he has been victimized by senior
politicians, including Foreign Minister Bob Carr, for lodging
the lawsuit against Slipper and the government.
Slipper said in a statement to parliament earlier this
month that he was being tried by the media. “I believe I am
entitled, like any other person, to have the presumption of
innocence,” he said.
The case is: James Hunter Ashby v. The Commonwealth of
Australia. NSD580/2012. Federal Court of Australia (Sydney).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Joe Schneider in Sydney at
jschneider5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Wong at
dwong19@bloomberg.net
Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-17/sex-harassment-lawsuit-abuses-process-slipper-says
Tags: australia > craig thomson > informations > josh bornstein > julia gillard > News > Parliament > publicity blitz > staff
Neue Clusterporträts auf Kooperation International
Posted on | May 16, 2012 | No Comments
Article source: http://www.vdi.de/44033.0.html?&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=57384
Australia Says China Has Nothing to Fear Over Its Military Ties with US
Posted on | May 15, 2012 | No Comments
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, on his first visit to China, has defended his country’s deepening military ties with the United States and said Beijing has nothing to fear over the increasing presence of U.S. Marines in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Carr made the comment during a meeting Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, and Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe, the deputy chief of the general staff, in Beijing.
He said Australia’s military ties with the United States are “the bedrock of his nation’s security,” adding Canberra believes that the United States has helped to guarantee peace in the Asia-Pacific region, where stability has fostered great economic development for countries, including China.
However, Beijing insists that Canberra is revisiting “Cold War alliances” and that the time for such alliances has long since passed.
Carr said he would also like to see greater military cooperation between Australia and China. He said that although his talks with Chinese officials covered a wide range of issues, the discussions were dominated by concerns about the deepening U.S.-Australia military ties, which Beijing interpreted as a move to balance China’s rising power.
Foreign Minister Carr was scheduled to meet with Chinese Vice Premiere Li Keqiang to discuss a possible free trade pact between the two countries, as China is currently Australia’s biggest trading partner. Carr also addressed cases involving Chinese-Australians who have been jailed recently in China.
Article source: http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/05/15/australia-says-china-has-nothing-to-fear-over-its-military-ties-with-us/
Tags: australia > Australian > chinese counterpart > cold war alliances > Foreign > free trade pact > informations > military ties > News
Australia says shale could double its gas resources
Posted on | May 13, 2012 | No Comments
ADELAIDE |
ADELAIDE May 14 (Reuters) – Australia may have significant
shale gas resources which could double its already large gas
resource base and support a growing export industry, according
to a government report released on Monday.
Australia has around 390 trillion cubic feet in gas
resources, excluding shale gas, ranking third behind coal and
uranium as Australia’s largest energy resource, according to the
report conducted by Geoscience Australia and the Australia
Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics.
“While exploration for shale gas in Australia has only
recently commenced and resources are poorly understood, shale
gas could potentially double Australia’s gas resources,”
Australia’s Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said in a
statement.
The shale gas resourcees are primarily in central Australia,
the report said.
Australia is the world’s fourth largest exporter of
liquefied natural gas (LNG), but is expected to surpass Qatar as
the world’s top LNG exporter by the end of the decade with
around $170 billion worth of projects under construction.
“Importantly, this report reconfirms Australia’s capacity to
continue to be a major gas exporter supplying the world’s
growing demand for gas well into the future,” Ferguson said.
Australia exported 20 million tonnes of LNG valued at A$10.4
billion ($10.47 billion)in the 2010-2011 financial year. Exports
are forecast to grow by 19 percent in 2012-2013 as production
from Woodside Petroleum’s new Pluto LNG project comes online,
Ferguson said.
Exploration of Australia’s shale gas reserves has sparked
speculation that it could fuel Australia’s next wave of energy
growth after the country’s booming coal seam gas industry.
However, some experts have held that significant output is
still many years away as high costs, a growing shortage of
labour, and environmental concerns may hinder
development.
Shale gas development in the U.S. has turned the gas market
there from shortage to glut, and cheap U.S. LNG export projects
are soon expected to provide stiff competition for Australian
LNG export developments.
($1 = 0.9937 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Rebekah Kebede, editing by William Hardy)
Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/13/australia-shale-idUSL4E8GD05620120513
Tags: australia > coal seam gas > export > gas > geoscience australia > informations > News > reuters australia > woodside petroleum
Vielsprachige Online-Community
Posted on | May 11, 2012 | No Comments
News
vergrößern
Die Tech-Xchange-Foren gibt es nun mehrsprachig. (Quelle: Eigener Screenshot)
Hinter Tech-Xchange steckt eine Online-Community für die Elektonikbranche, die Digi-Key ursprünglich im April 2011 auf der eigenen USA-Website eröffnete. Entwicklungsingenieure, Erfinder, Studenten, Akademiker und Experten tauschen in diesem Forum Ideen aus und erhalten als Mitglieder der Online-Community kostenlose Beratung von Elektronik-Fachleuten. Tech-Xchange besteht aus sechs Communitys für die Technologiebereiche Energiegewinnung, Beleuchtung, Mikrocontroller, Stromversorgung, Sensoren und drahtlose Lösungen. Mitglieder können anderen Mitgliedern Fragen stellen und dabei Erkenntnisse und Ergebnisse aus ihrer Forschungsarbeit austauschen. Zudem stehen Entwicklungsingenieure von Digi-Key online mit Rat und Tat zur Verfügung.
Zur US-Site gesellen sich jetzt 19 weitere Länder-Websites: Australien, Österreich, China, Dänemark, Frankreich, Deutschland, Hongkong, Italien, Japan, Korea, Mexiko, Neuseeland, Norwegen, Portugal, Singapur, Schweden, Schweiz, Taiwan und Großbritannien. Das Tech-Xchange-Forum hat überall das gleiche Format und dieselben Funktionen. Die Nutzer der internationalen Websites können die englischsprachigen Inhalte mit Google Translate übersetzen lassen – dieses Feature ist direkt ins Forum integriert.
Wie bei automatischen Übersetzungen üblich, führt diese Funktion zu herrlichen Stilblüten: “Was ist die Macht der Lichter Sie bedienen möchten?” Weil der Google-Übersetzer aber auf Mausklick bei jedem Satz den Originaltext anzeigt (what is the power of lights you want to operate?), sind die Resultate erstaunlich gut zu verstehen. Damit sind die Tech-Xchange-Inhalte einem deutlich größeren Anwenderkreis zugänglich.
(lei)
Article source: http://www.all-electronics.de/texte/anzeigen/46103/Vielsprachige-Online-Community
Weary McDermott quits as Australia bowling coach
Posted on | May 11, 2012 | No Comments
Australia’s bowling coach McDermott talks to fast bowler Pattinson during a practice session at the Sydney Cricket Ground
(Tim Wimborne Reuters, REUTERS / May 10, 2012)
Article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sns-rt-uk-cricket-australia-mcdermottbre84a069-20120510,0,2481002.story
Tags: australia > bowling coach > informations > News > pattinson > sydney cricket ground > wimborne
Australia cuts defense, aid to hit budget surplus
Posted on | May 9, 2012 | No Comments
CANBERRA, Australia
Australia’s government said it will rein in defense spending and scale back promised increases in foreign aid as it tries to become the first major developed economy to balance its books after the global economic crisis.
Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan on Tuesday outlined big spending cuts to achieve a 1.5 billion Australian dollar ($1.5 billion) budget surplus in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The budget deficit for the current year has almost doubled from the level forecast a year ago to reach AU$44.4 billion — about 3 percent of Australia’s AU$1.4 trillion economy.
Swan blamed subdued tax revenue due in part to the European debt crisis and damage from record Australian flooding and storms.
The government has found AU$33.6 billion in savings, including AU$5.4 billion from the defense budget over four years.
The cuts would not effect Australia’s overseas military deployments including 1,550 troops in Afghanistan, government documents said. The government announced last week it had deferred the purchase of 12 U.S.-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighters as a cost-cutting measure.
Australia’s long-standing pledge to increase its foreign aid spending to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2015-16 would be postponed by a year under the budget that needs Parliament’s approval in the coming weeks to become law.
Aid would increase from AU$4.8 billion in the current year to AU$5.2 billion next year, but remain unchanged at 0.35 percent of GDP.
Swan rejected aid advocates’ criticisms that any reduction in aid would amount to balancing Australia’s books on the backs of the world’s poorest people. He said Australia would remain in the top six most generous donor countries.
“I am exceptionally proud of what our country has done over recent years and will do over future years,” he said, referring to foreign aid.
Foreign aid advocates and the Greens party, which is crucial to the Labor Party minority government maintaining power, condemned the broken promise.
“Any deferral we see as a cut and a cut that will jeopardize up to 200,000 lives,” UNICEF’s Australian spokesman Tim O’Connor said.
But the Parliament appears set to endorse the delayed aid spending, with opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey announcing his conservative Liberal Party’s support.
The opposition would also consider the government’s case for defense cuts, “but cutting back on frontline defense services is not a good idea at the moment,” Hockey said.
Despite the deterioration in Australia’s government finances over the past year, Swan said the surplus could be achieved because of the strength of Asian economies including China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia.
“Despite the best efforts of the Europeans, that has not managed to dramatically slow our regional economy,” Swan told reporters, referring to the European debt crisis.
“Every day someone reports that China is falling over tomorrow when it isn’t. Our regional economy is still solid and will remain so,” he said.
Swan said the big question facing the global economy was whether U.S. economic growth would continue.
“The global economy can do without Europe. It can’t necessarily do without the United States returning to strong growth,” Swan said.
A boom in the Australian mining industry driven by Chinese and Indian industrial demand for iron ore and other natural resources is forecast to lift economic growth from 3 percent in the current fiscal year to 3.25 percent next year.
Unemployment is forecast to rise from the current rate of 5.2 to 5.5 percent in the next two years before falling back to 5 percent.
Under the financial plan, Australia’s net debt would peak in the current fiscal year at AU$142.5 billion, 9.6 percent of GDP, which is a fraction of the debt levels of most developed countries.
A 30 percent tax on the burgeoning profits of iron and coal miners which comes into effect on July 1 is forecast to raise AU$3 billion in the next fiscal year and AU$3.5 billion the following year.
This revenue would help pay for increased benefits for poorer Australians from July, 2013 — weeks before federal elections are due.
A carbon tax which will take effect from July 1 is expected to dampen economic and employment growth by less than a quarter of a percentage point during the next fiscal year.
Australia’s worst industrial polluters will have to pay AU$23 for every metric ton of carbon gasses that they emit. Carbon tax income will be returned to poorer households to help them cope with higher prices and to companies to help them introduce lower carbon technologies.
The budget also included tax concessions for loss-making businesses outside the resource sector who are struggling against a high Australian currency.
Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-05/D9UKFJ5G0.htm
Tags: australia > canberra australia > global economic crisis > informations > military deployments > News > wayne swan
Fair Work Australia finds Craig Thomson spent almost $6000 on escorts on an …
Posted on | May 7, 2012 | No Comments
Damning details … have been revealed about Craig Thomson by Fair Work Australia.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
IT was MP Craig Thomson who used his HSU credit card on almost $6000 worth of escort services, an explosive 1100 page Fair Work Australia investigation has concluded.
The full report, released tonight by a Senate legal committee, details a litany of breaches involving Mr Thomson.
In a key finding, FWA concludes: “the preponderance of evidence is such that I can only conclude that it was indeed Mr Thomson who used his credit card to spend the amount of $5,793 for the procurement of escort services.”
The report states the MP elected for Labor, who now sits as an independent, had “acknowledged that such expenditure could not in any circumstances be considered legitimate expenditure of the HSU.”
While it was noted Mr Thomson’s card had previously been used by others, Fair Work official Terry Nassios noted: “by denying to me at interview that he ever used his HSU credit cards to procure escort services, Mr Thomson has provided me with information that is false or misleading insofar as the expenditure of HSU funds on escort services is concerned.”
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The escort spending is among a raft of irregular spending referred to the Commonwealth DPP.
Almost $270,000 in HSU funds spent directly or indirectly on Mr Thomson’s campaign for his seat of Dobell was not authorised by the union’s national council.
Cash withdrawals totally more than $100,000 on his union credit card were also not authorised by the union.
Fair Work considers Mr Thomson had given “information that is false or misleading” when he told investigators he routinely paid cash withdrawals back to the HSU.
Entertainment expenses of $73,849.88 from 2002-2007 were similarly unauthorised by the union council and Fair Work found some of the money was not spent on union business.
Mr Thomson was found to have billed the union $1,425.62 after he had resigned, spending described as for “his own personal benefit.”
The report was made public just hours after Prime Minister Julia Gillard told her caucus Labor has always believed “a worker’s dollar should be used properly,” including by unions.
With the government’s budget tomorrow likely to be overshadowed by the FWA report, Ms Gillard had told her MPs she would “deal with and conquer” the political pressure facing the government.
Mr Thomson yesterday maintained his innocence and was critical of Fair Work Australia.
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said tonight the full report was “disturbing” and “extremely disappointing.”
“I find them extremely disappointing as a former union official,” Mr Shorten said.
Mr Shorten also announced tonight the federal government would introduce legislation to “enhance the accountability and transparency of registered organisations and to strengthen penalties”.
Labor would also look to improve Fair Work Australia’s (FWA) “investigation process” after the industrial umpire took “far too long” to finalise a report on allegations of corruption within the HSU.
FWA’s 1100-page report was tabled in federal parliament on Monday evening.
Mr Shorten said the reform package would be taken to the national workplace relations consultative council – chaired by himself and comprising the ACTU and peak employer organisations – on May 25 for endorsement “to enable legislation to be introduced into the parliament as soon as possible”.
Reporting requirements would be boosted and penalties for breaching the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act would be “significantly strengthened”.
He said registered organisations should be transparent in the remuneration they provided their officers.
Mr Shorten wouldn’t say if the changes had already been put before cabinet but insisted they had the “full support” of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
“Union members deserve employee organisations that represent their interests to the full,” he said, adding that employers deserved similar organisations.
“Strong systems of financial accountability and corporate governance are essential to ensure the integrity of any organisation.”
FWA general manager Bernadette O’Neill said on Monday that 181 workplace law and union rule breaches by two current HSU officials, a former official and a former auditor would be pursued in court.
But Mr Shorten said FWA’s investigation of HSU had taken “far too long to conclude and we are determined to correct this”.
“The government can announce it will take action to ensure any further investigations of similar size and scope can be conducted faster and in full cooperation with any corresponding criminal or regulatory investigations,” he said in a statement.
“The government will introduce any necessary legislation to ensure these issues do not arise again.”
Mr Shorten also tried to shift some of the blame to the opposition.
He said FWA’s investigation into the HSU had been conducted under provisions of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act introduced by Tony Abbott in 2002 when he was workplace relations minister. They had been carried over into the 2009 legislation.
“That has failed its first real test,” he said, adding it had not established an appropriate framework for investigating “large and complex matters”.
FWA has asked KPMG to examine its handling of the HSU investigation.
Mr Shorten said Labor would “introduce legislation to give effect to the recommendations made by KPMG”.
He said the actions of a “few individuals” at the HSU had cast doubt on the entire trade union movement but the movement was “overwhelmingly professional”.
The opposition has renewed its call on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to disown Craig Thomson’s vote in the wake of damning Fair Work Australia findings against him.
A long-awaited FWA report says Mr Thomson – who recently left the Labor Party and joined parliament’s crossbench – spent almost $500,000 of union members’ funds on escorts, travel, lavish meals and to fund his election campaign in the seat of Dobell.
The forensic 1100-page report into the Health Services Union (HSU), which Mr Thomson led between 2002 and 2007, was tabled in federal parliament on Monday evening.
Coalition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz says the government must cut all ties with Mr Thomson.
“This Fair Work Australia report is absolutely damning and on the basis of this report Ms Gillard, surely, can no longer accept Craig Thomson’s vote on the floor of the parliament,” he told ABC television.
Mr Abetz said the allegations relating to the funding of Mr Thomson’s election campaign deserved further scrutiny.
“We believe that the Australian Electoral Commission will need to reconsider the Dobell campaign on the basis of this report,” Mr Abetz said.
Mr Thomson maintains his innocence.
Tags: australia > commonwealth dpp > craig thomson > informations > mr thomson > News > preponderance of evidence
Australia Central Bank Lowers Growth Forecast
Posted on | May 5, 2012 | No Comments
By ENDA CURRAN
SYDNEY—Signs of more stress in Australia’s economy emerged Friday when the country’s central bank lowered its forecasts for growth and inflation after earlier this week cutting rates by the largest margin since 2009.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA, now expects the economy to grow at a rate of 2.75% through to the fiscal year ending June, compared with a previous forecast of 3.5%. Growth is expected to quicken to 3.0% by the end of the calendar year end, but still below a previous estimate of 3.5%.
“The global outlook remains clouded by the sovereign debt problems in Europe,” said the bank in its monthly monetary policy statement. “In east Asia, growth has slowed, partly reflecting weaker export demand as well as the earlier policy tightening. Growth in China has moderated, as was intended by the Chinese authorities, and is now running at a more sustainable pace.”
The new forecast is a further signal that the RBA by cutting rates by 0.5 percentage point to 3.75%, has changed its focus away from reining back inflation to using monetary policy to bolster growth particularly in areas of the economy suffering from the strong Australian dollar. Economist now expect the RBA to keep the door open for further rate cuts if signs of stress in Australia’s housing market, consumer confidence and nonmining sector don’t improve.
“The downgrades to the growth and inflation outlook, the greater uncertainty reflected in the forecasts, and more dovish read on the domestic economy leads us to conclude that every meeting over coming months is live for the RBA,” economists at UBS wrote in a note.
The market had feared that the RBA would deliver a more bearish outlook and the Australian dollar rose 20 points on the release to US$1.0277. The currency has gained 70% since the global financial crisis in 2008. The currency has traded sideways against the U.S. greenback since Tuesday’s decision to slash rates.
On the upside, the RBA again made heavy reference to the benefits of Australia’s resources boom and the strong pipeline of investment underpinning it.
“In the resources sector, investment is expanding at a rapid pace. As a result, it is likely that over the next year the level of business investment in the economy will reach its highest level, relative to GDP, in at least half a century,” said the RBA.
Attention will now shift to details of Australia’s federal budget due on May 8. Treasurer Wayne Swan is expected to announce measures to cut spending and boost revenue as he strives to meet an election promise to eliminate a A$36 billion deficit by the end of the next fiscal year.
Write to Enda Curran at enda.curran@dowjones.com
Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304746604577383893549628530.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Tags: australia > Bank > fiscal year ending june > global financial crisis > Growth > inflation outlook > informations > monetary policy statement > News