26 May 2016 At its 20 May meeting, the Payments System Board concluded its Review of Card Payments Regulation. The Bank has today released the Conclusions Paper and three new standards which will contribute to a more efficient and competitive payments system. The Review was initiated with the publication of an Issues Paper in March 2015. After extensive consultation with stakeholders, the Bank published some draft standards in December 2015. The Bank received submissions on the draft standards from more than 40 organisations and the staff have had over 50 meetings with stakeholders since their release. There was significant support for the proposed reforms from end users, including major consumer and merchant organisations. The new surcharging standard will preserve the right of merchants to surcharge for more expensive payment methods. However, consistent with the Government’s recent amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, the new standard will ensure that…

Sue Neales MAY 27, 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN Children of dairy farmers join a protest in Melbourne this week over milk producers’ retrospective price drop. Picture: Sue Neales Cyril Freemantle has been a dairy farmer for 60 years on his small Victorian property north of Bendigo and thinks he understands his business pretty well.   But even he is perplexed about who or what is to blame for the sudden farmgate milk price crisis that has sent hundreds of farmers to the brink, triggered a financial and mental health tsunami in the two main dairy states of Tasmania and Victoria and forced desperate farmers to take their plight to the city streets.   Marching among 500 protesting dairy farmers in Melbourne this week while surrounded by placards calling for the milking of cows, not farmers, Freemantle, 74, admits to disillusionment and confusion at the unexpected and retrospective price drop imposed this…

16 May 2016 The ACCC has recently concluded a major prosecution of people selling questionable franchises. The Federal Court has ordered a $3.55 million penalty against SensaSlim Australia Pty Ltd (in liquidation) (SensaSlim) for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct and making false representations, following action by the ACCC. Mr Foster was ordered to pay $660,000, the maximum penalty for each of the contraventions. The Court has banned Mr Foster for life from being involved with businesses promoting or supplying weight loss products or services, or being involved in any franchising business where his identity and involvement has not been disclosed in writing to prospective franchisees. The Court also permanently disqualified Mr Foster from managing corporations. On April 9 2014, the Federal Court ruled that SensaSlim engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by making false representations in its franchise disclosure document about Mr Foster’s involvement in the SensaSlim franchise system.…

Matt Chambers, Daniel Palmer MAY 20, 2016 THE AUSTRALIAN Woodside Petroleum chief Peter Coleman says oil prices have probably bottomed and are likely to firm, but he doesn’t think a strong rebound is on the cards, warning prices will remain “rangebound” as gains inspire more production. Mr Coleman is fronting investors in Sydney this morning in the company’s annual investor briefing day. “We think there will be a firming over the next 18 months,” Mr Coleman said. “We’re not going to see any real increase in prices … but we’ve probably bottomed out in a range.” He said supply could come back on quite quickly, which could dampen gains. On LNG, where analysts have recently expressed concerns about Woodside’s exposure to spot prices, Mr Coleman said he was not surprised at the state of the market and predicted improvement in LNG prices in 2018. “We knew there was going to…

Allister Heath 19 MAY 2016 Telegraph UK I don’t smoke. In fact, I despise cigarettes and their foul stench. Nobody should touch tobacco or for that matter any other addictive drug. But the decision to enforce plain packaging on the tobacco industry – now confirmed by the courts – is a major mistake which will hurt the economy over time and do little or nothing to discourage smoking. In fact, it’s time for soft drink, chocolate and alcohol manufacturers to be very, very worried. They and anybody else whose wares fall out of favour will be next – and after that, who knows? The authorities have decided that they can wage war on companies they don’t like, ban them from using their brands on their packaging and thus dispossess them of a crucial asset without compensation. I agree with the Institute of Economic Affairs’ assessment that the Government has –…