Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has formally tendered his resignation to the Pacific country's Governor-General rather than face a parliamentary no-confidence motion.
"At 9.35am this morning I delivered to his excellency … the Governor-General, my letter of resignation," he said in parliament at Port Moresby on Wednesday.
O'Neill had promised to resign on Sunday after a string of defections from his government plunged his leadership into question and cost him his majority.
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On Tuesday, an opposition bloc working to unseat O'Neill's government elected National Alliance Party leader Patrick Pruaitch as "alternate prime minister".
But O'Neill, who has been in power since 2011, has nominated former prime minister Julius Chan, 79, to replace him and said he was confident the government would have the numbers to stay in power.
A three-pronged boost to the mortgage market over the last 10 days has sparked predictions the housing downturn in Sydney and Melbourne could reach its low point later this year.
If that ends up being the case, many home owners would not doubt breathe a sigh of relief. For prospective buyers, however, the message remains one of caution. After the sharp fall in prices recently, don't expect a return to the old days of quickly rising prices, even if things do start to stabilise soon.
To recap: last week we learnt that interest rates will almost certainly fall next month; banks will likely allow customers to borrow larger amounts; and negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions will remain untouched due to the election result.
Some experts believe this triple whammy should put a floor under house prices over the coming months, by encouraging more demand from buyers. The government's plan to guarantee some first home buyers' mortgages from early next year should also help.
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CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher had previously been forecasting prices would fall by about 20 per cent from peak to trough, but he now says the falls could end up being a bit smaller than this
"Potentially, we could see the market bottom now by the end of this year," Kusher says.
He says the peak-to-trough fall in prices may instead end up being 17 to 18 per cent in Sydney, and 15 to 16 per cent in Melbourne, which are still substantial declines.
Time will tell if these forecasts are right, but there are indeed reasons to think the market could be closer to stabilising in the second half of 2019 (the rate of price decline has already slowed in recent months, and auction clearance rates are edging higher).
First, the election result increased optimism towards housing. How much Labor's policies would have really affected housing was hotly contested, but the result removed the uncertainty around negative gearing and capital gains tax, which was hanging over the market.
Second, it's now clear interest rates are likely to fall even lower, after the Reserve Bank last week all but confirmed it will cut rates next month. History suggests cheaper debt tends to push house prices higher.
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And finally, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) last week flagged a change that will have the impact of boosting a customer's borrowing capacity.
Previously, APRA had a rule requiring banks assess all prospective customers at an interest rate of whatever was higher of 7 per cent, or their current rate plus a 2 per cent "buffer". Most banks assess customers at 7.25 per cent, to be safe.
APRA now plans to let banks test their customers at their current rate plus a 2.5 per cent "buffer," which is equal to about 6.3 per cent for a competitively-priced mortgage. The regulator will consult on the idea over the next month or so, but it's hard to see much resistance from the banks.
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The bottom line is that an average family in a capital city may see their borrowing capacity rise by about $100,000 to $1.2 million, Citi analysts predict. If the RBA does cut rates, the maximum amount of credit at this family's disposal would lift even further.
This should support the mortgage market, but there are convincing reasons to think we're not heading back to the old days of easy credit, or booming house prices.
For one, banks will continue to pore over borrowers' expenses more carefully than they did in the past. Moreover, they will not roll back a bunch of other conservative policies, such as caps on how much overall debt a customer can have, relative to their income.
CoreLogic's Kusher says it will still be harder to get a mortgage than it was five years ago.
AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver has also revised his forecasts and now believes house prices may now stabilise later this year, but he also says they won't take off.
"Given still high house price to income ratios and poor affordability, still very high debt levels, tighter lending standards and rising unemployment a quick return to boom time conditions is most unlikely," Oliver says.
The housing cycle may be getting closer to its bottom. But it is by no means a case of back to the races.
The last time Nick Cotric visited his family in Serbia, he was a boy who could only dream of one day playing for NSW.
When he returns to Serbia – where his mother was born before migrating to Australia – at the end of this season, he will have fulfilled that dream.
And he will return to a country which has since embraced rugby league through the Balkan Super League, a competition established two years ago which carries six Serbian sides.
"They know what rugby league is now. I think they kind of knew what it was when I first started playing but now they have a whole league over there," Cotric told the Herald. "It started up two or three years ago so they fully understand it now. They love it.
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"I am going at the end of the year to catch up with all of them because it’s been a long time. I can't wait, I've got to go see them soon."
With the majority of his extended family still overseas, Cotric is surrounded by a small, tight-knit circle of family and friends in Canberra.
His father, in particular, has helped keep the 20-year-old grounded while being touted as a potential star since his early teens.
"I juggled a few sports but when I was 14 my dad said to me that I had to choose one sport. So I chose rugby league. Ever since then that’s all I’ve played," Cotric said. "My dad nearly cried when I told him I was going to play [for NSW]. It was a good moment, telling him that I was going to play. It meant a lot to me to be able to tell him it meant a lot to him, too."
Every time Cotric's family and friends packed into his Canberra home to watch Origin as a child, he would walk away dreaming of one day donning the sky blue jersey. One moment from Origin matches of yesteryear stands out.
"I remember Jarryd Hayne going down the sideline, kicking it and regathering and scoring. That always sticks in my mind," Cotric said. "As a kid, I remember watching that and just thinking how unbelievable it was. I’d never seen anything like it before."
It was after that famous Hayne try in 2007 – when Cotric was eight years old – that the Raiders star knew what he wanted to do when he finished school. As he grew older and his friends started drinking, Cotric would always ensure his football came first.
"I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to get here and to be where I am now. When I was 18, 19, even now at 20, all the boys are going out and drinking," he said. "I just have to tell them that I can’t, that I have to go home and prepare well for a game. They understand that my footy comes first and I have to go home and sip on the waters and watch the Snapchats roll in."
Those nights at home spent sipping on water while his friends were out have paid off before even Cotric could have possibly expected them to.
When he turns his childhood dream into a reality on Wednesday night, the clock will have just ticked past noon in Serbia. You better believe they'll be watching in Belgrade.
"I remember watching as a kid, getting all of your family and friends packed into the room and watching it all together," Cotric said. "I can’t believe I am going to go out there in a few days. It’s a dream come true."
An operation targeting the supply and distribution of cocaine and other illicit drugs in Sydney's eastern suburbs has led to 55 people being charged with drug supply and possession.
Over the course of six nights this month, police from Strike Force Northrop allegedly seized more than 290 grams of cocaine, 13 grams of MDMA, 110 grams of cannabis and $63,000 in cash. They charged 28 people with drug supply and 27 with drug possession.
Strike force detectives were assisted by officers from Surry Hills, Sydney City, Kings Cross, Eastern Suburbs and Eastern Beaches Police Area Commands, and the Dog Unit, to carry out a series of vehicle searches in Bondi, Paddington and Coogee on Friday and Saturday nights.
On the weekend of May 10 and 11, eight people were arrested and charged following five separate vehicle stops.
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A black BMW stopped on Glenmore Road, Paddington, was allegedly found with 17 grams of cocaine and $4200 in cash.
A silver Volkswagon Passat stopped at the intersection of Dolphin and Hill streets, Coogee, was allegedly found with more than $2400 in cash and 20 grams of cocaine in a hidden compartment.
More cash and drugs were allegedly located inside three vehicles stopped around Bondi Road in Bondi.
Another two people were arrested and charged after their vehicles were stopped and searched on May 17 and 24, with officers allegedly locating more drugs and cash.
Redfern Region Enforcement Squad Commander, Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell, said detectives "will continue to investigate and target those in the community that continue to participate in illegal drug-related activity".
"These illicit substances are incredibly dangerous, and we will do everything we can to remove them from the streets of Sydney," he said.
"Police do not want to see any more drug-related deaths and it is disappointing to see so many people putting others' lives at risk through the sale and distribution of these drugs."
Telstra signalled the progress it is making on its T22 transformation strategy on Wednesday by bringing forward $500 million in writedowns on its legacy IT systems and confirming that 6,000 of the 8,000 job losses planned as part of the strategy will occur this financial year.
It means that $200 million of restructuring costs are also expected to be brought forward to the current year.
Like other legacy telecom firms around the world, Telstra is finding it hard to battle cut-throat competition and new technology that has crushed its mainstay fixed-line businesses.
"We expect to have announced or completed approximately 75 per cent of our direct workforce role reductions by the end of FY19," said Telstra chief executive Andy Penn.
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The company stuck to its full year earnings guidance and said the writedown and restructuring costs are subject to board approval.
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"We will continue to see role reductions as we replace our legacy systems, digitise and simplify how we work, and respond to things like declining NBN and call volumes, but if a final decision is made on the proposal announced today we expect the majority of our T22 restructure will be behind us," said Mr Penn.
Telstra announced the T22 strategy in June last year to cut $2.5 billion in annual costs, net job losses of around 8,000 employees as well as streamlining its services and product offering.
Telstra said it has started consultation with unions and staff over the job cuts and expects the process to conclude in mid June which means that that extra $200 million in restructuring costs are expected to be recognised this year, but the cash savings will not be felt until the employees leave next financial year. It will raise the restructuring costs for the current financial year to $800 million.
Mr Penn said the $500 million writedown of legacy systems, which will have a positive impact on depreciation and amortisation charges going forward, is due to the progress it has made in setting up its new systems.
"It's a beacon of the fact that we are making very solid progress on the digitisation part of our T22 program so we're pleased about that," said Mr Penn said on a conference call.
Telstra shares were trading 2.5c higher at $3.585 after the announcement.
Apple's earnings could fall 26 per cent in its 2020 fiscal year if China bans sales of the iPhone, according to Cowen, the latest firm to paint a dramatic picture of the tech giant's risk in the event that trade tensions between the US and China deteriorate further.
While Wall Street has fretted over Chinese demand prospects for the iPhone for months, the issue has gained urgency after the Trump administration blacklisted Huawei Technologies, raising the prospect of reprisals.
Earlier this month, Wedbush called the Huawei ban a "Fort Sumter moment," with Apple the "poster child" for trade uncertainty.
Shares of Apple were little changed on Tuesday, compared with a 0.6 per cent rise in the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector. Apple is coming off a three-day drop, and shares have declined more than 15 per cent from a peak earlier this month.
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Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote that an iPhone ban represented an "extreme case" scenario for how the trade war could play out, adding that the more likely outcome was that Apple would see a "material but manageable" hit to earnings.
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"Apple's iPhone, iPad, and Mac systems are at risk of experiencing demand destruction due to collateral damage from the sales ban to Huawei," Sankar wrote.
The perception that Huawei is being "unfairly punished" could lead Chinese consumers "to retaliate as patriotism leads them to support domestic brands while products and services from US companies fall out of favour."
This view was echoed by Citi, which on Tuesday cut its price target on the stock to $US205 from $US220, seeing "a slowdown of Apple iPhone demand in China as China residents shift their purchasing preference to China national brands."
Apple's 12 per cent market share in the country could be "cut in half," analyst Jim Suva wrote.
Cowen is not the only firm to calculate that earnings could potentially fall more than 20 per cent if retaliatory measures escalate.
Morgan Stanley wrote that earnings could fall by about 23 per cent in a worst-case trade scenario, while Goldman Sachs estimated a drop of 29 per cent if China banned Apple products.
Both China and the iPhone are central to the tech giant. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Apple derived nearly 20 per cent of its 2018 revenue from China, while the iPhone accounted for more than 60 per cent of its total 2018 revenue.
Bitcoin jumped as much as 10 per cent on Monday to almost breach $US9,000 as it extended the best one-month rally since before the token's historic surge in 2017.
The largest cryptocurrency climbed as much as 10 per cent Monday from levels late Friday, and was trading at $US8,785 at 1.15pm AEST, according to Coindesk. Rival coins were also stronger with Litecoin up more than 12 per cent while Ether, the second largest digital token, rose 6.8 per cent.
Crypto proponents are taking encouragement from a string of recent headlines showing greater interest in the space from mainstream firms. AT&T said last week it will permit customers to pay bills with Bitcoin or Bitcoin cash. That followed news that Fidelity Investments was finalising plans to buy and sell the digital asset for institutional customers.
"Easier to spend means a greater use case," said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at trading platform eToro in Tel Aviv. Greenspan said the overall customer base could reach "critical mass, and the technology goes from underground to mainstream."
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The best-known digital token is up almost 70 per cent this month despite concerns from JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists that its price may have surged beyond its "intrinsic value" – a concept that not all investors agree applies to a digital currency.
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Bitcoin's run this year follows a painful downtrend that lasted the majority of last year and saw the digital currency tumble more than 70 per cent. Bulls are betting the run could continue as more institutions start to build out their own cryptocurrencies or launch projects using the underlying blockchain technology.
"It takes two to tango. The more merchants that accept crypto encourages more people to adopt it and use it," said David Tawil, president of crypto hedge fund ProChain Capital.
"That's major."
But the crypto meltdown is still fresh on many investors' minds and not everyone is betting digital assets will become as widely accepted as enthusiasts hope. There are signs the rally is running too hot, wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone in a note. Crypto transactions, for instance, have been lagging the broader rally, indicating caution for additional price increases, he said.
"This is still the thawing out from the crypto winter that was," said Tawil. "There still may be another pullback before we get to fundamentals truly taking over and speculators and frauds being expunged."
Paris: Ashleigh Barty has survived a bumpy ride to book her spot in the French Open second round.
The eighth seed beat American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-3 to make it three from three for Australians, after Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin's earlier victories on the Paris clay.
Samantha Stosur followed suit later in the day, beating Czech Barbora Strycova in a tiebreak to win 6-2, 7-6. The 35-year-old veteran – attempting to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the 11th straight year – will now play Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
It was far from conventional from Barty, the top-ranked Australian though, who let handy leads slip in both sets, before recovering in time to claim the scrappy win in exactly an hour.
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Barty led 4-0 in the first set before being broken twice by the free-swinging world No.72.
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Order looked to be restored when the Australian broke again to claim the set and move ahead 2-0 in the second stanza.
But again she wandered from the path, Pegula breaking back and suddenly finding herself 0-40 on Barty's serve and ahead 3-2.
The Miami Open champion flicked the switch at that point though, salvaging a hold of serve and powering to victory without conceding another game.
The win takes her to 25-5 this season, having skipped last week's Strasbourg International to manage an arm injury she says should not impact her performance in Paris.
"A little bit scratchy, but solid enough when I needed it," Barty summed up afterwards.
"There were moments in the match when it was tighter, but I was able to be really solid again and do the basics well. I think I just did enough to give myself an opportunity to play another match."
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That will be against a more accomplished opponent in Australian Open semi-finalist Danielle Collins.
The American, the world No.36, charged to the final four in Melbourne and dropped just two games against Tatjana Maria on the way into the second round on Monday.
Barty beat Collins 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 earlier this month in Madrid.
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Stosur, meanwhile, looked right at home on the new Simonne Mathieu arena, wrong-footing Strycova with her deadly combination of heavy topspin and spearing slice from either wing.
The theatrical Czech did everything to will herself back into the contest, with Stosur forced to rally from a break down in the second set to ensure an early night.
She did just that, with Strycova saving one match point on serve before Stosur again ran her down from 2-0 down in the tie-break.
A deft drop volley was followed by a clean forehand winner before Stosur, who hit 35 winners to her opponent's 19, sealed it in one hour 41 minutes.
Astra Sharma is the only Australian casualty to date, bowing out in a 6-3, 6-3 loss to American comeback kid Shelby Rogers on Monday.
Two members of Malcolm Turnbull's extended family are being named as potential contenders in a race for a NSW seat in the Senate, while Victorian Liberal Sarah Henderson is the favourite for a similar contest in Victoria.
Mr Turnbull's son-in-law, James Brown, was named by several Liberals on Monday as an option for the key position in the upper house, to be made vacant later this year following the appointment of Arthur Sinodinos as Australia’s next ambassador in Washington.
But Mr Turnbull's brother-in-law, Michael Hughes, is also being put forward by Liberals as a possible choice because of his long years of service to the party, including as treasurer of its NSW division.
Other contenders for the NSW seat include Dallas McInerney, the chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, Warren Mundine, who ran for the marginal seat of Gilmore on the state's south coast at the May 18 election, and Richard Shields, one of the candidates who came close to gaining the pre-selection for Mr Turnbull's former seat of Wentworth in Sydney's eastern suburbs last year.
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With a highly contested seat up for grabs, party members also said the field could include heart surgeon and professor Michael Feneley and the former mayor of Liverpool, Ned Mannoun.
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The selection of a new senator is at an early stage, given Senator Sinodinos is not expected to be formally appointed to Washington until much later in the year, and there is time for many others to put themselves forward and others to withdraw before any formal preselection.
The list of potential candidates also includes one woman, Mary-Lou Jarvis, who is the president of the Liberal Women's Council and a vice-president of the party's state division.
Captain Brown, who is married to Mr Turnbull's daughter, Daisy, is the president of the NSW RSL and served in the army in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands.
He is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Sydney after working as a research fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the university's United States Studies Centre.
Mr Hughes, who is the brother of Mr Turnbull's wife, Lucy, is a Sydney stockbroker and businessman who has been involved in the Liberal Party since he was a teenager. He, Lucy and their brother Tom jnr are the children of Tom Hughes, who was a federal Liberal MP for nine years, attorney-general in the government of John Gorton, and later a prominent Sydney barrister.
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While there was speculation that former army general Jim Molan might also be a candidate, his fate is yet to be determined by the counting of the votes from the May 18 election, in which he was fourth on the Coalition's Senate ticket.
Senator Molan, whose term expires on June 30 if he is not re-elected, offended some within the Liberal Party by running a “below the line” campaign asking people to give him their votes rather than following the official Coalition ticket.
The Victorian Senate race follows Mr Morrison's announcement that former communications minister Mitch Fifield would take up the position of ambassador to the United Nations in New York later this year.
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Senator Fifield and Senator Sinodinos are yet to resign from the upper house but are expected to do so later this year, once their diplomatic posts are officially confirmed.
Ms Henderson, a former assistant minister, last week conceded she had lost the seat of Corangamite at the election but she is highly regarded and is seen as the favourite to replace Senator Fifield.
Others named by Liberals as potential choices for the seat in south-west Victoria include Kate Ashmore, who ran for the seat of Macnamara in Greater Melbourne, and Steve Martin, who ran for the seat of Indi in north-east Victoria at the federal election.
Small businesses are calling for reform in the wake of new research showing less than 1 per cent of unfair dismissal claims were backed by the industrial umpire.
The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association claims small businesses are incurring significant financial and time penalties contesting unfair dismissal claims at the Fair Work Commission that rarely succeed.
During the first three months of this year the commission received 3583 applications for unfair dismissal with less than 1 per cent resulting in findings of unfairness by the commission.
The Small Business Unfair Dismissal Code applies to businesses with fewer than 15 employees and gives special treatment to small businesses including an inability for employees to claim unfair dismissal in their first 12 months in a job or to dismiss an employee summarily for misconduct.
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Of the applications studied 3180 were settled during mediation or conciliation, 6 were withdrawn, and 172 were finalised by a decision of the commission with the remaining 225 presumably still in the system, and yet to be finalised.
ACAPMA chief executive Mark McKenzie said while the results of mediation or conciliation were confidential it is clear the code needs to be reformed.
"From ACAPMA’s experience, the vast majority of the matters subject to mediation and conciliation result in either the employee withdrawing the application after mediation, or the employer deciding to make a modest ‘go away’ payment – rather than go through the stress and expense of fighting the claim in the commission”, Mr McKenzie said.
Of the 172 cases brought before the commission 32 cases (or 19 per cent) were resolved in favour of the employee.
This was similar to previous years with 15 per cent resolved in favour of employees in 2018 and 17 per cent in 2017.
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Of the cases 79 were dismissed by the commission as 'without merit' while 32 were dismissed for being legally invalid due to the claims being lodged ‘out of time’, the case being a genuine redundancy, or the case being ineligible on other technical grounds.
Mr McKenzie said given the significant financial and time penalties associated with preparing a defence against an adverse dismissal claim, the high number of cases that were dismissed by the commission suggests that the current operation of the code is imposing unnecessary costs on small business owners.
"That is to say nothing of the stress involved in defending these actions and the fact that they often result in the business owner losing sight of their small business and suffering other financial consequences," Mr McKenzie said.
A spokesperson for the commission declined to comment on the calls for reform.
"Many matters are resolved by agreement between the employee and the employer at conciliation, others are resolved by the applicant withdrawing their application, and applications may be formally dismissed for example where it is found to be outside the commission’s jurisdiction," the spokesperson said.
Anthony Massaro from law firm Russell Kennedy said it is likely a "significant proportion" of the 3180 settled claims would, or might, have been successful at arbitration.
"If an employer knows that there were problems with the dismissal, and the employee is not asking for a significant amount of money, then in most cases the matter settles," he said.
"Obviously, there are frustrating situations where a seemingly merit-free claim can proceed because there is minimal prospect of an adverse costs order at the end of it. At the same time, any alteration to the system needs to take into account that the entire purpose of the system is to ensure that certain employees have a channel to contest unfair decisions. If the system is too discouraging, it fails."
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