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Cilla Benk

In an article first published in Expressen, Swedish Radio CEO and EBU Executive Board member Cilla Benk writes about how we must protect freedom of the press on World Press Freedom Day.

Having free access to information and allowing all voices to be heard or not. Thats what freedom of speech and freedom of the press are ultimately about. And that is why we must all cherish and defend free journalism, particularly in uncertain times when it increasingly comes under fire.

On 3 May we observe World Press Freedom Day, this year with an emphasis on freedom of the press as a basic necessity for other human rights. The situation is urgent, particularly when democracy as a form of government is being challenged in more and more places around the world. The Varieties of Democracy Institute at the University of Gothenburgsays the number of democracies in the world has shrunk to 1986 levels, and freedom of the press is often the first victim when a democracy crumbles.

We see this clearly in the wake of Putins invasion of Ukraine. Independent media in Russia have been censored, blocked and dismantled. Individual journalists have been censured and in March the US journalist Evan Gershkovich from the Wall Street Journal was arrested and imprisoned in Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage. Russian forces have taken control of the flow of information and the Russian population is paying the price.

But there are trends that worry me even in Sweden. The University of Gothenburgs SOM surveyindicates that a majority of the Swedish population is prepared to make temporary restrictions to democracy to resolve urgent issues such as environmental and climate crises, pandemics, financial crises and crime. The war in Ukraine has shaken people and, alongside the coronavirus pandemic, impacted how we see the world.

But in times of crisis and unrest, it is particularly important to remember how crucial it is to have access to free, credible information. In Sweden we have a long, strong tradition of freedom of the press, but this is not the case in many countries. So we must never take freedom of the press for granted. The demand for free reporting is strong. At Swedish Radio we saw that clearly when Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year as many as a half-million brand-new listeners sought out our live reporting. Thats in a country of just 10 million.

In connection with this years World Press Freedom Day, I am travelling to Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to meet with the Swedish Embassies in a joint initiative to shine a spotlight on the immense importance of the freedom of independent media and the safety of journalists.

More than five years have passed since the murder of Slovakian journalist Jn Kuciak, who was investigating corruption and tax evasion, and his fiance Martina Kunrov. The trail led to a well-known businessman with ties to the ruling elite in the country, and the murder led to major protests in which fed-up Slovaks filled the streets and squares. Judges, top politicians and police chiefs had to leave their posts as a result.

The Slovakian peoples protests confirmed something meaningful: We must all be the guardians of freedom of the press. Because a journalist does not just represent themselves, they represent all of us. The journalist asks the uncomfortable questions, takes the powerful to task and highlights the voices that otherwise might not be heard.In closing, I would like to quote the American historian Timothy Snyder, when he attended the Swedish Academy conference on freedom of speech and democracy earlier this spring and was asked why freedom of speech must not be restricted, for example by making lies punishable.

The lies of the very powerful is not what is in danger. It is the truth of those who dont have power that is in danger.

Thats something to think about on World Press Freedom Day.

Cilla Benk, CEO of Swedish Radio

The rest is here:
We must all be the guardians of freedom of the press - European Broadcasting Union

Gordon Jackson remembers the hype around Sun Cable.

"The world's biggest solar farm," is the pitchherecalls.

It was just a few years ago that Gordon, who owns a sub-contracting business in the outback town of Elliott,washelping the ventureinstall a few dozen test PV panels at itsproposed site, about100 kilometresfrom his remote Northern Territory community.

"It was pretty hot that day. About 47 degrees," Gordon recalls.

"It's sunny there, from sun-up to sundown."

But it turned out this sensational project was about more than sun.

It also needed a cable.And it is thisfeature that has nowdivided its two biggest backers, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest.

Two of Australia'srichest men,who used to be partners on Sun Cable.

Nowthey arebidding against each other to control the collapsed entity,in a closed-door process that's just weeks away from culminating.

Sun Cable was formed in 2018 by several people, including its current chief executive David Griffin,based acrossSingapore and Australia.

It publicly unveiled its vision in 2019.

At the heart of the plan was an ambition to transform Australia, one of the world's biggest miners,into an exporter of renewable energy.

Sun Cable didn't just wantto build asolar farm that was visible from space.

Italso wanted to send much of the renewable power generatedto the gas-dependent island nation of Singapore.

To do this, Sun Cable needed to install a big battery network and run a 4,700kmtransmission line from the Northern Territory's coastline all the way under the sea to its final destination.

"When it was announced, Sun Cable was a daring idea,"Victoria University energy economist Bruce Mountain told ABC News.

And it needed a lot of money, starting at$30 billion.

With an estimated wealth almost matching this,MikeCannon-Brookes was the first major backerto publicly sign upthrough his private entity, Grok Ventures.

At the time, the co-founder of software company Atlassianhad just gained household fame for goading Tesla's Elon Musk into building Australia's biggest battery.

"I'm backing [Sun Cable]," Cannon-Brooks told the AFR back in 2019.

"We're going to make it work. I'm going to build a wire."

The even more wealthy Andrew Forrest came on a few months later, also through his private entity, Squadron.

In the media, the largestshareholder of iron ore exporter FMG described his investment in Sun Cable as motivated by "not just reducing emissions" but "nation-building".

Both the Northern Territory and then the federal government soon gave Sun Cable major project status.

In 2020, it revealed that itsproposed solar farm site was at Newcastle Waters, one of eight cattle stations owned by Consolidated Pastoral Company.

There were headlines about jobs, including 1,750 during construction and 350 ongoing roles across the project's 70-year life span.

Elliott was the closest townto the proposed outback solar farm location.

With an official population of 287 people, most of them First Nations, the highway community has just one petrol station and a barricaded pub.

"We are struggling with work," traditional owner Bonita Farrall says.

"[Sun Cable]saidthey'd give courses for locals. Also jobs and accommodation."

The lure of jobsled to excitement from some locals.

"We hope Sun Cable goes ahead," the Barkly Regional Council's local Elliott authority chair, Bob Bagnall, says.

"It's good for the town."

By 2021, afirm based in the Northern Territory's capital was helping Sun Cable assess Newcastle Station for theland-clearing exercise required to lay down the 12,000 hectares of PV panels.

"It's dry, spinifex country," EcOz's owner Ray Hall says.

"There are threatened species in that part of the world, particularly bilbies. But bilby habitats are fairly easy to recognise."

Ray Hall describes Sun Cable's original proposal as "pretty adventurous and speculative".

There area few white elephants in the great north, but Ray says helooked into Sun Cableand found its management"very professional".

He was also comforted by itstwo biggest backers.

"I think risk-takers are important in projects like this. [And]both of them are very wealthy and successful risk-takers."

Yet, even as EcOz was filing Sun Cable's environmental impact assessment in early 2022, cold water was being thrown on the project from some sectors of the energy community.

"I think there's a hard rump that are very sceptical about itall," says the director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre,Bruce Mountain.

The issues raised includedthe 4,700km sub-sea cable to Singapore.

Itneeded to wind its way through Indonesian waters, sometimes through magnetic sand and deep trenches. There was even concern raised about earthquakes.

"This is considerably beyond the current best practice in undersea cables," emeritus professor Andrew Blakers from ANU's Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems says.

He also notes that since Sun Cable was first proposed, other nations closer to Singapore have come on as viable energy suppliers, including Indonesia.

In Singapore, another energy expertstill believes the wealthy island nation needs solar from a range of sources.

"Singapore has very close ties with Australia,"the National University of Singapore's David Broadstock adds.

In late 2022, the financial backing for Sun Cable was still there.

Cannon-Brookes and Forrest's entities helped raise $210 million capital to keep it going, which came with strings attached that the company met certain milestones.

Just a few months later, it collapsed.

At the time, Sun Cable's vague statement about itsadministrationsaid it "followed the absence of alignment with the objectives of all shareholders".

It soon emerged there had been adisagreement between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes over the need to tip more money into the ventureand the future of the project overall.

Cannon-Brooke's Grok Ventures maintainedthe project was still economically viable in its current form, and they had letters of intent from Singapore.

Squadron disagreed. Its chairmansaid the project was "not commercially viable in its current form", instead suggesting the solar would be better used to produce green hydrogen or ammonia.

As Sun Cable had been tracking along, Forrest had been getting more vocal about this alternative to battery-led renewable energy.

In a public lecture in 2021, heoutlined his proposal to use solar, hydroand wind to make hydrogen, and then ultimately"green steel".

"I choose hydrogen. What do you choose?" he asked.

The ASX-listed FMG, whichForresthas a large stake in, is also now pursuing this strategy under its subsidiary, FFI.

Energy economist Bruce Mountain says the Sun Cable debacle highlights a clash of ideas about what to do with renewable energy.

"Clearly, there was a falling out, with Cannon-Brookes intending to see it to the end. And Forrest had the idea that he had an alternative use for the solar."

Sun Cable's administrator is now conducting a sale process.

So far, ABC News has confirmed at least four active bidders, including both Squadron and Grok.Neither would confirm any details of their plans for the project if they won control.

The buy-up process is confidential and final offers close on May 23.

In the interim, Grok Ventures has extended a loan of up to $65 millionto Sun Cable to keep it afloat.

ABC News has also confirmed thatnumerous creditors have been approached by Squadron to buy up their debt, with a view that this might give helpat some point in the sale process.

Between them, creditors are only owed about $13 million.

Guardian Geomatics, an Australiancompany that did the sub-sea cable surveyfor Sun Cable, is owed the vast majority, at$10 million.

EcOz is also owed$247,000.

Its director Ray Hall is hopeful the administration will be worked through.

"I see that as just an unfortunate sort of glitch along the way, with big personalities that had different ideas," he says.

There is a chance neither Squadron nor Grok will win, and a curve ball entitywill emerge as its owner. It's understood that other parties bidding include offshore institutions. They may have entirely different ideas for the project's solar.

"The sun bit may well go ahead," energy economist Bruce Mountain says.

"The cable bit may not."

Both Australian energy experts that ABC News interviewed saiditwould be best going into our grid.

"We will need vast amounts of electricity to make hydrogen for chemicals," Andrew Blakers says.

"But that's not for the next seven or eight years.

"The number one priority is simply getting carbon out of our electricity grid, and then doubling the size of that electricity grid in order to service electric vehicles, electric heat pumps, and electric furnaces in the 2020s."

The town of Elliott and the nearby homeland community Marlinja are bothpowered off gas with backup diesel. Power bills are a concernas the cost of living rises.

"It feels unfair," says traditional ownerBonita Farrall, of the Sun Cable proposal.

"None of us have solar on our houses."

Final environmental approvals for the solar farmhaven't been signed off,and traditional owners need to be consulted.

Sun Cable's administrator told ABC News the project has been"exploring" whether it can "help address electricity availability around the project area". The original proposal also gave some electricity to Darwin for major industry there.

Some in Elliott are not pinning their hopes on the project, including sub-contractor Gordon Jackson.

"It came to a halt, just like everything does in the middle of nowhere," he says.

Others, like the Barkly Regional Council'slocal authority chair for Elliott, Bob Bagnall, think it will happen. He doesn't mind in which capacity, but he does have a message for both Cannon-Brookes and Forrest.

"Get your act together. We justwant to see it happen," he says.

"You know, a couple of multi-millionaires sitting back and arguing over which is the best way to go doesn't seem fit."

Read this article:
Sun Cable: Why Australia's two richest men are battling to control an unbuilt solar farm - ABC News

JioCinema, the official streaming partner of IPL 2023 has witnessed overwhelming support from the advertisers as the platform has managed to garner records viewers in the very first season of its IPL season..

The OTT Platform has roped in 26 big-ticket sponsors for the tournament, which is the highest number of sponsors any sporting event streaming on digital has received.

According to JioCinema, the record number of sponsors on digital is not because the ticket size is smaller but because brands are seeing more value in associating with digital.

During the upcoming matches, JioCinema expects to add more advertisers as enough data is now available for brands to evaluate where their investments bring value.

According sources from JioCinema, the platform is likely to control approximately 70% of the total advertising expenditure on the 16th season of IPL.

Several new categories of sponsors are onboard with digital this year, including tourism, audio streaming, BFSI, among others.

Recently, the platform reached a peak concurrent viewership of 2.4 crore and expects to reach more viewers in the upcoming matches.

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JioCinema likely to control 70% of the IPL 2023 AdEx - MediaNews4U

A transcript of the NAB Half Year Results media conference with NAB CEO Ross McEwan is below.

E & O E PROOF ONLY

NAB GROUP CEO,ROSSMcEWAN:Good morning. Our HY results show NAB has delivered another strong, clean financial performance.

Underlying earnings increased by 18.4% and cash earnings rose by 12.3% over the half. We have delivered a strong increase in cash return on equity to 13.7%.

The interim dividend of 83 cents is a 5 cent increase on the second half 2022.

These results reflect the consistent execution of our long-term strategy over the three plus-years since we announced it.

This strategy is focused on delivering better outcomes for our customers and colleagues regardless of the environment and it is serving our customers and our bank well.

The results reveal strong contributions from all of our businesses. Ill now call out a few of the highlights:

As I said in November, we are making deliberate choices about where we invest and where to pull back. As well as our business franchise, we have grown other target segments including high-net worth customers, unsecured lending and Ubank.

At the same time, we have taken steps to moderate growth in home lending given the current market dynamics, which have seen new loans written well below the cost of capital.

The importance of strong, stable banks has been highlighted through recent market volatility offshore. Growth for our bank needs to be safe and sustainable.

Our funding position remains strong. Our tier one capital ratio increased over the past six months by 70 basis points to 12.21%. This is well in excess of our target range of 11-11.5% and above the unquestionably strong benchmark set by regulators.

This puts us in a great position to support customers and navigate an uncertain environment.

We expect the local economy will slow this year given the rising impact of higher rates and inflation. Overall, our customers remain in good shape. But we know the cost of living is hurting some and our message remains that we are here to help.

While there remains uncertainty in the outlook, it seems increasingly likely Australia will avoid a pronounced economic correction. There has been encouraging signs inflation has peaked, however the RBA has shown again this week it will act to get inflation under control.

There are other reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Im out with customers every week and they continue to tell me that their businesses are growing. They say its still hard to get labour with the jobless rate remaining near historic lows. So the message here is it is likely to feel harder over the next six to nine months, but the Australian economy is proving resilient.

I also want to touch on another area of significant concern for our customers: the sharp rise in fraud and scams.

This is a global crime wave that we will never stop but we must make it as difficult as possible for these criminals to target Australians and New Zealanders.

Actions we have taken include additional resourcing, investment in customer education, 24/7 account monitoring, security alerts and proactive payment prompts.

Were also working with telecommunication providers to limit NAB-related spoofing calls and messages.

For three years now we have seen the benefits of executing a clear and consistent strategy. We are focused on the long term. Our strategy is about getting the basics right and delivering better outcomes for customers and colleagues regardless of the environment.

I remain confident in the outlook for NAB in Australia and BNZ in New Zealand.

Thank you for joining us and Im very happy to take your questions.

JOURNALIST: Thank you for taking questions Ross, and good morning. My question just relates to residential housing prices. Weve seen a couple of months now of prices starting to rise again. Do you think that housing prices have hit the bottom and are set to increase from here?

And if thats the case Ross, I just wondered if you could just talk a little bit around the demand and supply side. Do you expect to see increasing demand for housing credit if the market starts to lift off the bottom? And on the supply side, have you got any concerns with higher levels of immigration and ongoing difficulties in residential housing approvals in the CBDs, and will there be a bit of a supply side squeeze that might see prices accelerate even further? Thank you.

RM: Its a big set of questions. First off, I think what we are seeing is theres very few houses on the market for sale at the moment, and that is creating house prices we think will bottom out from a decline thats been happening over the last six to 12 months.

I think youre seeing more and more prices going sideways as opposed to down. It is a demand and supply issue not a lot on the marketplace, lots of people looking for it, lots of people looking for rental accommodation. And the big issue is we need to actually get more supply through more building going on, and what is quite a difficult construction sector at the moment for residential housing. But a number of the areas here, that probably need to be addressed, sit around council and states making sure tracks of lands are available so that we can get building again. And theres a supply and demand concern, and of course with immigration starting to happen again both on permanent immigration and temporary theres going to be continued demand for housing. So, we need to get the supply sorted out pretty quickly.

JOURNALIST:Thanks, Ross. Im just trying to extrapolate.All the divisions there, youve got double digit earnings growth in there which is probably the first time I can remember for NAB for 15-20 years. Im just trying to pull that apart. So, how much of that would be related to the banks getting a benefit from the higher interest rate environment as opposed to the hard yakka of restructuring?

RM:I called out in my commentary that it is to do with higher interest rates, but we also have been growing the book and making sure that our growth is in areas that are giving a reasonable return to the bank and cost of capital. We have had growth, remembering in our prior 12 months to this half, very strong growth across the mortgage book, across our Corporate and Institutional, and our New Zealand business. And I made comment about our very strong Business and Private Bank.

So, all of the business have been growing up until the last six months, helped by interest rate movement for the first time in 12 years going up, not down.But youve seen that the net interest margin is starting to reduce slightly again, and the competition is very strong in the deposit end of the marketplace and putting pressure on net interest margin. Competition is a wonderful thing. And when there seems to be a good market for something, people are into it.

JOURNALIST:If I could just follow also, the credit impairment charges have just come up slightly, a little bit. Im just wondering if there Is any colour you could put around that in the Personal Banking business?

RM: Yeah, we do watch what we call the different buckets the 30 day, 60 day and 90 day theres been a ever so small increase in the 30 day and 60 day buckets, i.e. where people miss the first payment and then a smaller number missed the second, but its not flowing through into our 90 day bucket yet, so they are curing, i.e. our customers are finding their way back to payment. So were not seeing a major problem at this point, but we are on a watchful eye.

An interesting stat for you, weve made contact now with 7000 of our mortgage customers that we thought may have been having a little bit of difficulty now this is in the last three months, so this is as they rolled from a fixed rate of around 2% to a fixed rate more around 5-5.5% out of the 7000 only 13 have said yes we would like some help. So I think its showing the resilience in the marketplace. Its showing that full employment, unemployment being at 3.5 per cent. is really helping and thats the crucial thing to watch out for, the unemployment level.

One of the things that people are looking for is just a level of certainty in the payment structure, so that they can actually balance their household budgets. In a recent survey weve done shows 40% of customers are now doing a budget for the first time ever in their life. So, it just shows that people are taking it very seriously, theyre trying to plan their way through this and the more certainty they get the better.

But as I said 7000 people have been called in the last three months and only 13 said they needed some form of help. So good resilience in the marketplace.

JOURNALIST:Thank you.

JOURNALIST: In terms of home lending, you called out that you havent really looking write anything below the cost of capital, but you do have your bank offering cash back of about $4000, so has NAB actually written anything below the cost of capital?

RM: What I have said is that we are still writing home loan mortgages. You will notice that we actually have had a little bit of growth in the book in the last six months across the bank, in home mortgages, so its not that we are out of the market at all.

But weve said that we want to be righting the business at a level of cost of capital but we also want to maintain our customer relationships, so there is business being written in the bank sub cost of capital. Its just not a market Ive chosen to grow in, as we were for the 12 months prior to this period of time.

On the cashbacks, its an interesting one. Youve got as high as $4,000, $3,500. I think actually UBank right now is at $0, and our own cash back on NAB is $2000, so that changes around in the marketplace pretty much on a daily, weekly basis the cashback. So, it is part of the market at the moment, but I think cashbacks look like theyve been coming down over last six to 12 months, which is probably a good thing.

JOURNALIST: Hi there, Ross. I note that your comments about how the higher rates are helping to drive this revenue. Im wondering how you think your customers might feel about hearing that today hearing that youre essentially making more money as their pain is increasing?

RM: The Reserve Bank has been moving interest rates for the first time in 12 years, back up again, and we know that actually has a big impact on households. Its not just home loan interest rates though thats hurting households, its right across the board with power prices, fuel prices, supermarket prices. Its across the board that the cost of living is going up, because were being hit with inflation. Thats the thing that we need to actually attack and thats why the Reserve Bank board has been moving interest rates up.

We do appreciate whats happening to our customers. As I said weve rung 7,000 that have had movements on their fixed rates to make sure that theyre OK and that they can afford whats going on, or do they need some help. But on the other side of the equation too, often people dont talk about, youll notice that yesterday too we moved all of our savings rates up 25 basis points. They are now sitting at 4.5%, only 12 months ago they were .1%. So, some pretty big moves going on both sides of the balance sheet and I think we should take that into recognition.

64% of our profit this time round is also going into our dividends to shareholders, theyre up this time. So the dividend increase goes to mums and dads through the super funds and investors, so its across the board. But I do understand whats happening to our customers and thats why we do a lot of surveys and a lot of reach out work to them.

JOURNALIST: Thanks for taking my question, Ross. You just touched on it there, could you talk a little bit more about deposit competition please.

RM: In what sense, because what weve been doing in balancing the interest rate rises on the home lending across into our depositers. We only have in our Personal Bank two savings accounts and both of those we moved yesterday again. I think weve moved these rates across various areas from TDs to savings accounts about 50 times now in the last 12 months, but we moved again 25 basis points. So, theyre sitting at the 4.5% now on both our savings accounts. We dont have any other savings accounts or backbook in our personal bank.

Term deposits have been moving. Term deposits tend to move on a daily or weekly basis depending on funding for the bank and whats required. And wholesale funding rates have gone up as well. So, cost of funding across the board has been increasing for us and for other banks.

JOURNALIST: Hi Ross. Just a quick question on those early-stage arrears do you have any detail on what types of customers are getting into trouble a little bit, is it owner occupier or investor? What vintage are those loans from, and do you expect that trend to continue, would you expect arrears to start picking up a bit from here?

RM: The group we are concentrating on, and the reason for the calls, is that more recent customers who have taken out of home loan are that theyve just gone through the 3% buffer from the initial rate that we had them on thats the group that weve been concentrating on. And as I said weve been making the calls into that group and very little help needed, which I think is great showing the real resilience in the marketplace. So, thats the group weve been concentrating on.

We are seeing the very smallest of increase in where customers want to sell the house and move on. Very small, its still much lower than where it was back in 2019. So, at this stage were concerned for customers, were reaching out, but at this stage very resilient.

JOURNALIST: Hello, thank you for taking my call this morning. Ive noticed NAB investing a lot in the scams and frauds space and using quite a range of technologies such as biometric technologies, machine learning, I was just wondering how it sees genitive AI like Chat GPT helping NAB in this space and what use cases does it see the cyber security area as well.

RM: I think overtime we will use other techniques and other sources of technology like artificial intelligence but at the moment theres a lot, weve got about 62 changes being made throughout the Bank between now and May that will help our customers and keep them safe because thats our primary concern.

Bio catch which youve talked about has been installed, thats with great success but a lot of this is around education as well, we just need customers not to click on links and feel free to push the red button on their phone if they have any concern about who theyre talking to and thats the awareness we need but we are making a lot of changes behind the scenes.

I wont be discussing those publicly because we dont want the fraudsters knowing about those either, but I think the big thing for all of us including the media that these are criminals stealing off Australians and New Zealanders and we need to hold hands to stop it including media, telcos, and everybody its an Australian moment. It is a crime wave thats going on, so will play our part, weve got lots to do.

JOURNALIST: Im looking at slide 25 of the presentation today. It looks like there has been a tick up a retail trade exposure on default, and we know whats happening in construction. As the biggest business bank in Australia, can you talk about which sectors youre starting to see those real pressures coming through, particularly as the economy slows and the demand comes off?

RM: On that page 25, just for those who dont have it in front of them the areas we have called out that we are watching, and not that there are major problems going on in these areas, but keeping an eye on is: retail trade, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, construction (as you called out), and office CRE.

The issues here are as the economy slows down, its often these areas that are impacted most. Its also interesting here is that our growth in these areas since March 20 has actually been slower than in other sectors.

So we have had an eye to where are the areas that could have some difficulty, not saying theyre all having them, but could have difficulty as the economy slows down.

We are not seeing a lot of change. We see through what we call SBS, our special banking unit, that looks after customers who are having difficulty in a business sector, theres not a lot of increase going in. Theres a small amount of increase, but its nowhere near or even back up to the level of 2019. So, I think we have to be very careful that even though we are seeing increases, theyre not back anything near the level of 2019 at this point, but we are keeping an eye on it.

JOURNALIST: Just wondering what its going to take for this competition or the level of competition where banks are having to write loans below the cost of capital, and everyone needs to maintain share in the market. What will it take for that to sort of ease off? Is it a pickup in new loans or is the refi way thats keeping loan growth going, how will it all work? If that tapers off will, competition get worse or better?

RM: Theres certainly big competition in the refinance market, because new loans have slowed down. Its become a very strong refinance market as all banks try to hold onto existing customers and at the same time, compete for new.

Ive seen these cycles before, they tend to find their way through when you do need to find a reasonable return for the ultimate owners of the business.

At the moment theres a lot of competition out there. Cost of money is going up, competition has got stronger, and we want to do our share of looking after our existing customers and keep our business channels working. As I said, there is competition, its very strong, and we will play our part. Weve also got other areas growing very strongly in our bank that we want to concentrate on.

CLOSING REMARKS

Thanks very much for joining us on the call. A good, strong set of results. And across all four businesses (they were) good. Im optimistic about whats happening in the Australian economy as comparative to other parts of the world. And I do believe that over the next 12 to 24 months well see some smaller growth in this economy, but it will feel more difficult as inflation stays a little bit higher than we want and measures need to be taken to reduce this pressure on inflation.

But a good set of results, were pleased with. And a nice, clean set as well. Thanks for joining us on the call.

Original post:
NAB 2023 Half -Year Results media conference - NAB News

The Bird in Hand gold deposit area at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills has been proclaimed by the Governor at the request of the State Labor Government, protecting it from future mining applications.

The land protected under the proclamation is the same area that was subject to a previous development application by Terramin Australia, with the move effectively prohibiting any future applications over the known Bird in Hand gold deposit.

This is a mechanism that has been successfully used in the past to protect the Mintabie Town Lease Area and the Burra Monster Mine Historic Area - and continues to preserve those areas unique environmental and heritage qualities.

The newly proclaimed area is specifically targeted at the Bird in Hand mineral deposit, and no broader.

It follows Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantoniss decision in February to decline Terramins application to develop the Bird In Hand gold underground mine.

Terramins concept for its proposed Bird in Hand mine, and related applications for a Mining Lease and a Miscellaneous Purpose Licence, underwent comprehensive assessment by government, including an eight-week statutory public consultation.

The minister took into account a range of relevant considerations, including broader state interests such as potential socio-economic and amenity impacts and the effect on existing industries including tourism and the local community.

While the proposed mine would have had a short-term life, the potential impact on surrounding businesses including world-class wineries such as Petaluma and Bird In Hand and associated regional tourism could have longer-term implications.

The minister wrote to Terramin in March to advise the company of his intention to seek a proclamation by the Governor, under provisions of Section 8 of the Mining Act.

The effect of this reservation will be to prevent future applications for mineral tenements in this area.It will not restrict Terramin's ability to undertake any required rehabilitation activities associated with previous exploration in the area.

Terramin was invited to make a submission prior to a decision being made. No submission was made by the company before the advised date.

This was an important and necessary step to protect against future attempts to mine this deposit.

We want to ensure local tourism businesses - including world-class wineries as well as the local amenity of this area remain protected.

Tourism is a vital contributor to this regions local economy and the risk that a short-term mining development could pose to established and significant long-term agricultural and tourism industries is too great, and would be contrary to the states broader interests.

In circumstances where it is determined mining operations are not compatible with a particular area, it is important to shift the primary control over any future potential applications to the Government. This mechanism will ensure full control by Government over the ability for anyone to make future applications for mineral tenements over this small area.

The Adelaide Hills region enjoys a well-earned clean, green reputation, and this must be safeguarded.

That was the basis for my decision in February to decline Terramins application to develop this mine. By protecting the Bird In Hand mine area under proclamation, we will ensure that decision holds firm both now and into the future.

Link:
Preventing future mining applications at Bird in Hand - Premier of South Australia