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Treasurer: 'Yes, Australia is in recession'
by John Rolfe and Jessica McSweeney
3rd Jun 2020 1:45 PM
The Treasurer has confirmed the economy is in recession now, and is facing an even worse downturn in the next quarter.
When asked if Australia is in recession, Mr Frydenberg said "the answer to that is yes, and that is on the basis of the advice that I have from the Treasury Department about where the June quarter is expected to be."
"The June quarter, the economic impact will be severe. Far more severe than what we have seen today," Mr Frydenberg said.
The Australian economy went backwards in the three months to the end of March - the first quarter of contraction in nine years.
In recession for the first time in 30 years, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. Picture: James Ross
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Official figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning showed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter as the coronavirus crisis began to take hold.
That is the first negative result since March 2011.
On average, economists had been expecting a result of -0.4 per cent.
For the 12 months to the end of March, GDP growth was 1.4 per cent, the ABS said.
"This was the slowest through-the-year growth since September 2009 when Australia was in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis and captures just the beginning of the expected economic effects of COVID-19," ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman said today.
Sydney's CBD has gone quiet during the virus crisis.
Despite the news, Mr Frydenberg hailed the Australian economy's "remarkable resilience" despite the fact that the economy has had the first contracted quarter in nine years.
Mr Frydenberg said that in context of the economic downturn of the previous months, including from travel restrictions and business closures, it is a good sign that the GDP only fell by 0.3 per cent.
"When combined with the ongoing drought, which saw farm GDP fall by 2.4 per cent in the quarter, and the devastating impact of the fires that were raging across many states, one looks back on the March quarter, and there wasn't much good news," Mr Frydenberg said.
"Seen in this context, the fact that the Australian economy only contracted by 0.3 per cent shows the Australian economy's remarkable resilience," he said.
The Treasurer framed the 0.3 per cent contraction as being much smaller than other countries, thanks to the "economic strength" of the pre-coronavirus Morrison government.
"Indeed, Australia's performance in the March quarter compares very well to that seen in other nations, with negative growth of 9.8 per cent in China, 5.3 per cent in France, 2.2 per cent in Germany, 2 per cent in the United Kingdom, and 1.3 per cent in the United States."
On Tuesday, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said the depth of the current decline might be less than first thought.
"The Australian economy is going through a very difficult period and is experiencing the biggest economic contraction since the 1930s," Dr Lowe said.
RBA Governor Philip Lowe. Picture: AAP's Joel Carrett
"Notwithstanding these developments, it is possible that the depth of the downturn will be less than earlier expected.
"The rate of new infections has declined significantly and some restrictions have been eased earlier than was previously thought likely," Dr Lowe said in a statement explaining the RBA's decision to leave its cash rate unchanged at a record low of 0.25 per cent.
"And there are signs that hours worked stabilised in early May, after the earlier very sharp decline. There has also been a pick-up in some forms of consumer spending."
Originally published as Treasurer: 'Yes, Australia is in recession'
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On a creativity roll the past few weeks and the ride feels great. So often we hear crime and disorder have deep roots and digging them out strains our patience and resources.
The last few posts - guerilla classrooms, soundscapes, bubble wrap - provide elegantly simple solutions how to activate a street to make it safer. In science the elegant and simple theory is called parsimonious. In neighborhood safety it seems to go hand in hand with creativity.
The video below shows JR, a French street artist who created a new kind of street art. He not only activates the street; he travels to distant, sometimes dangerous, countries to tell the story of the unseen.
This is social action at its most elegant, simple, and creative. Parsimony par excellence.


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The New Forest is a beautiful place that can be protected for years to come with the help of visitors.
Visiting the New Forest
Enjoying the ForestThe Enjoying the New Forest Survey has finished...
There are lots of ways to find out information if you're visiting...
Avoid disturbing rare birds
Please help ground nesting birds If you're out and about in the...
New Forest Tour
Enjoy grandstand views of the National Park from the open top New...
Many places in the New Forest are accessible to less mobile visitors....
More On visitor information
Links to accommodation on the official tourism website.
HotelsHotel stays are very popular...
From family homes to lovely old farmhouses or cosy thatched cottages, there...
From holiday cottages ideal for walking and cycling, to houses located close...
Campsites and holiday parks
Do you love camping? There is a wide range of campsites in...
More On where to stay
The best way to explore the National Park...
The New Forest is a beautiful place, full...
Enjoy a car-free visit by planning your travel to the New Forest in advance and thinking about how you will get around when you are here. You could arrive by train or ferry, hop on one of the three open-top New Forest Tours, which are available from June until September. If you do drive then please do so carefully and be aware of the free-roaming animals that cross the unfenced roads.
More On Travel
The New Forest National Park is blessed with a huge range of local people and businesses that produce high quality local produce. Get the authentic New Forest experience by buying locally wherever you can when you visit and looking out for the New Forest Marque on products. The New Forest National Park Authority is proud to support the New Forest Marque which helps promote businesses involved in the production, processing and distribution of local produce – businesses for whom the New Forest is at the heart of their product. By shopping locally and buying New Forest Marque goods from our small-scale producers who are closely linked with the landscape you can help nature and also reduce your carbon footprint. Your support helps ensure the New Forest National Park remains a special place into the future. Our collective actions are influencing the future of the New Forest, including its nature, wildlife, infrastructure, communities and working Forest. Since the New Forest National Park was established in 2005, it's been recognised that the climate crisis is the most significant long-term threat to this extraordinary landscape. By acting together now and buying local produce, we can make a positive difference to the local area and to the planet.
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New Forest Marque food and drink producers range...
Nestled among the ancient woodlands and smallholdings of...
The New Forest National Park Authority recognises the...
New Forest code
The New Forest is a unique place with...
We want visitors to the New Forest National Park to enjoy and benefit from its beautiful landscapes and wildlife, and they bring a much-valued contribution to the local economy. It's great when people understand the Forest well enough to ensure they don't inadvertently cause problems for local people and their animals or perhaps disturb rare nesting birds. Follow the links to learn how you can help care for the Forest next time you visit.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


LAS VEGAS (AP) – Lots of the hottest new devices are additionally the nosiest ones.
This week's CES tech present in Las Vegas was a showcase for cameras that livestream the lounge, toilet mirrors that provide magnificence suggestions and gizmos that observe the heartbeats of unborn kids. All will accumulate some sort of information about their customers, whether or not pictures or monitor readings; how properly they will shield it and what precisely they plan do with it are the necessary and sometimes unanswered questions.
These options could be helpful — or a minimum of enjoyable — however all of them open the door for firms and their staff to peek into your personal life. Simply this week, The Intercept reported that Ring, a security-camera firm owned by Amazon, gave quite a lot of staff and executives entry to recorded and generally stay video footage from prospects' properties.
Our data-driven age now forces you to weigh the usefulness of a wise mirror in opposition to the chance that strangers may be watching you in your toilet. Even when an organization has your privateness in thoughts, issues can go incorrect: Hackers can break in and entry delicate information, or your ex may maintain onto a video feed lengthy after you have damaged up.
"It isn't like all these applied sciences are inherently dangerous," says Franziska Roesner, a College of Washington pc safety and privateness researcher.
However she stated the business continues to be attempting to determine the correct steadiness between offering helpful providers and defending folks's privateness within the course of.
Like different safety units, Ring cameras could be mounted exterior the entrance door or inside the house; a cellphone app helps you to see who's there. However the Intercept stated the Amazon-owned firm was additionally permitting some high-level engineers within the U.S. to view prospects' video feeds, whereas others within the Ukraine workplace may view and obtain any buyer video file.
In an announcement, Ring stated some Amazon staff have entry to movies which can be publicly shared by means of the corporate's Neighbors app, which goals to create a community of safety cameras in an space. Ring additionally says staff get extra video from customers who consent to such sharing.
At CES, Ring introduced an internet-connected video doorbell that matches into the peepholes in condo or dorm-room doorways. Although it does not seem Ring makes use of facial recognition but, data present that Amazon just lately filed a patent utility for a facial-recognition system involving residence safety cameras.
Alarm's Wellcam is for caretakers to observe from afar and is generally designed to examine in on getting old family members. Somebody who lives elsewhere can use a smartphone to "peek in" anytime, says Steve Chazin, vice chairman of merchandise.
The notion of putting a digicam in another person's lounge may really feel unsettling.
Simply ensure you belief whom you are giving entry to. You possibly can't flip off the digicam except you unplug it.
French firm CareOS showcased a wise mirror that allows you to "attempt on" completely different hairstyles. Facial recognition helps the mirror's digicam know which individual in a family is there, whereas augmented-reality expertise overlays your precise picture with animation on the way you may look.
CareOS expects accommodations and salons to purchase the $20,000 Artemis mirror – making it extra necessary that private information is protected.
"We all know we do not need the entire world to find out about what is going on on within the toilet," co-founder Chloe Szulzinger stated.
The mirror does not want an web connection to work, she stated. The corporate says it's going to abide by Europe's stronger privateness guidelines, which took impact in Might, no matter the place a buyer lives. Prospects can select to share their data with CareOS, however solely after they've explicitly agreed to how it will likely be used.
The identical applies for the companies that purchase and set up the mirror. Prospects can select to share some data — equivalent to pictures of the hair lower they bought final time they visited a salon — however the companies cannot entry something saved in person profiles except customers particularly permit them to.
Yo Sperm sells an iPhone attachment that assessments and tracks sperm high quality. To guard privateness, the corporate recommends that customers flip their telephones to airplane mode when utilizing the check. The corporate says information stays on the cellphone, throughout the app, although there is a button for sharing particulars with a physician.
Owlet, in the meantime, plans to promote a wearable system that sits over a lady's pregnant stomach and tracks fetal heartbeats. The corporate's privateness coverage says private information will get collected. And customers can select to share heartbeat data with researchers learning stillbirths.
Although such information could be helpful, Forrester analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo warns that these units aren't regulated or ruled by U.S. privateness legislation. She warns that firms may probably promote information to insurance coverage firms who may discover, for example, that somebody was ingesting caffeine throughout a being pregnant — probably elevating well being dangers and coverage premiums.


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AGI appeals to financial institutions to support SMEs
by Charles Wundengba October 24, 2016 0
Mr James Asare-Adjei, National President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has appealed to financial institutions to ensure that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to access credit without impediments.
He said financial institutions should create products that would meet the needs of SMEs to be more competitive in all the regions of the country.
Mr Asare-Adjei made the appeal during Northern Regional meeting of the AGI held in Tamale.
The meeting, attended by AGI members from Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions, was to provide the necessary specialized technical and consultancy services to members.
He also urged non-governmental organisations to work with AGI to advance its industrial and development agenda and help to reduce poverty in the country.
Mr Osman Sahanoon Kulandi, the Northern Regional Chairman of AGI, said there is the need to improve the fortunes of local industries through policy advocacy to advance the growth and development of industries, facilitate international trade through exhibitions and fairs.
He said AGI has made significant efforts to ensure a friendly economic environment for local businesses to thrive and also to promote made in Ghana goods.
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