Good morning all, and TGIF.
1. A new University of Queensland facility could develop mRNA vaccines "within months", potentially bolstering Australia's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. mRNA technology is the basis of the highly successful Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which has been rolled out worldwide. Researchers hope the facility, instituted with a matched $2.2 million Federal Government investment, could also contribute to mRNA therapies designed to fight cancer.
2. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) could soon rule on Australia's long-running trade dispute with China. Months on from China's introduction of substantial tariffs on a range of Australian exports, Australia is formally requesting a review. These sky-high tariffs have decimated Australian wine exports, which have fallen by 97%, and now threaten more than half a dozen other export markets.
3. Atlassian has announced its global staff of 5,700 will be allowed to work from anywhere in the world, in a new policy announced in advance of its annual summit. Workers will be expected to come into the office just four times a year, though most have said they still plan to attend in-person 50% of the time. "Talent still exists anywhere, it just doesn't happen to need to exist within 50 kilometres of an existing office," Atlassian co-founder and co-chief executive Scott Farquhar said.
4. Woolworths will axe its plans to build Darwin's largest Dan Murphy's store within walking distance of the city's biggest Aboriginal community in Bagot. An independent panel issued a series of recommendations this week to the retailer's board, saying the company had not sufficiently consulted with Indigenous people before moving ahead with the plan. "As to whether there's a future store for Dan Murphy's in Darwin, that will be up to the Endeavour Group," said Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci.
5. After this month's Afterpay sniping from the Commonwealth Bank, the buy now pay later company has returned fire. In the AFR, co-CEO Anthony Eisen claims Afterpay's customers are higher quality, with lower levels of debt and better credit scores than the general population. "Our customer outcomes are different to what he is saying," Eisen said. "An Afterpay customer is using traditional credit less. Customers are coming to Afterpay because they don't want credit in the traditional form."
6. Uber has announced it will halve the service rate for electric vehicle drivers in Australia to help promote uptake. A spokesperson confirmed that the new policy applies only to 100% EVs and not to hybrids. Victoria recently proposed a tax that would make electric vehicle drivers pay by the kilometre, a move that's been widely criticised by industry groups as another barrier to increasing EV use in the country.
7. Amazon reported revenue of $108.52 billion for the first quarter of 2021, beating expectations. Sales were up 44% year on year, and AWS gained 32% over the same quarter last year. "In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54 billion annual sales run rate business competing against the world's largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
8. It's US-centric, but an interesting read from our friends at Insider asking numerous CEOs how they are handling the return to the office. Obviously most white-collar businesses in Australia are dealing with the same questions: namely, how much remote working they are going to tolerate or allow.
9. Side effects from the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are less common in the real world than in trials. Research shows that one in four people who got either of those vaccines reported mild side effects. Other vaccines, too, might have lower rates of side effects than clinical trials indicated.
10. US labour secretary Marty Walsh said "in a lot of cases gig workers should be classified as employees" in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Grubhub, along with other firms depending on the "gig economy" labour all fell after the news broke. Walsh said gig workers should have "all of the things that an average employee in America can access," per Reuters.
BONUS ITEM
Here's a chuckle for ya.