A senior Treasury official has reportedly blamed Australia’s poor level of productivity on ineffective management practices.
According to The Australian Financial Review, David Gruen, head of Treasury’s macro-economic forecasting unit, said that poor management was dragging down productivity, with standards well below those of the US.
Administrators hoping for quick Darrell Lea sale
Administrators appointed to sell retailer Darrell Lea are hopeful of a quick sale, despite union concerns over the business’ 700 workers.
The chocolate-selling chain was placed into voluntary administration yesterday, with administrators PPB Advisory promising unions that they will give an update on jobs and entitlements on Friday.
Google set to pay record privacy fine
Google is set to pay a record $22.5 million fine, imposed by the US Federal Trade Commission, over a privacy complaint.
The search engine giant had reportedly bypassed a ‘do not track’ setting on Apple’s Safari web browser. Google has indicated that the move was an unintentional mistake.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 83.17 points, or 0.7%, to 12,653.12. The US dollar rose to US101.91 cents.