With a new government comes a host of sector viewpoints, all with hopes that things will change to improve industry for the better.
Take for example, the call to tighten anti-money laundering regulation.
According to Andrew Jackson, Australia Country Manager of technology company First AML, “Following their victory, it’s imperative that the Labor party return to their 2019 campaign promise of establishing wider anti-money laundering laws, extending regulation to professionals including real estate agents, solicitors and accountants.
“We’d like to see Labour back the bill submitted to parliament by Senator Nick McKim of The Greens. Implementing Tranche 2 will protect the wider Australian population from the impacts of money laundering, starting with ensuring the real estate industry stops being taken advantage of.
"This will ensure property is purchased through legitimate means and prevent billions of dirty dollars being washed through Australia’s property market, further driving up the prices and making it even more difficult for Australians to enter the market.
“With Labor, The Greens and Independents running on establishing an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), they have an opportunity to ensure The Greens bill for establishing wider Anti-Money Laundering regulations is passed later this year. Anti-corruption goes hand in hand with the ethical battle to combat money laundering.”
Then there are comments by Brisbane-based CEO and founder of Plotlogic Andrew Job, who says Labor will pave the way for decarbonisation in mining.
“We welcome the election of the Albanese Government. We are encouraged by Labor’s plans to create a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund and its $1 billion Critical Technologies Fund. We urge the new government to support Australian businesses operating in critical minerals and creating clean energy technologies.
"Australia needs to take its opportunity to become a world leader in these lucrative export industries creating thousands of highly skilled Australian jobs and billions in export revenues in the process. Decarbonising the mining industry should be a focus of this newly elected government.
“Plotlogic is committed to supporting its customers mine more selectively. This will see government benefit from greater mining royalties and society benefit from less waste and greenhouse gas emissions created from this critically important sector. Without mining critical metals such as lithium and cobalt, the clean energy transition will not be possible,” Job said.”
That’s just two examples. Today, Proactive has been bombarded with emails harbouring great hope in the new government.
Time will tell, just how Labor’s policies will play out.
All we know is we are now in the Albanese era. Climate policy will shift, so the miners looking to shift in a greener direction may well benefit from the change in government.
“Australians have voted for change,” Albanese said. “And my government intends to implement that change in an orderly way.”
What that means beyond his known policy ambition is anyone’s guess.
Today’s market
The ASX traded slightly higher.
The S&P/ASX200 closed up just 3.30 points Monday to 7,148.90. Over the last five days, the index has gained 0.79% but is down 3.97% for the last year to date.
Top-performing stocks in this index were Codan (ASX:CDA) Ltd up 14.52% and Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) up 12.50%.
The rise was also led by the major miners on the back of iron ore prices. Fortescue added 2.8% to $20.71, BHP rose 1.4% to $47.83 and Rio Tinto advanced 1.1% to $109.50.
According to Wealth Within founder and analyst Dale Gillham, this week will be just as volatile as recent past weeks.
“Last week was interesting with the market rising for the first three days only to see it fall away on Thursday eroding all of those gains. The continued volatility in our market is not unexpected and should continue for another couple of weeks. That said, this doesn’t necessarily mean our market will be bearish over that time.
“While I still believe most, if not all, of the fall has already occurred, this is unconfirmed and so I continue to urge everyone to be patient. If our market is to return to being bullish, price needs to hold above the recent low on May 12 at 7,157 points. If it can do that in the short term and then start to rise into the end of the month, it is likely we have seen the end of the current bearish move.
“However, if our market falls below the low of May 12 in the short term, it is still possible for the All Ordinaries Index to fall below 7,000 points and possibly to around 6,800 points. Again, until a direction is confirmed, it is wise to sit back and wait until the dust settles.”
On the small cap front
It was a solid day for some small caps, while the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries gained just 0.59%.
- Discovery Alaska Ltd finished 27.69% higher.
- Antipa Minerals Ltd finished 2.32% higher.
- Anson Resources Ltd finished 4.34% higher.
- Australian Potash Ltd finished 5.97% higher.
- Ironbark Zinc Ltd finished 12.12% higher.
- Way2Vat Ltd finished 5.00% higher.
- Blue Star Helium Ltd finished 3.33% higher.
- Calima Energy Ltd finished 11.11% higher.
- Kingwest Resources Ltd finished 6.25% higher.
- White Rock Minerals Ltd finished 12.50% higher.
- Creso Pharma Ltd finished 9.61% higher.
- Archer Materials Ltd finished 10.95% higher.