Inflation tumbles, online gambling ads ban proposed, Aussie unis soar up rankings

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Michael Thompson: A surprise fall in inflation raises hopes of a pause

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Michael Thompson: in rate hikes, a former senior federal Liberal MP alleged

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Michael Thompson: to have been part of a plan to funnel money

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Michael Thompson: to him in return for government contracts, and a parliamentary

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Michael Thompson: inquiry recommends banning online gambling advertisements. It’s Thursday, the 29th

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Michael Thompson: of June 2023. Welcome to Fear & Greed, Australia’s most popular

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Michael Thompson: business podcast. I’m Michael Thompson. And good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Sean Aylmer: Good morning, Michael.

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Michael Thompson: Sean, you’ve got a great interview coming up today after

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Michael Thompson: the show. Not one but two guests today: Peter Gray

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Michael Thompson: and Larry Diamond, the co- founders of Zip Co.

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Sean Aylmer: One of the things that I really noticed from this

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Sean Aylmer: interview with Peter and Larry, they’ve been together 10 years.

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Sean Aylmer: In fact, last week, Zip Co had its 10th birthday,

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Sean Aylmer: and they just like each other. They get on really

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Sean Aylmer: well. Which, I think if you’re in business with someone

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Sean Aylmer: for 10 years, how can you get on so well

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Sean Aylmer: so particularly when they’ve been through the wringer and back?

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Sean Aylmer: Zip Co and the buy- now- pay- later industry have

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Sean Aylmer: had an amazing ride and an amazing fall. We talked

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Sean Aylmer: to them about that. We talked to them about regulation

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Sean Aylmer: that’s coming to the sector, and prospects for the company

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Sean Aylmer: itself. It’s a great chat with the two of them.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah. Look, I reckon if you listen to one interview

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Michael Thompson: this week, take your pick. Take your pick, really.

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Sean Aylmer: Yeah. Absolutely. Every one a gem.

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Michael Thompson: That’s right. In fact, this one’s a diamond, a Larry Diamond.

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Sean Aylmer: Like it. Nice.

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Michael Thompson: Thank you. The main story this morning, Sean. Inflation fell

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Michael Thompson: last month, thanks to falling fuel and holiday travel prices,

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Michael Thompson: but probably not enough to prevent the Reserve Bank from

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Michael Thompson: lifting interest rates again.

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Sean Aylmer: The pace of inflation fell from 6. 8% in April to 5.

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Sean Aylmer: 6% in May, according to the Bureau of Statistics. It

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Sean Aylmer: was well below market economists’ expectations and sent the Aussie

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Sean Aylmer: dollar lower and the share market higher. If you exclude

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Sean Aylmer: volatile items, though, such as petrol prices and holiday travel,

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Sean Aylmer: annual inflation fell only modestly, to 6.4% from 6.5% the

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Sean Aylmer: previous month. That remains uncomfortably high. That seems to be

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Sean Aylmer: the euphemism being used at the moment, according to the

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Sean Aylmer: experts.
Now, this is a new series of data from

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Sean Aylmer: the Bureau of Statistics, and while the Reserve Bank relies

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Sean Aylmer: mostly on the quarterly figures, Central Bank has said it’s

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Sean Aylmer: watching this monthly series closely. Treasurer Jim Chalmers yesterday said

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Sean Aylmer: the data showed that inflation was moderating, but not as

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Sean Aylmer: fast as he would like.
He was speaking after news

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Sean Aylmer: broke that the budget surplus this financial year will actually

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Sean Aylmer: be bigger than the $ 4. 2 billion forecast in last

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Sean Aylmer: month’s budget. That’s thanks to the very, very strong labor

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Sean Aylmer: market and high corporate taxes.

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Michael Thompson: Sean, it sounds like good news, at least in terms

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Michael Thompson: of interest rates. What prices are going up, and what’s

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Michael Thompson: going down?

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Sean Aylmer: Well, rents have been a major driver of inflation over

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Sean Aylmer: the past year or so. Social energy prices, thanks to

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Sean Aylmer: the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, electricity prices

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Sean Aylmer: are up a massive 14. 1% over the past 12

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Sean Aylmer: months. And of course, they’re heading higher.
On the flip

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Sean Aylmer: side, interest rate hikes are impacting household spending, and as

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Sean Aylmer: a result, prices in some other areas, such as clothing

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Sean Aylmer: and footwear, have actually fallen. In some sectors, like construction,

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Sean Aylmer: prices are still rising, but nowhere near the pace of

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Sean Aylmer: 12 months ago. There are a lot of moving parts

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Sean Aylmer: in the economy and in that inflation number.

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Michael Thompson: We’ve talked, Sean, about excluding volatile items and the reason

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Michael Thompson: why that is done, in order to give a more

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Michael Thompson: accurate trend underlying. You mentioned that the petrol prices and

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Michael Thompson: holiday travel are considered volatile items, and I ask you

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Michael Thompson: this every time. I get petrol prices because they do

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Michael Thompson: fluctuate so much, but why would holiday travel be counted

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Michael Thompson: as something that is volatile and should be excluded in

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Michael Thompson: order to give a more accurate reading?

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Sean Aylmer: It’s very seasonal, that’s one thing. Because you have school

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Sean Aylmer: holidays and things like that. The timing of the school

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Sean Aylmer: holidays change during the year, so that’s a reason. But

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Sean Aylmer: just any of those items that tend to jump around year- to-

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Sean Aylmer: year, they’re much harder to seasonally adjust, so they like

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Sean Aylmer: to exclude those.

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Michael Thompson: Okay. All right. Piece by piece, it feels like every

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Michael Thompson: month, I’m now putting together a more comprehensive list of

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Michael Thompson: what would be classed as a volatile item. Maybe I’ll

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Michael Thompson: just ask you for that off- air. ” Sean, can you

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Michael Thompson: just list all the volatile items, and then I’ll stop

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Michael Thompson: asking you on air every day?” Sean, the big question

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Michael Thompson: is, of course, are we going to get more rate

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Michael Thompson: rises now from the Reserve Bank?

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Sean Aylmer: Well, yesterday’s data certainly gives the Reserve Bank a reason

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Sean Aylmer: to pause, but the monthly data jumps around a fair

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Sean Aylmer: bit. And undoubtedly, the Central Bank is still very worried

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Sean Aylmer: about wages and wage pressures pushing up prices. Inflation peaked

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Sean Aylmer: last December. We can confidently say that. We can also

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Sean Aylmer: confidently say it’s on the way down. In fact, if

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Sean Aylmer: you average the last three monthly figures, inflation’s running about

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Sean Aylmer: 6.2%. Much better, but still too high.
The consensus among

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Sean Aylmer: market economists is that there is still a rate hike

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Sean Aylmer: or two in the offing. Bond markets have priced in about a 50/

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Sean Aylmer: 50 chance of a rate rise in the next five

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Sean Aylmer: weeks. There are two Reserve Bank board meetings over the

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Sean Aylmer: next five weeks, so there’s a 50% chance that at

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Sean Aylmer: least one of those will end up with higher rates.

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Sean Aylmer: The short answer is probably yes, we are going to

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Sean Aylmer: get more rate rises.

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Michael Thompson: Oh, thank you. How do the local markets respond?

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Sean Aylmer: S& P/ ASX 200 closed up more than 1%, to just under 7,

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Sean Aylmer: 200 points. It followed that inflation data, and also a

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Sean Aylmer: strong lead- in from Wall Street. Interest rate- sensitive stocks,

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Sean Aylmer: consumer discretionary, real estate, and financials did best. Among the

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Sean Aylmer: large caps, National Australia Bank and Westpac, both rose nearly

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Sean Aylmer: 2%, while Commonwealth Bank and INZ were up more than

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Sean Aylmer: 1%. REA Group jumped 3%. Goodman Group was up more

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Sean Aylmer: than 2%. In fact, the only top 30 stock to

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Sean Aylmer: go backwards yesterday was CSL. The best among the consumer

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Sean Aylmer: discretionary stocks with Lovisa, Super Retail, Eagers Automotive, and Domino’s.

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Sean Aylmer: As I mentioned, it was another good day for real

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Sean Aylmer: estate stocks. 10 in a row, Michael. Pretty good for that

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Sean Aylmer: sector. Real estate stocks carry plenty of debt, so they

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Sean Aylmer: tend to underperform when rates are rising. So the milder

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Sean Aylmer: inflation and hopes that rates won’t have to rise as

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Sean Aylmer: much is good news for property companies. Mirvac, Lendlease, Stockland, and Charter

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Sean Aylmer: Hall all did well yesterday. Best on the day was

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Sean Aylmer: the Star Entertainment Group, up 12%.
Now, it’s had a

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Sean Aylmer: horror run on the back of multiple state inquiries and

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Sean Aylmer: fines, and its share price is about one quarter where

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Sean Aylmer: it was in September 2021, but yesterday was a good

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Sean Aylmer: one for the gambling group. The worst performer was Bega

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Sean Aylmer: Cheese, which, on Tuesday, said it had sold its Vegemite

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Sean Aylmer: factory. That’s the property, not the asset. And other property

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Sean Aylmer: sales are on the cards after it flagged a large

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Sean Aylmer: impairment. Yesterday, it closed down more than 8%.

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Michael Thompson: All right. What about international markets?

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Sean Aylmer: Oil prices rose after a fall in stockpiles in the

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Sean Aylmer: US. Other commodities were mixed, though gold continues its recent

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Sean Aylmer: slide. Bitcoin is holding onto gains. It’s trading around those one-

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Sean Aylmer: year high levels. Now, over the past 48 hours, asset

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Sean Aylmer: manager Fidelity is reportedly prepared to file for a spot exchange-

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Sean Aylmer: traded fund, an ETF based on Bitcoin. That’s yet another

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Sean Aylmer: asset manager doing it. That is certainly pushing some confidence

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Sean Aylmer: into that market. The Aussie dollar, we mentioned at the

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Sean Aylmer: top of the show, it fell back on the inflation

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Sean Aylmer: news. It’s trading under 66 and a half US cents.

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Michael Thompson: All right. There’s a bit happening today, Sean. We’ll be

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Michael Thompson: back in a moment with the rest of the day’s

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Michael Thompson: business news.
Sean, Government Services Minister Bill Shorten is seeking

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Michael Thompson: advice about how to respond to allegations. A consultancy sought

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Michael Thompson: to funnel money to former Liberal MP Stuart Robert in

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Michael Thompson: exchange for government services contracts.

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Sean Aylmer: A pretty amazing story, this one. Sean said he had

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Sean Aylmer: immediately asked for advice from his agency about how to

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Sean Aylmer: investigate claims contained in a sworn statement tendered by a

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Sean Aylmer: whistleblower to a parliamentary committee that’s looking into Stuart Robert’s

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Sean Aylmer: links with consultancy Synergy 360. According to the Financial Review,

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Sean Aylmer: the statement alleges that a consulting company run by friends

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Sean Aylmer: of Robert established a firm to funnel money to the

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Sean Aylmer: MP, in return for him using his position as a

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Sean Aylmer: minister in the Morrison government to help the consultancy and

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Sean Aylmer: its clients win government service contracts. Quite remarkable allegations.
Now,

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Sean Aylmer: Robert vehemently denies the allegations. He pointed out that they

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Sean Aylmer: were made under privilege, not in public, and he said

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Sean Aylmer: it’s an abuse of that privilege. He also said there

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Sean Aylmer: is zero evidence to support the allegations. Asked about whether

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Sean Aylmer: the issue should be a matter of the National Anti-

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Sean Aylmer: Corruption Commission, which is set up for this type of

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Sean Aylmer: thing, Shorten said it was up to the independent commission

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Sean Aylmer: to decide, but certainly, we’re going to hear a lot

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Sean Aylmer: more about this one in the next few days.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah, it’s a big story, that one. Now, I mentioned this next

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Michael Thompson: one at the top of the show, Sean. A parliamentary

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Michael Thompson: inquiry has recommended banning all advertisements for online gambling within

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Michael Thompson: three years.

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Sean Aylmer: The final report of the inquiry into online gambling harm

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Sean Aylmer: in Australia put forward 31 recommendations and called for a

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Sean Aylmer: crackdown on an industry that was, in its words, ” manipulating

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Sean Aylmer: an impressionable and vulnerable audience”. One of the recommendations is

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Sean Aylmer: to phase out online gambling ads over three years. The

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Sean Aylmer: first stage of that plan would feature a ban on

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Sean Aylmer: online gambling ads during school pickup and drop- off periods,

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Sean Aylmer: as well as removal of exemptions for the ads during

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Sean Aylmer: news and current affairs broadcast, and then the ban would

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Sean Aylmer: progressively become more stringent. Ads on racing channels will be

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Sean Aylmer: exempt under the proposal.
Other recommendations put forward in the

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Sean Aylmer: report included a national strategy for online gambling harm reduction,

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Sean Aylmer: a public education campaign, a requirement for gamblers to have

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Sean Aylmer: their identities verified before wagering, and a harm- reduction levy.

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Sean Aylmer: Now, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke about it yesterday. He

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Sean Aylmer: described gambling ads as reprehensible, and he said a range

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Sean Aylmer: of measures are needed.

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Michael Thompson: Sean, the latest QS World University Rankings have named the

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Michael Thompson: Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, and New South Wales in the

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Michael Thompson: global top 20, while ANU, Australian National University, has fallen

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Michael Thompson: down the list.

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Sean Aylmer: I get a bit confused with the university rankings, so

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Sean Aylmer: I had to do a little bit of work yesterday.

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Sean Aylmer: There’s three main university rankings.

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Michael Thompson: That’s confusing.

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Sean Aylmer: Yes. The QS World University Rankings, which were out over the

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Sean Aylmer: past 36 hours or so, the Times Higher Education Rankings,

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Sean Aylmer: and the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Now, Australian universities

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Sean Aylmer: do differently in different rankings, obviously. Across all three, the

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Sean Aylmer: University of Melbourne really comes in best across all three.

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Sean Aylmer: The QS Rankings changed methodology this year and the ranking

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Sean Aylmer: now has a bias towards large, comprehensive unis with big

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Sean Aylmer: enrollments of international students.
As a result, ANU fell down

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Sean Aylmer: the rankings, from 30 to 34, while Melbourne Uni went from 33

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Sean Aylmer: to 14, Sydney Uni went from 41 to 19, and the

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Sean Aylmer: University of New South Wales went from 45 to 19

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Sean Aylmer: as well. It means three Australian universities are now in the

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Sean Aylmer: top 20. That’s pretty remarkable. Nine in the top 100.

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Sean Aylmer: Michael, just out of interest, the top five in the

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Sean Aylmer: World Rankings are MIT, Cambridge … Sorry, MIT is in Massachusetts,

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Sean Aylmer: in Boston, outside of Boston, Cambridge in the UK, Oxford

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Sean Aylmer: in the UK, Harvard and Stanford.

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Michael Thompson: That’s quite an interesting ranking, and those changes are interesting.

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Michael Thompson: Does that mean if I’ve taken accurate notes as you’ve

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Michael Thompson: been talking, that ANU effectively went from being the best

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Michael Thompson: Australian university to the fourth best in one go?

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Sean Aylmer: Yes, but they did point out, it’s not necessarily … Because

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Sean Aylmer: they’ve basically changed the way they’re ranking them. ANU has

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Sean Aylmer: nowhere near the number of international students that the University

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Sean Aylmer: of New South Wales has, for example. Nowhere near as

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Sean Aylmer: big, so that’s why it fell down the rankings. But

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Sean Aylmer: look, it’s not a good look for ANU.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah. Suddenly, ANU prefers the Times Higher Education Ranking or

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Michael Thompson: the Academic Ranking of the World Universities. That’s the benefit of

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Michael Thompson: having three different ranking systems. You can just pick your favorite.

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Sean Aylmer: Totally. Yeah. Absolutely.

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Michael Thompson: Sean, Harvey Norman yesterday, share price jumped 5%, even though

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Michael Thompson: the retailer warned it is on track for a sharp

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Michael Thompson: fall in earnings amid high living costs and a drop

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Michael Thompson: in consumer spending.

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Sean Aylmer: Analysts reckon earnings for the current six months will be

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Sean Aylmer: down between 40 and 45% compared to a market expectation of about

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Sean Aylmer: 30%. Harvey Norman did well during COVID, with revenues from

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Sean Aylmer: products like office supplies and furnishings doing pretty well, but

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Sean Aylmer: interest rates have hit household budgets. Harvey Norman is the

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Sean Aylmer: latest in a string of retailers, think Best & Less, Universal

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Sean Aylmer: Store, Adairs, Premier Investments, Wesfarmers, et cetera, et cetera, to

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Sean Aylmer: warn about this slowdown. The question though is, why the

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Sean Aylmer: jump in the share price?
I was going to just

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Sean Aylmer: ignore this and pretend, but to be honest, I don’t

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Sean Aylmer: really know the answer. You have this massive downgrade and

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Sean Aylmer: then get a 5% share price jump. The inflation news

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Sean Aylmer: yesterday helped retail stocks, but that’s only going to be

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Sean Aylmer: part of the reason. Maybe the Harvey Norman news wasn’t

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Sean Aylmer: as bad as some analysts expected. Not really sure. It’s

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Sean Aylmer: just interesting that you can get such a massive downgrade

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Sean Aylmer: and then end up with just about the best performing

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Sean Aylmer: stock on the share market.

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Michael Thompson: Curious.

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Sean Aylmer: Curious. I am curious. If anyone knows the answer, please

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Sean Aylmer: let me know.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah, indeed. Now, Sean, the number of households on hardship

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Michael Thompson: payment plans to repay electricity bills jumped by 19% during

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Michael Thompson: the first quarter of 2023. This is according to the

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Michael Thompson: Australian Energy Regulator. That’s pretty confronting.

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Sean Aylmer: Yes. It underscores the impact of the recent surge in

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Sean Aylmer: electricity prices, and the figure could yet grow further as

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Sean Aylmer: Australians will, from July 1st, begin paying even higher bills.

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Sean Aylmer: The Australian Energy Regulator said between January 1st and March

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Sean Aylmer: 31st, 1.3% of all Australian households were on payment plans to

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Sean Aylmer: repay electricity bills, according to a story in The Australian.

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Sean Aylmer: Customers repaying gas bills via payment plans also rose. Queensland

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Sean Aylmer: had the largest quarter increase, with 15% more households on

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Sean Aylmer: payment plans. South Australia has the biggest number of customers

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Sean Aylmer: on hardship plans, with about 2% of all customers on structured

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Sean Aylmer: payments after being unable to pay their bills when due.

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Michael Thompson: Sean, last story before we get to international news. A

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Michael Thompson: bit of good news for any parent who’s ever been

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Michael Thompson: hassled at the checkouts to buy something. Woolworths is set

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Michael Thompson: to remove children’s lollies and confectionary from checkouts and instead,

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Michael Thompson: use the space for healthier food choices.

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Sean Aylmer: Yeah. Bad news for we adults though, that like to

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Sean Aylmer: buy the Mars bar on the way through.

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Michael Thompson: Well, I’ll tell you what, I’m actually just thinking about

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Michael Thompson: this now and putting together a list on the fly

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Michael Thompson: of the top three checkout chocolates. Number one is the

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Michael Thompson: Milky Way, number two is the Caramello Koala, and number three,

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Michael Thompson: the Curly Wurly. What’s going to happen to the poor

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Michael Thompson: Curly Wurly now?

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Sean Aylmer: Are these real, or this just your top three?

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Michael Thompson: This is according to … It’s an extensive survey of one.

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Sean Aylmer: Michael Thompson’s favorite. What is that? Milky Way wouldn’t make

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Sean Aylmer: my top. Caramello Koala, absolutely. Curly Wurly? Wow.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah. Milky Way is the classic supermarket chocolate because it’s

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Michael Thompson: the one that you can give to the kids as

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Michael Thompson: you’re doing the shopping, or you can eat it yourself

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Michael Thompson: as you’re doing the shopping.

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Sean Aylmer: Do you pay for it?

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Michael Thompson: Yes, of course you do. You take the empty wrapper

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Michael Thompson: and you scan that. I reckon when I was working

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Michael Thompson: at Bi- Lo, on the checkouts, this is quite some

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Michael Thompson: time ago, I reckon I scanned more empty wrappers for

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Michael Thompson: Milky Ways than any other empty wrappers.

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Sean Aylmer: Ah.

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Michael Thompson: But yeah, so the Milky Way. And also, they’re typically

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Michael Thompson: about 50 cents, so they’re an affordable option in the

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Michael Thompson: cost of living crisis. Milky Way, number one, Caramello Koala,

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Michael Thompson: number two, Curly Wurly, number three. It is the quintessential

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Michael Thompson: checkout chocolate. Now that they’re not going to be stocked

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Michael Thompson: at the checkout, I fear for the future of the

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Michael Thompson: Curly Wurly.

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Sean Aylmer: You might be right. Do you know what Woolies calls

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Sean Aylmer: these? Woolies calls them sometimes food.

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Michael Thompson: Sometimes, you can get out of the shop without buying

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Michael Thompson: the kids one. Yeah.

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Sean Aylmer: Apparently, the aisle ends will still feature these sometimes food.

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Sean Aylmer: It treats things like chips when they’re on special. They’ll

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Sean Aylmer: still be on those aisle ends, but they are trying

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Sean Aylmer: to include much greater snacking options and they’re using the

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Sean Aylmer: Health Star Rating. Anything above three- and- a- half stars

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Sean Aylmer: is considered healthier, at least in Woolies’ view, and so

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Sean Aylmer: they’re going to put those next to these sometimes foods

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Sean Aylmer: apparently. The supermarket’s managing director, Natalie Davis, said the shift

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Sean Aylmer: should make a positive change to shopping habits. I wonder

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Sean Aylmer: if that’s the case. Maybe.

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Michael Thompson: I’m still stuck on the Curly Wurlies.

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Sean Aylmer: Yeah. Yeah. By the way, she also mentioned yesterday that

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Sean Aylmer: vegetable prices are lower after months of price inflation. That’s

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Sean Aylmer: some good news for we healthy people. Pescatarians out there.

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Michael Thompson: International news now. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has

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Michael Thompson: received a warm reception from Chinese President Xi Jinping in

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Michael Thompson: the pair’s first bilateral meeting.

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Sean Aylmer: The leaders met in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People

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Sean Aylmer: late on Tuesday night, with Xi labeling New Zealand a

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Sean Aylmer: friend and partner. He said bilateral ties have continued to

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Sean Aylmer: grow in a sound and steady manner and amid the

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Sean Aylmer: changing international landscape, the relationship between the two countries has

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Sean Aylmer: remained robust and strong, bringing tangible assets to both economies.

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Sean Aylmer: Now, the meeting is the centerpiece of Hipkins’ five- day

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Sean Aylmer: trade mission to China this week. Hipkins said he felt

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Sean Aylmer: comfortable with Xi. He said he was easy to speak

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Sean Aylmer: to, and he repeatedly labeled the meeting warm and constructive.

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Sean Aylmer: Hipkins said that at no point was the meeting adversarial. There you go.

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Michael Thompson: That’s good news. Now, UBS is planning to cut more

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Michael Thompson: than half of Credit Suisse’s 45, 000 strong workforce starting next

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Michael Thompson: month, as a result of the bank’s emergency takeover.

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Sean Aylmer: Bankers, traders, support staff, and Credit Suisse’s Investment Bank in

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Sean Aylmer: London, New York, and some parts of this region in

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Sean Aylmer: Asia are expected to bear the brunt of most of

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Sean Aylmer: the cuts. According to Bloomberg, staffers have been told to

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Sean Aylmer: expect three rounds of cuts this year, the first by

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Sean Aylmer: the end of next month. Then, two more rounds tentatively

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Sean Aylmer: planned for September and October. UBS, whose combined workforce jumped

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Sean Aylmer: to about 120,000 when the deal closed, has said it

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Sean Aylmer: aims to save about 6 billion US dollars in staff

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Sean Aylmer: costs in the coming years.

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Michael Thompson: All right. Last one, Sean. The Rugby World Cup starts

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Michael Thompson: in a couple of months in France, and the New

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Michael Thompson: Zealand All Blacks, whom, for decades, have been among the

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Michael Thompson: best or the best team in the world, has called

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Michael Thompson: on a French fashion designer to help with their kit.

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Sean Aylmer: Not only are they going to beat us, they’re going to look

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Sean Aylmer: good while doing it.

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Michael Thompson: It’s just like the ultimate insult, isn’t it? ” You know

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Michael Thompson: what? We’re not even worried about training. We’re focusing on

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Michael Thompson: what we’re wearing. We are that confident.”

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Sean Aylmer: With good reason. That’s what’s even more infuriating. Adidas, which

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Sean Aylmer: supplies the team’s iconic all- black kit, has teamed with Paris-

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Sean Aylmer: based street- style designer, Fey the Wolf, is the person’s

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Sean Aylmer: name. Don’t you love that?

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Michael Thompson: Sean, quick question for you. Do you know what a street- style

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Michael Thompson: designer is?

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Sean Aylmer: Certainly not one called Fey the Wolf. Absolutely no idea.

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Michael Thompson: Not familiar? Particularly familiar with his work?

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Sean Aylmer: No. No. No. Fey the Wolf is coming in to develop unique features

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Sean Aylmer: in a New Jersey for the tournament. Now, this is

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Sean Aylmer: according to New Zealand Rugby. They say that the designer

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Sean Aylmer: is known for his distinctive and creative use of the

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Sean Aylmer: color black. See, there’s not a lot you can do with black,

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Sean Aylmer: but anyway. Well, actually, that’s where I’m probably ignorant. You

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Sean Aylmer: can probably do a lot with the color of black. He’s

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Sean Aylmer: worked with some current players in the Adidas Design Team

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Sean Aylmer: to create a jersey centered around the New Zealand Silver

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Sean Aylmer: Fern. Apparently, the New Jersey also has leading technical innovations

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Sean Aylmer: that aim to lift on- field performance and make players

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Sean Aylmer: difficult to tackle.

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Michael Thompson: A black so black that it absorbs all the light

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Michael Thompson: from around it, and it looks like the players are

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Michael Thompson: actually running through a black hole. That would make them

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Michael Thompson: difficult to tackle.

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Sean Aylmer: That would be good. That would be good. The World

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Sean Aylmer: Cup kicks off on September 8th in Paris, with New

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Sean Aylmer: Zealand playing France.

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Michael Thompson: It’s been a show, Sean.

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Sean Aylmer: It has. That last one, just what we need. We

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Sean Aylmer: need the All Blacks to actually have some technological breakthrough

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Sean Aylmer: in their jerseys so that they’re harder to tackle.

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Michael Thompson: That is a cracker of a story, and cracker of

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Michael Thompson: an interview coming up next. This is a really good one.

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Michael Thompson: You’re speaking with Peter Gray, Larry Diamond, the co- founders

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Michael Thompson: of Zip Co.

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Sean Aylmer: Yep. They’ve just had their 10- year anniversary, which is

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Sean Aylmer: a pretty cool achievement in the buy- now- pay- later

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Sean Aylmer: area because it has been a very, very tough run. Very confident

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Sean Aylmer: about the outlook. Well worth a listen.

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Michael Thompson: It is. It really is. It’s up next in the

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Michael Thompson: Fear & Greed playlist on your podcast platform, or at fearandgreed.com.au.

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Michael Thompson: And don’t forget to have a listen as well to

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Michael Thompson: the latest episode of How Do They Afford That, which

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Michael Thompson: came out yesterday. This week’s episode is all about pet

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Michael Thompson: insurance. Thank you very much, Sean.

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Sean Aylmer: Thank you, Michael.

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Michael Thompson: It’s Thursday the 29th of June 2023. And join us

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00:21:39,060 –> 00:21:42,840
Michael Thompson: on online on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and stay up to date on all the

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00:21:42,840 –> 00:21:45,989
Michael Thompson: business news with Alexa and your Amazon Echo Smart Speaker.

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00:21:46,020 –> 00:21:49,138
Michael Thompson: Simply say, ” Alexa, play the Fear & Greed podcast,” and the

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Michael Thompson: latest episode should just start playing. Grab yours now at amazon. com.

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Michael Thompson: au. I’m Michael Thompson, and that was Fear & Greed. Have a great day.