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World

France hit by new wave of strikes against Macron’s pension reform

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  • Reform would raise retirement age to 64
  • Schools, transport networks, refinery deliveries hit
  • Macron: Reform vital to ensure viability of pension system

SAINT-NAZAIRE, France, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Striking workers disrupted French refinery deliveries, public transport and schools on Tuesday in a second day of nationwide protests over President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to make people work longer before retirement.

Crowds marched through cities across France to denounce a reform that raises the retirement age by two years to 64 and which is a test of Macron’s ability to push through change now that he has lost his working majority in parliament.

On the rail networks, only one in every three high-speed TGV trains were operating and even fewer local and regional trains. Services on the Paris metro were thrown into disarray.

Buoyed by their success earlier in the month when more than a million people took to the streets, trade unions which have been battling to maintain their power and influence urged the public to turnout en masse.

“We won’t drive until we’re 64!” bus driver Isabelle Texier said at a protest in Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast, adding that many careers involved tough working conditions.

Others felt resigned ahead of likely bargaining between Macron’s ruling alliance and conservative opponents who are more open to pension reform than the left.

“There’s no point in going on strike. This bill will be adopted in any case,” said 34-year-old Matthieu Jacquot, who works in the luxury sector.

Unions said half of primary school teachers had walked off the job. TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) said 55% of its workers on morning shifts at its refineries had downed tools, a lower number than on Jan. 19. The hard-left CGT union said the figure was inaccurate.

For unions, the challenge will be maintaining a strike movement at a time when high inflation is eroding salaries.

At a local level, some announced “Robin Hood” operations unauthorised by the government. In the southwestern Lot-et-Garonne area, the local CGT trade union branch cut power to several speed cameras and disabled smart power meters.

“When there is such a massive opposition, it would be dangerous for the government not to listen,” said Mylene Jacquot, secretary general of the CFDT union’s civil servants branch.

[1/16] Protesters attend a demonstration against French government’s pension reform plan in Paris as part of a day of national strike and protests in France, January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Opinion polls show a substantial majority of the French oppose the reform, but Macron intends to stand his ground. The reform was “vital” to ensure the viability of the pension system, he said on Monday.

A street march in Paris takes place later in the day.

‘BRUTAL’

The pension system reform would yield an additional 17.7 billion euros ($19.18 billion) in annual pension contributions, according to Labour Ministry estimates.

Unions say there are other ways to raise revenue, such as taxing the super rich or asking employers or well-off pensioners to contribute more.

“This reform is unfair and brutal,” said Luc Farre, the secretary general of the civil servants’ UNSA union. “Moving (the pension age) to 64 is going backwards, socially.”

French power supply was down by 4.5% or 3 gigawatts (GW), as workers at nuclear reactors and thermal plants joined the strike, data from utility group EDF (EDF.PA) showed.

TotalEnergies said deliveries of petroleum products from its French sites had been halted because of the strike, but that customers’ needs were met.

The government made some concessions while drafting the legislation. Macron had originally wanted the retirement age to be set at 65, while the government is also promising a minimum pension of 1,200 euros a month.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said the 64 threshold is “non-negotiable”, but the government is exploring ways to offset some of the impact, particularly on women.

Hard-left opposition figure Jean-Luc Melenchon, a vocal critic of the reform, said parliament would on Monday debate a motion calling for a referendum on the matter.

“The French are not stupid,” he said at a march in Marseille. “If this reform is vital, it should be possible to convince the people.”

Reporting by Forrest Crellin, Benjamin Mallet, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Leigh Thomas, Blandine Henault, Michel Rose, Dominique Vidalon, Benoit Van Overstraeten; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Richard Lough; Editing by Janet Lawrence

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World

New Zealand counts cost of Auckland floods, more rain forecast

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WELLINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Flood-ravaged Auckland is forecast to receive further heavy rain in the coming days, authorities in New Zealand’s largest city said on Monday, as insurers counted the costs of what looks likely to be the country’s most expensive weather event ever.

Four people lost their lives in flash floods and landslides that hit Auckland over the last three days amid record downpours. A state of emergency remains in place in Auckland. A state of emergency in the Waitomo region south of Auckland was lifted.

Flights in and out of Auckland Airport are still experiencing delays and cancellations, beaches around the city of 1.6 million are closed and all Auckland schools will remain closed until Feb. 7.

“There has been very significant damage across Auckland,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told state-owned television station TVNZ on Monday. “Obviously there were a number of homes damaged by flooding but also extensive earth movements.”

Currently, around 350 people were in need of emergency accommodation, he added.

LOOMING CLOUDS

Metservice is forecasting further heavy rains to hit the already sodden city late on Tuesday.

“We have more adverse weather coming and we need to prepare for that,” Auckland Emergency Management duty controller Rachel Kelleher told a media conference.

Fire and Emergency services received 30 callouts overnight Monday, including responding to a landslide when a carport slid down a hill.

The council has designated 69 houses as uninhabitable and has prevented people from entering them. A further 300 properties were deemed at risk, with access restricted to certain areas for short periods.

The north of New Zealand’s North Island is receiving more rain than normal due to the La Nina weather event.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said Auckland has already recorded more than eight times its average January rainfall and 40% of its annual average rainfall.

INSURERS FACE HEFTY BILL

The cost of the clean up is expected to top the NZ$97 million ($63 million) bill for flooding on the West Coast in 2021 but will not be anywhere near as expensive as the estimated NZ$31 billion insured costs of two major earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010-2011, said Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesperson Christian Judge.

Insurance Australia Group’s (IAG.AX) New Zealand divisions have received over 5,000 claims so far and Suncorp Group (SUN.AX) said it received around 3,000 claims across the Vero and AA Insurance Brands. New Zealand’s Tower (TWR.NZ) said it had received around 1,900 claims.

“The number of claims is expected to rise further over the coming days, with the event still unfolding and as customers identify damage to their property,” IAG said in a statement.

Economists say the recovery and rebuild could add to inflationary pressures in New Zealand as vehicles and household goods need to be replaced and there is an increase in construction work needed to repair or rebuild houses and infrastructure damaged by the flooding.

($1 = 1.5385 New Zealand dollars)

Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Lincoln Feast

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US

U.S. airports rumble back to life after FAA computer outage

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WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – U.S. flights were slowly beginning to resume departures and a ground stop was lifted after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambled to fix a system outage overnight that had forced a halt to all U.S. departing flights.

The cause of the problem, which delayed thousands of flights in the United States, was unclear, but U.S. officials said they had so far found no evidence of a cyberattack.

“Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem” the FAA said in a Tweet.

More than 4,300 flights had been delayed and 700 canceled as officials said it will take hours to recover from the halt to flights.

The FAA had earlier ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures after its pilot alerting system crashed and the agency had to perform a hard reset around 2 a.m., officials said.

The FAA said shortly before 8:30 a.m. departures were resuming at Newark and Atlanta airports.

The FAA is expected to implement a ground delay program in order to address the backlog of flights halted for hours. Flights already in the air had been allowed to continue to their destinations during the ground stop.

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the Transportation Department to investigate the outage and said the cause of the failure was unknown at this time. Asked if a cyber attack was behind the outage, Biden told reporters at the White House, “We don’t know.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pledged “an after-action process to determine root causes and recommend next steps.”

The FAA said it was working to restore the Notice to Air Missions system that alerts pilots to hazards and changes to airport facilities and procedures that had stopped processing updated information.

A total of 4,314 U.S. flights were delayed as of 9:04 a.m. ET, flight tracking website FlightAware showed. Another 737 were canceled.

MODERNIZATION NEEDED

United said it has resumed operations. The Chicago-based carrier, however, warned that customers might continue to see some delays and cancellations.

Shares of U.S. carriers fell in Wednesday’s premarket trading. Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) was down 2.4%, while Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), United Airlines (UAL.O) and American Airlines (AAL.O) were down about 1%.

“America’s transportation network desperately needs significant upgrades … We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure.” said Geoff Freeman, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, a group representing U.S. airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and theme parks.

FAA’s system outage comes weeks after an operational meltdown at Southwest at the end of last year left thousands of passengers stranded.

A severe winter storm right before Christmas coupled with the Texas-based carrier’s dated technology led to over 16,000 flight cancellations last month.

The DOT, FAA’s parent agency, heavily criticized Southwest’s failures and pressured the airline to compensate passengers for missed flights and other related costs. There is no legal requirement that the FAA must compensate passengers for flight delays caused by agency computer issues.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

A NOTAM is a notice containing information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations, but not known far enough in advance to be publicized by other means.

Information can go up to 200 pages for long-haul international flights and may include items such as runway closures, bird hazard warnings and construction obstacles.

United Airlines (UAL.O) said it had temporarily delayed all domestic flights and would issue an update when it learned more from the FAA.

Germany’s Lufthansa and Air France both said they were continuing to operate flights to and from the United States, while the French airline said it was monitoring the situation.

The operator of Paris international airports – Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Orly airport – said it expects delays to flights.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said on Twitter that ground stops across the country were causing delays. A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that slows or halts aircraft at a given airport.

In an earlier advisory on its website, the FAA said its NOTAM system had “failed”, although NOTAMs issued before the outage were still viewable. Earlier this month, a problem with a different airline computer control system delayed dozens of flights in Florida.

A total of 21,464 flights are scheduled to depart airports in the United States on Wednesday with a carrying capacity of nearly 2.9 million passengers, data from Cirium shows.

American Airlines has the most departures from U.S. airports with 4,819 flights scheduled, followed by Delta and Southwest, Cirium data showed.

Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson in Washington, Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru, Jamie Freed in Sydney and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Additional reporting by Nathan Gomes and Steve Holland in Washington
Writing by Shailesh Kuber and Alexander Smith Editing by Edmund Blair and Nick Zieminski

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World

Hong Kong asks Japan to drop airport bans, 60,000 travellers affected

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HONG KONG, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Hong Kong has asked Japan to withdraw a COVID-19 restriction that allows passenger flights from the financial hub to land only at four designated airports, saying the decision would affect about 60,000 passengers.

India, Italy, Taiwan and the United States require mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers from China after Beijing’s decision last month to lift stringent zero-COVID policies that fuelled a surge in infections across mainland China.

Hong Kong, home to more than 7 million people, is recording around 20,000 coronavirus cases a day but lifted its COVID curbs on Thursday for the first time in three years.

Japan, a top travel destination for those in Hong Kong, said it would limit flights from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China to Tokyo’s two airports, as well as Osaka and Nagoya, from Friday.

The decision comes during a peak travel season ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday which begins on Jan. 21.

“It is understood that around 250 outbound flights of Hong Kong airlines will be affected between December 30, 2022 and the end of January 2023, affecting around 60,000 passengers,” the government said in a statement late on Wednesday.

City leader John Lee said the government had indicated to Japan that it was disappointed.

“We think that Hong Kong people should be allowed to use not just these four airports,” Lee said.

On Thursday, Hong Kong’s government said Japan would let passenger flights from Hong Kong also land in Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Okinawa provided that no passengers aboard had been in mainland China for the prior seven days, but said the condition was “unreasonable”.

Flights of Hong Kong airlines can still carry passengers back to Hong Kong from airports in Japan, the government said, to ensure their smooth return and “minimise the impact to Hong Kong travellers caused by the incident.”

In a statement, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) said it would continue to operate flights to Japan, although it would reduce these to 65 a week, down 20% from its planned schedule for Jan 2023.

HK Express, which is owned by Cathay, said in a separate statement it would only be able to operate 60 scheduled flights a week to destinations in Japan due to the curbs, prompting the cancellation of 41 flights from Hong Kong to Japan in January.

Hong Kong Airlines and Peach Aviation said they would cancel some flight routes because of the rules.

In December, China began dismantling the world’s strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year.

The lifting of curbs following widespread protests has meant that COVID is spreading largely unchecked, probably infecting millions of people each day, some international health experts have said.

Reporting by Farah Master and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Stephen Coates

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World

LATAM Airlines plane crashes on Peruvian runway, two firefighters dead

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LIMA, Nov 18 (Reuters) – A LATAM Airlines (LTM.SN) jet collided with a firetruck on the runway of Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport as it was taking off on Friday, the carrier said, resulting in the death of two firefighters.

No passengers or flight crew members were killed in the incident, the airline said.

It remains unclear why the firetruck entered the runway while the plane was taking off and the prosecutors’ office said it was investigating the incident as potential manslaughter.

Video posted on social media showed the jet colliding with the firetruck as it careened down the runway, then rapidly catching fire and smoking heavily as it ground to a halt.

Lima Airport Partners, which operates Jorge Chavez in Lima, the nation’s most important airport, said the airport will remain closed at least through 1 p.m. local time on Saturday.

The flight was LA2213, covering the domestic Lima-Juliaca route, LATAM Airlines said.

This is the second incident in less than a month involving LATAM Airlines, after one of its planes had its nose destroyed during a severe storm that forced it to make an emergency landing.

Reporting by Marco Aquino in Lima, additional reporting by Fabian Cambero in Santiago, Marcelo Rochabrun in Lima and Carolina Pulice in Mexico City; Editing by Anthony Esposito, Rosalba O’Brien and Matthew Lewis

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Business

UK launches aviation charter to address airport disruption

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LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) – The British government launched an “Aviation Passenger Charter” on Sunday to help passengers know their rights if they are faced with problems at airports after the widespread disruption seen this year.

Long queues and cancelled flights caused by staff shortages have caused chaos at times, prompting airlines to cut back their schedules as the industry struggles to keep up with a surge in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new charter will help passengers know what to do if they are confronted by cancellations, delays or missing baggage, the government said, with guidance on how to complain if they feel they have been treated unfairly.

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“Passengers deserve reliable services, and to be properly compensated if things don’t go to plan, and the chaotic scenes we’ve seen at airports are unacceptable,” transport minister Grant Shapps said.

“The new charter will help to give UK passengers peace of mind as they enjoy the renewed freedom to travel, whether for holidays, business or to visit loved ones.”

Last month, the government published a 22-point support plan to avoid further disruption, including telling airlines to run “realistic” summer schedules and promising to speed up security checks. It said these were now being processed in “record time”.

In a sign of the problems, London’s Heathrow Airport this week asked airlines to stop selling tickets for summer departures and capped the number of passengers flying from Britain’s busiest hub at 100,000 a day. read more

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Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Nick Macfie

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World

Cyclone Shaheen hits Oman, three killed, flights delayed

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DUBAI, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Tropical Cyclone Shaheen hit land in Oman on Sunday having already killed least three people, its high winds prompting evacuations from coastal areas and delaying flights to and from the capital, Muscat.

A child who had been swept away by water was found dead, the state news agency said, and another person was missing. Two Asian workers were killed when a hill collapsed on their housing area in an industrial zone, the state news agency reported.

The storm was carrying winds of 120 kph (75 mph) and throwing up waves of up to 10 metres (32 feet), Omani authorities said.

Video footage from local broadcasters showed vehicles submerged as people tried to make their way through muddy brown floodwater.

Part of the eyewall of the storm, where the most severe weather occurs, had entered Al Batinah South governorate, the state news agency said. The centre of the storm was expected to cross between Al Musanaa and Al Suwaiq in the evening.

The national emergency committee said the power supply would be cut in al-Qurm, east of the capital, to avoid accidents. More than 2,700 people were put up in emergency shelters.

Most of the oil-exporting country’s five million people live in and around Muscat. Roads in the capital would be open only to vehicles on emergency and humanitarian journeys until the storm dies down, authorities said.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said precautionary measures were being taken. Police officials were moving to ensure safety by conducting security patrols near beaches and valleys where torrential rains were expected.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authorities called for caution in several regions from Monday to Friday in expectation of heavy winds and possible flooding, the state news agency reported.

Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Nadine Awadalla
Writing by Nadine Awadalla and Michael Georgy
Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Philippa Fletcher, Catherine Evans and Frances Kerry

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Business

Sydney Airport sale a step closer after improved $17.4 bln offer

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People walk through the domestic terminal at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

  • Bidder is a consortium of infrastructure investors
  • Latest proposal is 3.6% higher than last one
  • Non-exclusive due diligence expected to take 4 weeks

SYDNEY, Sept 13 (Reuters) – A sale of Australia’s biggest airport moved closer on Monday as an infrastructure investor group won permission to conduct due diligence on Sydney Airport Holdings Pt Ltd (SYD.AX), after sweetening its takeover offer to A$23.6 billion ($17.4 billion).

The move sent the airport’s shares up 5%, with analysts saying a rival bid appeared unlikely given the scale of the funding needed and foreign ownership rules that mean the airport must remain 51% Australian owned.

“We assign a high probability of a deal succeeding given the board’s commitment to unanimously recommend the (consortium’s) offer if there is no alternative higher offer,” Credit Suisse analysts said in a note.

Sydney Airport is Australia’s only listed airport operator and a purchase would be a long-term bet on the travel sector which has been battered by the pandemic. The country plans to gradually open its borders once 80% of adults are fully vaccinated, a milestone expected by the end of the year.

A successful takeover would be among the largest buyouts ever of an Australian firm and underline a year of stellar deal activity, that has already seen a mega $29 billion buyout of Afterpay (APT.AX) by Square (SQ.N).

The improved offer of A$8.75 a share – an increase of 3.6% – follows prior proposals from the consortium pitched at A$8.45 and A$8.25, both of which were rejected by the airport operator’s board as inadequate. read more

Sydney Airport shares were trading at A$8.40 on Monday morning, below the offer price, due to the length of the time the transaction will take to complete as well as the limited prospects for a rival bid.

“An alternative bidder appears highly unlikely,” Jefferies analyst Anthony Moulder said in a note to clients.

The bidding consortium, Sydney Aviation Alliance (SAA), is comprised of Australian investors IFM Investors, QSuper and AustralianSuper and U.S.-based Global Infrastructure Partners.

Record-low interest rates have prompted pension funds and their investment managers to chase higher yields. Australia’s other major airports are unlisted and owned by pension funds and infrastructure investors.

SAA has been granted non-exclusive due diligence that is expected to take four weeks after signing a non-disclosure agreement, Sydney Airport said.

If SAA makes an acceptable binding proposal, the current intention is for the board to recommend it in the absence of a superior offer, the airport operator added.

UniSuper, Sydney Airport’s biggest shareholder with a 15.3% stake, said it was open to rolling that equity into an investment in the privatised company, as required as part of the bid conditions.

“The price represents a very full valuation for the airport, particularly given the uncertain medium-term outlook for international travel,” UniSuper Chief Investment Officer John Pearce said in a statement.

The deal will require an independent expert’s report, approval from 75% of shareholders and a green light from the competition regulator and the Foreign Investment Review Board, in a process that typically takes months to complete.

Jamie Hanna, deputy head of investments at VanEck, said he believed SAA would consider increasing its bid after examining the airport’s books given the improving travel outlook.

An SAA spokesperson said the consortium welcomed the announcement and looked forward to working with Sydney Airport’s board to finalise the transaction.

($1 = 1.3587 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Jamie Freed and Paulina Duran; editing by Diane Craft and Richard Pullin

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Business

Sydney Airport gets $16.7 bln buyout bid as investors take longer-term view on travel

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  • IFM, QSuper, Global Infrastructure Partners behind offer
  • Cash offer at 42% premium to last closing price on Friday
  • Offer contingent on UniSuper reinvesting 15% equity stake

SYDNEY, July 5 (Reuters) – A group of infrastructure investors has proposed a $22.26 billion ($16.7 billion) buyout of Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (SYD.AX), the operator of Australia’s biggest airport, taking a longer-term view on the pandemic-battered travel sector.

Record-low interest rates have led pension funds and their investment managers to chase higher yields. The purchase, with an enterprise value of A$30 billion including debt, would allow them to reap financial benefits when borders reopen and travel demand rebounds.

If successful, the deal would be Australia’s biggest this year, eclipsing the $8.1 billion spin-off of Endeavour Group Ltd (EDV.AX) and Star Entertainment Group Ltd’s (SGR.AX) $7.3 billion bid for Crown Resorts Ltd (CWN.AX).

The Sydney Aviation Alliance – a consortium comprising IFM Investors, QSuper and Global Infrastructure Partners – has offered A$8.25 per Sydney Airport share, a 42% premium to the stock’s Friday close.

The news sent the stock up as much as 38% to A$8.04 in early Monday trade, though it later retreated to around A$7.55, indicating market uncertainty as to whether the deal will succeed.

Sydney Airport noted the offer was below its pre-pandemic share price and said it would review the proposal, which is contingent on granting due diligence and recommending it to shareholders in the absence of a superior offer.

The airport operator’s share price hit a record A$8.86 in January last year, before the novel coronavirus pandemic led to a collapse in travel demand.

The company is Australia’s only listed airport operator. A successful deal would bring its ownership in line with the country’s other major airports which are owned by consortia of infrastructure investors, primarily pension funds.

Australia’s mandatory retirement savings system, known as superannuation, has assets of A$3.1 trillion, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.

With record-low interest rates, funds are looking at infrastructure investments for higher yields.

“It’s the right timing to be looking at these assets which have got a 75-year life when conditions are arguably at the bottom,” said a Sydney Airport investor who declined to be named because the person’s firm was still assessing the proposal. “It’s opportunistic in that regard, but understandable.”

Australia’s international borders are widely expected to remain closed until at least the end of the year due partly to a slower vaccination programme than in most developed countries. read more

Domestic travel has also been disrupted by a two-week lockdown in Sydney during the normally busy school holiday period, after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19. Other states have closed borders to Sydney residents.

In May, Sydney Airport’s international traffic was down more than 93% versus the same month of 2019, while domestic traffic was down 39.2%. read more

The airport has long held a monopoly on traffic to and from Australia’s most populous city, but that is due to end in 2026 with the opening of Western Sydney Airport.

Sydney Aviation Alliance said it did not anticipate making substantive changes to the airport’s management, services, operations or target credit ratings.

The consortium said its members invest directly or indirectly on behalf of more than 6 million Australians and collectively have more than A$177 billion of infrastructure funds under management globally, including stakes in 20 airports.

IFM holds stakes in major airports in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. QSuper owns a stake in Britain’s Heathrow Airport whereas Global Infrastructure is invested in that country’s Gatwick and London City airports.

Their offer is contingent on UniSuper, Sydney Airport’s largest shareholder with a 15% stake, agreeing to reinvest its equity interest for an equivalent equity holding in the consortium’s vehicle.

UniSuper, which also holds stakes in Adelaide and Brisbane airports, said it was not a consortium partner nor privy to any details outside information disclosed publicly.

“UniSuper does however, in-principle, see merit in Sydney Airport being converted from a publicly listed company to an unlisted company. UniSuper also has a favourable view of the consortium partners,” the fund said.

($1 = 1.3294 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing

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