Latest news with #GovernanceBoard
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
RBA Headquarters Renovation to Outlast Governor in Cost Blowout
(Bloomberg) -- Australia's central bank is facing an estimated A$1.2 billion ($774 million) overhaul of its 22-story Sydney head office — almost five times the original estimate — after the discovery of widespread asbestos turned a simple refurbishment into a near total rebuild. The Reserve Bank's new governance board reviewed the ballooning costs at a meeting earlier this week and weighed whether the project should proceed, according to documents released Wednesday. The completion date has now been pushed back to mid-2031, nearly a year after Governor Michele Bullock's seven-year term ends. Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome A cost-benefit review concluded that moving ahead with the renovation — originally estimated at A$260 million — remains the most economical choice for the central bank. The board has signed off on that path for now but said it would revisit the decision as the project advances. The governance board — which counts former Telstra CEO David Thodey and Law firm Gilbert + Tobin's co-founder Danny Gilbert among its members — plans a fresh assessment once all asbestos has been removed by 2027. Getting rid of the toxic material is expected to account for about half the total estimated cost of the building's overhaul. In the US, cost overruns associated with the renovation of the Federal Reserve's headquarters have drawn scrutiny with President Donald Trump weighing a lawsuit against Chair Jerome Powell. The renovation work has become a flashpoint in Trump's pressure campaign against Powell and the central bank for not lowering borrowing costs and saw him tour the construction site last month in a rare presidential visit to the Fed's headquarters. The RBA has not drawn similar scrutiny and is self-funding, though its spending still matters for taxpayers because it pays a dividend to the government. The bank hasn't paid a dividend in recent years following hefty losses from its pandemic stimulus program. When it began planning the project in 2018, the RBA believed 65 Martin Place was mostly free from asbestos, and that its staff could stay in the building while it was renovated. However, the offices had to be vacated with the central bank leasing a new facility nearby. The renovation of the 60-year-old building which is subject to strict heritage requirements has become one of the most expensive Australian office refurbishments on record, according to the Australian Financial Review, which first reported the story. Foreigners Are Buying US Homes Again While Americans Get Sidelined What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Women's Earnings Never Really Recover After They Have Children Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Survived Bankruptcy. Next Up: Cultural Relevance? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
RBA Headquarters Renovation to Outlast Governor in Cost Blowout
(Bloomberg) -- Australia's central bank is facing an estimated A$1.2 billion ($774 million) overhaul of its 22-story Sydney head office — almost five times the original estimate — after the discovery of widespread asbestos turned a simple refurbishment into a near total rebuild. The Reserve Bank's new governance board reviewed the ballooning costs at a meeting earlier this week and weighed whether the project should proceed, according to documents released Wednesday. The completion date has now been pushed back to mid-2031, nearly a year after Governor Michele Bullock's seven-year term ends. Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome A cost-benefit review concluded that moving ahead with the renovation — originally estimated at A$260 million — remains the most economical choice for the central bank. The board has signed off on that path for now but said it would revisit the decision as the project advances. The governance board — which counts former Telstra CEO David Thodey and Law firm Gilbert + Tobin's co-founder Danny Gilbert among its members — plans a fresh assessment once all asbestos has been removed by 2027. Getting rid of the toxic material is expected to account for about half the total estimated cost of the building's overhaul. In the US, cost overruns associated with the renovation of the Federal Reserve's headquarters have drawn scrutiny with President Donald Trump weighing a lawsuit against Chair Jerome Powell. The renovation work has become a flashpoint in Trump's pressure campaign against Powell and the central bank for not lowering borrowing costs and saw him tour the construction site last month in a rare presidential visit to the Fed's headquarters. The RBA has not drawn similar scrutiny and is self-funding, though its spending still matters for taxpayers because it pays a dividend to the government. The bank hasn't paid a dividend in recent years following hefty losses from its pandemic stimulus program. When it began planning the project in 2018, the RBA believed 65 Martin Place was mostly free from asbestos, and that its staff could stay in the building while it was renovated. However, the offices had to be vacated with the central bank leasing a new facility nearby. The renovation of the 60-year-old building which is subject to strict heritage requirements has become one of the most expensive Australian office refurbishments on record, according to the Australian Financial Review, which first reported the story. Foreigners Are Buying US Homes Again While Americans Get Sidelined What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Women's Earnings Never Really Recover After They Have Children Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Survived Bankruptcy. Next Up: Cultural Relevance? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
19 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
RBA Headquarters Renovation to Outlast Governor in Cost Blowout
Australia's central bank is facing an estimated A$1.2 billion ($774 million) overhaul of its 22-story Sydney head office — almost five times the original estimate — after the discovery of widespread asbestos turned a simple refurbishment into a near total rebuild. The Reserve Bank's new governance board reviewed the ballooning costs at a meeting earlier this week and weighed whether the project should proceed, according to documents released Wednesday. The completion date has now been pushed back to mid-2031, nearly a year after Governor Michele Bullock's seven-year term ends.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Is Planning to Take Over the Postal Service
Not even your mail is exempt from Donald Trump's wholesale power grab. The president is expected to fire the Governance Board of the United States Postal Service (USPS), and absorb the independent agency into the Department of Commerce. According to The Washington Post, which first reported the plans, the takeover could come as soon as next week via an executive order. A White House official later told CNN that the reports were 'not true,' and that, 'no such EO (executive order) is in the works, and Secretary Lutnick is not pushing for such an EO.' The Wall Street Journal also reported that Trump is planning to take control of the USPS. Trump has a longstanding feud with USPS, the national postal carrier that has existed since even before the United States became an independent nation. During his first term — amid financial struggles at the USPS — Trump attempted to gut the agency entirely, telling Fox Business that he was willing to deny the postal service a financial lifeline because 'if they don't get those items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it.' Last year, Trump floated a full-blown privatization of the USPS during transition discussions with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a move that could severely impact mail delivery across the nation. The USPS was created with the intent of standardizing postage rates across the United States, and ensuring that Americans living in even the most remote corners of the nation had access to postal services. The agency operates under a 'universal service obligation,' meaning that mail in their charge gets delivered regardless of distance or cost of service. On Thursday, the American Postal Workers Union — which represents over over 200,000 USPS employees and retirees — wrote that Trump's plans to absorb the USPS into his control 'would be an outrageous, unlawful attack on a storied national treasure, enshrined in the Constitution and created by Congress to serve every American home and business equally.' 'Efforts to privatize the Postal Service, in whole or in part, or to strip it of its independence or public service mission, would be of no benefit to the American people. Instead, it would drive up postage rates and lead to reduced service, especially to rural America,' the statement, from APWU President Mark Dimondstein, continued. 'The law created the Postal Service as an independent Agency, freed from the shifting political winds, and dedicated to serving the American public. The law created the Postal Board of Governors, and empowers it and it alone to hire and fire the Postmaster General. Any effort by the Administration to remove the Board or fire postal executives is clearly illegal.' Despite financial struggles — and needed reforms to compete with shipping giants like Amazon, UPS, and FedEx — the U.S. postal service remains one of the most popular government agencies in a time of low confidence in the American government. According to a 2024 report from the Pew Research Center, the USPS holds a 72 percent favorability rating, ranking above NASA and second only to the National Parks Service. Speaking of the National Parks Service, Trump and Elon Musk have gutted that, too, laying off over 1,000 employees last week. The move has already led to an avalanche of cancelled reservations, and, as one former park ranger put it to the Post, 'chaos everywhere.' More from Rolling Stone DOGE Slashes Health Care for Sick 9/11 First Responders Trump and Elon's 'Pointless Bloodbath' at the FAA Is Even Worse Than You Think J. Cole Invokes Donald Trump's Assassination Attempt on Single 'Clouds' Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
