Good morning,

PWC Australia's new boss, Kevin Burrowes, takes over the top job on July 17 but has already announced a major restructure of the troubled accounting firm , revealed in an email to partners on Tuesday afternoon. Senior legal experts Meredith Beattie and Tony O’Malley are set to exit the firm as part of the overhaul. There will also be a rejuvenation of PwC's 12-person executive board, which will result in the exit of seven members, who will still stay with the firm. Acting CEO Kristin Stubbins, who will remain on the board, will take up a new role as strategy and transformation leader. 

Meanwhile, rail networks on the east coast could be thrown into chaos this week as a pay dispute between unions and the Australian Rail Track Corporation blows up. This could threaten coal deliveries to power stations and export markets, and disrupt passenger and freight movements. The federal government-owned ARTC will head into an emergency Fair Work Commission hearing on Wednesday morning to seek orders cancelling the protected action by members of NSW branches of the Rail Tram and Bus Union, the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Services Union, due to begin early on Thursday morning.

And Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen is due to release the full text of the mandatory code of conduct governing the country’s gas industry within days, a document that will go a long way to determining whether several new developments materialise. Australia’s east coast gas market is facing a material shortfall in the next few years as traditional supplies run dry and proposed new developments struggle to secure regulatory and social licences. Senex Energy earlier this year suspended its proposed $1bn Atlas project in Queensland and said it will not proceed until it has seen the full text of the code.

The Markets

Five things to know this morning

1. Local stocks to open lower amid muted overseas trading in Asia and Europe with Wall Street on an Independence Day break. US looks to restrict China's cloud computing access in chips battle as the Asian giant's rare metal curbs create international jitters. More
2. Despite Tuesday’s breather, most economists expect at least two more 25 basis point rate rises, lifting the cash rate to a peak of 4.6 per cent. More
3. About one third of Macquarie’s home loan customers have approached the lender to get a better deal on their mortgages, forcing it to create a digital process to manage the requests, the banking giant has revealed.  More
4. Days of disruption at one of the busiest times of the year have raised questions about the resilience of the travel industry. More
5. Amid the crunch for talent, recruitment agencies have quietly come out on top, with new data showing businesses have spent $429m more between January and May this year sourcing staff, compared to the same period last year. More

"We’re calling for a new business model. The existing consulting model does not work in the Australian context. There’s too much complexity and opportunity for conflict."

Read the full story here

DataRoom

The contest for the $2bn convenience retailer 7-Eleven is shaping up to be dominated by strategic players, as private equity firms are said to be sidestepping the sale process due to the high cost of debt and the company’s exposure to the oil refining and tobacco industry.

Bids are understood to be due around now for 7-Eleven, which is up for sale through Azure Capital.

The obvious buyer is Seven & I Holdings, which is based in Japan and owns 7-Eleven Japan. More

Margin Call

Scyne Advisory is the needlessly pretentious name chosen for the recasting of PwC’s terminally ill government consulting business. But what’s a name without a face?

All everyone wants to know is who’ll chair this touched new enterprise, and instead the company breadcrumbed everybody on Tuesday with Andrew Greenwood, a former federal court judge who’s fresh off the Queensland bench, renowned for his “prodigious work ethic”, passion for whippets, and who will head up the board’s probity and ethics subcommittee. Scintillating stuff, truly.

More

Wealth

The residential market in 2023 is most unusual. Prices are rising even though interest rates are also increasing. Up to a third of buyers don’t need a mortgage and – nobody wants to do any renovation work!

The blowout in building costs, supply difficulties and sluggish response times from some local councils have combined to create a market in which the perfect property is the one that is perfectly ready to inhabit,

But for those willing to take the plunge and renovate, the rewards may be lucrative.

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