Advanced Medical Institute accused of contempt of court; NBN costs blowout: Midday Roundup

A clinic specialising in treating erectile dysfunction has been accused of contempt of court.

Advanced Medical Institute was previously slammed by the Federal Court for making unsubstantiated medical claims in order to sign up new customers to treatment plans.

In April the court ordered AMI’s parent company, NRM, to stop telling consumers their penises would shrink if they did not seek treatment for erectile dysfunction – unless the representations were made by a qualified medical practitioner.

The competition watchdog alleges NRM has breached this court order in a number of television and radio advertisements.

“The ACCC alleges that NRM has breached orders made by Justice North on 22 April 2015, in earlier proceedings brought by the ACCC,” ACCC acting chair Delia Rickard said in a statement.

“In those proceedings, Justice North found that NRM engaged in unconscionable conduct and used unfair contract terms in the way that it promoted and supplied medical services and medications to men suffering from sexual dysfunction.”

NBN reveals cost blowout

The company building Australia’s national broadband network, NBN, has released its annual report for the 2014-15 financial year which reveals a cost blowout.

The past financial year has seen the company double the number of premises which can access the NBN service from 553,000 to 1.2 million, while the number of homes and businesses with an active service also doubled from about 210,000 to 486,000.

Its telecommunications revenues also doubled from $60 million to $161 million, while the year also saw an increase in capital expenditure to $3.3 billion.

Chief executive Bill Morrow said in a statement the NBN had not only met but exceeded its targets.

“These achievements come as a direct result of refinements we have made to the organisation, including improved business processes, the resetting of relations with our delivery partners and increasing employee morale,” Morrow said.

Shares down on open

Aussie shares dropped sharply this morning off the back of significant declines in Chinese and US markets.

Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said the stock market is down to levels not seen since October last year.

“Investors are taking a safety first approach to the stock market given the potential for instability related to capital flight from emerging economies,” Spooner said.

“Until recently investors were looking forward to some US-led stabilisation and even improvement in global economies. However, the ongoing sell off in commodities and concerns about growth in China have more people thinking in terms of global deflationary pressure.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 2.55%, falling 129.6 points to 5085 points at 11.47am AEST. On Saturday, the Dow Jones closed down 530.94 points, falling 3.12% to 16,459.75 points.