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Oz Blog News Commentary
Your Democracy Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 06:44 Source

The White House and Congress can and should provide relief to American families who bore the costs of illegal tariffs. The administration has the responsibility to design such relief.

President Trump, your tariff regime was illegal, unfair, and detrimental to the American people. You also grossly misrepresented the facts to the American people by claiming that foreign countries were paying. They were not. American families paid.

 

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Your Democracy Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 05:44 Source

Abigail Spanberger, the first female governor in Virginia's history, attacked President Donald Trump's economic and immigration policies during Democrats' response to the State of the Union address.

She questioned whether the president was working to make life more affordable and safer for Americans, while criticising Trump's immigration crackdown in US cities and tariffs on imports.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 00:01 Source

Australia recorded the strongest net overseas migration (NOM) in the nation’s history between Q4 2019 and Q2 2025, with 266,000 net migrants arriving annually, including the Covid-19 border closure: This huge immigration inflow had a devastating impact on the rental market. Since the end of 2019, the record net migration flows (i.e., 266,000 per annum)

The post Albanese commits to endless housing shortages appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 00:01 Source

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 22:01 Source

NSW headquartered thermal energy storage hopeful wins federal government funding to speed up commercialisation of its patented block-based technology.

The post Company behind Australia’s largest thermal storage project wins Arena funding appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 21:38 Source

Solar panels old for recycling smallA Melbourne-based e-waste recycling company has been fined for shipping undeclared e-waste to Singapore, including solar inverters and lithium-ion batteries.

The post Recycler cops fine over undeclared e-waste, including solar inverters and batteries appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 18:52 Source

While top bureaucrats are now earning one million a year, the tribunal that decides who gets what is doing its best to keep its decisions secret. Rex Patrick reports.

The head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet gets over $1 million a year, and the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence and Home Affairs are not far behind at $960,000. In fact, only two departmental heads earn less than $900,000.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 16:44 Source

Faced with the devastating impacts of climate change, Pacific leaders are pushing to achieve 100% renewables in the next decade. But is this feasible?

The post Australia’s Pacific Island neighbours are pushing for 100 pct renewables, too. But is it possible? appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 15:31 Source

John Grimes, a stalwart of the Australian renewable energy industry and key negotiator of game-changing policies, has called time on nearly two decades as CEO of the Smart Energy Council.

The post Legend of Australian renewables John Grimes to resign as SEC CEO, take on regional role appeared first on Renew Economy.

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The Tally Room Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 15:24 Source

According to reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald today, and from other conversations with journalists, it sounds like the federal Labor government is on the verge of announcing a plan to expand the size of the parliament prior to the 2028 federal election.

Such a decision is to be welcomed, and I have been strongly advocating for this for a while. You can read all my posts on this topic here.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 15:06 Source

WARNING — BULLSHIT STORY FOLLOWS: Among the many grim milestones of a bloody war in Ukraine that has now been going for four years was one reached recently: For the first time since its invasion, Russia has lost troops faster than it can replace them.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 13:43 Source

Solar Insiders thumbnail pylon & froniusIEEFA's Jay Gordon on how proposed changes to electricity pricing could strip away the benefits of Cheaper Home Batteries. Plus, news of the week.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: How fixing network tariffs could break home battery economics appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 13:13 Source

Fortescue says its electrification spend should hit a "run rate" of about $1bn a year to the end of the decade. And it is already banking savings from swapping out diesel.

The post Fortescue’s electrification spend hits $1 billion-a-year “run rate,” as diesel savings start to flow appeared first on Renew Economy.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 13:00 Source

Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox has labelled immigration critics “economically illiterate”, arguing that lower immigration levels would hinder growth and hinder housing supply. “Those things (people say) like people coming to Australia are ‘taking jobs and taking our houses’… But the macro (economic) work absolutely disproves that”. “It makes clear (immigrants) are creating jobs

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 12:36 Source

The ABS monthly number is out, and whoa! Both headline and trimmed mean came in 10bps above consensus. The details aren’t good, either. How has Australia managed to experience 4% goods inflation while China is flooding the world with dirt-cheap products displaced from the US? Energy shock, I’m guessing. The same is still playing out

The post Alboflation hot to trot in January appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 12:30 Source

The charts look absolutely horrible, but when Goldman does a seaonal comparions it’s not as bad. It compared the daily average volume during the 2026 CNY holidays (Feb15th-23rd) vs. 2025 holiday period (Jan 28th-Feb 4th): against an undemanding base, sampled primary markets recorded improvements with daily average volume rising +39%, while secondary markets registered more

The post Chinese property keeps on falling appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 12:29 Source

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 12:00 Source

The ABC reported that only half of the 22,000 homes approved for construction in Western Sydney are proceeding to construction because there are not enough buyers able or willing to pay enough to cover construction costs. KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley warned that interest rate rises would worsen the viability of new apartment projects due

The post High rise apartments are too expensive to build appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 11:59 Source

waratah battery akayshaAustralia's most powerful battery is likely to continue to limp along at around half of its promised capacity for most of the year, with delivery of a replacement transformer expected in the second half of 2026.

The post New transformer in works for Australia’s most powerful battery, but return to full service pushed out again appeared first on Renew Economy.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 11:30 Source

Charts from TME. The IGV software index is trading at 23 RSI. Seventh level of hell. Yet AI remains a tool, not a process manager. The hallucination rate is still high and is a feature, not a bug of LLMs. My argument is that humans may have already proven themselves more useless and mistake-prone than

The post Dare the tech wreckage? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 11:00 Source

The evidence from around the world shows that when you raise energy costs, your economy deindustrialises. Consider the following examples. Germany: Germany once had about 22 GW of nuclear power, producing over 160 TWh annually at a reasonable cost and with no emissions. Following the Fukushima accident in 2011, Berlin shut down 8 GW of

The post If a nation drives up energy costs, it deindustrialises appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 10:30 Source

ANZ’s major projects series has some good and bad news. In 2024–2025, major projects in Australia’s pipeline will reach $71 billion. They are expected to peak at $105 billion in 2027–2028, later than ANZ previously thought. This change happened because project schedules and financial situations have changed. After a decade of huge public megaprojects, Australia’s

The post Capex outlook shifts from everthing to energy appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 10:00 Source

Australia’s housing affordability has never been worse. According to Cotality, the nation’s dwelling price-to-income ratio was tracking at a record high of 8.2 in the September quarter of 2025: The time taken to save a 20% deposit was a record high 11 years, according to Cotality: The share of income required to pay the median

The post Single Australians give up home ownership dream appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 09:45 Source

Vladimir Zelensky brought some of his most ardent fans to Kiev to mark the fourth anniversary of his wartime leadership, but the supporting actors in the Ukraine Cinematic Universe had little to offer him.

A look at the guests who showed up suggests Ukraine’s backers are divided into those who have to and those who don’t.

 

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 09:30 Source

Today’s national polling roundup suggests a modest movement following the Liberal leadership change, with the LNP improving slightly but not decisively reshaping the political landscape. The latest YouGov-Sky News Pulse poll shows the Coalition rising three points to 22%, narrowing but not overtaking One Nation, which fell four points to 24%. Labor slipped one point

The post LNP stalls One Nation advance appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 09:00 Source

There’s not much very encouraging going on for ferrous. Chinese markets reopned, popped and dropped. Steel is at news lows. SGX was the outlier. SMM tells of a weak market as the most-traded contract, I2605, closed at 740.5 yuan/mt, which is 1.79% lower than the previous trading day. This means that DCE iron ore continued

The post Iron ore roars, coughs, and falls appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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The Tally Room Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 09:00 Source

How does owning your home or renting impact on how you vote? For today’s podcast, Ben was joined by Shaun Ratcliff and Josh Goddard to discuss what we know about how home ownership (or asset ownership more broadly) influences voting trends. We discuss Josh’s research looking at 14 different Western democracies, and also hear from Shaun about more research closer to home.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 08:57 Source

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency is rescinding the legal finding that it has relied on for nearly two decades to limit the heat-trapping pollution that spews from vehicle tailpipes, oil refineries and factories.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 08:30 Source

The issue of economic management has often been a hotly contested topic in the battles and debates that define Australian federal politics. For many Australians who follow federal politics, the phrase “superior economic management” is all but burned into our collective memories. But the simple reality is that both sides have done a poor job

The post Australia’s flatlining economy appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 06:55 Source

 

Jewish orgs request Tony Burke reject Australian visa for Israeli journalist as his funders’ links to IDF emerge. Stephanie Tran reports. 

A coalition of Australian Jewish organisations has written to the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, urging him to cancel the visa of Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli on character grounds, citing comments in which he called for mass killings in Gaza and advocated violence against journalists.

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