Blogotariat

On Tuesday, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) decided to lift the national minimum wage and award wages by 3.5% from 1 July this year. The key justification given for the decision was to provide some real wage catch-up. Business groups met the decision with their usual backlash, claiming that higher minimum and award wages would

The post Business groups wrong about wages and productivity appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The Market Ear on the hated rally. …to start talking about all time highs? NASDAQ trading right on those huge levels. Source: LSEG Workspace Stopped in “Net leverage for the full PB book rose more than +8 pts in May, the largest monthly increase on our record, driven by large global net buying and mark-to-market“.

The post Love the hated rally to ATH! appeared first on MacroBusiness.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has accused Premier Chris Minns of blaming federal tobacco taxes for the fact that the illegal tobacco trade in the state is “out of control”. Minns has suggested that cutting tobacco taxes would lead to a reduction in black market tobacco activity, leaving NSW Police with more resources to combat

The post Less is more with tobacco taxes appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Australia recorded a tiny 0.05% rise in carbon emissions in 2024, which has the usual suspects whining. As reported by the Guardian: Emissions last year were estimated to be 446.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide, 0.2m tonnes higher than in 2023. The increase is largely due to pollution from electricity generation rising by 2.2%, reversing a

Victoria’s finances are in a dire state. Victoria’s net debt was only $22.3 billion when the Labor government presented its first state budget in 2015. It has now risen to $155.5 billion and is expected to reach $194 billion by 2028-29, according to budget projections. Victorian net debt per capita was under $3,600 in Labor’s

The post Victorian government begs rating agencies for stay of execution appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Assistant Minister for Productivity Andrew Leigh used a speech to the Chifley Research Centre on Tuesday to call for “thickets of regulation” to be reduced to help boost productivity. Leigh stated that there are several ways to improve productivity, including an increased focus on rewarding project delivery and measuring outcomes. He claimed that excessive bureaucracy

There is dumb. And then there is really, really stupid. Australian defence falls into the latter category. In his address to the Shangri-La Dialogue Hegseth made clear the Trump administration’s priority defence policy region is Asia. …Poland expects to spend 4.7 per cent of its GDP on defence this year. Lithuania plans to spend 5.5

The post The great Aussie defence bludger appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Electrification and improved energy efficiency save households money, reduce government spending on healthcare, and make communities more resilient.

In what could be a welcome discovery for Australia, new research has found that the presence of solar panels in Colorado’s greenlands may alleviate water stress, improve soil moisture levels, and increase plant growth by around 20 per cent or more.

Greens leader Larissa Waters has indicated that its party room has yet to decide whether it will support the federal government’s proposed superannuation tax reforms. The Greens are set to hold the balance of power in the Senate from 1 July, so Labor will depend on their votes to pass legislation. The Greens had expressed

The post Retired bureaucrats attack Labor’s superannuation reforms appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Bowen awards feasibi

A lot of macro events and geopolitics hit risk markets today but was mostly absorbed outside of currencies as the USD hit a six week low on a combination of the burgeoning world wide trade war started by the Trump regime and the growing slowdown in the domestic US economy. The latest Chinese manufacturing figures

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Plans to transform Tasmania's Bell Bay port into a world-leading renewable hydrogen production hub have had new life breathed into them.