Australians are about to be jilted. There is a very widespread disenchantment and disillusionment with politics, the media, any given person being reported on or even doing the reporting, and a pervasive sense of ‘this country is increasingly stuffed’ on the streets. The issues at the core of that are issues which both mainstream sides
International Reading: McDonald’s suffers worst U.S. sales decline since 2020, warns of ‘anti-American sentiment’ abroad – NBC McDonald’s Store Traffic Falls Unexpectedly As Diners Grow Uneasy About Economy – Huff Post Tim Cook says Trump tariffs could cost Apple more than $900M in June quarter – The Hill Trump’s tariffs: ‘It feels like Covid 2.0.
Risk markets are having a solid finish to the trading week while recent news that the Chinese may actually be open to talking about tariffs with the US, plus the Canadian auto industry seemingly getting another exemption on parts, with futures indicating an even better start in Europe. All eyes will be on the latest
I recently attended a forum on Climate and Economics in my local area with some very interesting topics discussed, ranging from the LNP’s nuclear power ideas to the dangers of not meeting Net Zero by 2050 and, of course, the upcoming Federal Election. Here are some snippets from the forum. The full transcript and audio
This week’s CPI data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirmed that the post-pandemic inflation surge is firmly in the rearview mirror. Australia’s policy-relevant underlying inflation fell to 2.9% in Q1 2025, to be tracked within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) target range of 2% to 3%. The pace of disinflation was also
The federal election campaign has seen both sides promise to use the federal budget to deliver another house price boom. Labor has undertaken to establish a state-sponsored subprime mortgage scheme by allowing all first-time home buyers to purchase a home with only a 5% down payment, with the government (taxpayers) guaranteeing 15% of the borrowers’
Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Marquee, is about as as conflicted as any analyst in Australian commentary. The teals and Greens are sheltered from the realities of our regions and industries that drive our economy. Under a minority government, their ideologically-driven energy agenda risks taking us further away from engineering realities. They
Australia has some of the most generous post-study work rights for overseas students, as shown in the table below. These generous post-study work rights are especially sought by “students” from South Asia, who prioritise post-study work rights and prospects for permanent residency over most other considerations. Last week, higher education expert Andrew Norton released research
The ABC this week published an article explaining how the Australian Greens have rebranded into the “party of renters”. The ABC noted that Greens leader Adam Bandt has been appearing at press conferences wearing a T-shirt saying “FIGHTING FOR RENTERS” and the party’s top priority this election is fighting for renters rights. “We’ve got people
Proponents of mass immigration claim that it improves living standards by increasing productivity and ameliorating the aging of the population. For example, modelling by McDonald and Temple in 2010 claimed that an annual migration intake between 160,000 and 220,000 is best for Australia and would increase GDP per capita by 12% more in 2053 versus