The blueprint for how to fix Australia’s tax system was spelled out 15 years ago by the Henry Tax Review. Unfortunately, both sides of government ignored its recommendations. Fast forward to today, and the federal budget is facing a decade of budget deficits amid the unwinding of commodity prices, the ageing population, and increasing spending
The cartel is back, baby. And so are ludicrous electricity prices. Bowen is the great fiddler. The Australian. The Albanese government’s planned overhaul of household electricity price caps could put small energy retailers surviving on razor-thin profit margins out of business. Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed the government would review the Default Market Offer
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the May labour force report, which reported a steady unemployment rate of 4.1% despite the loss of 2,500 jobs. The unemployment remained steady due to the 0.1% fall in the labour force participation rate. However, despite the loss of jobs, monthly hours worked jumped by 1.3% in
The Market Ear on a rapidly exhausting market. Shorts stopped out Recent equity strength has been fueled by underweight positioning and a brutal short squeeze. But signs of relief are emerging — UBS reports the strongest hedge fund deleveraging since March, with sharp short covering. Nasdaq short interest is now in the 25th percentile, showing just
Labor’s Powering Australia Plan claimed that it would cut NEM wholesale power rates by $11 per MWh (from $62 to $51) by 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised RepuTex Energy’s analysis as “the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any opposition in Australia’s history since Federation”. Albanese also regularly claimed that Labor
DXY went nowhere. AUD recovered some. Lead boots are going sideways. Oil short? Metals bifurcating. Biug miner bear one for the ages. EM meh. Junk hasn’t budged. Long end sort of OK. Stocks nothing burger. Here are the Fed headlines. *FED HOLDS BENCHMARK RATE IN 4.25%-4.5% TARGET RANGE *FOMC MEDIAN FORECAST STILL SHOWS 50 BPS
Australia’s annual R&D spending has also fallen to only 1.68% of GDP, well below the OECD average (3%) and the lowest among developed nations. As a result, the Albanese government has launched a review into Australia’s R&D, which is analysed below by independent commentator and MB Subscriber, Stephen Saunders. By Stephen Saunders Thus far, Australia’s
Overnight saw the Federal Reserve hold fire in their latest FOMC meeting although the reasons were more domestic than foreign macro problems as the Trump regimes tariff tirades are really starting to slowdown the US economy. The potential entry of the US into the fraca in the Middle East gave risk markets further pause but
Master Builders Australia (MBA) has used a submission to the Productivity Commission to argue that the federal government should provide tax incentives to builders who meet industry standards. The MBA argues that this would help boost competition, investment, and productivity in the sector, while also reducing the cost of building new homes. MBA CEO Denita
Australia’s unemployment rate is currently 4.1%, a historically low figure. The low unemployment rate has been driven by the boom in non-market (government-funded) roles, such as those related to the NDIS. The latest batch of data suggests that job growth has stalled, portending rising unemployment. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, last