Hi all, A quick note to offer guidance on the new website. As well as the layout changes that make it easier to access content for new readers, it comes with a dramatically improved sign-up and resubscription process, greatly enhanced speed, and a much better mobile experience (since 95% of traffic is now phone!). The
In the ongoing debate over the right level of migration into Australia, there have been a great many narratives trotted out in an attempt to make a case that the status quo is perfectly fine. From the arguments based on migrants working in the healthcare and aged/disability sector, to the claimed disproportionate migrant tradies building
Coalition leader Angus Taylor defended the party’s proposed immigration cuts on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, claiming they were necessary to raise productivity and living standards. Taylor argued Australia’s migration system should be focused on attracting workers with skills that increase productivity, rather than relying on population growth to drive economic activity. “We are reducing the
On 1 October, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese boasted on social media that banning card surcharges at stores would save Australians $1.6 billion a year: “Every time you tap, those little surcharges add up. Right now, they’re costing Aussies $1.6 billion each and every year”. “But from today, they’re banned”. Saving you money every time you
Newspoll has dispensed with two-party preferred polling since February this year, nominally owing to the rise of One Nation but probably because the Murdoch press finds it too painful to produce a weekly poll that describes Labour’s one-party state like a metronome. Today’s Newspoll is no different. More than one in two Australians want Anthony
Australia’s immigration system is overwhelmingly geared towards lower-skilled workers. Every skilled permanent visa class allows the primary applicant to include a spouse/partner and dependent children as secondary applicants. Even though they are counted in the skilled stream, secondary applicants do not need a skills assessment, meet occupation list requirements, a points test, or meet minimum
TME has the extremes. Extreme markets: The AI takeover The numbers are becoming extraordinary. AI now dominates US equity returns, earnings growth and investment spending. Meanwhile, most stocks are struggling, active managers face an increasingly difficult benchmark and the broader economy is becoming more dependent on a single investment cycle. But the story is getting
It has been a year since the Albanese government introduced its 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers, which lets them buy a home with only a 5% deposit, with taxpayers guaranteeing 15% of the purchase price and avoiding lenders’ mortgage insurance. Housing Minister Clare O’Neil posted a message on social media celebrating that Labor’s
Chinese property had a poo-brown holiday. No stimmies. Steel output is eeek. Demand not quite so horrible. The iron ore price appears to be holding the $90 line. But once adjusted for war freight costs, it is at $83.69 and falling daily. In fact, adjusting for grade brings it closer to the budget price forecast.
War headlines today. Iran accelerates Hormuz attacks, crushing oil flows. Trump readies pre-midterm strikes to preempt Iranian preemption. Houthis rain hell on Saudi airports. Yanbu resumes exports to Europe. Russia releases diesel nothingburger. Last week witnessed the largest number of Iranian ship attacks since the war started. Over the weekend, four more occurred, including in
In the commentary from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and other senior members of the government, the idea that the government is doing it tough because of X or Y issues stemming from external factors such as the war in the Middle East is often put forward as to why the economy or
State budgets are the biggest losers from what is shaping up to be the nation’s greatest housing correction in modern history. The biggest impact won’t come from falling dwelling prices but from a collapse in sales volume. According to Cotality, national home sales fell by 17.4% over the three months to September, including: Brisbane: -26.3%
The Reserve Bank’s latest interest rate hike has dealt a hammer blow to the property market. After last week’s final national auction clearance plunged to only 45.4%, the softest result since 19 July 2026, this week’s results are not much better. This weekend’s preliminary clearance rate was only 48.8%, a slight rise from last week
Below is CBA economist Lucinda Jerogin’s round-up of this week’s economic data: Key points: Australian consumer sentiment fell 4.7% in October to be among the weakest level since survey records began in the early 1970s. Building activity data showed residential activity strengthened in Q2 with commencements up 7.0%/qtr and completions rising 5.8% to their highest
For decades, the 60/40 portfolio was one of investing’s simplest solutions. Hold 60% in shares for growth and 40% in bonds for stability. When shares struggled, bonds were often there to cushion the blow. The challenge is that this relationship isn’t guaranteed. Since 2022, investors have had a harsh reminder that shares and bonds can
International Reading: $234 Billion In Student Loans Are Now In Default, And Things Are About To Get Worse – Forbes Inflation on many everyday items was entirely due to tariffs, NY Fed says – CNBC The ‘American dream’ just hit a staggering new price tag – Fast Company Trump says he doesn’t want Iran deal
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Integrated System Plan (ISP) is supposed to be a long-term roadmap for the National Electricity Market (NEM), outlining the least-cost pathway for generation, storage, and transmission to meet Australia’s energy needs and net zero emissions targets through 2050. The problem is that the ISP is a fantasy document, chock-full
For those who have lived through these tech bubbles before, the Firmus saga recalls the story of Chris “Two Bags” Tyler. A high-flying American entrepreneur, Tyler pioneered Solution 6, a tech darling of the 2000 bubble. Through the late 1990s, the swashbuckling Texan made a series of acquisitions to build Solution 6 into a $bn
Cotality data shows that for-sale listings are piling up across Australia, up 22% across the combined capital cities over the past year, driven by a surge in older listings in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide: At the same time, weak buyer demand has driven housing turnover down 19.1% year-on-year and is now tracking 13.3% below the
It has taken a while, but the Pilbara killer is now taking a machete to the Pilbara. FMG’s Sep QTR release yesterday was ugly. Realised prices is the lowest in four years. AS sub-benchmark ore discounts have ripped higher to 18%, the highest in six years. This is pretty striking given FMG also pulled roughly
The latest dwelling construction data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), released on Wednesday, revealed that only 180,546 homes were completed in the June 2026 year, 59,454 (25%) fewer than the National Housing Accord’s annual target of 240,000 dwellings a year. Over the first 24 months of the National Housing Accord, 124,183 fewer homes
TME with the analysis. Cracks everywhere European banks are breaking, France is the new periphery and the global fight for capital is getting more intense. But some of the trades reflecting that stress are starting to look stretched. Bond shorts are crowded, semis are diverging and silver has already seen a major positioning flush. The
War headlines. Iran bombs tankers outside Hormuz Iran bombs southern Hormuz Houthis bomb Saudi airports Madman says no attack before midterms. With Iran now going after the ship-to-ship transfer system outside the Gulf, oil jumped. Dated Brent is pushing for a breakout. STS transfers are a big deal. Diesel roared higher. JPM returns with more
As falling housing prices continue to spread to a growing share of the nation’s housing markets, downward revisions to price performance in various locales increasingly feel like par for the course. When Cotality released the latest revised housing price data at the start of the month, it revealed that housing price falls at a five-capital-city
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has hit out at the Coalition’s ‘smoke and mirrors’ immigration cuts, centrered around lower graduate and bridging visas, claiming that they risk lowering economic growth and damaging productivity: “The Federal Government is cutting critical workforces, One Nation’s proposed cuts risk a deep recession, and today’s Coalition commitment
I explained on Monday why Australia’s inflation problem is primarily domestically driven, in response to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ claim that the war in the Middle East, not excessive government spending, was driving inflation. Government spending is tracking at record pandemic levels (28% of GDP), even though the pandemic ended five years ago. Federal government spending
