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
The Albanese government continues to import people into Australia at a furious rate, with 96,110 net permanent and long-term (NPLT) arrivals in February, the third-strongest February result on record, behind 2025 (111,740) and 2024 (105,460). Over the year to February 2026, 478,910 NPLT arrivals landed in Australia, down from the all-time peaks of 498,270 recorded
Bloomie. Western Australia will establish its own strategic reserves of diesel fuel to ease âacute shortages,â the stateâs government said. The government signed a deal with Cambridge Gulf Ltd. to buy and store 4 million liters of diesel, which is expected to arrive in the coming weeks, according to a statement. The inventory may be expanded to 12
A week or so ago, Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi made the unexpected announcement that she would be travelling to Australia by the end of the month. Clearly, her visit is part of an intensifying diplomatic frenzy across Asia to secure energy supplies. Yet, the arrival of Japan’s political gojeerah has special significance for both countries.
TME with the charts. Complacency is back Panic gone. Volatility crushed. Complacency back. The flip SPX futures are nearing the 7k level, with range highs just above. Downside panic has flipped into upside chasing, while vols have reset to pre-war levels. Chart 2 (SPX vs. VIX, inverted) shows the gap has narrowed materially from peak
Tobacco excise has increased by over 60% since 2020, accounting for more than two-thirds of the legal cost of a pack of cigarettes. While illegal cigarettes are widely available and cost between $10 and $15 per pack of 20, a legal pack of cigarettes currently costs $40 or more. As a result, despite increasing taxes,
Roy Morgan with the news. Overall Australian unemployment and under-employment at 3.4 million in March; âReal Unemploymentâ at 1.69 million In March 2026, Australian ârealâ unemployment dropped 28,000 to 1,693,000 (10.5% of the workforce, down 0.1%), and under-employment dropped 205,000 to 1,687,000 (down 1.2% to 10.4%). Given the data is not seasonally adjusted, the only
The Chinese property crash continues unabated. YTD sales for new property are down a meaty 21%. The secondary market exit is still jammed with fleeing investors. Asking prices no bueno. Inventory no bueno. Completions no bueno. Meanwhile, March credit is out, and it’s no bueno too. Aggregate financing increased by 7.9% year over year in
Due to its immense size, isolation, and industry composition (i.e., heavy mining and agriculture), Australia is literally one of the most diesel-dependent economies in the world. The following chart from CBA shows that Australia consumed 7.7 barrels of diesel per person in 2024, the highest out of the nations surveyed: “Australia uses more diesel per
There was a certain inevitability to it. Amusing riposte here. And with that, we shall move on to his idiotic war, which today shows little progress. The outlook for fuel shortages is basically unchanged, with OECD inventories still to reach critical lows in early May, after which Australia will have a devil of a time
Amidst Labor’s consideration of NDIS reform, federal Greens leader Larissa Waters took to Twitter (now known as X) to make the argument that cutting the NDIS is “bad economics”. Waters claimed that for “Every dollar spent on the NDIS puts $2.25 back into the economy”. This is based on the findings of a report from
The latest consumer sentiment survey from the Westpac Melbourne Institute, released on Tuesday, revealed that Australians have become more pessimistic about house prices. The house price expectations index fell by 10.2% in April but remains fairly bullish overall. On the other hand, homebuyer sentiment rose by 3.5% in April but remained soft by historical standards.
According to the most recent CommBank Wage Insights, Australia’s wage growth is steady amid growing prices and uncertainty across the world. Wages rose by 0.8% in the three months leading up to March 2026, with annual growth remaining at 3.1%, according to de-identified data from about 400,000 accounts. This implies that since mid-2025, wage growth
They never learn. They are paid not to. The LNP is out with its new performance-based phoney immigration policy. Unknown leader Seabass Taylor suggests switching from a system that is non-discriminatory to one that evaluates immigrants based on how well they align with national values. This would include establishing explicit behavioural guidelines and making the
The Westpac index of consumer sentiment for April is out and has crashed to its lowest level since COVID, following the surge in fuel prices and rising inflation concerns. “At 80, the Index is back near historical lows, albeit above the extremes seen at the onset of the pandemic and during the recessions of the
WTF is wrong with this place! FLINDERS UNIVERSITY AWARDS HONORARY DOCTORATE TO ESTEEMED FINANCE, MEDIA & BUSINESS LEADER, DAVID KOCH David Koch AMâŻhasâŻtodayâŻbeen awarded anâŻHonorary Doctor of the University from Flinders University in recognitionâŻof his contribution asâŻone of Australia’s most prominent financial commentators and media professionals, who continues to use his extensiveâŻexpertiseâŻto advocate for small business and to
Last month, Tim Toohey from Yarra Capital warned that if AI is “deployed at scale in Australia over the next two years”, then the nation’s unemployment rate could rise to above 6% from 4.3% currently: Shortly afterwards, a Mercer survey of Australian senior executives, human resources personnel, and employees revealed that 100% of HR managers believed
Since the war in the Middle East erupted, I have noticed that traffic around Melbourne has been severely reduced due to rising fuel costs. The reduced traffic on the roads has provided a clear benefit to those with higher incomes, who are less affected by higher fuel costs and place a higher value on their
The ALP is pretending to care about gas taxes. Labor backbenchers are lobbying Treasurer Jim Chalmers to extract more tax revenue from gas exporters to sooth voter anger about resource profits, although some now believe the Middle East conflict will scuttle changes that might have been included in the federal budget. …Multiple Labor MPs told
JPM with another excellent note. …reopening the Strait has become the marketâs most time sensitive priority. The last tanker to clear Hormuz on February 28 is expected to reach its destination around April 20, marking the point at which preclosure barrels are fully exhausted from the global supply chain. Yetâand contrary to our expectationsâlarge-scale refinery
Throughout human history, the psychology of nation leaders has often been just as pivotal in shaping the outcomes that define the geopolitical landscape as almost any other factor. In the age of U.S. President Donald Trump and a more uncertain and volatile world more broadly, the psychology of leaders, most notably Trump himself, is absolutely
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) wage price index for the December quarter revealed that real inflation-adjusted wages declined by 0.3% in 2025 and were tracking 6% below their Covid-19 ‘bubble’ peak of around late 2011 levels: The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) forecasts laid out in its February Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) suggested
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, folks take a government-issued pill whenever they feel less than 100% happy, to keep them in line. In Albo’s Brave New Australia, he has inverted this paradigm to provide a fiscal incentive to feel sick so that folks can tap a similar government-supplied narcotic to feel better. I refer,
According to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance data, $19.310 billion in mortgages were issued to first-time home buyers during the December quarter of 2025. This was a 16% gain over the previous quarter and the highest value since the first quarter of 2021: The average size of first home buyer
Has Albo grown a backbone at last? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flagged an expansion in gas production but stopped short of ruling out higher taxes on exports in the May budget, as Singapore warned it would look elsewhere if Australian energy became too expensive. Albanese met Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday as
Robert Gottliebsen of The Australian newspaper claims that the original financial estimates for proceeding with a renewable energy plan in NSW and Victoria were pure fiction and completely underestimated the project’s complexity and cost. After collaborating with Aidan Morrison of the Centre for Independent Studies, Gottliebsen argues that the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) had
