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
CBA notes that two key data points will determine whether the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will hike the official cash rate (OCR) at its next meeting in August, namely: This week’s Labour Force Survey (23 July); and The June CPI the following week (29 July). May’s labour force report from the Australian Bureau of
So let us get this right. We have a profoundly despised mainstream left and right in Australian politics. They can both lay claim to, inter alia, insane house prices, energy policy failure, exporting the Australian manufacturing sector, blowing the once-in-a-lifetime mining boom proceeds on the already affluent, trashing Australian education, and the population ponzi. Set
After recording a slight bounce last week, which lifted the final capital city auction clearance rate to 48.5%, the auction market has renewed its march lower. This weekend, the preliminary auction clearance rate fell back to 50%, down from 54.8% the week prior (which was revised lower to 48.5% once finalised). Melbourne was the strongest
International Reading: ‘Go Out and Buy a Dell’: Trump Touted 20+ Corporations Days After Buying Their Stock – Common Dreams Oil companies are making billions. In the U.S., calls to tax their windfall are growing – NPR America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows — the worst in the OECD – Fortune
This week’s housing data showed that the nation’s housing downturn has both steepened and broadened. First, the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey revealed that house price expectations continued to fall in June, reflecting the actual value declines recorded across the nation’s housing market. The latest survey was also the first time since March
TME with the charts. Technical correction Semis have entered a technical correction and are on the verge of a bear market after falling 16% from June’s all-time high. Technicals have deteriorated, volatility has exploded and positioning remains crowded—but several indicators still argue the cycle may have further to run. Here are the charts everyone is
I reported on Wednesday that, over the first 21 months of the National Housing Accord, Australia’s dwelling completion rate has fallen 112,400 (27%) behind the target, which requires 240,000 homes to be built annually for five consecutive years. The following table summarises how each of Australia’s states and territories is tracking against the targets of
Ryan Stokes is a classic modern Australian whinger, no different to his bogan cousin seeking a Centrelink handout, other than his aftershave. SGH supports a reliable, affordable and well-supplied domestic gas market. We are 100 per cent Australian and sit on both sides of the energy value chain. We are a gas producer, and through
Australia’s housing market has endured more than 25 years of demand-side policy stimulus in the form of home buyer grants, shared equity schemes, low-deposit schemes, and the like. Every single time one of these policies has been implemented, they have added fuel to Australia’s housing bonfire and helped propel home values higher. As a result,
Yes, another indicator of decline. Saily’s Internet Connectivity Index 2026 The top ten: Rank Country Score 1 Estonia 65.98 2 Lithuania 65.55 3 Denmark 64.78 4 Portugal 63.50 5 France 63.11 6 Netherlands 61.82 7 Austria 61.59 8 Moldova 60.98 9 Luxembourg 60.90 10 Finland 60.74 Australia is 45th (57.13) bringing up the rear in
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia employed 2.6 million bureaucrats for $250 billion each year in 2024-25. The Australian Public Service Commission has opened negotiations for a new APS enterprise agreement covering ~200,000 federal public servants across 108 agencies. Nine unions are involved, but the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) will
They are EVERYWHERE. In all media. In all governments. In all corporations. Post-Marxist stormtroopers have invaded Australia. What is a post-Marxist stormtrooper? It is a one-eyed woke fool who believes the answer to every problem is more government. Income distribution. More government. Social disruption. More government. Immigration. More government. Suicide rates. More government. Racism, anti-Semitism
Professor Pape has been the seer of this war. The military conflict between the United States and Iran has entered a new and more dangerous phase. Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continues to deteriorate. Insurance costs are climbing. Cruise missile attacks have expanded beyond drones. Washington has now openly committed itself to restoring
Over the decades of available data going back to the 1980s, there have been three major departures from the trend on the metric of additional working-age persons (civilians 15 and over) per additional dwelling completion. In each instance, in the mid-to-late 1980s, the kick-off of the ‘Big Australia’ period through to shortly after the GFC
The single most pressing issue facing the Australian economy is poor productivity growth. Australia has ranked among the poorest in the OECD over the past decade on labour productivity growth. ‘Capital shallowing’ is one reason for Australia’s poor productivity growth. Put simply, the nation’s population has expanded faster than business, infrastructure, and housing investment, resulting
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), New Zealand house prices have fallen for more than 4.5 years after peaking in late 2021. The REINZ reported that house prices declined another 0.3% in June to be down 0.8% over the year. June house sales also declined by 1% in June to be
There is nothing Canberra likes better than killing the economy and you along with it. Albo’s AI speech yesterday was a classic case of announcing a new Department of Government Department to implement new legislative requirements for AI and data centres at the beginning of next year. Concerned about the environmental impact of AI data
The rise in consumer spending is a major factor behind the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary tightening, which has delivered three 25 bp rate hikes this year. The latest Household Spending Insights (HSI) from CBA, which is based on de-identified payments (i.e., credit card, debit card, keypad transactions, ATM, BPAY, Buy Now Pay Later and
CSIRO is out with its new annual GenCost, and it has addressed the sceptics of previous reports who quite rightly accused it of rigging the results by excluding the costs of the transmission buildout, to boost the appeal of renewables. The result is this: Historically, GenCost modelling relied on the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE)
There are two primary reasons why the federal government favours high levels of immigration. First, immigration boosts the economy as measured by GDP. As a result, implementing a high-immigration strategy allows the government to claim it is a competent economic manager, even when per capita GDP growth is negative (as it is currently) and individual
TME with the data. Maybe just take some risk off the table Nobody ever rings a bell at the top. But when retail is buying with both hands, fund managers are max long, cash levels trigger sell signals and valuations eclipse the dot-com era, maybe the smartest trade before boarding the plane is selling just
OECD data shows Australia has one of the highest income‑tax burdens on average workers in the developed world. Meanwhile, tax receipts from indirect sources like excises are shrinking as consumers shift to untaxed illegal tobacco and electric vehicles. Australia’s consumption taxes via the GST are also relatively low compared with OECD peers. This leaves personal
Between the beginning of April and the end of June, China’s economic growth drastically slowed as the oil shock hammered domestic demand. As we know, Chinese oil imports fell 6mb/d during the war, the largest buffer in the world, According to official GDP data, the second-largest economy in the world expanded by 4.3% in the
The news for the war is all bad. Pentagon announces second wave of strikes later Wednesday, the after initial 90-minute attack to start the day. Trump threatens wider strikes unless Iran returns to talks – says attacks to ‘expand’ next week. Wednesday saw 5th strait day of US bombardment on chiefly Iranian coastal sites. Iran hits US-Gulf bases and
When the pandemic first arrived on Australia’s shores in early 2020, it set off a fascinating economic experiment on a grand scale: what would productivity growth look like without not only high migration but no migration at all? In principle, migration should significantly boost productivity, as the government can select the best and brightest individuals
