Blogotariat

(Cross posted from On Line Opinion)

Australians are very mindful of prejudice and discrimination in our community, and rightly so. Yet, many prejudices are so fashionable and pervasive that they go unnoticed.

I am a member of an ethnic and cultural group called Whyjens. It is with some shame that I acknowledge our massive over-representation in the prison population. This fact is routinely and publicly interpreted as an indication of our intrinsically violent nature. It is variously blamed on genes and/or culture both in the Australian and the Guardian.

On 14 March, when the AUKUS nuclear powered-submarine details were revealed, I spent most of the day in the Emergency Department of a hospital in Brisbane, with a family member needing urgent medical care.

Below is an article I wrote for News.com.au: Against the odds, Australian house prices are rising in the face of ongoing interest rate rises. PropTrack’s dwelling values index recorded a 0.2 per cent rise in February, which followed January’s 0.1 per cent increase. Based on the rebound in auction clearance rates this month, prices will

The post Is Australia’s property recovery for real? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Along with my protein and fibre, I’ve been trying to hit some sleep goals since I started strength training. I’m not the complete idiot I used to be about going to bed.

Felafel, for instance, was written between 11pm and 5am. Someone over at the Boob said it was the ‘most ADHD’ book they’d ever read. I get that, but I don’t think I have ADHD. I just don’t tick enough boxes, and I have a whole degree in psychological box-ticking.

Economist Warren Hogan has warned the decline in housing approvals alongside the flood of migrants will have a “brutal” impact on the rental markets in Sydney and Melbourne, and will see an increase in homelessness. “If it is not in a crisis yet, this surge of migration will absolutely push the rental market in Sydney

The post Australia faces “brutal” rental shortage appeared first on MacroBusiness.

As usual, business groups are lobbying the Fair Work Commission hard to ensure the minimum wage rises by far less than inflation. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has asked for a 3.5% minimum wage increase, or 75c an hour, to $841.04 a week. That would be less than half the December quarter

The post Labor talks sense on minimum wage appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released data on the value of mortgages outstanding, which shows that mortgage growth fell to just 1.0% over the February quarter. This was the slowest rate of growth since October 2020: Mortgage growth has tanked across both owner-occupiers (1.2%) and investors (0.6%): Annual mortgage growth has also fallen

The post Aussie mortgage crash rolls on appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Tiresome perhaps but this is the nature of the beast. The Market Ear shows why.  Positioning lows at equity highs Tactical backdrop right now is needless to say explosive. Positioning & sentiment indicators are very depressed and equities are trading resilient and also looking to break out. Here are some new charts that we are

The post Another bear market rally appeared first on MacroBusiness.

CoreLogic’s daily dwelling values index results for March are out with values rising 0.8% across the five major Australian capital cities: It was the first monthly rise in values since April 2022, and the largest rise since January 2022. The increase in values was driven by Sydney, where prices boomed by 1.4%. Values also rose

The post Sydney house prices go BOOM! appeared first on MacroBusiness.

One of Australia’s greatest China friends is on the hustings: Dr Forrest also said it had been important to get the message across that Australia’s $360bn investment in nuclear-powered submarines was for defensive purposes and would not be used to attack China. “In meetings with Chinese officials, I have made it really clear that there

The post AUKUS shocks Twiggy Forrest senseless appeared first on MacroBusiness.

This is fascinating: Australia’s “quiet quitting” of its LNG export juggernaut is making the world less safe, both on climate and for the Western-based geopolitical order, said the head of Inpex Corp, whose $60 billion plus investment in Darwin’s Ichthys projects makes it Japan’s single biggest global foreign investment play. In a scathing speech to

The post Gas cartel overreach comes back to haunt it appeared first on MacroBusiness.