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Oz Blog News Commentary
Renew Economy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:55 Source

Days after dumping its renewable energy targets and pledging billions of dollars in support of coal power generation, state launches rebate targeting solar for renters.

The post State launches rooftop solar for renters rebate into renewables policy vacuum appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Your Democracy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:51 Source

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose grandfather was a member of the Nazi Party, has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.

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Renew Economy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:46 Source

Golden Plains wind farm.Australia's biggest wind farm has been commissioned on time, and may have found a blueprint for others to follow.

The post From Rhombus of Regret to on-time commissioning: Australia’s biggest wind farm finds blueprint for grid success appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:19 Source

A groundbreaking trial to test an innovative alternative to rooftop solar export tariffs will run for another year and with double the number of participants.

The post Flexible payments versus sun tax: Groundbreaking rooftop PV exports trial to continue through 2026 appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:18 Source

Abundance defines the day as wind and solar curtailment hits new peaks, accounting for more than 90 per cent of one state's demand. More batteries then.

The post Wanted, more batteries as abundant wind and solar hit record curtailment levels appeared first on Renew Economy.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 14:00 Source

It’s going to be a busy week for the Australian dollar which has been on a tear recently against a broadening weakness building in USD (now down over 3% in two weeks). With a slew of central bank decisions in the next few days and the long awaited, delayed and possibly massaged US non-farm payrolls

The post Australian dollar on track for 67 cents appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 13:38 Source

Collie Battery Energy Storage System western australia synergyThe New South Wales government has given the planning green light to the $209 million Armidale battery energy storage system (BESS), which will boast capacity of 150 megawatts (MW)/437 megawatt-hours (MWh). The Armidale BESS is set to be built approximately 5 kilometres east of city of the same name in the New England region of […]

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 13:00 Source

SEEK has released its November labour market data, which contains both positives and negatives. SEEK reported a 0.5% decline in job ads over the month of November. Job ads were also down 0.9% over the quarter and 1.9% year-on-year. However, the number of applications per job ad held stable at a historically high level. The

The post Mixed news for Aussie job market appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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THE BLOT REPORT Monday, December 15, 2025 - 12:17 Source

After the horrendous events of December 14th, it didn’t take long before self-serving lies of people like Netanyahu surfaced. 

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 12:00 Source

The final report from the Federal Senate Inquiry into the Quality of Governance at Australian Higher Education Providers delivered a scathing assessment, largely focused on the corporatisation of public universities and its negative impact on students, staff, and the sector’s public mission. The report slammed “poor governance, wrongly focused decision-making, and poor employment practices” for

Read more Views: 39
MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:30 Source

Back in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping coined what has become a legendary phrase: “Housing is for living in and not for speculation.” For years after Xi uttered these now-famous words, many Chinese property investors refused to listen; they continued to pour trillions of dollars into property speculation, even as the number of empty homes

The post LNP embraces the CCP obviousness on housing appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Germany once operated over 22 GW of nuclear capacity, producing around 160 TWh annually at low cost and without emissions. Following the Fukushima accident in 2011, Berlin accelerated closures, shutting 8 GW immediately and completing the phase-out by 2023. However, renewables could not provide stable baseload power. As a result, the shortfall was filled by

The post Germany’s self-inflicted energy disaster appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 41
xkcd.com Monday, December 15, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Earth's r_jf is approximately 1.5 light-days, leading to general relativity's successful prediction that all the frogs in the Solar System should be found collected on the surface of the Earth.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 10:30 Source

Recently U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance retweeted a copy of a chart from Ice Cap Asset Management showing that growth in Canada’s GDP per capita had significantly underperformed both Britain and the United States since 2016. “While I’m sure the causes are complicated, no nation has leaned more into “diversity is our strength, we don’t

The post JD Vance vs Canada and Australia appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 10:00 Source

Life has gotten significantly more difficult for Australian tenants over the past five years. According to Cotality, the national median advertised rent soared by 43.8% over the five years to September 2025. As a result, the percentage of median household income required to meet the median advertised rent rose to a record high of 33.4%

The post The shocking decline in Australian rental affordability appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 09:28 Source

MB sympathises with all of those affected by yesterday’s Bondi disaster. We have only one thing to add to the fury. The Levantine war has been running in one form or another for over two millennia. Yet, in the post-OPEC era, it has never been less relevant to Australia. Why has the Australian government entered

The post Enter the endless war at own risk appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 09:00 Source

Friday night saw a large selloff on Wall Street due to tech stocks getting out of sync with reality on earnings while some hawkish talk by Fed officials saw more bond selloffs as Treasury yields pipped higher again.  The USD continued its dive against Euro and gold while the Australian dollar remained relatively strong to

The post Macro Morning appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 08:00 Source

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release the official population and net overseas migration (NOM) data for the June quarter of 2025 on Thursday. Ahead of this release, the latest population indicators from the ABS are pointing to rising NOM. On Friday, the ABS released monthly net permanent and long-term (NPLT) arrivals data for

The post All indicators point to rising immigration appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 45
Your Democracy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 07:56 Source

The earth has moved under our feet, and our massive security gamble is crumbling, but the government pretends nothing has happened, writes Michael Pascoe.

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Your Democracy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 06:55 Source

Donald Trump’s latest National Security Strategy memorandum treats the freedom to coerce others as the essence of US sovereignty. It is an ominous document that will – if allowed to stand – come back to haunt the United States.

Read more Views: 41
Your Democracy Monday, December 15, 2025 - 06:05 Source

In Botticelli’s masterpiece Pallas and the Centaur (1482-83), to be seen at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, the Firenze-Athena parallel is unmistakable, with Florence depicted as the new Athens.

Pallas Athena (or Minerva), after all is the Goddess of Knowledge. Here a flowery Firenze – or Firenze Flora, to remind us of another Botticelli masterpiece, the Primavera – is shown as the quintessential emblem of civilitas.

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George Monbiot Monday, December 15, 2025 - 02:07 Source

Immigration is the only thing that will keep wealthy nations viable.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  12th december 2025

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MacroBusiness Monday, December 15, 2025 - 00:05 Source

The collapse in Australia’s labour productivity is well documented. An OECD analysis published in The AFR found that Australia ranked second-last among wealthy nations in productivity growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. EY’s chief economist, Cherelle Murphy, says the decline in Australia’s productivity is partly attributable to “capital shallowing”—the fact that local companies are not investing

Read more Views: 78
Your Democracy Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 22:24 Source

Police say at least 10 people have been killed in a shooting near a Jewish gathering at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

One shooter was killed, while another is in custody. 

Authorities say there is no longer an active threat but have urged people to avoid the area.

Read more Views: 44
Renew Economy Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 19:06 Source

Alinta Loy Yang B power stationLoy Yang B coal generator owner says it will be the last to close in the state, but is in no hurry to discuss timings. But there are plans for a syncon and even an 8-hour battery.

The post “It will be the last to close:” Loy Yang owner plans syncon and batteries but is in no hurry to shut down coal plant appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 53
THE BLOT REPORT Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 16:53 Source

We have just been to a movie matinee put on by some friends of ours. The movie was Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’1, which I haven’t seen for a few decades. While the movie was made in 1946, it has many resonances with the modern world. 

It is set in small-town America (of course), and the brief blurb on the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) encapsulates it as follows: “An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman see the value of his own life”1.

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Your Democracy Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 15:28 Source

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Your Democracy Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 12:11 Source

[INTERESTINGLY, GUS RECENTLY HAD A SIMILAR DISCUSSION — ALBEIT MUCH SHORTER — WITH SOMEONE WHO "DIDN'T KNOW" THE INFLUENCE OF THE JEWS ON THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION....] 

A correspondent who goes by the moniker “Gennadiy Gessen” emailed me three years ago with a litany of questions. He sought to challenge me on a number of issues. What follows is our exchange, which is rather lengthy.

 

Read more Views: 57
MacroBusiness Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 10:44 Source

Cotality’s preliminary auction results show that buyer demand continues to wilt in Sydney, where the preliminary clearance rate has fallen to a 12-month low of just 58.1%. “While the reduction in volume is following the typical seasonal pattern, the gradual easing in auction clearance rates, which has been evident since mid-September, has more to do

The post Sydney’s housing market stalls as affordability bites appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 71
Your Democracy Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 10:24 Source

The famed Liberal Party powerbroker Walter Villatora is a former campaign manager for Mike Baird and Tony Abbott. Believing the “Liberal Party is finished”, he resigned his membership last week to start his own conservative party, Reform Australia.

 

Ex-Liberal Party powerbroker says ‘the party is over’

Read more Views: 69

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