Westpac was caught up in a responsible lending scandal in 2018, where it admitted to breaching responsible lending laws by approving over 10,000 home loans that should not have been automatically approved. The bank used an automated loan assessment system that relied on the Household Expenditure Measure (HEM)—a benchmark for living expenses—rather than evaluating customers’
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) population data has become a lottery. The population estimates in the Q3 2024 and Q4 2024 national accounts releases (here and here) differed wildly from the official quarterly population statistics released a few weeks later. The Q1 2025 national accounts, released on Wednesday, implied that Australia’s population growth accelerated
The Market Ear on one winner as US growth fades. Breaking out Gold extending the move above the short term trend line. So far the bounce on the 50 day and the longer term trend line have been pretty much perfect. A close here, or higher, and we will start talking about all time highs.
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By Stephen Saunders Here’s Mr Albanese, pretending to re-fly the Coalition’s east-coast gas reservation, outing his 40-year emissions-rich “surprise” for Woodside NW Shelf gas, while smirking “it’s net zero, not zero”. At Election 2025, Peter Dutton kicked the own-goal of nuclear-net-zero. Reappointed Albanese Labor climate-Svengali Chris Bowen still spruiks 43% emissions reduction towards net zero.
Poor old McGoo, does it again it. From Goldman: Overall, the late-2024 pick-up in Australian economic momentum looks to have faltered in 1Q2025, raising downside risks to the RBA’s (recently downgraded) forecast consumer recovery. Looking ahead, a substantial RBA easing cycle will be required to spur a sustainable growth into private demand in our view,
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested that Labor would negotiate with the Coalition on superannuation reforms, raising the prospect that it would abandon its proposal to tax unrealised capital gains. However, Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday slammed the door on that notion, stating that Labor would strike a deal with the Greens that
Wednesday’s national accounts release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Australia’s per capita GDP declined by 0.2% in Q1 2025 and by 0.4% year-on-year. This represented the ninth decline in eleven quarters, with per capita GDP down a total of 1.7% over that period. The overall GDP growth of 0.2% also badly
DXY at the brink. Lousy jobs Friday will push it over. Its Costanza Day for the AUD. The China/ Australia marriage. Gold poised. Metals lagging. Miners meh. EM meh. Junk meh. Yield relief. Bad news is good news. It a lousy ISM services and ADP that the market moving with hope of Fed relief. The
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Last night saw the release of the latest US ISM services and private jobs data reports and both slumped below market expectations, halting the mini rally on Wall Street and tanking the USD once again. More talk but no resulting trade deals couldn’t lift King Dollar as the Trump regime patiently waits for the, let
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I found myself home alone last night, and with my new Neff oven finally installed, I figured it was time to check out some features.
Earlier in the day, I’d picked up a small rolled pork loin, and I spent some time reading about the oven’s built-in meat thermometer and steamer function. I couldn’t quite figure out how to use the steamer and still crisp the pork crackling at the same time, so I put that aside for a future cook.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) valued education exports at $51 billion in 2023-24, suggesting a massive benefit to the Australian economy. The ABS estimates this astonishing export figure using “an average spend estimate from Tourism Research Australia … supplemented by the addition of total expenditure on course fees”. The ABS incorrectly classifies all international
The Q1 national accounts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) were released on Wednesday, which revealed that per capita GDP fell back into negative territory following a brief respite in Q4 2024. Real per capita GDP declined by 0.2% in Q1. This represented the ninth quarterly decline in the past 11 quarters, with per
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