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Oz Blog News Commentary

Without productivity growth, living standards won’t grow

February 19, 2026 - 00:01 -- Admin

I was interviewed via email earlier this week by Harrison Christian, a senior reporter at News.com.au, asking why the US economy is performing so much better than Australia’s. In particular: US real GDP growth is 4.4%, compared with Australia’s 2.1%. US CPI inflation is 2.4% compared with Australia’s 3.8%. The US is still cutting interest

University financial claims are full of self-serving errors

February 18, 2026 - 13:00 -- Admin

By Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor at Sydney University and author of the book “Australia’s Universities, Can They Reform” Universities Australia (UA) has published its pre-budget submission, and it opens with the claim that its members educate “1.5 million Australians every year”. That is incorrect. They educate roughly 1.5 million people every year—of whom only about