The AFR hates nothing more than a resolution to eastern Australia’s energy woes. But there is good news today from the old hag. APA Group has committed to the east coast pipline expansion needed to ship QLD south during peak demand periods, instead of building LNG import terminals. The investment includes $260 million for compression
DXY is threatening to break higher again as Iran and oil heat up. AUD can’t catch a bid with China closed and JPY falling. Oil and gold are on the up as geopolitical risk rises. Not so good for AI metals, which still look rather nastily topped out. Big miners are momo, not fundamentals. Is
In the years since the pandemic and high inflation began impacting the Australian economy, the nation’s workers have gone backwards dramatically. Today, inflation-adjusted wages sit at roughly the same point as they did at the start of 2010, erasing all of the progress of the last 16 years. As the chart below, based on the
Build Skills Australia’s recent report claimed that there aren’t enough tradespeople to meet Labor’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years, which is currently tracking 27% below target. According to Build Skills Australia, Australia’s housing construction rate per new resident has plummeted, even though the number of homes built over the last 20
Is there anything our government does right? Having single-handedly created a monster black market valued at $5.6 billion (ranging from $4.1 billion to $6.9 billion), Canberra now wants to take a piece of the action. Up to 1.5 million Australians are predicted to be buying cigarettes on the black market in what has been described
Tobacco excise has climbed by around 60% since 2020 and now accounts for more than two-thirds of the legal cost of a packet of cigarettes. While illegal cigarettes are easily accessible and cost between $10 and $15 for a pack of 20, a legal packet of cigarettes now costs $40 or more. Therefore, despite higher
I have been bullish on gold for a few years, but my view has recently pivoted to “sell the rips”. My reasoning for this is that the drivers of the gold rally have been materially weakened in recent weeks. First, we had the appointment of Kevin Warsh as the successor to the FOMC chair. He
Via the ABS comes Labor Force in seasonally adjusted terms for January 2026: unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. participation rate remained at 66.7%. employment increased to 14,703,800. employment to population ratio decreased to 63.9%. underemployment rate increased to 5.9%. monthly hours worked increased to 2,013 million. full-time employment increased by 50,500 to 10,155,500 people. part-time
The federal government’s latest State of the Environment (SOE) Report explicitly ranked population growth as having a “very high impact” on Australia’s biodiversity, outranking climate change. The report states that “population growth contributes to all the pressures described” and that “each person added to our population increases demand on natural resources to provide food, shelter
Because a banker said it, the AFR reckons it must be true! National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Irvine has warned that the nation has hit “peak Australia” and will not grow unless productivity improves, as data revealed real wages have gone backwards for the first time in two years, intensifying the economic challenge facing