The larger the nation’s bureaucracy, the worse the policymaking. Data from the Australian Public Service Commission (APS) shows that the number of federal public servants increased by 7.4% in 2024-25, to a record high of 198,529. The public service headcount has increased by 24.7%—or 39,350 people—since Labor took office in May 2022. The APS report
In 2024, the NSW Productivity Commission warned that excessive housing costs were driving younger residents out of Sydney, resulting in a “brain drain” of 30- to 40 year olds. The NSW Productivity Commission found Sydney lost about 35,000 people aged 30-40 between 2016 and 2021. This week, Cotality released its September quarter housing affordability report, which
The robots are coming for your job. Expected capex is through the roof. Via the ABS. Total capital expenditure Estimate 4 for 2025-26 is $191.3b This is 9.4% higher than Estimate 3 for 2025-26 In this very rare case, the outcome is not related to mining. It is AI. Whoa! Westpac is bullish for GDP.
There are some days when an economist can only shake his head in appalled wonder. After the shock jump in monthly inflation on Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was still weighing up whether to extend the federal subsidy that is due to expire next month. …National Australia Bank chief economist Sally Auld said
On Thursday morning, a press release from APRA with the headline: ‘APRA to limit high debt-to-income home loans to constrain riskier lending’ At first glance, it sounds perfectly reasonable, but once one begins to read into the details, it swiftly becomes clear that it is yet another one of APRA’s wet lettuce leaf approaches to
With Wall Street closed for Thanksgiving there wasn’t much of a boost for risk markets across the trading complex, with most stock indices finishing where they started and currencies holding on to their recent gains against the USD. The likely rate cut by the Fed in its December meeting is still in play with USD
DXY was soft overnight with US markets closed for Turkey Day. AUD firmed. CNY stable. The Japanese bust is contained by the Fed. Commodoties were weak without the Wall St inflation pump. EM stocks OK. Junk OK. Yields OK. Stocks closed. Societe Generale has the rub. The RBNZ inspired a big FX move overnight by
This week saw the release of two important housing affordability reports from Cotality and Proptrack. Turning to Cotality’s report first, it showed that the median home price relative to median household income nationally hit a record high of 8.2 in Q3 2025, up from 6.4 five years earlier in Q3 2020. The amount of income
Asian equity markets are generally up with the lack of a lead tonight as Wall Street will be closed for thanksgiving (thanking the AI bubble that is stuffing the stock market turkey that it is). Movement has been more regional as Chinese markets react to the latest and slow industrial production numbers while locally capex
Undoubtedly, the deterioration in quality has been obvious for years in eastern metropolitan dailies and continues. However, it is important to note that the drivers of the decline have changed marginally. A few months ago, the parent company of the papers sold Domain to the American Costar Group. This raises the question of why Nine