A national interest policy process is one in which a well-informed government determines its policy settings via a specialist area of the bureaucracy. Next, the draft policy is released, and parliamentarians make well-understood arguments to the public via an intelligent media with its own specialists. Having fortified the polity with knowledge, the government might then
A new report from Oxfam claims that the capital gains tax (CGT) discount and negative gearing are “disproportionately” benefiting Australia’s wealthiest, fuelling the housing affordability crisis and inequality, and harming the federal budget. Accordingly, Oxfam has called on the government to “properly tax wealth and restore a progressive tax system that works for working people”.
It appears that the government-funded jobs printer of the Albo era is slowing faster than the crushed private sector economy of the Albo era can catch up. Public spending has been much more labour-intensive than private spending, given its focus on the bedpan economy. There is mounting evidence that this is resulting in a softening
This week’s consumer sentiment survey from Westpac revealed that Australian house price expectations are at their highest level in 15 years, following a 2.1% rise in October. Westpac also noted that “expectations are stronger still in Queensland (184)”. Queensland’s housing market has boomed following the pandemic to become the nation’s second most expensive jurisdiction after
In last week’s monetary policy decision, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the official cash rate on hold, citing resurgent inflation risks. The RBA’s statement noted that “the decline in underlying inflation has slowed”, with “recent data, while partial and volatile, suggest[ing] that inflation in the September quarter may be higher than
The ferrous complex remains paralysed by too much versus too much hope. Some Morgan Stanley charts illustrate the point. Steel is weak globally and abundant in China still. We are about to witness the weakest New Year restock in history, just as Chinese steel exports top out on trade wars. Iron ore is everywhere! The
What we are seeing in many markets today is exactly what I expected to see when I made my 40 cents AUD call a few years ago. American exceptionalism is alive in the AI bubble but severely crimped by anti-Trumpian capital flows. The Chinese economy is slowly dying, but propped up as it pours money
Being a renter in Australia is like competing in the Hunger Games. After borders reopened in late 2021, temporary migrants flooded into Australia in record volumes: As a result, rents surged and vacancy rates collapsed: At the end of 2024, Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) reported that the percentage of household income spent on rents hit a
Queenscliff pier at sunrise AUD/USD EUR/USD USD/JPY GBP/USD Gold….we are now in parabola mode… West Texas Intermediate Brent Australia 200 US S&P 500 UK 100 Japan 225 Videos
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The NSW government has been criticised for blocking Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for access to taxpayer-funded reports on the likely impact of closing down coal-fired power stations on electricity prices. The government has commissioned at least 10 reports, studies, and presentations between June 2024 and July 2025 on the impact of its emissions reduction