Category Archives: Australian economy

Australia’s richest captured 93% of economic growth between 2009 financial crisis and Covid, paper shows

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Wealthiest 10% captured growth in company profits while most Australians watched their real wages shrink, Australia Institute finds

A new paper from the Australia Institute shows 93% of the benefits of economic growth between 2009 and 2019 went to the top 10%, while the bottom 90% received just 7%.

The paper shows the share of economic growth going to the top 10% over that period was far higher in Australia than in other developed countries, including the US and Canada.

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Essential workers unable to afford to rent alone almost anywhere in Australia, report shows

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Aged care workers in capital cities would have to spend 77% of their pay on housing to pay the average rent of $572 a week

Soaring rents have made living alone impossible for Australia’s essential workers: new research shows some would have to spend around two-thirds of their income to afford a place on their own.

Comparing the average weekly unit rents against award wages for 15 essential jobs, the national housing campaign Everybody’s Home found there were virtually no regions of Australia where a single full-time essential worker, such as those in aged care, early childhood or nursing, could afford to rent by themselves.

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Housing values in some wealthy Australian suburbs have slumped more than a quarter, data reveals

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Affluent areas of capital cities ‘lead both the upswing and the downturn’, according to property data expert

Housing prices in some of Australia’s most affluent suburbs have had the biggest falls from pandemic peaks. Some high-end houses and apartments have lost more than a quarter of their value.

Nationwide data shows that many of the same wealthy areas that enjoyed exuberant price runs in the years leading up to and the initial period of the pandemic have now retraced the most.

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Value of Australian lithium exports tipped to match thermal coal in five years

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Revenue from mining key metal used in EV batteries to triple by 2027-28 while thermal coal exports set to fall by more than 70%

Exports of Australian lithium – a key metal used in batteries – are expected to earn as much as sales of thermal coal within five years, as the world increasingly embraces clean energy and the market value of fossil fuels falls.

New data released by the Australian government forecasts local lithium production will double and the industry’s revenue will triple by 2027-28 compared with last financial year.

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Australia’s booming banks should do more to protect customers from scams, advocates say

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More than $95m has been lost to scams so far this year, while the big four are expected to make more than $33bn

With the big four banks tipped to make record profits this financial year, consumer rights advocates are calling for financial institutions to invest more in protecting customers against scams.

Australians have lost more than $96m to scams so far this year, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission estimating that is just the tip of the iceberg as most go unreported.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton confirms Liberals will campaign against Indigenous voice to parliament

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Opposition leader continues his narrative of calling the proposal a ‘divisive Canberra voice’. Follow the day’s news

Birmingham calls for end to culture wars on ‘fringe issues’

So Simon Birmigham wants the party to modernise, but keep its Liberal values. So essentially ditch the culture wars and get back to Liberal basics – small government, small business, families (although Birmingham argues for inclusive family support now).

Well, it is, in that it concerns only a relatively small numbers of people, frankly, on either side of the debate. And so having, in the lead-up to the Aston byelection, debate ensuing in the Victorian division of the Liberal party around trans rights, Nazis, all of those sorts of things that were being thrown around, was clearly very, very counterproductive.

And I think that’s acknowledged right across the leadership of the Liberal party. And so trying to make sure that, whilst there has to be space to deal with issues where international sporting organisations are making rules and laws, but we shouldn’t take that into into a realm where suddenly there are public protests supported by Liberal MPs or anything that suggests there is a sense of disrespect other than careful, thoughtful policy consideration.

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Australia news live: seizure of $270m worth of heroin is Queensland’s biggest; RBA interest rates decision due

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Australians will find out at 2.30pm AEST whether the Reserve Bank will pause its interest rates hikes after 10 consecutive rises. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, says becoming a republic is “inevitable” even if Australians are proud to have the British monarch as their head of state.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Smith told the Times newspaper that most British people would be “indifferent” to Australia getting rid of the monarchy and it would not damage the countries’ relationship.

There is a lot of affection and respect for the monarchy in Australia.

That affection and respect hasn’t gone away because of Australia contemplating from time to time what it should do about its constitutional arrangements.

My personal view is it’s inevitable. But how that’s progressed is entirely a matter for the Australian government of the day.

Our public-sector workers do a great job serving their fellow Victorians and we’re proud to support them. In addition to wage increases, workers will be able to obtain a sign-on bonus while productivity improvements will bring the potential for further advancement of conditions.

The policy provides fair outcomes for employees while being responsible as we deal with the types of budget challenges faced by families, businesses and governments across the world.

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Super tax breaks costing $45bn a year are ‘inheritance schemes’ for Australia’s rich, new report says

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The Grattan Institute report recommends 10 changes to superannuation taxation that could save the budget billions a year

The Albanese government could save the budget billions of dollars by winding back generous superannuation benefits that effectively produce “taxpayer-funded inheritance schemes” for the wealthy, a new Grattan Institute report argues.

The “super savings” report says such tax breaks now cost $45bn a year, or 2% of GDP, and will soon exceed the age pension costs. Two-thirds of the breaks go to the top 20% of income earners who typically are already saving enough for retirement.

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Australia’s soaring interest rates have trapped ‘mortgage prisoners’ into crushing repayments

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A growing cohort of pandemic-era homebuyers are also unable to refinance because they no longer meet lenders’ standards

A growing number of Australian have become “mortgage prisoners” – trapped by crippling mortgages they are unable to renegotiate.

This growing cohort of pandemic-era homebuyers are unable to refinance because they no longer meet lenders’ standards after recent rate increases.

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Labor claims Aston win, throwing Dutton’s Liberal leadership into question – as it happened

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Labor’s Mary Doyle has two-party preferred swing of at least 6% in the count on Saturday evening. This blog is now closed

Dutton says Labor’s road funding cuts in Aston ‘a disaster’

Out of hiding and into the open, opposition leader Peter Dutton has been seen on the campaign trail in Aston today.

[Labor] haven’t explained to the people of Aston why it is that they cut road funding as the first act in government, and it’s quite remarkable.

It’s a disaster for locals and people realise that the first act of the Albanese government was to cut road funding here in Aston … They’ve never apologised for it, they never explained why.

There are a lot of Australian families who have heard Anthony Albanese promise before the last election on 97 occasions that he would reduce your power to $275. That was a promise he made before the election, he’s never mentioned it since, not once.

So cost of living pressures are real for families and the opportunity in the election today is to send a very clear message to Labor that they shouldn’t be cutting local road funding, and they shouldn’t be abandoning this community.

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Laura Tingle becomes ABC staff-elected director – as it happened

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The 7.30 political correspondent will sit on the broadcaster’s board alongside chair Ita Buttrose. This blog is now closed

Report of new gas tax for Australia

The Australian Financial Review is this morning reporting that a new gas tax looms as the government tries to raise revenue to begin budget repair.

Major companies such as Woodside Energy, Santos and Shell and their tax advisers have signed confidentiality agreements with Treasury on the PRRT consultation.

Since Treasury resumed the stalled work for Labor late last year, it has cast the net wider to probe other PRRT areas, such as deductions, in an attempt to raise revenue sooner for the government from the profits-based tax.

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Shorten attacks Robert’s links to lobbyist – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Chalmers hopes for bipartisanship on RBA review

Jim Chalmers will receive the review into the Reserve Bank tomorrow. He says he will be releasing its report in April, along with some of the actions the government intends on taking.

I think people do understand how critically important the decisions taken by the independent Reserve Bank are and so we need to give the RBA the best possible basis to make those decisions. And one of the things that we’ve tried to do throughout is we see this as a bipartisan opportunity will see this as an opportunity for some bipartisanship.

What I’ve done is made sure that the panel hasn’t just kept me up to speed on their thinking and across their thinking but also the opposition and also the crossbench as well and I’ve got my differences with Angus Taylor, but I do want to say that he has been engaging with this Reserve Bank review panel in good faith and I appreciate that.

Our submission will be consistent with our values and our policies and our objectives and one of our highest priorities is to get wages moving again in meaningful and sustainable ways.

I think it’s common sense to prioritise the lowest paid as you go about that. You know, some people might pretend that we’ve got an inflation problem in our economy because the lowest-paid Australians are getting paid too much and that is obviously absolute rubbish.

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Vast Aukus spending sparks calls to boost Australia’s aid budget

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Country gives just $1 in assistance for every $10 that goes to defence, humanitarian groups say

The huge Aukus price tag has sparked calls to boost aid funding, with the sector lobbying the Australian government not to dismiss such measures as an optional “luxury”.

The nuclear-powered submarine program is forecast to cost between $268bn and $368bn by the mid 2050s, most of it beyond the first four-year budget period.

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‘Simply about survival’: ACTU calls for 7% pay rise for lowest-paid workers to keep pace with inflation

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Minimum hourly rate would rise to $22.88 – or $45,337 a year – if the Fair Work Commission grants the increase

Australian unions have called for a pay rise of 7% for the lowest-paid workers, a raise in the national minimum wage of $1.50 an hour to keep pace with inflation.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions made that submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual minimum wage review, which sets the pay of more than 2.6 million employees on the national minimum or award wages.

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Australia politics live: rate rises must stop with inflation coming down, Greens say; Brereton named anti-corruption commissioner

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Commission appointments must be signed off by the governor general. Follow live

Sorry – I am told by a couple of senators that it was “technically” 4.13am.

So expect to see a few bleary-eyed senators in the coffee lines this morning.

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Australia’s annual inflation rate falls to 6.8% fuelling hopes cost of living pressures are easing

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Figures indicate Reserve Bank may consider pausing interest rates at its next meeting on Tuesday

Australia’s annual inflation rate slowed in February, led by smaller rises for fuel and housing, adding to evidence that the worst of the price increases has passed.

The consumer price index rose at annual pace of 6.8% last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday. Economists had expected the annual rate would have dropped to about 7.2% from January’s 7.4% pace.

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NSW election 2023 live results: polls have closed and votes are now being counted after Dominic Perrottet and Chris Minns made final pitches – latest news

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Premier casts vote in seat of Epping and Labor leader says he is ‘feeling optimistic’ as party hopes to return to power after 12 years in opposition

Dominic Perrottet has given some more expansive comments after voting a short time ago in his seat of Epping. He and Labor leader Chris Minns spoke last night, exchanging text messages and wishing each other good luck.

Here’s some more from the premier:

It’s a real honour to serve the people of New South Wales. There’s a lot at stake in this election. I will be working hard all day.

It’s not about the Liberal or National party. Ultimately, elections are about our people. My team has the plan to deal with the challenges of today, but we’re all wanting to set up the state for the children.

Our party has been here for 12 years, it’s transformed New South Wales. We were the worst performing economy, the state had stalled. We’ve turned that around. We’ve built schools and hospitals, the motorways have transformed people’s lives. But it’s all about the future and where we go from here. I believe my team has the plan, the experience, energy and ideas to take the state forward.

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Majority of Australians on jobseeker and parenting payments live in poverty, study finds

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Report on 3 million people living below the breadline shows welfare payments are ‘totally inadequate’ and action is needed in May budget, Acoss says

The majority of people on the jobseeker and parenting payments are living in poverty while about a third of single parents are also below the breadline, according to a new study.

A report from the University of New South Wales and the Australian Council of Social Service, to be released on Wednesday, provides further insight into the demographics of 3 million people, including 761,000 children, previously identified as living in poverty in the 2019-20 financial year.

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Cross-party anti-poverty push targets ‘inadequate’ jobseeker payments

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Liberal and Labor MPs Bridget Archer and Alicia Payne unite in call for welfare boost

Two major-party MPs have launched a cross-party push to put the focus on unacceptable levels of poverty in Australia as they call for an increase to the “inadequate” jobseeker payment.

The parliamentary friends of ending poverty group, chaired by the Labor backbencher Alicia Payne and the Liberal MP Bridget Archer, will launch on Tuesday night with speeches from the Rev Tim Costello and the economist Chris Richardson, who has long called for an increase to unemployment benefits.

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Coalition’s super changes will affect three times as many people as Labor’s plan, modelling shows

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Jim Chalmers says figures based on Treasury projections reveals opposition’s ‘deception’

The Coalition’s superannuation changes will affect three times as many people as Labor’s new package over the long term, according to figures compiled by the Albanese government.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the figures showed “the Coalition’s dishonesty, deception and double standards” ahead of the resumption of parliament on Monday.

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