Category Archives: Australian economy

Liberal MP Bridget Archer to cross the floor on climate bill – as it happened

Posted on by

Defence review to be announced

The government is announcing a defence force review today, which it wants completed in about six months. Is this in response to China?

It’s because we need an ADF that is well-positioned to meet our security challenges over the next decade and beyond.

And we have inherited, as you all know, some real capability issues, some of which have been well publicised in the media. It is important that we look at how we ensure the Australian defence force can meet our security challenges, not just now, but in the years ahead. So, you know, I welcomed this and the prime minister and the defence minister will be having – we’ll have more details about this later today.

Continue reading...

Peak unemployment bodies say raising jobseeker rate should take priority over lifting pension income test

Posted on by

‘Completely around the wrong way’ to allow pensioners to work more without losing pay while jobseeker remains unchanged, advocates say

Increasing the jobseeker rate should take priority over other welfare reforms including allowing aged pensioners to work more without having their payments reduced, peak unemployment bodies say.

A private member’s bill introduced by independent MP Rebekha Sharkie on Monday would increase the income test threshold for pensioners, permitting older Australians to work more hours before their payments were docked.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Politics live: ‘difficult day for Australians with a mortgage’, Chalmers says; east coast gas shortages in spotlight

Posted on by

The resources minister, Madeleine King, has taken the first step in reining in the big three LNG exporters by ‘triggering the trigger’

Labor unlikely to extend the fuel excise cut

Asked about the fuel excise in that same interview, Jim Chalmers said:

I’ve been really upfront with people, Charles, for some time now – before the election, during the election and after the election – and pointed out that extending that would cost some billions of dollars and the budget can’t afford that. We’ve inherited a budget which is absolutely heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal party debt. And when interest rates are rising, it actually costs more and more to service that debt.

The fastest-growing area of government spending in the budget is actually servicing the debt that we’ve inherited because, as interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive to pay that back. So every dollar borrowed, whether it’s by our predecessors or by the new government costs more to pay back and we need to be conscious about that. We need to be responsible about that and upfront about that. And that’s what we’re being.

This isn’t about any one individual. This is about a difficult day for Australians with a mortgage, another difficult day I think everybody is bracing for the interest rate rise that the governor and the Reserve Bank board has flagged.

These decisions are taken independently by the Reserve Bank, by its board and by its governor. People are expecting this outcome today. But it won’t make it any easier.

Continue reading...

Australia’s official interest rates expected to rise by half-percentage point, economists say

Posted on by

Experts predict RBA will lift cash rate from to 1.85%, marking a 175-basis point increase since May

Australia’s official interest rates are all but certain to be lifted on Tuesday with the expected half-percentage point increase marking the Reserve Bank’s sharpest tightening phase since 1994.

A survey by Bloomberg News found 28 of 30 respondents predict the RBA board will lift the cash rate from 1.35% to 1.85% at its monthly meeting. That move would mark a 175-basis point increase in the rate since it began hiking in May.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Monique Ryan tells Coalition ‘put your masks on’ in question time; Greens say RBA interest rate hikes won’t solve inflation

Posted on by

The housing minister, Julie Collins, says Australia’s rate of homelessness is “unacceptable”, as she promises a greater leadership role from the federal government in the sector.

Australia today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week, with social agencies calling on governments nationwide to do more to address housing and rental affordability, as well as the underlying factors contributing to homelessness.

Our reforms aim to ensure every Australian has access to safe and affordable housing to improve social and economic outcomes for all Australians, including those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said on Monday.

According to the 2016 Census, in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness, and this figure is unacceptable.”

We all need to be heading in the same direction.

We need to be ambitious ... we all need to be working together to solve the housing affordability issues we have.

What’s happened is the states and territories have been doing their own thing and I don’t think there’s been enough national leadership.

In its gas inquiry 2017-2025 interim report released on Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the east coast gas market is facing a gas shortfall of 56 petajoules in 2023.

This gap is about 10% of annual domestic demand, ‘signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security’, the report says.

Continue reading...

Coalition offers qualified support for Indigenous voice as PM reveals referendum wording – as it happened

Posted on by

Anthony Albanese announces draft wording of referendum question in Garma festival speech. This blog is now closed

AFP says reports of human trafficking and slavery reach highest ever level

Reports of human trafficking and slavery to the AFP have increased to their “highest ever reported”, according to new data released today.

This is the first time in Australia’s history where the uptake of a unified training and awareness-raising protocol to combat human trafficking and slavery will be delivered across all frontline agencies and jurisdictions.

This represents a critical step to addressing the scourge of human trafficking in the Australian community and it’s a job the AFP and our partners will work together to combat.

Dr Khorshid was elected AMA president during the first peak of the pandemic and quickly became the voice of reason, of calm and of urgency when needed – lobbying government, and fronting the media, along with hard-working vice-president Dr Chris Moy, to send clear messages about the pandemic.

His leadership was particularly critical during the early stages when there was no vaccine, and the focus was on implementing effective public health measures to ensure the safety of the community and healthcare workers.

Continue reading...

Karnal bunt and khapra beetle: seven threats to Australian biosecurity

Posted on by

Along with foot-and-mouth disease, there are other pests and diseases that could damage our economy and rural communities

The tiny barbarians are at the gates and Australia’s biosecurity measures have been tested. First, the Covid-19 outbreak demonstrated the ease at which an incursion of a new disease or pest can cause havoc on livelihoods and the Australian economy.

Then foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) spread to Bali, elevating the threat of a virus that hasn’t been here since 1872. FMD is a highly contagious virus and an outbreak would be disastrous for our livestock sector, significantly affecting our ability to export meat, live animals, dairy products and wool.

Continue reading...

Jim Chalmers to cut economic growth estimates amid inflation ‘headwinds’

Posted on by

Treasurer will use state of the economy speech to trim 2021-22 growth to 3.75% and provide new inflation, wage and unemployment forecasts

The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will use the state of the economy speech to trim the national growth estimates, citing global economic “headwinds”.

“[T]he headwinds our economy is facing – higher inflation at the top of that list, along with slowing global growth – are now reflected in the revised economic outcomes and forecasts,” Chalmers will tell parliament on Thursday according to an excerpt of his speech.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Despite Australia’s soaring inflation rate, some economists say the peak may be ‘coming into view’

Posted on by

Analysis: Inflation optimists look to falling global supply chain pressures but spiking energy prices suggest we haven’t reached a plateau yet

Some economists have tipped that the inflation rate has started to plateau, even after the Australian consumer price index on Wednesday showed the fastest annual pace of inflation since 2001.

Australian prices rose 6.1% in the June quarter, the quickest pace in 21 years. Yet even in that dire news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, some economists were able to spy a silver lining.

Continue reading...

Cost of living 2022: see how inflation has changed prices in Australia in the June quarter – interactive

Posted on by

Use this data explorer to see which goods and services are getting cheaper or more expensive in different Australian cities

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed prices climbing by 6.1% in the June quarter – the fastest annual pace since 2001 – driven primarily by the increasing cost of food and fuel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up global oil and gas prices as well as food, with Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest as Russian missile strikes continue on its ports.

Continue reading...

Zoe Daniel and Sally Sitou call for climate action in first speeches to parliament – as it happened

Posted on by

Cash: No way the Coalition will support a lower emissions target

The next interview on ABC radio RN is with the shadow employment minister, Michaelia Cash, who has a lot to say about the scrapping of the ABCC. Cash, you may remember, was one of its biggest supporters while in government.

The Coalition won more votes than the Australian Labor party.

Continue reading...

Guardian Essential poll: 40% of voters say Labor doing poor job tackling surging cost of living

Posted on by

Half of voters surveyed say they can afford household bills but struggle to find anything extra or report feeling under financial pressure

Just one-quarter of voters think Labor is doing a good job of handling surging cost of living pressures, the latest Guardian Essential poll suggests, while a majority of respondents believe the Albanese government can influence the direction of inflation and interest rates.

The results from the latest survey of 1,082 respondents comes ahead of Wednesday’s inflation data which is expected to show consumer prices are running at their highest level since the 1990s.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australian restaurants on a knife edge as inflation bites and food costs soar

Posted on by

Hospitality businesses adapt menus and cut staff hours amid cost-of-living pressures

Restaurants and cafes are constantly adapting their menus to try to mitigate the rising cost of produce and cutting staff hours, as inflation hits profit margins in the hospitality sector.

Jackie Middleton, who co-owns Earl Canteen, a small sandwich chain in Melbourne, and Dame, a high-end cafe on Collins Street, says not a single day goes by when she doesn’t get an email saying the price of a product has increased.

Continue reading...

Australia news live updates: Greens aim to ‘improve and pass’ Labor climate bill; Andrews rules out mask mandates as nation records 90 Covid deaths;

Posted on by

No change in Operation Sovereign Borders policy

Clare O’Neil is asked about the desperate situation in Sri Lanka, where many people are trying to find a way out.

Operation Sovereign Borders is Australian government policy.

Continue reading...

Mortgage holders should brace for short-term pain as RBA signals steady interest rate rises to tackle inflation

Posted on by

Philip Lowe says reserve bank looking for its ‘neutral rate’ which could see cash rate almost double in coming months

Mortgage holders should brace themselves for interest rate rises of at least another 1.15 percentage points before the end of the year as the Reserve Bank of Australia attempts to hose down inflation before it takes hold of the economy.

The RBA governor, Philip Lowe, said he believed inflation was on track to hit 7% by the end of 2022, with an unemployment rate of 3.5% but said the bank was confident inflation would return to the “target range” of between 2% and 3% in a “short while”.

Continue reading...

Mortgage holders could face large jump in repayments if interest rates increase by 3%, RBA says

Posted on by

Deputy reserve bank governor, Michele Bullock, says most Australians are ‘well placed’ to absorb impact of rate rises

Up to 30% of mortgage holders could struggle to keep up with their home repayments if interest rates were to increase by 3%, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which says first-home owners, late entrants to the market and low-income loan holders are most at risk.

With the bulk of low fixed-rate loans due to expire in the next two years, about half of those coming into the new variable market will face increases in their repayments of at least 40%. For those whose fixed loans expire in the middle of next year, the reserve bank estimates a median increase of about $650 a month in repayments, or a 45% increase.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz calls for windfall profits tax in Australia

Posted on by

Tax is a ‘no-brainer’ after companies’ huge profits during Covid but corporate influence makes it ‘politically difficult’, Stiglitz says

The Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has called for a windfall profits tax, arguing the idea is a “no-brainer” that has been taken off the table due to the influence of big companies.

Stiglitz made the comments to reporters during a tour of Australia after personally lobbying the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, to introduce the tax and warning that excessive interest rate rises could push Europe, the US, and then Australia into recession.

Continue reading...

Australia news live; treasurer says fuel excise cut ‘too expensive to continue’; Denis Napthine resigns as NDIA chair; 31 Covid deaths

Posted on by

Gorgeous images coming through from Tasmania where snow has fallen this morning.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is on ABC Radio following the national cabinet meeting which has seen emergency isolation payments reinstated.

If the state is taking away people’s liberty, then the state has an obligation to provide financial support.

Continue reading...

Jim Chalmers warns of ‘confronting’ inflation and wages forecast in July economic update

Posted on by

Treasurer says rising interest rates will affect economic growth but Labor has plans to provide cost-of-living support

Australia’s July economic update will contain “confronting” news about lower growth projections and higher inflation cutting real wages, Jim Chalmers has said.

The treasurer said the update to be delivered on Thursday 28 July comes as the global economy is in a “difficult if not dangerous place” due to high debt and rising interest rises to combat inflation.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Jim Chalmers defends delay in reinstating Covid leave payments as cases rise

Posted on by

The $750 payment for those who need to isolate due to Covid has been extended through September, following pressure on the government

Reinstating Covid-19 isolation payments was a necessary move in the wake of rising cases despite criticism the government was slow in doing so, according to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.

With infections continuing to increase, a decision was made on Saturday to restore the leave pay measure until the end of September.

Continue reading...