Category Archives: Australian economy

Hurley says he had ‘no reason to believe’ extra ministries would be kept secret – as it happened

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Victoria’s opposition has pledged to scrap the suburban rail loop, described as the biggest transport project in the state’s history, with “every cent” of the $34.5bn saved to be invested in the health system if elected in November.

The commitment, made 101 days before voters go to the polls, sets the stage for another election turned referendum on infrastructure.

This November, Victorians face a clear choice. A choice between immediately rebuilding Victoria’s broken health system, or a train line in 13 years’ time.

As premier, my first priority will be to fix the health crisis.

So I think he himself, in reflecting on it, he has to come to the opinion that it probably wasn’t a good move. And, and on that issue, I agree with him.

If he did do something illegal, if he received some form of pecuniary benefit, if someone closely related to you get some for of pecuniary benefit, they failed to disclose, then yeah, you can pack up your bongos and get out of there.

But if something is legal, and you complied with the law even though people might not agree with that mightn’t be basically customary, or, as you would say, something you’ve done it in a way that’s annoying, you’ve done it in a way that has got people off side, but it’s not illegal. It’s not illegal.

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Unions and employers agree 40,000 more migrants a year needed to fill Australia’s skills shortage

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Consensus on migration and increasing subsidies for apprentices could pave way for policy reform at government’s jobs and skills summit

Unions and employers have agreed Australia should lift its migration intake by 40,000 annually to help fill skills shortages and demanded a boost to apprentice subsidies.

The consensus suggests the Albanese government could secure broad support for some policy reform at its jobs and skills summit in September, although the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci) will use a major speech on Wednesday to reject more ambitious union requests.

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Dutton says he was not aware of Morrison’s secret ministries – as it happened

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Ed Husic pushes for ‘brain regain’

Industry minister Ed Husic will this week host a series of five roundtable meetings with science and technology leaders in the lead-up to the federal government’s jobs summit, in a bid to kickstart what he called “brain regain” – attracting Australia’s bright minds working overseas to return home, to combat the so-called “brain drain”.

These discussions will also include ways to increase the representation of women and people of diverse backgrounds in skilled occupations. One of my priorities is on “brain regain” – encouraging Australian researchers and innovators to return home. I am interested to hear ideas on how this can be best achieved.

I can’t emphasise strongly enough that this is the start of engagement with these industry sectors. After the jobs and skills summit I will continue the work with industry leaders to ensure we apply practical solutions to accelerate Australia’s pathway to high-skilled, high-value economy.

He’s applied for a job and that’s coming with a significant degree of scrutiny, as it should do. That’s part of the territory if you’re going to put yourself forward for those roles.

If he felt the need to protect the environment from offshore drilling for gas off Sydney’s northern beaches and he felt he needed to swear himself in as minister, that’s something I support.

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Labor vows to prioritise Australian jobs as it eyes migration boost

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Annual intake could potentially rise from 160,000 to up to 200,000 places as businesses cry out for skilled workers

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, has vowed Labor “will always prioritise jobs for Australians” as the government eyes increasing the migration cap potentially to 200,000 places per year.

A boost from the current annual migration intake of 160,000 will be on the table at the federal government’s jobs and skills summit next month.

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At least 89 Covid deaths; Littleproud tells Nationals he’ll bring pragmatic policies to jobs summit – as it happened

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Nationals leader outlines vision for party at federal council meeting. This blog is now closed

White whale calf seen off NSW coast

There’s one newborn hogging all the attention off the NSW coast – a southern right whale calf born whiter than usual, AAP reports:

Southern right whales are mostly very dark, although some have splashes of white called a blaze.

Its white areas will darken to grey as it ages. It’s one of around one-in-30 southern right whale calves born with brindle colouring.

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Clive Palmer ordered to pay part of Mark McGowan’s legal costs; 87 more Covid deaths – As it happened

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Federal court orders Palmer to pay undetermined sum in half of defamation proceedings between the pair; Senator Jim Molan calls for National Press Club not to host Chinese government officials. This blog is now closed

ACT warns of scam health texts

ACT Health says it has been made aware of scam text messages claiming to be services such as HealthDirect or Medicare.

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SES and Resilience NSW ‘failed’ to lead flood response, inquiry finds – as it happened

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New threatened species listings include south-eastern glossy black-cockatoo

Two Australian species that were badly affected by the 2019-20 black summer bushfires have been officially listed as threatened.

The damage caused by the black summer bushfires is still being felt today and can be seen reflected in these listings today.

The fires had an immense impact on our environment, from a small reptile found in the mountains to a bird that is at home on the coast. There is still a lot of work to do.

It seems as though these positions are being offered around almost like lolly bags to senior members of the New South Wales government rather than what they’re intended to be, which is senior positions funded by the taxpayer. We shouldn’t operate like that in New South Wales. We’re slowly but surely finding out the contours of what is an absolute scandal.

There’s many questions to be asked. At the end of the day we’re expected to believe of the 8 million people who live in New South Wales, John Barilaro was independently chosen to represent our interests. I think that ... stretches credibility.

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Australia’s highest and lowest income suburbs: how does your postcode compare?

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Western Australia’s Cottesloe and Peppermint Grove the top-earning area while five of the lowest are in regional NSW

Australia’s highest and lowest income suburbs have been revealed in new data released by the Australian Taxation Office.

The data, based on nearly 15m tax returns from 2019-20, reveals the median income and super balances of Australians in each postcode across the country.

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Australia politics live: leaders trade question time barbs over climate and power prices; CMO ‘confident’ Covid wave has peaked as 85 deaths recorded

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The parliament will sit at 9am – once the morning proceedings are done, it will be into the climate bill – people are getting ready to head to the galleries to watch it pass the house.

It has been a very, very long decade. There are a lot of people who need to see this, even if there is still a very, very long way for us to go to actually start acting.

The inclusion of an Objects clause that addresses targets, accountability, expert advice and the need for climate action in line with the science makes it clear that this is the beginning of a new era in Australia,” Chaney said in a statement.

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Commonwealth Bank and ANZ raise variable home loan interest rates by half a point to match RBA rise

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Increase puts the banks’ variable interest rates at highest in three years with Westpac and NAB yet to respond to official cash rate hike

The Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have matched this week’s move by the central bank and raised their variable home loan rates.

CBA’s rates for owner-occupier and investor mortgages will rise by half a percentage point on 12 August.

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

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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.

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

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‘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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Karnal bunt and khapra beetle: seven threats to Australian biosecurity

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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