Blogotariat

The federal government recently used its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) annual wage review to call for an “economically sustainable” increase in the minimum wage. FWC president Justice Adam Hatcher has asked the Treasury whether wage growth forecasts of 3.1% to 3.25% in 2025-26 would be consistent with inflation staying within the Reserve

The post Lift wages to boost productivity appeared first on MacroBusiness.

I have often argued that the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) reported $51 billion of education exports is exaggerated and grossly overstates the benefits of international students to the Australian economy. The ABS calculates this remarkable export figure using “an average spend estimate from Tourism Research Australia … supplemented by the addition of total expenditure

Next up on booth map of the day, I’m looking at two seats that were previously considered safe Labor seats, but were very narrowly retained against independent challengers: Bean in southern Canberra and Fremantle in Western Australia.

For each map I’ve shown the Labor vs Independent 2CP map (but no 2CP swing map), primary vote maps for the independent, Labor and Liberal, and primary vote swing maps for Labor and Liberal.

First, to Bean, where Jessie Price currently trails Labor’s David Smith by 599 votes, achieving 49.7% of the 2CP vote after a primary vote of 26.4%.

RBA Governor Michele Bullock’s media appearance this week was viewed as a victory lap in the fight against inflation. Bullock admitted that the RBA board had considered cutting the official cash rate by 0.5% at its Tuesday meeting, but “it wasn’t the strongest argument in the room”. She also suggested that the RBA was less worried

The post Aussie house prices are tipped to boom! appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Norwegian energy giant gets all clear to resume construction of wind farm off coast of New York, just weeks after the Trump administration issued a stop-work order.

Risk markets in Asia are building positive momentum despite the flat sessions on Wall Street overnight although all eyes are on Japan as their longer dated bond yields spike again while the fiscal situation in the US is deteriorating the Trump regime continues to ram through its wealth redistribution tax bill that will enshrine trillion

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Smart Energy Council's Darren Johannesen explains how Australia's solar "waste" stream is actually a massive reclaimed resources opportunity – but the federal government needs to act fast. Plus, news of the week.

The eighth big battery to be built in South Australia, the world's most advanced wind and solar state that is heading towards 100 pct net renewables, has joined the grid.

Plans to add a big battery of up to 8GWh next to a huge wind farm in the back yard of anti-renewables polly Barnaby Joyce have joined the queue for environmental approval.

Some more on sinking Chinese property today, a subject that just keeps on giving. Anywhere outside of Tier One is a black hole. Another yawnulus bites the dust. Inventory improved a little. So long as you don’t count all those half-finished hulks and holes in the ground. I reckon I’ll be writing this post for

The post Chinese property goes down appeared first on MacroBusiness.

All deliveries to the Wambo wind farm have come to a halt as the parties investigate why a truck carrying an oversized piece of turbine came to be stuck under an overpass.

Nationals’ leader David Littleproud has singled out nuclear energy as a key reason for his party’s spectacular split from the Liberals, as both parties seek to rebuild following the Coalition’s devastating election loss.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Littleproud said:

Yesterday, the Nationals announced that they would not be renewing the coalition with the Liberal Party following the 2025 federal election. This is unlikely to be a permanent break, but rather the parties taking some time apart to re-assess their positions after a devastating election defeat.