The unsung depression in the Chinese economy continues. It is supposed to be enjoying a manufacturing boom, yet the manufacturing PMI has averaged a decline of 49.7% after the COVID reopening, contracting 27 out of 36 months. Celebrated exports have done far worse. The Services PMI is not much better and is trending down. Led
With One Nation surging in the polls, another Coalition MP is reportedly seeking defection, according to Sky News. Barnaby Joyce has confirmed that One Nation will announce a major political defection within 24 hours but refused to reveal the identity of the new recruit, saying the announcement would come from leader Pauline Hanson. One Nation
Victoria has legislated a target to source 95% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2035. This is one of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in Australia and globally, designed to accelerate the state’s transition away from cheap brown coal toward cleaner energy sources, such as wind and solar. The Renewable Energy (Jobs and
Former Home Affairs Minister-turned-Housing Minister, Clare O’Neil, regularly lamented that Australia’s migration system was too temporary and held the nation back. “Today, really for the first time in our modern history, our uncapped, unplanned temporary program is the centrepiece and driver of our migration system. This simple fact is the source of huge problems”, O’Neil bemoaned
The local gas prices are still at nosebleed levels. Yet the mild summer has been enough to reduce gas-fired power use, causing wholesale electricity prices to collapse. Recall that gas sets the marginal cost of electricity in the wholesale market. Albo’s mooted gas reservation was meant to fix this permanently, but it is already a
In this post-truth world, everything old is new again. Does anyone even remember the 2016 APRA macroprudential 10% speed limit on property investors that MB agitated for? Not really. The forgetful includes APRA, as Australia’s irrepressible class of speculators charges back towards the speed limit in a new credit cycle. For the ninth time in
Alex Joiner, chief economist at IFM Investors, recently published the following chart showing the outsized contribution of the non-market sector (i.e., public services, healthcare & social assistance, and education) to overall job growth. Of the 926,425 jobs created between Q1 2023 and Q3 2025, 637,273 (69%) were in the non-market sector that is primarily government
Former LNP media advisor in the Howard government, Chris Kenny, pines for bygone times. In my lifetime I have not seen more division, or a greater lack of social cohesion. Many of us wonder what national values or symbols our country can unite around. “I am not as pessimistic as that,” former prime minister John
It has happened. Pauline Hanson is now Australia’s number one choice for PM. The LNP has committed suicide, and ON is comfortably the official opposition. Which is driving the surge? You tell me. The moving average at Poll Bludger is fast catching up as ON gobbles votes from both major parties. Once the LNP gets
Friday night saw a huge reversal in precious metals fortunes perhaps triggered by the Trump regime’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Governor or the technical overbought status of both gold and silver. Silver dropped over 30%, gold fell more than 10%, taking both back to where they were just two weeks ago.