Labor’s pre-election budget provides well-targeted cost of living relief within the bounds of responsibility, but the restoration of living standards is some way off.
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Category: Economy
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A cautious responsible budget
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The 2025-26 budget had one modest surprise, but leaves a lot to the next Parliament (and probably Parliaments after that)
Treasurer Jim Chalmers pulled one unexpected rabbit out of his hat in Tuesday’s 2025-26 federal budget. (more…)
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The government is timid, uninspired and uninspiring. This budget fits it perfectly
If you’re having trouble working up much interest in the budget, don’t feel bad. It’s not you, it’s the government. So much fuss is made about the annual federal budget that we expect it to be full of major announcements. Well, not this one, and not from a government that never wants to rock the boat. (more…)
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Budgets: black holes, black ink or black magic? – part 2 of 2
In part 1 of this two-part series I gave a brief overview of the contemporary mainstream attitude to central government budgets, and argued that the constant fear of inflation in the post-1970s era has a lot to do with the dominant theory. But this mainstream view is strongly contested within the economics profession. (more…)
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Hurry up and wait
One principle of American military affairs has been said since the 1940s to be “hurry up and wait”. That certainly applies to AUKUS, an agreement so urgent that in September 2021 Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese only 24 hours to agree to it. (more…)
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Budgets: black holes, black ink or black magic? Part 1 of 2
The Rockliff Government’s financial mess in Tasmania has been well explained by economist Saul Eslake, independent MLC Ruth Forrest, and others paying attention. (more…)
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Restoring tax equity for the low-paid should be an election issue
The critical issue in the May 2025 election is likely to be about the rising costs of living, with competing views about whether the Labor Party is responsible for them and which of the major parties is most likely to address them. (more…)
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It’s official – supermarkets are overcharging. Quick, change the subject
Why does a government release a highly critical report on the conduct of Woolworths and Coles on the Friday before a budget that will lead straight into an election campaign? Short answer: not for any worthy reason. (more…)
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The science of being absolutely wrong
Scientists, who generally wear white laboratory jackets so they are not confused with economists, have a canon of sacred texts. Pride of place is occupied by the journal Nature, which is now a collection of specialised magazines that cover scientific advances in most measurable phenomena. Of course, trades and professions also have their stable of news and reference works while the public have Fox, the Murdoch press and social media. (more…)
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Dutton blames renewables for rising power prices, but bills would be much higher without them
Australia’s shift to wind, solar and battery storage has shielded households and businesses from much higher power bills than they would otherwise be paying, a new report has found, debunking Peter Dutton’s constantly repeated claim that renewables are to blame for rising electricity prices. (more…)
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Universal early learning and the three-day guarantee
The passing of the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three-Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 marks a major shift in Australia’s early childhood education and care system. For the first time, tens of thousands of children who were previously excluded from early learning will have access to at least three days of subsidised care each week (72 hours per fortnight), regardless of their parents’ work or study status. (more…)
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Kim Beazley bombs out
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and governor of Western Australia and now chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. (more…)
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The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told
The big news on house insurance this week was the response of the insurance industry’s peak body to a parliamentary committee’s extensive criticisms of its treatment of people claiming on their policies after the massive floods of 2022. (more…)
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Giant eight-hour battery project changes hands as storage costs plunge 40%
A giant eight-hour battery project in New South Wales has changed hands in a deal that also confirms that battery storage costs — a critical part of the green energy transition — are still falling significantly. (more…)
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Three reasons Victoria has joined Tasmania, SA as a beggar state
The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s annual updates of its recommendations as to how the revenue from the GST should be carved up among the states and territories almost always contain a few surprises – pleasant for some, and unpleasant for others, since carving up a pie is, by definition, a “zero sum game”. (more…)
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Democracy and our avoidable crises: Politicians disingenuous or undeterrably self-interested
Home ownership has almost become an impossible dream in Australia and other Western capitalist countries. Governing authorities struggle in vain to stem the unrelenting increase in prices of land for domestic dwellings. It is probable that the struggle is unable to succeed as long as capitalism is uncontained; as long as the rules of the so-called “free market system” are accepted as inviolable. (more…)
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Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget
According to the business press, Anthony Albanese was desperately hoping for an early election so he could avoid next week’s budget and the drubbing he’ll get when Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forced to reveal projections of a decade of budget deficits. (more…)
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It’s the banks, stupid
Why does Australia continue to have a rampant cost of living crisis? That’s the $300 billion question. The hard men of Australia’s economic press claim it’s because of inflated wages and low productivity. Yet evidence suggests it’s mainly because of our big four banks. (more…)
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Despite recent increases, JobSeeker still leaves people below the poverty line. Here’s why that affects us all
Over the past two years, there has been some progress in improving the JobSeeker payment. But payment levels remain below the poverty line. (more…)
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Smart appliances, smarter economy: Reviving China’s growth through innovation
Describing my grandfather as frugal is an understatement. Over the years, I have watched him patch and mend, prolonging the life of everything from leaky kettles to threadbare armchairs. My attempts to convince him to part with aging household items were always met with the same stubborn reply: “It still works.”
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AUKUS, Trump and independence
How should Australia respond when the US, our closest ally, is engaged in a very public and petulant global meltdown? (more…)
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Labor’s strong federal prospects in WA
The results of the Western Australian election on Saturday give credence to the latest opinion polling showing a trend back towards Labor in the past few weeks. Until mid-February the polls were suggesting the Coalition would have sufficient support to form (at least) a minority government. (more…)
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Is PM Albanese about to amaze Australia?
Amazing? PM Albanese is the first Australian prime minister since John Curtin to push back publicly on our security against a global leader since John Curtin recognised the danger of an exploitative Britain eight decades ago. Curtin acted. Could it be that Albanese just might act too? (more…)
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Cut defence spending to make us stronger and safer
There’s a simple solution to the problem of Chinese warships sailing around Australia: a reciprocal agreement – you don’t sail off our coast and we won’t sail off yours. (more…)
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Going, going… to the highest bidder: Australia’s school system
Recent headlines confirm that it is now difficult to deal with the market forces that successive governments in this country have unleashed in our school system and which are now driving it in perilous directions. (more…)
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Imagine a secure Australia post-ANZUS and AUKUS
Let’s test Hugh White’s contention, expressed in The Saturday Paper on 8 March (‘Trump’s conduct on Ukraine prompts strategic reckoning”), that Australia will perhaps sooner rather than later have to confront the end of the US Alliance. (more…)
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Government funding increases entrench private school resource advantage
Government funding increases for Catholic and Independent schools have outstripped those for public schools since 2009 and entrenched a major resource advantage for them. New figures published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority show Catholic and Independent schools have a much higher income per student than public schools across Australia and in nearly every state/territory. (more…)
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Maybe the inflation surge didn’t happen the way we’ve been told
According to Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser last week, we’ve entered a world characterised not just by volatility, complexity and uncertainty, but also by “ambiguity” – a world where “you don’t know the model”, meaning that “judgment and instinct are as important as formal analysis”. (more…)
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Sad day for the US as it fails an ally
I don’t intend to move these round-ups into international relations. There are excellent Australian sources with a foreign policy orientation – Pearls and Irritations, the Lowy Institute and Australian Foreign Affairs. But events around Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine should have repercussions not only for our foreign policy, but also for our domestic policy, particularly in the way we may be led or misled by the strongman “leader”. (more…)
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Victoria’s government and opposition put Grand Prix ahead of their citizens
With the nation’s worst state debt and the looming budget, we hear almost weekly of the Victorian Government’s desperate funding cuts to essential services. While, for example, our nurses, childcare and aged care workers and our police are very much valued and needed, they appear to come a poor second in financial support to the Grand Prix from the main political parties. Is this what Victorians want? (more…)