Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The former Victorian executive director of the Property Council of Australia turned Melbourne Lord Mayor, Sally Capp, continues to flip-flop on the immigration-driven population crush afflicting Melbourne.

By Leith van Onselen ABC 7.30 Report last night aired part two of its three-part population special (see my comments on part one here).

By Leith van Onselen Today’s Lending Finance data for August, released by the ABS, revealed that personal and renovation finance continue to collapse.

By Leith van Onselen The Government-funded Financial Helpline on track to receive record number of cases this year, with older Australians who can’t meet mortgage or rent payments over-represented, and counsellors starting to field calls from people struggling to switch to principal and interest mortgage payments.

By Leith van Onselen NBN Co CEO, Bill Morrow, last year warned that Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) faces damaging competition from the upcoming 5G network, and called for a levy on mobile broadband services, which was thankfully rejected.

By Leith van Onselen In the wake of the union movement threatening to pull support from Labor at the next election after it agreed to support legislation to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as well as growing opposition within its own ranks, Labor’s Jason Clare introduced a private member’s bill aimed at placating their concerns.

By Leith van Onselen ABC 7.30 Report last night aired part one of its three-part population special, which included me as the economist.

I never thought I’d say this, but The ABC might actually do justice to the population debate after Four Corners’ recent heavily biased special (which featured a swathe of pro-‘Big Australia’ spruikers like Bernard Salt, Innes Willox, Liz Allen and Peter McDonald).

By Leith van Onselen Another German discount supermarket giant, Kaufland, is readying for an aggressive expansion into Australia with 32 stores to open in Australia by 2023.

Last weekend I gave a short presentation at a Sustainable Australia community meeting in Melbourne.

By Leith van Onselen It’s been another weekend of spin and obfuscation from Australia’s ‘Big Australia’ mass immigration spruikers.

By Leith van Onselen While the Tasmanian Government rejoices at the recent acceleration in the state’s population growth, planning expert Irene Duckett has labelled the population boom a “runaway train” with health services and roads struggling to cope with the increasing demand.

By Leith van Onselen The ACTU has released research arguing that the cost of living for essential items is rising far higher than the consumer price index (CPI).

By Leith van Onselen As the immigration debate has erupted this week, the ABC has once again revealed its shocking bias towards mass immigration and a ‘Big Australia’.

By Leith van Onselen The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest Global Financial Stability Report (FSR) notes that Australia is one of several advanced economies where the rising cost of house prices is a concern.

By Leith van Onselen The Morrison Government intends to bring forward a reduction in the tax rate for small and medium enterprises (SME).

By Leith van Onselen After NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, yesterday demanded that immigration be halved, Prime Minister Scott Morrison fired back, effectively blaming the states for Australia’s infrastructure woes.

By Leith van Onselen In response to the growing angst over Australia’s turbo-charged immigration levels, Chris Johnson from the Urban Taskforce – “a non-profit organisation representing Australia’s most prominent property developers and equity financiers” – has penned the following spurious response in The ABC.