Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union are angry that Labor has agreed to support legislation to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), claiming it represents a “disaster for Australian workers” and threatening to pull support from Labor at the next election.

Via Shane Oliver of AMP: Introduction For years now, many have told us that Australia is heading for an imminent recession.

Via the ABC comes another little microcosm of the mismanagement of Australia’s collapsing borders: Exporters are hitting back at calls for the Federal Government to seize hay supplies destined for Japan and China, saying it will bring about the end of a $500 million industry.

More good work from Dick Smith today, via Gotti: Smith has campaigned on many issues before but nothing like this has ever happened to him — as well as the ACCC policy reversal his video has received an incredible 1.4 million views, as radio stations around the land are encouraged by their listeners to spread outrage.

The Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment declined 3% to 100.5 in September from 103.6 in August.

From Myer this morning: That’s your classic “throw in the kitchen sink” loss of the a new CEO.

By Leith van Onselen After the Australian Airports Association (AAA) vigorously defended its ability to gouge airlines through fees to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) inquiry into Australian airports, Qantas has stepped-up its attack, presenting evidence showing the extent of the price gouging.

By Leith van Onselen The Labor mayor of Liverpool, Wendy Waller, has penned a Panglossian article in The AFR today spruiking mass immigration, despite its obvious costs: Liverpool, the key strategic centre in south-west Sydney, is embracing new Australians and new growth.

By Leith van Onselen A fortnight ago it was revealed that that Australian university vice chancellors have seen their salaries balloon, with the average salary package now approaching $1 million: University leaders are picking up major pay rises, taking the annual average salary of vice-chancellors in NSW and Victoria to just below $1 million.

By Leith van Onselen With the population of Australia’s cities projected to balloon, and Sydney and Melbourne to surpass 8 million people mid-century: Policy makers have increasingly spruiked the goal of “30-minute cities”, whereby residents can get to where they need to go in just 30-minutes.

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

Perhaps it is used to it: How confident are businesses? The business confidence index fell 3pts to +4 index points in August and is now a little below its long-run average. • How did business conditions fare? The business conditions index rose 2pts to +15 index points (from an upwardly revised +13pts).

By Leith van Onselen Hot on the heels of major Australian and New Zealand airlines demanding tighter regulations to curtail price gouging by Australia’s monopoly airport owners, these airports have hit back, penning a submission to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) inquiry into Australian airports resisting calls for greater regulation.

By Leith van Onselen After last month arguing that Sydney could overcome its population pressures by simply planning better, pro-immigration lobby group – The Committee for Sydney – has released a new report bemoaning that Sydney’s liveability is being crushed by rapid population growth.

From Ray Dalio: As you know, I believe that everything happens over and over again and that by looking at those things happening many times, one can see the patterns and understand the cause-effect relationships to develop principles for dealing with them.

By Leith van Onselen RBA assistant governor, Michele Bullock, gave an interesting speech yesterday on Australia’s sky-high household debt, which is worth dissecting.

By Leith van Onselen Over the past few years, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) head, Rod Sims, has issued a spate of warnings about, and voiced opposition to asset privatisations.

Peter Hartcher is an old mate but this is just plain wrong: The better Australia’s economy, the worse its politics.

By Leith van Onselen Indigenous community leader, Warren Mundine, has thrown a barb at Australia’s major political parties and the Fake Left, calling for a sustainable and non-discriminatory immigration program.