Australian Economy

By Leith van Onselen The Weekend Australian had a full blown whinge over the Turnbull Government’s announced changes to Australia’s temporary ‘skilled’ visa system, claiming that it will damage the economy.

Via The Australian: Coalition MPs with thousands of dole recipients in their electorates have hit out at “job snobs” and demanded the government target those who are “working the system” by choosing welfare over work and leaving employers to rely on foreign labour.

From Gotti today: We should incentivise those with emergency capacity to switch on their power generators as those days approach so they do not drain the grid on the blackout days.

By Leith van Onselen Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed that the Turnbull Government’s curbs on temporary overseas labour will not apply to existing free trade agreements (FTAs).

By Leith van Onselen One of the common arguments against ‘urban sprawl’ is that it endangers Australia’s food bowl – the food producing farms that sit beyond the urban fringe of our major cities.

By Leith van Onselen Former economics editor with The Age, Tim Colebatch, yesterday published a brilliant article supporting the federal government’s crackdown on temporary work visas, arguing that Australia’s current mass immigration program is destroying employment prospects for the incumbent population.

Via The Australian: Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said yesterday the situation in the east-coast gas market had deteriorated in the past year, leaving businesses faced with a “worst-case scenario’’.

By Gareth Aird, Senior Economist at CBA: Key Points: House price cycles are not captured in the CPI because the cost of land is excluded from the consumer basket.

You want to know why the Australian economy is stuck?

From the Australian Industry Group just now: “Yesterday’s meeting between the Prime Minister and the gas producers represents little progress on a crisis that is damaging Australian businesses, and the Government needs to hold open the door to dramatic intervention,” Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Innes Willox said.

By Leith van Onselen The upcoming May Budget is expected to commit more than $1 billion to building an inland rail line between Melbourne and Brisbane.

Man, this is some really hopeful shit: The outlook for wages growth 1.

By Leith van Onselen As reported in The Australian today, the Turnbull Government will impose stricter rules for foreigners seeking to become Australian citizens, as part of its package of changes to immigration and visa rules.

By Leith van Onselen The announcement on Tuesday that the Turnbull Government would reform Australia’s “skilled” temporary visa system, by abolishing 457 visas in favour of a new stricter visa system, has signaled that the unholy political consensus backing mass immigration and a ‘Big Australia’ is beginning to falter.

By Leith van Onselen India has threatened to scuttle a potential ‘free trade agreement’ (FTA) with Australia if the Turnbull Government proceeds with its plan to reform ‘skilled’ temporary visas.

AFR: Toyota Australia has hitched its wagon to Melbourne’s boom in high-rise living with plans for a massive four-tower apartment project over its dealership just outside the CBD.

By Leith van Onselen Labor leader Bill Shorten has been quick to ridicule the Turnbull Government’s reforms to Australia’s 457 visa system, labelling it a “con job”.

It’s not often we turn to permabull Craig James for a bearish insight so it’s probably worth paying attention when he provides one: • In the past, a slowdown of luxury vehicle sales has heralded a slowdown of upper-end property sales and prices.

By Leith van Onselen I was just listening to ABC Radio and heard The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young bang on about how the Turnbull Government’s 457 visa reforms and any cuts to immigration are ‘racist’ and ‘xenophobic’.

From Westpac: • The six month annualised growth rate in the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity relative to trend three to nine months into the future, rose from 1.14% in February to 1.17% in March.

Via Domainfax: A federal government agency has handed its public servants scripted lines, to be recited in “BBQ conversations” and other “social settings”, about its controversial move out of town.

By Gareth Aird, senior economist at CBA: Key Points: We expect the headline CPI to rise by 0.6% in QI (2.3%pa). The underlying CPI on our forecasts will print at 0.5% (1.8%pa).

Via Peter Martin: The May budget is set to forecast a surge in economic growth, much lower unemployment and a rebound in inflation, according to a ‘sneak preview’ released by the International Monetary Fund Wednesday morning in Washington.