Australian Economy

The Liberal Party crisis rolls on today with every man and his dog proffering an opinion.

Via Australia’s last journo standing Adele Ferguson: Australia’s $170 billion franchise sector is on notice after a class action was announced in Canada alleging the owner of Burger King and Tim Hortons misused millions of dollars paid by franchisees into a national advertising fund.

Cross-posted from LFEconomics: An interesting article published in The New Daily by journalist Alan Austin “It’s official. Regular Australians are getting poorer” argues that household income is declining. The measure used is gross disposable household income (GDHI), an aggregate measure of income.

Cross-posted from The Conversation: Neither of Australia’s two main political parties believes population is an issue worth discussion, and neither currently has a policy about it.

From NAB today: The June NAB Monthly Business Survey was again positive for the business sector. Business conditions hit another multiyear high, with most industries performing well. Stronger trading conditions (sales) and profitability drove the improvement, while employment conditions were steady.

From PIMCO’s Robert Mead: After 25 years of steady economic growth, Australia is on the verge of wresting bragging rights from the Netherlands for the longest period on record without a recession.

Via Deutsche: DB’s forecast for Q2-17 headline CPI at 0.6%qoq/2.4%yoy; average of the core measures at 0.5%qoq/1.8%yoy Our forecast for Q2 headline CPI is for a 0.6%qoq outturn, a touch stronger than the 0.5%qoq the headline prints seen in Q4-16 and Q1-17.

By Leith van Onselen Late last year, it was revealed that Australia’s carbon emissions are on the rise and the nation is on track to badly miss the scientifically based targets set by the government’s Climate Change Authority, as well as those under the Paris agreement.

Judith Sloan thinks so: So what can federal Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg offer by way of electricity price relief?

Energy pariah, South Australia, is, in fact, Australia’s energy leader: Tesla founder Elon Musk’s plan for a giant battery for South Australia is billed as the world’s biggest – but if Lyon Group’s David Green has his way Tesla’s system won’t even be the biggest in SA.

Get a load of this from Australia’s last journalist standing, Adele Ferguson, today: Leaked emails flagging a potential diplomatic incident with the United States and a potential loss of investments if certain legislation proceeded gives a fascinating – and rarely seen – insight into the opaque world of lobbying and advocacy.

By Leith van Onselen The latest Roy Morgan Research (RMR) unemployment estimate for June registered a 0.9% decline in the unemployment rate over the month and a 0.7% decline over the year: Below are the key points from the release: Australia’s real unemployment for June was 8.9% (1.2 million).

From NZ Herald: Australia has missed its chance to avoid a potential “economic apocalypse”, according to a former government guru who says that despite his warnings there are seven new signs we are too late to act.

By Leith van Onselen Back in October, Ron Iddles, a former homicide detective and current police union secretary, claimed that Victoria’s crime wave was the worst in half a century: Mr Iddles can’t think of another time when crime in his home state was worse.

PMI purple patch: ▪ The national construction industry expanded for a fifth consecutive month in June, although the pace of growth moderated slightly from May’s 32-month high level. ▪ The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group/ Housing Industry Association Australian Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI®) fell by 0.7 points to 56.0 points in June.

By Leith van Onselen After stupidly calling for mass privatisation of public monopoly assets, Infrastructure Australia (IA) has now backed a High Speed Rail (HSR) line linking Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

By Leith van Onselen Recently I have ridiculed the new found push by some politicians towards decentralisation, noting that this is a pipe dream based on the settlement pattern of new migrants, which have overwhelmingly chosen to flood Sydney and Melbourne.

Via the AFR: The normally meek June quarter for electricity markets has been turned on its head with wholesale prices breaking records to an extent that is appalling experts and should scare energy users, regulators and governments.

Cross-posted from The Conversation: With affordable houses increasingly out of reach, wage growth slow and household debt high, Australians are certainly feeling poor.