Australian Economy

From Capital Economics: Inflation in Australia may well have passed its low point and the big question now is how far will it rise and how fast?

By Leith van Onselen The ABS has released the annual national accounts to June 2016, which reported that Australia’s mining investment fell to 4.7% of GDP, down from a peak of 9.0% recorded in June 2013 (see next chart).

From Bloomie: Australia was 17th among worldwide destinations for Chinese tourists on package holidays in the second quarter, lagging behind Russia in 13th place, Vietnam in seventh and leader Thailand, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

From Deloitte: The latest edition of the AFGC CHEP Retail Index forecasts slowing, but positive, year-on-year growth in retail sales through to the end of 2016.

By Leith van Onselen Back in June, ABC’s 7.30 Report aired a worrying report on “Australia’s hidden people smuggling scandal”, which uncovered widespread fraud and rorting of the temporary visa system: The report featured Melbourne Indian community leader, Jasvinder Sidhu, explaining his first-hand accounts of blatant visa rorting and corruption.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released export and import prices for the September quarter, which portends another much-needed increase in Australia’s terms-of-trade when the national accounts are released in early December.

By Leith van Onselen Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims has given a speech today on the growing concentration of Australian industry.

I had a fascinating conversation with a real estate agent today.

From the AFR: The key message from the annual JPMorgan Australian Financial Review Chanticleer lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday was that the business community must step up and defend itself against the rising tide of anti-business sentiment.

By Leith van Onselen As noted earlier in brief, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the September quarter 0f 2016, which registered another soft reading for headline inflation, with underlying inflation also remaining well in check.

The NSW government is suddenly sporting the bogan bumper sticker “fuck off, we’re full”: Children as young as five are being rejected by NSW public schools because their parents are temporary visa holders while schools across Sydney overflow with enrolments.

From the IEA: The International Energy Agency said today that it was significantly increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions.

By Leith van Onselen Roy Morgan Research (RMR) has released a new opinion poll showing that the majority of Australians (58%) want Australia’s population kept under 35 million by 2046, with just over a third also wanting the population kept below 30 million.

From Bloomie: There’s a well-known order of business for foreigners trying to invest in emerging markets.

When I first started writing about the Australian property bubble in 2003 I knew it was big.

From Barclays: Rage is all the rage these days.

By Leith van Onselen The Lowy Institute has released a new report entitled Economic migration and Australia in the 21st Century, which spruiks the benefits of Australia’s high immigration program without giving due regard to the costs.