Australian Economy

Cross-posted from Martin North’s DFA blog: The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released some important data on how many people are being cared for informally in the community.

Fuck off you green-lefty scum, it’s over.

When John Edwards penned his dissertation about the need for less whinging , one institution he could not have had in mind was the Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics (BREE).

By Leith van Onselen The BRW is running an article on the obscene increase in wealth gained by Australia’s property barons from rising land values: Billionaire Harry Triguboff has a ­simple explanation why so many ­people are getting rich from property.

By Leith van Onselen Last week, Statistics New Zealand released the national accounts for the March quarter, which revealed that real GDP in New Zealand rose by a strong 1.0% over the quarter to be up 3.3% over the year.

Business Spectator’s Tristan Edis is onto a truth I’ve pointed to many times but simply does not get a wider airing for some reason.

Cross-posted from The Conversation: The economics of privatisation are pretty simple.

By Leith van Onselen While I was away on leave last week, the ABS released its Australian demographic statistics for the December quarter of 2013, which revealed that Australia’s population growth rate continues to fall, driven by declining growth in the two key mining states of Western Australia and Queensland.

By Leith van Onselen The Australia Institute (TAI) has today released a new report, which has attempted to estimate the amount of industry assistance provided to the mining and energy sectors by Australia’s state governments, via things such as subsidies, concessions and subsidised access to infrastructure.

From the AFR: Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out privatising Australia Post as he said the service needed to cut back five-day a week mail delivery, increase postage rates and expand into government services such as Centrelink and Medicare, as part of changes to avoid a “sea of red ink and ultimately ruin”.

It appears the big BHP job cuts are fast becoming a reality.

By Leith van Onselen The ANZ-Roy Morgan Research (RMR) consumer confidence index continues to gradually recover following its Budget induced shellacking, registering a 2.5 point lift in the week ended 22 June to be up 6.4% from May’s low (see next chart).

From the West Australian: More than 500 jobs have already been chopped from BHP’s iron ore division in recent months, including 100 from the resources giant’s iron ore headquarters in Perth as well as 170 positions made redundant at its Mt Whaleback mine in the Pilbara.

There are two contemporary traditions in Australian economics.

By Leith van Onselen Two prominent bank economists have issued warnings today that consumer spending will remain subdued and is poorly positioned to drive the economy as the mining investment boom fades.

By Leith van Onselen Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) head, Rod Sims, has today warned that the spate of asset privatisations being undertaken across the country risks lessening competition in key markets, harming consumers and stifling the economy’s productivity.

By Leith van Onselen Late last month I got excited when Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman, indicated that his Government would break ranks with its New South Wales and Victorian counterparts and would not regulate Uber’s ride-sharing service: “We are a deregulation-minded government,” [Campbell Newman] told ABC radio.

The Kouk is back and waging a war on an ideological alliance of big tobacco, The Australian, and the Institute of Public Affairs.

Retail continues to be the focus of concern in the wake of the budget.

MB has recently been tracking the impacts of iron ore on West Australian Budget.

The ABS released its quarterly labour market breakup today which details industry specific job gains.

From Gallup in the US: Americans who have been out of work for a year or more are much more likely to be obese than those unemployed for a shorter time.