Australian Politics

There is no stopping this. Overnight: Houthis hit another Saudi oil tanker, making it three in as many days. Demands toll for Bab al-Mandab. Saudi bombed Iranian militia in Iraq. Iran attacked US forces in Jordan (first time it has struck before provocation).

For years, I watched in despair as my fellow Victorians displayed acute Stockholm Syndrome regarding the state Labor government.

Why Victoria, virtually alone in the Western world, put a COVID government back into power is a mystery.

Trade Minister Don Farrell says the US government’s decision to impose a new tariff on imports from Australia is “completely unjustified” and a breach of the free-trade agreement between the two nations.

Bloomy. Wholesale spot prices in the National Electricity Market averaged A$74 ($51.71) a megawatt-hour in the three months through June, down 47% from a year earlier, the network operator said in its latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics report.

Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC) is calling for the most sweeping overhaul of housing rules in decades — pushing for three‑storey housing almost everywhere, major reductions in planning restrictions, and faster approvals — arguing that regulatory barriers are a core driver of the housing shortage and worsening affordability.

Lol.

MB’s David Llewellyn-Smith (DLS) and Nucleus Wealth’s Damien Klassen disagree with me on energy policy.

The Grattan Institute released a report arguing that the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has too much power over where pharmacies can be opened, how they run, the cost of medications and the services pharmacists can provide.

Albo is busy collecting the cash from the gas cartel.

Across multiple inquiries, reports, and economic analyses, the CFMEU’s conduct on Victoria’s Big Build is consistently linked to higher construction costs, lower productivity, and systemic rorting that added billions to project budgets.

Jacinta Allan has resigned as Victorian Premier, paving the way for Ben Carroll to take over as the state’s leader, in a move that should avoid a messy leadership contest months before the state election.

After attacking Aramco’s refinery in Jizan, the Houthis appear to have bombed Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing plant, the world’s largest oil processing facility.

Climate change is about to become a major issue again.

Rupert Murdoch has always loved war.

When the state Labor government took office in 2014, Victoria had very low debt.

LVO is back at the coalface this morning.

The Northern Territory government is backing plans for a $40 billion data centre industry, with several ‘hyper-scale’ AI data centre campuses to be built on land around 30 kilometres from Darwin.

For two nights, Trump hasn’t bombed Iran.

The taxation arrangements around electric vehicles (EVs) are a reverse Robin Hood arrangement that extracts taxes from ordinary Australians to distribute to the rich. A case in point is the EV fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption, which was introduced in 2022 to make EVs more affordable for employees through salary packaging and novated leases.

Israel is laughing all the way to the White House, which it pwns.

South Australia offers a glimpse into the energy future facing Australia.

More bullshit today from a gas cartel that appears beaten.