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MacroBusiness Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 10:00 Source

The federal government’s housing accord commenced on 1 July 2024 and aims to construct 1.2 million dwellings over five years, equivalent to 20,000 homes per month. On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released dwelling approvals data, which revealed that 15,400 homes were approved for construction in February, 4,600 (23%) below the target. Over

The post The math doesn’t add up for Australian housing appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 09:30 Source

This is another pointless debate, as usual. The Reserve Bank governor has contradicted Labor’s claims that wages can continue to rise without productivity gains, as the Albanese government pushes for an above-inflation increase for 3 million workers on minimum rates this year. Labor’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review calls for an

The post Aussie mediocrity is turning fatal appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 09:00 Source

Well here it is, you get a tariff – he gets a tariff – she gets a tariff – we all get tariffs! Australia was let off mildly by the Trump regime’s new tariff crusade but as they don’t understand, its all interconnected with the near 50% tariffs on Chyna about to devastate not only

The post Macro Morning appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 08:56 Source

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Renew Economy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 08:29 Source
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Your Democracy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 08:17 Source

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a new round of sweeping tariffs, part of what he has branded his ‘Liberation Day’ plan, raising concerns over a potential global trade war.

Washington is introducing customs duties on all countries based on the principle of reciprocity, Trump has announced, calling it a day of economic independence for the United States.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 08:13 Source

DXY is falling again after Liberation Day tariff announcements. AUD was up big, down big, then did little. Lead boots will be interesting today. Gold to the moon. Oil toppy. Base metals are screaming “hard landing”. Big mining’s big bear knows no bottom. EM meh. Credit not stressed enough. Yields fell as growth worries mount.

The post Australian dollar gazumped by tariff shock appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 08:05 Source

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Renew Economy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 07:35 Source
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The Tally Room Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 07:00 Source

Ben is joined by journalist Rachel Withers, writer of the Crikey column ‘Well Hung’, to discuss the prospects for independent candidates, including teal and Muslim independents, at the 2025 federal election.

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Renew Economy Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 06:37 Source

Burning gas burner of a home stove in the middle of which is the flag of the country of Australia.</body></html>

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MacroBusiness Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 00:05 Source

Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released Q4 2024 data on household debt. As illustrated in the chart below, the ratio of household debt to income was 182% in Q4 2024, tracking close to a record high. This was driven by mortgage debt, which was tracking at 135% of household disposable in Q4.

The post Australian households remain buried in debt appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 21:54 Source

The German government plans to nominate Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as its candidate for the chair of the UN General Assembly during the 2025-26 session, media reports indicated earlier.

Just envisioning Annalena Baerbock as chair of the UN General Assembly drew a snap response from Maria Zakharova.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 18:16 Source
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Cheeseburger Gothic Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 18:10 Source

I wrote the forward to a time travel anthology a while ago. And for my sins, they sent me a bunch of bookplates to sign.

These things sat in my PO box for a while because the email from the editors telling me about them got swallowed up by Apple’s latest iOS update—which has turned the Mail app into a bit of a bin fire. Eventually, though, the team tracked me down and said, “Hey, you’ve really got to sign those bookplates.”

So I picked them up… and the stack was enormous. I stared at it for two days, thinking, this is going to take me two days to sign. And I’m kind of on a deadline here.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 18:05 Source
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George Monbiot Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 15:54 Source

It has two main strategies, and you can see them both at work, right here, right now.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  28th March 2025

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George Monbiot Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 15:44 Source

You can’t do it differently until you imagine it differently.

By George Monbiot, adapted from a BlueSky thread, 2nd April 2025

One of capitalism’s greatest successes is to shut down our imaginations. With the help of its favoured tools – neoliberalism and fascism – it persuades us that “there is no alternative”. Our first task is to re-ignite our moral imaginations and name our alternatives.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 15:34 Source
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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 14:43 Source
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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 14:24 Source
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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 14:00 Source

Warner Bros Discovery’s Max streaming service debuted in an already-crowded Australian market on Monday. Warner Bros Discovery executive Jean-Briac Perrette is upbeat about the outlook for the sector, contending that streaming will be a “fantastic business”. “The streaming business, and the media business, to a large part, is moving towards a handful of successful, big

The post Australia has too many streaming services appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 13:30 Source

The Market Ear sees squirming robots. CTAs in US equities CTAs have aggressively sold US equities and are now estimated to be short $30bn. Not a huge number per se but we are at an interesting “extreme” level looking back over the past 10 years. This would be supportive evidence for a tactical long trade.

The post Stock robots squirm as hard landing builds appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 13:05 Source
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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 13:00 Source

Recall Labor’s Powering Australia Plan, which promised to reduce NEM wholesale electricity costs by $11 per MWh, from $62 to $51, by 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed this modelling by RepuTex Energy as “the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any ­opposition in Australia’s history since Federation”. Albanese also repeatedly spruiked that

The post Labor continues to lie about power prices appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 12:50 Source
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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 12:30 Source

Goldman’s Andrew Boak has been more right than everyone so far. In her post-meeting press conference RBA Governor Bullock noted that today’s decision to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4.10% was a consensus decision and that the Board did not explicitly consider a rate cut at the meeting. Importantly, Governor Bullock did not repeat

The post Paralysed RBA to cut, cut, cut appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 12:00 Source

Progressive think tank Per Capita has released a report criticising the low wage growth experienced by young Australians, which has prevented them from purchasing a home. Per capita claims young Australians have suffered from a “lost decade during which real wages barely grew”.  At the same time, home ownership rates for younger Australians collapsed. “In

The post Young Aussies have been robbed of wages appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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The Tally Room Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 12:00 Source

I’ll be speaking at an event next week in Sydney as a preview for the federal election.

The event is hosted by my employer GovConnex along with FTI Consulting.

We’ll be previewing the election and discussing prospects for a possible hung parliament. There will be an opportunity to ask questions followed by drinks.

Tickets are free but there is limited capacity and I expect the venue to fill up.

The event will be at the Mint in Sydney from 5:30pm on Thursday April 10.

Book a ticket here.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 11:30 Source

The gas goons are on the run. Reuters. At a conference in Sydney, Australian executives of Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab , ExxonMobil and Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab pushed back on the coalition’s proposal, arguing more government intervention would hamper the development of gas supply. These people are like a broken record. They will do as they are

The post Gas goons on the run appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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