Blogotariat

This comes straight from the annals of the Department of Redundancy Department. Via Bloomberg: Australia’s Productivity Commission has identified 15 priority reforms to examine in the course of five inquiries it’s conducting for the government to try to boost economic efficiency and raise living standards. The five inquiries being conducted are: Creating a dynamic and resilient economy

For today’s booth map of the day I’ve gone to Calwell, the most complex seat of 2025. This booth map shows the primary vote for Labor, Liberal and the two leading independents, and swings for Labor and Liberal.

The major parties lost primary votes pretty much all over the seat. The biggest swings, but also the biggest primary votes for the two independents, appear to be in the geographic middle of the seat, although you’d probably describe it as the north of the seat when factoring in how the outer north of the seat doesn’t have that many booths.

The Market Ear wraps us up. Fade the rip? “…one of our contrarian trading rules…when >88% of MSCI global stock indices trading above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages then you sell, and vice-versa; currently 84% of MSCI indices trading above 50dma/200dma”…global stock markets v close to “overbought”…good “fade-the-rip” reminder” (Hartnett) Teflon tech NASDAQ at

The post BTFD returns appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Steel is showing the tariff strain. We are entering the year’s weakest seasonal period so iron ore ought to follow. Chinese property is weak. Export volumes have held up. But is it all diversion. Sooner or later, the crashed prices needed to muscle into new markets will flow back up the supply chain. Steel demand

The post Iron ore shows the tariff strain appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published data last month revealing that Victorians pay the highest state and local taxes in the country. Victorian state and local government taxes were $6,348 per capita in 2023-24, $654 (11.5%) higher than the state and territory average. Victoria also saw a 40.5% increase in state and local government

The post Victoria careens into financial Armageddon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

A journey through the four major blackouts that were blamed on renewables - did they actually put a dent in the growth of wind and solar? I checked the data....

Key energy hub in contested New England renewable energy zone moved to Origin owned wind project and property to reduce power lines on private farms.

DXY continues its rebound as the world restocks US assets. AUD is holding support. Lead boots too. Gold look very shaky. Thankfully, so does oil. Metals are nervous about growth. Miners meh. EM is shit. But non-China EM is worth a look. Junk’s got some spunk. Yields are a pest. Any higher and the rally

The post Australian dollar the world’s most hated currency appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Australian researchers say deployment of lower cost, flat-packed concentrated solar tech will “transform" the industrial heat sector.

A highway runs through the middle of Austin, Texas, splitting the city in two.
One side of the highway is shrouded in darkness, whilst the other is brightly lit.

The latest data suggests that momentum in the housing market has softened as buyers await further interest rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). This week’s mortgage finance data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the value of new housing lending declined by 1.6% in the March quarter, taking the annual

The post Bulls circle Australian property appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Keir Starmer’s attack on our planning system is an almost-perfect repeat of Boris Johnson’s disaster. Why can’t he see that?

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th May 2025

The precedent is uncanny, and the failure to learn from it downright mystifying. Keir Starmer is rushing gladly towards the catastrophe Boris Johnson inflicted on himself in 2020. Had he set out to stymie Labour’s chances of re-election, he couldn’t be doing it better.

VicGrid releases first draft of Victorian Transmission Plan, proposing seven renewable energy zones and four new transmission lines to support the state's transition to renewables.