The Rudd/Gillard Labor government made the disastrous decision in the early 2010s to authorise LNG exports from Gladstone, Queensland, without forcing gas producers to first serve the domestic market. As a result of this policy blunder, East Coast Australia became the only gas exporting jurisdiction in the world without a domestic gas reservation policy. We
The Israel-Iran war continues to dominate risk markets as the TACO-in-Chief threatens to join in with bunker busters over the weekend to eliminate the Iranian nuclear facilities. The USD is gaining strength against most of the undollars with the Australian dollar losing ground on a relatively weak unemployment today, heading back below the 65 cent
Liberal MP Garth Hamilton has called for sweeping changes to the tax system, arguing that it needs to be inclusive and support modern families. His suggestions for reform include introducing lifetime deductions on tax rates for mothers, in recognition of the fact that they often have lower salaries when they return to the workforce. Hamilton
ANZ with report. Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.2% in the year ending March 2025, according to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. This follows a flat annual result over the year to December 2024. Excluding the land use, land use change and forestry4 (LULUCF) sector, annual emissions fell 1.0% in the year to March
The blueprint for how to fix Australia’s tax system was spelled out 15 years ago by the Henry Tax Review. Unfortunately, both sides of government ignored its recommendations. Fast forward to today, and the federal budget is facing a decade of budget deficits amid the unwinding of commodity prices, the ageing population, and increasing spending
The cartel is back, baby. And so are ludicrous electricity prices. Bowen is the great fiddler. The Australian. The Albanese government’s planned overhaul of household electricity price caps could put small energy retailers surviving on razor-thin profit margins out of business. Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed the government would review the Default Market Offer
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the May labour force report, which reported a steady unemployment rate of 4.1% despite the loss of 2,500 jobs. The unemployment remained steady due to the 0.1% fall in the labour force participation rate. However, despite the loss of jobs, monthly hours worked jumped by 1.3% in
The Market Ear on a rapidly exhausting market. Shorts stopped out Recent equity strength has been fueled by underweight positioning and a brutal short squeeze. But signs of relief are emerging — UBS reports the strongest hedge fund deleveraging since March, with sharp short covering. Nasdaq short interest is now in the 25th percentile, showing just
Labor’s Powering Australia Plan claimed that it would cut NEM wholesale power rates by $11 per MWh (from $62 to $51) by 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised RepuTex Energy’s analysis as “the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any opposition in Australia’s history since Federation”. Albanese also regularly claimed that Labor
DXY went nowhere. AUD recovered some. Lead boots are going sideways. Oil short? Metals bifurcating. Biug miner bear one for the ages. EM meh. Junk hasn’t budged. Long end sort of OK. Stocks nothing burger. Here are the Fed headlines. *FED HOLDS BENCHMARK RATE IN 4.25%-4.5% TARGET RANGE *FOMC MEDIAN FORECAST STILL SHOWS 50 BPS