The former Coalition government’s Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) program ran from October 2020 to June 2022 and was designed to turbocharge trainee and apprenticeship numbers coming out of the pandemic. The scheme allowed retail and hospitality businesses to claim up to $28,000 for first-year trainees and up to $6000 for a second year. Like most
Thar she blows. Cyclone Zelia, a Cat5 monster, with wind speed approaching 320km/h building off the warmest seasonal waters since records began. There’s going to be some disruption. That said, it appears to be largely priced already, with iron ore completely dislocated from steel. Short is still the better part of long here, barring a
The financial woes of the Victorian government are well documented. The state had the nation’s highest per capita net debt in 2023-24 and the worst (AA) credit rating. The trajectory of Victoria’s debt is also concerning. The major ratings agencies—S&P and Moody’s—warned that they could further downgrade Victoria’s credit rating if debt levels are not
Goldman’s excellent Andrew Boak takes on the third rail of Aussie economics. Looking at the labour market, some indicators like employment growth, labour force participation and job vacancies do remain strong and appear to work against the case for easier monetary policy – however, our analysis highlights three reasons why these measures are overstating the
Energy buffoonery is an LNP speciality. Energy bills could rise by nearly 70% over the next 10 years under current government policy, a new report has estimated – findings likely to be seized on by the Coalition as it pushes its alternative plan. The federal Labor government has set the aggressive target of having renewable
Stock markets are essentially ignoring Trump’s tariff plans and keep heading higher across both sides of the Atlantic with an expectation of that positivity flowing over here in Asia for the last trading day of the week. The latest PPI data saw the USD give up ground against most of the undollars with a violent
The DXY chart does not look well. If support breaks then down we go. AUD is poised for an upside rampage. Even lead boots is up. Gold is entering blowoff. Oil not so much. Another copper bubble. Yawn. Somebody finally bought a miner. EM up. Junk too. Yields down. Stocks-a-palooza. Europe going nuts on the
Property analysts believe the ‘Fear of Missing out’ (FOMO) will engulf Australia’s housing market once the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cuts interest rates. Financial markets believe the RBA will cut the official cash rate by 0.25% next week, followed by three additional cuts throughout the year. PropTrack has modelled the average savings homeowners would
Asian share markets are much more positive in today’s session with shares continuing to rebound in Hong Kong rebounding while local markets are dead flat. Last night’s US CPI print is seeing currency markets move every which way as they also navigate more tariff volatility with Yen firming while the Australian dollar is holding strong
At the 2010 Australian federal election, the Julia Gillard-led Labor Party won a second term after Labor formed a minority government with the support of three independent MPs and one Australian Greens MP. Labor and the Coalition each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, four short of the requirement for a majority