The Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has described proposed new laws to regulate digital platform work as building a ramp with employees at the top, independent contractors at the bottom, and gig platform workers halfway up. The new laws will allow the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for ‘employee-like workers’ on digital platforms.

We have now had two consecutive quarters of GDP per capita falling – hardly the soft landing the RBA wants.

The latest quarterly greenhouse gas emissions survey shows that Australia is heading in the wrong direction – and that needs calling out.

For the first time in decades, Australia is talking about industry policy.

While overall wages grew in line with inflation in the June quarter for workers in most industries real wages are still going backwards.

The surprising thing about the Albanese government’s announced reforms to “casual” employment is not that they’re happening.

Inflation is coming down fast so we should now shift our attention to making sure unemployment does not rise

When workers are united, and able to collectively bargain, they can win good outcomes

In recent years, workers have been held back from demanding better working conditions and pay by a lack of bargaining power.

The RBA is currently targeting a 4.5% unemployment rate, and that is going to hurt young, low skilled and low paid workers,

As interest rates rise, the gains from negative gearing increase.

Every inflationary episode embodies a power struggle within society over who benefits from inflation, who loses out – and who will bear the cost of getting inflation back down.

A slowing economy and households closing their wallets is bad news with a Reserve Bank determined to keep raising rates

Australia needs more housing, and we definitely need more public housing

You can’t sustain household spending while real wages continue to fall, and households are starting to let everyone know

Wages are growing the best they have for 11 years, but real wages are now back at the level they were 14 years ago

Rather than be a budget that will fuel inflation, the budget is actually closer to austerity than stimulation

Commonwealth on Track for Diminutive Deficit or Surplus in 2022-2023 In the lead-up to its 2023-24 budget, the Labor Government finds itself in an awkward position, accepting that the Jobseeker payment is “seriously inadequate” and an impediment to regaining work, yet professing that it lacks the financial capacity to afford a meaningful increase anytime soon.

Wages growth is rising slowly and inflation is falling faster than expected, and yet the RBA decided to hit the economy again with another rate rise.

Inflation is falling steadily but hitting low-income households the most.

The Stage 3 tax cuts were always bad, but with the removal of the low-middle income tax offset, they become a terrible political strategy as well

Millennials are not becoming more conservative as they age – and the rigged housing market is just one reason why

Perhaps as much as a third of the rate rises since April have yet to fully hit the economy

The whole point of public-sector wage caps is to keep all wages down

House prices are falling but housing unaffordability remains high

The upsurge of inflation since the COVID-19 lockdowns has not had equal impacts on all Australians. Workers and low-income people have experienced the worst losses: both because their incomes, in most cases, have not kept up with prices, and because they are more dependent on essential goods and services (like shelter, food, and energy) than higher-income households.

Superannuation is too important for retirement to be allowed to be a tax dodge scheme for the wealthy. It is time to review the scheme and stop the abuses

The Reserve Bank now forecasts real household incomes will take longer to recover than they did during the 1990s recession and is also projecting economic growth at historical lows. Australian consumers are right to feel worried about the future.

The signs are already evident that household consumption is falling despite most mortgage holders yet to feel the full effects of the rate rises. The Reserve Bank however believes more pain is needed.

The cost of mortgages is soaring and households are spending less in the shops – the Reserve Bank should hold off on raising rates again next week