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

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.

Last month’s New South Wales election ejected the final mainland Coalition state government from office.

Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis. Record numbers of Australians are in severe housing stress and it’s not just people with rising interest rates on their mortgages. Fewer and fewer people can afford a roof over their head and more and more people are sleeping rough on the streets or in their car.

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.

If the Albanese government were looking for some political cover to remove the chokehold of the $254 billion stage three income tax cuts on the budget, it could do worse than look to the International Monetary Fund’s latest advice.

If a pandemic killed 15,000 people and nobody seemed to notice, was it really a pandemic? In Australia last year, COVID-19 killed more people than lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, car accidents and drowning combined. And in addition to the 15,000 deaths directly attributed to COVID, the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that

The unemployment rate published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is an incredibly stable, accurate and reliable indicator of something almost entirely irrelevant. It provides us with 63 years’ worth of raw data on the number of Australians who worked for less than one hour, were actively seeking work and, because they had no caring responsibilities, were available to start work immediately.

When you reduce the revenue available to fund government services, you inevitably increase inequality

The build up of savings during the pandemic is over – now we need strong income growth to keep the economy going as the Reserve Bank tries to slow it.

For most of this year, the warnings and news about inflation have been one of hope for the best but experience the worst. Predictions of future inflation growth have continually been revised upwards and with it has been the suggestion that interest rates need to keep rising.

The latest economic outlook from the OECD highlights the precarious path for Australia over the next few years.

The latest wages price index figures show that for the first time since 2013 wages grew by more than 3% in the past year.

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine caused a massive surge in gas and LNG prices that have enabled gas companies around the world, including Australia to make record-level profits.