Increases in the prices of commodities like oil and gas are not a reason for the RBA to raise interest rates next week

Every now and then a window opens into the soul of the business community, and we catch a glimpse of the values and goals that shape the actions of the captains of industry.

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.

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