Joshi

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and his boss, and Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, were doing their job, calmly trying to calm everyone down. Acknowledging the great uncertainty, but trying not to add to it.

How did Dutton react? He thought: “You little beauty, here’s my chance to put the frighteners on. I’ll go for it.” So he stoked fears that a recession was imminent.

"[A]fter the last three elections in which an incumbent Labor administration fought and lost. In every case, the election campaign focused primarily on economic competence, as assessed by perceived past performance. And in all of these, the media played a dominant role in convincing a significant slice of the electorate to believe the opposite of the truth."

An interesting look at Labor vs Lib economic management and election performance.

The first Australian response to Trump was denial, then (unsuccessful) bargaining. Now there’s anger and depression as the tariffs sink in. Eventually must come acceptance.

Treasury was projecting a decade of deficits in then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s budget before the last federal election in 2022. So why don’t I remember the people who profess to be so worried now, expressing much concern then? Surely not because debt and deficits only matter when you’ve got a Labor government?

Measles was eliminated from Australia. Experts warn US and Asia outbreaks may bring back this ‘heat-seeking missile’

There were 18 cases in NSW in 2024 – up from six in 2023 – while in Victoria there have already been 13 cases so far this year, compared with 16 in 2024

Labor has found more than $2bn in budget savings as it spruiks its record in cutting and re-directing former Coalition government spending to fund its agenda.

Led by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, the government has embarked on a three-year long process of axing or shifting funding to help repair the budget bottom line and free up space for its own spending priorities.

JobSeeker has long been far below the Henderson Poverty Line.

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Labor’s own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has again urged it to raise JobSeeker and other welfare payments ahead of the federal budget on March 25.

Its latest report was unambiguous, saying raising payments “remains the number one priority and that doing so would deliver significant economic and social benefits”.

Legal experts say Peter Dutton's proposal for a referendum to give ministers more powers to strip the citizenship of dual-nationals convicted of terrorism is unnecessary, as the court already has this power.

[T]his election, it will pay to keep an eye on independents running in regional and rural Australia. Growing grassroots support suggests they, along with minor parties, will pose a major challenge to the two-party dominance that’s slowly diminishing.

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In 2019, one in four voters preferred minor or independent candidates. In 2022, it was one in three.

Peter Dutton has vowed to cut overall government spending if elected to government, reiterating his plans to scale back the public service. 

Labor has called on the opposition leader to reveal the details of his plan, warning that fewer public servants would mean longer wait times to access services.

Mr Dutton said he would not detail exactly where the spending cuts would come from until after the federal election.

Have you ever walked into an outlet like OPSM, Specsavers, Bailey Nelson, or Laubman & Pank for an eye test and left feeling like you’d been gently pressured into spending $500 on a pair of glasses?

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[B]osses impose onto optometrists a variety of targets – whether its “converting” eye tests into sales or increasing rates of certain types of tests.

This type of pressure is reportedly causing many optometrists “significant moral distress” and some are starting to fight back.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is among many who are condemning the Coalition’s plan to slash 36,000 public service jobs if it wins the federal election. 

The ACTU said on February 25 the cuts would mean one in five public sector workers would be out of their job, badly affecting services from pensions and veterans’ payments, to the operation of regional weather stations.