ECONOMY

The latest figures boosted Australian dollar by 0.25%, bringing it to AU$0.6930, just shy of its 1.5-year peak of AU$0.6943.

Announcing the funding, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government wanted to crack down on "misleading and deceptive pricing practices and unconscionable conduct.

Chalmers believes the recent stimulus measures from China, including its decision to cut interest rates and inject liquidity through mortgage refinancing could potentially boost steel demand, leading to an increase in iron ore prices.

Besides low spending, the government stated strong commodity prices and a larger income tax as contributing to the two consecutive surpluses. The government also saved by paying less to the states and territories.

The Supermarkets Inquiry Interim Report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (AICCC) found that the country's biggest grocery chains, Coles and Woolworths, were acting as "oligopoly," limiting the incentive to compete on price.

The Financial Stability Review reported a rising number of mortgage holders, who were defaulting on home loans and more people opting to sell their homes to escape repayment.

The results of its latest supermarket pricing study, tabled after comparing prices of 14 common grocery items across 104 stores nationwide, found Aldi to be cheaper by at least AU$18, while compared to Coles or Woolworths.

The core consumer price inflation (CPI), which removed volatile price movers, also fell from 3.7% in July to 3%.

"While headline inflation will decline for a time, underlying inflation is more indicative of inflation momentum, and it remains too high," the board said in a statement. "Policy will need to be sufficiently restrictive until the Board is confident that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target range."

"The Reserve Bank should lower interest rates tomorrow and if they don't, the Treasurer should use his existing powers to bring down interest rates and relieve pressure on mortgage holders," Greens demanded.

"The cost of living crisis has meant that Australians aren't turning up to the pubs, they don't have the disposable income they used to," Nationals Leader David Littleproud said on Sunday. "Then when you couple that with the six-monthly increase in excise, that's putting beer out of the reach of many Australians."

Beneficiaries will include those on the jobseeker payment, age pension, disability support pension, carer payment, family tax benefit, and commonwealth rent assistance.

Analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) assessed the plan's potential fallout on local families, and found out that typical households could see electricity bills rise by an average of AU$665 per year to cover the cost of establishing the power plants.

Earlier this year, China had removed trade tariffs on wine and barley after Australia dropped World Trade Organization complaints against Beijing over the two products.

Part-time stints saw the most gains, with about 50,600 jobs being added last month, while full-time positions fell by 3,100. The employment-to-population ratio increased to 64.3% to an almost all-time high, and the participation rate reached a record-high 67.1%.

Trade Minister Don Farrell announced the agreement in Canberra on Tuesday, highlighting that the deal would curb tariffs on over 99% of Australian products entering the UAE.

"Given the RBA's hawkish rhetoric, we don't see rate cuts coming until the second quarter of 2025," Oxford Economics Australia head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said ahead of the research firm's biannual economic outlook.

The cautious spending habit of consumers was also tied to rising household prices and mortgage repayments.

"Conditions in the labour market have eased since late 2022, but our assessment is that the labor market is still tight relative to full employment. We expect the demand for labour to grow at a slower pace relative to the supply of labour in the coming quarters, gradually bringing the labour market into better balance. Our view is that some of this slowing in labour demand is likely to occur via a decline in average hours," said Sarah Hunter.

While the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index dipped by 0.5% to 84.6 in September from 85.0 in August, the NAB business confidence survey was down to -4 index points in August.

Lending by first-time home buyers increased by 0.8% in July, and was 19.7% higher compared to July 2023. July also recorded a national average of new owner-occupier loans and new investor loans at AU$641,000.

Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said the council was set to find solutions to the issues plaguing homebuyers for a long time and will also stress the critical need for a stronger course of action to increase the housing supply.

The June quarter was driven by increased spending by the government and foreign students, while household consumption took a beat due to high inflation and interest rates. Consumer spending, which declined to 0.2% in the June quarter, was the lowest since the global recession.

In addition, the goods and services balance decreased by AU$3.9 billion, sharply diving to AU$12 billion.

The survey, dating back to July, involved 1,074 participants, among which 37% said they would turn to borrowing or selling assets to foot any bill of AU$500 or more.

The treasurer's remarks on Sunday followed weeks of rumors regarding tensions between the RBA and the government, sparking concerns about the economy's direction.

According to the Super Members Council (SMC), 2.8 million Australian workers were not paid their full amount of superannuation in 2021–2022, which amounted to AU$5.1 billion.

"Overall, it's clear there was little momentum behind consumer spending at the start of the quarter. And while it is early days, the data broadly reinforce our view that Australian households are not rushing to spend their newfound tax cuts," economist Abhijit Surya said.

Denouncing Greens' proposed 40% tax on excessive corporate profits as "insidious populism," Matt Comyn suggested that prioritizing popularity over genuine reform will only erode trust in institutions.