Discover Energy welcomes Huawei FusionSolar to VPP Network
Leading Australian energy retailer Discover Energy has today announced the full API integration of their Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform with Huawei FusionSolar, becoming the first VPP in the nation to integrate with Huawei...
Australia's new vaccination campaign is another wasted opportunity
Australia's new 'Arm Yourself' COVID-19 vaccination campaign advertisement. Department of Health/YoutubeThe Australian government’s new national vaccination advertisements have been described as exciting as a bowl of leftove...
Our estimates suggest we can get Australia's unemployment down to 3.3%
MIA Studio/ShutterstockAt last, the government and the Reserve Bank are singing from the same song sheet. Both say they will keep supporting the economy (the government with big deficits, the Reserve Bank with ultra-low interest r...
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Why most economists continue to back lockdowns
With the prospect of a lengthier lockdown looming over Sydney, the idea of “living with the virus” has resurfaced[1]. NSW’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, raised the prospect of abandoning the lockdown and accepting tha...
RBA governor Philip Lowe's dangerous game on interest rates
There’s an idea in economics that policy makers need at least one tool for each target at which they are aiming. Fewer tools than targets will mean not achieving all goals. This is known as the Tinbergen Rule[1] (named for ...
Australia and New Zealand are signing up for an international tax on the tech giants — but will it be enough?
Australia, New Zealand and many other countries are losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year by not adequately taxing the profits of digital giants doing business in their jurisdictions. Australia has opted...
A national insurance crisis looms. The Morrison government's $10 billion 'pool' plan won't fix it
As climate change intensifies extreme weather events, home and building insurance premiums have been rising, particularly in northern Australia. As premiums rise, more people are choosing dr...
What New Zealand should win from its trade agreement with post-Brexit Britain
GettyImagesBruised by its divorce from the European Union, Britain is busy getting out more, making new friends and renewing old acquaintances. Serenaded with promises of cheaper cars, whiskey an...
RBA starts three-year countdown to lift in interest rates
In line with expectations, the Reserve Bank of Australia has announced it will keep official interest rates on hold at 0.10%. But is also ready to start tapering off its “unconventional”...
Open-plan office noise increases stress and worsens mood: we've measured the effects
Monkey Business Images/ShutterstockIf you’ve ever felt your noisy open-plan office makes you cranky and sends your heart racing, our new research shows you aren’t imagining it.Prior t...
Australia's anti-lockdown tribe battles on against the evidence
You might have thought the “lockdown wars” in Australia were over.After all, Australia navigated the pandemic better than essentially any other country in 2020.We closed our internati...
Are low interest rates increasing inequality? No, says the world's central bank
Phillip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, gets many letters and emails from retirees complaining they can’t live on the interest from their savings when interest rates ar...
Yes, lockdowns are costly. But the alternatives are worse
Lockdowns are costly. They damage businesses and livelihoods. Victoria’s recent lockdown cost about $100 million a day[1] in lost economic activity, according to Victorian Treasury. NSW’...
Economy will be weak and in need of support after pandemic, say top economists in 2021-22 survey
Australia’s economy will limp along after recovering from the pandemic, failing to regain the growth it had either in the years leading up to the crisis or the much higher growth in the dec...
The intergenerational report was sobering, but the reality may be worse
We’ve had five intergenerational reports[1] now, the first (IGR02) in 2002, and the most recent (IGR21) on Monday. Each has presented a startling picture of a widening gap between the reve...
From UFOs to COVID conspiracy theories, we all struggle with the 'truth out there'
For ufologists the US government’s eagerly anticipated report[1] of “unidentified aerial phenomena” may be a major disappointment. It goes further than any previous report in admitting ...
Intergenerational reports ought to do more than scare us — they ought to spark action
Janaka Dharmasena/ShutterstockThe intergenerational reports are former treasurer Peter’s Costello’s fiscal future-proofing scheme — a five-yearly reminder that, without action...
Be suspicious of claims the mining industry creates non-mining jobs
Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels, CC BYEmblematic of the sort of claims that put the “con” into economics was an assertion by the Queensland Resources Council last year that “the resource...
