I caught up with Robbie Barwick from the Australian Citizens Party to review the recent hearings into Regional Bank Branch closures, and more broadly about the progress made this year.
We look at the underlying issues which have been brought to the surface through the inquiry, and consider what happens next.
And here is the link to the paper which was discussed in the hearings: https://citizensparty.org.au/sites/default/files/2022-06/aust-hamiltonian-credit.pdf
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On Friday 1st December 2023 the Senate took evidence in Canberra relating to bank branch closures. This a series of posts which presents some of the important evidence, as the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee heard from the Licenced Post Office Group (LPO).
This is the second in a series of posts following the recent hearings in Canberra as the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee heard from Robbie Barwick and co who presented the case for a public bank.
This is the third in a series of posts following the recent hearings in Canberra as the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee heard from Dale Webster, from The Regional. She and I wrote to the Committee to get this inquiry up and running.
The Centrals Bankers’ love in in Hong Kong this week was full of contradictions. Indeed, yesterday I featured the RBA’s new Governors comments, centered around her view households were largely coping ok with the 4.25% hike in rates. My reaction was how out of touch with real households she sounded.
The International Monetary Fund this month said the Australian economy was running above capacity, with low unemployment, “sticky” inflation and rising house prices and so forecast a delay in local inflation returning to the 2 per cent to 3 per cent target range until early 2026, slower than most other advanced countries. They also warned federal government that the nation’s infrastructure spending boom has helped push the economy beyond full capacity, requiring the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates further to tame inflation.
But also attending the conference, and a speaker later in the Day was Ex Governor Philip Lowe. He is worried central banks may not have increased interest rates high enough to control inflation and that cost of living help from governments adds to inflation.
The ABS, said: “The 4.9 per cent increase in CPI is down from 5.6 per cent in September and below the peak of 8.4 per cent in December 2022.” But as we will see, the number was lower, thanks partly to Government intervention, which of course means higher spending.
So perhaps the truth is, while inflation was down a little, it may be Central Banks still have more to do, so the game of political chicken on the inflation front is actually far from over. We will see.
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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
More from Edwin, our property insider, as the trends in Sydney and Melbourne property diverge further. We also look at the latest news and political positioning around property and we update the WeChat news as well.
http://www.martinnorth.com/
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
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The 2023 Intergenerational Report projected that Australia’s population will swell by a whopping 14 million people (+50%) over the next 40 years to 40.5 million people – equivalent to adding a combined Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide to Australia’s current population.
The number one solution to Australia’s housing (and infrastructure) shortage is to moderate NOM to a level that is below the nation’s ability to supply new homes, infrastructure, and business investment, while also safeguarding the natural environment (including water supplies).
And there is simply no way that we will build enough homes with current extreme NOM levels, as well as high interest rates, elevated materials costs, widespread builder insolvencies, and the like.
The whole notion of bringing in migrants to build homes for migrants is also circular ‘tail wagging the dog’ economics. It is nonsensical to import more migrants to fix a housing shortage caused by too many migrants.
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Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
The currently running Senate inquiry into bank branch closures has flushed out that while banks are claiming they are following their customers into a digital future, actually, they ae rather setting that agenda, removing ATMS and Branches and forcing people to go digital, whether they want to or not.
And some banks have all but admitted they are fudging the figures, to buttress their strategy, never mind the impact on real customers.
While politicians are keen to step back from the argument on the basis banks are commercial entities and should be able to make what ever strategic decisions they want, the truth is banks are a government protected species, who have received massive financial support from us tax-payers via the Term Funding Facility and other measures.
And to reinforce the argument that we are being lied to, according to a news.com.au exclusive article, a former ANZ employee has alleged that the bank is forcing customers out of branches and then using their absence to justify branch closures.
Phillip, a pseudonym told news.com.au that during the time he worked at an ANZ branch in a metropolitan area, staff were directed not to serve customers who came to the branch.
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This is an edited version of a live discussion with Leith van Onselen, Chief Economist at Nucleus Wealth, and co-founder of Macrobusiness. Leith has been leading the charge in highlighting how high migration is killing the property market. Tonight we look at the latest economic trends, and also will compare New Zealand with Australia.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Time to act to save Australia from the Central Bankers’ Power grab. I discuss the impending legislation which would disable Parliament’s power to intervene on what the RBA does; with Robbie Barwick from the Australian Citizens Party.
We need to register our opposition to the bill which is being snuck in via the back-door of cross-party consensus. The very future of Australia as a democratic country is at stake. Call and email now!
Breaking news! Treasurer Jim Chalmers is preparing to introduce a bill to implement the RBA Review recommendations, including removing democratic accountability over the Reserve Bank, in two weeks – the last week of November.
Don’t let the major parties do a back-room deal to wave this bill through!
Help fight to protect the most important democratic protection in Australian law by calling and emailing three people immediately:
Treasurer Jim Chalmers: Electorate (07) 3299 5910; Parliament House (02) 6277 7340; Email: Jim.Chalmers.MP@aph.gov.au
Your local Member of Parliament – click here to find your local MP’s details: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members
Tell them they have no right to repeal Section 11 of the RBA Act, which would give up the power of democratic accountability over the RBA and the banking system that political giants in history like John Curtin and Ben Chifley fought so hard to establish.
Robbie’s earlier video : https://youtu.be/EA7FhBZxfuM
The latest in our weekly series, as we look at the news, numbers and trends. The fix was in in 2019, as migration underpins the markets. But are the trends in Melbourne and Sydney diverging?
http://www.martinnorth.com/
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
