Politics – Page 6 – Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Bankers Lose Over Bank Branch Closures: But Now The Political Games Begin!

The Senate published their Report into Regional Bank Branch Closures late last Friday.

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/BankClosures/Report

I will be discussing this on my live YouTube show on Tuesday with Robbie Barwick. https://youtube.com/live/NJnaqhARu90

But already, the award winning Journalist Dale Webster over at the Regional has written an excellent article:

https://www.theregional.com.au/post/banks-blow-their-chance-to-self-regulate-by-betraying-trust

Over the 13 hearings held across Australia and in more than 600 written submissions the only defence of the banks’ actions came from the banks themselves, but when their executives appeared to give evidence, all they managed to do was convince the senators of just how out of touch they were with their customer heartland.

This arrogance was perfectly summed up by expert witness Andy Schmulow, Associate Professor of Law from the University of Wollongong.

“When it comes to closing branches, Australia is a free for all in which banks are entirely unconstrained: there is no degree to which they are held to account in discharging their obligations to communities which have supported them for generations. This, it is respectfully submitted, is disgraceful and indefensible,” Dr Schmulow said.

The senators agreed. On Friday they handed down an historic report with eight bold recommendations.

But now lets see the actions to protect regional communities and access to cash. I want to see real action now, not just political games, so I will be watching closely.

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Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Bankers Lose Over Bank Branch Closures: But Now The Political Games Begin!

00:00 / 00:06:04

Peddling The Housing Supply Myth: Again…

Housing is in crisis in Australia, its too expensive and relative to population there is not enough of it. As I discuss with independent Journalist Tarric Brooker last week, though shockingly, we have built more homes per 100,000 people than Canada, The US and the UK. In other words, we have a greater proportion of our economy dedicated already to housing construction, with perhaps 1.35 million people working in the sector. And we also know completion times are blowing out now, thanks to poor supply chains, lack of available labour, and poor-quality construction. In NSW half of high-rise projects have severe defects.

But the Government wants to push the supply-side levers some more, as exemplified in their Attachment to the budget papers: Statement 4, Meeting Australia’s Housing Challenge from the Treasury.

It starts out “Australia has a housing shortage. There are not enough homes being built in the right areas to meet the needs of our communities. This statement focuses on the reasons for the current undersupply of housing, how it affects affordability, and the changes required to more quickly unlock supply to meet the housing needs of all Australians. It also sets out how the Government’s policy responds to these drivers of undersupply”.

This undersupply they say accounts for the increases in rents, mortgage repayments and house prices.

Talk of course is cheap, but will this translate into real actions? And what about the elephant in the room because of course, the focus should be to curtail migration from is very high current levels, and bring demand back closer to long term averages, and over the budget period both sides of politics have to a degree been talking about this, though, as I discussed in my recent show The Migration Question Amplified; But Not Tackled… By Anyone!, it’s a battle of announcables, with numbers being banded about.

But my take is that neither side of politics are really wanting to take this on seriously, despite the direct link to higher inflation. The net result will be higher inflation for longer, requiring higher interest rates than otherwise needed.

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.

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Peddling The Housing Supply Myth: Again…

00:00 / 00:14:25

Its Edwin’s Monday Evening Property Rant!

In this weeks Rant Edwin and I discuss the fallout from the budget, the latest developments in non-approved extensions, and trends from the WeChat Chatters and Silent Tigers as Australian property is still used to launder money.

You can also join Edwin and I for a live show on Tuesday 21st May at 8pm Sydney as we discuss how to prepare your property for sale. You can ask a question live: https://youtu.be/38o1E_69o3c

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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Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Its Edwin's Monday Evening Property Rant!

00:00 / 01:09:22

Digital Tyranny Another Step Closer As Digital ID Bill Is Passed!

This past week, while we were distracted with the budget, our controlled digital future came one step nearer, as the Australian Federal Governments Digital ID Bill sailed through Parliament last week with the support of the crossbench, having been previously passed in the Senate.

The passing into law of this bill may at a superficial level sound sensible, given that as more Australians are increasingly transacting online, our identities are vulnerable in new ways. So the Digital ID is to provide “secure” access system for other services that we can have confidence and trust in; the Government says.

But as I discussed in my previous show from the 29th March, Digital Tyranny Is One Step Closer! https://youtu.be/kVVmG_7ddWg I am reminded of the parable of the frog, who slowly gets cooked to death, in a pot as the temperature rises – the same in true for Australians, as civil liberties such as the use of cash, are removed, even as the digital architecture for future control gets put in place. You can see parallels elsewhere round the world and aligned with the agenda of several high profile non-elected bodies like the World Economic Forum – of “you will own nothing and be happy” fame.

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Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Digital Tyranny Another Step Closer As Digital ID Bill Is Passed!

00:00 / 00:11:27

The Migration Question Amplified; But Not Tackled… By Anyone!

Last week Michele Bullock the RBA Governor was asked a good question about how high migration might impact inflation. But her answer was well, weird, as she tried to trade off pressure on the housing market from higher demand driven rent rises against supplying more workers to meet business demand (and implicitly increasing economic activity).

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday explained that Tuesdays Budget forecast of headline CPI inflation falling to 2.75% by the end of Financial Year 2024-25 (not I January as I noted some reporting claimed), was predicated on at least in part the government cutting net overseas migration.

“We’re seeing a substantial moderation in inflation in the forecasts and in the last couple of years as well, and that is largely because of how we’re managing the budget but it will also be increasingly about how we’re managing the population as well”, Chalmers said.

Right, so it must also be true that if lower migration will ease inflation, then high migration will drive inflation higher.

Then we got Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s policy as part of his budget response. He promised that a Coalition government would drastically slash migration as its main way of freeing up more than 100,000 homes over five years. A Dutton government would reduce Australia’s permanent migration program by a quarter – from 185,000 to 140,000 for the first two years “in recognition of the urgency of this crisis”, Dutton said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has described the opposition leader’s budget reply proposing migration cuts as an “unhinged and risky rant”.

But again, it’s a battle of announcables, with numbers being banded about. But my take is that neither side of politics are really wanting to take this on seriously, despite the direct link to higher inflation.

In both cases, this is more of policy announcements to try and win an election than nation building policy reform, which is needed for both migration and the gas market.

The net result will be higher inflation for longer, requiring higher interest rates than otherwise needed.

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

The Migration Question Amplified; But Not Tackled… By Anyone!

00:00 / 00:17:42

Budget Smudge-it As “The Announcables” Flow!

The Budget on Tuesday evening comes at an interesting time in the life of the current Government, as well as for ordinary Australians.

With a year or so to go before the next election which must be held by May 2025 at the latest. (or sooner perhaps if Albo sees a window of opportunity) this would normally be a give-away budget to set the scene. Except that with inflation still strong and being driven by local factors such as wages growth and energy costs, as well as high housing costs thanks to very strong migration, the headroom is limited, at best.

The Announcables so far, which have continued through the weekend, are portraying it as a responsible budget aimed at containing inflation, supporting housing, and quote good for women.

Charlmers said this week his goal was to chart “the responsible middle course between those who want us to slash and burn in the budget, and those who think that it should be some kind of free-for-all of spending”.
Others less charitable might say it will contain a wadge of announcables, which sound good, but which are not tackling the real long term issues Australia faces.

Remarkably it seems further tax payer funds will flow to the construction sector. While the Governments goal of 1.2 million well-located homes built in five years starts on 1 July, remember just 12,850 homes were approved for construction in January. This seems a gulf which needs way more than announcables and political party tricks.

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Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Budget Smudge-it As “The Announcables” Flow!

00:00 / 00:07:54

The “Tapping Super For Home Purchase” Conundrum!

Housing affordability is shot, as we have been discussing, thanks to demand stoked by high migration, higher lending multiples as the financial system was deregulation, and higher interest rates mirroring the RBA’s battle to tame inflation. As a result first time buyers are delaying their purchase by several years, and more borrowers are leveraged up to the gills, despite first home grant schemes, and shared equity schemes, which as the Productivity Commission showed did help a few get into the market, but lifted prices for everyone else, so did not help structurally.

Australians are already among the highest carriers of household debt in the world. In fact, according to Domain’s 2024 First Home Buyer Report, an entry-price home in Melbourne costs $678,000. In Sydney, it jumps to $927,250. Looking outside the two major cities reduces the cost to $545,000. To be lucky enough to secure any of these options, a 20 per cent deposit will set you back between $109,000 and $185,000.

So where do prospective buyers get that sort of cash? Well some might be able to get help from the Family Bank, as I showed recently, the average is more than $106,000 now, great if you have wealthy parents. Others may be able to save, but it’s a long road, and whilst interest rates are higher than they have been for some time on deposits, it will take years, and longer still if rates are cut later. Then of course there is the old chestnut, use accumulated super.

This week we got a draft report from the parliamentary committee chaired by prominent superannuation critic Andrew Bragg which has upped the ante on the Coalition’s super for housing policy, suggesting first home buyers should be able to withdraw all their retirement savings to buy a house or use it as collateral to help borrow.

My view is that this is actually a proxy political war on the purpose and nature of superannuation, rather than a real honest discussion about how to fix the broken property market. It is in essence a mixture of misdirection – look over there, not here, and avoid the more critical issues of migration control and increased and better-quality supply of affordable housing. Or in other words, it’s a case of fiddling while Rome burns, again.

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 “Tapping Super For Home Purchase” Conundrum!

00:00 / 00:17:14

More Housing “Announcables” From The Government…

Those following my regular Property Rants with Edwin will know we have been speculating that there would be budget measures announced next week to help property developers. Well, they could not wait it seems…

The 600,000 plus migrants arriving in Australia this past year are continuing to put more pressure on the housing sector, and helps to explain the fact that rising rents, interest rate hikes and surging living costs in the past few years have inflamed what was already among the world’s least affordable housing rental markets, where record numbers of people can no longer afford to buy after a surge in house prices.

In fact, the federal government wants to find tens of thousands of workers to help build new homes in an attempt to address Australia’s ongoing housing crisis, reacting to pressure from the Construction sector, which already employs about 1.35 million workers across the country.

Of course, the logical step would be to right size migration to match the capacity to build new homes, which with a following wind might be around 150,000 each year. That should be core Government Policy. But no.

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.

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

More Housing “Announcables” From The Government…

00:00 / 00:13:41