Australia Economy

Asian shares rally, Aussie dollar hits 8-month high on trade optimism

The Australian dollar, a common proxy for risk sentiment, fetched $0.66, just off $0.6604 hit earlier, which was the highest since November 2024

Australians vote as high prices, housing shortage dominate election issues

Polls opened in Australia's general election on Saturday with high costs of living and a shortage of housing major issues in the campaign. Voting across the nation the size of three times zones spanning two hours will continue from 8 am (22.00 GMT Friday) until 6 pm (08.00 GMT Saturday) in eastern Australia. The polls open and close two hours later on the West Coast. Around half the ballots had already been cast, but not counted, since early and postal voting began on April 22. Australia is among the few countries where voting is compulsory, a system that leans toward creating centrist governments. At the last election in 2022, 90 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labour Party is seeking a second three-year term. His opponent, conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton, wants to become the first political leader to oust a first-term government since 1931, when Australians were reeling from the Great Depression. The election i

Key issues in Australia's election: Cost of living, housing, China, energy

Australians will go to the polls on May 3 for general elections with high costs of living and a shortage of housing likely weighing against the government as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labour Party seeks a second three-year term. The elections will be dominated by the soaring cost of living, the economy, energy and China. Affordable housing is in short supply, interest rates remain high and the major parties are starkly divided on how to wean the nation off fossil fuel-generated electricity. The major parties also differ on how to deal with China, which is at once Australia's largest trading partner and its greatest strategic threat. Here's what you need to know about the main issues: Surging inflation Australians have endured one of the sharpest rises in the cost of living in recent history and the current government has been at the helm through the worst of it. Egg prices surged 11 per cent last year and beer rose 4 per cent, according to government ...

31-year wait? 2,300 applicants died waiting for Australian parent visa

According to the department, 2,297 parent visa applicants and 87 other family members, including aged dependent relatives and carers, have passed away while waiting for their visa applications.

India's exports to Australia up 64.4% in Nov: Commerce ministry data

India's exports to its trade agreement partner Australia rose 64.4 per cent year-on-year to USD 643.7 million in November on account of healthy growth in sectors such as textiles, chemicals and agricultural products, according to the commerce ministry data. However, the country's merchandise exports recorded a decline of 5.21 per cent year-on-year to USD 5.56 billion, the preliminary data showed. India and Australia implemented an interim trade pact -- Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) -- on December 29, 2022 and are now in negotiations to widen the scope of the pact. On the completion of two years of ECTA, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the agreement has brought with it increased market access for Indian exporters, expanded opportunities for MSMEs and farmers, and generated several employment avenues. It has also enabled growth in exports by 14 per cent in 2023-24; notable boost in IT/ITeS, business and travel services; and port-study work and work

Australian lender ANZ names former HSBC wealth chief Nuno Matos as new CEO

Hong-Kong-based Matos has served in several of HSBC's largest regions, including Europe and Latin America, and was among the internal candidates vying to take over as CEO of HSBC

Australia faces trade war risks from Trump's policies, warns treasurer

Any impacts from a potential trade war and when will it begin to hit the global economy will be difficult to predict now, though Australia is confident to navigate any changes, Chalmers will say

EAM meets Australian counterpart at UNGA 79; signs biodiversity agreement

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Senator Penny Wong caught up with each other on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.Taking to social media platform X, Jaishankar attributed Senator Wong as a "Quad partner"."Catching up with Quad partner FM Senator Penny Wong at UNGA79," he said.Prior to this, Jaishankar signed the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement at the United Nations Headquarters, taking a step towards ensuring that the oceans remain healthy and resilient."Signed the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement today the United Nations HQ. India is proud to join the BBNJ Agreement, an important step towards ensuring that our oceans remain healthy and resilient," he said in another post in X.Following this, he met with the Foreign Minister of Rawanda, Olivier JP Nduhungirehe and said that it was nice to meet him."Nice to meet the new FM Olivier JP Nduhungirehe of Rawanda," .

Blackstone to buy Australia's data centre group AirTrunk in $16 bn deal

The transaction needs approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), given the asset is being bought by overseas parties.

Australia to cap enrolment of international students at 270,000 in 2025

The Anthony Albanese government's recent action comes in response to a surge in migration that has put pressure on the housing market in Australia

Oz plans aid to Papua New Guinea as rain raises fears at landslide site

Australia prepared on Monday to send aircraft and other equipment to help at the site of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea as overnight rains in the South Pacific nation's mountainous interior raised fears that the tons of rubble that buried hundreds of villagers could become dangerously unstable. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said his officials have been talking with their Papua New Guinea counterparts since Friday, when a mountainside collapsed on Yambali village in Enga province, which the United Nations estimates killed 670 people. The remains of only six people had been recovered so far. The exact nature of the support that we do provide will play out over the coming days, Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp. We've got obviously airlift capacity to get people there. There may be other equipment that we can bring to bear in terms of the search and rescue and all of that we are talking through with PNG right now, Marles added. Papua New Guinea is Australia

Explained: How Australia's new innovation visa could be a boon for Indians

The new Australian Innovation Visa will replace the Global Talent Visa programme, set to end in late 2024

Australia now allows TOEFL scores for all visa applications: Key details

The TOEFL iBT test assesses English proficiency across listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills

Wild weather in Australian states of Queensland, Victoria leaves 9 dead

At least nine people have died in wild weather in the Australian eastern states of Queensland and Victoria, officials said on Wednesday. Three men were killed after a boat with 11 people aboard capsized in rough weather in Moreton Bay off the south Queensland coast on Tuesday, police said. Ambulances took the eight survivors to hospital in stable conditions. A 59-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree at the Queensland city of Gold Coast on Monday night. The body of a 9-year-old girl was found on Tuesday in the neighbouring city of Brisbane hours after she disappeared in a flooded stormwater drain. The bodies of a 40-year-old woman and a 46-year-old woman were found in the Mary River in the Queensland town of Gympie. They were among three women swept into the flooded river through a stormwayter drain on Tuesday. Another 46-year-old woman managed to save herself. Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll blamed extraordinarily difficult weather for the tragedies. It ha

Australian govt to announce its strategy for slowing immigration next week

"The new strategy we'll announce will bring immigration back to sustainable levels," he told reporters Saturday in Sydney

In a first, Neurosurgeon plucks worm from woman's brain in Australia

Surgeon Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient's skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she used forceps to pull out the parasite

Police report 'emergency incident' after airliner returns to Sydney Airport

A commercial airline flight from Australia to Malaysia returned to Sydney on Monday after an emergency incident, officials and media reported. Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 left Sydney Airport at 1:40 pm for an eight-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and landed back on the runway at 3:47 pm, Nine News reported. Someone purporting to be on board tweeted that a person was threatening staff and passengers, Nine reported. It said a passenger holding a backpack had threatened to blow the plane up. Crew had checked the backpack and found no explosives, it added. Australian Federal Police said in a statement they were responding to an emergency incident at the airport, but provided no other details. The plane was parked on the end of a runway hours later with emergency vehicles nearby, Nine reported. Sydney Airport said it was supporting emergency agencies in the management of an incident. The airport is operational with flights arriving and departing, an airport statement said.

China's economic coercion fails to hurt Australia's economy: Report

China's decision of imposing a trade ban backfired as it affected its economic growth

Australian inflation hits 32-year high amid rising gas and housing prices

Australia's annual inflation has climbed to its highest level in 32 years amid soaring prices for housing and gas

Australia to raise spending to boost slowing economy amid inflation

Australia's new government released plans on Tuesday for more spending on families, the elderly, defence and its Pacific neighbours as the country braces for an economic slowdown due to rising interest rates, inflation and disastrous floods. Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his centre-left Labour Party's first annual budget for the fiscal year that began in July. It is the first budget in nine years by a Labour government and comes as Australia contends with unprecedented levels of debt that has mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chalmers said rising inflation was the primary influence on his economic blueprint. Inflation is forecast to peak at 7.75 per cent by December and remain higher for longer than had previously been expected. It's framed against a backdrop of a complex combination of a serious economic downturn overseas, damaging and devastating natural disasters here at home, war in Europe, a slowdown in China brought about by COVID -- all of these issues combining at on