Unconventional Economist

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Australia’s economy is structurally unsound

Australians are locked in the most prolonged recession on record following six consecutive quarterly declines in real GDP per capita.

Australia is oversupplied with political traitors

Two years ago, I attacked then-immigration minister Andrew Giles for headlining a private Victorian Labor Party fundraising dinner organised by controversial Labor figure Jasvinder Sidhu.

Victoria’s economy is a no-growth zone

We have repeatedly warned that Victoria’s state debt trajectory is concerning.

Australia’s residential land bubble exposed

Last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the annual national accounts for 2023-24, which included extensive land value data. Land values underpinning the Australian housing market increased by 8.8% during 2023-24. In 2023-24, Australia’s land was valued at $9.2 trillion, with residential land accounting for 84% ($7.7 trillion).

Australia should emulate Canada’s population freeze

I noted last week how Australia’s Albanese government seems to have copied Canada’s Trudeau government on housing and immigration.

Victorian government starves growth areas of infrastructure, services

Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced in 2023 that the state would build 80,000 homes annually for the next ten years.

Australia’s Future Fund turns government slush fund

The Future Fund, which is one-third the size of the Australian economy, will be directed to invest in housing, security, and the green energy transition “where possible, appropriate, and consistent with strong returns”.

NSW Productivity Commission spews housing and net zero propaganda

Earlier this year, the NSW Productivity and Equality Commission (PEC) lamented that young Sydneysiders were leaving the city, forced out by high housing costs.

Skills shortages are endemic to Australia’s economy

Government job printer drives productivity collapse

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) noted in the minutes of its board meeting for November that there are signs that the job market is beginning to tighten.

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