Jim Chalmers' excuses for Australia's inflation crisis spectacularly unravel - with two key stats easily blowing apart the garbage Treasurer is peddling

Treasurer Jim Chalmers wants you to believe that rising inflation isn't his fault. The only problem with such spin is that it's utterly false.

While inflation and interest rates around the world are falling, Australia has just recorded the first rise in quarterly inflation since early 2022, at 3.8 per cent.

While the Reserve Bank probably won't have the courage to put rates up next week to counter the bad news, not doing so risks the next quarterly inflation numbers only getting worse.

Meanwhile, the government continues to spend when and where it shouldn't, further stoking inflation. State governments are making the same mistake.

You can bet that the spend-a-thon will only get more extreme as we count down to a Federal election. It always does.

Then you need to consider the impact that the July 1 tax cuts will have on inflation and rates.

They are only just starting to take effect, meaning that their impact will be seen in the coming quarterly updates - also putting upward pressure on inflation such that we may see it rise again.

The Treasurer wants you to believe this is a global problem - claiming on Wednesday that 'some global pressures' are helping fuel 'sticky' inflation - but it's just not.

He wants you to focus on the fact inflation is lower now than when Labor came to power.

But that was nearly two-and-a-half years ago now, and it was in the immediate wake of the pandemic, when inflation was sky high everywhere.

The simple fact is that inflation has come down more substantially elsewhere than here, and now it's rising in Australia when it isn't rising elsewhere.

This is nothing sort of a disaster for Australians already doing it tough during a cost of living crisis.

And the blame rests firmly at the feet of a government about to seek re-election. Specifically at the feet of a Treasurer failing in his duty.

The biggest giveaway that Chalmers' attempts to absolve himself of responsibility and claim international factors are contributing to high inflation is utter rubbish can be seen when the inflation figure of 3.8 per cent is broken down into what the Australian Bureau of Statistics terms 'tradeables' and 'non-tradeables'.

Those figures essentially measure the price of goods from overseas compared to what's happening domestically.

This is the important data that exposes Chalmers' excuses as garbage.

The inflation figure for what we get from overseas is just 1.5 per cent, below even the RBA's inflation target range of 2-3 per cent.

In sharp contrast the domestic 'non-tradeables' inflation number is a whopping 5 per cent.

In other words Australia's rising inflation - a quarterly adjusted figure of 3.8 per cent - is a homegrown problem.

Don't take my word for it, this is the way Richard Holden, a Harvard PhD in economics and UNSW Professor of Finance, put it when approached by Daily Mail Australia:

'The June quarter CPI figures are concerning but unsurprising. They confirm that we have an entrenched, homegrown inflation problem that is even worse than official figures show, given the government's 'energy rebate' fudge.'

For an academic that level of condemnation is akin to calling the Treasurer an economic idiot, personally responsible for the problem he's trying to hide from.

And Professor Holden is right to call out the energy rebate Chalmers popped into his budget.

It was brazenly designed to artificially put downward pressure on official inflation figures even though RBA Governor Michelle Bullock notes that the fudge didn't fool her.

The good professor is also right to call out the inaccuracy of the Treasury's official inflation figures that have been surpassed today.

The Treasurer crowed about delivering lower inflation forecasts in his budget, yet here we are.

Chalmers also attacked economists who at the time suggested his budget would be inflationary.

The Treasurer now has mud on his face, that's for sure. In fact, he's covered in it from head to toe.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13691485/inflation-jim-chalmers-Peter-Van-Onselen.htmls

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Australia slowly retreats from vaccine mandates

The retreat from Covid hysteria in Australia has been painfully slow and uneven.

In one dispatch from the virus overreaction front, the news is good, if long overdue. The South Australian Health Department (SA Health) has, after more than three years of alarmism and public health messaging, abandoned its last foxhole and announced that its Covid vaccination mandate for ‘medical staff with patient-facing roles’ is no more.

The 245 medical practitioners, ambos, dentists, allied health practitioners, disability workers, and social workers who were sacked for exercising their basic human right to control what goes into their bodies will now be able to get their old jobs back. Sort of. Returning employees will have the charge of ‘misconduct’ recorded against their personnel record. SA Health bosses couldn’t resist a swift kick to the shins…

In its partial retreat, SA Health admits no error or misjudgement concerning the old policy of mandatory employee vaccination, citing increased Covid immunity in the population as a reason to change their position. The department is still ‘recommending’ that all staff be vaccinated but, at long last, health officials have recognised that pretty near everyone has had (or will get) Covid. Thus, naturally-acquired immunity exists within the community.

What we will not see is an admission that vaccines had little to do with ‘increased Covid immunity in the population’ because that would mean publicly acknowledging their monumental failure. SA Health’s belated and begrudging retreat from its last Covid stronghold is an example of bureaucratic foot-dragging and bottom-covering at its worst.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Covid hysteria has returned. Australia appears to be one of the only countries bothering with Covid testing, isolation, and mask wearing.

In all the hoopla about the unveiling of the Australian Olympic uniform, no one thought to mention that face masks would be part of the green-and-gold outfit, but the 41-member Australian swimming team arrived in Paris fully kitted out. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would approve. It ‘strongly encourages’ Australians travelling abroad to mask up. Meanwhile, French health authorities recommend masks be worn ‘in enclosed and small spaces, and at large gatherings’ (which pretty much covers all bases where humans gather).

The current sports carnival promised to be a ‘return to normal’ after the soulless outing in Japan in 2021 which played to empty stadiums and diminished TV viewership (down 27 per cent compared to Rio in 2016) but Australia, apparently, is not quite ready to return to normal just yet.

In spite of the lingering Covid charade being acted out by the Australian Olympic contingent, five of the thirteen-member women’s water polo team tested positive to Covid (none of them are ‘particularly unwell’, according to Australia’s chef de Mission,) whilst two members of the athletics squad were also ‘isolating but have tested negative’. The infectious athletes are permitted to train but with, you guessed it, ‘protocols in place’. The public health Covid theatre Downunder is running longer than Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

There are some who say that Australia escaped the worst of the ‘pandemic’ because of our ‘tough’ policy response, but the Covid encore in Paris is a reminder that, in many ways, Australia experienced the worst of Covid mania.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/07/australia-slowly-retreats-from-vaccine-mandates/

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Migrants blamed for public schools and hospitals pressure

Migrants are being blamed for piling pressure on public schools and hospitals, as NSW Premier Chris Minns demanded more federal funding for state-run ­services.

As state governments refused to sign a national 10-year school funding and reform agreement on Wednesday, Mr Minns called for extra commonwealth spending. “At the end of the day, we take 37 per cent of inbound migrants to NSW,’’ he said.

“We’re happy to do it – we recognise that Sydney is an inter­national city – but we need the bigger, deeper pockets of the commonwealth government to provide basic services.

“We need their help when it comes to funding on education, on health, on disability funding, on reform to the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme).’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has given states and territories an eight-week deadline to sign off on teaching reforms and student learning targets, in return for $16bn in bonus school spending over a decade. Mr Clare said the states would have “no option’’ but to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement to get extra commonwealth cash.

“It’s not about dollars, it’s about what you spend it on,’’ he said. “We’ve got to make sure we direct that money to the sort of things that are going to help kids who fall behind when they’re little to catch up, and to make sure that more kids finish school.’’

Mr Clare has promised to repeal legislation capping the commonwealth contribution to 20 per cent of running costs for public schools. He wants to lift it to 22.5 per cent – at an extra cost of $16bn over the decade.

Western Australia has accepted the offer but NSW, Victorian, Queensland and South Australian are refusing to endorse reforms until the commonwealth doubles its offer to cover 25 per cent of schooling costs.

The Northern Territory signed a special deal on Wednesday after the federal government increased its funding by $738m over 10 years.

The commonwealth share of spending on NT schools will be lifted to 25 per cent next year, rising to 40 per cent by 2029, to ­tackle disadvantage in remote Aboriginal communities.

The NT government has also granted teachers a 13 per cent pay rise over three years. The funding deal requires the NT to meet higher targets for literacy, numeracy, school attendance and Year 12 completion rates. The NT will also be required to build state-run boarding schools, or else subsidise the cost of boarding school fees for remote students.

NT Education Minister Mark Monaghan said the commonwealth cash would make a “huge and immediate difference in our schools … It means our students will have more experienced teachers in front of them, (with) additional one-on-one sessions for children falling behind so they catch up and keep up”.

“It means students, especially our remotes, will be able to access more wellbeing professionals like psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers so they are supported throughout their learning,’’ he said.

Centre for Independent Studies education policy program director Glenn Fahey hailed the federal government’s “better targets, testing and teaching’’.

“Australia’s education system needs strong targets to turn around two decades of di­s­appointing results,’’ he said.

“Rolling out phonics and early numeracy screening across the country will mean a stronger educational safety net. This bold direction is a key step in addressing Australia’s student catch-up crisis, where four out of every five children who fall behind never catch up.’’

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said Mr Clare had “delivered a funding war and no national reforms … while the government has adopted the Coalition’s call for explicit instruction and other evidence-based teaching methods, Jason Clare has failed to detail how teachers will be properly supported in the classroom’’.

“The draft agreement contains plenty of motherhood statements but says nothing about improving the national curriculum or delivering the critical reforms needed to combat classroom disruption.’’

Greens schools spokeswoman Penny Allman-Payne, a former teacher, gave Labor’s funding agreement “an F for fake’’.

“This is a plan to lock in underfunding for another decade, ensuring another entire generation of children misses out on the education they deserve,’’ she said.

“Teachers are fleeing the system, student disengagement and school refusal is rising and cashed-up private schools draw more and more kids out of the public system.’’

Save our Schools called on education ministers to “come to their senses and end the stand-off’’ over funding.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/migrants-blamed-for-public-schools-and-hospitals-pressure/news-story/307d151b4b472e2a0458d0d0f66aba20

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Steven Miles must get tough on rogue CFMEU

Premier Steven Miles must toughen up his stance on the militant rogue union the CFMEU – and soon; as on the evidence so far it appears he is too spineless to take them on.

The latest example of this came yesterday, after the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority announced late on Tuesday it had cancelled plans to temporarily reopen the Ekka train station for this year’s show because CFMEU-backed industrial action had delayed necessary safety tests.

It is not the end of the world that showgoers will now have to take a bus and then walk 500m or so to the nearest entry gate rather than being delivered into the heart of the Ekka by train. And yes, public safety must always be the priority.

But it is still outrageous that this scenario – which the RNA itself did not have confirmed until Tuesday – has arisen directly because of CFMEU industrial action, which has cost the project the best part of two weeks of work in July alone.

What is just as outrageous is that Premier Miles for some reason yesterday could not bring himself to acknowledge this fact, or the reality that some of these disruptions by the CFMEU have involved thuggish physical confrontation.

The most strength the Premier could muster was to describe the cancellation of the Ekka train as “a disappointment” before trying, lamely, to argue that the CFMEU isn’t really to blame – because it’s “not that simple”.

Well, yes, it is: CFMEU workers stopped work on Cross River Rail to such an extent that scheduled work on the Ekka train station could not be completed in time for the show. There might be some extenuating circumstances, but that’s basically it.

Now, you can understand why the Premier is timid in the face of the CFMEU’s bullying ways. These are some serious dudes who play it tough, and consider the laws of the land to be optional at best.

But letting them repeatedly get away with the industrial equivalent of daylight robbery not only just emboldens them, but is also surely starting to wear thin with voters.

It is one thing for the CFMEU to go to war against the government, construction companies and “rich developers” in its aggressive efforts to win better terms and conditions for its members. But now it is also inconveniencing private citizens – who might have expected just a touch more sympathy, and blame, from the Premier on this issue.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-steven-miles-must-get-tough-on-rogue-cfmeu/news-story/8a3778d035241db31971e156728d9222

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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