A Frank View

The #MSM and its hacks wont tell you this. They prefer to tell you the dooms & glooms championed by the Opposition.

Also it’s good to see that the Gillard Govt has finally started to sell its economic credential. Every galah and parrot in the pet shop should be yakking away about our BISONs – Beautiful Inspiring Set Of Numbers

Latest Updates:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Australia is probably the best positioned of the developed countries to handle a further deterioration in the global economy. IMF Asia and Pacific region director Anoop Singh told a media briefing in Washington that the institution supports the Australian government’s plan to return the federal budget to surplus in 2012/13.

Manufacturing activity remained in positive territory in January 2012, according to the latest Australian Industry Group. Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) is 51.6, readings above 50 indicate an expansion in activity

RBA is expected cut interest by further 25 points to 4%. A 4.0% interest rate would be a level of official rates never once reached under the combined 19 years of the Howard and Fraser governments, despite claims from the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott and Shadow Treasurer, Mr Hockey, that interest rates will always be lower under a Coalition government. Courtesy of The Kouk

Despite GFC Mk1, EuroCrisis/GFC Mk2, unemployment averaged only 5.1% in all of 2011 n) Vs 9.6% in 83/84, 11% in 92/93  Courtesy of Poss.

101 Economic Fundamental

1. Unemployment 5.3%

2. Inflation 3.1% 

3. GDP Growth 3.5%

4. RBA Interest Rate – 4.25%

5. Govt Net Debt – 6% GDP

6. Total Public Debt – 20% GDP (IMF) Vs UK/France/Germany 80%, USA 110%, Italy 120%, Japan 200% BRIC (66/11/71/33)

7. Trade Surplus $22.4 billion last financial year – easily the biggest surplus in raw terms for the past 40 years of records compiled by the ABS

8. Sovereign Rating – Australia one of just 15 countries to hold the top AAA Rating from all Agencies

9. Currency – AUD/USD 1.05, AUD/UK 0.67 AUD/Euro 0.80 – The floating of AUD is the single most important economic reform introduced by Labor. It acts as a shock absorber to external economic conditions

10. Australia is in Asia, the growth engine averaging 6% and part of the Asian Century

11. NBN – One of the most advanced high speed Internet enabled network in the world. Australia’s first national wide, open access FTTP broadband network with minimum 93% coverage, capable of achieving 1 gigabit per second broadband speeds.

102. Political Fundamental

1. “ALP best manager of money, history shows” - George Megalogenis 

2. Labor is still the Australian Govt & PM Gillard for another 20months, 84 weeks, 588 days, 14112 hours, 846,720 minutes and 50,803,200 secs and the Gillard Govt has passed 253 bills through HoR so far. And the Labor Govt Parliamentary majority goes from 75-74 to 76-73.

3. No interest rise for the 12th consecutive month Vs 10 consecutive rises under Howard/Costello. It is now expected no rises in the future with a prospect of 100/125 basis points cut by June 2012.

4. “The Atlantic magazine named Gillard as one of its “2011 brave thinkers” for her resolute strength in pushing through a carbon tax. “Whether you see the move as politically expedient or as a principled course correction, there’s no denying the risk that it entails in a country where climate change is a wildly contentious issue,” writes Geoffrey Gagnon”

5. Labor’s Tax take 21.75% of GDP Vs 25% under Liberals

6. NEW Treasury analysis finds Mining played minor role during GFC, it says service industries such as retail – which received a hefty boost from Kevin Rudd’s stimulus package – were crucial in sustaining the economy during its darkest days.

7. Wayne Swan – Treasurer of the Year 2011

8. PM Gillard solved #QANTAS dispute in 36 hrs, Hawke solved the Pilot Dispute in 1 month and Howard solved the Waterfront Dispute in 6 months.

9. How good are nations at keeping the promises made at G20 summits? - Australia NO: 1 -

10. RBA Interest rate 4.50%, compared to 6.75% when Howard was voted out.

103. Social Fundamental

1. Australian families depending on one breadwinner pay among the lowest amounts of tax in the world and have become better off under the Gillard Government – Natsem

2. The Herald/Lateral Economics Index of Australia’s Wellbeing rose 2.2 per cent in the quarter, outstripping GDP growth of 1 per cent. Read more: 

3. The number of people filling for bankruptcy in Australia has fallen by 16%.

4. Recently released IMF estimates show that Australians are the fifth richest people in the world, behind only those living in Luxembourg, Qatar, Norway and Switzerland 

5. AUSTRALIA is second best – almost but not quite the greatest place in which to live, according to the latest United Nations human development index. Norway pips us by a flared nostril. Australia scores 0.93 on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 is the highest score possible. At 0.94, Norway’s margin over Australia is close to invisible

6. Ave weekly earning +4.7% in yr to Aug. 10 years of real wage gains.

7. Aust & Holland have the best pension systems in the world followed by Sweden, Swiss, Canada, Uk READ MORE

104. The Future

1. Investment in the next year in mining and related infra-structure projects $140B

2. Business investment spending is expected to grow by 15 per cent this year and another 15 per cent next year. – Ross Gittin

3. Australia in good shape if another crisis hits, says IMF – 8/8/11

4. BHP Billiton $80B Olympic Dam copper/uranium/gold mine in South Australia creating 6000 jobs during a decade-long construction phase, 4000 ongoing jobs at the mine and 15,000 indirect jobs.This is despite the Resource Tax

5. The strength of the nation’s markets during the Global Financial Crisis was highlighted by the World Economic Forum, which in 2009 ranked Australia as the world’s second-best financial centre after the UK. Australia was the only country in the top 20 to improve its ranking.With around A$1.7 trillion in assets under management, Australia is the largest funds management market in Asia, and the fourth-largest in the world. Australia has one of the highest levels of managed funds per capita in the world, with total investment fund assets in Australia projected to reach A$7 trillion by 2028.

6. For dealmakers Down Under, 2011 will go down as a vintage year for inbound M&A activity, according to the latest data from Dealogic.So far this year, Australia has attracted a record US$59.9 billion of total inbound deals, already surpassing US$55 billion achieved in the whole of 2010, according to the data provider.  READ MORE 

7. The figures show September quarter spending on exploration for coal up 12 per cent to a new record high of $227 million, spending on iron ore exploration up 9 per cent to a new record high of $235 million, and spending on onshore petroleum exploration up 33 per cent to a new record high of $249 million.

8. The ABS figures follow Tuesday’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics forecast of record energy and minerals export earnings of $206 billion in 2012. If realised, they will boost government revenue, making its forecast surplus easier to attain. The bureau says capital expenditure by resource companies stands at a record high of $232 billion.

9. Bloomberg has done a survey and found that Australia is the 5th best and easiest place in the world to do business after HK, Netherlands, USA and UK. Read More