Weekly Update: 27.05.22

Parliamentary Update:

• The Australian Labor Party has won the 2022 federal election. As at Friday afternoon, Labor has secured 75 seats in the Lower House, with the electorates of Brisbane, Macnamara, Deakin and Gilmore still too close to call.
• The full Albanese Ministry will be sworn in next week, following the swearing in of the interim Ministry this week.
• In the Senate, Labor is likely to reach 26 senators, needing the support of the 12 Greens plus an additional senator to reach the 39 required to pass legislation.

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Regulatory Update: 

• The RBANZ increased its Official Cash Rate to 2.0%.
• The RBA’s Payments Board released its minutes, noting that “the average fee incurred by merchants for processing card transactions continued to trend down during the pandemic”.
• The RBA’s Luci Ellis spoke on Housing in the Endemic Phase, explaining that the “decline in average household size increased the demand for homes by number. This helps explain why rental vacancy rates quickly returned to low levels even though the international border was closed.

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The ABS released:

• Industry Statistics: in 2020-21, mining earnings grew by 4.1% (to $6.4b), Agriculture by 36.4% ($5.7b).
• New CapEx and Expected CapEx for the March 2022 quarter. Total new capex fell by 0.3%, buildings and structures fell by 1.7%, but plant and machinery rose 1.2%.
• Business Sentiment for May 2022. 38% of all business expect to increase their prices by more than usual, but 48% have no plans.
• Labour Force, Detailed: unemployment remained at 3.9%, the number of employed people was up by 3.1% from March 2020.
• Construction Work: total construction fell 0.9% for the March 2022 quarter.
• Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) for 2019-20. 66% of Australian households owned their own home (down from 71% in 2000). 21% of households owned one or more residential properties other than their usual residence.

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27 May 2022Weekly Update