Economy

Grattan also wants a higher GST rate and increased welfare payments, but Labor says a GST rise is not on its agenda.

NAB, Deutsche Bank and UBS all tip a rise to 4.6 per cent at the Reserve Bank's next meeting, the dollar is back above 72 US cents, and the Treasurer will not say whether he thinks another rise is needed.

Fixed-rate home loans, business credit lines and the federal government's own interest bill share one reference point: long-term borrowing costs. Australia's 10-year government bond yield has risen to about 5.19 per cent.

Mining profits rebounded 6.8 per cent and everyone else went backwards. Inventory prices added $3.7 billion to the headline. The GDP print has since landed at 0.4 per cent.

Treasury analysis estimates AI could boost Australia's labour productivity growth by 4.3 per cent over the next decade, adding approximately $116 billion to GDP and $4,300 to per capita incomes.

The Default Market Offer is the number most electricity customers have never heard of, even though it directly sets the ceiling on what they pay. The DMO is a safety-net price rather than the cheapest plan available, and it acts as a reference price to help consumers compare market offers.

The number every driver needs to know this week is 16. That is the cents per litre returning to the price of petrol and diesel at midnight on 2 August, when the Albanese government's second and final fuel excise relief measure expires without replacement.

Watch the new-orders line and you know where China's factories are heading before output figures arrive. In July 2026, that line dropped to 48.5, the weakest new-orders reading since 2023, and the headline manufacturing PMI followed it down to 49.2, the first sub-50 reading in five months.