Patrick Commins

Canberra

Economics Editor at The Guardian Australia

Productivity Commission (@ozprodcom). Director of strategic comms and engagement. Formerly at The Australian and Australian Financial Review.

Articles

Australia’s rental crisis is not what you think it is

3 days ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Footage of long queues at the doors of properties for lease has become a regular feature of property reporting over the past few years. Landlords have upped their asking rents by double digits. Ahead of last weekend’s election, the Greens campaigned hard for rent freezes to stop the “unlimited rent increases” they claimed the major parties tacitly supported.
Labor wants to boost productivity. Does this mean Australians need to work even harder?

4 days ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

A historic victory has delivered the Albanese government a mandate to shape the country and the economy based on Labor values. Simplistically, if the first term was all about investing in important areas such as aged care, health and childcare – while cushioning the hit to households from the surge in cost of living – the second term will be about setting up Australia’s economy for a clean and green future.
Labor wants to fix Australia’s housing issues - but there’s little hope for those not already on the ladder

5 days ago | theguardian.com | Jonathan Barrett |Patrick Commins

Days after Labor won a decisive victory with a mandate to fix housing affordability, those in charge of handing out mortgages poured cold water on it coming to pass. Andrew Irvine, the chief executive of National Australia Bank, said the country “may not get the outcome we want” as the gulf between homeowners and everybody else threatens to expand in the coming months. The long-serving ANZ chief executive, Shayne Elliott, was even more forthright when addressing media on Thursday.
Freed from inflation shackles, Jim Chalmers’ second term could pursue a greener match-fit economy

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Labor’s thumping electoral victory has cleared the way for Jim Chalmers to pursue his grand vision: a greener and more dynamic economy, match-fit for a transformed world over the coming decade. Freed from the biggest inflationary shock in a generation, the national mood has shifted to the future, and the shackles binding the treasurer’s hands through the first term have been broken.
What the Coalition’s costings won’t tell you: slashing net migration will smash a $24bn hole in the budget

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Here’s the costing Angus Taylor isn’t sharing two days out from a federal election: the Coalition’s commitment to slash net migration by 100,000 from next year will smash a $24bn hole in the budget. That more than erases the Coalition’s claimed $14bn improvement in the deficit over the four years versus Labor’s election policies. It shatters the Coalition’s pitch as better economic managers.
Coalition costings reveal larger deficit over coming two years with cuts to foreign aid and environment programs

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

A Coalition government would drive the budget deeper into deficit over the coming two years, as the shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, insisted her party’s plan to save $17.2bn by slashing the number of Canberra-based public servants by 41,000 through “natural attrition” was achievable.
Imagine Dutton’s implausible cuts to migration were actually possible. Now see the dire economic consequences

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

A re-elected Coalition government would have to slash net migration of students and temporary skilled workers by 90% to reach its “impossibly heroic” goal of reducing net migration to 160,000 next financial year, a Guardian analysis shows. Given the practical and legislative barriers to achieving such swingeing cuts, several experts told Guardian Australia that Peter Dutton has no realistic pathway to delivering a key election commitment days out from Saturday’s polls.
Coalition says budget would be $10bn better off than under Labor in election policy costings preview

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

The Coalition says its full election policy costings on Thursday will show the budget would be more than $10bn better off and debt would be $40bn lower over the next four years than under Labor. The long-awaited release of the detailed accounting of Coalition commitments will come two days out from the election, and after about 5 million Australians have already cast their vote, either at pre-poll centres or by post.
Rate cut likely as underlying inflation falls within RBA target range

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

A Reserve Bank rate cut on May 20 appears locked in, after new data showed the key measure of underlying inflation dropped below 3% for the first time in three years. Headline inflation - which includes the impact of government cost of living policies such as rebates - held steady at 2.4% in the year to March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show. Crucially, the RBA’s preferred gauge - the trimmed mean rate of inflation - fell from 3.3% in the year to December, to 2.9% in March.
Your election questions answered: the price of eggs, Kirribilli House and memorable moments - Full Story podcast

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Reged Ahmad |Krishani Dhanji |Patrick Commins |Allison Chan |Karishma Luthria |Daniel Semo | +1 more

We asked you for your most burning political questions and you didn’t let us down. In this special Ask Me Anything edition of Full Story, our political reporter and live blogger, Krishani Dhanji, and economics editor, Patrick Commins, give you the answers you need on everything from energy policy to where the prime minister should live and how your preferences work• You can support the Guardian at theguardian.com/fullstorysupport

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Patrick Commins @ComminsP

28 Apr 25

RT @peter_tulip: The starting point for any useful discussion of housing policy is an acknowledgment that prices and rents should not keep…

Patrick Commins @ComminsP

4 Jul 23

RT @australian: The Reserve Bank’s struggle to tame inflation is being exacerbated by $230bn worth of state and territory infrastructure sp…

Patrick Commins @ComminsP

4 Jul 23

RT @MitchellGlenn: Interesting comments by Stuart Broad during the 2013 Ashes series after he edged to slip and didn’t walk: 🏏 #Ashes #E…

Patrick Commins

Articles

Australia’s rental crisis is not what you think it is

Labor wants to boost productivity. Does this mean Australians need to work even harder?

Labor wants to fix Australia’s housing issues - but there’s little hope for those not already on the ladder

Freed from inflation shackles, Jim Chalmers’ second term could pursue a greener match-fit economy

What the Coalition’s costings won’t tell you: slashing net migration will smash a $24bn hole in the budget

Coalition costings reveal larger deficit over coming two years with cuts to foreign aid and environment programs

Imagine Dutton’s implausible cuts to migration were actually possible. Now see the dire economic consequences

Coalition says budget would be $10bn better off than under Labor in election policy costings preview

Rate cut likely as underlying inflation falls within RBA target range

Your election questions answered: the price of eggs, Kirribilli House and memorable moments - Full Story podcast

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Emails

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