News

A new survey has found that many Australians with home-based businesses chose to keep clients in the dark about operating from home, for fear of losing business.

Consumer confidence dented by rate rise Consumer confidence fell in December, dented by the Reserve Bank’s decision to lift interest rates for the third time in as many months. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence fell by 3.8 percent in December, and is now down 4.7 percent since September. The fall has come as […]

Economy to remain sluggish until 2011 The Australian economy will remain slugging for at least the next 18 months, and growth will be slow, according to a senior Treasury bureaucrat. In a speech to the Australian Business Economists (ABE) conference in Sydney, Treasury director of the Domestic Macroeconomic Group Dr David Gruen said that the […]

As the cash rate continues to increase, economists are putting their bets on just how high it will go, with many believing it will peak somewhere around the four to five percent mark by 2010.

Australia Post’s draft proposal to increase the price of stamps once again from 55 cents to 60 cents has been rejected by competition watchdog, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

While the Federal Government has been working to cut red tape for Australia’s business community, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is doing just the opposite by issuing new draft guidelines which would ramp up reporting complexity for many Australian businesses, says Grant Thornton Australia.

Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott has today announced his new front bench with some surprising results. Most notably, Small Business Minister Steven Ciobo has been dumped and replaced by replaced by sustainable development spokesman Bruce Billson.

Businesses want tax cuts and lower interest rates Australian businesses would prefer tax cuts and lower interest rates to stimulus incentives, a new survey has found. According to the Atradius Economic Crisis Survey, 59 percent of Australian businesses surveyed believe the Federal Government’s stimulus incentives made no difference to their businesses, with the majority believing […]

SMEs say ETS is not the right solution A new survey has found that the majority of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) believe that the Federal Government’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) in its current form is not the right solution. A survey conducted by SME Boardroom last week found that one third of SMEs support […]

A new survey has found Australian businesses were remarkably upbeat last month, despite a second rise in interest rates. NAB’s monthly business survey found that business confidence rose three points to +19 in November, the highest level recorded since may 2002. While business conditions eased two points to +10, they still maintained most of the […]

Retailers in for a “modest” Christmas Retailers are in for a slow Christmas this year, with retail sales growth expected to be “modest” as rising borrowing costs and slower wages growth erodes spending, Access Economics says. The economic forecaster released a report this morning, revealing Christmas sales would be reasonable, but well short of boom […]

More businesses are becoming confident about their sales and profit expectations for the March 2010 quarter, the latest Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) survey shows.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly has defended the bank’s decision to increase interest rates by almost double that of the rate set down by the Reserve Bank, claiming that the rate decision was a consequence of higher funding costs.

Independent panel to settle business squabbles With squabbles between businesses said to have soared during the global financial crisis, a trio of organisations has launched a bid to become Australia’s official ‘business umpires’, in what they hope will become a new boom economy for Australia. The Australian Centre for Commercial International Arbitration (ACICA), along with […]

Business groups keen to slash red tape The Federal Government’s draft reforms to cut red tape and improve corporate reporting, formally announced today, have been welcomed by leading business advisory firm BDO. BDO director Wayne Basford, an audit technical expert, urged the Government to ensure the Corporate Amendment (Corporate Reporting Reform) Bill 2010 would pass […]

Business owners advised to take a break over Christmas Australian business owners that fail to take a break from their business over the Christmas period risk damaging their health and their business, a leading business expert has warned. Nic Clark, CEO of national business development franchisor, 10X, said not taking holiday leave can cause exhaustion, […]

Good news for job seekers as job ads rebound After months of uncertainty, job seekers have finally been given some good news, with a major survey of employment advertising reporting a rebound last month. The ANZ bank reported in its monthly survey, the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the […]

Queensland seems to have weathered the worst of the global financial crisis, with 77 percent of CEOs having positive views on the economy and 60 percent saying they were likely to hire in the next six months, according to the inaugural CEO Financial Index. The CEO Financial Index, commissioned by The CEO Institute’s Queensland members, […]

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson will today unveil a craft that could soon carry tourists on an out-of-this-world trip into space. Branson will unveil Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2), an aircraft that can carry six passengers and two pilots on a trip into the unknown galaxy, at $215,000 a pop. The Mojave desert, between Los Angeles […]

St George follows Westpac’s lead on interest rates St George has followed Westpac’s lead on interest rates, moving past the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point increase, lifting its standard variable home loan interest rate by 0.39 percent. Westpac sparked furore late last week when it announced a 45 basis point increase to its standard variable […]