Unconventional Economist

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Victoria leads decline in nation’s job market

Australia’s electricity system needs fixed charges for network costs

Australia has the highest levels of rooftop solar power (PV) in the world, thanks in part to generous government subsidies that have typically flowed to higher-income, home-owning households: The wealthy are most likely to install solar and battery storage because they can afford the high upfront costs.

Why skilled visas should be based on age and income

One positive recent reform undertaken by the Albanese government to Australia’s migration system was allocating far more permanent skilled places to employer-sponsored visas at the expense of regional visas.

Excise revenue collapse backs federal budget into a corner

The AFR’s John Kehoe argues that “the government has inadvertently underwritten a tobacco crime wave and is now trying to plug the revenue hole by increasing taxes on capital income”.

Net migration averages 1,100 per day under Albanese government

This week’s official quarterly population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirmed that net overseas migration (NOM) continues to run hot under the Albanese Labor government.

Australia’s net overseas migration was 301,000 in 2025

It’s time to cap senior bureaucrat pay

Ordinary Australians are suffering through their worst cost-of-living crisis in generations and a record decline in their real wages, with no recovery forecast.

Should Snowy Hydro 2.0 be stopped?

When Snowy Hydro 2.0 was first announced by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, it was touted as a $2 billion project capable of delivering 2 megawatts of power on command and 350,000 megawatt-hours of storage by 2021.

Sydney’s house price correction accelerates

Australian economy continues to lose momentum

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