O75 Public Administration

Migration concerns surge post-pandemic – almost returning to pre-pandemic levels

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Sep-25

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 13% of Australian electors believe that ‘managing immigration and population growth’ is an important issue; this figure has more than doubled since 2023. However, the long-term national trend since 2016 shows that the proportion who cited ‘managing immigration and population growth’ as an important issue reached a pre-pandemic high of 16% in 2019, before declining during COVID and falling to just 6% in June 2023. Since then, the perceived importance of immigration has surged as an issue and, as immigration to Australia increased, is up seven percentage points. While there has been an increase in the perceived importance of immigration as an issue across all age groups since the pandemic, concern varies substantially by age, with older people being significantly more likely to raise immigration as an issue.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Apocalyptic climate risk on horizon

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Original article by Ryan Cropp
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 16-Sep-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Australian Climate Service’s National Climate Risk Assessment report is a "wake-up call" for people who still question the need for action to address climate change. Amongst other things, the report has warned that climate change could potentially result in heat-related deaths rising by more than 400 per cent, while property values could fall by more than $600 billion by 2050; it also concludes that more frequent heatwaves could result in employers losing 2.7 million additional days of work by 2061. The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s CEO Andrew McKellar says governments must strike an appropriate balance between science and economics.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE SERVICE, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Wellbeing budget still relies on old data

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Original article by Lily McCaffrey
The Australian – Page: 2 : 16-Sep-25

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the timeliness of data is a vital part of the federal government’s Measuring What Matters national wellbeing framework. The government announced this framework as part of its ‘wellbeing budget’ in 2023, and Chalmers subsequently transferred responsibility for the framework’s reporting to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, the latest update to the framework shows that the ABS is largely using data that is at least three years old for many of the key wellbeing metrics. Chalmers says the government’s $14.8m funding boost for the ABS in 2024 will improve future Measuring What Matters data.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

ATO interest on late debt soars as waivers denied

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Original article by Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 16-Sep-25

It has been revealed that the interest on overdue tax bills to the Australian Tax Office stood at $9.4 billion last financial year, with the ATO tightened its approach to debt collection. The interest imposed on outstanding tax debts is known as the "general interest charge", and taxpayers can ask the ATO for the charge to be cancelled by what is known as a remission request, but figures show it is refusing more of these requests than was previously the case.

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AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

PM sticks to defence dollars before US visit

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 16-Sep-25

Australia’s spending on defence is slated to rise to 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2033, compared with just over two per cent at present. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese contends that defence spending should be measured as a total dollar amount, arguing that people are "too fixated" on the GDP figure. The federal government continues to face pressure from the Trump administration to increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP; however, Albanese contends that the US should take into account factors such as the in-kind military support it receives from Australia and the security partnerships that the nation has struck in the Asia-Pacific region.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Snowy 2.0 buried in a wage storm

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 10-Sep-25

The Australian Workers Union has struck a new enterprise agreement with Snowy 2.0 contractor Webuild that will boost the wages of tunnel workers. The ‘fly-in, fly-out’ workers will receive an upfront pay rise of $6,000 over a six-week roster cycle, plus an additional wage increase of 2.25 per cent every six months for four years; this will boost their annual wage to about $300,000. The wage deal also includes a 62 per cent increase in the tunnel workers’ hourly productivity allowance. The AWU’s NSW secretary Tony Callinan has conceded that the new agreement will result in a significant increase in Snowy 2.0’s labour costs. The renewable energy project is already well over budget and behind schedule.

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AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION, WEBUILD

Roy Morgan Business Confidence drops in August as businesses grow more worried about the next 12 months

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Sep-25

In August 2025, Roy Morgan Business Confidence fell 4.4pts to 98.6, despite the Reserve Bank electing to cut interest rates by 0.25% to 3.6% at its meeting in mid-August. Business Confidence is now 11.4pts below the long-term average of 110, and it is 2.7pts lower than in August 2024. Now 28.5% (down 3.7ppts) of businesses says their business is ‘better off’ financially than this time a year ago, while 35.4% (up 1.9ppts) say the business is ‘worse off’. Meanwhile, 39.6% (down 1.3ppts) of respondents expect the business will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 24.3% (up 4ppts) expect the business will be ‘worse off’. The latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for August are based on 1,189 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.3pts to 89.3; driven by more positive views about personal finances

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Sep-25

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.3pts to 89.3 in the week to 7 September; it is now 7 points above the same week a year ago (82.3), and 2.4pts above the 2025 weekly average of 86.9. Analysis by State shows mixed results, with Consumer Confidence up in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, unchanged in Western Australia, and down in New South Wales. Now 22% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 40% (down 3ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 29% (up 3ppts) of respondents expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 27% (down 4ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ – this is the highest net rating for this indicator since the Federal Election. Meanwhile, 11% (down 3ppts) of respondents expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 28% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Just 26% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 35% (up 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Government spending tops $1trn for the first time

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 10-Sep-25

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the combined recurrent spending of the federal and state governments rose by 7.7 per cent in 2024-25, to $1.02 trillion. In contrast, government revenue increased by just four per cent during the financial year. The increase in recurrent spending was driven by a number of factors, with government employee costs rising by 8.8 per cent and social benefits up 11.9 per cent. EY’s chief economist Cherelle Murphy warns that fiscal sustainability across the federal and state governments will be at risk if the current spending trends continue, which could potentially result in credit rating downgrades.

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AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, ERNST AND YOUNG

PM plans giant UN event despite possible COP out

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Sep-25

The federal government has released tender documents for the appointment of an event manager to handle the COP31 climate change summit in 2026, even though the host nation has yet to be decided. The government’s advance planning for the summit envisions that it will be attended by more than 52,000 people, and will be bigger and more complex than any event that Australia has hosted in the past. However, Turkey remains reluctant to withdraw its rival bid to host COP31, and senior Labor figures have conceded that this makes it increasingly likely that Labor’s bid will fail.

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