S&P Misled Investors On CPDO Notes Pre-Financial Crisis: Australian Court


Global rating agency Standard & Poor’s has been found guilty of “misleading” Australian investors over the ratings of two constant proportion debt obligation (CPDO) notes created by banking giant ABN AMRO prior to the 2008 financial crisis, reported Bloomberg on Monday, in a landmark case that may set precedent for future litigation around the world.

Australia’s Resource Boom: From Blessing To Curse


Over the last decade, the Australian economy has experienced a boom on the back of the rise of Asia – with Chinese demand for Australian commodities in particular spurring economic growth. Yet, with emerging market growth in Asia having now slowed down, Australia’s abundance of resources is transforming from being a blessing to a curse.

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Categorized as Australia

Australia Set World Record with 21 Years of Continued Economic Growth


Australia set a new world record on June 30, 2012 of 21 years of continued economic growth – an achievement unmatched by any other developed country in recent times. While the global economic crisis endured, Australia’s trade with Asia, mining industry, and business supportive government drove positive growth for the country in 2012.

China Wary of Australia-US Military Ties


China has voiced it concern over the growing military ties between Australia and the United States, with Chinese officials saying that “the time for Cold War alliances has long passed.” China is one of the largest trading partners for Australia, and exports more than a quarter of its products to China.

Australia Wants To Hire Skilled US Engineers and Electricians


The Australian government has announced it will overhaul its visa assessment system for American workers as its economy struggles to fill jobs in key sectors that are currently enjoying a boom, mostly on the back of strong demand from China. According to industry projections, Australia will need 1.3 million extra workers over the next five years.

On Monday, Australia’s Skills Minister Chris Evans and the United States Ambassador to Australia Jeffery Bleich announced a new scheme to help American workers have their trade qualifications recognised faster.

Crikey! Can Australia Afford To Go Solar?


Australia, like all modern economies, needs an assured supply of energy to function effectively. Presently, coal generates about 80 percent of Australia’s electrical energy output; but as external sources of fossil fuels continue to decline, a shift to renewable energy sources is needed. But the costs for such a move, particularly to solar power, are high. What are Australia’s alternatives?

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Categorized as Australia

Economic Costs Growing w Australia Floods


 

Devastating floods in the northeast Australian province of Queensland, inundating an area the size of France and Germany, could cost the economy there more than AUD 6 billion.

Analysts predict the floods, which have affected more than 200,000 people, will cost the economy $6 billion, not including clean-up costs, with mining and agriculture the worst affected

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who toured flood-affected regions with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said the damage bill would be huge.

Now Australia Housing Bubble To Collapse ???


In a bearish note to clients in late August, Morgan Stanley’s chief strategist, Gerard Minack, warned that

a housing bubble in Australia could be pricked if the banks tightened credit or middle-class landlords started losing money and decided to sell.

He believes owner-occupiers have too much debt, and that investors are riskily relying on capital gains to repay their loans and interest.

Compounding the problem was ill-advised policy such as the government’s first home-buyers grant,

Water Shortages Create Huge Dilemmas for Australia


In one of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects in its history, Australia’s five largest cities are spending $13.2 billion

on desalination plants capable of sucking millions of gallons of seawater from the surrounding oceans every day, removing the salt and yielding potable water.

In two years, when the last plant is scheduled to be up and running, Australia’s major cities will draw up to 30 percent of their water from the sea.

Australia’s Thirst for Coal Creates Homelessness, Bitterness, Pollution


Even as Asian demand for Australia’s resources keeps surging, the fate of a small town

has become a catalyst for pent-up anger over the coal industry’s push into populated and farming areas.

It has also set off a larger debate in Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of coal,

about mining’s costs and benefits to the country.