Economy

Despite howls from some of the loudest voices in the media and politics to ‘let it rip’ in response to Covid-19, the latest economic figures show Australia’s health-first approach saved lives and the country from a long and painful recession.

Australia’s fertility rate is the lowest it has been in history. While successive governments have paid scant attention to this, Covid-19 has made the issue more urgent than ever.

After Victoria was ravaged by a second wave of Covid-19, Premier Daniel Andrews has targeted his state’s budget to address the crisis’s key drivers: insecure work and aged care.

The coronavirus pandemic has only heightened the precarious situation in which international students often find themselves, with many forced to take on jobs that pay less than the minimum wage.

Australia’s suppression of coronavirus is in stark contrast to most of the world. In the absence of a vaccine, the country now enters a period of  ‘Covid-normal’ defined by containment measures.

The expenses scandal at ASIC masks a more serious concern: that the government will now overhaul the agency and wind back regulation of the banking and finance sector.

As Melbourne reopens, new analysis of data from the state’s second wave reveals the government’s overhauled testing and tracing measures could be leaving cracks for the virus to slip through.

A scathing audit of the Infrastructure Department’s purchase of land for the Western Sydney airport has led to an AFP investigation. But this is only the latest controversy in a long history of scandals relating to the Badgerys Creek site.

The mail carrier’s chief executive has been asked to stand aside after revelations of luxury watches gifted to executives, but the company is facing much deeper crises.

More than 90 per cent of Australia’s medicines are imported, putting the country at risk of dangerous shortages. But while the government has announced plans to boost the sector’s manufacturing capabilities, industry experts warn that the problem runs far deeper.