Australia's success at dealing with the coronavirus pandemic will ripple through the budget for decades,with cumulative deficits of at least $1 trillion.
A third of global government debt is being sold with negative interest rates. Australia has now joined that growing club.
Consumers and businesses are at their most confident this year. But a special survey of consumer trends suggest people want to save,not spend.
Once powerful agencies of fiscal conservatism like the credit rating agencies are losing their political clout.
Business confidence has hit a two year high while consumers are now at their most buoyant this year.
A measure of total spending surged by 6.8 per cent in NSW during the September quarter,the equal highest among the states.
People in Victoria and NSW will have to get their spending mojo back if the country is to fully escape the fallout from the pandemic recession.
National editor Tory Maguire and business journalist Stephen Bartholomeusz talk through the state of the markets and their effect on the Australian economy.
Released from their homes,consumers went on a three-month splurge that helped the economy grow by 3.3 per cent in the September quarter.
The nation has saved an extra $200 billion over the past year. That money will need to flow back into shop registers to get the economy growing.
In this episode,deputy federal editor Stephanie Peatling and chief political correspondent David Crowe take us through the dying days of the parliamentary sitting calendar.