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17 Sep Australia’s population reaches 27.9 million — 68% live in the capital cities 17 Sep Explainer: Why scale matters so much in Australian banking 17 Sep Background to Tony Burke's pending immigration announcement

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Australia’s population reaches 27.9 million — 68% live in the capital cities

Australia’s population has reached 27.92 million, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates. At 31 March 2026, the population was 27,921,150, up 392,700 people, or 1.4 per cent, over the previous year. New South Wales remains comfortably the largest state, with 8.

Bank Profits

Explainer: Why scale matters so much in Australian banking

Australia’s smaller deposit-taking institutions are not necessarily being beaten on lending margins. APRA data suggest the much bigger problem is the cost of providing banking services at smaller scale.

Temporary Visa Holders

Background to Tony Burke's pending immigration announcement

If the debate is about temporary migration, the first number to understand is the stock of temporary visa holders already in Australia. That number reached 3.03 million at the end of 2025.

Federal Reserve

Background: The Fed inflation target

The Fed's 2% inflation target sounds simple. In practice, US monetary policy has evolved from Volcker's war on inflation to average inflation targeting and, since 2025, back to flexible inflation targeting.

Federal Reserve

Why the Fed just raised rates

The Federal Reserve has raised rates for the first time since 2023. Persistent inflation explains the economics, but Kevin Warsh’s appointment by Donald Trump makes the politics unusually significant.

Benchmark Indicators

Australian economy at a glance

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Political Data Alerts

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Reading: Australia’s quarter-century decline in proficiency

Australia’s latest PISA results show that the deterioration in educational performance extends well beyond mathematics. Reading performance has also declined substantially. When the OECD’s comparable reading series began in 2000, Australian 15-year-olds recorded an average PISA reading score of 528.3. By 2025, that had fallen

Bail

Why are 43% of Australian prisoners unsentenced?

More than two in five Australian prisoners are now unsentenced, compared with roughly one in nine in the early 1990s. This explainer looks at the rise of remand, why it matters, and the striking differences between states.

ATM

Background: What the ACCC’s regional ATM decision means

The ACCC has approved a three-year trial of shared regional ATMs. The decision supports fee-free cash access but also acknowledges that shared infrastructure could affect the viability of existing regional banking services.

Productivity

RBA links poor productivity to inflation

Australia's productivity fell 0.2% in 2025–26. The RBA says weak productivity lowers the economy's growth speed limit, while businesses are also reporting the burden of continually changing regulation.

PISA Science Results

Science: Australia’s decade of stability in proficiency

Australia’s science performance fell during the decade after 2006, but the decline has since stalled. The latest PISA results show science scores essentially unchanged since 2015 and Australia maintaining its advantage over comparable OECD countries.

Australia

Australia Inc: The copper resources and production gap

Australia ranks second globally for economic copper resources but only eighth for production. With global copper demand forecast to rise 50 per cent by 2040, Australia's undeveloped copper endowment is becoming increasingly valuable.

Australia PISA Maths Decline

Mathematics: Australia’s two-decade steady decline in proficiency

Australia’s PISA mathematics performance has fallen at every cycle since 2003. The latest data show more low-performing students, fewer top performers, and a sharply reduced lead over comparable OECD countries.

ABS

Who employs our young people?

Hospitality and retail together account for almost 40 per cent of all filled jobs held by Australians under 25, highlighting just how concentrated Australia’s youth labour market remains.

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