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Happy Thursday!
We wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been listening to The Daily Aus’ podcast.
We’ve just recorded our best month of podcast listens ever.
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Thank you.
I've got 10 seconds
The quote
“It is my recommendation that they take a sick day to protest for a sick planet.” — University professors in a ‘sick note’ written to excuse students going to this Friday’s climate protests from school.
The stat
71,171
The number of New Zealanders who have left the country in the year to September 2023, the highest result since 2012. Over half moved to Australia.
Today in history
2010: Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton. They married on 29 April the next year.
I've got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
Cybercrime in Australia has risen by 23%, according to a new cyber security report. The Australian Signals Directorate said cybercrime is costing small business victims an average of $46,000 per year. Nearly 94,000 reports were made to law enforcement over the 2022/23 financial year – around one every 6 minutes. The report also found ransomware made up around 10% of all cyber incidents.
Australia’s energy operator says it is bracing for the possibility of “extreme demand” on the power grid ahead of summer. In its Summer Readiness Overview, AEMO said due to the forecasted hot and dry El Niño weather, there are growing concerns that bushfires and extreme heat will put a strain on electricity demands. However, an increase in renewables is expected to lessen the potential of blackouts as summer approaches.
I've got 1 minute
National wages grew by 1.3% during July, August and September, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS' Wage Price Index (WPI) tracks changes in the hourly wages earned in a range of jobs, which are selected to represent the whole economy.
The figure is the highest recorded in a three-month period in the 26-year history of the WPI. It was slightly higher than price growth of 1.2% over the same period.
Why?
The ABS attributed the 1.3% increase for the quarter to a combination of factors, including rising inflation and increases to the minimum wage, which came into effect on 1 July.
Salary increases in aged care, the removal of state wage caps and new enterprise agreements coming into effect across the public sector also contributed to higher wages.
Inflation
While wages have grown over the last year, the price of what people typically buy with their wages has grown, too.
The annual wage growth of 4.0% from September 2022 to September 2023 was lower than the level of price growth, 5.6%.
Australians might be earning more money, but these figures suggest their money is buying less than what it did a year ago.
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I've got 2 minutes
All four of Australia's largest banks have posted substantial profits for the 2022-23 financial year.
Commonwealth Bank made $10.2b, NAB $7.7b and ANZ and Westpac $7.4b each, according to recently published annual reports.
In all four cases, the profit was larger than last year. Why are banks so profitable?
Interest rates
The simple answer is that all four banks have benefited from higher interest rates.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has been 'raising interest rates' since May 2022 to discourage borrowing and spending, motivated by a desire to slow down the rate of rising prices (inflation).
When we talk about 'raising interest rates', what we actually mean is that the RBA is increasing the 'cash rate' — the rate it charges banks for short-term loans.
The RBA hopes banks will 'pass on' this higher rate to its customers.
However, it is up to banks whether they do so.
In general, Australia's largest banks have been more willing to pass on higher rates to borrowers (e.g. mortgage holders), and less willing to pass on higher rates to savers.
Banks make money from the interest they charge borrowers and lose money by paying interest to savers, so this decision has boosted their profits.
The numbers
All four banks charge higher rates to borrowers overall than they offer to savers.
For NAB and ANZ, borrowing rates are about 1.7 percentage points higher. For Westpac and CBA, they are about 2 percentage points higher.
'Percentage points' is a direct comparison between two numbers — so, for example, it might mean a borrowing rate of 6% and a saving rate of 4%.
All four banks increased the size of the gap between borrowing rates and savings rates in 2022-23.
In all four cases, this resulted in over $1 billion of extra 'net interest income' — that's the difference between interest received from borrowers and interest paid to savers.
For all four banks, this extra income accounted for a significant portion of the spike in profit.
Give me some good news
Almost 50 new spider species have been discovered in Australia thanks to a recent project by researchers with the University of Southern Queensland.
It’s estimated there could be as many as 15,000 spider species across the country, but only 3,000 have been identified so far.
As for these 48 new discoveries, some will be named after scientists and notable figures, including the former “Totally Wild” presenter, Ranger Stacey Thompson.
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A TDA tidbit
New Zealand officially has a new Bird of the Century. It is the Pūteketeke Bird and it is known for “puking” and having a colourful orange mullet – what more could a bird want!
Its victory is all thanks to British comedian John Oliver (pictured above campaigning for the bird on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon).
Oliver led an international campaign for the Pūteketeke bird, which included putting billboards up in Mumbai, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Wisconsin. Oh, and in New Zealand.
So what is so good about this bird? “We thought it was a magnificent bird,” Oliver simply said.
Last year’s Bird of the Year, the New Zealand rock wren, won with 2,800 votes. We think the Pūteketeke may have received slightly more votes to win this year.
“It is American money undermining a foreign election. What is more to be proud of?” Oliver declared.
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