Key points: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the package would support 2,600 jobs Hahndorf, the Strzelecki Track and the Main South Road will benefit The SA Opposition said it would not provide enough support The Federal Government has announced a $625 million funding package to upgrade South Australian roads ahead of tomorrow's Federal Budget. The projects include a $200 million roads redevelopment for the Adelaide Hills township of Hahndorf. There is also $136 million for

By its own admission, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is presiding over a disaster—the greatest ever destruction of jobs in the Australian university sector. The October edition of the union’s aptly-titled Sentry online magazine states: “The NTEU can confirm that there have been at least 12,185 positions lost in Australian universities since March. This comprises at least 5,300 continuing positions, 6,486 casual positions and 399 fixed term positions that we are

The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept interest rates on hold at the historic low of 0.25 per cent for the seventh consecutive month. The RBA today decided to keep the nation's official cash rate unchanged despite increasing concerns over the prolonged economic cost of COVID-19. Today's decision marks the seventh month in a row without a change. RBA Governor Philip Lowe said the decision was based on the uneven recovery of the global economy due to the coronavirus. "The globa

BHP will create up to 1250 new apprenticeships in Perth as part of a $800 million skills and technology package to be rolled out over the next five years as Australia focuses on its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Up to 1250 apprenticeship positions will be created in BHP's Welshpool academy.BHP chief executive Mike Henry announced the additional job opportunities on Thursday, vowing $300 million of the cash boost would be spent on 2500 additional apprenticeships and tra

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to claim almost one in 10 jobs in Australian universities, diminishing the tertiary sector's research capacity and reducing its ability to teach the next generation of domestic students. Research by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education has found Australia’s public universities have lost $3.8 billion in revenue this year. In response, they have culled about 5600 full-time equivalent jobs. An estimated 17,50

The following five charts provide a snapshot of how COVID-19 is affecting Australians aged 18-24. Though the health impacts of the coronavirus fall most on the elderly, it is young adults that have been hit hardest by the economic and psychological costs of the pandemic response. The data for the charts comes from results gleaned from two major surveys run by the Melbourne Institute at the University of Melbourne. The first is the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Aus

Australia’s government will lay out a spending program to resuscitate a recession-hit economy and generate jobs for the hundreds of thousands of people left unemployed by the nation’s Covid-19 lockdown. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is expected to announce a A$220 billion ($158 billion) deficit when he hands down a delayed budget for the year ending June 2021, at 7:30 p.m. in Canberra. The shortfall will be equivalent to 11.6% of gross domestic product, according to the median es

Treasure Josh Frydenberg says tonight's budget will be focused on rebuilding the Australian economy and bringing it out of the coronavirus economic slump. Mr Frydenberg is expected to unveil a new debt ceiling of more than $1.1 trillion, and a deficit in excess of $210 billion, that will take years to recover from. "Our plan will create jobs," Mr Frydenberg said from Parliament House in Canberra this morning. "This is all about jobs. It's all about helping those who are out o

Following delays due to COVID-19, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is preparing to deliver Australia’s 2020 Budget today, touted as one the most important budgets since World War II. Here’s how and when Aussies will find out what the changes are, and what we should all be looking out for when the budget is unveiled this evening. Australia Budget 2020: What To Look Out For Tax Cuts According to the ABC, the Budget will confirm tax cuts that will be brought forward and backdated to Ju

More than 6000 Christmas casual jobs are on offer as retailers around the country prepare for a package and online-dominated seasonal rush. In anticipation of its biggest Christmas ever, Australia Post is hiring more than 4000 people to help deliver what it expects to be a record level of parcels. Around 2900 of the jobs will be around the country in the areas of transport and deliveries, while 300 fixed full-time jobs will be based in Brisbane, South Australia, Tasmania, Vic

Key points: The Australian Public Service (APS) gained 5,770 staff in the first half of this year Most of the new employees are on temporary contracts The jobs boom follows years of staff cuts as government agencies relied instead on labour-hire firms The federal bureaucracy added almost 6,000 staff to its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic as it scrambled to support Australia's ailing economy. The Federal Government's main service agencies — the Tax Office and Services A

Progress towards greater gender equality has been hesitant and halting over the past five years and the Covid-19 pandemic now risks sending it into reverse. Our analysis shows that women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than men’s jobs: Women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses as of May 2020. At the same time, the burden of unpaid care, which has risen in the pandemic, falls disproportionately on women. This backwards

Andres Czajkowski is a Boeing 737 pilot most recently employed by Virgin Australia at its New Zealand unit, which was closed in April as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Here, he talks through how he tackled the stages of grief redundancy caused. I’m sitting in a room full of people from different walks of life, all about to start a CPR and first aid course. I figure it’ll add something to the CV after flying aeroplanes for the past 12 years. The facilitator starts movin

Raytheon Technologies, a large U.S. defense contractor, announced plans to lay off over 15,000 people. The cuts will affect the workers at the company’s jet engine-builder, Pratt & Whitney, and its aviation and military equipment manufacturer, Collins Aerospace. A number of Raytheon’s business divisions have been adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. At a Morgan Stanley investment conference, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said, “I would tell you the commercial aero team has

“We’ve put together the best components to make a unique Australian-designed solution that is compliant to the new battery standards,” says EVO Power’s Jamie Allen. Off grid or upmarket, just add solar. Home batteries may still be a big-ticket item, but choices are emerging in the integrator zone that will make sense for different users, broadening the market for rooftop solar as they go. EVO Power is a new player in the solar-energy storage sphere, offering turnkey 24 kWh to

A new report has warned that Australia’s phasing out of Government support during the coronavirus pandemic could see the country’s recession deepen. Having lapsed into its first technical recession in three decades, Australia’s economy could lose out on $31 billion thanks to the cuts to the JobSeeker job protection programme, which could jeopardise 145,000 jobs. At times of economic crisis, government spending can be crucial in lessening the shrinkage of GDP, and prompting a

As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, we must reconsider how we value the jobs done by care workers The outbreak of Covid-19 in Victorian aged care homes has shone a harsh light on the conditions in which low-paid workers struggle to provide care to some of the most vulnerable people in society. Most of these workers are women – as are those in disability care and childcare. The work they are engaged in has its roots in the domestic economy. Care work was once the domain o

The contract to build the $230 million Townsville Ring Road has been awarded and early works have begun on the $107.7 million Bruce Highway – two major Queensland regional rail projects that are expected to create more than 560 jobs in Townsville. The Australian and Queensland Governments announced the contract to build the $230 million Townsville Ring Road – Stage 5 project and mark the start of early works on the $107.7 million Bruce Highway – Townsville Northern Access Int

The year had started so well for Amy Thomas. She had two jobs, a car and was living out of home. The future looked bright. Instead, as for so many young people recently out of school or university, 2020 has been a year of disappointments. In March, she lost both her jobs in the week the coronavirus caused the economy to seize up. Six months later, she’s moved out of her share house and in with her grandmother on the Bellarine Peninsula “I’m falling into that same weird routin

Payroll jobs in Australia dropped 0.4% during the month to August 22, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While jobs across Victoria had the biggest decline, this has dropped at a slower rate. The hardest hit industries include accommodation, food services, arts and recreation services. While Victoria experienced a 2.0% decline in jobs, the rest of the country saw a 0.1% increase. However, Victoria did see its job decline start to slow. “While p