There's a lot of the hallmark here of the first Rudd Government stimulus, in terms of payments which will be directed to low income earners, on the pension and potentially Newstart, I think that's a big tick.

I mention John Stone because he taught me that being on top of Australian domestic economic data and trends and also political issues was a necessary condition to be a good analyst, it wasn’t a sufficient condition.

I suspect that senators will be pursuing Mr [Steven] Kennedy this morning about what is the likely impact on the economy of the coronavirus in the June quarter

There's a strong expectations management game from the Treasurer and the Government which is understandable given what we're seeing unfold across global markets.

James is asked about the recent stories in the news about wages theft. "What does this tell you, that these big companies are doing this on purpose or the system's too complicated?"

Ausgrid weren't aware about the official knocking on the head of their request for army assistance. Ausgrid was saying: "oh no we don't want taxpayers to have to pay for anything”. But if you call in the army, that's essentially what happens.

Last week we had a refreshing first sitting week of the year with political hostilities put on hold while all members of parliament came together

With the first major question time, it was interesting to see where Labor went, with so much that happened over the summer.