British economist and former Citi trader Gary Stevenson warns that Australia is losing its "fair go" ethos due to a worsening housing crisis and widening wealth gap. During an Australian speaking tour, he told the ABC that governments worldwide are failing to seriously tackle inequality. Stevenson advocates for higher wages, improved housing affordability, and tax reforms that take more from the wealthy to boost living standards for low and middle-income households. He warns that without action, Australia will face the same decline in public services and rise in poverty seen in the UK and Europe. Despite his large YouTube following, Political leaders, trapped in "bubbles," are resistant to changing the economic status quo.

#garystevenson #australia #fairgo #housingcrisis #wealthinequality #economicinequality #taxreform #livingstandards #publicservices #poverty #uk #europe #abcnews #abcbusiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB9pK0qHSoA

First Guardian & Shield collapses devastated thousands of Aussies and exposed big holes in our $4.3T super system.
ASIC says it acted fast: blocked Shield investments Feb 2024, froze First Guardian Feb 2025.
Deputy Chair Sarah Court: “We shut it down quickly once we saw solvency or investor money issues.”
Allegations (untested in court): hundreds of millions sent offshore for directors’ luxuries — fast cars, big homes, pet projects.
ASIC chasing:

Hard-sell telemarketers pushing super out of APRA-regulated funds
Connected financial planners who got clients to sign SOAs
Ferras Merhi (Venture Egg/FSGA) — he vows to fight all claims in court

Licences cancelled: MWL, United Global Capital, FSGA.
Interprac (Sequoia-owned) still operating; CEO not worried, added new governance.
Offered via Macquarie, Diversa, Netwealth, Equity Trustees.
Macquarie + Netwealth repaying ~$421M. ASIC estimates ~40% recovery for retail investors. Legal action ongoing against others.
Also: APRA hits HESTA over 7-week outage; ASIC finds systemic death benefit failures.
Huge wake-up call for super regulation.

#Superannuation #ASIC #ABCBusiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBpHMWZyD2Q

Wage growth slightly outpaces consumer price inflation in the year to September, which means the average worker has received a small increase in their purchasing power, a point highlighted by the Treasurer Jim Chalmers. However, the increase was down on the same period last year and an economist says workers can expect real wages to fall again next year. Wage rises were stronger for workers in the public sector, led by pay rises for employees of state and local governments. The data alleviates any pressure on the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates. William Buck chief economist Besa Deda thinks there's a possibility of one more cut in the second half of 2026.

The ABS published a second set of monthly numbers, estimating the total wages and salaries paid by employers to their staff in September. Payments totalled $108.8 billion, driven higher by bonuses in the mining, utilities, retail, media and financial services sectors, which are often paid in September, in response to financial year targets. However, the 5.3 per cent annual growth in total wages and salaries paid to employees was down from the 6.1 per cent rise recorded over the year to September 2024.

#ABCBusiness #ABCNEWSAustralia #ABCNEWS #ABCBusiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtkTDCC9fow