Monday 21 April 2025
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It's Monday, the twenty first of April twenty twenty five. Welcome to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed, where we give you the top five business stories you need to know in just five minutes. A'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.
Good morning, Michael.
Sean five stories, five minutes. Let's go Story number one, Sean, all about the election campaign hostilities. We're supposed to cease over easter. That's fair to say that didn't really happen to were twelve days out now from polling and one day before postal voting commences. Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi and Labor are really in the box seat.
The big polls from nine Entertainment, from The Australian's News poll and elsewhere all put the most likely outcome a minority Labor government that means Albanzi as Prime Minister with the support of Greens and Independence. In fact, if anything, the polls have Labour doing better than the coalition doing the campaign and Alberanesi pulling away from Dutton as preferred leader. But twelve days ago a long time in politics. With postal voting off opening tomorrow most of the big ticket announcements have been there will be bits and pieces coming from both parties. Albinizi is likely to spend the last days of the campaign pushing Labour's reforms around child care and health wages. Tax reform, well, it's minimal reform, but Labour's calling reform and dealing with the US in a Donald Trump world. Darton will spend the next twelve days talking more about energy defense. Expect to hear the line about petrol prices being twenty five cents later cheaper under the coalition, and expect to hear the question are you better off than you were three years ago? We still have school holidays and Anzac Day for the police to contend with. But both sides are now going to be focused on racing to the finish.
Indeed they will. I'm just storry number two. Now, rental growth across the country are still tracking above pre COVID levels, but the rate of change has slowed considerably.
So during the March quarter the pace of rental growth was one point seven percent, which was driven by units. Now for the full year it's a little under four percent. Twelve months ago when we took this reading, or when Court Logic took this reading. It was eight percent. It's gone from eight percent to four percent. The growth in rents, it represents what's happened in the last three months or so, is that housing rents have really fallen quite a bit, or the pace of growth of housing reents have fallen quite a bit. Now. Since March twenty nineteen, national rents have climbed about thirty eight percent. It's about one hundred and eighty two bucks a week or nine thousand dollars annually. This significant increase has prompted many households to change and adapt, you know, larger households, that type of thing, particularly in the capital cities. Around ninety nine thousand rental properties were listed for rent nationally over the four weeks to six April. That's about twenty percent below the historic norm for this time of year, which explains some of the pressure on prices still.
Ye Indeed, storing number three shown Bunnings, fresh from pushing heavily into cleaning and pet products, is now dipping its toe into the auto sector.
It's a category Bunnings had when it launched in nineteen ninety four, but shifted out of it, leaving the sector to groups like sort of super Retail Thinks super Cheap Auto, Babcore, which has got Burston and Auto Barn. Auto products begin appearing in Bunning's stores in March. By the end of this month, there will be around four hundred. According to the AFI. Investment analysts diffail on prospects for Bunning's Auto, pointing out and in some categories they're cheaper, in others a bit more expensive. Also, Bunnings doesn't carry some of the bigger brand names at this point. That could be a bit of a problem because shoppers tend to want options.
Story number four. BHP has won approval for New South Wales's largest coal mine to remain open for a further four years, with part of the site set to be repurposed into a pumped hydro project. Amid concerns over job prospects for two thousand workers.
The producer has been seeking an extension for the Mount Arthur therm Or coal mine in New South Wales hunt of Valley until twenty thirty. The facility has a two thousand strong workforce now. Last week the New South Wales government approved the extension to June twenty thirty, with BHP adding a thirty million dollar community fund and appointing THEONA to develop an initial feasibility study for the pumped hydro development. According to the Australian, BHP said the pump hydro project could provide daily power for up to five hundred thousand homes across New South Wales to deliver one thousand construction jobs. The amount Arthur Mind spans seventy kilometers. It's huge, eighteen kilometers long at its coal phase, with BHP promising to explore alternative land uses for the site and meet mid fears over job cuts once the mine eventually shuts down.
All right, story number five And I know it's only Monday, Sean, but this is a very early contender for my favorite story of the week. This one had a bit of discussion over the weekend. Astronomers have found signs of biological activity on a planet one hundred and twenty four light years from Earth, in what they call these strongest evidence yet of extra terrestrial life.
There's life out there, Michael. Scientists used a space telescope to detect specific organic molecules in the atmosphere of K two eighteen B, a distant water covered planet that is eight point six times bigger than the Earth and orbits a red dwarf star. On Earth. Such molecules are only produced by living organisms.
Now.
The lead astrophysicist from Cambridge University said, given everything we know about this planet, a world with a notion that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits this data. The research suggests that conditions on K two A and B could mirror Earth's early oceans, according to a story in the FD and the astronomer stopped short of claiming definitive evidence of biological activity. But I'm going to there's life out there, Michael.
I think there is, Sean. I think we're I think we are united on that. There we go, the top five business stories in five minutes. Thank you very much, Sean, Thank you Michael. It is Monday, the twenty first of April twenty twenty five. Remember to hit follow on the podcast, and if five minutes isn't enough, you can find our longer daily show called Fear and Greed wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Michael Thompson and that was fast five Business News by Fear and Greed. Have a great day,