Unemployment increased on the year across most states in April. But it remained steady in Queensland, at 4.2%, and fell in Western Australia, from 4.2% to 4.1%, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on 21 May show.

Tasmania has the highest unemployment rate in Australia. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 3.8% to 5% between April 2025 and 2026, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on 21 May show.

Tasmania’s unemployment rate, in trend terms, rose from 3.8% to 4.8% over that period. And it may rise again in the coming months. The state’s Treasury expects its trend-basis unemployment rate to average 5% in the 2026-27 fiscal year to 30 June, largely because of the US-Israeli war in Iran, it said today.

The Commonwealth Bank similarly expects Australia’s unemployment rate to peak at 4.6% in June 2027, according to forecasts released on 20 May. The Iran war, rising inflation expectations, and housing market challenges are the main risks to Australia’s economic outlook, the bank said.

Inflation could be more severe than expected if high fuel prices cause inflation expectations to rise, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter told Bloomberg’s Forum for Investment Managers on 19 May.

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“If expectations rise persistently, it becomes harder for the central bank to bring inflation back to target … Doing so may require a more substantial slowing of economic activity, as we saw during the early 1990s recession,” Hunter said.

Australia experienced a recession in 1991-1992, partly because of high interest rates and recessions in other countries. The country’s unemployment rate rose from 6.1% in January 1990 to 11.2% in December 1992, ABS data show.

But futures markets do not expect the RBA to raise interest rates at its June meeting. Futures prices indicate that there is 91% chance that the central bank holds interest rates steady in June, data from the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) show.

By Avinash Govind

Diplomats have focused on holding face-to-face meetings with counterparts in dozens of countries since 2024 to build closer relations and advance New Zealand’s interests, Peters said.

In Asia, New Zealand sees freedom of navigation, peace in the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Strait, disaster and humanitarian efforts, and countering crime, radicalisation, and terrorism as its core security interests, according to Peters.

New Zealand has participated in multiple joint freedom-of-navigation patrols – known as Maritime Coordination Activities (MCAs) – around the South China Sea since 2024. MCAs are meant to improve military cooperation and interoperability to support freedom of navigation, according to the United States Indo-Pacific Command.

It has also participated in North Korean sanctions-monitoring activities in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea since 2018, according to the New Zealand Defence Force.

In addition to outlining New Zealand’s national interests, Peters responded to criticisms of the Government’s recent diplomatic caution during his speech.

“New Zealand’s foreign policy is driven by prudence,” the Foreign Minister said. “If our national voice has not always been to everyone’s liking, or been loud enough for them, then perhaps it is because we are still trying to rebuild its strength,” he added.

New Zealand has invested less in diplomacy than similarly-sized countries like Ireland, weakening its economic position and diplomatic footprint, Peters said earlier in the speech.

The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be excluded from planned public sector job cuts in 2026-27, Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Parliament later in the day.

New Zealand has declined to criticise the US-Israeli war in Iran since it began in late February, sparking opposition from the Labour Party and Green Party.

“The Prime Minister Luxon’s failure to condemn Trump’s illegal actions again demonstrates his lack of leadership or moral courage, and willingness to act against New Zealanders’ values,” Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson said on 1 March.

“It is entirely possible to condemn the repression carried out by the Iranian regime while also rejecting military escalation as the solution. New Zealand must say both,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins added on 7 April.

By Avinash Govind

“Reports from our liaison program suggest that some firms have responded already, with fuel surcharges raised by firms at the start of supply chains,” Hunter said in a speech at Bloomberg’s Forum for Investment Managers.

“Some construction firms – who have been relatively highly exposed to transport and oil-derived raw materials cost increases – are [also] reviewing prices for new contracts,” Hunter added.

Travel-related products, including flights and accommodation, are the goods most directly impacted by fuel costs, data from the RBA show. Jet fuel accounts for over 9% of the final price of travel-related products, according to the RBA.

Qantas Group’s jet fuel costs more than doubled between late-February and mid-April, largely because of jet refining margins, it said on 14 April. The company expects jet fuel prices to hover between A$185/barrel and A$200/barrel over January-July. It has increased ticket prices since February because of elevated costs.

Groceries, fruits, and vegetables are also exposed to fuel price increases. Petrol and diesel costs account for 3-5% of the final price of those products, according to the RBA.

Iran-war-related price increases and the RBA’s May interest rate hike mean that suppliers cannot continue to fully absorb elevated costs, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said on 8 May.

“Retailers and suppliers cannot continue to swallow these increases without a long-lasting impact on our industry,” AFGC CEO Colm Maguire said. “To protect jobs … and to ensure the sustainability of [the sector], profitable operations are not a luxury, they are a necessity,” Maguire added.

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Hunter also warned about the risk of increased inflation expectations in her speech. Inflation could be more severe than expected if high fuel prices cause inflation expectations to rise, she said.

“If expectations rise persistently, it becomes harder for the central bank to bring inflation back to target … Doing so may require a more substantial slowing of economic activity, as we saw during the early 1990s recession,” Hunter added.

Australia experienced a recession in 1991-1992, partly because of high interest rates and recessions in other countries. The country’s unemployment rate rose from 6.1% in January 1990 to 11.2% in December 1992, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show. It remained at over 6.1% until June 2000.

By Avinash Govind

The Australian Government expects the jet fuel to arrive in the country from early June, it said on 19 May. “The cargoes from China are a first step and I thank Premier Li for the constructive engagement that we’ve had,” Albanese said at a press conference in Perth.

Albanese declined to comment on the specifics of his discussion with Premier Li. “When I talk with Premier Li, I talk privately and constructively. And our main focus was, of course, on what is happening internationally is happening right throughout our region,” Albanese said.

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The Government expects to secure additional Chinese jet fuel in the future, it said. Chinese refiners supplied Australia with 6.8% of its refined petroleum imports in 2024, data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity show.

But China curbed fuel exports in mid-March because of the US-Israeli war in Iran. Chinese producers exported 3.1 million tonnes of refined oil in April, down 38% from 5 million tonnes a year earlier, preliminary Chinese customs data show (see table).

The country’s refined oil exports declined by 9% on the year in January-April to 15.9 million tonnes, according to Chinese customs data.

Australia’s government has secured refined oil supply commitments from the Japanese, South Korean, Singaporean, Malaysian, and Bruneian Governments since March.

It has also underwritten 700 million litres of spot-market fuel purchases since the start of the Iran war. Viva Energy, Ampol, and IOR secured 150 million litres of diesel with Government support on 15 May, in the most recent round of fuel underwrites.

Australia has more petrol, diesel, and jet fuel in storage than it did on 28 February because of consistent contracted imports and Government-backed spot purchases, the Government said on 16 May.

By Avinash Govind

The Federal Government has agreed to invest A$2 billion into Queensland, and the state's government has agreed to cover the remaining A$399 million.

The two governments will support infrastructure projects, including road and sewage upgrades, to enable new housing developments, the Queensland Government said.

Developers expect to complete homes linked to the investments from mid-2028, the Government said. They will sell more than 20,000 homes linked to the investments to first-home buyers, according to the Government.

“We’re investing in the boring but essential infrastructure like roads and sewerage that help us unlock more homes for Queenslanders,” Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said. “Thanks to this agreement we’ve reached, there will be thousands more Queenslanders getting the keys to their own home,” O’Neil added.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has backed the investment deal because it could speed up housing development times. “Builders often tell us that getting this key ‘last mile’ infrastructure is what holds many projects back from being delivered in a more timely fashion,” HIA Managing Director Jocelyn Martin said.

Master Builders has also welcomed the new investment, but raised concerns over ongoing construction workforce supply issues. “We … call on both levels of government to deliver targeted investment to close the workforce [supply] gap to boost productivity and deliver housing safely, sooner, and more affordably,” Master Builders Queensland Deputy CEO Michael Hopkins said.

Master Builders wants the Queensland Government to create a rebate on first-year apprentice wages, expand its Small Business Apprenticeship pilot scheme, and expand its Apprenticeships for Over 25s scheme in its upcoming 2026 Budget, it said on 13 May.

Demand for trades workers from public infrastructure developers in Queensland is expected to exceed supply by 14,300 workers in May, according to Infrastructure Australia forecasts. The state’s trades worker shortage is expected to peak at 35,500 workers in June 2027, before falling because of reduced demand.

Other Australian states also face construction workforce shortages. Nationally, public infrastructure demand for trades workers will exceed supply by 78,500 workers in May 2026 and 123,100 workers in June 2027, Infrastructure Australia forecasts show.

Queensland’s deal with the Federal Government comes weeks after the Western Australian (WA) and Federal Governments agreed to co-invest A$2 billion into housing and housing-related infrastructure projects.

WA’s deal includes infrastructure project funding and multiple low-cost financing schemes for developers and first-home buyers. It will support 34,000 new dwellings, including 11,000 units for first-home buyers, the WA and Federal Governments said.

Australian state and federal governments plan to increase the country’s total housing supply by 1.2 million homes by 2029, from 2024 levels, through the National Housing Accord.

By Avinash Govind

IDA plans to open an Expressions of Interest (EOI) process for fuel security projects valued at over A$100 million, multiple NSW Ministers said. The agency – which provides non-financial, regulatory support to developers – will also look for early-stage projects to understand development challenges, they added.

“[The] new targeted round of the [IDA] will make sure NSW attracts the right investments to create a more resilient fuel future,” Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully said. “There is great port and industrial land capacity in NSW that could be harnessed to support our long-term fuel security,” Scully added.

The policy is meant to safeguard NSW against future global supply shocks, Scully said on 18 May. Australia has more petrol, diesel, and jet fuel in storage than it did on 28 February – the day the US-Israeli war in Iran began – because of consistent contracted imports and Government-backed spot purchases.

IDA acts as a cross-government coordinator at the state level, working with agencies and developers to speed up project approval processes. The agency has agreed to support A$86.3 billion worth of data centre, energy, and hotel developments since early 2026.

Most IDA-supported energy projects are renewable generation and storage schemes. It backed 13 renewable developments in March. But it also recently backed Santos’ 200 TJ/day Hunter Gas Pipeline project, which will support its Narrabri gas project.

IDA’s latest EOI round will focus on renewable liquid fuel projects, including sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel, and biodiesel plants.

NSW’ IDA is only one of many state and federal agencies tasked with providing bespoke regulatory support to large developers. The Federal Government will help multiple critical mineral developers get approval for nickel, biomass-to-liquid fuel, electric vehicle, and green hydrogen projects through its Investor Front Door scheme.

Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia also created Coordinator-General offices to facilitate collaboration between state-level agencies on major project approvals in 2024-25. Northern Territory, meanwhile, set up a similar Territorial Coordinator office in 2025.

By Avinash Govind

The country had 44 days’ worth of petrol reserves, 36 days’ worth of diesel reserves, and 35 days’ worth of jet fuel reserves on 16 May, Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen said at a press conference on the day.

Its fuel reserves are up from 36 days’ worth of petrol, 32 days’ worth of diesel, and 29 days’ worth of jet fuel in late February.

Australian fuel distributors have locked in contracts for an additional two billion litres of diesel, 760 million litres of petrol, and 326 million litres of jet fuel over the next four weeks, Bowen said.

“Australia remains steady at Level Two in our National Fuel Security Plan … It is our goal, of course, to remain at Level Two, as I’ve said many times, but we do live in a volatile world.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier in the press conference.

Australia’s fuel reserve increase is a result of close government and corporate collaboration, Bowen said. The Government has underwritten 700 million litres of spot-market fuel purchases since the Iran war began.

The Government announced its latest batch of fuel underwrites on 15 May. It has helped Ampol, Viva Energy, and IOR secure 150 million litres of diesel to support customers in South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and Victoria, multiple Ministers said in a joint statement.

IOR will deliver 50 million litres of diesel to regional customers across Queensland and South Australia in early July with Government support, the company said on 15 May.

“We will leverage our regional network to ensure volumes are distributed efficiently and equitably to the communities and sectors that depend on reliable fuel supply,” IOR CEO Drew Morland said.

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IOR’s Government-backed diesel purchases come just over a week after it agreed to set up a 10 million litre diesel reserve with the South Australian Government to support primary producers.

The SA Government can choose to store up to 20 million litres of diesel at the reserve, Premier Peter Malinauskas said at a press conference on 10 May. But SA’s government will not compete with the Federal Government or farmers to purchase fuel, the Premier added on social media.

Diesel prices in New South Wales averaged A$2.38/litre in May 2026, up from A$1.83/litre in February, largely because of the Iran war.

They peaked at A$2.86/litre in April but have declined since, partly because the Australian Government cut the country’s fuel excise rate from A$0.53/litre to A$0.21/litre for three months in early April.

But the Government has not made a decision on whether to extend the excise cut beyond 1 July, Prime Minister Albanese said on 16 May.

By Avinash Govind

The piece was an interview with an unnamed railroad operator, who was not in the mood to hold back about corruption in the state. “I once supposed that the company owned this [rail] road. But I know that legislators and the judges have a first mortgage on it,” they told the journalist.

“I can show you some of the requests for passes that will cause you to lose faith in office-holders, if you have any,” they said. “I have received today a request for an annual pass from a justice of the peace who says they decided in our favour [in a hog case],” they added.

The operator estimated that they gave public officials around 3000 annual passes and at least 6000 trip passes each year to secure favours. “The custom … has been so firmly established and is so generally indulged that we are slaves to it.”

Each of the dozens of elected officials who held diffuse power over Indiana's railroads claimed their own tickets, trading their limited authority for personal benefit, the operator explained.

“We never dream of refusing legislators and members of town councils, and when we want anything from them, we never fail to ask for it! We give passes to county clerks and recorders in return for favours they render in attending to our records, etc,” they said.

The railroad operator’s comments were particularly brazen, but would not have come as a surprise to Indianapolis’ residents. American politicians in the 1880s hardly commanded public respect.

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Just a page after the interview, the Indianapolis Evening News reported on an Illinois Representative-elect pleading guilty to assault after thumping a journalist over the head and shoulders with a cane, over an election dispute.

Five years earlier, corruption and patronage had fatal consequences. On 2 July 1881, Charles Guiteau stepped onto a train platform in Washington D.C. and shot the recently elected President James Garfield in the back. Months later, Garfield died from infections stemming from the shooting, marking the first U.S. Presidential assassination since President Abraham Lincoln’s murder.

Guiteau had campaigned for Garfield in the 1880 election, writing a handful of speeches, and expected an Ambassadorship – which he was wholly unqualified for – in return.

When Garfield’s Secretary of State, James Blaine, rebuffed him and the President signalled discomfort with patronage politics, Guiteau decided to act. “Ingratitude is the basest of crimes,” he wrote while planning the assassination, according to Winston Bowman, an Associate Historian at the Federal Judicial Centre.

Americans, by the time the railroad operator spoke, were tired of corruption. Reflecting on the Indianapolis Evening News’ interview, in March 1887, Eugene Debs – who would later become the godfather of American trade unionism – asked: “With legislatures, congresses, and courts and town councils corrupted by bribes, what show is there for honest government? Who does not see at a glance the absolute necessity for radical remedies?”

Debs’ solution was for organised labour to act as a force to “rescue government from the men who … are bent upon its destruction.” And it was a view shared by many on the American Labour Left at the time.

On the same day that it ran the interview on corruption, the Indianapolis Evening News published a short story about a group of unions meeting in Columbus, Ohio, to form the American Federation of Labour (AFL), which would later merge into the AFL-CIO in 1955. The AFL, at its first meeting, explicitly passed a resolution showing solidarity with activists controversially sentenced to death over the Haymarket Affair months earlier.

But the American Labour Movement did not have a monopoly on reform ideas.

As the railroad operator confessed and unions united, a 33-year-old Woodrow Wilson would have been sitting at his office in Princeton University, finishing The Study of Administration, a case for bureaucratic change that would guide reformers for generations.

Wilson, in his essay, lamented that “the poisonous atmosphere of city government, the crooked secrets of state administration … and corruption ever and again discovered in the bureaus at Washington” show how ideas of good governance were absent in the US.

American and English civic development, he argued, had focused on policy innovation and political freedom, rather than administration. Indeed, Wilson believed that America’s tradition of popular rule made governing harder.

The young professor – just years out of university – made the point that the US political class needed to treat administration as the science of carrying out the public will, distinct from politics, the messy work of determining it.

“The broad plans of governmental action are not administrative; the detailed execution of such plans is administrative,” he said. “The assessment and raising of taxes, for instance, ... and recruiting of the army and navy are all obviously acts of administration; but the [policies] which direct [them] are obviously outside of and above administration,” he added.

Wilson called for specialised, extensive civil service training for government employees, designed to create technical skills and a culture committed to helping elected officials implement policy.

But this is not to say that he supported an unaccountable bureaucracy. He called for a system with “clear-cut responsibility” and visibility to ensure trust. Unlike some of his fellow Progressive-era reformers, Wilson built his model of administration on the assumption that voters could be trusted.

“Public attention must be easily directed, in each case of good or bad administration, to just the man deserving of praise or blame … If it be divided, dealt out in shares to many, it is obscured; and if it be obscured, it is made irresponsible,” he said.

“The less [the administrator’s] power, the more safely obscure and unnoticed does he feel his position to be, and the more readily does he relapse into remissness,” Wilson added.

For a few decades after writing the piece, Wilson dedicated himself to academia. He wrote prolifically about administration and reform for nearly two decades, rising to become President of Princeton University, before politics came calling.

In March 1909, while still at Princeton, he travelled to Missouri to speak at the St Louis Civic League’s annual dinner. On the night, he delivered his long-brewing case for consolidating power among a small number of public officials, giving them the power to act.

“Simplify your process, and you will begin to control; complicate them, and you will get farther and farther away,” Wilson said that night, his later political ally Richard Childs recounted in a 1956 review.

Childs, who also backed the early career of Robert Moses, the New York planner made infamous by Robert Caro’s Power Broker, was a political reformer in his own right. Before meeting Wilson, he had written The Short Ballot, a piece calling for executive power to be held by a smaller number of elected officials.

Soon after, Childs and Wilson began to co-lead the National Short Ballot Organisation, pushing municipalities to consolidate. By 1911, they had begun to convince cities to adopt versions of their plan. And that same year, Wilson entered public office for the first time, as Governor of New Jersey, his home since the 1880s.

Wielding the power of the state for the first time in his career, Wilson embarked on an ambitious reform agenda, designed to clean up politics in the state. He actively rejected patronage and stunted the power of political parties.

On a municipal level, he passed the Walsh Act, which allowed cities in New Jersey to trial a new form of local government, the Commission Plan. Commission Plan cities elected boards of people to serve as dual legislators and administrators, held to account at open meetings.

“Commission form of government is the very one to take up because it is so easy to understand. You elect five men to run the government, and you hold them responsible for running it right. You can watch five men where you could not watch twenty-five,” he told a crowd in Jersey City in July 1911.

He was not naïve to the possibility of corruption. Some New Jersey cities had elected poor Commissioners after adopting the model, but, with power concentrated and visible, they were quickly recalled, he told another group in Baltimore that December.

“Under our system of commission government, there is a very great advantage in having an opportunity to identify your undesirable commission,” he said.

And he did not simply support the policy. He was effusive in his praise of the new model that he hoped would speed across the US.

“There is a zest in commission government not found in any private arrangement ever conceived by the mind of man. That wine, the wine of absolute confidence, of your fellow man, quickens every drop of blood in your body,” he said.

But not everyone in the Short Ballot movement shared Wilson’s enthusiasm for Commissioners. Childs supported Wilson’s plan, but only as a stepping stone. He thought the model was unsound, but believed it opened the door to new forms of local government.

As Wilson served out his term as Governor, became a wartime President, and then spent months in Paris, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, Childs powered on with the Short Ballot reform agenda.

And in 1912, after the city of Sumter, South Carolina appointed an apolitical city manager to run the daily business of government, he became one of the prime advocates of manager-based city councils.

Mayors and other councillors pass ordinances and budgets in manager-based city systems, but lack operational and broad staffing control over local governments. They act as legislators, not operators.

Managers, unlike Commissioners, are separate from elected officials and usually outlive political cycles, heightening their independence. By 1914, the US had 17 city managers; by 1955, they accounted for the plurality of large US cities. And the model soon spread out across the world.

At the time, Childs and Wilson’s preferred models differed, but not in ways that mattered very much.

In the 1910s, administration across most levels of government largely involved box-checking exercises. The work required care and skill, technical knowledge and integrity, but not value judgements.

As an example, when then-President Wilson created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914, it approved or rejected mergers on the basis of whether revenue levels hit thresholds or trade practices met specific criteria.

Whether formally elected officials or apolitical appointees held executive control mattered less than whether they were held to account for failures.

When New Zealand eventually consolidated its hundreds of local councils and boards into district and regional councils in 1989, the Fourth Labour Government backed Childs’ model. District and regional councils got power and the ability to set policy, but administration became the domain of staff under the immediate direction of independent, unelected managers.

For a few years – as in the 1910s – this did not matter too much. But over time, views of administration changed. Cities grew and the rigidity of planning laws became a burden, creating demands for more nimble, agile regulatory frameworks.

In 1991, the New Zealand Government passed the Resource Management Act and, in doing so, blurred the line between politics and administration on a local level. Section 104 of the Act requires planners to consider a wide range of impacts related to consents and form considered judgments about them.

New Zealand’s Ministry of the Environment notes that planners need to be satisfied that most proposals with potential environmental impacts align with relevant Government plans and objectives.

Planners may consider everything from design considerations and economic impacts to infrastructure and transport effects, as long as it is relevant to local and national policies. But the Act does not mandate any specific weighting of values. Consenting officials have the right to emphasise criteria as they choose, within the bounds of relevant policies.

That may create a more dynamic government, but it also attacks the separation at the heart of Wilsonian administration. The line between politics and governance.

The differences between Wilson and Childs’ models of local government did not originally matter because administrators – whomever they were – simply did what legislators clearly wanted. But the moment that the values of administrators entered the work of administration, those differences began to shape the democratic character of cities around the world. At that moment, Wilson’s trust in democratic oversight suddenly became vital to maintaining public accountability.

A public unsatisfied with a Commissioner’s approach to planning could recall them, as Wilson noted. A public unsatisfied with decisions coming out of a Council’s planning team cannot.

People can vote for politicians who support one approach to planning or another, and those officials can change entire policy frameworks. But they cannot shift the internal cultures of Councils, adjust how staff subjectively assess applications.

On a fundamental level, elected officials cannot – as Wilson wrote in The Study of Administration – guarantee a “civil service cultured and self-sufficient enough to act with sense and vigor, and yet so intimately connected with the popular thought, by means of elections and constant public counsel, as to find arbitrariness of class spirit quite out of the question.”

By Avinash Govind

RSHQ is Queensland’s primary resource sector safety regulator. It has a range of responsibilities, which include investigating accidents, issuing safety directives and advice, and monitoring health trends.

Queensland’s government plans to transfer oversight authority over RSHQ from the Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health to a Minister-appointed Governing Board to improve accountability.

“We will now establish an independent, skills-based Governing Board to strengthen oversight, streamline advisory structures, and remove duplication,” Queensland Natural Resources Minister Dale Last said on 14 April.

The Government also plans to increase the power of mixed corporate-labour-technical advisory committees, it said.

“At every coalmine I go to, I hear concerns about how [RSHQ] is not proactive, does not apply the risk focus appropriately, and needs to work with industry to deliver the outcomes of improved safety,” Bryson Head, the ruling Liberal National Party’s (LNP) representative from Callide, said on 13 May, during the Parliamentary debate.

The Mining and Energy Union (MEU) opposes some of the Government’s changes to RSHQ.

“The MEU [Queensland] has serious concerns regarding aspects of the proposal, particularly the removal of the independent Commissioner role,” MEU’s Queensland District President, Mitch Hughes, told Lithos.

“The union’s position … is that Queensland’s mine safety framework should remain strongly independent, transparent and tripartite, ensuring workers, industry, and government all have a purposeful role in the system,” Hughes said.

In 2025, a review into RSHQ found that the Commissioner role should be retained with a more clearly defined mandate. “There is insufficient clarity regarding the role of Commissioner … and how [it interacts] with RSHQ,” according to the review.

The review also recommended that the state’s Resources Minister appoint a Governing Board to oversee RSHQ. It described the agency’s current governance model as intrinsically flawed and unable to provide adequate oversight and accountability.

Queensland Greens representative, Michael Berkman, opposed the Government’s selective adoption of the review's recommendations.

“This bill takes some steps towards implementing recommendations from the review of the Queensland Resources Safety and Health Regulatory Model. However … this is really a cynical way of introducing quite far-reaching administrative changes that not only were not recommended by that review but also actually run counter to it,” Berkman told Parliament.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) – a mining industry group – has backed the plan. “The reforms are an important first step towards a modern, well-functioning regulator and improving confidence in Queensland’s resources safety framework,” QRC Chief Executive Officer Janette Hewson said.

Labor Party, Greens Party, and Katter’s Australian Party representatives opposed the Government's RSHQ reform legislation. The LNP passed it without any opposition support.

By Avinash Govind

“My message to the business community is that when it comes to immigration, when faced with a choice between social stability and your bottom line, I will choose the former every single time,” Prime Minister Chris Luxon said on 13 May, at a pre-Budget speech in Auckland.

Luxon’s comments come a little over a week after his coalition partner, the ACT Party, proposed a series of measures designed to improve confidence in New Zealand’s immigration system.

“Today, Kiwis who are proud of our settler heritage are asking themselves why something doesn’t quite feel right with immigration. ACT believes their suspicions are correct,” Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said.

The Government would deport serious offenders, limit benefits for immigrants, tighten rules around skilled visas, create an infrastructure levy for visa holders, and more, under ACT’s plan.

ACT and National’s mutual coalition partner, New Zealand First, also recently withheld support for the New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement (NZ-India FTA), partly over immigration concerns.

Luxon’s speech explicitly pointed to immigration’s impact on social cohesion as a key driver of National’s planned policy shift. But it is not clear that New Zealanders’ attitudes towards immigration have changed in any substantial way over recent years.

In its 2026 Social Cohesion Report, the Helen Clark Foundation found that 36% of New Zealanders believe that the country has accepted too many immigrants in recent years, up just 1% point from 35% a year earlier.

The share of New Zealanders who believed that immigration levels in recent years were ‘about right’ similarly declined by just 1% point, from 44% to 43%, between 2025 and 2026, according to the Helen Clark Foundation’s cohesion reports.

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There have been recent anti-immigrant incidents that could point to changing attitudes. But most of the incidents have involved figures and movements with long histories of similar actions.

In April, New Zealand First MP and Resources Minister Shane Jones said, “I am never going to agree with a butter chicken tsunami coming to New Zealand,” during a discussion about the NZ-India FTA. His rhetoric was neither new nor unique. As The Spinoff outlined in 2017, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has periodically made similar comments since at least 1996.

True Patriots of New Zealand – a group linked to Destiny Church, a Christian fundamentalist group – have also disrupted multiple Sikh community events over the last year. But groups linked to Destiny Church, far from reflecting public opinion, have also targeted a wide range of other minority communities, including New Zealand’s trans community, for years.

By Avinash Govind

“The recent [US-Israeli war in Iran] has acted as a timely reminder that significant levels of capital investment will be required in the coming years,” Luxon said at a pre-Budget speech in Auckland.

Luxon confirmed that the Government will invest in schools, hospitals, the New Zealand Defence Force, and infrastructure projects in its 2026-27 Budget during the speech.

But the Government will spend NZ$2.1 billion on operating expenses in 2026-27, down NZ$300 million from its original plan, Luxon said. It plans to invest in essential services, like healthcare and education, but cut spending in other areas, Luxon added.

The New Zealand Government will scrap its fees-free scheme – which waives tuition fees for many final-year university students – and instead support trades education in its 2026-27 Budget, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told Newstalk ZB on 8 May.

Prime Minister Chris Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis have since confirmed Peters’ comments.

Ending New Zealand’s fees-free scheme could reduce the Government’s net operational spending by NZ$237 million per year, according to Treasury advice from 2024. The policy change would minimally impact learner participation but increase student debt and the long-term cost of tertiary study, Treasury said.

The Government’s operational spending will also include funding for its temporary Iran war-related relief package announced on 24 March. The Government increased New Zealand’s in-work tax credit by NZ$50/week in April to help 140,000 working families handle high fuel costs. The programme could cost the Government up to NZ$373 million.

The New Zealand Government will announce its full spending plans for 2026-27 when it releases its Budget on 28 May.

By Avinash Govind

The Working Australian Tax Offset will increase Australia’s effective tax-free income threshold to A$19,985 and apply to 11.3 million people, the Government said. But the scheme is not going to apply to asset income, it added.

Treasury forecasters expect the scheme to cost A$3 billion in 2028-29 and A$3.4 billion in 2029-2030.

“The new offset will help Australian workers to keep more of what they earn, incentivise participation for lower-income workers and help with the cost of living,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and Finance Minister Katy Gallaher said in a joint statement.

The Government will also introduce a raft of reforms to encourage investment and risk-taking, it said.

Businesses generating up to A$1 billion in turnover will be able to use losses to claim up to two years’ worth of refunds from 2026-27, the Government said. Start-ups will also be able to claim losses as direct refunds, up to the value of their employment-related tax payments, from 2026-27, it added.

Treasury forecasters expect the two schemes to cost A$2.8 billion in lost revenue and payments over the next five years.

Australian non-mining investment will rise by 3% in 2026-27 and 2.5% in 2027-28, down from 5% in 2025-26, Treasury forecasts show. Investment may slow because of technology-related supply chain delays and elevated fuel costs, the Government said.

Treasury’s forecasts assume that oil prices will average $100/barrel (A$138/barrel) in April-June 2026, before falling to $80/barrel by June 2027. Elevated oil prices pose downside risks to economic activity, it said.

By Avinash Govind

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will halve funding for the second round of its Hydrogen Headstart program, from A$2 billion to A$1 billion, the Government said in its 2026-27 Budget. Hydrogen Headstart provides decade-long bespoke production subsidies to large renewable hydrogen producers.

But the Government has not adjusted funding for its Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive. From 2027, producers will be able to claim tax credits worth A$2/kg of renewable hydrogen produced for a decade under the scheme.

ARENA also plans to cut funding for its Solar Sunshot and Battery Breakthrough Initiative (BBI) schemes, the Government said. The agency provides grants to solar cell developers through Solar Sunshot and offers tailored support to battery developers through the BBI.

The Australian Government’s development funding cuts come alongside changes to its Electric Car Discount (ECD), which should improve the scheme’s financial sustainability.

Electric cars worth up to the luxury car tax threshold are currently exempt from Australia’s fringe benefit tax (FBT). But, from 2029, new electric vehicles will only be eligible for a 25% FBT discount, the Government said.

The Australian Conservation Fund (ACF) has supported the Government’s discount changes and other consumer-facing budget measures, while opposing continued fossil fuel spending.

“While we welcome measures to ensure the longevity of the electric vehicle FBT exemption and the successful cheaper home batteries program, these are modest measures,” ACF’s National Climate Policy Advisor Annika Reynolds said.

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Changes to the ECD are expected to raise A$1.6 billion in 2029-2030, Treasury forecasts show.

The Government’s 2026-27 Budget includes new funding for green manufacturing, alongside development funding cuts. The Government will spend A$1 billion on energy subsidies between 2029-2030 and 2039-2040 to support green aluminium production at Rio Tinto’s Boyne smelter in Queensland.

By Avinash Govind

Property investors will continue to be able to negatively gear existing properties and newly constructed homes, the Government said on 12 May.

The Australian Government has also announced plans to change the country’s capital gains regime. Investors will receive a Capital Gains Tax discount (CGT) tied to inflation, rather than their current 50% blanket discount, from 2026-27, it said.

But – as with the negative gearing changes – the Government’s CGT reforms will not impact newly built homes.

Australia’s flat CGT discount is arbitrary and overcompensates some investors while undercompensating others, the Government said in its budget. Property investors, outside of some regional areas, have typically been overcompensated for inflation, it added.

The Australian Government will also introduce a 30% minimum tax on inflation-adjusted capital gains for most investors, except for income support recipients like pensioners, it said.

“[Capital gains and negative gearing] changes will help about 75,000 Australians achieve the dream of home ownership,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Parliament. “These changes will … support investment in productive assets, including new housing supply,” Chalmers added.

The Australian Government expects to raise A$3.6 billion in revenue from its negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms over the 2028-29 and 2029-2030 financial years, Treasury modelling shows.

Australia’s tax changes are expected to create 75,000 first-home buyers and curb annual house price growth by around 2% for a few years, according to Treasury. They are also expected to increase median rents by under A$2/week and curb dwelling construction by 35,000 units over a decade.

The tax policies will primarily increase the share of owner-occupiers in the property market, rather than increase supply, Treasury modelling indicates. Tax-related dwelling construction reductions will also be wholly offset by other policies in the Budget, Treasury modelling shows.

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Australian dwelling investment is expected to grow by 4% in 2026-27 and 3.5% in 2027-28, down from 5% in 2025-26, Treasury modelling shows. Treasury forecasters expect dwelling investment growth to slow over the next two years because of elevated interest rates and construction cost hikes linked to the US-Israeli war in Iran.

Treasury’s forecasts assume that oil prices will average $100/barrel (A$138/barrel) in April-June 2026, before falling to $80/barrel by June 2027. Elevated oil prices pose downside risks to economic activity, it said.

Brent crude futures traded at $107.58/barrel on 12 May, up from $72.87/barrel on 27 February, immediately before the Iran war began, data from Trading Economics show.

Australia’s Liberal-National coalition will not support the Government’s tax changes because of their impact on dwelling construction, Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson told the ABC.

The Australian Greens will examine the details of the policy once the Government releases legislation, but opposes continued negative gearing for existing homes bought before 12 May, Greens Leader Larissa Waters told the ABC.

By Avinash Govind

It will lift its domestic parcel and StarTrack Courier fuel surcharges from 12% in May to 19.5% from the start of June, the company said. It will also increase its StarTrack Express and StarTrack Premium fuel surcharges from 22.7% to 30.2% over the same period, the company added.

Australia Post’s fuel surcharge changes will impact around 30,000 of its contract customers – including some large retailers – but will not affect its retail or 250,000 MyPost Business customers, Lithos has learned.

MyPost Business users are primarily small and medium-sized businesses.

Australia Post is not the only company that plans to use surcharges to offset high fuel costs in June. Aramex Australia, a smaller postal company, will increase its domestic fuel surcharge from 12.3% in May to 18.3% in June because of high diesel prices.

Aramex Australia adjusts its domestic fuel surcharge each month based on national diesel prices two months earlier, relative to a A$1.20/litre baseline. The company increases its surcharge by 0.1% each time Australia’s average diesel price rises by 1c/litre.

Australian diesel prices have increased since the Iran war began on 28 February, largely because of maritime disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.

National diesel prices averaged A$2.47/litre over the week to 10 May, up from A$1.81/litre over the week to 1 March, data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) show. Average national diesel prices peaked at A$3.19/litre over the week to 12 April, AIP data show.

By Avinash Govind

The Government would only adopt mandatory fuel prioritisation measures if there was a genuine likelihood of a prolonged supply disruption, such as the loss of a large share of supply for many months, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said at a press conference.

Modelling suggests that it is highly unlikely that New Zealand would need to apply mandatory fuel restrictions, Luxon added.

Modelling also indicates that the most plausible disruptions to New Zealand’s fuel system are small and temporary supply shocks that can be managed through voluntary measures, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said.

Foreign oil refiners that supply New Zealand with fuel have secured crude oil feedstock until August, Willis said. Refiners have also cut production over recent months, but they are not expecting to further reduce output, Willis added.

Singaporean refiners – who are major suppliers of New Zealand fuel – reduced their petroleum output by 20% on the year in March, data released by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on 27 April show.

But the New Zealand Government has been advised that refiners supplying the country with fuel are only dealing with up to a 10% reduction in output, according to Resources Minister Shane Jones.

Singaporean refiners accounted for 32% of New Zealand’s refined fuel imports in 2024, while South Korean and Malaysian refiners accounted for 52% and 6% of imports that year, respectively, data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) show.

If New Zealand adopts prioritisation measures, critical service providers will face no restrictions, food and freight users will face limited restrictions, other commercial users will face adjusted fuel access limits, and retail users will face transaction limits, Willis said.

New Zealand had 32 days’ worth of petrol reserves, 24 days’ worth of diesel reserves, and 32 days’ worth of jet fuel reserves on 6 May, data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) show.

Ships carrying another 19 days’ worth of petrol, 21 days’ worth of diesel, and 22 days’ worth of jet fuel will arrive in the country over the next three weeks, according to MBIE.

By Avinash Govind

BP will spend up to A$100 million to refurbish five storage tanks by early 2029, Queensland’s government said. The company plans to store diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuels in the tanks, it added.

BP has the option to refurbish another five tanks – with a combined storage capacity of 49 million litres – at Brisbane Port, the Queensland Government said.

Queensland’s lease extension gives BP the certainty and confidence it needs to increase fuel storage at Brisbane Port by 20%, the company’s Australia President, Paul Augé, said.

Queensland’s government may lease other fuel storage sites to companies over the next few months. On 3 May, it asked companies to propose storage projects on government-owned land in a range of cities, including Brisbane, Townsville, and Mackay. The Government also plans to fast-track assessments and approvals for relevant refining and storage projects.

Queensland businesses have faced fuel pressures since the start of the US-Israeli war in Iran. One-third of businesses surveyed by Townsville Enterprise – a regional economic development body – have cut non-fuel costs and delayed investments because of fuel-related issues over recent months, it said on 5 May.

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Over two-thirds of businesses have also changed their transport or logistics practices because of fuel issues, it added.

Australia had 42 days’ worth of petrol reserves, 35 days’ worth of diesel reserves, and 29 days’ worth of jet fuel reserves on 9 May, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said at a press conference.

Ships carrying another 785 million litres of petrol, 450 million litres of jet fuel, and 2.3 billion litres of diesel are set to arrive in Australia over the next month, Bowen added.

By Avinash Govind

The SA Government can choose to store up to 20 million litres of diesel at the reserve, Premier Peter Malinauskas said at a press conference.

“We [set] up this strategic reserve for the worst possible scenario that we’re preparing for. But as it stands right now, there is no indication that that day will come,” Malinauskas added.

SA’s government will not compete with the Federal Government or farmers to purchase fuel, Malinauskas said on social media. The reserve will instead help build confidence for primary producers, he added.

SA has become the third state to create a fuel reserve since the US-Israeli war in Iran began in late February. Western Australia’s government partnered with supplier Cambridge Gulf to set up a fuel reserve to support rural communities in mid-April. The Victorian Government then secured 10 million litres of diesel for agricultural producers on 6 May.

IOR welcomed Malinauskas’ decision as an example of industry and government working together. “We applaud the Premier’s approach to fuel security … [and look] forward to continuing to work with all levels of government as a trusted partner in strengthening fuel security,” the company’s CEO, Drew Morland, said.

IOR also plans to work with the Federal Government on fuel security projects. It has signed a Fuel Security Facility Agreement with Export Finance Australia (EFA), a government-owned lender, to import and distribute fuel with government support, it said.

EFA will help IOR manage price volatility and working capital risks under the deal, law firm Gilbert and Tobin (G&T) said on 7 April.

G&T’s statement came just one day after the Federal Government announced its Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility scheme, as part of a wider A$10 billion budget commitment.

The Federal Government plans to finance up to A$7.5 billion of commodity purchases and storage projects through the scheme, using loans, equity guarantees, insurance, and price support, multiple ministers said in a joint statement.

Australia had 42 days’ worth of petrol reserves, 35 days’ worth of diesel reserves, and 29 days’ worth of jet fuel reserves on 9 May, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said at a press conference. Ships carrying another 785 million litres of petrol, 450 million litres of jet fuel, and 2.3 billion litres of diesel are set to arrive in Australia over the next month, Bowen added.

By Avinash Govind

At 2:48pm, a Rodney Local Board members warned Council staff of “extreme flooding and impassable roads in Rodney.” Two hours later, at 4:30pm, Council’s Chief Executive and another Councillor alerted Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.

But the public heard nothing until 6:30pm. “If it’s safe, stay home … don’t drive through floodwaters. We will continue to update,” Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) said in a social media post that evening, according to Mike Bush’s report into Auckland Council’s flood response.

By the time AEM posted its message, Auckland had observed 75 – 79% of its annual summer rainfall over a day, according to NIWA Weather. Multiple Councillors and Parliamentarians, the New Zealand Police, MetService, Waka Kotahi, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand were issuing periodic updates too.

It took until about 9:30pm for Mayor Brown to declare an emergency, and another few hours for AEM to transmit information about evacuation sites.

In his report about the Auckland floods, Bush was clear. “The later declaration of emergency, establishment of evacuation centres and related public messaging came too late to provide Aucklanders with timely public safety advice and reassurance,” he said.

It would be easy to argue that Auckland Council’s response was a display of incompetence. Council certainly made missteps and Mayor Brown’s late-night comments – explaining that it was “not my job to rush out with buckets” – did not help the situation. Yet that would not be entirely fair.

Council’s core problem was that Mayor Brown – the city-wide elected official expected to be leading the response – could not actually do very much. He lacked both the legal authority to direct an emergency response and the access to information needed to keep people informed.

AEM sits within Auckland Council, under the supervision of Council’s Chief Executive, not its elected officials, as is the norm in Mayor-Manager (or weak mayor) cities. Mayor Brown and other councillors pass ordinances and budgets, but lack operational and broad staffing control over Council.

The Bush Report describes that the Mayor’s Office did not make public announcements because it was struggling to find reliable information about the floods. Though the report did critique Mayor Brown for failing to ask for regular briefings.

On the late emergency declaration, the report similarly found that “once the Mayor was informed of the need for the declaration of emergency, he signed it immediately and returned it to officials.”

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As water drained from Auckland streets in the days following the floods, leaving four bodies behind, public opinion turned on Mayor Brown. A petition called for his resignation; frustration towards him was palpable.

When floods hit Auckland, residents understandably expected – in line with the central premise of representative government – our elected officials to wield control of the state, to direct public resources, order evacuations, and liaise with central government.

Auckland’s Mayor could not, constitutionally, meet that expectation. In the absence of operational authority, informational challenges are bound to arise in any crisis.

AEM was not dormant during the Auckland floods. Council staff were in constant contact with other agencies and planning next steps, including when to ask for a declaration. But without the Mayor in the room, he could not exercise the judgement that Aucklanders expected.

The gap between representative ideals and bureaucratic realities in weak mayor systems also extends beyond emergency management to the regular decisions that shape our cityscapes and regional economies.

Under local government rules, regulators assessing development applications generally need to weigh a wide range of factors, including everything from transport and economic development impacts to cultural heritage and environmental ones.

But they do not make decisions algorithmically. Rather, staffers working across New Zealand make inherently subjective judgement calls about applications they review.

As an example, while serving as an Economic Policy Advisor at Northland Regional Council, I once spent the better part of a week thinking about what the word ‘significant’ meant, reading guidance documents from Wellington and scanning criteria from municipalities in New York and New South Wales.

More frequently, skilled planners routinely approve, deny, or attach conditions to resource consents, doing work that is both vital and inherently political.

Every time a planner chooses to emphasise the economic benefits of a project over its transport impact, or alternatively attaches transport-related conditions to an economic project, they shift power from one faction of society to another. They also shift that power without a mandate from the voting public.

Planning work requires technical expertise that Mayors are not universally capable of providing. But elected representatives – and, in particular, Mayors elected city-wide – are perfectly able to guide priorities, within the bounds of the planning ordinances and under the threat of judicial review.

NIMBY mayors and their voters have every right to expect planners to emphasise cultural heritage protections over housing effects when assessing applications. Just as development-oriented ones have the right to expect the opposite.

Planning systems, in our current mayoral system, select for continuity, even in situations where voters explicitly ask for change. Giving Mayors the right to appoint planning personnel, at a managerial level, would maintain technical expertise while reaffirming representative control over the state.

When New Zealanders vote for Mayors, they expect them to shape Council operations, not just policies and funding decisions. And with our current system of weak mayors, they are persistently let down, trained to expect disappointment from local politicians and rigidity from local government.

By Avinash Govind

WA is the only Australian state with a triple-A credit rating from both S&P Global and Moody’s, its Treasurer Rita Saffioti said on 7 May. The state’s operating surplus will fall from A$3.5 billion in 2025-26 to A$1.8 billion in 2027-28, but then rise to A$4.1 billion by 2029-2030, Budget forecasts show.

WA’s government has allocated A$9.1 billion to healthcare projects in its 2026-27 Budget. Over two-thirds of the funding – equivalent to approximately A$6.5 billion – will go towards increased hospital services funding, the Government said.

It plans to spend another A$1.5 billion on building and upgrading hospitals and related infrastructure in 2026-27, as part of a four-year, A$5.5 billion programme.

The Government’s 2026-27 Budget also aims to tackle mental health and rural health challenges. WA will spend A$414 million on mental health and substance abuse services, including community health projects and crisis support schemes, the Government said.

It plans to invest another A$492 million into regional hospitals, patient support programmes, and expanded regional health services.

The Government’s 2026-27 Budget also focusses on housing. WA’s government will spend A$4.7 billion on housing-related projects, it said.

The state intends to invest A$1 billion in a Housing Australia Future Fund partnership that will create 1,426 homes, the Government said. It will also spend A$452 million to build 165 social homes, refurbish 215 homes, and maintain 45,000 homes, the Government said.

WA’s government additionally plans to build enabling infrastructure – including water and power systems – to support housing projects around transport corridors. It will spend A$1.3 billion on projects located around Perth railway stations and growth areas.

The WA Government’s 2026-27 Budget come days after it partnered with the Federal Government to invest A$2 billion into housing and housing-related infrastructure projects to support 34,000 new homes.

The Federal Government will invest over A$1 billion into the state under the partnership, with WA’s government covering the rest from its budget, they added.

By Avinash Govind