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Patrick ComminsEconomics Correspondent

Patrick Commins is The Australian’s economics correspondent, based in Canberra. Before joining the newspaper he worked for more than a decade at The Australian Financial Review, where he was a columnist and senior writer. Patrick was previously a research analyst at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

@ComminsP

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EXCLUSIVENation

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, NewsWire Photos. FEBRUARY 29, 2024: Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Stabbing pain in the hip pocket: expenses soar

Out of pocket expenses for private medical services have increased by 38pc in three years, as premiums balloon.

JESS MALCOLM, Patrick Commins and David Tanner

key dataBusiness

Surging sugar and grain exports in the 2022/23 financial year have propelled the Port of Mackay to almost match last yearâs record-breaking result.

Resources to the rescue: exports prop up cracked, ailing economy

Booming exports for our key commodities are poised to save the economy from going backwards in the final three months of 2023.

Patrick Commins

EconomyNation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 26: Shoppers are seen outside David Jones Department store during Boxing Day sales on December 26, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Retailers offer massive discounts and enticing deals on the boxing day public holiday in Australia, attracting many shoppers who are keen to take advantage of bargains once Christmas is over. (Photo by Roni Bintang/Getty Images)

Stock levels stoke fears of economy in reverse

Fears that the economy shrank through the final three months of 2023 have been heightened, after new figures revealed businesses destocked at a surprising pace at the end of last year.

Patrick Commins

Interest ratesNation

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, NewsWire Photos. FEBRUARY 26, 2024: Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Chalmers move a threat to RBA Bill

Treasury advertising for ‘several’ new positions on the Reserve Bank’s proposed monetary policy committee sparks Coalition accusations Jim Chalmers plans to ‘stack the board with mates’.

Patrick Commins

ProductivityNation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos,May 1 2022: The average Australian worker has been cheated out of $10,000 over the past decade because wages havenÃt kept up with productivity gains, a new report argues. The Australian Council of Trade Unions laid the blame at the CoalitionÃs feet in the blistering new report, titled ÃMorrison missing in action on wagesÃ. It said workers had become 10.3 per cent more productive during the CoalitionÃs time in government, churning out goods and services at a faster rate than before.Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

‘Work smarter, not harder, for productivity’

Businesses need to boost investment and Australians have to work smarter in order to deliver safe wages growth, the Productivity Commission has warned.

Patrick Commins

Debt and deficitsPolitics

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Daily Telegraph Photos - Tuesday, 26 December, 2023:Sydney boxing day sales crowd shots. Picture: Daily Telegraph / Monique Harmer

State spending spree debts hit record $600bn

Premiers are together set to borrow at twice the rate of the federal government this year in a spending spree that S&P Global Ratings says is adding to inflationary pressures.

Patrick Commins

Rate easing hopePolitics

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, NewsWire Photos. JANUARY 29 2024: Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers holds a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Chalmers launches G20 push for critical minerals

Jim Chalmers warns of slower economic growth and urges G20 nations to ‘reward’ producers amid plunging lithium and nickel prices.

Geoff Chambers and Patrick Commins

EconomyNation

Grocery pain remains: the biggest price rises

Inflation steady, raising chance of rate cut

Inflation is at its lowest since November 2021 although the latest monthly consumer data shows cost of living pressures remain intense.

Patrick Commins

package passes senateNation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: NewsWire Photos: JANUARY 22 2024: A general view of the digital boards at the ASX in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

‘Every taxpayer wins’: PM hails stage three victory

Economists back in calls from big business to reinstate more budget discipline via a cap on tax revenue as a share of the economy.

Patrick Commins

Tax cutsNation

Coalition’s high-earner tax vow

Labor’s rejigged stage 3 tax cuts are set to sail through parliament, after the Coalition and Greens offered only rhetorical opposition in the bill’s final pass through the senate.

Patrick Commins

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/patrick-commins/page/13