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The share of Australian workers who change employers in a given year has decreased a lot. In fact, this rate has more than halved since the 1970s, according to official statistics. Why is this, and does it matter? We explored this in a recent paper. It turns out the decline is actually smaller and more recent than official statistics suggest. Demographic change explains the decline in the years before the global financial crisis in 2008.

To meet demand from artificial intelligence companies, some of the world’s largest data centres are planned for the outskirts of major Australian cities. Dozens more are planned. OpenAI chief Sam Altman has said Australia could be a global leader. This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to fast-track new data centres. He promised the AI boom would not drive up power prices.

Markets If done poorly, Australia’s data centre boom could risk the ongoing shift to renewables and storage – and potentially drive...

On this week’s Switzer Show, Peter Switzer put a run of quality names that have come off the boil to Paul Rickard of the Switzer Report and Rudi Filapek-Vandyck of FNArena. Here is what the two of them are buying, what they are steering clear of, and where they disagree. The Switzer Show was recorded on Monday, so the prices and levels discussed below reflect Monday’s market.

Home loan demand is in freefall, and nowhere is the pain sharper than Sydney, where a new KPMG report reveals ownership rates have crashed to levels not seen since the 1950s. The demand for home loans nationally has collapsed, falling by 14% in June, and despite the intentions of the Federal Budget, first home buyer demand is falling the fastest with high interest rates and lack of affordability, denting these would-be property owners’ enthusiasm to borrow.

Yesterday we ran through the headwinds Peter Switzer says we need to be mindful of. But it isn’t all bad news: Peter flipped the coin and also identified the tailwinds he thinks could push Australia and the market forward, and the one event he is waiting on. Peter’s read is that the headwinds are winning at the moment, which is why he is more defensive. But he was clear the tailwinds are still working, and that they are the reason the market has not fallen further.

Australia’s cyber agency has joined the US, UK and six other nations to warn that Russian state-linked hackers are quietly breaking into vulnerable networking gear across critical infrastructure. Australian operators are among those at risk, and the businesses most exposed are the ones that keep the lights, water and networks running.

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese laid out how his government plans to manage artificial intelligence (AI) and ensure the rapidly advancing technology works in Australia’s interest. In a major speech at the University of Sydney, Albanese declared that AI “is a bigger challenge and a bigger opportunity than social media”, and that Australia must move now to determine its “social licence” and capture the opportunities it presents.

Tech Other countries are also grappling with how best to handle this issue. There are growing calls for Australia to do...