00:03Despite enormous pressure on the construction industry to supercharge home building, the
00:10sector is shrinking.
00:12We're currently at about half capacity at the moment.
00:14Scott Bainan's frustrated he can't build homes any faster.
00:18So a lot of development apartment projects that are on the books at the moment for a
00:23lot of developers, they don't stack up for land costs and the cost of construction.
00:27The latest official figures show productivity flatlining in the three months to December.
00:32One of the best things we've got going for us is the fact that business investment has
00:37come up.
00:37The economy grew at its fastest pace in almost three years in the December quarter, expanding
00:430.8% and 2.6% for the year.
00:46Public sector spending outpaced the private sector.
00:50But because it's much smaller, they both contributed equally to growth.
00:54We have very substantial challenges in our economy, but these numbers show that we've
00:59got very substantial advantages as well.
01:02This government continued to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire of the economy and they've
01:07continued to rack up debt in a situation now where Australians are completely exposed.
01:12The wild card for the economy is how much the Middle East war will turbo charge inflation.
01:18With productivity flat and the economy already struggling to cope with the level of demand,
01:24further interest rate hikes could be on the cards.
01:27They would move if they saw inflation expectations actually pick up.
01:32They'll be nervous.
01:33We expect that they will raise rates in May.
01:36Anxiety all round as the global economy braces for a shock.
01:42They might be dropping a little bit more.
01:42But even if they want to bigger the energy to ensure that they can be adjusted, it is the
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