Month: August 2022

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Technology

Mario Kart 8’s Booster Course Wave 2 DLC Available Now

Mario Kart 8's Booster Course Wave 2 DLC Available Now

The second wave of fresh Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks arrived Thursday. A trailer teased the eight tracks that came to the megahit Switch racing game as part of the Booster Course downloadable content.

All but one of the tracks are originally from older games in the series, and they’re split evenly between the new Turnip and Propeller Cups:

  • New York Minute (Mario Kart Tour).
  • Mario Circuit 3 (Super Mario Kart).
  • Kalimari Desert (Mario Kart 64).
  • Waluigi Pinball (Mario Kart DS).
  • Sydney Sprint (Mario Kart Tour).
  • Snow Land (Mario Kart: Super Circuit).
  • Mushroom Gorge (Mario Kart Wii).
  • Sky-High Sundae (this is the new one).

The Booster Course Pass will add a total of 48 new tracks to the game by the end of 2023, in six waves. The first set of eight came out in March. This pass costs $25, but players who have a Nintendo Switch Online plus Expansion Pack subscription (which costs $50 a year) will be able to access all the additional courses at no extra cost.

In case you want to see how visuals of the classic tracks have been updated, YouTube channel GameXplain did a slick graphics comparison video placing shots from the trailer beside similar ones from the original games.

Categories
Entertainment

Celeste Barber wants to make people laugh by ‘taking the p***’ out of celebrities

Celeste Barber wants to make people laugh by 'taking the p***' out of celebrities

Celeste Barber wants to make people laugh by “taking the p***” out of celebrities.

The 40-year-old social media star rose to fame by parodying A-listers on Instagram and explained that her work is a look at the “multi-billion dollar body shaming industry”.

She said: “I realized that there were all these kinds of images being put out there, that were sold off as being normal and every day.”

The 40-year-old social media star rose to fame by parodying A-listers on Instagram and explained that her work is a look at the “multi-billion dollar body shaming industry”.
Camera IconThe 40-year-old social media star rose to fame by parodying A-listers on Instagram and explained that her work is a look at the “multi-billion dollar body shaming industry”. Credit: Supplied

“When you bought a magazine you knew, oh that’s Cindy Crawford being Cindy Crawford but on social media, it got sold as, ‘this is what everyone looks like,’ and I was like, ‘no, I don’t reckon that’s how people really look,’ or ‘I know I don’t look like that,’ so I did ap***-take on it.

“It’s a look at celebrity culture, the beauty industry, the fashion industry, the multibillion-dollar body-shaming industry so it’s just kind of nice to cut through that a bit.”

The comedienne – who has garnered almost 10 million followers online and has impressed the likes of Naomi Watts, Bella Hadid, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore with her videos – explained that Hollywood stars realize that she is commenting on a “bigger” issue when she creates a parody of them and is able to “cut through” industry norms with her photos.

She told the New York Times’ Page Six column: “They understand it’s a look at something bigger than the individual. The world that they’re in… it’s cutting through the industry, you’re not taking it too seriously.”

“But I think the success that I’ve had is that I’m funny … My goal is first and foremost to make someone laugh. You make someone laugh and then we all kind of even out. That’s always been my goal, to make people laugh.”

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Categories
Sports

Blues manage Pittonet for crunch AFL clash

Blues manage Pittonet for crunch AFL clash

Sydney veteran Josh Kennedy has again missed out on senior selection, while Carlton have opted to manage ruckman Marc Pittonet just one match after his AFL return.

The Blues made five changes from the team that suffered a shock 29-point loss to Adelaide.

Caleb Marchbank, Jack Newnes Paddy Dow, Jack Martin, and last week’s medical sub Jack Silvagni have all been named in the 22 for Sunday’s crunch clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.

Pittonet, who played his first AFL match since round six last week, has been rested, while Matthew Kennedy (concussion), Nic Newman (knee), Corey Durdin (shoulder), and Lachie Plowman (omitted) go out of the side.

The Lions axed Nakia Cockatoo and Mitch Robinson to make room for the returns of Daniel Rich and Brandon Starcevich.

Kennedy was the unused sub for Sydney in last week’s win over GWS, and he couldn’t squeeze his way into the 22 for Sunday’s encounter with North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.

The Swans made just one change, recalling Logan McDonald for Joel Amartey.

Kennedy is an emergency and is a chance to be the sub again.

North get back four players who missed last week due to entering the AFL’s health and safety protocols – Aidan Corr, Lachie Young, Paul Curtis and Aaron Hall.

Father-son draftee Jackson Archer has been ruled out with a hip injury, while Aiden Bonar, Kayne Turner and Phoenix Spicer were all axed.

West Coast welcome back forward Josh Kennedy for his 293rd and final AFL match in Sunday’s meeting with Adelaide at Optus Stadium.

Samo Petrevski-Seton and Zac Langdon are also back, but Jai Culley (suspended), Connor West (wrist) and Jack Petruccelle (hamstring) go out.

Adelaide have named an unchanged side following their impressive win over Carlton.

GWS made a late change for Saturday’s match against Adelaide, with Tim Taranto (possible concussion) replaced by Lachie Ash.

The Western Bulldogs lost Norm Smith medalist Jason Johannisen to an ankle injury.

He has been replaced by Laitham Vandermeer for Saturday’s clash with the Dockers.

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Categories
US

Brittney Griner to face “serious” health threats in Russian prison

Brittney Griner to face "serious" health threats in Russian prison

Trevor Reed, an American citizen recently freed from a Russian prison, told CNN that WNBA star Brittney Griner will experience “serious threats” to her health if she is sent to a labor camp.

driving the news: “Anyone who is in a forced labor camp in Russia is obviously, you know, facing serious threats to their health because of malnutrition,” he told CNN in an interview. “There’s little to no medical attention whatsoever.”

  • Reed said the disease tuberculosis “runs rampant in Russian prisons” and there are “diseases that they have there in Russia which are largely extinct in the United States now.”

Flash back: Reed, a Marine veteran who was freed through a prisoner exchange earlier this year, was held in a Russian prison for 985 days after being accused of assaulting a Russian law enforcement official, USA Today reports.

  • Reed was sentenced to nine years in a labor camp and developed health issues during his time there, including multiple cases of COVID-19. He previously described conditions at labor camps as “medieval,” per USA Today.

The big pictures: Griner was found guilty on drug charges by a Russian court last week and sentenced to nine years in prison, Axios’ Ivana Saric reports.

  • The sentence comes almost six months after she was arrested at a Russian airport when authorities said they found a vape cartridge with hash oil in her luggage.

What’s next: Griner may appeal the decision, which means she’ll stay at a detention facility until it is completed, Reed told CNN. Otherwise, she will likely be sent to a labor camp.

  • But Russia may leave her in Moscow if a prisoner exchange is on the table, he added.
  • Reed said Griner’s case “sentence is clearly political. There’s no denying that.”

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Categories
Business

Mosman’s Breen family score quiet $19 million sale

Mosman's Breen family score quiet $19 million sale

Bowral’s historic slow-mover

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and her husband Rodney Rosmarin made good their Southern Highlands getaway during the COVID-19 lockdowns, but they won’t be doing so in the future after they sold the historic mansion this week for $3.95 million.

Rose Manor is a 1914 mansion that was long home to Toohey's chairman Sir Mark Sheldon.

Rose Manor is a 1914 mansion that was long home to Toohey’s chairman Sir Mark Sheldon.Credit:

The couple listed the seven-bedroom residence, now known as “Rose Manor” in April of last year for $3.95 million, sticking to the asking price throughout the on-and-off campaign with Drew Lindsay’s Samuel Lindsay.

The Rosmarins are based in Vaucluse, where last year they traded up to the $15 million Spanish mission-style residence Vue de la Cote, and sold their former digs of $7.75 million.

Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin took a year to sell the Bowral getaway.

Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin took a year to sell the Bowral getaway.Credit:Louise Kennerley

Their Bowral retreat was built in 1914 as Beraldor for merchant Alfred Dakingsmith, and from 1928 to the 1950s was regarded as the country seat of corporate Sydney thanks to its ownership by Toohey’s chairman Sir Mark Sheldon.

The Rosmarins purchased it in 2009 for $2.25 million, ending what was then a more than two-year sales campaign.

Benny in the Horizon

Rugby league great Benny Elias was already a resident of the Harry Seidler-designed Horizon building when he recently decided to make his interest in the tower official by buying a two-bedder.

Benny Elias has bought into the Horizon tower.

Benny Elias has bought into the Horizon tower.Credit:Jonathan Wood

Records show the Balmain Tigers hooker paid $3.375 million, more than doubling the $1.58 million it traded for in 2010 when bought by Goldman Sachs’ Joe Niven.

Elias joins the likes of heiress Francesca Packer Barham, interior designer Greg Natale and Tom Uren’s widow Christine Logan as fellow strata-plan owners.

Good Greeff in Curl Curl

Brothers Ken and Frank Greeff recently finalized the $180 million sale of their majority-owned real estate campaign technology platform Realbase to Domain, and guess where they ploughed a good chunk of the proceeds?

New homes, of course.

The deal by Domain (majority owned by Nine Entertainment, the owner of this newspaper) was finalized in April and included a consideration of up to $50 million dependent on financial performance targets.

The Curl Curl house has set a suburban record of $9.4 million.

The Curl Curl house has set a suburban record of $9.4 million.Credit:Domain

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A month later Realbase chief executive Frank Greeff and partner Holly Rogers set a Curl Curl record of $9.4 million for a five-bedroom house with ocean views, upgrading from a rental apartment in Queenscliff.

Ken Greeff and partner Simona Paolini kept things a tad more economical, paying $4.05 million in April for a four-bedroom house in North Curl Curl.

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Categories
Technology

AAWireless Review – Use Android Auto Wirelessly

AAWireless Review - Use Android Auto Wirelessly

More and more current vehicle models offer the option of using Android Auto via the vehicle’s touch display. Unfortunately, it is still the case that you will need to connect the smartphone to the car via a USB cable in order to use it. Only very new cars provide this functionality wirelessly. But of course there are also users who still want to use this function wirelessly.

There are currently many manufacturers who want to offer this function with smaller devices. But so far only one company has stood with a mature solution. With AA Wireless you get a small device to connect to the car. You can use Android Auto functions wirelessly right away. The smartphone can now live in your pocket and connect via Bluetooth and WLAN to small adapters.

range of distribution

The scope of delivery of a wireless set is quickly explained, as it consists of only two parts. The adapter itself on one side and a short USB cable on the other. The cable is used to connect the adapter to the vehicle. The set does not offer any other parts and they are not required to use an adapter.

technical specifications

color: schwarz
Dimensions: 49mm x 49mm x 12mm
relationships: 1x USB-C
links: Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi: 2.4GHz / 5GHz ac/n
processor: Quad-core 1.3GHz
power consumption: 90mA to 330mA

die installation

Installation is incredibly easy. The first step is to download the AAWireless Companion app from Google Play Store for free. With this app you can do various settings and also run the new firmware on the adapter. Then simply connect the short USB-C cable from the delivery scope to the connection on the adapter and to the USB port in the vehicle. Now it takes a few seconds for the adapter to connect to the car and smartphone.

As soon as the connection is established, you can use the Android interface as you are used to. Except that the annoying wires between the smartphone and the car are no longer needed.

impressions

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service

There is no such thing as the classic operation of a wireless adapter. Because apart from the reset button, there is no other button on the adapter that you can press. If you can talk about an operation, it can be done through the Companion app.

Where service is the wrong word here. Because this app is used only for settings or to update firmware. In other words, settings that you make once and are not required for active use. After all, the adapter only ensures a wireless connection between the vehicle and the smartphone. The Android Auto interface then operates in a classic way on the vehicle’s touchscreen.

The following settings can be made with the companion app:

  • usb-modus
  • withdrawal
  • wifi option
  • on off
  • wlan-timeout
  • VAG Crash-Fix
  • change dpi
  • tap-limit
  • media sync
  • tts-sync
  • automatic video focus
  • dongle mode
  • developer mode
  • reset to factory settings
  • firmware update
  • paired smartphone
  • help and support

Conclusion on the AA Wireless Android Auto Adapter

For us, the AA Wireless Adapter is currently the best adapter for wirelessly connecting your smartphone to the vehicle’s display. There are a few other manufacturers that offer similar hardware, but this adapter works best and most reliably. This adapter actually started as an Indiegogo campaign and in the meantime it has gathered so many fans that it has now set up its shop.

At the time of this article, the delivery time is seven days due to high demand. We are particularly impressed by the small dimensions, quick installation and quick response as long as the adapter is not connected to the smartphone. It is often enough to enter the vehicle and the adapter is already connected as soon as you start the engine. We can recommend this adapter to anyone who bothers to connect their smartphone to the vehicle with a cable every time. The smartphone can live in your pocket or in a tray and you still have the full range of Android Auto functions.

price and availability

The AA Wireless Adapter is available for a price of €83.00 per piece at the time of this article. There is currently a separate website for selling adapters. However, customers in Germany are currently being redirected to the Indiegogo website. However, this is not a problem, as you can also order the adapter here without any problems. Simply create a free account on Indiegogo and order the adapter.

When we ordered the adapter, it was delivered within a week. Since the developer of this adapter is based in the Netherlands, the package is not far from Germany.

Unless the shop can be accessed in Germany, you currently need to go through the Indiegogo website. The order itself is as fast as you know it from the usual online shops. If the adapter finds its way into Amazon or other stores, we’ll definitely be adding articles at this point.

Ordering aWireless on Indiegogo

Categories
Entertainment

Stray review – cats get the cream in slinky, post-apocalyptic fantasy | Adventure games

As candidates for the protagonist of a post-apocalyptic power fantasy go, feral cats (ginger, no less) are an unlikely pick. With no opposable thumbs, aiming a gun will prove a challenge, and what feline could hope to outrun, say, a band of Mad Max-style villains racing scrapheap muscle cars? stray, however, presents a different sort of end-of-world vision, a city slum abandoned by humans and instead inhabited by their bipedal robot servants, who dutifully sweep the streets and weed and water the flowerbeds. In this context, the vagrant cat proves a potent cipher. In the dense and warren-like subterranean slums, maneuverability and the capacity to lithely slip through rusty railings are far more valuable assets than raw animal strength and military-grade weapons (although a bit of firepower does eventually, inevitably, come your way).

Stray’s world is based, compellingly, on Kowloon Walled City, the claustrophobic, densely populated real-world Chinese enclave in Hong Kong that became, prior to its dismantling, a notorious hotbed of human vice. Stray’s city ​​is ostensibly rundown, but with its Instagrammable strings of amber lanterns and geek-chic neon-lit bars, it’s a more sanitized, Pixar-esque interpretation of shantytown poverty. There is no prostitution or gambling here, only launderettes, robot buskers and backyard electronics fixers. The humans moved out and took the sin with them, apparently. What remains is a place of abandonment, not exploitation, where the robot citizens have been left behind to rust and decay among the paraphernalia of human desertion.

Casting the player as a cat brings more value to stray than mere marketing clout (cats remain ripe for memeification, even at this advanced stage of the internet’s development – ​​or decline). Every sill, shelf, bedframe and railing is a point for potential launch and landing, enabling you to slip and leap through the world with pleasing haste. You can nuzzle the legs of robots to whom you take a shine, claw at yielding rugs and even curl up in a ball and snooze if you find an old mattress on a rooftop. The substance of your feline life, however, is the mission to escape the slums by helping those enterprising robots who dream of following their makers out of the shadows. This means running errands, searching abandoned apartments for useful items and figuring out spatial-reasoning puzzles while outrunning the occasional gang of face-huggers you meet down a dark alleyway.

The game’s wonder is in the delicate details: knocking over piles of books; tinkling your way along the keys of an old piano. It’s elegantly designed and well told, and in opting to build a compact world dense with detail and intrigue rather than one that sprawls flimsily, stray feels like a high-production proposition despite its modest-sized production team. Most enduringly, this is a game in which playing as a cat is not a mere gimmick but intrinsic to the experience, proving that survivors are not always the strongest, but those who best fit their environment.

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Sports

Ashleigh Buhai closes in on Women’s Open title after taking five-shot lead | Women’s Open

Just when a glimmer of hope had been provided to the field, Ashleigh Buhai slammed the door shut in the style of a champion.

Buhai’s third shot to Muirfield’s par-five 17th had sailed long of the green. She had a dicey chip remaining. Not content to trickle her ball towards the hole and save par, the South African holed out for a birdie four. Her lead from her had been extended to six shots.

Only elements of the past are against Buhai in this Women’s Open. She has just one top 10 in 42 previous major starts, that coming in this very event in 2019. Buhai led by three at the halfway point of that tournament. Yet since this event was elevated to major status, nine players have held a 54-hole lead of three strokes or more. All have prevailed on Sunday. A dropped shot at the last means Buhai’s advantage was cut to five – she sits at 14 under par – but she has one hand and four fingers on the trophy. “You have to pat yourself on the back after that score in those conditions,” she said. “That is one of the best rounds I have ever played.

“You can never be comfortable in a major, whether you are leading or not. They say big leads are often more difficult. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve been doing.” Buhai revealed she was sent a message of encouragement by Gary Player, her compatriot who won the 1959 Open at Muirfield.

The sad thing was, precious few people were around to see Buhai and co finish their rounds. Galleries were distressingly sparse as play rumbled towards conclusion; the consequence, perhaps, of tee-off times after three o’clock in the afternoon for the leaders. This represented a bad look for a tournament which has been elevated in status by the R&A.

Buhai’s third round of 64 was without a bogey until she left a short putt on the final green. She reached the turn in just 31, having collected four shots in a row from the 4th. Hinako Shibuno, who shot 66, and Chun In-gee, who made a 70, are joint second. Inbee Park, seeking an eighth major win, is alongside Madelene Sagström at seven under.

Minjee Lee, the US Open champion, lurks at minus five after a 70. “I think with the position I’m in and considering how many shots back I am, I can be aggressive,” Lee said. “I think I can just try and make birdie every single hole. I think that’s pretty much what I can do, if I can go for the pin. I think with Ash, probably she has contended a few times but it’s the British Open and the final group, so I’m sure she’ll have a few nerves.”

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In a week of Muirfield firsts, there was another at the start of day three’s play. Lindsey Garden, a female member at a course once infamously an all-male domain, played alongside Lydia Hall because of an odd number of players having made the cut. Garden, who holds a 1.6 handicap and is a former Scotland international, admitted to being “very nervous” on the opening tee.

“It’s fantastic,” she added of her membership at the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. “I’ve been a member a year. It’s just been a great year because since I’ve been a member, we have known we are hosting the Women’s Open. There have been lots of prep for that. There’s been some really fun stuff around that, media days and some interviews with various media people talking about what it is like to be a woman member at Muirfield, it’s the same as it is for a man. We’re equal.” Changed days indeed.

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US

After 246 Years, Marine Corps Gives 4 Stars to a Black Officer

After 246 Years, Marine Corps Gives 4 Stars to a Black Officer

WASHINGTON — In the military, there have already been countless promotion ceremonies this year, held on army bases, aircraft carriers and even, in one case, an escarpment overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy.

But on Saturday there was one for the history books. Gen. Michael E. Langley, 60, became the first Black Marine to receive a fourth star on his shoulder from him — a landmark achievement in the corps’ 246-year history. With that star, he becomes one of only three four-star generals serving in the Marine Corps—the service’s senior leadership.

In an emotional ceremony at the Marine Barracks in Washington, General Langley, whose next assignment will be to lead United States Africa Command, acknowledged the weight of his promotion. Before Saturday, the Marine Corps had never given four stars to anyone who was not a white man.

Referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s order that desegregated the Marine Corps during World War II, General Langley listed a slew of Black Marines who went before him. They included Frank E. Petersen Jr., the first Black man to become a Marine Corps general, and Ronald L. Bailey, the first Black man to command the First Marine Division. Both men topped out at lieutenant general.

General Langley’s promotion has electrified Black Marines. On Thursday, a slew of them ambushed him when he appeared at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to get new uniforms to take with him to Stuttgart, Germany, where Africa Command is based.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, sir,” General Langley, in an interview, recalled one star-stuck Black major saying. “I just want to shake your hand.”

Soon, more Marines — Black and white, men and women — were asking to take pictures with the new four-star general.

At Saturday’s ceremony, five officers sat in a row watching the proceedings. They were part of an expeditionary warfare training class at Quantico that the Marine commandant, Gen. David H. Berger, visited on Wednesday. Around 45 minutes into General Berger’s talk to the class, Capt. Rousseau Saintilfort, 34, raised his hand from him. “How can I be there Saturday?” I have asked.

“It didn’t click on me at first because everyone was asking questions about amphibious stuff and tactics, and he asked me about Saturday,” General Berger said at the ceremony, to laughter.

Capt. Ibrahim Diallo, 31, who came up from Quantico with Captain Saintilfort, said in an interview that “all these friends started messaging me, saying, ‘You’re going to be next.’”

“I don’t know if I’m going to stick around that long,” he said, “but just the fact that junior Marines can see this, they will see that no matter what background you come from, you can achieve in the Marine Corps as long as you perform.”

For the Marine Corps, the promotion of General Langley is a step that has been a long time coming. Since the corps began admitting African American troops in 1942, the last military service to do so, fewer than 30 have obtained the rank of general in any form. Not one had made it to the top four-star rank, an honor the Marines have bestowed on 73 white men.

Seven African Americans reached lieutenant general, or three stars. The rest have received one or two stars, a majority in areas from which the Marine Corps does not choose its senior leadership, like logistics, aviation and transport.

General Langley, who oversaw Marine forces on the East Coast in his last posting, has commanded at every level, from platoon to regiment, during his 37-year career. He has served overseas in Afghanistan, Somalia and Okinawa, and he has also had several senior staff jobs at the Pentagon and at the military’s Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East.

After a New York Times article in 2020 about the death of Black Marine generals, General Berger was asked why the corps had not promoted an African American to its top ranks in its entire history. “The reality of it is: Everybody is really, really, really good,” General Berger said in an interview with Defense One. “For every 10 we pick, every 12, we could pick 30 more — every bit as good.”

General Langley’s promotion is particularly poignant given that his great-uncle was one of the Montford Point Marines, who were the first Black recruits to join the Marine Corps after it began admitting African Americans in 1942. They trained at Montford Point in North Carolina, which was separate from Camp Lejeune, where white recruits trained.

It had taken Roosevelt’s executive order to force the commandant of the Marine Corps at the time, Thomas Holcomb, to open the service to Black men. “If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes,” the Marine commandant once said, “I would rather have the whites.”

Now, one of the corps’ three senior leaders says things have changed.

“Mentally we have learned that there’s greater value in the collective than just the monolithic perception of what the makeup of the Marine Corps is,” General Langley said. He said that his hope of him was that Black Marines would view the corps as a place where they would not be hampered by a glass ceiling.

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Business

Construction industry collapse: Sign sector is heading for a bust

Construction industry collapse: Sign sector is heading for a bust

In the history of Australia, the nation’s economy has often been defined by booms and busts. From the 1890s depression driven by a collapse in wool prices and housing price crash, all the way through to the current boom in thermal coal prices, Australia’s economy has thrived and dived on boom and bust cycles.

In October 2019, the Reserve Bank warned of yet another boom that would turn to a bust, this time in the construction sector. At the time RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle made a speech to warn of falling activity in the industry, stating that it would subtract around 1 percentage point from GDP growth and that there was some risk the decline could be even larger.

Around that time investment bank UBS was equally concerned, warning that construction job ads were pointing to around 100,000 jobs potentially being lost in the industry as activity levels dropped from its peak.

With every boom comes a bust

Looking at the data, it’s clear why Debelle and the RBA were concerned about the direction of the industry. Between April 2012 and November 2017, the construction sector underwent an enormous boom following a period of rapidly falling activity resulting from the end of projects driven by the Rudd and Gillard government’s first homeowner grants. During this period dwelling approvals rose by 119 per cent and the construction sector enjoyed a period of strong growth even while other parts of the economy struggled.

But the continued strength of the construction sector was not to be.

Between November 2017 and the pre-pandemic lows of January 2020, dwelling approvals fell by 41.5 per cent. Naturally in time, dwelling commencements also fell from their peaks, dropping by 31.8 per cent between March 2018 and September 2019.

The pandemic effect

At the start of 2020, it was all very much looking like the RBA’s concerns about the future of the construction sector were justified. But when the pandemic arrived on Australia’s shores just a few months later everything changed.

In just a few months the fortunes of the construction sector changed dramatically, from a slowly dwindling pipeline of projects to unprecedented levels of government support for the industry.

From June 4 2020, the federal government’s ‘HomeBuilder’ program provided a $25,000 grant for eligible new builds and large scale home renovations on homes that met the government’s criteria. According to the federal Treasury as of March 2022, HomeBuilder had cost a total of $2.1 billion and received more than 137,000 applications (113,113 for new builds and 24,642 for renovations).

According to an analysis from Master Builders Australia, the value of building work supported by HomeBuilder amounted to $41.6 billion.

Various state and territory government grants for new homes also helped increase the number of new homes under construction to all time record highs.

Meanwhile, as the way Australians live and work changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic, demand for home renovations surged. According to the ABS during 2021 Australians spent $12.3 billion on renovating their homes, up 33 per cent compared with 2020.

Amid all this stimulus and pandemic driven activity, the construction sector has at times suffered from materials and labor shortages as it attempted to keep pace with rising demand.

But with HomeBuilder and various state and territory grants now in the rear view mirror, a concerning picture of the future is now slowly emerging.

Concerning signs

Since peaking in March 2021, dwelling approvals have failed by 29 per cent as of the latest data for June this year. After hitting an all-time record high in June 2021, dwelling commencements are following approvals down, falling 27.5 per cent as of the March quarter.

While a relatively strong pipeline of work remains and tradies are still in huge demand across much of the nation, the various forward looking indicators for the industry are showing similar concerning signs to those displayed in 2019.

However, unlike 2019 the broader economic circumstances are quite different and there are risks that the fortunes of the construction sector could deteriorate more swiftly. With mortgage rates currently rising at their most rapid relative rate in Australian history and inflation tipped by Treasury to hit 7.75 per cent by the end of the year, in time Australians may be much more reticent to take the plunge and pull the trigger on building a brand new home.

In 2020 the construction sector became the latest example of the “Lucky Country’s” good fortune coming to the rescue at exactly the right time. But now with a very different backdrop of economic circumstances, the sector has become even larger and activity levels even higher than the previous peaks, from which the RBA and UBS warned that the falls from could prove quite challenging.

Ultimately, despite the deteriorating forward looking indicators it is still very much early days for the construction sectors eventually slow down. More government stimulus or social housing construction may yet still come to somewhat fill the gap, but whether the sectors good fortune will hold, remains very much up in the air.

Tarric Brooker is a freelance journalist and social commentator | @AvidCommentator

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