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President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers, Friday, March 31, 2017, ...

Why Australia isn't so easy for Trump to bully

When President Donald Trump berated Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull two months ago over 1,250 refugees the US agreed to accept from Australia, the phone conversation was perceived ominously: A decades-old alliance that was already strained by Australia's economic reliance on China was now being put under greater stress.

Vacancies were 7.3 per cent higher than in the same period of 2016, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

Job vacancies highest since mid-2011

Job vacancies have risen for a third straight quarter to hit the highest since May 2011, data showed on Thursday, a promising omen for a much-needed pick-up in labour demand.

Treasurer Scott Morrison is still talking a big game.

Scott Morrison's Monty Python moment

It's a dangerous thing to talk a big game before taking the field. Treasurer Scott Morrison did that pre-departure for the weekend G20 finance ministers meeting in Germany. He's been left trying to claim a big loss was actually a win. Monty Python's dismembered Black Knight comes to mind.

Treasurer Scott Morrison will be presented with the damning report in Baden Baden.

Lift GST, says OECD in dismal report card

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has castigated Australia for inadequate progress on tax, Indigenous affairs and support for business in a report card to be presented to finance ministers from the group of 20 leading industrial nations in Germany on Saturday.

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