A recent online survey conducted by an independent think-tank, the Australian Institute, has revealed that employees across Australia are undertaking over 2 billion hours of unpaid overtime every year. If paid for, this time would account for wages totaling little below $72 Billion.

The number of new home loans soared in September as first-home buyers rushed to get benefits of government grants before the First Home Owners’ Boost expires on December 31.

Figures released by Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the total value of housing finance commitments jumped 4.8 per cent in September.

Loans for the construction and the purchase of new homes jumped 5.5 per cent through September. It was the twelfth increase in the past thirteen months.

Philip Lowe, assistant governor of Reserve Bank of Australia, said that Asia remained more successful than other regions of the world in providing a resilient and strong financial system.

Philip Lowe said that Asian countries depends less on financial markets and more on financial institutions.

Mr. Lowe described the term ‘global financial crisis’ as a misnomer because the crisis did not affect Asian countries.

Job advertisements in Australia dropped in October for the first time in three months, representing a decline in the employment growth.

As per a report prepared by Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, job ads published in newspapers and on the Internet slipped 1.7 per cent in October from previous month.

October job ads were 44.9 per cent down form a year ago.

Job ads in big metropolitan newspapers plunged by 1.4 per cent in October, against an increase of 3.7 per cent in September.

Shares in Australia's largest department store chain Myer Holdings Ltd. plunged 8.5 per cent on their stock market debut.

Shares in Myer started trading at $4.10-a-share on Monday, but closed at $3.75-a-share, losing 35 cents.

Speaking his mind, Karara Capital’s Akshay Chopra said, “It might put a bit of pressure on the valuation band, and pricing that is expected or achieved, for investors to be persuaded.”

Myer’s main rival David Jones closed at $5.25, down 2 per cent.

Australian house prices were stronger than expected in the September quarter, owing to growing demand and shortage of property for sale.

As per figures compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, house prices in the eight regional capitals jumped 4.2 per cent during the third quarter as compared with the last quarter.

House prices jumped 6.2 per cent from the same period of 2008.

Market experts had projected an increase of 2.75 per cent from the previous quarter.

Clean coal power generation will not be commercially worthwhile unless the carbon price reaches $60 a tonne.

The government's global carbon capture & storage institute also said that under the existing conditions carbon would take more than 20 years to hit a level of $60 a tonne.

Speaking his mind, CEO of Global CCS Institute Nick Otter, said, "The CO2 price now is not capable of taking the technology forward."

Social networking site Facebook released the updated version of its privacy policy and asked its users to provide feedback.

Elliot Schrage, chief of communications at Facebook, wrote in a company's blog that users could send their comments by November 5.

Canada had been pressurizing Facebook to make changes in its privacy policy. Earlier, privacy czar Canada had conducted an inquiry into handling of personal information by Facebook.

Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia's leading investment bank, said it pocketed a profit of $479 million during the six months to September, 21 per cent down from the same period last year.

Macquarie has forecast a similar result for the second half of the year, for full year growth of around 10 per cent.

Macquarie's full year profit stood at $871 million during the fiscal 2009.

The group is optimistic on the prospects for the business but wants to remain cautious.

The corporate logo of the Australian supermarket chain Woolworths, filed with Federal Government agency IP Australia in August, has met legal challenge from the tech biggie Apple, which has raised the objection that the logo 'closely resembles' its infamous apple symbol.

Apple has already taken on The Beatles, and GreenNYC environmental campaign, and is presently fighting Foxtel's adult entertainment channel 'Adults Only,' over the use of the iconic apple logo.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday announced an increase of a quarter of a percentage point in its key interest rate to 3.25 per cent.

Australia has become the first advanced country to raise interest rates since recent global financial slump.

Reserve Bank’s governor Glenn Stevens said the move was sensible as the economic statistics indicated that the worst of the recession had passed away.