Few would have thought a year ago the Australian dollar, which was barely 5 cents from parity with the greenback, would be trading at US70¢ but on Wednesday it plunged lower to reach a six-year low.

The local currency has been sliding steadily for a year now, a trend that accelerated this year as China's slowing growth hit key Australian exports such as iron ore and coal.

"It's on its way to 60 cents," AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/australian-dollar-forecast-to-hit-us60-cents-20150902-gjds14.html#ixzz3kd0JjaNv 
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For those who don't follow my columns in details, I have hinted at this quite a while ago: My bottom price has been set as 64 US cents for an Aussie dollar... But it could go lower.

Australia is not heading for a recession despite weak economic growth figures, the Federal Government says.

• Lowest growth rate recorded in two years
• Mr Hockey blames factors such as weather-related interruptions and mineral exports
• Decreased reliance on mining investment underway

Yesterday the economy recorded its lowest growth rate in two years of 0.2 per cent in the three months to June.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said reduced mining and construction activity weighed on growth, along with declining exports.

The Government acknowledges that other countries heavily reliant on their resource sectors, like Canada and Brazil, have fallen into recession, but Treasurer Joe Hockey said Australia would not be next.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-02/australia-not-heading-towards-recession-says-hockey/6745294

From the smell in the air, I can deduce that our non-economist treasurer is not about to bring back a pink bats-style scheme to save us from a recession. He hopes that his yogurt will carry on yogurting regardless of the price of fish... 

Joe is lucky to still have a job... Should the ratshit economic figures we're having now under Turdy, came under Labor, the press and the media, the Liberals (conservatives) and their turdy supporters — namely big and small business — would hang them Laborites by the short and curlies... But no, so far despite the tragic comedy of Turdy's errors, the turdy government is barely tickled with a feather duster by the media at large and still gets bonus points from the merde-och press... Ugly.

The Australian dollar fell to its lowest level in more than six years this morning, amid growing concerns for the Australian economy.

On another day of wild swings for the share market, the dollar was buying 69.7 US cents about 12:30pm (AEST).

The All Ordinaries was also down by six points at 5,043, despite being up in midday trade, while the ASX 200 was off six points at 5,022.

On Wednesday, the dollar dipped below 70 US cents for the first time since April 2009.

The drop was triggered after economic growth figures for the second quarter came in below expectations.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-04/australian-dollar-drops-to-6-year-low/6750236

The "independent verification" cited by the shadow treasurer had come from the Coalition's three wise men — an independent review panel comprising of the former head of Access Economics, Geoff Carmbody; a former head of the prime minister's department, Peter Shergold, and former Queensland auditor-general Len Scanlan.

Their review of the Coalition's policy commitments and expected savings resulted in a five-sentence letter to the Liberal Party's federal director, Brian Loughnane, which stated in part:

"We are of the opinion that the final policy costings provided by the Coalition in the attached tables are based on reasonable assumptions and calculations and, as such, represent a fair estimate of the net financial impact of those policies on the federal budget," the letter stated.

In 2013, Mr Hockey cited the letter as proof the Coalition was a safe bet for voters.

"I want to emphasise the process that we have been through," he said.

"We have been through one of the most comprehensive fiscal policy development programs in Australian politics.

"It's not an overnight program. We haven't made it up as we've gone along as Labor has.

"What we've done is have an eight-month long process overlaid on the three-year term in opposition.

"We've focused on having sensible, internal policy processes.

"We've taken those policies to the parliamentary budget office and we've set up an independent panel to verify it.

"Importantly all the numbers that are presented today and they show that we are living within our means."

The independent panel concluded the Coalition's program would have improved, rather than worsened the 2014-15 budget deficit.

'Assurances not based on credible standards'

But it was the accounting standards applied by the independent review that was a concern for husband-and-wife number crunchers, economist Betty Con Walker and Emeritus Professor of Accounting Bob Walker, who lodged a formal complaint with Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) Australia.

"Forecasts aren't necessarily going to be estimates and it's appropriate I think that whoever prepares them should indicate the basis of the preparation, what assumptions they've made, who provided those assumptions and what work they've undertaken," Professor Walker said.

"Not simply that chat to a few people over a coffee and say 'that sounds alright'."

Ms Walker said the standards of the panel did not make for a credible outcome.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-07/coalition-costings-breached-auditing-standards-tribunal-says/6755474

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But Joe's bananas sounded good in the merde-och press: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/27066