How one state is making school uniforms more affordable
Victorian families to pocket big savings, Trump's former adversary heads to Australia, and plenty of lenders fail to pass on February rate cut. Here are five things you may have missed this week.
Big school savings for Victorian families
Families in Victoria will enjoy big savings on school uniforms from next year.
The Allan government announced changes to student dress codes this week, which ban school logos on 'waist down' items such as shorts, pants, skirts and socks in Victorian government schools.
Coming into effect from 2026, the change to the student dress code could see parents pocket big savings.
Branded items are the biggest contributor to uniform costs, and in some cases can cost up to $56 more than similar, unbranded items of clothing available through discount retailers such as Kmart or Big W.
Schools in Victoria can continue to have branding on hats, tops, shirts, dresses and jackets - everything 'from the waist up', to promote school pride.
Even so, schools and school councils will need to ensure student uniforms are affordable.
Victoria's Minister for Education Ben Carroll, says, "School costs can add up, and that's why we're helping with uniform costs and saying goodbye to expensive branded shorts, skirts, trackies and socks."
Trump's former arch-rival heads to Australia
Former US Vice President and defeated presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is making her way to Australia.
Harris is the star speaker at AREC25 - a two-day real estate conference scheduled for May 25-26.
It's quite a hike from the White House to Queensland's Gold Coast Convention Centre, and it's a fair bet there will be no shortage of interest in what Harris has to say.
Tickets to hear Harris speak don't come cheap, starting at $995 and climbing to $1695.
But then, it's likely Harris herself charges a sizeable fee to share her insights.
She is listed with the same US speakers agency that represents actor Cate Blanchett, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and former grand slam tennis champ Andre Agassi.
Is your lender holding something back?
February's 0.25% rate cut may have been welcomed with cheers from homeowners.
But it pays to take a closer look at your latest loan statement.
Your lender may not have passed on the full 0.25% rate saving.
Analysis by Mozo shows quite a few lenders are holding something back especially for new borrowers.
As a guide, Bank of China reduced most rates by 0.20%.
Community First Bank and its subsidiary Easy Street only took 0.20% off their variable rates.
Illawarra Credit Union also reduced its rates by just 0.20%.
The Mutual Bank cut its headline owner occupier rate by a mere 0.15%.
On the flipside, several lenders cut their advertised rates by more than the Reserve Bank's 0.25% rate cut.
Mozo says Bankwest took 0.35% off the headline rate for its Simple Home Loan, and a whopping 0.70% off the best rate for its Complete Variable Home Loan.
Southern Cross Credit Union slashed its variable rates by 0.50%.
Virgin Money was the only lender in the Mozo database to not cut rates at all.
Think you can beat the market? Think again
It's the evergreen investor debate.
Do actively managed funds, which typically charge higher fees, outperform low-fee, passively managed funds (and this includes most exchange traded funds) that aim to match market returns?
The argument may have been settled by the latest SPIVA Australia Scorecard.
'SPIVA' stands for 'S&P Indices Versus Active'.
The scorecard tracks how well actively managed funds beat the market.
It turns out they weren't all that successful in beating, or even matching, market returns.
The latest 2024 SPIVA Australia Scorecard shows Aussie shares (as measured by the ASX 200 Index) finished last year with an 11.4% gain.
Yet over half (56%) actively managed general Australian share funds failed to match this return, let alone beat it.
Over longer periods, the results are worse.
Over the last 15-year span, 85% of actively managed Aussie share funds fell short of market returns.
It goes a long way to explaining the popularity of exchange traded funds, which reached a market value of $248 billion in February 2025 - a 34% jump on $185 billion in February 2024.
Aussies rekindle their travel mojo
The latest Roy Morgan data reveals one in four Australians - over five million of us - plan to travel overseas in the next 12 months.
That's up from 16% in October 2022 when pandemic-era travel restrictions were lifted.
However, domestic travel continues to be the big drawcard.
Three in five Aussies, about 13 million people, are planning a domestic trip in the next 12 months (up from 52% a year ago).
There are red hot deals around for those who act fast.
Jetstar is running a 'Fly a friend for free' package offer.
Deals include flights plus a 3-night stay in Queensland's Palm Cove priced from $658 per person flying out of Sydney or $702 departing Melbourne.
You'll need to be quick, Jetstar's offer ends midnight April 8.
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