Education Minister gets an F
The Education Minister insists the reality of a Senate dominated by cross benchers and the political opportunism of the Labor Party means "the public sees every single intricacy of government negotiation".
Featured Opinion
philip baker
Time to ditch Wall Street for Europe
The US sharemarket has been choppy recently, the rally is into its seventh year and investors are wondering if the bull run can keep going.
tony boyd
Toll road sale means world is 'nuts'
Two of Australia's most experienced infrastructure advisers, who cannot be identified because it would mean the end of their careers, reckon IFM Global Infrastructure's $US5.7 billion Indiana Toll Road purchase should ring alarms.
phillip coorey
Not retreating, just advancing in a different direction
The federal government has found itself in a parallel universe.
greg earl
Asia's big financial risk
Australia must watch how Asian countries deal with their own ageing challenge rather than just argue about the 2015 intergenerational report.
jennifer hewett
Australia pays penalty for hot air on renewable energy
Spain's Acciona has been doing business – big business – in Australia for more than a decade.
robert harley
FIRB compliance industry should be stopped
Joe Hockey's move to order the divestment of a Point Piper mansion in Sydney, bought by a Chinese magnate, has exposed an industry in so-called Foreign Investment Review Board compliance.
alan mitchell
Warning bells ringing for emerging markets
As the US Federal Reserve’s first rate rise since the global financial crisis moves closer, market nervousness about the outlook for the emerging market economies becomes greater.
jonathan shapiro
Decoding the bond market conundrum
The RBA has done its best to explain the conundrum of the global bond market – characterised by ultra-low interest rates that are at odds with broader views on where the world is heading.
michael smith
Woolworths hard sell as it plots new strategy
Woolworths chief executive Grant O’Brien has been doing the rounds this week, meeting Australian investors to explain his decision to sacrifice profit for future growth.
matthew stevens
The breaking of a union man
The coal mining union has lost its unusual appeal against a successful workers' compensation claim for the "psychiatric and psychological injury" caused to a former executive vice-president of its Queensland branch.
laura tingle
Hockey's fiscal disaster
At some point pretty soon, the 2014 budget is going to have to be called for what it is: not just a political disaster, but a budget disaster.
sally patten
Debate needed on the role of super
It all feels a bit Alice in Wonderland-ish. Just as property prices are soaring, Treasurer Joe Hockey suggests we should be allowed to use our superannuation savings to buy a first home or for retraining.
tony walker
Netanyahu miscalculations threaten re-election
No friend of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the centre-left daily Haaretz has portrayed him in the last hours of his country’s election campaign as a pilot desperately trying to regain control of an aeroplane in a tailspin.
john wasiliev
Central bank divergence makes $US must-have currency
A rally in the US dollar reinforces the fact that the imminent US Federal Reserve's open market committee meeting will be the key market event this week.
