RBA boss blames lax lending, tax breaks for house prices
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe intervenes in the debate over tax and home prices before the May budget.
The Economy
Federal budget to tackle Australia's $21b 'black economy'
Black economy is hard to tackle because Australians see cash-only payments as 'almost a national sport'.
Rates on hold amid increasing concern about house prices
The Reserve Bank has held the cash rate steady amid growing pressure to lift rates to contain soaring home prices.
Runaway house prices put ownership dreams on hold
Two people, three jobs and a dream getting harder and harder to reach.
Time to stop negative gearing 'distortions', says business lobby
A major business lobby has taken aim at popular tax breaks for housing that are claimed by many of its members.
Immigration may pay price for booming housing
It says plenty about the state of Australian politics that so much policy is viewed through the lens of Sydney and Melbourne housing affordability, writes Michael Pascoe.
Sydney house price growth hits 15-year high
House values surged another 1.4 per cent across Australia in March, pushing annual price growth to 19 per cent in Sydney and 16 per cent in Melbourne, new data shows.
PM has the medicine to fix the housing bubble - he just won't use it
Only the government has a weapon large enough to stop the housing juggernaut.
Companies with gender diverse boards made more money
Companies with females on their boards have have achieved higher revenue growth, profitability and shareholder returns than those without, a new report by accounting firm KPMG shows.
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.
Minimum wage rise could benefit all in the rat race
If I was on the minimum wage, however, I wouldn't start spending the increase yet.
We may lead the world in growth, but spoils are bittersweet
Australia is close to seizing the crown for the longest streak of economic growth in the world thanks to a mixture of policy guile and outrageous fortune. But it's creaking under the weight of its own success.
Spin classes won't help Australia cut the fat
The truth is that we are all going to have to pay more out of our own pockets for our health.
Australians sitting on mountains of cash as wealth outpaces debt
Households saw their wealth balloon to a record $11.7 trillion last quarter as cash holdings topped a trillion dollars for the first time ever.
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.
Australia's top chairmen came to support quotas, when will we?
Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns is among a number of ASX 200 leaders who have thrown their support behind quotas.
Man versus machine: Robots take the lead in the race for jobs
Last year, two leading economists described a future in which humans come out ahead. But now they've declared a different winner: the robots.
Australia now officially has 'Google tax', aims to collect $2b
The law aims to recoup revenue from some of the nation's biggest companies including Apple, BHP Billiton, Chevron and Crown.
Work like a nomad? The ATO is watching you
Do you work like a nomad - travel from place to place for your job - and then claim it on your tax return? The ATO is watching.
How Amazon beat tax authorities and saved $1.97 billion
Tax fights involving Amazon and Chevron will have major implications for other companies in long-running disputes.
House prices jump 3.7% since start of year
Home prices in Australia's five biggest cities have jumped 3.7 per cent since the start of this year.
'They could not recover any of my money': workers fail to get super
Every years millions of Australian workers miss out being paid their superannuation by their bosses. A federal inquiry is looking into why and how to stop it.
'They regularly ignored calls and emails from staff'
The once high-profile PR agency whose management played a part in former prime minister Kevin Rudd's high-profile "Kevin07" federal election campaign, failed to pay its staff superannuation, a federal inquiry has been told.
Don't buy the 'money illusion': Here's what's happening to real wages
Economists may not be much chop at forecasting how fast the economy will grow in the next year or two, but that doesn't mean they haven't learnt a few things about how economies work.
60 years later and I'm the class fool
Our school motto was et facultatem culturae - culture and capability - and I was keen to show my old classmates I had that in abundance.
Australia loses almost $8b a year from multinational profit-shifting
The Tax Justice Network research found that while the largest losses occurred in rich economies such as the United States, lower-income countries were the biggest victims of profit shifting.
Call for random audits to uncover $5.6b worth of unpaid super
The tax man should be undertaking random audits of employers to help identify potentially $5.6 billion worth of unpaid superannuation owed to almost 2.8 million Australians, according to Industry Super Australia.
Politics ensures RBA's housing pushback is already failing
The bad news about the regulators' new attempts to hose down housing investment enthusiasm is that they are, at best, second rate.
PIMCO sees higher global growth
Pimco has joined the chorus of global investors turning bullish on global growth prospects, saying the Trump administration's war on trade is "more symbolic than real".
Mining recovery reaches the coalface
The commodities mini-boom moves beyond share prices and macro data and is starting to be felt at ground level, NAB says.
Small Business
'Pretty close to extortion': Mars, Kellogg's and Fonterra pushing loans on small business
The small business ombudsman says big businesses including Mars, Kellogg's and Fonterra have a gun to the head of small businesses with their loan schemes.
Tax deductions without a benefit, are a loss
It is an unfortunate fact of life that too often business owners have a total aversion to paying income tax.