Featured Opinion
Banks, RBA must strike fine balance on state government bonds
There is a Churchillian task for the semi bond market. The RBA would love to see the commercial banks help absorb some of that extra bond supply in what would be another form of QE by stealth.
Economics correspondent
Budget double backflips not enough to land jobless target
The Treasurer has flipped on the surplus and the personal tax cuts. But the third twist needed to get unemployment comfortably under 6 per cent is billions more stimulus spending.
Contributor
Hit jobs trigger on the supply side
The Treasurer's 'comfortably under 6 per cent' unemployment trigger for budget repair won't be hit without the supply-side IR and tax structural reform heavy lifting needed to promote job creation.
Editorial
Why the party of thrift shouldn't be timid about cutting taxes
The Liberal Party's ditched the obsession with debt and deficit to pay for pandemic supports. But that should not deter them from their old focus on inefficient taxes.
Contributor
It's time to weigh the cost of death and deficit
It is hard to have a debate right now about the cost of saving lives. But we will need to have it before a potential next wave hits.
Columnist
Presidential debate: contempt and chaos
No one should be particularly surprised that Donald Trump tore up the debating rules, too.
Editorial
Tax reform is the key to the jobs v debt debate
Change across the board cannot be put off if we are to manage our debts and tackle climate change too.
How China is bracing for Washington's decoupled world
The dual-circulation strategy is not 'fortress China'. It is a plan for resilience whatever the US chooses to do now.
Contributor
More From Today
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
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Budget reply has make or break feel for Labor
It took Labor years to take John Howard seriously. To defeat Scott Morrison, it needs to start thinking its way back to office from next week.
- 46 mins ago
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- US votes 2020
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Meet a secret Trump voter
Why will a gay New Yorker, registered as a Democrat, vote for Donald Trump? It's the economy, stupid - and the fear that Joe Biden is too weak to be president.
- Bret Stephens
- Opinion
- Passive investing
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Was COVID-19 the 'last dance' for active managers?
Managed funds in the "growth" category finally beat the index as global markets tanked on the pandemic but that glory was short lived, according to research house Morningstar.
- Aleks Vickovich
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
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Owners have to pay personal tax on strata scheme profits
An innovative way for a block to finance repairs highlights some tax anomalies that might catch owners by surprise.
- Jimmy Thomson
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How I came to love my $1200 robot vacuum cleaner
The next-gen Roborock S6 MaxV doesn't eliminate the need for the occasional manual vacuum, but it sure is good at getting out of a tangle.
- John Davidson
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
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How NBN outmanoeuvred the ACCC
The government-owned monopoly is at the tail end of a three-year-long inquiry. It would seem it has convinced the competition regulator to allow it to call the shots.
- Tony Boyd
- Opinion
- China relations
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China's plans to dominate Taiwan will intensify
Australians should expect 2021 to be a year when China increasingly turns to the biggest territorial prize of all – Taiwan – and ramps up its coercion.
- Bates Gill
- Opinion
- Global economy
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'Crocodile' Hirai takes a knife to Japan's lagging digital push
Japan's new digital czar has a big job pushing technological progress across the economy and society.
- Leo Lewis
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
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Investors target male-heavy boards
The lack of progress on diversity has prompted prominent fund managers to set a 40 per cent gender target. There is an implicit threat laggards will suffer votes against directors.
- Tony Boyd
- Opinion
- Streaming
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If Netflix is an employer of choice, we have it all wrong
The streaming giant's co-founder, Reed Hastings, should spend more time on his tax return and less on distorting the English language.
- Angus Grigg
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Paris Agreement
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Why Google wanted Audrey Zibelman
The AEMO boss knows how to run an energy grid where a new rooftop solar system is added every six minutes and that will help in her new job. Australia is a 'postcard from the future', she says.
- Updated
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
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Negative rates not all bad, as long as timing is right
Pushing interest rates below zero will have the greatest effect once pandemic-related uncertainty lessens and economic recovery has begun.
- The Lex Column
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
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Why Santos isn't celebrating the Narrabri gas approval
The go-ahead presents a dilemma for the board, and the decision to invest $3.6 billion will have to factor in the uncertain impact of government intervention.
- Tony Boyd
- Opinion
- US election
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Why Biden is better for business than Trump will ever be
The Democrats have plans that will be good for jobs, growth and markets. Trump offers only his own pluto-populist ambitions.
- Nouriel Roubini
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
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Cities are too resilient to be killed by COVID-19
Reports of their death ignore the vast gains in wages and productivity fostered by cities, which arise in ways that teleworking cannot replicate. Sell up and move to the countryside at your peril. The city will be back.
- Robin Harding
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
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The 15 failures of Victoria's hotel quarantine program
After weeks of hearings and nearly 300,000 pages of documents, what went wrong with Victoria's quarantine program is clear for all to see.
- Tom Burton
- Opinion
- Digital Inquiry
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Are we finally wising up to Big Tech?
The tech industry has never been great at taking criticism. Its response to any problem is to create a slew of new products rather than take a good hard look at itself.
- Max Mason
- Opinion
- The AFR View
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Budget must chart course to eliminate debt and deficit
The Morrison government must use next week's budget to offer the public longer-term confidence by showing that it has a plan to deal with the huge virus hit on its own finances.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- SMSFs
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Four strategies for SMSF landlords feeling pension pinch
If your DIY fund is breaking the rules on making minimum payments because income has dried up, here's what you can do.
- Meg Heffron
September
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
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GMO global fund shuns Australian stocks
GMO, the fund manager co-founded by investment legend Jeremy Grantham, is pushing back against suggestions of a sharemarket bubble. But it is struggling to find companies in Australia that fit its strict quality criteria.
- Tony Boyd
- Opinion
- Industrial relations
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Union extortion ransoms jobs
The militant CFMEU's demand for higher pay in the middle of a pandemic means stimulus funding earmarked for construction projects will create fewer jobs.
- Damien Tudehope