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Running an air conditioner can make up 40 per cent of the average summer electricity bill.

Turn up the aircon this summer to save heaps of cash

Every degree increase on your thermostat saves about $100 on a typical household bill over the hot months. 

  • by Joel Gibson

Latest

There's no longer a great tax incentive for negative gearing

Buying an investment property in these days of record-low interest rates is not going to save you much tax, if any.

  • by Noel Whittaker
US President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden at Veterans Day ceremonies on Wednesday.

What the US election means for your super

We've all been glued to the circus of US politics. It feels like the country, and the world, is at a turning point but what does it all mean for your retirement savings?

  • by Charlotte Grieve
Brisbane is about to embark on a mega infrastructure project.
Analysis
Home loans

Crunch time looms for property investors on repayment holidays

Investment property mortgages on deferral remain persistently high and a crunch may be looming that could result in forced sales.

  • by John Collett
There are a number of good deals on offer for top-quality, low-cost 50:50 fixed/variable mortgage rate splits.
Opinion
Home loans

Two lenders offering top split variable and fixed-interest rates

The most important thing is to remember not to let your loan roll over at the end of the fixed term.

  • by Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon
Essendon's Dyson Heppell.
Analysis
Essendon

Lacking definition: the meaning of Essendon's soul search

Essendon's review reveals a club that lacked definition on a few fronts: how they played, what they stood for and who called the coaching shots

  • by Jake Niall
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Column 8 Granny dinkus with mask.
Opinion
Column 8

Exploring the post-industrial pash

While the Blues go glam.

Celebrity chef Pete Evans.
Analysis
Culture wars

Dumped by sponsors, what happens to Pete Evans now?

After a day in which sponsors deserted him in droves, the former MKR judge is down, but far from out.

  • by Karl Quinn and Broede Carmody
Dominic Perrottet
Analysis
NSW budget

Welcome to the era of tough government which will make or break Coalition

The state government's fortunes have changed and they now face an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.

  • by Alexandra Smith
Treasurer  Dominic Perrottet carrying the freshly printed 2020-21 NSW Budget Papers into Parliament House.
Editorial
NSW budget

Dominic Perrottet puts the NSW economy before the budget bottom line

The NSW Treasurer's $22 billion stimulus will pile on debt. But that is the right strategy.

  • The Herald's View
Afterpay founders Anthony Eisen, left, and Nick Molnar, reshuffle their executive positions.

Afterpay keeps investors on toes with another round of musical chairs

Afterpay's new management structure is a little unconventional, but the buy now, pay later darling is no stranger to breaking with convention.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
NSW coach Brad Fittler isn't concerned about the partisan Suncorp Stadium crowd in the Origin decider.

'We’d walk down Caxton Street if we could': Why Blues aren't scared of Suncorp

The Blues have only won two series deciders at Queensland's cauldron twice in 40 years of Origin. But coach Brad Fittler is undaunted.

  • by Andrew Webster
Harris with husband Douglas Emhoff.

As first man becomes 'second spouse', the unease reveals gender barriers

While we celebrate Kamala Harris' rise to the top, there’s been a quiet ambivalence that her husband, Doug Emhoff, is set to become the 'second spouse'.

  • by Duncan Fine
The Crown S4. Picture shows: Denis Thatcher (STEPHEN BOXER) and Margaret Thatcher (GILLIAN ANDERSON). Filming Location: Rothiemurchus, Scotland Gillian Anderson plays Margaret Thatcher in season 4 of The Crown.

Please Explain podcast: Is The Crown peak Princess propaganda or defamatory revisionism?

Deputy federal editor Stephanie Peatling and senior journalist Jacqueline Maley wind back the clock as they analyse Netflix's The Crown and its depictions of Charles, Diana and Margaret Thatcher. 

  • by Stephanie Peatling
NSW is making significant changes to stamp duty.
Analysis
NSW budget

No more Swedish tap mixers: Stamp duty reform aims for economic boost

NSW will replace stamp duty with a property tax in a move that will put pressure on other states to follow.

  • by Shane Wright
Tech billionaires like Alibaba founder Jack Ma are feeling the heat from China's government.
Opinion
Regulation

Disrupting the disrupters: China is slamming the brakes on Big Tech

One of the most difficult challenges facing regulators around the world is how to deal with the explosive growth and increasing power of the big tech companies. China has just shown how it will deal with them.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
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Joe Biden has won the presidency.

Biden faces a global economy tired of Trump's antics

For the past 75 years, the US has been the guardian of the international economic and financial architecture. The world is ready for the country to resume that role.

  • by Ferdinando Giugliano
Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga talks to reporters a

PM's Japanese visit to strengthen bilateral ties

This week's visit to Tokyo by Prime Minister Scott Morrison will strengthen Australia-Japan ties at a very significant geopolitical moment.

  • by Shiro Armstrong
NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance
Letters
Letters

NSW has toxic attitude to handing out public money

The NSW government is certainly “showing up” their federal colleagues in the let’s waste taxpayers’ money and keep in good with property developer mates stakes.

President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Trump, the deluded diva still demanding his close-up

Even after Georgia and Arizona were called for Joe Biden, the President is putting on a play within the play, one in which he's still the star.

  • by Maureen Dowd
The opening of James Packer's Sydney casino next month hangs in the balance.
Opinion
Casinos

Can a leopard change its spots? Crown Resorts is trying to argue it can

Crown would have the commission take the view that its China transgressions were the result of a poor governance structure - broken chains of command or a management pyramid that had been bent out of shape.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
In the Herald

In the Herald: November 17, 1873

Elimination of Sunday night trams, orange-peel nuisance and news from Canada.

  • by Lyn Maccallum
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Opinion
Gas

It was a gas while it lasted but the love affair is over

It is time for Victoria to move on from gas as a fuel source.

  • by Bruce Robertson
Column 8 Granny dinkus with mask.
Opinion
Column 8

Granny's got a grand blue bag

But she doesn't wear combat lashes.

The SAS insignia: Who Dares Wins.
Opinion
Defence

'They are not one of us': SAS soldiers condemn war crime perpetrators

For the first time in SASR history, a group of 12 current and former soldiers has stepped out from the shadows to remind the country what they are, and what they are not.

  • by SAS Soldiers
NSW will spend $16 million over the next four years to boost the state's exports.

Regional trade deal offers a chance to work constructively with China

The RCEP pact has economic benefits, providing China is serious about its promise of free trade.

  • The Herald's View
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China is expected to dominate the The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Analysis
Trade deals

Australia's gamble on the world's biggest trade deal not without risk

Signing up to a deal in markets worth $37 trillion will let Australia fast-track international sales - but the details will be resolved in secret.

  • by Eryk Bagshaw
June 16, 2010. An Australian Special Operations Task Group soldier observing the valley during the Shah Wali Kot Offensive.

Mid Caption: Shah Wali Kot Offensive 

Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) partnered with Australian Special Forces from the Special Operations Task Group conducted a deliberate operation to clear a Taliban insurgent stronghold in the Shah Wali Kot region of northern Kandahar province.

The Shah Wali Kot Offensive comprised synchronised and deliberate clearance operations involving Australian Commandos combined with a number of surgical helicopter-born assaults from Special Air Service (SAS) troops on key targets.

Removing Taliban insurgents from Afghan communities allows the Government of Afghanistan to establish a presence and gain the trust of the community to provide them with necessary infrastructure and security that was not provided by the insurgents.

Please Explain podcast: Brereton inquiry summary to expose "inhumane" Australian war crimes in Afghanistan

In this episode, group executive editor James Chessell and senior investigative journalist Nick McKenzie discuss what to expect from the summary of the Brereton inquiry and the contents of Dr Crompvoets' report. 

  • by James Chessell
Wall Street posted strong gains as investors keyed on positive earnings from American Express and CSX.
Opinion
Bonds

A successful vaccine spells trouble for some investors

2020 has been a challenging year for bond investors. The announcement of a prospective vaccine has thrown them another curveball.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
The 2023 Women's World Cup was a joint venture, but Australia and New Zealand have different - and sometimes competing - football interests.
Analysis
FFA

As One? The tension at the heart of trans-Tasman football relations

Australia and New Zealand worked together to win hosting rights for the 2023 Women's World Cup - but the nations have separate and sometimes competing interests.

  • by Vince Rugari
Nine chief executive Hugh Marks pays the price for an alleged staff relationship.

Corporate Australia has not grown an ethical spine - it's just more risk averse

The mantra de jour in corporate Australia is management of non-financial risk - and executive fraternisation with staff is part of it.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
GAS 980422 JOHN WOUDSTRA / GENERIC GAS STOVE - LIGHTING THE FLAME WITH A MATCH igniting
Opinion
Gas

Expense and emissions may see household use of gas flame out

There is one part of your home’s energy supply that is often forgotten in the push to reduce emissions – the gas used for cooking, hot water and winter heating.

  • by Guy Dundas
Tensions have been steadily building between Beijing and Ottawa since Canadian police, acting on a US request, detained  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport.

China's new wolf warrior diplomacy is a Maoist resurrection

Australia must be prepared to bear short-term pain for the long-term benefit of defending core national interests against China.

  • by Anne-Marie Brady
Joel Fitzgibbon
Letters
Letters

Member for Hunter becomes the hunted but all sides act too slowly

Peter Hartcher is correct in his assessment of both the Liberal, National and the Labor Parties' fear of finally doing what needs to be done to settle the climate change debate.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Opinion
Renewables

What climate wars? The Coalition's ship is changing tack

The international seas of climate policy are shifting and there are clear signs that the Morrison government is righting its ship to go with the tide.

  • by Patrick Suckling
In the Herald

In the Herald: November 16, 1969

"Kind of a rough start”, a close shave and “armed holdup day”.

  • by Stephanie Bull
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People queue for welfare payments after losing their jobs.
Opinion
JobSeeker

JobSeeker decision needs to be about more than just disincentives

One word keeps coming up in phone calls with MPs, business groups and economists this year when asking about unemployment benefits: disincentive.

  • by Jennifer Duke
Allambie Heights Public School principal, Angela Helsloot.

Dealing with the unexpected is part of a principal's job

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a challenge like no other to education professionals.

  • by Angela Helsloot
US President Donald Trump during a media briefing at White House in Washington on Friday.

US needs to pass the torch to a new generation

What has become of America when the best they can offer from both sides is two men who are both older than John Howard was when he left office?

  • by Amanda Vanstone
Column 8 Granny dinkus with mask.
Opinion
Column 8

School zone hypertension not caused by salt

A rough guide to crops and paddocks.

Australian shares fell for a second session following big losses on Wall Street overnight.

Binary options shape as gambling problem for ASIC

Too many people are ignoring the basic rule of investment: higher returns come with higher risks.

  • The Herald's View
Kim Ng, pictured in 2007, when she was assistant general manager with the Dodgers.
Opinion
Baseball

This Major League Baseball first is also a triumphant end

Kim Ng has been named the first female general manager in MLB, terminating once and for all the idea that sports leadership requires some tribal-magic inner maleness.

  • by Sally Jenkins
ASEAN foreign ministers watch Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc open the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in September.
Editorial
ASEAN

Signing of trade pact a monumental step forward

The bold, new RCEP agreement is a chance to at least partly reset China's position in a region that is deeply uncomfortable with its increasing militarisation.

  • The Herald's View
Cars kill about 300 koalas in south-east Queensland each year and dogs kill about 75, according the state government.

We are one: let's sing it from the rooftops

Hear, hear! Gladys Berejiklian may be doing it tough in some quarters, but she is on song with changes to the national anthem.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
Federal Population Minister Alan Tudge with his staffer Rachelle Miller. Ms Miller has revealed they were having an affair.

Please, not in the name of feminism: expose of ministers' private lives merely robs women of agency

Powerless to resist the indications that some chap fancies you? Then what hope do you have of asserting yourself professionally?

  • by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Two thousand posties will be retrained to deliver parcels.
letters
Letters

Kit Kat bonuses? Give us a break

Helen Pitt successfully highlights the widening gap between management and workers.

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Even in the inner-city pink zones there are pockets of resistance to gay people.
Opinion
LGBT

Gays not welcome: the message from shops in one of Sydney's pinkest suburbs

A vegan restaurant, Hale & Hearty, in one of Sydney’s most rainbow suburbs – Waterloo - posted a picture on its Facebook page declaring it a “straight Sydney safe zone”.

  • by Gary Nunn
Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time at Parliament House

Mansplaining is rife in federal Parliament, but do voters care?

A Labor schism over climate change took the heat off the Coalition's ongoing woman problem, as exposed by Four Corners.

  • by Jacqueline Maley
If you speak the magic words “I’m going to leave,” then your electricity provider will probably offer you a cheaper price.

5 things big energy retailers don't want you to know about your bills

If you haven’t changed energy retailers for a few years, you are sitting on their back books. That’s not a good thing.

  • by Jessica Irvine
The corporate regulator ASIC alleges that Dixon advisers ought to have known that there was a conflict between their clients’ interests and the interests of Dixon entities.

What to do with unsuitable SMSF investments

Complaints against Dixon Advisory have built up, resulting in corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission beginning civil proceedings in September.

  • by George Cochrane