- Exclusive
- Federal budget
Budget to expand super-style scheme for home buyers
A superannuation-style scheme to help first home buyers will be bolstered in the federal budget in a test case for allowing the use of super to buy a house.
As property stocks soar, valuation becomes a tricky art
Nobody doubts the property boom could roll into next year. Or that companies selling goods to homeowners have huge tailwinds. The issue is stock valuations.
- Analysis
- Federal budget
For Josh Frydenberg, big is the new black
The Treasurer has a good story to sell on the economic recovery, but is talking less about the reality that ‘big government’ is here to stay for some years.
- Analysis
- Property market
How Australia’s property obsession warps the economy
With mortgagees now leveraged more than they have ever been, Australia is left with little room to move when economic conditions change.
Halifax’s ‘hall of mirrors’ nears final chapter
Investors caught up in the Halifax Investment Services collapse may finally get back at least some of their money.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Australia’s electric vehicle strategy is a mess
Australia lags the world in the adoption of electric vehicles, despite compelling arguments in favour of reducing carbon emissions and weaning the country off imported fuel.
ABC claims it had duty to publish Porter story
The ABC said it had a duty to publish a story that led to Christian Porter suing for defamation claim because of the need to keep voters informed about whether ministers remained fit to hold office.
Companies
Alan Joyce warns Australia could become a ‘hermit state’
The Qantas chief’s comments follow predictions this week from federal ministers that the international border will not open until deep into 2022.
‘Mission curse’ continues on Mayfair 101’s fantasy island
Two years ago, Mayfair touted plans for a $1.6 billion tourism mecca, but now offices are empty and property sellers are picking up the pieces following the investment outfit’s collapse.
Forget flowers, lawyer mums prefer partnerships
Leading lawyers are urging young lawyers to strike while the iron is hot to ensure they’re not left ‘in the proverbial parking lot’ professionally just because they want to start families.
Greensill Capital’s $1.55 billion black hole in UK
Administrators say the total estimated deficiency is US$1.182 billion.
Rio’s Mozambique ‘whistleblower’ complained of ‘obfuscation’
The man portrayed as the Rio Tinto whistleblower in a US fraud case says he felt his concerns were downplayed on a pivotal 2012 call with CFO Guy Elliott.
Surplus capital of $30b stokes bank buyback expectations
As the recovery picks up steam, shareholders are eyeing the billions of dollars built up by banks in preparation for the bad debts that never came.
Macquarie executive earns $5m more than CEO
An unprecedented Texan cold snap and the galloping recovery from the pandemic helped deliver the eye-watering pay packet to little-known Macquarie veteran Nick O’Kane.
Markets
US stocks rally to record highs as jobs data bolsters Fed’s caution
Both the Dow and S&P 500 reset record highs as the latest data pointed to labour market weakness, and a continuing need for accommodative policy and stimulus.
Iron ore resets its record high for a second straight session
The price of iron ore extended its rally, rising another 5 per cent to $US212.75 a tonne according to S&P Global Platts.
Copper jumps to record as growth bets supercharge commodities
Futures in London rose as high as $US10,440 a tonne, extending their year-to-date rally to 30 per cent.
RBA watching ‘unusually large’ household savings
The extent to which households deploy their savings will determine whether the Reserve Bank is forced into an earlier than expected tightening of monetary policy.
Business leaders reveal recovery’s winners and losers
Insight from chief executives at this week’s Macquarie Australia conference and March quarter updates helped to signal the challenges facing businesses in the recovery.
Opinion
Spending on care can’t be careless of deficits
The budget will have important social service objectives. We owe it to make them financially sustainable.
Editorial
RBA shoots down inflation hawks
Deputy governor Guy Debelle dismissed talk of spikes in wages and inflation by showing that Australia’s economy remains quagmired by globally weak price pressures.
Columnist
Biden is making a mistake on vaccine patents
An act of apparent generosity could damage the IP system that created these miracle drugs in the first place.
Contributor
Can’t beat the border populists, so the PM has joined them
The India travel ban shows the government has given in to the hardline approach of state premiers. Not because it is necessarily right, but because it is politically popular.
Political editor
Australians need clarity on war or peace
An independent annual threat assessment is better than the shapeless war talk voters are getting at the moment.
Contributor
Make quarantine fit to return the stranded and open border
The India travel ban controversy must put large dedicated quarantine facilities on the table so expat Australians, then students, tourists and skilled labour can be brought back.
Editorial
Politics
Restrictions on foreign students’ work hours to ease
Foreign students will be allowed to work more hours to help tourism and hospitality businesses.
Repatriation flights planned as end to India travel ban in sight
Scott Morrison says the travel ban has worked as planned and will not extend past May 15, but no decision has been made on the resumption of commercial flights.
- Analysis
- Industrial relations
NZ goes back to the ’70s with new IR club
Overhauled labour laws aim to provide industry-wide coverage for poorly paid workers, but there is scope for any number of sectors to be captured in future.
Sydney ‘rolling with the punches’ as virus link evades tracers
Sydneysiders have not let the latest snap restrictions ruin their Mother’s Day as venues only report a handful of cancellations.
Hopes sink for Qld quarantine facility
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Commonwealth might back Victoria’s proposed quarantine facility, but not those in other states such as Queensland.
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World
We will never know the true extent of India’s pandemic tragedy
Public health experts believe India’s second wave infection numbers could peak in mid-May, but the crisis in hospitals will linger for months.
US economy adds 266,000 in April
The closely watched employment report missed expectations of a near 1-million advance. And March’s payrolls were revised downward by almost 150,000.
Boris Johnson gets boost from byelection win in Labour heartland
The result shows Labour leader Keir Starmer struggling to overcome the schisms opened up by Brexit, which have driven battlers towards the Tories.
Second wave could see 2.8pc hit to India’s GDP: analysts
Analysts are adjusting expectations as they wait for India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19 to peak.
Ardern supercharges union power in IR overhaul
New Zealand’s Labour government has announced a radical overhaul of labour laws that places centralised wage bargaining back at the heart of industrial relations law.
Property
Return of property investors turns up heat in hot markets
Tighter rental markets, higher yields and the prospect of strong capital gains is bringing back investors, particularly in Perth and regional centres.
How APRA could slow the hot property market
Economists are tipping a tightening of macroprudential standards later this year following the return of investors into the hot housing market.
Goodman creating a ‘Milestone’ portfolio every six months
Greg Goodman says the $3.8 billion sale of the Blackstone portfolio is a bellwether of the appetite for logistics assets globally, but it doesn’t need to buy assets.
- Exclusive
- 2021 Tokyo Olympics
Returning Olympians may shack up in empty student digs
Olympic authorities are proposing student accommodation be used to quarantine athletes and officials returning from Tokyo to avoid burdening existing quarantine facilities.
Grant Hackett’s luxe villa on ‘Millionaires’ Row’ sells in five days
The former Olympian’s plush beachfront holiday home in the prestigious Gold Coast suburb of Mermaid Beach was snapped up for $2.625 million.
Wealth
Seven left-field ideas for housing-related investing
Canny ways to profit from the housing boom include buying into property lenders, self-storage property trusts and emerging telco providers.
The lecture that convinced Neilson to back spinal research
About five years ago, a colleague suggested billionaire philanthropist Kerr Neilson attend a lecture on spinal injuries. What he saw and heard galvanised him.
Buy, hold, sell: Roku, Deere & Co, CrowdStrike, Twilio, HelloFresh
If FAANG stocks are dead, these stocks might be their replacements.
Technology
My dad the engineer worked on breakthrough tech into his 90s
Owen Potter worked until his early 90s on his last invention, which could improve industrial processes. Now it’s up to his children to carry on his life’s work.
US megatechs’ ‘exceptionalism’ to be tested: Goldman
Goldman Sachs argues that anti-trust intervention is the biggest threat, of several, to US tech stocks which continue to dominate the S&P 500.
Industry warns government’s AI cash splash is way short
On the surface, a new $124 million investment in AI looks like a lot, but spread over six years, the tech sector says it is at least $126 million short.
Work & Careers
The untold story of how Jeff Bezos beat the tabloids
When a gossip rag went after the Amazon CEO, he responded with the brutal efficiency he used to build his business.
How to make the right decision
The vast majority of ethical dilemmas do not relate to large scale fraud or stealing. They are dilemmas we all face daily in the course of our work.
Life & Luxury
How lockdown turned author Ian Rankin into a jigsaw fiend
For someone whose day job is crafting intricate plots full of interlocking clues, puzzles seem to be a natural pastime.
When crime novel fans turn NIMBYs
The crime writer chose to use a fictional Highland village for his new novel after he was criticised by residents previously for using a real one.
Solid Gold: Artists from Paradise
The Home of the Arts Gallery inaugural exhibition on the Gold Coast highlights the work of local artists in textiles, ceramics, painting and immersive video.
De Gaulle brings a French giant to the big screen
Portraying one of France’s most respected figures – an archetypal military man: stiff, formal, devoted to duty – in a way that engages modern audiences was never going to be easy.
Why you’re intrigued when billionaires’ marriages fail
If the Gateses can’t make a marriage work, what hope is there for everyone else? It’s comforting to know relationships are difficult, no matter who you are.
