- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The real win in BHP’s deal with Tesla
Winning Elon Musk’s group as a customer helps the mining giant’s push into minerals vital to decarbonisation. But a collaboration deal could be even more valuable.
- Live
- Need to Know
Sydney’s ‘next few months’ will be clear by the weekend: AMA
President of the Australian Medical Association welcomed Scott Morrison’s apology for the slow vaccine rollout; PM implored over 60s to get the jab; two more deaths linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past week; NSW has at least 48 cases infectious in the community after a massive 85,000 tests. Follow updates here.
NSW told to brace for more cases as key figure jumps
Experts say the “bright side” to Sydney’s rising case numbers was the outbreak was not growing exponentially despite people breaking lockdown restrictions.
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
ATAGI misses the point of the jab
We always encourage people to accept the health risk of vaccination for the good of society. The same should apply to the AstraZeneca vaccine to prevent harmful lockdowns.
- Live
- Markets Live
Miners lift shares to record high; Zip tumbles on US miss
BHP inks Tesla supply deal, commodities boom cranks June’s trade surplus, Santos targets $US1b in free cashflow, Megaport trims loss. Oil surges.
Lacaze backs taxpayer support for US battery metals giant
The Morrison government is providing a near $5 million handout to $27 billion, NYSE-listed Ablemarle as Australia and the US continue to work together on developing non-China battery metal and critical mineral supply chains.
- Updated
- Big four
Forum Group sold to business run by a man described as Bill Papas’ cousin
Eric Constantinidis is the sole shareholder of Our Kloud, the business which has bought Forum Group.
How to negotiate the new world of work. Expert advice in your inbox every Thursday.
Companies
- Updated
- Coronavirus pandemic
![“We’re not at the point of requiring stand downs in our domestic operations at this stage. But to be honest we can’t rule it out if multiple states keep their borders closed for extended periods,” Mr Joyce said.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Stand down spectre looms over airline workers
Qantas boss Alan Joyce is warning his staff that they may find themselves stood down yet again as COVID-19 outbreaks crush its flying activity.
![Zip Co chief executive Larry Diamond says the company has delivered record numbers in all of the regions in which it operated.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Zip shares slump, despite revenue doubling
The buy now, pay later company has reported a 104 per cent jump in revenue to $129.9 million.
![.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
AGL to give shareholders climate vote
AGL Energy has agreed to give shareholders a vote on climate reporting for both its demerged businesses as renewed investor pressures build up around the country’s biggest carbon emitter.
![BHP Nickel West will supply Tesla from its refinery south of Perth.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
BHP drives home nickel supply deal with Tesla
BHP bullish about demand for electric vehicles after signing deal to supply nickel to Elon Musk’s Tesla.
PwC to bring forward pay rises, expand bonus pool
PwC’s 8000 workers will get pay rises sooner and more of them will get bonuses under a new strategy to attract and retain staff.
Seven Group stake in Boral climbs to almost 60pc
The Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven Group has tightened its grip and a board shakeout is likely once the offer ends.
Apple under fire from banks and regulators on payment app restrictions
A parliamentary joint committee will conduct hearings next week to consider whether Apple and Google exert too much market power with their payment apps.
Companies in the News
Westpac Banking Corporation
Oil Search
Telstra Corporation
Commonwealth Bank
Updated: Jul 22, 2021 – 3.54pm. Data is 20 mins delayed.
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Markets
![The biggest beneficiary of the rules has been Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, whose shares have jumped 14 per cent this month.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Wall Street banks rush to salvage China IPO pipeline after Didi shock
Heavy intervention by Chinese regulators has thrown further US listings into doubt and set off a scramble to redirect deals.
![Female representation in hedge funds, at 18.6 per cent, is the second-lowest across seven alternative asset classes, according to data group Preqin.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
UBS launches portfolio to invest in women-led hedge funds
The global financial services firm has built a database of more than 340 women who are sole or joint managers.
![Australia has become increasingly reliant on China’s demand for iron ore.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Records continue to fall on China iron ore demand
China’s demand for iron ore accounted for almost half the value of goods exports in June.
Ed Eason set to be new Yarra Capital managing director
Commonwealth Bank exec and former Goldman Sachs investment banker Ed Eason is stepping into Dion Hershan’s shoes as managing director at Yarra Capital Management.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why most M&A deals fail
Wizened shareholders in public companies will know takeovers often collapse. Research about the biggest ones in the past 50 years provides some explanations.
Opinion
Brisbane’s big chance to step into the spotlight
Brisbane has long felt overshadowed by its bigger cousins in Sydney and Melbourne, but the 2032 Olympics will be a chance to step into the limelight.
Queensland bureau chief
Hedge funds harvest the gap between active and passive
Some of the world’s largest hedge funds are profiting by anticipating the ins and outs of passive strategies, built on transparent rules that are cheap to implement but open to arbitrage.
Senior reporter
Virus, climate change pose tricky timetables for Morrison
Just as it can’t speed up vaccine delivery, the federal government can’t slow the global timetable for joining the commitment to zero net emissions by 2050.
Columnist
Pulling the drawbridge can’t save us from health or cyber pandemics
Castle-and-moat cyber security has been abandoned because all threats can’t be blocked. This lesson needs to be applied to lockdowns that can never eliminate the virus.
Contributor
Vaccine blind spot shows limits of ‘following the health advice’
Conservative medical advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine failed to consider the broader costs and benefits, and politicians failed to override the mistake.
Economics editor
The moral quandary of vaccinating children against COVID-19
One of the towering figures of paediatric medicine questions if children should be forced to protect the sick, the elderly and those too lazy to get vaccinated.
Senior correspondent
Politics
![Trade Minister Dan Tehan is in the US talking to Google and IBM about digital trade agreements.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Tehan steps up fight on ‘protectionist’ EU, US carbon tariff plans
Australia’s Trade Minister says attempts to impose border adjustment levies on carbon-intensive exporters will fall foul of WTO rules.
![Moses Obeid (left), Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid (right).](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Eddie Obeid can remain at Hunters Hill mansion until September
The corrupt former NSW mining minister had his bail extended along with son, Moses, and one-time political ally Ian Macdonald.
![School students pose for a celebratory photo at an Olympics breakfast event at King George Square on Wednesday ahead of the IOC announcement.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Brisbane, the last one standing in Australia’s Olympic race
Winning the 2032 Games will help drive south-east Queensland’s economy for the next decade and help the tourism industry recover from the pandemic.
We’ll dodge new recession, says PM
Treasury and the Reserve Bank believe a second bust in as many years will be avoided, Scott Morrison says, despite Sydney’s current lockdown.
Delta variant could wipe out economic gains
A failure to contain the coronavirus delta variant will reset the economy to pre-pandemic levels and spark a W-shaped recovery, economists say.
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World
![A man rides a bicycle through a flooded intersection in Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan Province.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
‘Please save us!’ Grim scenes in China as flood inundates a subway
The flood that inundated Line 5 of Zhengzhou’s subway on Tuesday added to the grim global toll extreme weather has taken already this year.
- Exclusive
- Regulation
![BSP chairman Sir Kostas Constantinou has breached term limits for a PNG financial institution.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Bank of South Pacific chairman breaches tenure limits
Sir Kostas Constantinou has been on the BSP board since 2009, a clear breach of PNG’s prudential standards, and another headache for the embattled bank.
![A hydrogen storage tank and loading system at the liquefied hydrogen receiving terminal on Kobe Airport Island in Kobe, Japan. Japan will have to accelerate the closure of coal plants and ramp up renewable energy capacity over the next decade.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Japan seeks to aggressively cut fossil fuel use, lift renewables
Under the new plan, Japan would need to install solar panels on millions of buildings, shut dozens of coal-fired power plants and restart nearly all of its existing nuclear reactors.
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
UK’s new COVID-19 strategy is dangerous
The government’s policy of standing back and letting the virus reproduce freely is an invitation to disaster.
- Analysis
- Coronavirus pandemic
‘A form of brainwashing’: why Trump voters are refusing the jab
The pace of inoculations in the US is starkly correlated with politics. As a result, cases are increasing, hospitals are filling up and health officials are struggling to convince residents in red states.
Property
![The Bellevue Hill residence bought three years ago for $17.1 million has resold for more than $30 million.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
30-year-old Sydneysider buys $30m house
In the rarefied eastern suburbs prestige property market, it seems you’re never too young to stake your place with a trophy home, as Annabelle Shamir shows.
- Exclusive
- Property development
![The site at Donnybrook Road has long been a dairy farm and home of the Donnybrook Farmhouse Cheesery.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Japanese giant buys into Melbourne’s land boom
Since the start of the year, almost $1 billion of major greenfield sites have been acquired by the likes of Stockland and Central Equity.
![](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Charter Hall’s funds model: still fresh after three decades
Charter Hall started out 30 years ago managing other people’s money. Its property funds management model has never been more in demand than it is today.
Rental markets tighten as landlords look to sell
A growing number of property investors are selling up to take advantage of the current housing boom that could leave some rental markets even tighter.
Being carbon neutral ‘just the first step’ for Goodman
Goodman Group has achieved carbon neutrality across its global operations and is now working to help its customers achieve the same goal, says Greg Goodman.
Wealth
![Having backed payday loan operations, now one controversial player is eyeing helping retirees.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Retirees told they can live fast and die old
Treasury wants retirees to spend more of their super before they die, but critics say the government’s own policies discourage the elderly from dipping into their savings.
Spend your money before you die, Treasury urges retirees
By 2060, one in every three dollars paid out of the superannuation system will be an inheritance, instead of retirement income.
Sustainable super continues to disappoint
Sustainable funds delivered average annual returns of 8.3 per cent over the past five years, which was less than the typical balanced fund.
Technology
![The competition regulator is investigating online marketplaces such as Amazon, Kogan, eBay and Catch as part of its inquiry into digital platforms.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Amazon, Catch, Kogan and eBay under examination
The competition regulator is investigating online marketplaces - looking at pricing, the use of data and terms and conditions - as part of its inquiry into digital platforms.
![Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook are both extremely successful but they are philosophically and psychologically opposed.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Apple v Facebook: how the war in Silicon Valley is changing tech
At stake in the Tim Cook-Mark Zuckerberg feud is the future of the internet, how it is run and, crucially, how it makes money.
![The Coalition’s Christian Porter was already unpopular with many female entrepreneurs before the grants bungle.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Female start-up founders fume at Porter’s email stuff-up
Christian Porter’s office has been left scrambling to smooth over a funding bungle that left thousands of Australian female entrepreneurs disappointed.
Work & Careers
![Female representation in hedge funds, at 18.6 per cent, is the second-lowest across seven alternative asset classes, according to data group Preqin.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
UBS launches portfolio to invest in women-led hedge funds
The global financial services firm has built a database of more than 340 women who are sole or joint managers.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
The harassed are punished by system’s failures
Former AMP Capital director Julia Szlakowski says for all the talk of gender inclusion, many companies are failing to properly handle complaints.
Life & Luxury
![Louis Vuitton Carpe Diem Tambour watch.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
This luxury watch tells the time with a skull and a snake
Look, no hands: The Carpe Diem Tambour timepiece is a glittering, spooky surprise from prestigious fashion house Louis Vuitton.
![Sue Carr](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Design trends come and go – Sue Carr’s vision has never wavered
A master at creating calm and focused interiors, the designer who eschewed curtains and cushions is celebrating 50 years in the trade.
- Opinion
- Style
![It is startling to imagine that one kind of fabric can have such a rich and impactful history.](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
The history of your denim jeans may surprise you
They are made of a fabric both inherently political and deeply superficial that says so much, without even so much as a label.
- Opinion
- Electric cars
![](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
Mercedes-Benz electrifies its smallest SUV
The EQA 250 sport utility vehicle is solid, quiet and has high-quality finishes. But it’s another adaptation of a petrol car, with all the inherent compromises.
![xxx](/web/20210722061617im_/https://www.afr.com/assets/bea33247.gif)
The Louvre’s art sleuth is on the hunt for paintings looted by Nazis
Emmanuelle Polack is the face of the French museum’s efforts to return stolen works, but some discoveries have put her employer in an awkward situation.