Buckle up for the biggest correction in 40 years
Vendors are discounting, clearance rates are falling and so too are new listings of homes for auction, as old stock piles up unsold. But bargain-hunting buyers are also getting more cautious with their borrowing and nobody wants to get caught out over-paying.
- Exclusive
- Federal budget
Grill’d billed taxpayers $16.6m for ‘hamburger university’
The popular burger chain was the top user of a worker training scheme set up by the Morrison government during the pandemic.
- Live
- Need to Know
Abe in critical condition: Japanese PM
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida says doctors doing everything they can to save Shinzo Abe; suspect, man in his 40s, named; reports Shinzo Abe shot with a handmade weapon. Follow updates here.
ASX rises 0.5pc, Asian shares wobble on Abe shooting
The ASX posted a weekly gain of 2.1 per cent – its best since mid-March. Japanese shares retreated on Friday following the shooting of a former prime minister.
- Exclusive
- Electricity
Energy retailers to sue AEMO over compensation cost
A spate of energy retailers are mulling a legal challenge over fees liable to the market operator as some struggle to stay afloat.
Why you need a fourth COVID vaccine
Only 60 per cent of eligible older Australians have opted for a fourth dose. The government is hoping for a better response as it rolls out the program to younger groups.
Ramsay considers European spin-off, adds Goldman Sachs to defence
There’s movement at $30 billion takeover target Ramsay Health Care.
AFR Weekend: The big stories, best reads and expert advice. In your inbox every Saturday morning.
Review
- Opinion
- Pacific diplomacy
As West points finger at China, we’d like to ask: What’s your move?
When it comes to wielding influence in the Solomon Islands, Australia has a powerful tool that China doesn’t have.
- Opinion
- Coronavirus Pandemic Live
Suffering from pandemic fatigue? Well, get over it
After a relentless two years, we all want to put the pandemic behind us but moving on too quickly is dangerous.
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Cap the price of Russian oil now before Putin goes nuclear
Russia has a major strategic vulnerability: overdependence on fossil-fuel exports, which generated nearly $150 billion in the first 100 days of the war.
China’s great foreign policy shake-up
Beijing’s two most senior foreign policy officials will retire within the next nine months giving Xi Jinping the chance to promote a new generation of ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats.
Inside the plan to turn Trump’s ‘big lie’ into a second term
Former presidential adviser Jason Miller is the brains behind the social media platform Gettr, which is working to cement the false narrative that Biden ‘stole’ Trump’s victory.
Companies
Porsche-backed e-fuels maker to build $1b Australian plant
The announcement adds to the pick-up of momentum in decarbonisation investments amid the push to net zero emissions.
How Jamie Pherous came to lend $13m to law firm Shine
A board-level introduction for a private loan shows how potential conflicts of interest can be open to many interpretations.
Huge battery to power $2.5b Brisbane data storage project
A 2000 megawatt-hour battery will support a huge green data centre that Quinbrook Infrastructure has unveiled for northern Brisbane.
- Exclusive
- Nuix investigation
Solving ‘big, wicked’ problems with Nuix’s new boss
Separating the “new” Nuix from the “old” is one of Mr Rubinsztein’s top priorities, fresh from the turnaround of another dysfunctional company.
Flood insurance bill approaches $100 million
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet took to the air to survey the flood-affected Hunter region on Friday, as the insurance damage bill neared $100 million.
- Exclusive
- Energy
Energy retailers investigated for $100m hedges
Two small sellers urged customers to leave and then quietly sold their hedging positions for up to $100 million.
- Updated
- Executive shake-up
Crown’s road to recovery needed fresh eyes: McCann
Crown Resorts chief executive Steve McCann will be replaced by industry veteran Ciaran Carruthers after he leaves the company in September.
Companies in the News
Search companies
View stories and data from an ASX listed company
Markets
Mt Gox investor says bitcoin’s surge ‘a form of torture’
Crypto investors that lost bitcoin from the collapse of the Japanese exchange in 2014 will finally be repaid something.
Commodities rebound on renewed China stimulus hopes
Reports that Chinese officials are contemplating a $327b stimulus package has boosted sentiment and sparked a recovery in raw materials.
Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is in peril
The billionaire’s camp has concluded that Twitter’s figures on spam accounts are not verifiable, and that could end the bid.
Buy, hold, sell: Five bargain ETFs to refresh your portfolio
The market is offering quite a few end-of-financial-year deals right now.
‘Cash grab’: Stake stock lending under fire from Reddit traders
Critics have blasted the popular neo-broker’s soon-to-be-launched stock lending business for its default opt-in and allegedly unfair revenue split.
Opinion
Boris exit must be a reset for the right
The global right has been seduced by the fool’s gold of populist leaders. The British PM’s resignation is a chance to focus on long-term economic revival with a clear ideological purpose.
Contributor
Boris Johnson’s rise and fall are like no other
Australia’s politics operates in very different ways from Britain’s. But the UK still has a quiet prominence in Australia’s political, civil and cultural life.
Senior writer
How the RBA duped Aussie households
Martin Place risks destroying economic prosperity with some of the most aggressive rate increases in the world that are based on forecasts not worth the paper they are written on, writes Christopher Joye.
Columnist
Kyrgios’ pass to final represents tournament’s worst nightmare
While Wimbledon baulked at the prospect of presenting the trophy to Daniil Medvedev, it could yet be forced to glorify the most mercurial and polarising player of all.
Contributor
Boris Johnson was both political magician and clown
The resigning British prime minister conjured up an 80-seat majority, only to squander it in office through his own behaviour.
Editorial
Electric vehicles face a potholed road ahead
Labor’s modelling assumes 89 per cent of new car sales will be electric by 2030. Without dramatic policy change, the car industry doesn’t think it’s feasible.
Columnist
Politics
PM bans blind trusts and shares for ministers, keeps ‘bonk ban’
A tough new code of conduct will prohibit such financial arrangements, while maintaining rules stopping ministers having sex with their staff.
Higher dam wall won’t stop flood pain for Warragamba residents
In Warragamba on Sydney’s southwest fringe, may residents support raising the dam wall but the local mayor is not one of them.
Australia-China relations should be ‘stabilised’
The foreign minister has called for less rocky associations with Beijing before a meeting with her Chinese counterpart at a G20 ministerial gathering in Bali.
Cinemas, zoos and theme parks thrive on government vouchers
Cinemas, theme parks and zoos benefited the most from a surge of people in NSW looking to redeem their Dine & Discover vouchers in the final week, boosting the economy at a time when it was not needed.
Sydney desal plant dialled up to max capacity as Western Sydney floods
The state’s water and flood mitigation strategy has emerged at the centre of political debate as the clean up begins on a flooding crisis which has left almost 30 local government areas designated as natural disaster zones.
SPONSORED
World
EU gave up on Boris Johnson but expects more of same from successor
Most in Brussels believe the UK PM’s successor will further pursue plans to unilaterally amend the post-Brexit trade deal Boris Johnson once signed.
- Analysis
- UK leadership
Who’s in the race to be Britain’s next PM, and how will it be won?
The outcome will depend on whether MPs and grassroots Tories are minded to reward or punish those who stuck with Boris Johnson, versus those who deserted him.
- Opinion
- Wimbledon
Kyrgios’ pass to final represents tournament’s worst nightmare
While Wimbledon baulked at the prospect of presenting the trophy to Daniil Medvedev, it could yet be forced to glorify the most mercurial and polarising player of all.
- Analysis
- Wimbledon
Ons Jabeur, an entertainer who may soon be a Wimbledon champion
The Tunisian, 27, has worked hard on believing in herself. She comes from a country and region that had produced professional women’s players but never a talent capable of challenging for the biggest prizes.
‘Them’s the breaks’: Johnson quits, sets off Tory leadership race
British PM Boris Johnson says “the herd” moved against him, in a signal he was reluctant to go. He will stay on in the role until the Tories pick his successor.
Property
Sellers fear property market ‘grinding to a halt’ as decline picks up
As rate rises start to bite, buyers are refusing to pay asking prices while banks are offering big discounts and cash incentives to attract reluctant borrowers.
Fewer than half Sydney homes sell at auction
If the correction persists at its current pace, housing boom gains in Sydney and Melbourne achieved during the pandemic, could be wiped out by July next year.
Deagues’ high country housing plan has a Bright future
A popular destination for tourists throughout the year, Bright is the gateway into nearby snowfields during winter as well as for outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling.
First home buyer grants help vendors more than buyers
A new report makes clear that Australia’s inability to provide secure housing for lower-income people puts it at a competitive disadvantage to other countries.
- Explainer
- NSW residential property
This one choice could save you $67,375 on your first home
NSW will offer first home buyers the option of paying an annual land tax rather than stamp duty if they buy a property worth up to $1.5 million. Which should they choose?
Wealth
Sellers fear property market ‘grinding to a halt’ as decline picks up
As rate rises start to bite, buyers are refusing to pay asking prices while banks are offering big discounts and cash incentives to attract reluctant borrowers.
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
What your apartment block should do when telcos come knocking
Strata schemes struggle when broadband bullies legally demand access to their buildings.
- Opinion
- SMSFs
SMSF checklist to kick off new financial year
What you need to do to get 2022-23 off to a great start.
Technology
- Analysis
- IT networks
We’re starting to see clear signs of tech troubles
Analysts have been cutting their forecasts over the past two weeks in anticipation of a worsening market for Samsung’s chips, smartphones and other electronics.
Federal regulators take aim at tech platforms’ algorithms
After a decade of hands-off regulation, four federal regulators are stepping up their oversight of the digital economy focusing on computer algorithms, automated decision-making and digital transparency.
- Opinion
- Home entertainment
Eureka! LG’s C2 OLED is a tweak-free TV
Out of the box, everything about the brand’s latest model looks just right, the way it was intended to.
Work & Careers
Questions when a woman says ‘I don’t want a partnership’
King & Wood Mallesons boss Renae Lattey still believes in gender targets, even though her firm missed one for 2022.
- Analysis
- Decision making
‘Wealthy people aren’t so much brilliant as lucky’
An insider’s account of Chinese crony capitalism provides better business advice than modern versions of How to Make Friends and Influence People.
Life & Luxury
This pro cyclist hasn’t looked back since he quit Goldman Sachs
Former yellow jersey wearer and current SBS Tour de France commentator Simon Gerrans has found purpose in retirement by juggling two jobs.
- Analysis
- Tourism
The snow is good but the runs are strangely quiet
Price rises and tough competition from American operators have hit crowds at NSW’s Thredbo ski resort.
The fixer, the cheat and the corruption crisis in global tennis
Few sports are as fine-tuned for match-fixing. For a decade, it has struggled with deceit, the online gambling boom and organised crime’s influence.
What you must know before travelling ultra-long haul
While there are many advantages to getting where you need to go quickly and without fuss, there are downsides too.
Kyrgios advances to final after Nadal pulls out with injury
A torn abdominal muscle has knocked Rafael Nadal out, allowing Nick Kyrgios to secure his first final appearance at a major tournament.
