The Financial Review Wine Club is the home for seasoned collectors and wine enthusiasts.
New COP28 deal dumps fossil fuel ‘phase-out’
After a marathon round of backroom wrangling, the 198-nation summit will now weigh up whether to endorse a ‘transition away from’ fossil fuels by 2050.
Second surplus in sight after revenue surge
A $64.4 billion tax revenue surge, and a $7.4 billion “delay” in infrastructure spending, has put the budget on track for a second successive surplus.
$10b budget ‘savings’ mostly delayed roads and rail spending
Three-quarters of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ $9.8 billion in budget cuts come from pushing spending on major road and rail projects beyond the four-year forecasts.
Miners, tech lift shares; Fortescue, Neuren hit record highs
Shares gain 0.3pc as health stocks climb. Sigma jumps on Chemist Warehouse deal. Air NZ cuts guidance. Wall St cheers US inflation data. Oil sinks. Bond yields fall. Follow here.
Sacked CEO sues SolGold after boardroom stoush
BHP and Newmont’s struggling Ecuadorian copper play has hit more trouble, with former CEO Darryl Cuzzubbo filing a multimillion-dollar breach of contract claim.
Victoria’s casino regulator investigating Crown Resorts
The gaming group confirmed on Tuesday that it was looking into allegations its chief executive allowed customers removed by security to return to its premises.
Australia votes ‘with world’ at UN for Gaza ceasefire
The UN resolution came as Anthony Albanese joined his Canadian and New Zealand counterparts in criticising both Israel and Hamas amid the escalating war in Gaza.
KPMG tries a Jedi mind trick | How Victoria’s rail loop was created with PwC | CPA Australia reeling
MID-YEAR BUDGET UPDATE
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Chalmers’ best budget effort must be sustained
Jim Chalmers has resisted pressure to spend a $64 billion tax windfall. The tougher test will be showing sustained fiscal discipline and getting the runaway NDIS under control, writes John Kehoe.
Chalmers to slug late taxpayers, passport applicants
Businesses and workers who do not pay their tax on time will no longer be able to deduct the late fee, in a move expected to raise $500 million per year.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
We’re still the iron ore lucky country. It won’t last forever
A surging iron ore price is driving Australia’s post-pandemic budget repair, the mid-year update shows. But the lucky country’s resources luck shouldn’t be taken as a given.
MYEFO fights ‘war on inflation’ by banking revenue windfall
Wednesday’s federal budget update will reject calls for more spending on cost of living relief.
MYEFO finds $10b in savings to ease pressure on inflation: Gallagher
The mid-year budget update to be released on Wednesday will claw back almost $10 billion in savings and “reprioritisations”.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
Nuix directors expected to make up lagging performance
Nuix directors relied on performance data from management, which indicated the tech stock would get itself out of trouble in time to hit prospectus guidance.
- Exclusive
- Casinos
Crown launches internal investigation into CEO
The Blackstone-owned gaming group has launched an inquiry into allegations management intervened to allow patrons removed from its casinos back in.
Rinehart to claim truffle farming crown
Australia’s iron ore and cattle queen, Gina Rinehart, is well on her way to becoming the biggest truffle grower, and is looking to add the delicacy to menus that already feature her wagyu beef.
ASIC sued Star’s board a year ago. The case will be heard in 2025
ASIC’s case against Star’s board, launched 12 months ago, has come to a standstill because a judge is so busy he can’t hear it until February 2025.
Golden times for the used car market are over
The average time taken to sell a secondhand vehicle in Australia is at its highest level in a year, and values keep dropping.
McKinsey, BCG don’t want public to know junior partners earn $700,000+
McKinsey told a Senate inquiry it was “not able to share the remuneration of our individual partners”, while BCG said partner pay was “tied to a global structure in a highly competitive global market”.
- Exclusive
- Business of sport
Super Rugby’s Melbourne Rebels falls behind on tax bill, stadium fees
While the ATO is demanding its directors pay up, the club’s chairman, Paul Docherty, insists the team is financially viable.
Companies in the News
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Markets
Markets trim rate cut bets before Fed meeting
Hotter-than-expected US inflation data fuelled speculation Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell will push back on rate cut expectations at the last meeting for 2023.
AustralianSuper allocates $2.3b to private credit fund
The country’s biggest super fund has upped its allocation to the $US1.6 trillion private credit market amid shrinking bank balance sheets and tighter regulation.
Goldman’s $152m man to step down – and it’s not David Solomon
Ed Emerson, the head of the investment bank’s commodities business, was paid $US100 million over the past three years, over $30 million more than the CEO over the same period.
US inflation data strengthens hopes of rate pause
The mixed picture in the US inflation report will probably keep the Federal Reserve on track to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Here’s what happened in markets overnight
US stocks, bonds and the dollar struggled for direction after the core US consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.3 per cent.
Opinion
The surplus the treasurer doesn’t want to mention – yet
Both sides have conveniently ignored external calamities in the battle for economic supremacy.
Political editor
Chalmers’ best budget effort must be sustained
Jim Chalmers has resisted pressure to spend a $64 billion tax windfall. The tougher test will be showing sustained fiscal discipline and getting the runaway NDIS under control.
Economics editor
Bullock’s interest rate communication job just got harder
The disclosure of RBA board votes and public remarks by board members will make it more challenging for Michele Bullock to control the central bank’s message.
Economics editor
Why Dutton feels confident in attack mode
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is using every opportunity to target the Labor government, confident that he is ending this year with the political momentum rather than Anthony Albanese.
Columnist
COP28: Beware premature predictions of the death of fossil fuels
Whatever the final climate conference wording, given the clear lack of global consensus, we should be wary of predictions that oil’s days are numbered.
Editorial
Palaszczuk leaves behind a profligate legacy
Annastacia Palaszczuk bequeaths the next premier a temporary budget surplus built on a populist jacking up of coal royalties.
Editorial
Reports
Motoring - Cars to watch
The special report looks at the most exciting cars of the year, sporty EVs, and car collecting as an investment.
Sponsored
by BMWPolitics
Chalmers to slug late taxpayers, passport applicants
Businesses and workers who do not pay their tax on time will no longer be able to deduct the late fee, in a move expected to raise $500 million per year.
$10b budget ‘savings’ mostly delayed roads and rail spending
Three-quarters of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ $9.8 billion in budget cuts come from pushing spending on major road and rail projects beyond the four-year forecasts.
Indigenous owners ‘split by greenies’: WA premier
Roger Cook says well-funded environmental groups are working to divide Aboriginal communities and use them to oppose resources projects across the country.
- Exclusive
- AUSTRAC crackdown
AUSTRAC to crack down on digital services in 2024
Digital currency exchanges, payment platforms, bullion and non-bank lenders will all be put under the AUSTRAC microscope in 2024.
Trade focus shift to UAE, as China eases bans
The government has shelved plans for an FTA with the EU and will focus on the new year to seal a deal with the UAE.
SPONSORED
World
China’s leaders send mixed signals on how to fix economy
A key meeting of Xi Jinping and his top policy advisers has left investors confused about how far Beijing is prepared to go to bolster economic growth.
Biden warns Israel it is losing support over war
The US president urged Benjamin Netanyahu to change his hard-line government and back the two-state solution.
Argentines 54pc poorer as president devalues peso
Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, is taking the first steps in a shock-therapy program to try and pull the country from an inherited economic crisis.
Is the party over for the world’s most profitable law firm?
A boom in private equity meant bumper pay and rapid promotion for Kirkland & Ellis partners, but competition is growing as dealmaking slows.
New COP28 deal dumps fossil fuel ‘phase-out’
After a marathon round of backroom wrangling, the 198-nation summit will now weigh up whether to endorse a ‘transition away from’ fossil fuels by 2050.
Property
Six maps that show where you can buy a home on your income
An increasingly expensive property market is outpacing single buyers. This is what that looks like.
The suburbs where house prices are up more than 5pc
Which suburbs are defying the slowdown in house prices across Sydney and Melbourne?
- Exclusive
- Commercial property finance
Sam Arnaout arrives at Hudson House, headquarters of the very rich
The billionaire publican has snapped up the offices once occupied by late television king Reg Grundy, signalling a changing of the guard among Sydney’s rich.
Why Haben expects a Townsville mall to deliver an 8.5pc return
A flurry of mall deals has kicked off the week, including Stockland divesting its Townsville mall to Haben and Charter Hall divesting two malls for a total of $225.5 million.
Industrial vacancy rate rises for first time in five years
The modest increase in the industrial vacancy rate to 1.1 per cent nationally will slow down the pace of rental growth and increase choice for occupiers.
Wealth
Upsizing your home to access the age pension is a flawed strategy
A couple want to spend $600,000 of super on the purchase in the hope of qualifying for some government income.
Where to invest in water (and why you’d want to)
A government shakeout is likely to attract more investors to this emerging asset class and its compelling returns.
- Opinion
- Commodities
Time to sift through lithium wreckage
Professional investors say demand for lithium is likely to soar due to big increases in how much is used in electric vehicles.
Technology
- Exclusive
- Enterprise IT
Atturra’s $90m acquisition spree to help it take on Accenture, IBM
CEO Stephen Kowal says the Cirrus deal will give it the balance sheet and scale needed to compete for projects against foreign-owned IT businesses.
Time to get a new watch? Don’t get Google’s Pixel Watch 2
Google’s latest Pixel Watch 2 is greatly improved on last year’s model, but it’s still not quite up to par.
- Exclusive
- Funding
New fund targets companies battered by market doubts
Record low biotech valuations have prompted a new VC investor to start shopping with a planned $200 million fund.
Work & Careers
TechOne director claims understaffing forced him to work 70-hour weeks
The company brought forward sales targets in the previous financial year but did not have enough staff, according to new allegations made in the Federal Court.
$6 an hour daycare: Life as an Aussie lawyer in Paris
Naomi Creighton says salaries tend to be lower in Paris but the lower cost of living in France makes any difference in pay less noticeable.
Life & Luxury
Why parents in Japan can’t give their kids whacky names
About 4000 people a year change their moniker in a country where it’s frowned upon to stand out.
What it’s like to stay at Southern Ocean Lodge II, from $3400
The jewel in Baillie Lodges’ crown is back, following a $55 million rebuild after the original Kangaroo Island site burnt down in January 2020.
The first Australian writer to make politics and sex sing
Frank Moorhouse was one of Australia’s most adventurous and productive authors. A new biography explains his rise.
- Analysis
- The Buzz
‘Nudify’ apps that use AI to undress women are soaring in use
The law is struggling to catch up with the rise in deepfake, non-consensual pornography.
Why fashionable wait-staff help restaurants
Once an afterthought, uniforms are now a unique selling point for hospitality businesses – so much so that customers are walking out the door with them.
