Featured Opinion
Albanese’s challenge is to reset the national conversation
Forget the Christmas switch-off. Even if people have been watching or listening, it’s hard to believe they have heard much of the government’s message.
Columnist
Latest legal trial shows Trump still has to be defeated politically
Democrats need to realise that the pursuit of the former president through the courts only serves to fire up his never-say-never base.
Editorial
Democratic recession could deepen in 2024
At this moment of maximum global peril, democracies have lost the thing they need most: the power of their legitimacy.
Columnist
Retailers hope for clearer skies after ‘perfect storm’ in 2023
The economy managed to avoid a recession this year, but the retail sector was not as fortunate, with real retail spending declining for three consecutive quarters.
Columnist
Beware economists who won’t admit they were wrong
From an economic point of view, 2023 will go down in the record books as one of the best years ever.
Contributor
Labor’s best policy might be admitting Red Sea defence gap
If strategy is Labor’s reason, it raises concerns. If there is no available ship, it raises another set of questions about Australia’s alarming lack of military capabilities.
Editorial
Australia’s Hunter frigate project should be sunk
Its crystal clear that the replacement ships for the Anzac class that we cannot send to the Red Sea will not provide a worthwhile capability for the Royal Australian Navy.
Former Admiral
‘Hark the herald angels sing …’ But peace on earth, when?
Does the strife in the Holy Land question the relevance of Christmas, or render its message more urgent?
Archdeacon
More From Today
- Opinion
- Investing
Why you should be sceptical of the market rally
Investors are ignoring geopolitical risks and have swallowed the “immaculate disinflation” thesis hook, line and sinker.
- Christopher Joye
‘Like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory’: higher education’s bad year
2023 started well enough but as we hobble to the end of the year vice chancellors are asking: “what the heck just happened”.
- Julie Hare
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Five lessons from an unforgettable year of deals
Raids, leaks, blow-ups and a Christmas scramble: bankers may wish to forget a lot that happened in 2023, but there are some important lessons.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Inside the secret school for ASX CEOs
Chanticleer has been given a rare look inside the invite-only course for new ASX 150 CEOs, which is the brainchild of BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Shippers know the Suez is always a crisis waiting to happen
The channel should still be used, when it’s safe, as the savings are great. But knowing there’s a backup is enough assurance that the global economy won’t crash.
- Tim Culpan
- Opinion
- Inheritance
How to claim your spouse’s super after they die
There’s a way to move their retirement savings to your super – this is how to get things going.
- Meg Heffron
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
How to party without being an animal
These are the five things that will drive your neighbours nuts – this is what you can do to avoid them.
- Jimmy Thomson
This Month
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
AI is a two-speed conversation inside companies
CEOs are exploring all sorts of ways to use artificial intelligence. Their workers, however, feel unprepared for changes.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
The super variant of bracket creep
Readers’ letters on super contributions tax; net zero and offshore wind; NT chief minister, Gina Rinehart; Rex ownership; Labor performance; dividend payouts.
- Opinion
- Investing
Making sense of the December market madness
Equities are on fire and Australian investors are enjoying a broad-based rally in stocks that may just be getting started.
- Jonathan Shapiro
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Rally has more room to run as investors get three green lights
The market has built a head of steam in the last two months, and until there’s a clear risk to the Goldilocks soft landing scenario there is little reason for the bulls to turn.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Asia-Pacific
Taiwan: A Trojan horse for Beijing?
Taiwan’s elections next month will once more focus attention on the difficulty of any future move by Beijing to absorb Taiwan.
- James Curran
- Opinion
- Cryptocurrencies
3 lessons from 2023’s massive crypto rally
Blockchain currencies didn’t just survive the collapse of FTX, they’ve been the investment of the year. Turns out, decentralised finance doesn’t need exchanges.
- Niall Ferguson
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
The Fed should resist market bullying
The risk is that, to avoid unsettling market volatility, the Fed validates the market loosening with sizeable rate cuts but is forced to reverse course later.
- Mohamed El-Erian
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The good, bad and ugly of business in 2023
Big deals, dud deals, scandals and success stories. In a year of high drama and big market moves, we look back at the winners and losers.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Review
Here are 11 of the best albums of 2023
This year’s best music features songs to make you think, laugh and dance, plus something special from one of our own.
- James Thomson and Alex Gow
- Opinion
- Leadership lessons
Albanese is running Australia like a low-energy state premier
Labor would be foolish to blame their poll slide solely on interest rates. Their problem is their model of governance belongs in the cheap-money era.
- Tim Wilson and Jason Falinski
- Opinion
- The AFR View
More questions, no answers, about Turkish flights take-off
It would be in the national interest for the aviation white paper to lay out a proper pro-competition, pro-passenger framework so that regulatory decisions don’t continue to invite speculation about integrity.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Rinehart walks the talk with $1.7b lithium buy
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has been in a few lithium scraps, but has invested more in the sector than most this year. Azure Minerals is significant.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Red Sea oil spike is exactly what markets and central banks don’t need
Falling energy price have made the fight against inflation much easier, which in turn has boosted markets. The Red Sea attacks threaten to change that.
- James Thomson
