Langton says Keating was ‘right’ on the Voice
The Indigenous leader said the former PM was right about the Voice being “a mistake from the start” and that a legislated body should have been established before a referendum.
- Live
- Markets Live
Nvidia soars after hours; Qantas flags $400m buyback, profit slips
ASX futures down 0.45pc. Pilbara Minerals hit by lithium price collapse. Medibank lifts profits. Lovisa grows sales. CSR flags takeover bid. Nvidia tops expectations. Follow here.
French building giant lobs $4.3b bid for CSR
The European giant said late on Wednesday that it had succeeded in securing due diligence from the ASX-listed company’s board with the $9 a share offer.
- Live
- Need to Know
‘Market concentration has gone up’: Leigh
Andrew Leigh says new data shows competition has worsened and markups have increased; Russia detains Aleksandr Ermakov who allegedly perpetrated the Medibank hack. Follow updates here.
Confidential big four billing rates accidentally released, again
The bidding prices of the cream of the professional advisory sector have been leaked again, and the federal finance department is in full damage control.
Graduates reap rewards from booming jobs market
Students who graduated in 2019 have benefited hugely from historically low unemployment rates and massive skill shortages across the economy.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
‘The history scares us’: Rio’s IR warning
Rio Tinto has spent three years apologising for its sins, but CEO Jakob Stausholm wants to start playing attack, rather than defence.
Breaking news on companies, politics and economics, in your inbox as it happens.
EARNINGS SEASON
Glencore keeps faith in Australian zinc, nickel as coal buoys profit
The vow to persist with struggling local base metal mines came as its coal operations provided more than 52 per cent of the Swiss company’s full-year earnings.
Mineral Resources on lithium cost-cutting mission as it exits Azure
Billionaire mining boss Chris Ellison says MinRes will focus on driving down the cost of production at its WA lithium mines while prices remain depressed.
Rio warns Labor’s IR changes could reignite workplace tensions
The country’s biggest iron ore exporter has paid a bigger than expected dividend as it warns production costs could soon be 77pc higher than six years ago
What we learnt from WiseTech, Domino’s, Scentre and Santos results
WiseTech’s steady results send shares soaring, Domino’s tweaks its debt covenants, Scentre sings for its supper, and Santos’ boss says he has unfinished business.
WiseTech returns to all-time high after profit beats forecasts
Freight software provider WiseTech has added $3 billion to its market cap after its first-half results beat expectations.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
CSR says take no action on $4.3b French buyout bid
Saint-Gobain’s offer is non-binding and indicative, but at $9 a share it is high enough to gain due diligence from CSR’s board.
- Analysis
- Mergers & acquisitions
The junior banks at the top of the big four wishlist
Could Judo Bank or Bank of Queensland be a target for National Australia Bank?
New Woolies CEO Amanda Bardwell’s first job in retail was at 14
An ex-managing director of the Dan Murphy’s liquor superstores is not surprised his former head of online operations is ascending to a much higher role.
Audacious V’landys outlines plan to turn NRL towards Britain, hotels
The NRL chairman has set his sights on expanding to England and turning the league into a major hotel operator – and handed his board a big pay rise
Qantas appoints Mullen to succeed Goyder
The chairman-elect has revived hopes the airline can win back the support of its staff and unions as he prepares to succeed Richard Goyder in the coveted role.
Orica doubles down on gold, eyes battery chemical companies
The company hopes the acquisition of US chemical company Cyanco will create an integrated sodium cyanide manufacturing and distribution network.
- Exclusive
- Gas
West Australians back lifting export ban for onshore gas
Almost twice as many Western Australians support opening up the state’s onshore gas fields for international export than those who oppose the plan, new polling shows.
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Markets
Private equity payouts at major firms plummet
Five major alternative-asset managers delivered more than $55 billion from cashing out private equity bets last year, a 49 per cent drop since 2021.
What happened overnight? Wall Street lower as Nvidia results to test strength of rally
The S&P 500 turns late to edge up. Nvidia reports results after New York’s closing bell. TD sees Fed pivot to rate cuts in May.
UBS bets Aussie dollar among best trades of 2024
The $5.8 trillion wealth manager expects the Australian dollar will jump 10 per cent this year, and is also betting on a rally in Chinese and Indian stocks.
Hedge funds target Lovisa in $100m short
The number of short sellers betting against the discount jewellery retailer has surged to the highest level in almost four years, but some funds remain bullish.
ASX falls; Rio beats estimates; Woolworths sinks; CSR jumps
Shares decline at the closing bell; Woolworths’ Brad Banducci leaves; John Mullen named Richard Goyder’s Qantas successor; WiseTech lifts profits; NAB warns of growing arrears as earnings slump. Follow updates here.
Opinion
At 80, Keating keeps throwing down the gauntlet
Not everyone will agree with the former PM on AUKUS. Yet all should agree that a more independent security posture would not be sustainable if Australia continued to squander its opportunity of prosperity.
Editorial
Nickel miners exploit PM’s battery-making pipe dream
Instead of taxpayer bailouts, Australia would be better off letting workers from loss-making mines become home builders to help housing affordability.
Economics editor
Why economist Richard Holden is wrong on energy
Here is our response to Richard Holden’s common misrepresentations and distortions of our carbon solutions levy proposal.
Victorian blackouts cast misinformation over grid reliability
Electricity is so political that a technical fault was spun in erroneous directions by all sides of the renewables debate.
Energy expert
Awakening of a maritime nation 50 years in the making
It is a historic day when the government has finally agreed to support an enhanced surface combatant fleet capability for the Royal Australian Navy.
Naval expert
Merger ruling, miner cut through the populist policy madness
Amid the stew of populist hysteria around banks, miners, supermarkets and stevedores, two clear voices have blasted through the policy incoherence.
Editorial
Reports
The Critical Minerals dilemma
This report looks at the disconnect between ESG ambitions and market pricing; new biofuels; and alternatives to lithium batteries.
Politics
- Exclusive
- Climate policy
Revealed: the challenge facing our top car brands
Almost half the nation’s 20 top-selling vehicle manufacturers will have to make “significant adjustments” if they are going to meet the new vehicle emission standards.
The number of public servants working from home has doubled
Many new employees say flexible conditions contributed to their decision to take a job.
Why Keating says he was lucky to avoid university
The former prime minister believed he needed more than a deep knowledge of one subject to pursue his ambitious reform plan.
- Exclusive
- Carbon challenge
Why the Coalition wants more homes with solar and batteries
Labor runs the risk of being outflanked by an emerging Coalition plan to expand household and business solar and storage, at the expense of big business.
Give the ATO law enforcement powers: Chris Jordan
Fighting fraud and waves of new identity theft and scams requires giving the Tax Office new investigative powers, like those held by authorities overseas.
SPONSORED
World
Indonesia bids to join club of rich liberal countries
Fresh from its election, Indonesia has formally applied to join the 38-country OECD. It’s a boost for the liberal West, but might mean tough domestic reforms.
- Opinion
- US politics
Trump’s GOP is a confederacy of fakers
I am afraid of what this future holds because the Republican Party has become a cult with no coherent platform other than what side of the bed Trump woke up on.
Biden backs Australia’s push on clean nickel standards
The White House says more transparency is needed on nickel mining, so buyers know whether the mineral is clean or dirty amid a Chinese-driven supply glut.
Iranian-backed hackers target Israel after Hamas attack
New threat assessment from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike also warns AI-generated deepfakes pose a threat to democratic elections.
Keating: It’s not just his age, Biden’s party lost the working class
The Democratic Party’s political problem is that it has lost touch with the concerns of ordinary working Americans, former prime minister Paul Keating says.
Property
Even Sydney’s cheapest houses out of reach for first-home buyers
Aspiring house buyers in Sydney are now priced out even from the cheapest segment of the market after interest rates and home prices rose sharply last year, a new report shows.
‘I love Gold Coast property’: Clive Palmer on $28m beachfront buy
Billionaire mining magnate and former Gold Coast real estate agent Clive Palmer has reset the region’s residential record with a $28 million Mermaid Beach buy.
- Exclusive
- Luxury property
Chinese star to sell $18m landmark Point Piper unit
A luxury apartment owned by a Chinese singer Tian Zhen has joined the prestige market with an $18 million guide.
New sales inquiries up 20pc as rate expectations stabilise: Stockland
The developer and landlord has kept its earnings outlook unchanged even as residential earnings slumped in the six months to December.
Westfield owner Scentre beats guidance with 5.4pc lift in payout
Scentre’s leasing spreads, the difference in rents between old and new agreements, is expected to remain positive even as consumer spending slows.
Wealth
- Opinion
- SMSFs
Proof that SMSFs outperform when markets tank
SMSFs beat regular funds by 4.1 percentage points in the 2021-22 financial year.
- Opinion
- Super Q&A
How to reduce tax on real estate profits in an SMSF
Carefully consider the tax implications of transferring real estate from an SMSF into your own name.
We’ve spent $40,000 on IVF. I want to continue, but my partner wants to stop
No one’s doing fertility treatment because they want it, says psychologist Narelle Dickinson, so make time for compassionate conversations and be honest.
Technology
- Analysis
- Web culture
Apple is forced to loosen up its nanny state app store
Europe is making the tech giant relax long-held restrictions on what is sold through its app store, including pornography.
How the hackers were hacked by federal agents
A coalition of international law enforcement breaches the world’s most prolific ransomware syndicate, LockBit, which left prints on the DP World hack.
Start-up says it will beat famous Aussie rival to make a quantum computer
Diraq says it’s on track to beat Michelle Simmons’ company – backed by Telstra, the CBA and the government – to the punch with a commercial model by 2028.
Work & Careers
Keating’s list of business greats spans miners and property moguls
Keith Campbell, Rod Carnegie and Marius Kloppers were all praised by the prime minister who oversaw a period of great change in the Australian economy.
Meet the CEO who doesn’t do Friday drinks
Karl Morris, CEO of stockbroking firm Ord Minnett and chairman of National Rugby League team Brisbane Broncos, is trying out intermittent fasting. But he is “no disciple”.
Life & Luxury
How to fly to London, Europe and avoid Heathrow
If a stopover en route to London on a palm-fringed white-sand beach island sounds good – not to mention skiing Japan and France – consider these airline choices.
Why ‘mad March’ is the time to be in Adelaide
The usually sedate city goes off as thousands flock to its four festivals in one. Here’s our expert’s guide to making the most of it all (and remaining sane).
How this banker supersized his wine-bar dream
There’s a new club in town. 67 Pall Mall started in London, went to Switzerland and Singapore and is about to cut concrete in Melbourne.
This steakhouse stores its prime beef in chocolate butter
A lip-smacking recipe from Perth’s new 6HEAD restaurant.
Why ‘romantasy’ books are in a sales boom
Readers are devouring spicy tales of dragon riders, beautiful assassins and brooding faerie lords, and say there’s no “guilt” in this pleasure.
