Latest
More borrowers to feel the squeeze than initially forecast: RBA
Many households have adjusted to higher interest rates, but some will run out of savings if rates stay higher for longer, the Reserve Bank has found.
- Jonathan Shapiro
How our era of plenty could lead to human extinction
Technological advances over the past half century have immeasurably improved the lives of much of humanity. But this progress belies a possibly dark future.
- Francis Gavin
How to build coping skills
You don’t need professional help if you can manage your own symptoms.
- Emily Edlynn
Super funds accused of using ‘myths’ in ‘relentless lobby’ for less scrutiny
Funds are also using the current performance test as a “a convenient scapegoat” to justify subpar returns instead of explaining their poor results, Karen Chester says.
- Hannah Wootton
New Zealand economy unexpectedly shrinks
GDP slipped 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, missing economist forecasts, as the country continues to grapple with higher borrowing costs.
- Tracy Withers
- Updated
- Jobs
Jobs boom gives workers record slice of the pie
A renewed jobs boom has pushed workers’ share of national income to its highest level in at least two decades and fuelled expectations rates could stay higher for longer.
- Michael Read
Opinion & Analysis
Green policy car crash complicates Labor’s election outlook
A series of competing and interlinked priorities are colliding in Labor’s Senate, where all eyes are turning to the next election.
Senior correspondent
The Wang-Wong doctrine: embrace and fight at the same time
China and Australia’s foreign ministers are both adept at the art of making frenemies. It’s working for now, but for how long?
Columnist
Rate reality check: Why early RBA cuts are not on the cards
The strong local jobs markets and patience from the US Federal Reserve will delay local interest rate cuts and undermine critics who claim the RBA has lifted rates too high.
Economics editor
With Russia distracted, China makes its move in Central Asia
China is the only major country to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a move that could give it access to large lithium and copper deposits.
Columnist
More From Today
- Opinion
- Carbon challenge
Green policy car crash complicates Labor’s election outlook
A series of competing and interlinked priorities are colliding in Labor’s Senate, where all eyes are turning to the next election.
- 42 mins ago
- Jacob Greber
- Opinion
- China relations
The Wang-Wong doctrine: embrace and fight at the same time
China and Australia’s foreign ministers are both adept at the art of making frenemies. It’s working for now, but for how long?
- 1 hr ago
- Richard McGregor
- Analysis
- Australian economy
Rate reality check: Why early RBA cuts are not on the cards
The strong local jobs markets and patience from the US Federal Reserve will delay local interest rate cuts and undermine critics who claim the RBA has lifted rates too high.
- Updated
- John Kehoe
- Analysis
- International affairs
With Russia distracted, China makes its move in Central Asia
China is the only major country to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a move that could give it access to large lithium and copper deposits.
- Geoff Raby
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Why good news for jobs is bad news for rates
The government is celebrating robust jobs figures and a fall in unemployment. But Labor and the Reserve Bank will be quietly worried that this is only going to delay any cut in interest rates this year.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Jobless rate shows RBA right not to rule anything in or out
The near 50-year low of 3.7 per cent should silence those who want to suggest that the Reserve Bank’s 13th cash rate increase last November was some sort of monetarist mistake.
- The AFR View
Why gas exports make a false famine
Readers’ letters on Santos boss Kevin Gallagher’s gas export warning; a recent example of nuclear dangers; another entry for the list of politicians’ biggest mistakes this century; and pleas from our regular correspondents go answered.
- Analysis
- Inside Government
Health chief invokes ‘AFR test’ in proposal writing overhaul
Blair Comley has applied what he calls “the AFR test” as he pushes executives in his federal health department to write and think more clearly.
- Tom Burton
- Opinion
- Nuclear energy
Nuclear vs Renewables shouldn’t be Ford vs Holden
Reducing the complexities of national energy policy to a clean energy brawl is the last thing Australia needs in the middle of the biggest industrial rebuild in the nation’s history.
- Matthew Warren
- Opinion
- Super wars
Time for super performance test facts and myth busting
The latest Treasury review should find what we already know: that the current test has delivered for members.
- Karen Chester and Brad Ruting
Japan wants to rewrite its war crimes history. A book sets it straight
A major new history explains the importance of this Tokyo trial, which provided searing evidence of civilian massacres and the killing of military prisoners.
- Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Why forgetting things is OK – and shows your brain is working properly
It isn’t a failure of memory – it’s a consequence of processes that allow us to prioritise information.
- Jenny Tucker
Fed keeps rate-cut plan despite stickier inflation
The Fed forecast stickier inflation than previously thought, but officials indicated they still expect to cut rates by three-quarters of a percentage point this year.
- Updated
- Matthew Cranston
Santos, AEMO issue warnings on gas
Santos’ Kevin Gallagher said slow approvals for gas projects risked Asian buyers turning to Russia while AEMO warned diesel might have to be used in gas generators as Victorian gas falls short.
- Ben Potter
- Opinion
- Electricity
How much could you save if you went nuclear?
If you are a Victorian the price you’d pay for a unit of electricity from a nuclear reactor would be 39 per cent higher than what you’ll pay under the recently unveiled regulated default offer.
- Tristan Edis
What if the 1pc aren’t getting that much richer?
A new understanding of the US economy suggests members of the 99 per cent are a lot wealthier than they look.
- Rogé Karma
Former top public servant and regulator join big super board
Martin Parkinson and Helen Rowell will join the Australian Retirement Trust as directors as it ramps up the independence of its board.
- Hannah Wootton
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Labor’s home-grown foreign policy storms ambush Wong
No other Australian foreign minister has had to deal with a former prime minister - and reforming Labor legend no less - publicly second-guessing the government of the day’s foreign policy.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
Keating complicated Wong’s job on China. Then came Trump and Rudd
As she negotiated a visit by China’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Penny Wong also had to pick her way through critical comments from Paul Keating and from Donald Trump on Australia’s US ambassador Kevin Rudd.
- Jennifer Hewett
Trump querying Rudd’s intellect is a bit rich
Readers’ letters on Donald Trump’s threat to boot Kevin Rudd; New Hope’s coal ploy; and Chanticleer’s solution for the RBA.
