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Rooftop solar adoption has taken off.

Rooftop solar subsidies stalling transition investment: Alinta CEO

Jeff Dimery also called for an honest debate about the costs of the energy transition and said consumers would inevitably have to pay more.

Penny Wong in Israel in January. The foreign minister says it’s “wrong” to suggest Palestinian statehood is “rewarding an enemy”.

Wong’s Palestinian statehood call provokes backlash

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says a two-state solution is needed as a pathway to a lasting peace, and criticised the actions of both Israel and Hamas.

Rachel Slade, Ana Marinkovic, Cathryn Carver.

NAB’s new CEO shuffles leadership team, promotes rival

Rachel Slade, who was overlooked for the top job in favour of Andrew Irvine, will run the pre-eminent business banking division. Ana Marinkovic will run retail.

NAB’s new boss just managed to do what most CEOs can’t

Australian corporate history is riddled with examples of passed-over CEO candidates exiting. But NAB has just bucked the trend.

Healthcare and miners buoy ASX; Ansell extends gains

Shares advance; RBNZ leaves cash rate unchanged; ASIC to appeal court ruling on Finder Earn; gold extends rally; Dubber CEO sacked. Follow updates here.

Lambie to prop up Tasmanian Liberals

Jacqui Lambie’s party has struck a deal to keep the Rockliff government in power; Alinta Energy CEO Jeff Dimery says there are no more easy wins in the energy transition. Follow updates here.

New Seven expenses scandal as Spotlight boss enlists lawyer

Mark Llewellyn, executive producer of Seven’s flagship current affairs show, has tapped John Laxon for advice, as the network deals with new allegations of corporate wrongdoing.

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merger reform

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says stronger competition powers will improve the economy and overall living standards.

Chalmers’ merger crackdown to shake up M&A

The ACCC will be able to block serial acquisitions and those that entrench the market power of big players, but Jim Chalmers rejected a “presumptive ban” on mergers.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb are reshaping Australia’s competition laws for the 21st century.

Chalmers’ merger reforms will change dealmaking

The treasurer’s sweeping reforms will transform how deals are done in Australia, but could change the way the economy develops.

ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

Business relieved Gina Cass-Gottlieb didn’t win one key change

Jim Chalmers says a streamlined merger approvals process will deliver stronger, faster, simpler results. The ACCC gets more powers – just not as much as it wanted or business feared, writes Jennifer Hewett.

The three big changes to merger laws and why they matter

In Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ landmark merger law proposal there are two key changes that will shift how deals are done, and one crucial area he did not touch.

Chalmers embarks on legacy-building merger reforms

How the treasurer’s merger reforms end up working in practice will be known in just a few years. Whether they achieve their economic objective will not be known for decades.

budget 2024

“The nature repair task is absolutely enormous, and so is the carbon challenge,” says Ken Henry.

Henry demands billions for nature repair market

The economist wants a public fund to spur corporate involvement in “nature-positive” land protection.

Anthony Albanese says any budget assistance must not be inflationary.

Inflation still a budget concern: Albanese

The prime minister has further dampened the hopes of those looking for welfare increases and other budget handouts.

Former Macquarie Group executive Ivan Power has met with banks, superannuation funds and investment managers in private equity and venture capital.

Small business lacks capital, the NRF thinks it has the answer

The new chief of the National Reconstruction Fund wants to use his $15 billion pot to encourage super funds and banks to invest in normally overlooked ventures.

Welfare boost unlikely as government strives for surplus

The government has all but ruled out further welfare increases, before receiving a pre-budget report from its advisory committee.

Why a billion-dollar bet on solar makes sense

The goal isn’t to compete with China immediately. It is to make the energy transition more resilient to external shocks, writes ARENA chief executive Darren Miller.

Features include the ability to save articles, dark mode and real time notifications.

Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.

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Companies

Dubber has dismissed chief executive Steve McGovern.

Dubber CEO sacked as company turns to emergency raising

Steve McGovern, the chief executive of Dubber Corp, has been dismissed by the company’s board following an internal investigation.

Julius Baer clients who invested in a Macquarie fund for struggling Indian tech company Byju’s will pay significantly less in fees after the bank marked down its value.

Macquarie shreds valuation of troubled Indian tech investment

The bank has marked down education platform Byju’s by 80 per cent after sustained investor pressure.

Gina Rinehart’s fortune is based in iron ore, but the billionaire has rapidly been expanding her holding in other minerals.

Gina Rinehart emerges as big investor in California rare earths giant

Disclosures by MP Minerals show the billionaire’s Hancock Prospecting owns some 5 per cent of the company, which had discussed merging with Lynas Rare Earths.

CBA is paying out 2.35 per cent interest to the majority of its savers, less than the 4.5 per cent at competitors where different accounts are more popular.

CBA raking in extra $1.7b by paying less interest than rivals

Amid regulatory scrutiny, banking analysts are shining a light on banks’ use of deposit pricing to manage margins when official interest rates start to fall.

Guzman y Gomez lures new investors and hits $1.73b valuation

The Mexican-themed restaurant chain has four new heavyweight backers on its shareholder register after raising $135 million to support its growth.

Din Tai Fung fined $4m for ‘calculated scheme to rob employees’

Popular dumpling chain Din Tai Fung and two of its senior managers have been fined more than $4 million for a fraudulent scheme that underpaid the workforce and created fake pay records to conceal the truth.

ASX-listed Russian coal miner breached sanctions law: Federal Court

This is the first time a company has been found in breach of the Autonomous Sanctions Act following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Companies in the News

Search companies

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Markets

Big four’s expensive shares send investors towards smaller rivals

With brokers warning the shares of CBA and its peers are too pricey, funds managers are increasingly looking to cheaper competitors like Judo Bank and MyState.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, in March. Authorities in Beijing set a five per cent growth target for the year.

China to miss lofty economic growth target without major stimulus

The Australian Financial Review’s survey of economists suggests growth as low as 4.2 per cent. But a reliance on iron ore will limit its effect on Australia.

Wall Street.

What happened overnight? Gold hit a record; Fed’s Bostic predicted just one rate cut

US shares steadied and Treasury yields dropped from a more than four-month high in the last trading day before key US inflation data.

Macquarie tips CSL shares to hit $500

Some of the biotechnology giant’s shareholders are sceptical about the investment bank’s call, which is detailed to clients in a 55-page note.

Wall Street’s heady profit expectations to test market rally

Investors will be questioning whether the US mega caps can continue to beat the punchy earnings forecasts set by analysts as US earnings season kicks off this week.

Opinion

We need a tough treasurer to talk us through tax reform

What really matters for future living standards is government policy going above and beyond mediocre minor changes.

John Kehoe

Economics editor

John Kehoe

What the gold and oil price rallies are telling us

While some investors are celebrating the surge in gold and oil prices, outperformance of US energy stocks has historically been a bad sign for the US sharemarket.

Karen Maley

Columnist

Karen Maley

Why Netanyahu must go

Parliamentary democracies that find themselves saddled with bad leaders in moments of national emergency do well when they get rid of those leaders.

Bret Stephens

Contributor

Bret Stephens

What comes after the China boom for Australia?

As China and other advanced economies suffer mutual disillusionment, Australia needs to figure out how it maintains its sweet spot in China’s economy.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Screen addiction is a disease. Blame wealth

Smartphone addiction, culture wars and low birth rates are all byproducts of modern success that are difficult to fix.

Janan Ganesh

Contributor

Janan Ganesh

How making abortion a state issue could work for Trump

After winning favour with the evangelical right, the former president’s latest policy on abortion is all about appeasing Republican moderates, particularly the suburban women he has lost.

Matthew Cranston

United States correspondent

Matthew Cranston
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Politics

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year.

First Japan, now Canada wants in on AUKUS

China says AUKUS plans to broaden participation in its military technology sharing agreement is “stoking bloc confrontation”.

China is becoming more isolationist, data shows, despite improving ties with Australia.

The data that reveals the truth about Australia’s China ties

Although Australia’s relations with China have warmed, key metrics show economic ties are at their lowest levels in more than five years and are unlikely to bounce back.

Bruce Lehrmann will learn whether his defamation case has been successful within days.

Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial judgment date set

Justice Michael Lee in the Federal Court will deliver his judgment in Bruce Lehrmann’s bombshell defamation case on Monday.

Two years to fix Defence: New military chief’s mission

Bedding down AUKUS and recruiting new personnel are key challenges for the new Defence chief amid warnings China will be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.

Henry demands billions for nature repair market

The economist wants a public fund to spur corporate involvement in “nature-positive” land protection.

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World

A fuselage section under construction at Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston.

First Max, now Dreamliner. Boeing hit with new safety claims

An engineer whistle-blower says sections of the plane’s body are being assembled in a way that could weaken the aircraft. Boeing says there is no safety issue.

Joe Biden has made support for reproductive rights a central issue in his campaign.

Biden blames Trump for ‘cruel’ abortion ruling in battleground state

Democrats quickly aimed to capitalise on the key election issue after an Arizona court ruling upholding an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.

Geely EVs bound for Europe at the Port of Taicang before departure.

‘It’s chaos’: Chinese EVs pile up at Europe’s ports

Executives say Chinese carmakers are not selling EVs in Europe as fast as they expected, turning ports into car parks.

Israel’s war enters new phase, leaving a power vacuum in Gaza

Israeli troops have left southern Gaza and some Palestinians are returning to the area, where there was a sense of horror at the scope of destruction.

Everyone in Japan could have the same surname in 500 years

The Asian nation is the only country in the world that requires spouses to share the same last name.

Property

Scape’s Craig Carracher, right, with co-founder Tim Ward at a topping-out ceremony in 2017.

Housing developer Scape keeping builders afloat

Higher financing and construction costs are forcing builders’ clients to take on more cost risk, whether in student accommodation or office fit-outs.

Commercial property values have troughed: Blackstone president Jon Gray.

Blackstone’s $15b apartment bet spurs sector-wide rally

BTIG analyst Michael Gorman said Blackstone’s decision “is likely to spur additional bullish sentiment for the group”.

Tweaking tax levies: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Boston eyes commercial tax rise to counter office market dip

The city’s plan would favour home owners while potentially deepening the pain for commercial real estate during a nationwide slump in office demand.

Strata reforms send bills soaring from just $5000 to $60,000

The NSW government made sweeping changes to prevent horrific development failures. Did it go too far?

IR laws thwart Australia’s housing targets: builders

Labor’s union-friendly industrial relations laws will cause Australia to fall short of national housing targets for four of the next five years, industry claims.

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Wealth

Joe Darling and Jane Needham opted for a “collaborative” divorce.

This increasingly popular divorce strategy can save money and tears

Jane Needham and Joe Darling wanted their divorce to be kind on their children and each other.

Why investors shouldn’t buy assets just because they’re cheap

Underpriced opportunities are either the result of short-term dislocation or fundamental concerns. It’s important to know which of these forces are at play.

History made as Winx foal becomes the most expensive filly in the world

Ingham’s family scion and Winx part-owner, Debbie Kepitis, outbid American thoroughbred tycoon, John Stewart, offering a staggering $10 million.

Technology

Ola told drivers on Tuesday night that it was ceasing operations in several Australian cities.

Uber’s dominance in Australia intensifies as Ola exits

Corporate records show Ola’s Indian parent company spent $142 million on its Australian outpost.

W23 Australia boss Ingrid Maes

Woolworths partners with Tesco on $190m start-up investment fund

The global fund will be run from Sydney and counts retailer chains from Europe, Canada and South Africa among its investors.

Melbourne hosts Lime scooters, unlike Sydney where it has had to learn to operate bikes.

IPO hopeful Lime avoids share bike graveyard

The company says Sydney and Melbourne are among its most profitable cities as it eyes resurrecting its aborted plans to go public.

Work & Careers

Dale Connor eats breakfast at The Grounds of the City in Sydney’s CBD.

Why this CEO packs five days’ worth of work into four days

Lendlease Australia chief executive Dale Connor lives in Brisbane but spends his workweek in the property company’s Sydney office.

The five secrets of workplace success

There is no quick path to desk-based nirvana. But here are five insights about surviving at work.

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Life & Luxury

The short boxing match between Jose Canseco and Billy Football.

This absurd boxing match shows how profitable sports media’s become

Why did a famous ex-baseball player get into a fight with a 21-year-old internet intern, and what does it say about popular culture?

A judge sniffs a red wine at the World Alcohol-Free Awards in London last month.

Australia wins big at World Alcohol-Free Awards

It seems there is no stopping the de-alc trend at home and abroad: the country was the third-biggest entrant this year, after the UK and France.

Scottish author JK Rowling has eased the peer pressure that has long silenced people.

JK Rowling is too rich and popular to silence on hate crime mania

The children’s author is irrepressible, which is why her opposition to free speech restrictions in Britain is so important.

Nell Tiger Free as Margaret.

This new nunsploitation film is a good omen

This is a cinephile’s movie, but it also delivers the thrills and suspense one expects from the horror genre.

Very cool: A rendering of a Caldarium to come at The Well in Miami. 

A New York members’ club for the health-obsessed expands to Geneva

There’s a focus on health in the Swiss facility compared with that on stress in the Big Apple, but both have one target – the wealthy in global cities.

From the gallery