If your business is turning inspiration into innovation, it’s time to be recognised.
Chalmers flags budget tax breaks
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has kept open the prospect of tax incentives in the budget as business warned that changes to foreign investment rules were not enough to attract needed capital.
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Are we returning to the late ’90s high interest rate era?
Many would-be homebuyers, in particular, are feeling frustrated by high mortgage rates. Isn’t that a big difference from 30 years ago? Surprisingly, the answer is no, writes Paul Krugman.
Left has abandoned free speech: Singer
The Australian philosopher says: “What used to be things that were generally accepted by people on the progressive side of politics have shifted – and freedom of speech is a basic example.”
Bruce Lehrmann given extension to appeal but will be forced to pay
The former Liberal staffer has appointed barrister Guy Reynolds, SC, to review his case. He has until May 31 to lodge an appeal.
- Opinion
- Property development
Housing construction is collapsing around Australia. Here’s why
Developers can charge buyers more, or the costs can come down to make apartment developments viable. It’s clear which is better, Robert Harley writes.
FIRB changes are fine but please fix tax: investors
Changes to the foreign investment regime to boost investment in rental housing may count for little if tax settings remain a handbrake.
Sims, Harris soften stance on Made in Australia Act
Two critics of the government’s Future Made In Australia Act have softened their views after Treasurer Jim Chalmers outlined five criteria for support.
Wealth Generation: News and views to help aspirational investors grow their wealth. In your inbox every Wednesday.
best places to work
Why these companies are Australia’s best places to work
An intensive and “confronting” two-year leadership program underpinned the decision to award online recruitment firm Seek the 2024 AFR BOSS Best Place to Work – Large Organisation.
This company pays you for your commute with extra days off
This fintech has taken a different approach to getting people back into the office and the results are paying dividends for diversity, too.
How a weekly Shark Tank challenge turned The Royals family around
Suffering high turnover and low engagement, creative agency The Royals decided to carve out a day each week dedicated to one pitch. It worked.
- Analysis
- Best places to work
How we picked the award winners
The AFR BOSS Best Places to Work ranks the best workplaces in Australia and New Zealand across nine different industries.
- Opinion
- Best places to work
Employees want more autonomy, so it’s in bosses’ interest to listen
Convinced that happier workers are also more productive, Australia’s most progressive employers are giving staff greater freedom and choice, writes Euan Black.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
- Analysis
- Mergers & acquisitions
How BHP’s ‘Meticulous Mike’ prepared for Anglo American rebuff
Dubbed “Meticulous Mike” by the Australian media, the Canadian executive must have carefully planned his move for Anglo, down to the inevitable initial rejection.
Court intervenes as workers clash during CFMEU strike
The builder of Queensland’s biggest infrastructure project has won urgent orders to stop the union’s alleged unlawful behaviour after footage emerged of brawls and punch-ups between construction workers.
Qantas says app now stable, still investigating malfunction
The Flying Kangaroo is investigating a system malfunction that gives passengers access to other Qantas customers’ data.
AVZ flags delisting, shareholders face $2.8 billion wealth wipeout
The lithium explorer will delist on May 13 as more than 21,000 shareholders remain trapped in a company that joined the S&P/ASX 200 in 2022.
Woolworths shareholders to pocket proceeds from Endeavour sale
The supermarket giant offloaded a 5 per cent stake in the owner of Dan Murphy’s, realising $468 million for its shares.
- Exclusive
- Payments
Airwallex’s local outpost reverses to loss
The local outpost of one of Australia’s largest technology start-ups tripped to a deep loss after a big increase in costs.
‘The future is the future’: Anglo American won’t rule out a merger
Chairman Stuart Chambers told the miner’s AGM that his job in coming weeks was to see if major shareholders backed the board’s rejection of BHP’s $60 billion bid.
Companies in the News
Search companies
View stories and data from an ASX listed company
Markets
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Down markets draw out the year’s biggest share trades
Big block trades are flying this week, which only ramps up the chase for the next big trade.
Fed, RBA to talk tough on inflation and rates
The central banks are expected to take harsher tone on tackling inflation at their upcoming policy meetings, further tempering rate cut hopes that have underpinned equities this year.
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Are we returning to the late ’90s high interest rate era?
I’m starting to wonder whether high interest rates might last a lot longer than many people, including me, have been predicting.
ASX uranium boom lures secretive Canadian hedge fund
A flurry of retail interest and quick capital raisings in the sector has drawn the increasing attention of one Toronto-based hedge fund.
BHP Anglo deal could create headache for ASX investors
The mining giant is already one of the largest companies on the ASX 200. A successful buyout bid of Anglo American could add to the heavy concentration of resource stocks on the index.
Opinion
Chalmers came to Sydney, left his humility in Canberra
The treasurer promotes the national security benefits of protectionism, but can’t explain how his government can find better investments than the private sector.
Senior correspondent
Melbourne property market is due for a comeback
Oxford Economics predicts the median Melbourne house price will grow 21 per cent over the next three years, outpacing Sydney’s forecast 18 per cent expected growth.
Contributor
Chalmers’ ‘new growth model’ lacking on the supply side
Jim Chalmers is right to say that Australia cannot draw an “artificial distinction between our prosperity and our security”. It has been a theme of The Australian Financial Review’s since our 2022 Business Summit.
Editorial
Bullock must now warn that interest rates may rise again
When the RBA board meets next week, the key question governor Michele Bullock will be grappling with is the future pace of disinflation.
Economics editor
Modi mania comes at a price
Revelations that Indian spies were kicked out of Australia is a reminder of the need to be wary when it comes to dealing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Foreign affairs, defence correspondent
PM must pick his winners with more care
The Prime Minister has never seen a hi-viz project he didn’t like. But industry policy must be far more discriminating in a labour-short economy.
Economist
Politics
- Exclusive
- Foreign relations
‘No concerns’ with South Korean takeover bid for Austal: Marles
Defence Minister Richard Marles has given a fillip to Hanwha’s bid to buy Perth shipbuilder Austal, despite the deal raising security concerns.
How three female economists would fix the housing crisis
An economic adviser to the government has suggested a “quick win” to encourage older Australians to downsize and free up housing for younger families.
Chinese investment critical to reach net-zero goals
Clean energy experts warn moves that limit Chinese investment in Australia could undermine the Albanese government’s green energy goals.
Women to get $5000 in new emergency support payments
A snap meeting of national cabinet called after nearly 30 deaths of women at the hands of men this year – also agreed to trial new measures to extreme online misogyny.
Domestic violence rates fall over decades but one stat hasn’t changed
The rate of women killed by their partners has fallen by two-thirds over the past 34 years, but women remain twice as likely as men to be victims of intimate partner homicide.
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World
New York police storm Columbia University, arrest dozens
Police moved in to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at the Ivy League university, which has been struggling to balance freedom of speech with antisemitism concerns.
Trump threatened with jail, fined for contempt of court
The former president was ordered to pay the fine by the end of the week, and he deleted, as ordered, the offending posts from his Truth Social account.
Moguls circle as Telegraph, Spectator go up for sale again
Rupert Murdoch could launch a bid for the Spectator magazine, after an Abu Dhabi-backed consortium threw in the towel.
Tesla fires Supercharger team, raising doubts about expansion
The abrupt dismissal of the Supercharger team caught many people off-guard, and suggested that Elon Musk had changed his mind about the company’s strategy.
Our world is already ravaged by nuclear war
Annie Jacobsen’s new book, written in the style of a techno-thriller, sets out what might happen if that fateful button is pushed.
Property
John Symond set to break Australia’s property record with $200m sale
The Aussie Home Loans founder’s just-listed Point Piper mansion, Wingadal, is expected to become the nation’s most expensive deal when it sells.
Qantas Super puts $200m into farms backed by Costa family
The superannuation fund will invest most of the money in two horticultural aggregations that will be expanded by Costa family-backed investment manager goFARM.
- Exclusive
- Commercial real estate
Addenbrooke sells site meant for controversial land swap deal
The property developer has sold the Sydney site that sparked a reshuffle of the A2B board, ending an almost three-year saga.
‘Bullet-proof’ house prices to keep rising despite higher rates
Chronic housing supply shortage would shield prices from sharp downturn if interest rates increase further, or stay higher for longer, experts say.
Lendlease needs ‘wholesale change’ now: Allan Gray boss
Allan Gray boss Simon Mawhinney says change that would restore shareholder confidence in the property developer should come immediately.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Melbourne house prices
Melbourne property market is due for a comeback
Oxford Economics predicts the median Melbourne house price will grow 21 per cent over the next three years, outpacing Sydney’s forecast 18 per cent expected growth.
We retired overseas but came back. What should we do with our money?
This couple may not be able to reopen their super accounts, but there are other tax-effective opportunities.
- Opinion
- Investing
How to sleep easy with your investment decisions
If your portfolio is inconsistent with your risk tolerance, you’re more likely to lose sleep and make poor decisions driven by emotions.
Technology
Amazon posts strong cloud unit sales on rising AI demand
The e-commerce company’s operating income more than tripled as Amazon Web Services and adverts provided a boost.
‘Country mile ahead’: How PsiQuantum won a $1b investment
Chief scientist Cathy Foley said US-based PsiQuantum showed it was a “country mile” ahead of other Aussie companies in trying to build a world-first quantum computer.
- Analysis
- Quantum Computing
Quantum computing explained and what’s different about PsiQuantum
The Australian-invented machine uses light particles, which could be a fast way to build a quantum computer but might use too much power.
Work & Careers
How this musician landed a job in AI that didn’t exist a year ago
Welcome to our fortnightly AFR series featuring professionals who have made a big career leap into the unknown.
Blaming students for housing crisis ‘simplistic’, universities say
A new report finds that conflating international students with the housing shortage is opportunistic and could have profound ramifications on the economy.
Life & Luxury
I hesitantly went vegan to improve my heart health. Here’s how it went
In the second week, I tried some plant-based cheese, and the bottom fell out of my soul – but by the end of the month, I had some surprising news.
At this luxe Belmond hotel in Oxfordshire, food is the real star
Four decades on, Raymond Blanc has more planned for his exclusive Michelin-starred gourmet retreat, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
Adults become lonelier from age 50, say scientists
An analysis of nine long-term studies of nearly 130,000 people from Western countries found a striking “U-shaped” pattern of loneliness throughout life.
How this founder built a $7.7b fortune by banning kids
Torstein Hagen created Viking Cruises with a focus on wealthy holiday makers travelling without kids. It’s now set to bring him a fortune.
There hasn’t been a series this complex – and funny – in a long time
Dichotomies and seeing things from both sides are at the heart of “The Sympathizer”, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 novel.
