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Policy

Economy

Today

Michele Bullock and the Reserve Bank board have made the right move.

RBA on the right track with rates

Readers’ letters on the Reserve Bank keeping rates on hold; Labor’s PsiQuantum investment; HECS debt; and the Victorian budget.

States should give the power to regulate partnerships of economic significance to the federal government.

Consulting firm fixes are impractical and an overreach

More importantly, they are not necessary to correct a deficiency in the regulation of delinquent behaviour, says the former ACCC chairman.

  • Graeme Samuel
The spending story will be the most important part of Jim Chalmers’ budget.

The government goes bold to poke the inflation bear

The Albanese government, after being cautious with its spending in 2022 and 2023, has decided to take risks this year. The greatest is that it brings the RBA off the bench.

  • Chris Richardson
RBA Governor Michele Bullock is living a central banker’s nightmare.

A rate rise was closer than you think

RBA insiders may be making the case for higher rates, as Michele Bullock walks the line between public opinion and the bank’s credibility.

  • Warren Hogan
Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume

Coalition to oppose ‘sophisticated investor’ test overhaul

Labor is grappling with backlash from the start-up sector over calls to limit access to venture capital to investors worth more than $4.5 million.

  • Michael Read
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The lucky treasurer: His predecessors have been extremely lucky to receive big tax revenue windfalls from the mining boom, but none have been as lucky as Jim Chalmers.

Australia’s ‘dumb’ luck budget in one extraordinary chart

Treasurers have been extremely lucky to receive big tax revenue windfalls from the China-driven mining boom, but none have been as lucky as Jim Chalmers.

  • John Kehoe

Yesterday

An RBA tightening bias is called for

It’s hard not to interpret the governor’s press conference and the board’s statement as at least a mild tightening bias that will keep the cash rate where it is at least until near the end of 2024.

  • The AFR View
RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks at a news conference after the bank said interest rates would stay on hold.

‘We need to be alert and vigilant’: Michele Bullock

This is an edited and abridged transcript of a press conference held by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock.

RBA governor Michele Bullock fronts a press conference after the bank announced rates would stay on hold.

Rising government spending is hurting the RBA’s inflation fight

The Australian economy is still operating at an unsustainably strong level despite a string of weak economic growth figures, due in part to public sector spending.

  • Michael Read
RBA governor Michele Bullock.

Why data-driven Bullock has her eye on the budget

RBA governor Michele Bullock says it’s too early to declare victory over inflation as she avoids the markets’ frenzied guessing game on interest rates.

  • Jennifer Hewett
The unemployment data re-enforces why RBA governor Michele Bullock sounds so cautious about the prospect of rate cuts.

RBA is still betting on Goldilocks. Investors shouldn’t follow suit

With the ASX 200 back near record levels, investors are betting Michele Bullock is right on a soft landing. But with uncertainty high, a more all-weather approach looks sensible.

  • Updated
  • James Thomson
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas delivers his budget to the Victorian Parliament on May 07, 2024.

Labor dodges difficult debt decisions

Treasurer Tim Pallas has not delivered the “horror budget” he prepared the ground for, nor a clear path back from the state’s crippling debt levels.

  • Patrick Durkin
The Qantas board has more to do to recover its national stnading.

Qantas must atone for all old baggage

Readers’ letters on the Qantas settlement; franking credits for retirees; the Coalition push for nuclear power; and Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera.

‘Vigilant’ RBA puts home loan borrowers on notice

Governor Michele Bullock has issued a fresh warning to mortgage holders, two years after the Reserve Bank of Australia began raising interest rates.

  • Updated
  • John Kehoe
The RBA’s latest outlook for the economy means interest rates will need to stay higher for longer.

Petrol, strong jobs market stoking inflation: RBA

The central bank on Tuesday upgraded its near-term forecasts for headline inflation and pushed back the likelihood of interest rate relief until mid-2025.

  • Ronald Mizen
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Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock during her post-meeting press conference in Sydney on Tuesday.

Reserve Bank on high alert for rate rise

The RBA is “very alert” to the cost of stubbornly high inflation lingering in the economy, signalling interest rates will need to stay higher for longer.

  • Ronald Mizen
When the average Australian has to think twice about ordering her $6 daily coffee (which cost $3.34 10 years ago), that’s when we really need to stop and think.

Reforms rather than rate rises

Supply side deregulation to drive productivity is the other half of the policy armoury that should be deployed to help curb inflation and keep employment full.

  • The Parrhesian
Victoria and likely NSW have established their own makeshift coal capacity schemes.

Keeping coal but excluding gas is an irrational path to net zero

Including gas-generation in the back-up electricity mechanism will help avoid taxpayer funds being used for paradoxical cross-purposes.

  • Steve Davies
Ken Moelis says Jay Powell won’t want to be seen to be involved in politics.

Ken Moelis on Trump, interest rates and Ozempic

The billionaire investment banker thinks Donald Trump has his nose in front in the US presidential race, and that could have ramifications for interest rates. 

  • James Thomson

This Month

About 30 per cent of HECS debt has been written off as unlikely ever to be recovered.

Reinstate HECS discount to recover debt

Readers’ letters on the reduction in indexation rates for HECS debt; the crackdown on the big four accountancy firms and lobby groups making submissions to the government ahead of the budget.