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Featured Opinion

No place for antisemitic incitement on campus

The protests that reduce the complex history of the Middle East to simplistic anti-Zionist slogans hardly align with universities’ founding institutional mission.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Albanese’s troubled critical minerals dream

The Albanese government has high hopes for much more downstream processing of critical minerals. But the numbers aren’t adding up. What can change that?

Australia’s in a digital health black hole

The Productivity Commission’s report on the failure of My Health Record should concern all Australians not only as taxpayers, but as consumers in an ageing society.

The AFR View

Contributor

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

Editorial

The AFR View

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

Economist

Warren Hogan

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

Economics editor

John Kehoe

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 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.

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More From Today

Departures lounge: Perpetual chairman Tony D’Aloisio and chief executive Rob Adams.

How 138-year-old Perpetual came unstuck

It is a sad day for Australian funds management. The Perpetual equities team, which stood up to Woolworths, Crown, Brambles, Ramsay and IAG will have to find a new name.

  • Updated
  • Anthony Macdonald
Goodman Group CEO Greg Goodman says the company is enmeshed in the AI ecosystem.

How Goodman Group’s data centre dream could be super-sized

The next generation of data centres will require even more land. That’s something Greg Goodman says his group can provide. 

  • James Thomson
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.

Jon Gray says the investment themes of AI, energy and private credit are colliding.

Blackstone’s Jon Gray reveals ‘defining theme for the next decade’

The Wall Street titan says three megatrends that have driven Blackstone to $1.9 trillion in assets under management are now combining in a unique way. 

  • James Thomson
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
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Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas is banking on property taxes. But has he got the mix right?

Victoria cannot tax its way to prosperity

Victoria arguably has some of the most complex rules and highest property tax imposts in the country. Will it work?

  • Matthew Cridland
The new Magic Keyboard looks like a laptop keyboard.

Will Apple’s new iPad Pro finally replace your laptop?

Apple says its new M4 iPad Pros will have better AI, better performance and better battery life than laptops. But don’t throw away your laptop just yet.

  • John Davidson
Stanley Druckenmiller says the Fed set financial conditons on fire at exactly the wrong time.

‘I’m not Buffett’: Druckenmiller on Nvidia, Trump and the Fed’s error

Wall Street legend Stan Druckenmiller has profited from the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot, though he says it could get harder for investors to time AI’s boom.

  • James Thomson
The zippy Abarth 500e Turismo in Venom Black.

This tiny EV is cute and cool – but is it worth $59k?

The battery-powered Fiat Abarth 500e is a fun way to zip around town. And you can park it pretty much anywhere.

  • Tony Davis

Yesterday

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas delivers the state budget yesterday.

Victoria must get a grip

The heavily indebted state has at least stopped whacking its private sector. But there is little sign of resolve on its debts.

  • The AFR View
Orora went big with an offshore M&A deal right as its core business was softening.

The chart that gives Goldman confidence M&A is on the up

Be wary of bankers talking deal pipelines. But what you can rely on them for is a good chart. Goldman Sachs’ M&A boss Marissa Freund didn’t disappoint.

  • Updated
  • Anthony Macdonald
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.

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The Reserve Bank’s bleak news on housing

The central bank sees little respite for struggling home buyers and renters for years to come, as demand in the nation’s housing market continues to outstrip supply.

  • Updated
  • Karen Maley

‘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
CSIRAC: Australia had one of three classical digital computers in the world in the 1960s but missed the opportunity to become a leader in computer development.

Quantum leap to secure first-mover advantage for Australia

The government’s chief scientific adviser says the investment in PsiQuantum may be high risk, but it’s also high reward.

  • Cathy Foley
Shayne Elliott says ANZ can pursue growth and return capital to investors at the same time.

The sneaky bad news in the banks’ $4.5b buyback bonanza

ANZ joined the bank buyback party on Tuesday. Investors love getting excess capital back, but do these buybacks show the banks are short of growth options?

  • Updated
  • James Thomson
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