Yesterday
- Opinion
- Opinion
Chalmers confronts his economic critics
The treasurer insists his budget gets the balance right, even if the economists don’t agree. What will the Reserve Bank and the voters think?
- Updated
- Jennifer Hewett
‘Dangerous’ to rely on key budget number given $80b spending splurge
More than $80 billion of under-the-radar spending on initiatives such as Snowy Hydro, NBN and clean energy undermines budget deficit forecasts, Saul Eslake says.
- John Kehoe
Treasury debunks Albanese’s solar and battery push
Treasury says there is a “strong case” for green hydrogen and green metals have “significant potential”. Making solar panels and batteries is another story.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Fundies are riding a wave of stimulus. Jim Chalmers just added to it
Investor bullishness is as strong as it’s been since 2021, but one key question in BoA’s latest fund manager survey particularly resonates after the latest budget.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Why Chalmers’ budget made me very grumpy
I’m feeling as grumpy as I appear in my headshot. That’s because the big ask of the budget was not to poke the inflationary bear. It didn’t pass that test.
- Chris Richardson
‘Expansionary’ budget at odds with RBA rate push
Despite calls for Labor to adopt a contractionary fiscal policy to complement the RBA, economists say Tuesday’s budget was likely expansionary or neutral at best.
- Ronald Mizen
This Month
The budget in five key charts
The five key graphs to understand the government’s latest federal budget.
- Edmund Tadros
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Chalmers’ Made in Australia is just a drop in the bucket
The new strategy is just a drop in the bucket compared with the US, and taxpayers can be relieved that the treasurer has been remarkably frugal in its funding.
- Karen Maley
How 870,000 Australians avoided budget income sting
The figure used to estimate how much retirees’ investments are earning will remain well below where it would otherwise be, easing fears of an “income cliff”.
- Lucy Dean
From babies to Boomers: what’s in the budget for you
The 2024 federal budget includes power bill relief, more training places and additional rent assistance.
- Joanna Mather and Lucy Dean
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why Andrew Forrest is a big budget winner
Jim Chalmers’ $23 billion bet on turning Australia into a green industry superpower ignores many of the issues on the top of the business sector’s wishlist.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Where Australians are spending their larger pay packets
Australian household income is up, but so is spending on some undesirables. The result is what our retail CEOs are talking a lot about - shopping for value.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Opinion
Gas critics are signing up for coal and candles
The climate movement needs to ask itself what is worse: gas in the new energy mix, or coal that lingers for longer.
- Craig Emerson
Here’s what we know is in Tuesday’s federal budget
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Labor government’s third federal budget this week. Here’s everything we know ahead of the announcement.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Lure global capital with internationally competitive tax reform
Rather than Jim Chalmers’ “new growth model”, the fair dinkum way to increase foreign investment would be to progress a genuine growth agenda.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Opinion
On his third budget, Chalmernomics has finally emerged
The Albanese-Chalmers government embodies a short-term and emotive response to wage stagnation, not a rational one.
- Stephen Anthony
- Opinion
- Opinion
The one standout success metric for the budget
More investment is required to drive productivity. We won’t get this without cutting red tape and making the things more business-friendly.
- Bran Black
- Exclusive
- Infrastructure
Labor warned of risk from Victoria’s $200b rail loop
Infrastructure Minister Catherine King is fighting to keep secret the details of 30 projects that her hand-picked review said should be scrapped, as well as warnings over Victoria’s controversial Suburban Rail Loop, which will cost more than $200 billion to build and operate.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Opinion
Can Labor pick winners without being dudded? We have ideas
There needs to be a process of competitive public testing and discovery against a clear public interest standard so that government and taxpayers’ money don’t get skinned in a lopsided contest with investors and project promoters.
- John Wylie and Peter Harris
Justice Michael Lee rules Lehrmann to pay trial costs
Bruce Lehrmann has been ordered to pay the vast majority of Network Ten’s legal costs for his failed defamation case; Air Vanuatu enters liquidation; Wong undecided on UN Palestine vote. How the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Euan Black