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Budget to extend $20,000 business tax breaks

Businesses with a turnover under $10 million a year will be able to claim a $20,000 tax deduction for the cost of assets including cars, computers or R&D, under an extension of the ‘instant asset write-off’ in Tuesday’s budget.

Australian shares are poised to start the week lower.

ASX eases, weighed by Lendlease, ANZ

Shares slip; Fletcher hit by weak housing market; Lendlease disputes ATO claims; Iress in security breach; ANZ investigated by ASIC. Follow updates here.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and former treasurer and prime minister Paul Keating.

Jim Chalmers rips up Paul Keating’s economic playbook

The treasurer is breaking from Labor’s previously claimed belief in the Hawke-Keating market-based economic model that helped deliver 30 years of prosperity, writes John Kehoe.

Lendlease to dispute $112m tax bill

Lendlease has confirmed it has been hit with a $112 million tax bill from the Australian Taxation Office, for what a whistleblower alleges is for “double-dipping” on tax benefits for its retirement trust.

Budget tips fast inflation fall, reviving rate cut hopes

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says measures in Tuesday’s federal budget will help bring inflation down to within the Reserve Bank’s target band by Christmas.

Videos of Sydney bishop’s stabbing allowed back on X in blow for Labor

The videos have been allowed back on X globally after a court refused to continue orders barring them from view; Vladimir Putin replaces his defence minister. Follow updates live.

Fortescue, Woodside find common ground on green hydrogen

Andrew Forrest has been one of the oil and gas giant’s biggest critics. The two are on the same page about US tax credits issues holding up renewable projects.

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FEDERAL BUDGET

Jim Chalmers says the budget will be good for women.

Budget to provide billions for wages, super blowout

Tuesday’s federal budget will include a massive provision for pay rises in aged care and childcare as well as the recent decision to apply compulsory superannuation to parental leave.

Jim Chalmers will deliver his third federal budget on May 14

Everything we know about Tuesday’s budget so far

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Labor government’s third federal budget this week. Here’s everything we know ahead of the announcement.

Why did Labor drop a big policy change at 6pm last Friday?

While the media scrambled to get across a housing announcement late Friday, the government quietly dropped long-awaited changes to foreign student numbers.

Readers want government to cut debt, rein in spending

Almost 60 per cent readers want Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ federal budget priority to either reduce debt or reign in government spending in this year’s budget - but another 24 per cent want cost-of-living relief to be the focus.

New laws to cap international student intakes

The federal government has stopped short of imposing a hard cap on international student numbers, but will introduce new limits for each provider.

MONDAY MEDIA

ARN Media chairman Hamish McLennan and chief executive Ciaran Davis.

$250m deal to reshape radio market collapses

Southern Cross Austereo’s regional TV stations proved the sticking point for Anchorage Capital Partners’ deal. ARN is left to try and salvage a way forward.

There are similarities in the hitting style of Glenn Maxwell and former Red Sox player Dustin Pedroia.

New laws risk the end of free sports on TV

The government has one chance of modernising how broadcast rights are organised. Otherwise, iconic sporting events will be harder to find.

Dr Byron Sharp, the director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.

The researchers influencing billions in global marketing

The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, Mars, Nestlé and PepsiCo. Its findings guide global business decisions.

Showtime! Media CEOs’ last stand with Foxtel over future of TV

Years of lobbying by free-to-air networks and Foxtel have come down to this week, when two crucial pieces of legislation are set to go before the Senate.

Apple ad fail shows why we fear AI

Apple has apologised for an ad for its new iPads that was so tone-deaf that the creative types, who normally love the company, had an existential fright.

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Companies

ANZ is one of the most active banks in syndicating new debt for the Australian Office of Financial Management.

ASIC investigates ANZ over Treasury trades

The corporate regulator acted after receiving a complaint from the Australian Office of Financial Management, which raises government debt, sources said.

Paul Dumbrell, who was CEO-elect of Atutobarn and Autopro owner Bapcor, but didn’t end up taking the job.

McKinsey program leaves Bapcor in a hole

Instead of delivering the $100 million in extra profits promised, the strategy overhaul has left the automotive giant in disarray and profits sliding.

Partners Group co-founder Urs Wietlisbach and country head Martin Scott expected the Swiss firm to try and sell 21 assets this year.

Partners Group to restart Guardian sale after childcare review

The Swiss private equity firm expects deals to ramp up in the second half, and primed its early learning business to be the first off the block.

Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardio faces a major test at an upcoming investor day.

Aware says it is in ‘early discussions’ with Lendlease over tax bill

The industry superannuation fund is one of the company’s largest investors and owns a big stake in the retirement living business at the centre of the audit.

ANZ wants to revisit Bank@Post deal amid scrutiny of branch closures

It is the only major bank not to allow customers to access services through Australia Post. Rural branch closures will be a focus of a Senate report this week.

David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital takes big stake in Baby Bunting

The country’s largest maternity and baby good retailer has had a poor year, with earnings downgrade and executives departures pushing shares a third lower.

Virgin Australia goes to war over airport ‘gold plating’

The airline’s chief financial officer, Race Strauss, says much of the $15 billion being spent by major airports on infrastructure is unnecessary.

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Markets

Healthscope has a contract with the NSW government to run the public wing of Northern Beaches Hospital until 2038.

Brookfield’s Healthscope debt trap is a mess for everyone involved

The investment giant is bringing its punchy approach to restructuring – and tactics more often found in the US – to Australia as it works on the hospital group.

Markets are expecting restraint from the federal budget as the government tries to balance its response to the cost of living with the need to lower inflation.

How markets were looking before the ASX opening bell

Australian shares were set to edge lower on Monday as they waited to assess the impact of federal budget spending on the central bank’s path to an interest rate cut.

Bond manager Angus Coote says another rate hike would send Australia deeper into recession.

Forget the hawks, the RBA’s next rate move will be lower

In my over 20 years in financial markets, I’ve never seen such a wide dispersion of views on interest rates – we are at a pivotal moment in monetary policy, writes Angus Coote.

Hedge fund founder’s $550,000 loan to be questioned by liquidator

The founder of Perth’s NWQ Capital Management owed more than half a million dollars before its collapse and has told liquidators the loan cannot be repaid.

Jim Simons, ‘quant king’ at Renaissance Technologies, dies at 86

The mathematician-investor created what many in finance consider the world’s greatest moneymaking machine at his secretive firm.

Opinion

Substantial surpluses, not bigger deficits, should be running at this point

Instead, Jim Chalmers has confirmed that forecast deficits will widen as Labor’s Future Made In Australia budget centrepiece rolls out subsidies for the green energy and advanced manufacturing subsides.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Bonza’s failure is a warning for corporate Australia

The private equity-backed airline’s abrupt collapse shines a spotlight on the potential risks brewing in the massive, unregulated private credit market.

Karen Maley

Columnist

Karen Maley

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

Contributor

How Trump’s ‘imperial presidency’ will reshape the world

If Donald Trump wins in November, expect even greater strain on American institutions. But he’s unlikely to be an “imperial president” abroad.

James Curran

International editor

James Curran

Tax inertia pushes budget towards a black hole

Redesigning the tax system against the principles of fairness, efficiency, sustainability and coherence would deliver us all with an economic dividend.

Australia wants more than the Lucky Country can deliver

Successive terms of trade booms – the envy of other nations – have allowed Australian governments to splurge. But now it seems that even that is not enough.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Reports

BOSS Best Places to Work

The awards celebrate the achievements of the best small, medium and large organisations and nine sector winners.

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Politics

Transport Minister Catherine King.

Review warned of budget blowout from Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop

This comes as Infrastructure Minister Catherine King fights to keep secret key contents of the report, including details of 30 projects recommended scrapped.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong decided to be photographed with Palestinian lobbyist Nasser Mashni last October.

Palestinians’ aggressive lobbying upset Labor but it worked

Australia’s decision to support Palestinian UN membership follows seven months of intense, and aggressive, lobbying by a network of activists.

A regulatory threat is hanging over the buy now, pay later innovation that made Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen, billionaires.

Payments innovation under threat from RBA

Buy now, pay later, which revolutionised Australia’s highly concentrated payments system, is under potential threat from increased regulation, writes Tony Boyd.

Coalition warns Labor over RBA board ‘sack and stack’

The implication is Labor would seek to appoint board members inclined to lower interest rates ahead of the federal election, risking the push to curb high inflation.

Labor accused of ‘rewarding’ Hamas with Palestine vote

Opposition frontbencher Senator Jane Hume said there could be no sustainable two-state solution without the consent of Israel.

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World

Andrei Belousov

Putin replaces defence minister in rare cabinet shake-up

The Kremlin said Russia’s ballooning defence budget warranted putting economist Andrei Belousov in charge.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment at Columbia University on April 22.

Why the campus protests are so troubling

Hamas is against the existence of a Jewish state and believes there should be an Islamic state between the river and the sea. When protests on college campuses ignore that, they are part of the problem.

Alex Gerbi, Quinn Emanuel’s London co-managing partner.

New lawyers to earn $341,600 as London talent war explodes

Wages for new hires at Quinn Emanuel will rise by tens of thousands from next month in a recruitment blow to Magic Circle rivals.

Ken Griffin urges Harvard University to embrace ‘Western values’

The hedge fund founder who has given his alma mater more than $US500 million has slammed the pro-Palestinian protests sweeping colleges as “almost like performative art”.

Halting the bombs: Biden’s gamble to rein in Netanyahu

The US president paused a weapons shipment to Israel, piling pressure on Israel’s leader to change course. Will it work?

Property

The Killara Golf Club has sold the four-bedroom home next door to its course for $3.95 million, $700,000 above its reserve.

Killara Golf Club’s greenkeeper house sells for $700,000 above reserve

Auction clearance rates fell at the weekend as buyers grow cautious from interest rates staying higher for longer, but well-located properties remain popular.

Developer Ashley Williams says Victoria’s decision to cut its infrastructure pipeline will free up little capacity to boost housing construction

House builders can’t compete with states’ cash splash

In the race for talent and materials in Australia’s construction game, housing has consistently run in second place to the infrastructure sector.

Tim Gurner.

Gurner-Roberts merger plan sinks

A lack of “chemistry” between the two Rich List business leaders also hindered a merger of their development and construction businesses.

WA farmland boom to end as drier conditions prevail

Farmers in Australia’s wheat and sheep powerhouse state enjoyed a 32 per cent uplift in land values in 2023, but there will be no repeat performance of that in 2024.

Former QIC boss Damien Frawley puts Qld cattle station on the market

Damien Frawley, who is a director at Mirvac and chair of Hostplus, is the biggest shareholder of Blue Sky Beef which is selling Gowan Station.

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Wealth

ASIC’s Simone Constant says super funds found evidence of fees being charged but no service delivered.

ASIC finds super funds still charging fees for no service

Super funds are obliged to ensure members are only charged for financial advice they actually receive but not all are doing so.

A smarter way to tax high super balances

The government has tried to keep things simple, but in doing so fairness has gone out the window.

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.

Technology

X owner Elon Musk has slammed Australian government attempts to remove videos on his site.

15 minutes to get around X’s stabbing video ban, court hears

Lawyers for the social network argued that they had complied with a government take-down notice, which they said was invalid, by blocking footage in Australia.

Life360 co-founder Chris Hulls and chief financial officer Russell Burke are preparing the tracking company for the US IPO.

Life360 reheats plans to target US investors with Nasdaq listing

The ASX-listed, San Francisco-based family-tracking app does not expect to raise more than $US100 million. It had considered a similar move in 2021.

iPad

Apple ad fail shows why we fear AI

Apple has apologised for an ad for its new iPads that was so tone-deaf that the creative types, who normally love the company, had an existential fright.

Work & Careers

James Paterson and Rod Glover.

How Harvard’s leadership rules are helping train Australia’s MPs

Since 2019, groups of aspiring government ministers at the state and federal level have been undertaking specialist training programs, designed to improve standards.

Global push to get tax advisers to think ethically

New rules have been agreed to help restore trust in a profession battered by wrongdoing, including the PwC tax leaks scandal.

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Life & Luxury

Stewart Cameron heli-skiing in the Skeena Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

A managing partner’s guide to great skiing

When Stewart Cameron isn’t heading up Hicksons Lawyers, he’s hankering for an opportunity to shred the pow – preferably in the US or Canada.

Shona McElroy at her studio in Paddington, Sydney. She wears a leather coat from Citizen Concept Store in Paris, Cos turtleneck, Zara jeans, Christian Louboutin shoes, earrings from Bottega Veneta and her Cartier Tank.

The interior designer who swears by secondhand fashion

Shona McElroy loves measuring things, having Veuve to serve, and Buddha’s hand

“Vinegar is the end of a very beautiful natural process,” says cider and vinegar maker Tim Jones.

Top restaurants can’t get enough of the mother of all vinegars

Tasmanian cider maker Tim Jones has branched out into barrel-aged craft vinegars and a refreshing sweet-and-sour cordial.

Monster and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Monster’ movie reviews

One is set to be a blockbuster, but the other is one of those critically acclaimed films that can expect to enjoy only a modest success at the box office.

Anthony Puharich, Jill Dupleix, Peter Gilmore and Andrew McConnell.

When business comes to dine: Fin Dining & Wine launches at Bennelong

The Financial Review’s first restaurant guide features 50 of the best business lunches across Australia, helmed by Jill Dupleix with wine tips from Max Allen.

From the gallery