Featured Opinion
This budget sees the return of government as saviour
Two decades ago, Australia was poised to shed the hard done by battler mindset. Now it is more entrenched than ever.
Political editor
The big fail in Australia’s housing
The Albanese government’s promises of 1.2 million homes over five years are now in the realm of political fantasy, despite the billions of dollars it has pledged for housing.
Columnist
Solar panels debunking makes case for critical minerals leg-up
Even in a world of geopolitical and supply chain risk, the old economic orthodoxies of international specialisation and comparative advantage still apply.
Editorial
Chalmers is telling a big budget fib
Treasurer Jim Chalmers stood in front of 600 guests at his post-budget speech in Parliament House on Wednesday and repeated a misleading number about spending.
Economics editor
Australia’s new course is to be managed decline
The budget is our politics writ small: too lacking in confidence and optimism to seek out new growth.
Columnist
It’s right for Australia to join the critical minerals subsidy rush
The scepticism about government interventions is understandable. But this time, they are creating new industries of immense value.
Industry leader
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.
Economist
America’s race to tear up trade rules hurts everyone
The US is growing tired of upholding the economic rules it laid out for the world after 1945. But tariffs only punish consumers and undermine competitiveness.
Columnist
More From Today
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why bad news has the ASX bulls running
Bad news from the job market turned a good day on the ASX into a great one. Investors are ploughing into market darlings in the firm belief that rate cuts are coming.
- 1 hr ago
- James Thomson
Budget is pure politics
Readers letters on Jim Chalmers’ federal budget; Scott Morrison’s meeting with Donald Trump; and Gina Rinehart’s push against her portrait in The National Gallery of Australia.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How to build a cash war chest and get permission to spend it
Thursday’s two big profit results show what investors want from Australia’s big companies. And it doesn’t have to be just buybacks and special dividends.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How gridiron and cartoon elves sent this ASX giant surging
The 12 per cent surge in Aristocrat Leisure’s share price reflects a solid profit beat. But there’s a secret sauce behind its long track record of growth.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Superannuation
Labor’s ‘double taxation’ in super may not be as steep as you think
A 30 per cent tax rate is unlikely to ever apply to the entirety of annual earnings for people with balances above $3 million.
- John Wasiliev
- Opinion
- Mental disorders
The five types of stalker – a clinical psychologist explains
“Baby Reindeer” accurately portrays the relentless intrusion into another person’s life and the damage it causes to the victims and the people around them.
- Dr Alan Underwood
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How inflation relief and Buffett’s new bet gave bull market fresh legs
Wall Street popped to new record highs on better than feared US inflation data. But there’s a big contradiction at the heart of the bulls’ outlook.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Vladimir Putin’s preparing for a long war
The Russian president’s idea of the motherland is much larger than the country’s globally recognised borders, an atavism that’s widely shared within his nation.
- Marc Champion
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Australian economy
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
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Chalmers’ budget boast overlooks Australia’s debt mountain
The substantial fiscal challenge from the budget is a forecast decade of deficits and highest plateau of federal government net debt for more than half a century.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Queensland in secret bid to buy stricken coal-fired power plant
It’s three years since Queensland power station Callide C blew up, and the fallout hasn’t stopped. Now, a secret deal for the government to buy a 50 per cent stake is in doubt.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why BHP’s hopes of buying Anglo American are fading fast
BHP boss Mike Henry has taken his takeover pitch directly to Anglo American investors. But the hurdles to this bid are multiplying, and time is running out.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Housing slump
Can $32 billion fix the housing crisis?
The Albanese government’s ambitious plan to boost housing supply might not make a difference before the next election. Is there a better solution?
- Robert Harley
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Billions are not enough to realise critical mineral and renewable hydrogen hopes
Where the government can make a real difference is getting the basics right; starting with environmental approval processes is just too hard.
- Patrick Gibbons
- 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
- Global economy
US-China trade war choices for Chalmers’ green budget
The new incentives for critical minerals and green hydrogen are about more than industry policy. They will play out in a global contest over rival political systems.
- Richard McGregor
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Why the student protests make me optimistic about the future
If there is any failure in Australian universities it more likely lies with administrators, rather than student bodies.
- Adir Shiffman
- Opinion
- Refugees
Chinese asylum seekers are paying $15,000 to reach the US via Mexico
About 37,000 people from the Asian nation were detained at the United States’ southern border last year.
- Slavoj Žižek
- Driving With Tony Davis
- Motoring
An eventful test drive of the new McLaren 750S, priced from $586k
In a nutshell, it’s a pure and precise driving experience, even on city roads (notwithstanding an ill-timed software glitch).
- Tony Davis
This Month
- Opinion
- Federal budget
This is the most irresponsible budget in recent memory
The government set itself a simple standard: not to make the Reserve Bank’s job harder. Michele Bullock may just choke on her cornflakes.
- Updated
- Steven Hamilton
