Today
- Opinion
- 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.
- 8 mins ago
- Phillip Coorey
Dutton to slash migrant intake, ban foreign property buyers
The opposition leader has vowed to slash permanent migration by a quarter to 140,000 a year, cut refugee arrivals by a third, and ban foreign investors buying established homes for two years, in a bid to free up 100,000 properties. Watch live.
- 37 mins ago
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Opinion
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.
- John Roskam
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.
- Analysis
- Defence
The ADF will grow by just 358 people next year. That’s a big problem
If Defence is to attract the 5000 new soldiers, sailors and aviators it desperately needs, it must do a much better job looking after its current ones.
- Andrew Tillett
‘Business spends bugger all’: what landmark R&D review aims to fix
Technology industry experts warn a new government review into the R&D system must not cut tax incentives, and must kick-start anaemic business investment.
- Paul Smith, Tess Bennett and Nick Bonyhady
Can Australia become a green energy superpower? Five charts that say yes
The Albanese government is taking a big punt on its signature Future Made in Australia policy, betting $24.3 billion over 10 years in Tuesday’s budget – these charts show why.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Opinion
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.
- Warren Pearce
RBA will ignore budget’s ‘miracle’ inflation forecast
Former Reserve Bank official Jonathan Kearns has cast doubt on whether the budget can produce a “magical” drop in inflation beyond the short term.
- John Kehoe
Jobs growth, immigration back under control: Chalmers
Delivering his 2024 budget speech, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Labor has delivered record jobs growth, wages growth is back in the black, and immigration will be half what it was last year.
- Updated
AFP investigates large-scale ransomware attack on health company
The Australian Federal Police and other authorities are investigating a large-scale ransomware attack on a private health business. Here’s how the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Tom Rabe
Hydrogen credit could blow its $6.7b budget
Sunshine Hydro chairman Michael Myer says international investment could mean the cost of the budget measure blows out, but is still worth the benefits.
- Ben Potter
Yesterday
The game changer on battery-making is still to come
The founder of Australia’s only lithium-ion battery-maker says a $523 million budget boost will help underwrite a boom in critical minerals.
- Ben Potter
Dutton rejects ‘Rich Lister’ tax cuts
The opposition has blasted $27.8 billion in production credits in the budget as “tax cuts for billionaires”, vowing to repeal them if elected.
- Phillip Coorey and Brad Thompson
CEOs to Labor: inflation still needs to be tamed
Measures to lift housing supply are being partly applauded, but a heavier push on curbing inflation seems to be missing in a two-speed economy.
- Simon Evans and Liam Walsh
This could be the biggest local energy shake-up since the late ’70s
The budget leg-up for the ‘Future Made in Australia’ through green metals is ultimately about shoring up Labor’s electoral base.
- Andrew Clark
Palmer says billionaires like him shouldn’t get a break on bills
The Rich Lister, who is eligible for the power bill rebate on several of his homes, says the money would be better spent on households that desperately need it.
- Campbell Kwan and Bonnie Campbell
Careful return to migration trends needed, Labor urged
Efforts to better manage immigration levels must not undercut the university sector and efforts to address skilled worker shortages across the economy, experts say.
- Tom McIlroy
‘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
Investors welcome Chalmers’ new ‘front door’ service (with caveats)
Big investors want to be consulted as the proposal for an investment concierge moves from budget papers into reality.
- John Kehoe
