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    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.

    Phillip Coorey

    Political editor

    Phillip Coorey

    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.

    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.

    The AFR View

    Editorial

    The AFR View

    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.

    John Kehoe

    Economics editor

    John Kehoe

    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

    Columnist

    John Roskam

    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

    Industry leader

    Warren Pearce

    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.

    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.

    Edward Luce

    Columnist

    Edward Luce
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    More From Today

    Watch out – the bulls are running hard.

    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
    Treasurer Jim Chalmers may be feeling the pressure when he resorts to describing the Coalition’s “clown show”.

    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.

    Shareholders will back growth stories, but only if they trust management can deliver them.

    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
    Aristocrat chief executive Trevor Croker has delivered another solid profit result.

    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
    When we eventually sell the properties, how will the capital gains be calculated?

    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
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    Martha (Jessica Gunning) is a relationship seeker.

    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
    Warren Buffett’s new position was finally revealed to markets on Wednesday night.

    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
    Vladimir Putin arrives for his inauguration ceremony this month, after his re-election as president.

    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

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

    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
    In contrast to those times, there is no credible fiscal framework to rebuild the economy’s fiscal buffers.

    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
    The C4 unit at Callide power station in Queensland blew up in May 2021.

    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
    BHP’s Ken Henry is eager to engage with Duncan Wanblad, but his Anglo American counterpart is keeping his own counsel.

    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
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    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
    Andrew Forrest’s big wins arrived in the form of tax incentives that will boost both his publicly listed giant Fortescue Metals Group and private interests.

    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
    Fund mangers are riding a wave of stimulus that is helping buoy sentiment and the market.

    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
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    The US is in a state of near panic about the green-industry tidal wave coming out of China.

    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
    Hundreds of students gathered at Melbourne University in support of Palestine.

    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
    Young Chinese are prepared to make the gruelling journey via South America to reach the US where they apply for asylum.

    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
    The McLaren 750S: Zero to 100 km/h is quoted as 2.8 seconds, and 200 comes up in 7.2 seconds.

    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

    A better than expected economy, lower than forecast unemployment, and sticker than wanted inflation set up a diabolical task for Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ third budget in May.

    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