If your business is turning inspiration into innovation, it’s time to be recognised.
Albanese’s diary reveals the CEOs who scored access in 2023
Absent from the diary was a black-tie gala to celebrate Qantas’ centenary, at which the PM gave a speech and was photographed on the red carpet with Alan Joyce.
- Opinion
- Mortgage brokers
Banks gear up for bruising battle to reconquer the mortgage market
The country’s largest lenders are now looking to disrupt the disrupters by offering low-cost digital-only loans, writes Karen Maley.
Behind Ian Malouf’s $50m bet on umbilical cords
The Dial-A-Dump founder has shrugged off doubts about stem cell therapy and is investing heavily to get the treatments more widely approved.
Crisis-focused Home Affairs fails to prepare for security threats
A review of the $6.3 billion Home Affairs department has found it is too focused on crisis management, and lacks the trust of other key intelligence agencies.
Miles’ 50¢ fares unlikely to save Queensland Labor
Queensland Labor’s $150 million pre-election cash splash follows a $1000 power bill rebate, but experts say most voters have already made up their minds.
ASX to bounce as investors look for clearer inflation picture
Traders will be watching for a clearer sense of the inflation outlook, with the release of Australian CPI figures and US personal consumption data.
PNG landslide death toll estimates raised to 670
Crews have given up hope of finding survivors buried deep under the soil and rubble after a landslide slammed into a village on the Pacific island.
AFR Weekend: The big stories, best reads and expert advice. In your inbox on Saturday.
smart investor
What to do if you are asset rich but cash poor
Four strategies to help your assets and savings work harder as the cost of living grows.
There are 635,000 rich Australians. Are you one of them?
Once, being a millionaire made you wealthy. But the goal posts have shifted, and a two-storey house with in-ground pool doesn’t really cut it any more.
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Kiwis outplay Aussies in monetary policy game
The New Zealand central bank has given its Australian equivalent a dancing lesson in political independence.
- Opinion
- Superannuation
How to claim a $157,000 tax deduction while turbocharging super
Anybody who can make extra concessional contributions of this magnitude should seriously consider doing so.
I’m a risk-taker but he plays it safe. How do we invest as a couple?
Mismatched risk appetite is a common problem in relationships. How can couples get over this hurdle when investing together?
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
Victoria accuses Melbourne Airport of holding rail link ‘hostage’
The airport is run by major investors including the Future Fund, and has a different idea from the government of the transport needed from Melbourne’s CBD.
Bonza administrators ask for more time to save stranded budget carrier
The airline’s owner, 777 Partners, and its financiers are mired in legal action in Britain and the United States over its aviation assets.
Membership crackdown could hurt Kogan.com’s ‘north star’
Investors are betting regulation changes to lucrative membership programs will hurt the retailer’s major profit driver at a time earnings are already under pressure.
Shaver Shop chairman caught up in craft brewery woes
Brodie Arnhold is a director and shareholder of Sou’West Brewery, which collapsed this month, joining other victims of the slowdown in spending and rise in costs.
Inside the unstoppable rise of Australia’s mortgage brokers
They’re wealthy, brash and eating the banks’ lunch. Meet the millionaire mortgage brokers taking on the major lenders and – for now – winning.
South African politics complicates BHP’s Anglo American discussions
As they try to seal a $75 billion deal on the same day as the South African election, the two miners remain split on the costs Pretoria will impose on any deal.
Man behind $395m NDIS investment fraud gets 12 years in prison
The verdict brings to an end a criminal matter in which the former property developer used fake documentation to secure financing from Korean pension funds.
Companies in the News
Search companies
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Markets
- Opinion
- Bonds
I have fallen in love with bonds again – and with good reason
Bonds are back, and after a hiatus I am fully back in love with the asset class and their defensive attributes. Crucially, they look to be on the cusp of a significant fall in yields and rise in prices, writes Ellerston’s Vimal Gor.
Magnificent seven power Wall Street higher
Tesla, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Apple paced the advance as investors opted to buy this week’s dip with conviction ahead of a three-day US weekend.
Lithium giant says China will remain pivotal to local mining projects
Local miners are torn between their dominant customer and investor over two decades, and the lure of subsidies from the US, Australia’s biggest defence ally.
Rally hits a wall on China growth and US inflation fears
Worries about China and hotter-than-expected business activity in the United States hit markets on Friday as traders ramped up bets against the $A.
Di Pilla’s HMC buys Payton Capital in $5b private credit push
HMC has appointed the former head of Macquarie’s US principal finance business in New York to run the new strategy.
Opinion
ICC loses its moral bearings over Israel and Gaza
An each-way bet on the ICC’s war crimes charges against Israel adds to the incoherence of Labor’s position amid a fraying of the social fabric of multicultural Australia.
Editorial
The war over Ozempic isn’t helping overweight Australians
The drug regulators’ decision to take the low road and ban compounded weight loss drugs won’t help those suffering health complications from obesity.
Former deputy chief health officer
Populism is yet to peak globally
It’s a mistake to analyse the presidential election in America-only terms. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are being tossed about by global political climate extremely favourable for right-wing populists.
Contributor
AFR will not walk away from WA
Political and business leaders in Western Australia say privately that Kerry Stokes has an unhealthy degree of media power in the state.
Editor-in-chief
Cutting migrant intake is a soft target and dead-end strategy
Reducing migration will just exacerbate the housing shortages it is trying to fix. Higher education will be the collateral damage.
Editorial
Someone will have to bite the bullet and raise taxes
It’s delusional to think that we can find large new areas to spend money on without the overall cost of government going up. But whoever raises taxes first will have an advantage.
Columnist
Reports
The future of financial advice
This special report looks at options to make financial advice more accessible and affordable, including robo-advice, as well as tips for the new financial year.
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by CommBankPolitics
New hate speech laws in focus as social cohesion frays
Anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on the fence of a Melbourne Jewish school has been condemned by the prime minister as the government considers tougher penalties for hate speech.
Bandt lashed for failing to back two-state-solution to end Gaza war
Jewish leaders say the Greens are the “friends of terrorists, foe of democracy” over pro-Palestinian Middle East stance.
Old rhetoric vs new expectations: The battle over big government
Anthony Albanese’s embrace of a bigger role for government is a bet that voters expect much more from government than they used to.
Public transport fares slashed to 50c ahead of Queensland election
Queensland announces $150 million cost of living relief measure ahead of election; a DIY store with about 200 people inside has been struck by Russian missiles in Kharkiv. Follow updates live.
Why universities are headed for a reckoning
Half the students at Sydney and Melbourne universities are now from overseas. A decade ago, this figure was 25 per cent. But cuts are coming, and for some it’s a matter of survival.
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World
Five things about the UK election that would baffle Aussies
Voting isn’t compulsory, it’s first past the post, there are no TV ads, no sausage sizzles. This all means that parties campaign differently than Down Under.
China in high-stakes summit with Japan, South Korea
China and its US-allied neighbours are important trading partners to one another, and their cooperation is key to promoting regional peace and prosperity.
- Opinion
- East Asia Forum
US, China protectionism race benefits no one
To counter competition from China, the United States is becoming more like China, and Australia and other nations have joined the game, writes Shiro Armstrong.
How Trump seized control of his own trial
The former president has found many ways to spin historic proceedings to his unexpected advantage, as he braces for a verdict that could come this week.
‘Hours of attacks’: Russia’s glide bombs target Ukraine city
It was the latest attack in a sustained bombing campaign that has made life increasingly dangerous for civilians in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Property
Madrid leads European house price gains with double-digit surge
Housing shortages are fuelling dramatic price increases in Europe’s major cities. Madrid has been particularly affected by an influx of Latin American money.
Rest Super-backed Cibus to push into carbon farming and robotics
Cibus Capital will make a big push into regenerative farming and will use the latest robotics to expand one of the country’s biggest seedling growers.
- Exclusive
- Luxury property
Rich Lister behind Lego movies buys $12m Byron digs
Animal Logic co-founder Zareh Nalbandian has paid $12 million for a Byron escape after selling his animation studio to streaming giant Netflix.
Ray Dalio joins billionaires snapping up historic Singapore houses
The Bridgewater Associates founder’s family office has bought two heritage ‘shophouse’ properties for about $28.6 million
- Exclusive
- Luxury property
Racing heavyweight lists $5.3m penthouse with three terraces
Steve Rosich, who resigned as CEO of the Victorian Racing Club, is selling his Toorak penthouse, while former David Jones CEO Mark McInnes has completed his mansion upgrade nearby.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Superannuation
‘It’s my money’ attitude leading to illegal super withdrawals
Early release of super is only supposed to allowed as a last resort. So why are so many people being approved to use it for dental work?
What to do if you are asset rich but cash poor
Four strategies to help your assets and savings work harder as the cost of living grows.
- Opinion
- Superannuation
How to claim a $157,000 tax deduction while turbocharging super
Anybody who can make extra concessional contributions of this magnitude should seriously consider doing so.
Technology
‘Asleep at the wheel’: Appen shareholders vent frustrations
Long-suffering shareholders of the data service company have delivered a 19 per cent vote against the company’s remuneration report at its AGM on Friday.
American chatbots: oversexed, overhyped and over here
In just two weeks, Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have each previewed AI chatbots that critics say are as dangerous as they are impressive.
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
‘If you don’t like it, get a job at a bank’: Canva boss
The design software giant’s all-singing, all-dancing debut event in Los Angeles came with a host of new features – and rumblings of a cost to its tired staff.
Work & Careers
Ord Minnett sued for sacking ‘recklessly dishonest’ director
Broking director David Wylie was fired for allegedly making up that the Ord Minnett’s senior leadership expected him to sell his house to pay the firm’s ASIC penalty.
Aussies aren’t all Bondi Beach fit, Ozempic’s new local exec has just realised
Novo Nordisk Oceania managing director Cem Ozenc mourns the fact Australia’s obesity challenge is lost amid the celebrity hype surrounding the medication.
Life & Luxury
Are you a picky eater? It could be harming your brain
Researchers have found that people who liked a variety of foods did better on cognitive tests than those with limited dietary preferences.
Why pouring your own water might save your favourite restaurant
Amid a stream of high-profile restaurant closures, leading industry figures have been forced to adopt minor service changes to control price increases.
Could US Ticketmaster case spell the end of extra fees?
A Biden administration effort to rein in entertainment giant Live Nation might encourage ticketing competition in Australia.
What fashion insiders wear for a long-haul flight
Flying can be stressful, but you don’t have to look like a white-hot mess. From a chic silk blazer to merino-wool leggings, here are some handy go-to labels.
Six ways to stay entertained for those staying home this winter
Not everyone is travelling abroad for the northern hemisphere summer. Cosy up in Australia on a rail trip with Journey Beyond, or indulge at The Victoria & Albert Guesthouse in the Blue Mountains.
