Labor’s new climate chief Matt Kean says nuclear not viable
Anthony Albanese has announced Matt Kean as the next chairman of the Climate Change Authority, but again refused to commit to announcing its recommended 2035 target.
Saving less and spending less: Why Aussie households are unique
Australian households are saving much less than their global peers as mortgage repayments and tax bracket creep eat into disposable incomes.
Sam Mostyn to earn $709k as governor-general
Federal Labor is rushing through parliament a more than $200,000 pay increase for King Charles’ representative to Australia.
ResMed sinks as drug trial sparks Ozempic-style sell-off
New results from Eli Lilly’s weight-loss treatment have traders reaching for the sell button, but analysts aren’t so sure.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX falls; Premier and Myer shares jump; ResMed tumbles 12pc
Shares lower; Star drops after profit warning; Myer explores merger with Premier’s Just Jeans, Jay Jays; Cettire issues profit warning; ResMed sinks as Ozempic fears resurge. Follow updates here.
Why now’s a good time to visit Europe (and it’s not the Olympics)
French political turmoil is good news for Australians heading to Europe with the dollar trading at its highest level against the euro in a year.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Myer’s new brigade imagines a future with warring Solomon Lew
Myer’s battle with its biggest shareholder hasn’t been good for anyone, so credit to the new brigade for bringing it to a head.
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MONDAY MEDIA
- Exclusive
- Defamation
AMP’s royal commission executive sues The Australian newspaper
AMP’s former head of advice, “Jack” Regan, claimed an article imputed he misled ASIC and admitted to misleading ASIC during the Hayne banking royal commission.
- Analysis
- Media & marketing
Publishers fear this new Google AI feature will kill their traffic
Google’s ‘AI Overviews’ has rolled out in the US. Its AI-generated results push links down by a full page, a new study has found.
A very British paper is forced to cover a scandal: its own
The discovery of $500 million missing from The Telegraph newspaper marks the end of the owners’ two decades of influence over British politics.
Calls to ban Facebook and Instagram in Australia
The heads of major media organisations say Meta’s refusal to renew about $70 million in commercial deals with news outlets will likely lead to job losses and newspaper closures.
Financial Review Australia’s most trusted newspaper brand
The Australian Financial Review has again been ranked the nation’s most trusted newspaper brand, as overall trust in the media declines across the board.
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Companies
Metcash’s better than expected food results soothes hardware pain
Households are cutting back on restaurant visits and hunting for food on special at the group’s IGA stores, but Total Tools is being hit by the housing construction slide.
Myer outlines massive expansion plan with Just Jeans, Jay Jays buy
The department store has proposed acquiring several brands owned by Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments, its largest shareholder, in a bid to trigger growth.
High-roller exodus rolls on at struggling Star casinos
Star says its main gaming floors are attracting customers, but not enough to offset dramatic declines from its premium gaming rooms.
$11b swoop on ASX building giants leaves James Hardie the lone prize
The CSR, Boral and Adbri buyouts come at a low point in the construction cycle, with better times expected from mid-2025 once interest rate cuts arrive.
Cettire plunges on 40pc on profit downgrade as luxury pinch strikes
Cettire blamed a challenging environment in online luxury fashion for a big earnings miss that sent its share price tumbling.
- Exclusive
- Cash
Armaguard secures deal with supermarkets, banks to save cash
Months after a bailout collapsed, the eight largest customers of Linfox’s Armaguard have agreed to a $50 million injection to keep cash circulating.
- Opinion
- Investing
Blackstone’s mega private credit deal is a sign of the times
Private credit funds are the solution for private equity’s problems. But can the good times last for Wall Street’s hottest sector? Blackstone thinks they can, writes Jonathan Shapiro.
Companies in the News
Search companies
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Markets
Wall Street’s record rally built on ‘shaky foundations’
The AI-powered surge in the US sharemarket has lifted the S&P 500 by 32 per cent from its October lows, but equity strategists warn not everything is so rosy under the hood.
Why hedge fund Geometrica only wants to make ‘easy money’
Fund managers James Bradley and Gary Hui go to painstaking lengths before they buy a stock like Nvidia or bet against one like The a2 Milk Company.
- Opinion
- Bonds
Are state governments on the brink of a debt crisis?
Victoria and Queensland have caught the infrastructure fever from NSW and have super-sized it. But financial discipline is in short supply.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Favourite demographer of market gurus predicts catastrophe
History says something really ugly is coming, according to Neil Howe. Investors need to be ready.
Global ambitions a dangerous trap for overzealous local giants
“An organic approach to world domination is a better way to do it,” says Allan Gray’s Simon Mawhinney. A string of failures shows he’s on the money.
Opinion
Why we need to get behind small business
The true backbone of Australia’s entrepreneurial spirit and innovation lies within its small business sector, not just the tech giants.
Small business advocate
Mackenzie’s climate change
It shouldn’t surprise to hear the head of a global oil company talking his own book. But it’s no use pretending that the decarbonisation transition is more difficult and more costly than many imagined.
Editorial
Supermarket crackdown avoids break-up overreach
Yet what remains unexplained is how shoring up the bargaining power of incumbent suppliers will actually lower prices for families at the checkout or will have the unintended regulatory consequences of meaning higher prices.
Editorial
Putin to Xi: I have options in East Asia
The Russian President’s visits last week to North Korea and Vietnam shows Russia’s residual capacity to stir trouble in East Asia.
International editor
Israel needs to get the hell out of Gaza
The extremists in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government have led a reckless act of economic, military and moral overstretch.
Contributor
Nuclear is unviable because of economics, not engineering
Even if all that mattered was the cheapest possible energy that meets minimum levels of reliability and emissions, the Coalition’s plan fails.
Reports
Executive education - Microcredentials
A growing number of employers are developing short, sharp courses known as microcredentials in collaboration with tertiary institutions.
Politics
- Live
- Need to Know
Matt Kean to lead Climate Change Authority
Nuclear power would have bankrupted NSW, says Kean; authorities struggle to close down avian flu outbreak; big retailers face multibillion-dollar fines. Follow live updates here.
Why companies are starting to back away from green targets
In the past year, many of the world’s biggest companies have dropped or missed goals to cut emissions or to loosen ties with polluting sectors.
Coles, Woolies face multibillion-dollar fines under new mandatory code
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has agreed to adopt all 11 recommendations of Craig Emerson’s review into the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.
- Exclusive
- Federal election
Election countdown: Labor has plenty of laws to pass before voting day
With the election due within 12 months, Labor ministers privately concede that some policies could be pushed back into a likely second term.
Keating labels Dutton ‘a charlatan and climate change denialist’
The former prime minister accused the Coalition leader of seeking to “camouflage” his “long held climate denialism” in an industrial fantasy of nuclear energy.
SPONSORED
World
- Analysis
- Regional security
Why China is using axes, fists to fight border disputes
Experts say that China’s use of simple weapons rather than firearms has been a tactical choice, but it may not always prevent escalation.
- Analysis
- World elections
Growing ‘gamble-gate’ threatens to bury Rishi Sunak
A fourth Tory staffer is being probed for betting on the timing of the election, in a scandal that has engulfed the PM’s party just two weeks from polling day.
Japan using Australian gas to shore up regional influence
Japanese energy companies are on-selling surplus Australian gas to allies in South-East Asia.
Netanyahu says Gaza intense fighting close to ending
The Israeli PM says the new stage would offer a chance to move forces to the north to where tensions with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been growing.
Biden-Trump debate comes with great risks and rewards for both men
In appealing to divided and often angry voters, the past and present presidents will need to navigate a minefield of perceptions and realities.
Property
WeWork’s exit opens opportunity for new co-working hub
The owner of 66 King Street in Sydney’s CBD has taken over the space from WeWork and decided to run his own co-working office there under a belief that he can do it better.
The 10-minute, $1.5m sale that was an afterthought
An interstate buyer paid $835,000 for in investment block of land, sight unseen. When they did come to see it, they bought the neighbouring block, too.
- Exclusive
- Superannuation
Keystone lent money to director’s $300m Port Douglas resort dream
Keystone Asset Management, under ASIC investigation, lent money to companies associated with a director’s controversial plan to develop an “uber five-star luxury” resort in Port Douglas.
Tiny Sydney studio sells for $425,000 as clearance rate slides
A buyer from Dubbo snapped up one of Sydney’s smallest homes for just $425,000, but the city’s clearance rate fell to just 63 per cent, according to Domain.
Aviation exec to sell Provence-style vineyard in the Adelaide Hills
A $7 million luxury vineyard escape has joined the Adelaide Hills market complete with ornamental lake and Provence-style homestead.
Wealth
Can I do anything to maximise my tax return this close to June 30?
Though the end of the financial year is just days away, there are still some last-minute ways small businesses can reduce their tax liabilities.
Why avoiding Coles and Woolies will save you 25pc
A basket of everyday groceries is $17 cheaper at Aldi, research by consumer group Choice shows, with little difference between the big two supermarket chains.
Australia had more female fund managers seven years ago
Industry efforts to hire more women in investment management have borne fruit. But the industry is struggling to get more women into portfolio manager roles.
Technology
- Exclusive
- AI
Aussie brothers’ AI firm worth $120m as big name backers invest
Melbourne-based Affinda has built AI-based software used by numerous big companies around the world, it has doubled its valuation in 18 months with well-known investors.
- Opinion
- Digital Life
With the new Surface Laptop, Microsoft catches the MacBook
Microsoft has finally done it. It has broken free from Intel and produced a laptop right up there with Apple’s hitherto incomparable MacBook Air.
Robotic friend company raises $3 million to build Abi
The Funded blog is the home for news on the tech deals that are done in Australia, as soon as we hear about them.
Work & Careers
- Opinion
- Careers
There’s nothing funny about LinkedIn’s ‘weird’ makeover
If the professional social network is now a place for personal posts, why isn’t it funnier?
- Exclusive
- Industrial relations
Nurses identify ‘$1.2bn’ in savings for 15 per cent pay rise
Deloitte’s report for the NSW nurses’ union found the state government may have missed out on more than $3 billion in Commonwealth funding due to inaccurate data.
Life & Luxury
Custom-made lingerie is an investment, that’s why the rich buy it
Six generations of a Parisian family have been crafting undergarments that make everything else their clients wear look good.
- Driving With Tony Davis
- Motoring
An electric Bugatti? The Tourbillon has landed
In fact, it’s not all-electric. This supercar also has an 8.3-litre V16 engine capable of producing 1000 horsepower.
A sleep scientist explains how to beat jet lag
Sleep scientist Dean Miller is advising our Olympians about recovering faster from jet lag. Here’s what he will tell them before they head to Paris.
When Maria Callas went from diva to teacher
By 1971, the celebrated soprano’s voice was worn out. This made for a febrile mood at her series of Juilliard masterclasses that year, now immortalised in a play.
The under-the-radar watch brands worth your time
Can’t get your hands on a Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet? Try one of these lesser-known timepieces as your next must-have.
From the gallery
The Australian Financial Review Magazine
Why everyone hands this CEO the wine list at restaurants
- Sam Buckingham-Jones