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Opinion

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Trump's trade war rhetoric has been shaping markets for months.

Donald Trump’s dangerous ideas have these ‘vigilantes’ worried

With Donald Trump favoured to regain the US presidency, a group of investors is starting to focus on the implications of his core economic policies. They’re concerned.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz

Latest

Opinion
Racism

I was heading off to study abroad, but now my phone is alive with alerts

I can’t help but envy the Anglo-Saxon students in my cohort going on exchange. For them, travel warnings take the form of earthquakes or avalanches.

  • by Satara Uthayakumaran
Anthony Albanese and Fatima Payman.

Payman v Albanese and the personal v the collective: Is Labor stuck in 1902?

The personal view of a young Muslim senator faces off with the oldest requirement of would-be ALP politicians, a written contract to observe the collective.

  • by Tony Wright
Paying a bit more for hospital cover can mean cover that is actually useful should you ever need to go to hospital.

Why you could be wasting a lot of money on basic health insurance

Those on basic hospital policies may not realise they could be getting a lot more cover by paying a few more dollars a month.

  • by John Collett
In many cases, taxpayers are contributing more to support the self-supporting retiree’s lifestyle than the pensioner’s.
Opinion
Pension

How wealthy retirees cost taxpayers more than pensioners

In many cases, taxpayers are contributing more to support a self-supporting retiree’s lifestyle than a pensioner’s.

  • by Julia Hartman
Winning the lottery will wipe out your pension income, but you should still consider yourself fortunate.
Opinion
Pension

We won the lottery, but lost our pension. Could we have prevented this?

Once you start spending your windfall, you may start to regain some of your lost pension. But consider yourself extremely fortunate and just enjoy the money.

  • by Noel Whittaker
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While you’re collecting points to get $50 off or scouring aisles for discounts, you’re probably not focused on problems that are worth more in the long run.

Pinch every penny? Not if you want to actually get ahead

While you’re collecting points to get $50 off or scouring aisles for discounts, you’re probably not focused on problems worth more in the long run.

  • by Paridhi Jain
More increases in interest rates and repayments could be on the cards for   variable rate mortgage holders.

Mortgage holders warned to brace for higher interest rates

Higher interest rates could be on the way if inflation does not soon show signs of slowing.

  • by John Collett
Senator Fatima Payman arrives for question time on Monday.

Payman saga highlights outdated policy Labor needs to ditch

Party rebels have stopped Coalition governments making mistakes. Labor MPs lack the same opportunity.

  • The Age's View
Opinion
Income tax

Despite what we’re led to believe, tax cuts are no free lunch

Politicians like to peddle illusions when it comes to tax and tax cuts. Meanwhile, we play our role by deluding ourselves.

  • by Ross Gittins
Letters
Letters

Trump wanted to be king – court has given him the crown

Readers react to the decision of the US Supreme Court to give presidents a degree of immunity from prosecution, and the split between Labor and Fatima Payman.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and the rest of the board are unsure how the economy is performing.

The only certainty for your mortgage rate – Reserve Bank uncertainty

The Reserve Bank is supposed to have a handle on how the economy will perform over the next two years. Its minutes show it doesn’t.

  • by Shane Wright
Teenagers are biologically driven to break away from their parents.
Opinion
Parenting

I lie to my kids and they lie to me. Some secrets need keeping

When I lied to my parents, I genuinely thought they believed me. These days we laugh about it, but it was an important rite of passage.

  • by Nova Weetman
Brian Johnson - addresses the CBA valuation conundrum
Opinion
Big four

Why the CBA share price continues to defy gravity

A bunch of short-seller investors who last year placed expensive bets that CBA share price would fall are licking their financial wounds.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Tony Blair in 1997, Keir Starmer in 2024.

Fool Britannia: Brits hoping for a return to the Blair-era glory days are dreaming

Where Tony Blair arrived at a point of hope, Keir Starmer enters at a point of despair. The excitement and pride of 1997 have given way to deep cynicism and Brexit division.

  • by Gary Nunn
Xi Jinping is determined to make

Xi Jinping will be desperate not to repeat his mistake from a decade ago

A critical moment looms for China with a meeting this month to set out its plans for the future. Xi Jinping will be treading carefully.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
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 John McEnroe and Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon ahead of the 2024 tournament.
Opinion
Wimbledon

Nick Kyrgios stuns audience on his BBC debut – by being polite and thoughtful

This is a tennis player who simply could not shut up but the Aussie bad boy proved to be the opposite of his on-court demeanour.

  • by Jim White
Most new technologies have both benefits and costs, and sometimes the latter outweigh the former.
Analysis
AI

Would you trust AI to pick your investments? Here’s our verdict

A new investing tool that uses AI is a little underwhelming, but it could be of use for first-time investors looking for information.

  • by John Collett
The accident happened about 8pm on Thursday night.

I thought I was a safe driver. Then … thud!

A routine car trip turned into a near tragedy. I still don’t know how it happened.

  • by Kerri Sackville
Julian Assange has become a Rorschach test, where people project onto him whatever they want to see.

We see what we want: How Assange became a political Rorschach test

The founder of WikiLeaks helped turned the concept of left and right-wing politics on its head.

  • by Maher Mughrabi
Twelve million Australians do not have a will, and 60 per cent have never given a thought to estate planning. That’s a serious situation.

Three things to keep in mind when planning your will

Twelve million Australians do not have a will, and 60 per cent have never given a thought to estate planning. That’s a serious situation.

  • by Noel Whittaker
Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Chesapeake.

‘King above the law’: Trump’s court victory has far-reaching implications

The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision along ideological lines is a clear victory for Trump but it will also have far-reaching implications for future presidents.

  • by Aaron Blake
The project is a major plank of China’s high-tech economic and military ambitions and its aim of being technologically independent of the West.
Opinion
Aviation

The West’s incompetence could surrender the skies to China

China is determined to become a major player in air travel, and the West is leaving the door open.

  • by Matthew Lynn
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and RBA governor Michele Bullock.

Two reasons why the RBA will have to hike rates again, and soon

When the RBA board next meets, I believe there’s a better-than-even chance it will raise rates for the first time in nine months to 4.6 per cent.

  • by Steven Hamilton
Letters
Letters

Albanese has chosen to punish stray senator, but voters respect values

Readers react to Labor’s punishment of Fatima Payman after she said she would cross the floor again on votes regarding Palestinian statehood.

Lachie Neale in action for the Brisbane Lions in last year’s grand final.
Analysis
AFL 2024

How the AFL review became an orgy of club self-interest

There have been some sober, intelligent suggestions on potential changes to the AFL competition, but certain issues have been dominated by self-interest, point-scoring and whingeing.

  • by Jake Niall
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Uber operated in Denmark for just three years before exiting the market.

This European city is missing a service common in Australia - and we don’t miss it

At first, we thought the apps must have crashed. But within days, we realised it was something else entirely: there are no rideshare platforms in Denmark.

  • by Caroline Zielinski
Life in South Melbourne.

My suburb once had 98 pubs. These days, you’re more likely to bump into a ‘nana trolley’

With a “pub on every corner” during the gold rush, my neighbourhood is now a source of amusement for suburban workmates.

  • by Ella Hamilton
Go Biden.

I knocked Biden out of the race in ’87. Almost four decades later, he needs to quit again

In Washington, people often become what they start out scorning. This has happened to Joe Biden.

  • by Maureen Dowd
Possible replacements for Joe BIden include (clockwise from left) Andy Beshear, Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer.

Who could replace Joe Biden? Here are 10 options for the Democrats

A meandering, occasionally incoherent and almost universally panned first-debate performance from Biden has led to calls for him to step aside, even by those loyal to him.

  • by Aaron Blake
David Fifita of the Maroons is tackled during game three of the State of Origin series in Sydney last year.
Analysis
NRL 2024

Changes Slater must consider for his biggest Maroons test

Billy Slater faces his greatest litmus test at the Maroons’ helm.

  • by Nick Wright
Opinion
Alcohol

Barnaby’s booze ban? I’m thirsty for the details

As iron-cast as Barnaby Joyce’s willpower obviously is, those of us playing along at home were hoping for … something more.

  • by Michelle Cazzulino
New Governor-General Sam Mostyn is casting an eye over the standard of public debate.

King’s representative calls for an end to constant battle royal in parliament

As governor-general, Sam Mostyn is King Charles’ representative in Australia. But she has signalled a much broader remit.

  • by Shane Wright
Healthcare companies and banks have lifted the Australian sharemarket.

Why we’re going into the new financial year carrying last year’s problems

It is difficult to see anything much that will stimulate corporate profits in the remainder of this calendar year.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
PERTH, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 30: Elliot Yeo of the Eagles leaves the field after the team’s defeat during the 2024 AFL Round 16 match between the West Coast Eagles and the Hawthorn Hawks at Optus Stadium on June 30, 2024 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Eagles’ third straight home defeat was not far off peak embarrassment

With the return of the club champion and the rising star this was meant to be the best version of West Coast in 2024. What eventuated was so far from it.

  • by Paddy Sweeney
The Magpies tried another escape act against the Suns, but couldn’t pull it off this time.
Analysis
AFL 2024

Magpies try one great escape too many; Hawks back in the box office

Craig McRae’s team has pulled off a number of death-defying comebacks, but on Saturday its luck ran out. Meanwhile, the Hawks are now among the league’s greatest showmen.

  • by Andrew Stafford
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The prospect of another Trump administration presents threats and opportunities for China.

Why the world fears four more years of Trump

Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has made the likelihood of a second Trump term far more real and has China and the rest of the world on edge.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
RBA governor Michele Bullock should be alert to sticky inflation, but there’s no need to be alarmed.

Why interest rate speculators should get back in their box

The future of interest rates needs more brainpower and a lot less idle speculation.

  • by Ross Gittins
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time.

Who knew? Governments do better when they actually govern

Rather than talking about policies that may never be, Labor was able to spend the week talking about tax cuts, wage rises and power bill rebates taking effect.

  • by Sean Kelly
Lawyer Jennifer Robinson watches on as Julian Assange is greeted by his wife Stella upon his return to Australia last week.

Assange may be free, but journalism everywhere is in chains

Journalists and publishers remain under threat all over the world, especially in our region. Australia, which is no beacon for media freedom, needs to step up.

  • by Caoilfhionn Gallagher and Jennifer Robinson
Matt Burton celebrates his match-winning field goal.
Analysis
NRL 2024

The shocks and shake-ups of a faster, younger, tougher NRL in 2024

As the season moves past the halfway point, attacking football is in vogue, big names have made way for new talents and the off-field wheeling and dealing is as intriguing as ever.

  • by Dan Walsh
Billionaire businessman Andrew Forrest is using his deep pockets to take on Facebook parent Meta over scam ads using his likeness.
Analysis
Social media

Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s court win threatens to expose Facebook’s trillion-dollar secrets

How does Facebook interact with fraudsters who book scam ads on its platform? Billionaire Andrew Forrest is about to find out.

  • by Colin Kruger
Scott Morrison with the 2018-19 budget that contained the 7-year tax plan that ends on July 1 with the start of the stage 3 tax cuts.
Analysis
Income tax

Sugar hit from stage 3, but the country needs a tax reform diet

From July, $23 billion will flow to hard-pressed Australians as the stage 3 tax cuts begin. But they’re a long way from solving the nation’s biggest tax issues.

  • by Shane Wright
Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Editorial
Tax reform

Political guts and policy muscle needed for true tax reform

Voters are rightly fed up with the lack of vision for our economic future. 

  • The Herald's View
Vladimir Putin with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. Russian gas revenues have dried up.

How Putin handed America the keys to the world’s energy market

It did not take long for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to reshape the world’s energy markets, but the Russian president might be kicking himself.

  • by Jonathan Leake
Labor senator Fatima Payman leaves the Lodge in Canberra on Sunday afternoon after being suspended from caucus by Anthony Albanese.

Albanese had to act on Payman, but doing so creates new headaches for Labor

It was Fatima Payman’s third strike against caucus solidarity, but Labor is likely to face blow-back from Muslim Australians.

  • by James Massola
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Nick Bracks.

I know what it’s like to be the politician’s son who makes mistakes. I wouldn’t wish it on Tom Dutton

When a photo of the opposition leader’s 18-year-old son made headlines last week, I immediately felt so sorry for him. Unfortunately, I know exactly what it’s like to go through that.

  • by Nick Bracks
Ronan Leahy impressed for the Junior Wallabies.
Tight Five
Wallabies

NSW’s latest ‘one that got away’ shows why Simon Raiwalui is so badly needed

Waratahs’ new director of performance must take a hard line on retention to prevent players like Under-20s star Ronan Leahy being lost to the state.

  • by Paul Cully
Brexit rancour has had a long but slowly ebbing afterlife.
Analysis
UK politics

Bregrets? They’ve got a few. Most Brits now think leaving EU was a mistake

As Britons head to the polls this week, a majority think that leaving the European Union has delivered few benefits.

  • by Rob Harris
Opinion
Style

Adidas is Samba-ing all over Nike’s high-tops

Nike’s top-selling sneakers have fallen out of favour with fashionistas, who are choosing Adidas’s low-rise models. This sartorial shift looks like it is starting to hurt Nike.

  • by Andrea Felsted