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    Wednesday’s June quarter CPI data will have a big bearing on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision next week.

    Labor braces for higher inflation, interest rates

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sought to exonerate the government from rising inflation and a possible rate rise, arguing Labor’s two budget surpluses have helped the RBA reduce price pressures.

    • John Kehoe
    ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb used public benefit grounds to approve Brookfield’s proposed purchase of Origin Energy.

    Dealmakers face tougher ‘public benefit’ test on mergers

    Businesses using public interest grounds such as climate change action or financial stability to get takeover approvals will face a stricter hurdle from the ACCC.

    • Updated
    • John Kehoe

    The price rises creating a big dilemma for the RBA

    High inflation for items that interest rates have little control over, such as education, healthcare and insurance, will force the RBA to consider squashing harder on the prices of other items.

    • John Kehoe

    Merger crackdown to make ACCC ‘judge and jury’ on deals

    More takeovers will be able to be blocked under the government’s move to give the competition watchdog stronger powers than previously thought, lawyers say.

    • John Kehoe

    Construction collapses lead record insolvency year

    It was the highest number of annual insolvencies recorded by ASIC since records dating back to 1999-2000 and surpassed the previous high at the tail end of the global financial crisis.

    • John Kehoe

    That cool op-shop jacket could earn you carbon credits

    Federal regulators are considering a proposal to offer financial incentives to consumers who buy second-hand clothes.

    • Peter Ker

    Opinion & Analysis

    Australia can’t afford for economic security to trump trade in Asia

    Economic diplomacy that builds interdependence with China in critical minerals and green energy will contribute to Australian prosperity and security, not detract from it.

    Shiro Armstrong

    Trade expert

    Shiro Armstrong

    Why the Productivity Commission is wrong about green subsidies

    The independent government agency has an outdated neoliberal mandate that needs an ESG makeover.

    Jeremy Cooper

    Financial industry expert

    Jeremy Cooper

    We need to clear the runway for new gas supply

    Growing acceptance from governments of the role of gas in the energy transition is yet to translate into actions to clear the backlog of projects stuck in regulatory approval purgatory.

    Samantha McCulloch

    Oil and gas industry representative

    Samantha McCulloch

    AUKUS critics fail to match their speculation with substance

    There is a long list of loud objections to the project. But how many of them really stand up to scrutiny?

    Ross Babbage

    Defence strategist

    Ross Babbage
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    More From Today

    De-risking from Chinese supply chains would be costly and damaging to national security goals.

    Australia can’t afford for economic security to trump trade in Asia

    Economic diplomacy that builds interdependence with China in critical minerals and green energy will contribute to Australian prosperity and security, not detract from it.

    • Shiro Armstrong
    It’s time we stopped our pursuit of endless economic growth from a world with finite resources, without regard for the consequences.

    Why the Productivity Commission is wrong about green subsidies

    The independent government agency has an outdated neoliberal mandate that needs an ESG makeover.

    • Jeremy Cooper

    We need to clear the runway for new gas supply

    Growing acceptance from governments of the role of gas in the energy transition is yet to translate into actions to clear the backlog of projects stuck in regulatory approval purgatory.

    • Samantha McCulloch

    Yesterday

    American shipyards will be able to deliver the first Virginia class submarines for Australia in 2032.

    AUKUS critics fail to match their speculation with substance

    There is a long list of loud objections to the project. But how many of them really stand up to scrutiny?

    • Ross Babbage
    Health Minister Mark Butler and Ramsay Health Care’s Australia boss, Carmel Monaghan, are key figures in working to resolve the financial crisis in private hospitals.

    Beware propping up ‘bricks and mortar’ hospitals disrupted by ‘virtual care’

    Australia needs a big picture reimagining of how to organise and pay for the kind of healthcare services an ageing society needs, setting aside scare tactics about ‘US-style managed care’.

    • The AFR View
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    Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock is walking a fine line balancing interest rates and inflation.

    Why the case for an August rate rise has been overdone

    The RBA missed its chance to lift rates at the end of last year. Raising them now will be much harder to explain.

    • Ben Udy

    This Month

    Uranium mining bans belong to a previous era

    Labor’s efforts to keep Australia’s energy transition uranium mining-free amount to a self-defeating hobbling of the nation’s green superpower hopes.

    • The AFR View
    ACCC chairwoman

    Merger changes crown the ACCC as Wizard of Oz dealmaking

    The legislation, which empowers the antitrust regulator to be the administrative “steward” of M&A, is the most profound reorientation of Australian merger law in its 50-year history.

    • Simon Muys
    The RBA will struggle to justify keeping the cash rate on hold if consumer price index figures this Wednesday show underlying inflation stuck above 4 per cent.

    Inflation to test RBA’s interest rate strategy – and credibility

    Consumer price figures this week are expected to show inflation has overshot the Reserve Bank’s forecasts for nine of the past 12 months.

    • John Kehoe
    Kamala Harris: multiculturalism or shrill identity politics?

    Harris v Trump presents starkly different Americas

    The exit of Joe Biden and the entry of Kamala Harris means real campaigns and robustly articulated choices.

    • The AFR View
    Royal Australian navy chief Vice Admiral Mark Hammond in Perth.

    Submariner in charge of AUKUS says the debate is being hijacked

    Navy chief Vice Admiral Mark Hammond has offered a fierd defence of the big-money nuclear-powered submarine pact in an interview with AFR Weekend.

    • Andrew Tillett
    Some economists say at least two rate rises are needed to curb inflation.

    The inflation number that could trigger an interest rate rise

    The RBA will struggle to justify keeping the cash rate on hold if consumer price index figures next week show underlying inflation stuck above 4 per cent.

    • Michael Read
    President Joe Biden addresses the US from the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday.

    Hoarse but coherent Biden bows out, sets up Democrats’ last hope

    Joe Biden says his decision to step aside as the Democrats’ presidential candidate was because the greatest need is to defend American democracy.

    • Jennifer Hewett
    Protesters take a break near the front line of a conflict between farmers and police in Rajpura, India, on Thursday.

    India’s have-nots are expressing their displeasure

    While Mumbai’s super-rich show off their wealth, a chastened Narendra Modi moves to shore up support among the poor.

    • Hamish McDonald
    Fed chairman Jerome Powell.

    The Fed needs to cut rates now: Dudley

    Efforts to cool the economy are working and slower growth is turning into fewer jobs, while inflation pressures have abated significantly.

    • Bill Dudley
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     More than 1800 new industrial policy measures were introduced globally over the past year, the PC found.

    Labor’s green subsidies a risk to living standards: PC

    The Productivity Commission has warned Labor’s Made in Australia plan risks evolving into protectionism, undermining decades of reform aimed at creating a vibrant economy.

    • Michael Read
    
Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority chairman John Lonsdale told the Roundtable that the prudential regulator is undertaking cross-industry stress tests.

    Big super leans into private capital

    It makes sense for regulators to peek under the hood on non-bank lending while seeking to remove obstacles to the free and efficient allocation of risk capital.

    • The AFR View
    It’s not a gun: DroneShield chief Oleg Vornik

    DroneShield rubbishes critics, courts politicians

    No sooner had we written off Rodney Forrest than he totally crashed the share price of ASX-listed DroneShield.

    • Myriam Robin

    One issue where Kamala Harris gives the Democrats an edge

    The party hopes to use the burning issue of abortion rights – and the elevation of Kamala Harris – to change what has been a losing election hand.

    • Jennifer Hewett