menu_open Columnists
John Kehoe

John Kehoe

Financial Review

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

There is no respect for taxpayers in the election

The $20 billion-plus spendathon is increasingly being whacked on the national credit card for working-age people and future generations to foot the...

26.02.2025 6

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Forget rate cuts. Fixing tax could make us much richer

Politicians continue to obsess over the ups and downs of interest rates and neglect the real stuff that could make us materially better off.

21.02.2025 5

Financial Review

John Kehoe

This banker email shows Dutton is right on ESG going too far

A construction company received a 37-point compliance list before funding would be considered, in addition to the standard credit application.

19.02.2025 5

Financial Review

John Kehoe

RBA will be less willing on rate cuts next time

Michele Bullock admits the RBA board had a lively debate on the case for cutting rates or holding firm against sustained political and community...

19.02.2025 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Australia needs politicians who bleed for better living standards

Australia needs a revolution on tax, deregulation, energy supply and competition, not fiddling around the edges with small-minded economic debate.

12.02.2025 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Even small RBA rate cuts will fuel election spending

Any monetary easing this month will embolden more cash-burning by politicians, and therefore have important ramifications.

05.02.2025 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Dutton’s economic pitch is all vibe, not details

Dutton’s back-to-basics approach on economics offers a sharp contrast to Labor’s bigger government record of the past three years, but policy...

31.01.2025 7

Financial Review

John Kehoe

February rate cut on the table, but not a done deal

There is a plausible reason to cut interest rates next month, but also a reasonable case to hold steady and await more information on the economy.

29.01.2025 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Debt blowout shows budget honesty is ‘crooked’ in Queensland

The shocking budget blowout after the state’s election last year shows a massive institutional failure that has lessons for governments across the...

29.01.2025 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Jobs boom puts election rate cut on a knife edge

The stunning employment surge makes a pre-election rate cut less assured than the Albanese government would be hoping.

16.01.2025 7

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Election will test what voters care about the most

Voters hate inflation, but do they hate it more than rising unemployment? This year’s election will reveal their true priorities.

15.01.2025 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Election will test what voters most

Voters hate inflation, but do they hate it more than rising unemployment? This year’s election will reveal their true priorities.

15.01.2025 9

Financial Review

John Kehoe

The election will test if voters hate inflation more than unemployment

The low jobless rate is not far off a 50-year low. Yet, Labor is trying to avoid becoming the first one-term federal government since the 1930s.

15.01.2025 9

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Chalmers pledged a spending diet, but Labor is on a binge

There is a big difference between what a government forecasts what it will spend in the years ahead and what it actually spends.

08.01.2025 5

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Why RBA rate cut could come from Jim Chalmers’ subsidies

There is a quirk in the measurement of underlying inflation in the December quarter that may put pressure on the RBA to cut interest rates early...

19.12.2024 7

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Labor is losing control of a broken budget

Despite near-record government revenues, a spending surge is causing a big blowout in budget deficits over future years.

18.12.2024 6

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Credible appointments will shake up the Reserve Bank

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has selected two good candidates and should be congratulated for shoring up the RBA at a pivotal time in the inflation fight.

16.12.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Australia needs a dose of Javier Milei’s Argentine capitalism

Australia is sleepwalking to stagnant living standards unless we adopt an agenda that restrains government and allows the private sector to flourish.

11.12.2024 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Victoria’s economic rescue plan is a joke but no one is laughing

The state’s new strategy resembles a political document drawn up in an episode of Utopia rather than a serious economic blueprint to revive the...

10.12.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Dovish turn as board gains confidence in inflation fight

The Reserve Bank board has noticed that parts of the economy such as consumer spending and wage growth have been a bit softer than anticipated.

10.12.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

The Reserve Bank is not smashing the jobs market

Claims the central bank is needlessly throwing vulnerable Australians out of work are not backed up by the statistics.

04.12.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

No amount of lipstick on this pig can hide the economic stagnation

The national accounts make grim reading and are indisputably worse than expected.

04.12.2024 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Banking rift exposed in fight against levy for rural services

The government has rejected a proposal by banks to pause regional branch closures instead of a mooted $350 million levy, as a rift deepens between...

04.12.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

The one reason Chalmers’ RBA overhaul could succeed or fail

The success of the treasurer’s historic separation of the central bank’s board will hinge on who he appoints.

29.11.2024 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Home borrowers will pay for the rural bank branch levy

Treasury has come up with a radical but rushed plan to make all banks fund those with the biggest regional reach. But there is no guarantee that it...

20.11.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Future Fund investment shake up comes with risks

Jim Chalmers insists Labor is making only a subtle change to the sovereign wealth fund’s investment mandate. But it could be a slippery slope.

20.11.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Not everyone believes that a US-China trade war will smash Australia

Former BHP economist Huw McKay believes that the iron ore price will not necessarily suffer. The costs may come elsewhere.

13.11.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

How a former BHP insider sees a US-China trade war playing out

Huw McKay expects Donald Trump’s re-election to have implications for commodities, global trade patterns and Australia.

13.11.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

The silly season for bad policy has started

Previous governments went for hard and unpopular reforms. Anthony Albanese chooses the easy and populist.

06.11.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

RBA thinks the jobs market is too strong to cut interest rates

A rate cut before the federal election now looks like only a possibility and not a done deal, putting the government and opposition on notice to be...

05.11.2024 6

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Trump is the elephant in the room on climate targets

The US election result next week will influence the world’s global climate change action plans, including Australia.

30.10.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Australia is getting serious about the housing crisis

Young people, parents and grandparents should all have a stake in fixing arguably the No.1 economic and social challenge, writes John Kehoe.

23.10.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Albanese’s $4.3m home controversy is pure tall poppy syndrome

Financial success of public leaders is celebrated in the United States. But in Australia, it is political poison.

16.10.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Why the RBA can’t cut interest rates as fast as overseas

The central bank has adopted a softer approach on interest rates than foreign counterparts, so local borrowers will need to be patient.

09.10.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

RBA should spell out rules on private meetings with market movers

The holding of confidential meetings can backfire when some people think that others are getting advantaged access to the central bank’s thinking.

02.10.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Spending pressures make third surplus unlikely

The treasurer has delivered a solid second budget surplus of $15.8 billion on the back of booming income tax receipts, but future spending...

30.09.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Government spending blowout is the size of the mining boom

Like the mining investment boom of the early 2000s, the economic shock from higher government spending will have implications for inflation,...

25.09.2024 20

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Why ‘free’ childcare is bad for working parents

Further childcare subsidies will likely require an explicit new tax rise to fund it. Billions of dollars of more debt can’t be added to the...

20.09.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

How business and economists can become relevant again

A central problem is that good economic policies have not been well communicated and have often been debated in an echo chamber of elites.

18.09.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Bill Shorten’s Labor legacy: tax, spend and a broken NDIS

Beyond the NDIS blowout, Shorten failed to build a new Labor economic growth project that was more aspirational for hard-working and over-taxed...

11.09.2024 7

Financial Review

John Kehoe

We will all pay the price for RBA board reform failure

More expertise on the central bank’s board could help avoid an unfortunate repeat of Philip Lowe’s pandemic-era guidance that interest rates were...

10.09.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe

China’s EVs good for Aussie drivers, but risk global trade war

Inside Australia’s national security and economic agencies, a new vexing issue about China is being discussed.

28.08.2024 4

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Why the RBA will ignore lower inflation

While Treasurer Jim Chalmers will welcome Wednesday’s lower inflation number, the RBA won’t be fooled by the temporary and artificial effect of...

28.08.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

RBA must not mince its words for Chalmers

Treasurers have often tried to muzzle bankers and economists undermining the government’s economic narrative.

21.08.2024 1

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Government spending addiction adds to RBA recession risk

If Bill Shorten is so worried the RBA could cause a recession, he should listen to Michele Bullock and Matt Comyn and kick the addiction to...

14.08.2024 3

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Future Made in Australia is already running off the rails

The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.

07.08.2024 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Future Made in Australia becomes a taxpayer-funded slush fund

The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.

07.08.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Interest rate rise only narrowly avoided

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock has sent a stern reminder that the sharemarket is not the economy.

06.08.2024 1

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Why the $3m super tax has turned into a mess

It may seem hard to argue against making people with high superannuation balances pay more tax, but implementing it is a dog’s breakfast.

31.07.2024 10

Financial Review

John Kehoe

Inflation stays sticky, but it won’t force RBA rate rise

The consumer price figures were not as bad as feared, but inflation remains persistent and higher-for-longer interest rates will be required.

31.07.2024 2

Financial Review

John Kehoe