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![]() John KehoeFinancial Review |
The $20 billion-plus spendathon is increasingly being whacked on the national credit card for working-age people and future generations to foot the...
Politicians continue to obsess over the ups and downs of interest rates and neglect the real stuff that could make us materially better off.
A construction company received a 37-point compliance list before funding would be considered, in addition to the standard credit application.
Michele Bullock admits the RBA board had a lively debate on the case for cutting rates or holding firm against sustained political and community...
Australia needs a revolution on tax, deregulation, energy supply and competition, not fiddling around the edges with small-minded economic debate.
Any monetary easing this month will embolden more cash-burning by politicians, and therefore have important ramifications.
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...
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.
The shocking budget blowout after the state’s election last year shows a massive institutional failure that has lessons for governments across the...
The stunning employment surge makes a pre-election rate cut less assured than the Albanese government would be hoping.
Voters hate inflation, but do they hate it more than rising unemployment? This year’s election will reveal their true priorities.
Voters hate inflation, but do they hate it more than rising unemployment? This year’s election will reveal their true priorities.
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.
There is a big difference between what a government forecasts what it will spend in the years ahead and what it actually spends.
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...
Despite near-record government revenues, a spending surge is causing a big blowout in budget deficits over future years.
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.
Australia is sleepwalking to stagnant living standards unless we adopt an agenda that restrains government and allows the private sector to flourish.
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...
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.
Claims the central bank is needlessly throwing vulnerable Australians out of work are not backed up by the statistics.
The national accounts make grim reading and are indisputably worse than expected.
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...
The success of the treasurer’s historic separation of the central bank’s board will hinge on who he appoints.
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...
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.
Former BHP economist Huw McKay believes that the iron ore price will not necessarily suffer. The costs may come elsewhere.
Huw McKay expects Donald Trump’s re-election to have implications for commodities, global trade patterns and Australia.
Previous governments went for hard and unpopular reforms. Anthony Albanese chooses the easy and populist.
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...
The US election result next week will influence the world’s global climate change action plans, including Australia.
Young people, parents and grandparents should all have a stake in fixing arguably the No.1 economic and social challenge, writes John Kehoe.
Financial success of public leaders is celebrated in the United States. But in Australia, it is political poison.
The central bank has adopted a softer approach on interest rates than foreign counterparts, so local borrowers will need to be patient.
The holding of confidential meetings can backfire when some people think that others are getting advantaged access to the central bank’s thinking.
The treasurer has delivered a solid second budget surplus of $15.8 billion on the back of booming income tax receipts, but future spending...
Like the mining investment boom of the early 2000s, the economic shock from higher government spending will have implications for inflation,...
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...
A central problem is that good economic policies have not been well communicated and have often been debated in an echo chamber of elites.
Beyond the NDIS blowout, Shorten failed to build a new Labor economic growth project that was more aspirational for hard-working and over-taxed...
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...
Inside Australia’s national security and economic agencies, a new vexing issue about China is being discussed.
While Treasurer Jim Chalmers will welcome Wednesday’s lower inflation number, the RBA won’t be fooled by the temporary and artificial effect of...
Treasurers have often tried to muzzle bankers and economists undermining the government’s economic narrative.
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...
The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.
The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock has sent a stern reminder that the sharemarket is not the economy.
It may seem hard to argue against making people with high superannuation balances pay more tax, but implementing it is a dog’s breakfast.
The consumer price figures were not as bad as feared, but inflation remains persistent and higher-for-longer interest rates will be required.