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Michael Read

Michael Read

Financial Review

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Australia’s economy is running out of good news

Australia’s economy is running out of good news

A trio of bleak developments exposes the scale of the challenge confronting Labor as it tries to ease economic pressures driving voters towards One...

previous day 10

Financial Review

Michael Read

Australia must end ‘addiction’ to US alliance: ex-ambassador

John McCarthy, who was ambassador to the US from 1995 to 1997, says Donald Trump’s behaviour means it is time to re-examine foreign policy settings.

23.01.2026 20

Financial Review

Michael Read

Gillard’s ‘Asian Century’ deadline is here. The results aren’t pretty.

Thirteen years after Julia Gillard’s white paper, which promised world-class schools, a simple tax system and an Asian language boom. None of it...

23.10.2025 10

Financial Review

Michael Read

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem

10.10.2025 20

Pearls and Irritations

Michael Read

NSW’s path back to surplus is built on wishful thinking

History is littered with rosy budget projections that never came to pass, and there is little evidence that NSW will be the exception.

24.06.2025 10

Financial Review

Michael Read

Chalmers’ $3m super tax is a flawed fix for a real problem

Let’s be clear: the cost of tax concessions significantly outweighs savings generated by reducing the reliance on the age pension.

16.06.2025 10

Financial Review

Michael Read

Why low interest rates aren’t coming back

Cheap money isn’t coming back. Bigger deficits, the energy transition and investment in AI mean the cost of borrowing will be higher in the years...

02.06.2025 20

Financial Review

Michael Read

Australia on verge of house price boom: economist

History suggests that once the RBA starts cutting, property fever hits quickly. One prominent expert says a 10 to 15 per cent price rise is coming.

19.05.2025 20

Financial Review

Michael Read

This is the election where politicians gave experts the middle finger

The views of Australia’s top policy minds are unwelcome this campaign because few of the announced policies would have survived the scrutiny of a...

15.04.2025 10

Financial Review

Michael Read

Coalition’s Future Fund plan is a funny money fiscal illusion

The opposition’s proposal to pay down debt would actually involve the federal government taking on even more debt.

10.04.2025 10

Financial Review

Michael Read