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Michael Read

Michael Read

Financial Review

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If Taylor wants budget repair, he should back Labor’s health cuts

If Taylor wants budget repair, he should back Labor’s health cuts

The opposition leader cannot credibly call for a bipartisan taskforce to fix the budget while rejecting the ALP plan to cut private health rebates.

16.10.2026 20

Financial Review

Michael Read

Labor MPs are lost in housing’s hall of mirrors

Prices are falling, but the government is reluctant to claim the credit. So its MPs have resorted to rhetoric about renewed optimism for first home...

05.08.2026 50

Financial Review

Michael Read

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...

08.07.2026 50

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 40

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 30

Financial Review

Michael Read

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

10.10.2025 40

Pearls and Irritations

Michael Read