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![]() Michael StutchburyFinancial Review |
Even Peter Dutton is joining Labor in pretending that real wages can increase while productivity is shrinking.
Murray Watt’s claim that living standards are rising is a bold call amid an election being fought over one of the developed world’s biggest...
A minority government will lack the authority to supply the centre-ground policies needed to sustain the early 20th-century high-water mark of...
The treasurer has staked his claim of the “biggest ever” improvement in the budget bottom line on projections that proved to be wildly wrong.
Something’s got to give. Indexing the tax scales would force budget discipline on the next government.
It’s a decade-of-deficits budget without a budget policy or agendas for tax reform or economic growth, just as Trump smashes the global order that...
Who would have thought oligopolies can sustain competition? Woolies and Coles have increased grocery prices less than British supermarkets.
Jim Chalmers’ crackdown on the supermarkets is an exercise in political blame-shifting that risks wrapping the economy in more red tape for no gain....
Tuesday’s budget will frame a narrow political contest in which the main parties avoid the decisions needed to secure what is slipping from the...
After a 12-month inquiry, the regulator has not been able to support claims that Coles and Woolworths are to blame for the inflationary cost-of-living...
ASIC’s assault on big super’s failings points to a new phase that will determine whether the big industry funds are best placed to help retirees...
Despite the $1 billion hit, it would be self-defeating to retaliate in kind against Donald Trump’s refusal to exclude Australia from his 25 per cent...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent backs the president’s trade war even if it worsens the cost-of-living squeeze on ordinary Americans.
Political ill-discipline has produced the biggest spending increase for a first-time government since the Whitlam era 50 years ago.
The super machine started by Paul Keating is set to bet more of Australian workers’ retirement incomes on Trump’s low-tax, smaller-government plan.
Australia needs to urgently invest more in naval capability. But this defence imperative clashes with fiscal challenges neither side of federal...
The looming election should be about how Australia can better compete on trade war-disrupted world markets amid threatening geopolitical conflict.
Australia is offering subsidies not just to keep old industries alive but for the future-facing minerals processing that would supply batteries and...
After roughing up the central bank, Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers should take whatever sliver of bacon the RBA will give financially squeezed...
Australia’s carbon-intensive smelters are not killing the American aluminium industry – they’re fighting to survive.
It’s premature to declare victory over inflation. But all hell will break loose if the central bank governor and her board defy the Black Caviar...
Why not use the looming fiscal crisis of the states to tackle the buck-passing by seriously reforming which tier of government is responsible for...
The quick apparent resolution will encourage Trump to keep strong-arming other friends and foes into doing whatever by threatening their access to the...
Donald Trump’s question to voters - “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” - has cut across gender and racial divisions, writes Michael...
Despite the RBA’s increased messaging, most people still don’t understand why inflation broke out in the first place.
It’s possible the inflation problem is not about overheated demand, but rather the supply bottlenecks caused by lagging productivity.
Business needs to get more on the front foot in calling out the policy and political class failure that most media coverage has normalised.
The government has its foot on the spending pedal while the Reserve Bank tries standing on the brakes. There is no sign of the co-ordination that...
Jim Chalmers says the economy is getting smashed by high rates, but it’s still running too hot for the RBA. The answer is simple: productivity.
For the first time, the former Labor leader is slamming the Albanese government on economics rather than AUKUS. It’s all about the politics of...
Despite what a Nobel prizewinner and Jacqui Lambie might think, growth is the only serious answer to inflation.
Public policy is now swinging in the populist wind. And it’s hard to imagine the election of a government that can rationally take back control of...
It had a competitive advantage of deep engagement with the Australian business community. But that was just the starting point, writes outgoing...