Yesterday
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Victoria must get a grip
The heavily indebted state has at least stopped whacking its private sector. But there is little sign of resolve on its debts.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
An RBA tightening bias is called for
It’s hard not to interpret the governor’s press conference and the board’s statement as at least a mild tightening bias that will keep the cash rate where it is at least until near the end of 2024.
This Month
Big four’s reformation moment
Engaging with the Treasury process is an opportunity for the consulting giants to help modernise the partnership-based model founded in the 19th century and unfit for today.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Why didn’t ACCC litigate Qantas?
Is what might be seen as regulatory brand ransom to force companies to admit to lesser charges and avoid the need to litigate, the way the watchdog should seek to uphold Australia’s consumer protection and competition law?
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Moment of truth on inflation for Reserve Bank’s credibility
At stake here is whether the supposedly politically independent central bank can re-establish the low inflation foundations that supported three decades of unbroken economic growth until the interruption of the pandemic.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Make this the tipping point on domestic violence
A tighter judicial system, support for families forced to leave violent homes, long-term culture change, and more sophisticated use of data and prediction. Nothing can be left off the table in tackling terror at home.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Bonza’s grounding strands airline competition too
Had the government dealt with some of the highly public problems of aviation with more alacrity than it has, the failure of one small player would not have seemed such a blow.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Chalmers’ ‘new growth model’ lacking on the supply side
Jim Chalmers is right to say that Australia cannot draw an “artificial distinction between our prosperity and our security”. It has been a theme of The Australian Financial Review’s since our 2022 Business Summit.
April
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Quantum a better bet than burning a billion on solar panels
But even if this is the right place to deploy such a huge sum, we know too little about whether this was the best way to spend it.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Labor green lights toxic bully-boys of the CFMEU
The political protection racket the modern ALP is running for the toxic behaviour of the CFMEU, which would be condemned in any other setting, is disgraceful.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Woodside Energy’s part in BHP’s low-carbon transition
The irony is that “The Big Australian” has the financial resources to bid for Anglo American partly because its legacy fossil fuel assets are now on Woodside Energy’s books.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Chalmers’ narrow budget path is now in peril
The sudden change in the interest rate outlook this week could be political dynamite for the Albanese government and the budget.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Tactical Woodside vote a metaphor for Australia’s low-carbon transition
Can chairman Richard Goyder and CEO Meg O’Neill crack the problem of shifting from a carbon-intensive resources company to a green one without destroying shareholder value?
- Opinion
- The AFR View
‘Decolonising’ Anzac Day’s revival
The day offers a welcome counterpoint in an age of fragmenting identity politics in which it is becoming more difficult to find agreement about Australia’s national identity.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Musk sets test for social media without boundaries
The sudden row between Australia and Elon Musk is a test of sovereign writ against the biggest companies – but also where government control of media should begin and end.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Chalmers’ puzzling budget strategy for year ahead
Ideally, the 2024 budget should be slightly contractionary or, at most, neutral to help the Reserve Bank deliver the difficult last mile of disinflation.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
History shows Australia needs a strong Productivity Commission
The Financial Review helped forge the political and intellectual opposition to the nation’s 20th-century industry protectionism, which was once a bipartisan article of Australian faith, akin to the fair go.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
A traumatic week, and a need for calmer politics
Murder in Bondi Junction and terrorism in western Sydney have come to a country already demoralised by a cost-of-living crisis. Time for politicians and other opinion formers to put the hyperbole away.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Australia must pay the price for defence and deterrence
A generation of politicians who grew up with a post-Cold War peace dividend are now struggling to switch from welfare to warfare.
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Greens’ supermarket inquiry a Canberra political freak show
Does anyone think the public interest was served by the back and forth over the best metric of Woolworths’ profitability and threatening Brad Banducci with six months in prison for contempt of parliament?