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The AFR View

Yesterday

In Australia, however, we should be having a rational and constructive discussion in Australia about combating climate change and climate preparedness and resilience.

LA burning a reminder that climate action matters to Australia

In a hotter world, the risk of more common, more extreme weather is part of the prudent economic case for improving the environment.

This Month

Corporates should pick their social battles carefully

Trump 2.0 and the associated watering down of progressive corporate initiatives will be closely watched in C-suites and boardrooms around Australia.

The irony is that Labor’s bigger spending during the past three years has, in part, made inflation harder to tame and helped keep interest rates higher for longer.

Rate cut can’t paper over Australia’s economic problems

The near-term focus on the RBA highlights the worrying fact that an election fought mainly over the cost of living will mask Australia’s budget and growth problems.

The social media giant based in progressive Silicon Valley is now aligning with the incoming Trump administration.

Meta’s fact-checking about-face is good for Zuck, bad for democracy

Trump’s influence on the politics of big tech will surely embolden Meta to continue to thumb its nose at Australia’s sovereignty.

The stabilisation of Australia-Sino ties has been a welcome achievement of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

How independent can government-funded think tanks be?

The only real solution for Australia’s think tank dilemma is to seek private funding to promote good policy ideas

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Fiscally reckless vote buying spending exercises that risk delaying the arrival of pre-election rate relief.

Labor’s over the election barrel on Bruce Highway

It is fiscal integrity, more than political integrity, that is the concern as Labor embarks on what could be the start of an election spending spree.

Wall Street-focused exchange-traded funds pulled in at least $5 billion from Australia in 2024. It is a new record, double the previous high of $2.5 billion in 2021.

Investors bet Wall Street and Silicon Valley will make US markets great

The exuberance of Australian investors may point to the sources of American exceptionalism that lie on the East and West Coasts.

Government advertising sepend jump 40 per cent at a time when the budget is deteriorating into bigger than previously forecast deficits across the next four years.

End the age of entitlement to taxpayer-funded political ads

Australia needs to get on top of the entitlement mentality to get the budget back in shape. A good place to start would be to stop paying for political ads out of the budget.

The Coalition is lining up alongside the incoming Trump administration’s expected move on climate disclosure rules.

Case for scrapping climate disclosures doesn’t stack up

There are no sound policy reasons for not wanting Australian companies to be accountable and transparent about their emissions.

The saga came to a head last month after Deeming won her defamation case against Pesutto

Victoria Liberals should focus on budget honesty

The best way for the Victorian Liberal Party to make a genuine fresh start after the Pesutto-Deeming fiasco would be to focus on the key economic issues.

December 2024

Yet so far, the only major policy announced by the Coalition is an expensive and risky plan for nationalised nuclear reactors.

Dutton should do a Howard, not a Trump

Rather than try to copy the playbook of Trumpian populism, Dutton’s goal should be to repeat the “Howard’s battlers” phenomenon.

The partnership between the political disruptor and tech disruptor has already caused chaos in Washington.

Political class must heed lessons of Trump’s comeback

Will our leaders heed the warning that the best defence against populism is to take the hard decisions needed to restore the prosperity most Australians seek?

Frontier’s modelling has also flipped the script about uncosted energy policy.

Nuclear costings put heat on uncosted renewables plan

Both sides of politics should end the charade of promising cheaper power prices while debating the least costly transition to a net zero economy.

Jim Chalmers’s temporary budget surpluses have vanished into a deeper sea of red ink.

Bigger and hidden deficits are the real MYEFO result

In its mid-year budget outlook, Labor is effectively doubling down on the bigger-spending, bigger government that has crowded out private investment.

Many who celebrate Luigi Mangione today rightly condemned the January 6 Capitol rioters four years ago.

US extremism shows Australia’s health system gets the balance right

The critical question is how best to maintain the sustainability and affordability of private healthcare amid the stoush between health funds and hospital operators.

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Tim Pallas is leaving politics with Victoria as Australia’s most indebted state.

Pallas’ disastrous fiscal legacy

Regretting not being able to spend even more money is a fittingly risible sign-off from a treasurer who lost control of Victoria’s finances.

Partisan appointments would have compromised the new board and tainted any decision to deliver pre-election rate relief.

Credit to Chalmers for non-partisan RBA picks

The Coalition’s fears that a Labor treasurer would stack the new board with political appointees have not been borne out. The crucial independence and credibility of the central bank have been preserved.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ramped up the government’s attack on the Coalition’s nuclear policy costings.

Labor marked down again for no growth agenda

The fading prospect of an interest rate cut ahead of the polls combined with serious failures of economic management, both count against Labor’s re-election chances.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the fire-damaged Adass Israel Synagogue on Tuesday.

How Australia should seek to influence events from afar

Labor has acted too slowly in shoring up defences at home, where the government really can make a difference.

Platforms that strike commercial deals to pay media organisations for the use of their news content will get relief from the new tax charge.

Big tech should not be above the law of the land

In general, the last thing Australia needs is a new tax. But Meta’s thumbing its nose at Australia’s pioneering regulation justifies Labor’s attempt to lay down the law to the tech giants.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/the-afr-view-h0w04x