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Australian economy

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The companies that are winners and losers from Labor’s landslide victory

Winners include healthcare diagnostics, vehicle financiers, and developers. Mortgage insurers, fuel suppliers, and automotive firms may face challenges.

Anthony Albanese and fiancee Jodie Haydon visit Sunnybank Market Square with Moreton candidate Julie-Ann Campbell and Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Chalmers must drive the growth policy reset

Labor’s inflation agenda was based on getting re-elected, not on the next three years of governing. Now business needs to push the treasurer to shift towards future growth.

This Month

Labor’s economic record doesn’t deserve another three-year term

Coalition may be least bad bet of worst election campaign ever

Labor’s economic record does not deserve another three-year term, but the Coalition has not made the case to change the government.

April

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, back left, shows a picture of Jeff Besos as she responds to a question about Amazon, during a briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The numbers headache for Canberra and Washington

Jim Chalmers and US counterpart Scott Bessent have a few things in common – the threat of tariffs, the risk of recession and a budget that doesn’t add up.

Michelle Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, is widely expected to lower the cash rate next month.

Bond market too optimistic about rapid rate cuts, investors warn

Benign inflation data has boosted bets of a rate cut next month, but fund managers caution against the aggressive easing path implied by markets.

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The new battleground is how quickly the RBA cuts rates this year.

The RBA’s rate cuts are coming, but hold the avalanche

There’s one data point between Australians and a May rate cut and economists are tipping it should be fine. But what happens next is ripe for debate.

Consultant Lynton Crosby.

Election closer than you think, says veteran strategist

Conservative campaign strategist Lynton Crosby thinks the Coalition can defy national polls, but that it’s failed to present a strong vision for the economy.

Anthony Albanese has ridiculed the S&P Global warning that Australia’s prized AAA credit rating could be at risk due to surging off-budget spending and deteriorating budget fundamentals and blamed the previous Coalition government for the fiscal position.

Mocking S&P’s credit warning risks Australia’s prosperity

The nation’s AAA rating is not an ornament. It was hard-won through decades of careful fiscal management by successive governments.

RBA governor Michele Bullock speaking at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings in Washington overnight.

Calm in markets weakens case for a May rate cut

Some economists argue that a recovery in the ASX and the $A since the White House’s “liberation day” tariffs add to the case for the RBA to stand pat next month.

Taylor and Chalmers shortly before the debate kicked off.

Debate should’ve been Taylor’s home turf. Chalmers came away smiling

At an event hosted by business, the shadow treasurer defended the Coalition’s tax plans and the incumbent recited Labor’s talking points. CEOs were unimpressed.

Donald Trump has been a topic of debate between Jim Chalmers and Angus Taylor.

Australia faces hit from Trump’s trade war

The IMF has cut its growth forecast for the country by half a percentage point, in a sign it won’t be immune from a global slowdown triggered by US tariffs.

Economists say consumers may finally be ready to splurge again, after new figures showed retail sales increased for a seventh straight month in October.

Taxpayers are now handing a record $29,751 each to governments

A boom in taxes on personal income, businesses and property fuelled a record $802 billion tax collection by all levels of government last year, new data shows.

Business leaders will be pressing both the Treasurer and Shadow Treasurer for their perspectives on solving the big economic challenges.

When business loses, Australia loses bigger

What the business community hopes to see more than anything is a debate based on policies that support growth, are evidence-based and provide real solutions.

Dutton offers “aspirational” hopes to index the personal index scales for inflation while promising a tax rebate that would erode work incentives and the fiscal bottom line.

The biggest political lie no one will admit at this election

Amid the deluge of claimed political porkies, neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton is prepared to tell the truth about how to revive living standards.

The jobless rate ticked higher in March.

Still-tight jobs market unlikely to derail May rate cut

Economists still expect the RBA to cut rates next month despite employment increasing by 32,200 in March.

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Both Labor and the Coalition want to see the Port of Darwin back in Australian hands.

Economy stuck in a 1970s rerun of stagflation and handouts

Peter Dutton is struggling because the Liberals have been exposed for their lack of an aspirational growth agenda.

The Reserve Bank has kept interest rates on hold, as tariff announcements from the US are expected later this week.

RBA open to May interest rate cut

The Reserve Bank has flagged that interest rates could be cut again in May, once it has the latest information on inflation and Donald Trump’s trade war.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton’s signature housing policies were both criticised by economists.

Politicians are offering cash but aren’t fixing our problems

The world is on fire and Australians need smart policies way more than we need smart politics.

The major parties have unveiled policies they say will fix the housing crisis. But will they?

4 policy ideas to fix housing affordability

Fixing Australia’s decade-long housing crisis won’t happen overnight. It requires a sustained effort that cuts across political cycles.

Australians no longer see the problem with magic pudding economics, says Pru Goward.

Magic pudding economics is about to make all of us poor

Australia is now ruled by short-term ethical dilemmas instead of concern for long-term consequences.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/australian-economy-1m3k