This Month
Angus Taylor vows Coalition costings will beat Labor’s
The Coalition will go to the May 3 election promising voters a substantially stronger budget bottom line.
‘It’s tell your grandchildren I was there’ day as $1.3trn trade unwinds
We might be able to suck up a cratering sharemarket as part of shake-out of financial excess. But the excesses in the bond market may be even more painful.
Chalmers’ broken budget rule is a slippery slope in a world of debt
Australia has relatively moderate federal debt levels compared with most countries. But the picture is not so benign if ballooning state government debts are added.
March
Election a battle between ‘worse off’ and ‘getting better’
Australia is in a worse position today than three years ago – an economic position that is going to be difficult to sell to voters.
Wish list for a budget week that was never meant to be
Instead of talking about big reforms so near to a tight election, both major parties will probably spend the week trading political blows over cost-of-living concerns.
Five years after Covid, Australia is unprepared for next global storm
Neither major party has offered a credible path for “growing the pie”, fixing the budget and preparing the nation’s military for a new era of disruption.
February
Why Musk’s cost-cutting drive won’t stop this Aussie buying gold
First Eagle Investments portfolio manager Matthew McLennan is not convinced DOGE’s efforts will be enough to slash the fiscal deficit and keep a lid on inflation.
ACT risks Victoria-style downgrade as deficit blows out to $1b
S&P has told the ACT it must turn its finances around within a year or two, or else it will join Victoria as the lowest-rated Australian government.
Can Queensland dig itself out of a $109 billion budget black hole?
Successive governments have announced, but never really stuck to, top-down fiscal rules designed to ensure the state’s finances don’t get out of control.
January
Trump’s $50trn debt problem has Aussie hedge funds rushing for gold
Some investors are betting the precious metal will soar as President Trump fails to arrest America’s spiralling public debt.
‘The numbers are breathtaking’: Qld’s interest bill worth 11 new hospitals
The states’ debt-servicing costs will probably continue to skyrocket as investors demand compensation for their fiscally reckless ways.
Debt explosion pushes Queensland to cusp of rating downgrade
Queensland is at risk of a credit rating downgrade as early as this year, after Treasurer David Janetzki released a dire fiscal update from the new LNP government.
US debt to reach 107pc of GDP by 2029: CBO estimates
“The fiscal situation is daunting, the debt trajectory is unsustainable,” Congressional Budget Office director Phillip Swagel said in a new 10-year outlook.
Nine red flags for budget watchers
Labor has a choice: deliver a pre-election budget that builds Australia’s future or keep sailing blindly towards another decade of debts and deficits.
Wage rises to blow out ‘unrealistic’ state budgets: S&P
Psychiatrists in NSW and teachers, nurses and police in Queensland are the latest essential workers to demand significant wage rises from state governments.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has lost control of the budget
The Albanese government’s decisions on net have added to the national debt as a share of GDP well over three times that of the former Coalition government over the same period.
December 2024
I’m the guy Barron’s called the Bond King. Here’s why US debt is a problem
There is the real possibility of a quasi-default by the Treasury and few are likely to be spared from the resulting upheaval.
Coalition nuclear fund would deepen $90b off-budget blowout: Chalmers
A record $90 billion of spending over four years will be obscured in off-budget funds, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it would be worse under the Coalition.
After Pallas blowout, business wants Victoria back on track
Outgoing Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas says his greatest regret is that financial constraints meant his government could not afford to spend even more money.
China slowdown to rip $8.5b from federal budget: Chalmers
The treasurer’s downbeat assessment came despite Beijing last week announcing plans to stoke the country’s slowing economy next year with a “moderately loose” monetary policy.