September
China stimulus should stabilise iron ore price, says resources minister
Resources Minister Madeleine King says China’s latest stimulus package was unlikely to push prices higher, but it should help arrest the one-third fall seen since the start of 2024.
- Ronald Mizen
Drop in spending gives Labor cost-of-living flexibility
Ahead of an election campaign expected to start as early as March, departments have been told the mid-year budget will focus on consumer issues.
- Ronald Mizen
August
Jim Chalmers warns of $3b budget hit on iron ore slump
After hopes a buoyant Chinese economy would keep prices high faded away, the commodity’s price fell sharply and is now trading below Treasury’s indicative forecast in the budget.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
This $3 trillion investor knows what to watch from Harris v Trump
It’s not long until early voting starts. This fortnight will be a big one for the presidential race, and the outcome will have a major impact on markets.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Can our prosperity survive a year of political madness?
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 all.
- Michael Stutchbury
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Brumby urged to follow Breakthrough Victoria CEO out the door
The chief executive of the Victorian government’s Breakthrough Victoria fund, Grant Dooley, has resigned and backed an overhaul of the John Brumby-led board.
- Patrick Durkin
July
The biggest risk in a Trump-Harris race for the White House
New York-based Australian fund manager Matthew McLennan from First Eagle argues that the lack of a fiscal hawk in the presidential race works in gold’s favour.
- Matthew Cranston
Budget surplus to be 50pc bigger than forecast: Chalmers
The May budget forecast a $9.3 billion surplus last financial year, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers now says people should expect something in the ‘mid-teens’.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Why we need ‘wickedly hard’ reform in Australia
Such measures, however, would have to first wrestle the biggest policy reform chiller of all – vertical fiscal imbalance.
- Karen Chester and Helen Silver
- Exclusive
- Federal budget
Deeming rate freeze costing up to $1.8 billion a year
If the freeze is maintained over the forward estimates, the overall unrealised savings could be more than $7bn, according to government figures, though this is not reflected in the budget.
- Ronald Mizen
June
- Opinion
- Bonds
Why Biden, Trump will skirt this pressing issue in the debate
With polls suggesting the US presidential race will be very close, both candidates will try to steer clear of discussing ways to rein in the massive US budget deficit.
- Karen Maley
- Opinion
- Bonds
Are state governments on the brink of a debt crisis?
Victoria and Queensland have caught the infrastructure fever from NSW and have super-sized it. But financial discipline is in short supply.
- Tim Hext
- Exclusive
- Interest rates
‘World-leading deficits’: Australia’s state debts could hit $800b
They are on track to triple by 2028 relative to pre-pandemic levels, warns S&P, amid a spending binge that economists say is making the RBA’s job harder.
- Michael Read
- Exclusive
- NSW budget
NSW $113b fund manager faces shake-up
NSW’s TCorp is a top 10 Australian institutional investor and is the central borrowing authority of the state.
- John Kehoe
May
Labor’s budget ‘inflationary on every measure’: Costello
Future Fund chairman and former federal treasurer Peter Costello says Labor should pay off debt while Australia enjoys record iron ore, coal and gas prices.
- Gus McCubbing
The budget in five key charts
The five key graphs to understand the government’s latest federal budget.
- Edmund Tadros
Decade of deficits to spark debt interest surge
While Treasurer Jim Chalmers was spruiking debt in 2023-24 being $904 billion, gross debt is forecast to rise sharply in the years ahead.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ message to the nation
The $22.7 Future Made in Australia policy will make Australia an indispensable part of the global green energy revolution.
- Jim Chalmers
ANZ confirms investigation of its government bond sale
ANZ said is “co-operating fully” with ASIC as it investigates “suspected contraventions” of the Corporations Act relating to a government bond sale last year.
- James Eyers
- Exclusive
- Regulation
ASIC investigates ANZ over Treasury trades
The corporate regulator acted after receiving a complaint from the Australian Office of Financial Management, which raises government debt, sources said.
- Aaron Patrick