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Eric Johnston is an associate editor of The Australian. He has more than 25 years experience as a finance journalist, including a former business editor of The Australian. He has been business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and financial services editor with The Australian Financial Review. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

@ejohnno

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CommentaryFinancial Services

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos JUNE 6, 2025: NAB Group CEO Andrew Irvine. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

NAB’s CEO challenge is being a leader, not a line manager

The bigger issue is Andrew Irvine has found it hard to let go of his old job, where he relished constantly being on the road with customers.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 1 2025Bill Oplinger, chief executive officer of Alcoa, speaks at the Melbourne Mining Club. Picture: Brendan Beckett

The tariff maths call behind Alcoa diverting its trains

Metals major Alcoa offers one of the first insights into how big companies at the front line of Donald Trump’s tariffs are navigating the new financial world.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

Simon Trott, chief executive officer of iron ore at Rio Tinto Group, in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Rio Tinto will spend $70 million to lift production at Gudai-Darri, its newest mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, according to Trott. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

The lessons for big mining from Rio’s leadership race

Simon Trott’s promotion at Rio Tinto has signalled a shift is under way as investors demand miners start doing more with what they already have.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

FAIRFAX AND NEWS POOL ONLY: The Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with CEO Rio Tinto Sam Walsh with the chief executive Iron ore Andrew Harding during their visit to Rio TintoÕs West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbera, Western Australia. Michael Gollschewski hosted a tour where both PMÕs met with Rio Tinto employees, toured an exhibition and took in the view of the Centre Pit. They were photographed with a Komatsu 930E autonomous haul truck, an autonomous drill display including a walk through the control room, a Hitachi EX5600 excavator and a Bridgestone truck tyre and conveyor reel. Pic By Gary Ramage. 9th July 2014. **NO ARCHIVING**

Rio Tinto’s CEO bet is on mining ability over bold strategy

The global miner has a full slate ahead of it and it needs a chief executive who has a record of delivery.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryFinancial Services

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 04: Apple iPhone 16 are seen on display at an Apple store on April 04, 2025 in New York, New York. U.S. President Donald Trump declared a U.S. economic emergency and announced sweeping tariffs of at least 10% and with rates even higher for 60 countries or that have a high trade deficit with the U.S. The tariffs will affect electronics, automobiles, clothing and shoes, wines and spirits, and swiss watches. In retaliation, China announced that they will impose 34% tariffs on the U.S. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Michael M. Santiago / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Apple the missing piece of RBA’s payments jigsaw

The RBA’s move on card fees and surcharges gives consumers something of a win, but there’s a big part of the payments system that sidesteps the crackdown.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

Australian businessman Andrew Ã¢â¬ÅTwiggyÃ¢â¬Â Forrest, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and BHP Geraldine Slattery at a press conference after a Steel Decarbonisation Roundtable in Shanghai, China, Saturday, July 12, 2025. Anthony Albanese has travelled to China for a six-day visit. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Green steel hype gives PM ‘safe space’ to play in China

Even the green dreams of Fortescue’s Andrew Forrest couldn’t derail official meetings in Shanghai aimed at keeping the steelmakers buying.

Eric Johnston

ExclusiveFinancial Services

8/12/2024 Nuno Matos is the incoming ANZ Chief Executive Officer. Photo: Aaron Francis

How Matos has quietly marked down much-hyped ANZ Plus

ANZ’s glamour tech project has cost $1.5bn and was six years in the making. However, the bank’s newly installed chief executive, Nuno Matos, isn’t sold on it.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryFinancial Services

Courier-Mail Recruitment Guide - Kelly HowardBusinessman analyzing financial statements in the office

$1bn disgrace: An entire planning industry looked the other way

It is bordering on inconceivable that no one from the investment industry, from platform operators to advisers, noticed as Shield and First Guardian went rogue.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryAviation

10/06/25. The Daily Telegraph.News.Mascot, Sydney, NSW.Generic pictures of Qantas airplanes taken at SydneyÃs Kingsford Smith airport today.Pics by Julian Andrews.

Matter of trust: The next step in hack of Qantas the hardest

Qantas might be on top of the scale of its cyber attack, however the bigger repair job is just beginning.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos APRIL 1, 2025: RBA Governor Michele Bullock during a press conference on Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced the official cash rate will remain unchanged. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Why rush? RBA fine-tunes its path to rate cuts

The RBA acts with an abundance of caution. Don’t worry, your next rate cut is coming, you’ll just have to wait a little longer.

Eric Johnston

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/eric-johnston