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Featured Opinion

RBA must show independence on material inflation risk

The Treasurer’s pre-emptive insistence makes it even more important that the new governor and her board actively demonstrate the central bank’s political independence.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Albanese fears RBA rate rise fallout - with good reason

The Albanese government knows if rates move again, as now seems inevitable, it’s going to get whacked, regardless of the cause.

Phillip Coorey

Political editor

Phillip Coorey

How to regulate AI risk without killing innovation

Australia must join the rush to develop a dynamic AI industry, with appropriate guardrails – especially in education.

Zoe McKenzie

Federal MP

Zoe McKenzie

Pay households and they will use energy wisely

If you offer money to householders to provide power at certain times or to reduce demand, they will happily do it – provided it isn’t just a pea and thimble trick.

Tristan Edis

Researcher

Tristan Edis

New data centres mean surging power needs

The rush is on build new data centres, but their massive energy requirements are adding to strain on the power grid.

The $5b ‘repair job’ that is reviving Circular Quay

A suite of projects – including an office tower, luxury apartments and the new Waldorf Astoria – is breathing new life into Sydney’s city waterfront hub.

Robert Harley

Contributor

Robert Harley

Inflation boosts chances of Cup Day interest rate rise

The jump in underlying inflation will be extremely hard for Michele Bullock to ignore as she tries to shore up the RBA’s credibility.

John Kehoe

Economics editor

John Kehoe

Critical minerals plan less work in progress than idea in germination

The Albanese government is keen to promote critical minerals and US cooperation as key to the energy transition and green manufacturing jobs.

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Improving relations. Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in bali last year.

Biden’s quiet re-engagement with China could stop Middle East war

While it is hard to put a value on a dialogue that is unlikely to yield big breakthroughs, it’s easy to imagine the alternative.

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Origin Energy’s Frank Calabria has overseen the group’s return to more normal levels of profitability, fuelling calls for Brookfield and EIG Partners to pay more.

Inside Origin’s $18.7b game of M&A bluff

Origin Energy’s takeover is unlike any major deal we’ve seen in the past decade. The ball is firmly in Brookfield and EIG’s court.

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Near-record house prices can’t disguise a broken market

With house prices on pace to set new all-time highs, Australia’s affordability crisis is deepening. NAB chief executive Ross McEwan says a key solution will underpin urgent action. 

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Victorian barrister Lana Collaris.

Barristers on losing streak with constitutional change

A vote by members of the Victorian Bar to include clauses that promoted diversity and made a stand against discrimination and harassment has tanked.

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Not for the first time, Elon Musk is making enemies of people who fervently back the free speech principles he apparently cares so deeply about.

Now Elon Musk is attacking Wikipedia

In the Tesla CEO’s world, no media source can be considered trustworthy, particularly those that criticise him.

  • Dave Lee
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How to check if your apartment developer is telling fibs

NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler’s ratings are so valuable that some companies are falsely saying they’ve got them when they haven’t even been tested.

  • Jimmy Thomson
The Australian Taxation Office occasionally “disqualifies” certain people,  which means they can never again be the trustee of an SMSF.

What happens if you make an illegal raid on super to ease tough times

More SMSF trustees are being caught out by the ATO illegally accessing their retirement savings – this is how they’re dealt with.

  • Meg Heffron
The Fiat 500e looks the part, and it’s great fun to drive.

Why the all-electric Fiat 500e will win your heart but not your mind

It feels nippy, looks cute and is gorgeously styled, with a touch of Fellini about it. But all this charm doesn’t come cheap.

  • Tony Davis
Israeli society is demonstrating both shock and resilience.

All of Israeli society has mobilised in the face of terror

Israel’s social and economic resilience is critical once more as the country faces an unpredictable new crisis

  • Jillian Segal and Michelle Blum

Yesterday

Endeavour Group chairman Peter Hearl.

Endeavour Group peace only comes with a scalp – the chairman’s

The hotels and pub group’s board will have the numbers at its AGM next week. But chairman Peter Hearl has two choices: claim a fleeting victory or read the room.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Brad Banducci says mortgage holders are under pressure, but the pain is spreading to renters, too.

What 680,000 toy cars tell you about interest rate pain

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says mortgagees and renters are hurting. But Wednesday’s inflation surprise leaves the RBA facing the prospect of lifting rates several times.  

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Generative AI such as ChatGPT could lead to a decline in the Indian outsourcing industry.

India’s outsource industry is shrinking

The top players in the sector contracted their payrolls by more than 21,000 in the three months to September.

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Bill Hayden’s foreign policy was his finest hour

Former Labor leader Bill Hayden’s 1983 ANZUS review preserved the alliance, but he despised craven and servile pandering to Washington

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Andrew Formica has moved quickly to put his stamp on Magellan.

Magellan chairman’s brutal reset starts with CEO’s exit

Andrew Formica has ended the tenure of David George, as well as the latter’s ambition of getting the funds under management back to $100 billion.

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Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Beijing.

West’s enemies may be evil, but there’s no ‘axis’

Democracies should tease out the contradictions between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, instead of dangerously lumping them together as a bloc.

  • Janan Ganesh
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This Month

Economist Max Corden at Giorgio’s Restaurant in Malvern.

Max Corden: Vale Australia’s prophet of prosperity

Max Corden established the intellectual, but then politically heretical, case for dismantling Australia’s protectionist tariff wall.

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Civilian casualties must be avoided at all costs: wounded Palestinians after the explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Breaking Hamas must also broker peace

The huge risks of an Israeli invasion of Gaza can only be justified if there is a plan for a durable settlement for the whole region at the end of it.

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RBA governor Michele Bullock made her maiden speech as governor in Sydney on Tuesday night.

Bullock squares up for inflation fight in first speech

It took only two minutes for Michele Bullock to refer back to Philip Lowe’s warning about high inflation. She is staying the course.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Westpac’s economic team, now led by Luci Ellis, expects the Reserve Bank will keep rates on hold until next June.

The next RBA rate move will be down, says Westpac

The next move in interest rates will be down, says the bank’s economics team, which is now led by a highly regarded former Reserve Bank assistant governor.

  • Karen Maley
Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the announcement in Washington of Microsoft’s $5 billion AI data centre investment.

Microsoft sends the right cyber signals

The strategic challenges nations face will be solved only through meaningful partnerships between government and industry.

  • Alastair MacGibbon