This Month
Chalmers backs Indonesia’s OECD push
If successful, Indonesia would be the first South-East Asian nation to gain membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- John Kehoe
‘No silver bullet’: Is the childcare system broken?
Childcare in Australia is among the most expensive in the OECD and government subsidies have increased. But operators don’t appear to be rolling in profits.
- Euan Black and Liam Walsh
Hit more polluters with emission cuts, OECD urges Labor
The OECD is urging Labor to broaden its flagship emissions reduction policy as it warns Australia is not on track to meet its net zero emissions target.
- Michael Read
September
How confidential tax information was shared at PwC
At least six former PwC partners were involved in leaking confidential information from Treasury, the Tax Office and Board of Tax, legal reports concluded.
- Updated
- Neil Chenoweth and Edmund Tadros
- Opinion
- Australian economy
The ugly truth: Australia is not a great place to invest
This country needs to get real about attracting investment, or it should prepare to get poor.
- Richard Holden
- Opinion
- Mining
Labor’s IR laws at odds with cashing in on next mining boom
Mining leaders are warning Australia risks losing the benefits of another resources boom in critical minerals.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Exclusive
- Australian economy
Mining is smart, not ‘stupid’, outgoing productivity boss says
A Harvard study ranking Australia’s economy as less sophisticated than Uganda and Kazakhstan is wrong because mining is not a “crude dig it up” sector.
- John Kehoe
August
Australia backs Indonesia’s OECD push
Officials are working behind the scenes to lobby the organisation’s mostly wealthy 38 member countries for Indonesia to join.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Nuclear energy
10 reasons Bowen is wrong on nuclear
With Labor’s climate and energy policy in tatters, you’d think it would be keen to learn from others who are successfully decarbonising.
- Ted O'Brien
- Opinion
- Income tax
The penny has finally dropped on income tax burden
There are at least three achievable ways to alleviate the intergenerational inequities in the tax system to take pressure off workers and not harm economic growth.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Education
NAPLAN benchmarks have changed, but bad results stay the same
The national school test results show one in three children failed to reach expectations in basic numeracy, reading and writing skills.
- Jordana Hunter and Nick Parkinson
One in five ‘not proficient’ in their jobs, bosses say
Australian employers have been told to upskill their workers after new research found one in five workers were deemed “not fully proficient” in their roles.
- Euan Black
EU stuck with China despite ‘de-risk’ efforts
The bloc faces the “devilishly difficult” task of reducing dependence on Beijing after stepping into gaps left by the United States, say analysts.
- Valentina Romei
- Opinion
- Trade deals
High digital stakes in new China-ASEAN deal
The danger with the digital alignment between China and ASEAN is that the rules governing cross-border data movement come to be as confusing and as restrictive as Beijing’s.
- Ken Heydon
July
Meet the Queenagers: the women who broke the glass ceiling
Queenagers typically have relatively high incomes and a high degree of freedom in the choices they’re now making.
- Julia Hobsbawm
Chalmers to push G20 to break global tax deal impasse
Delayed by political gridlock and the COVID-19 pandemic, the OECD two-pillar tax reform plan is inching towards implementation.
- Tom McIlroy
Scaling back tax disclosure rules a lost opportunity for Australia
The Albanese government last month moved to water down country-by-country tax reporting rules, after lobbying by business groups, funds managers and the OECD.
- Tom McIlroy
Labor tax plan risked global transparency efforts: OECD
Former finance minister and OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann rejected suggestions he had lobbied the Albanese government.
- Tom McIlroy
Australia’s reputation as a great educational destination is at risk
Everyone has their two cents worth to contribute to the federal review of higher education. But some ideas are more dangerous – and destructive – than others.
- Phil Honeywood
OECD pressed Labor to drop plan to reveal where multinationals pay tax
The OECD helped persuade Australia to water down a law that would have required thousands of multinationals to publicly say where they pay tax.
- Emma Agyemang and Nic Fildes
