“At a time when costs are rising and tariffs are wreaking havoc on people’s pocketbooks, Republicans are doubling down on their agenda of raising healthcare costs on millions of Americans.” (more…)
Category: Economy
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Dental health – time for a small, cost-effective revolution
In the many years I’ve been writing about the dental divide, the only movement I’ve seen is in the increasingly bad numbers around poor oral health, waiting lists and costs to patients. It’s time to see dental caries as a preventable disease. (more…)
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Superannuation and the Canberra Press Gallery’s fantasies
The Canberra Press Gallery was completely absorbed with the supposed politics of last week’s superannuation changes and completely failed to consider their merits and why the changes were therefore made. (more…)
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Trump is pushing allies to buy US gas. It’s bad economics – and a catastrophe for the climate
The price of partnership with the United States has changed. Washington is now using assurances of defence and trade access to pressure allies in Europe and Asia to buy more of its fossil fuels under decades-long contracts. (more…)
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China’s FDI, not the BRI, drives a global green transition
Over the past few years, outward Chinese foreign direct investment commitments in green manufacturing have grown rapidly and now dwarf the Marshall Plan in their scale. (more…)
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Indonesia-Australia economic partnership can power Indo-Pacific resilience
Amid intensifying great power rivalry, middle powers like Indonesia and Australia face a critical question – can economic co-operation help them hedge against strategic vulnerability? (more…)
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‘We can do this’: Rio Tinto’s rapid switch to renewables shows path for quick exit from coal
You might be able to imagine the scene: An Australia sporting minister stands up in front of a vast audience to announce that something is simply not possible – it might be running 100 metres in 10 seconds, kicking a drop goal from 50 metres, or a swimming relay team beating a world record. (more…)
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China-US critical minerals war an opportunity for Australia to get smart
As the Trump administration deepens its tariff trade war with China, the latter has placed fresh curbs on exports to the US of the rare earths and critical minerals indispensable to the production of clean energy tech, as well as defence, computing and AI capabilities. (more…)
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What a surprise spike in the unemployment rate means for interest rates and the economy
The rate of unemployment in Australia is on the rise again. Official labour force data released on Thursday shows that in the month to September, Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped from 4.3% to 4.5%. (more…)
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India’s American dream in tatters
The last couple of months have exposed the humiliating realities of the subordinate alliance that India has been gradually sliding into with the US over the last three decades. (more…)
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Rooftop solar takes its biggest bite yet out of coal generators’ lunch, as home battery rebates hit 89,000
Rooftop solar on homes and businesses took its biggest bite yet out of the traditional “baseload” midday lunch on Wednesday, as the combined output hit a record of 15,597 megawatts (MW) at noon AEST. (more…)
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Counting what doesn’t count: How consultants are hollowing out the university
When Western Sydney University announced it would shed hundreds of staff, its vice-chancellor described the decision as part of a “necessary transformation”. (more…)
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Four reasons Australia’s superannuation system isn’t the world’s best
When Australia embarked on its unique retirement incomes system in 1992, the World Bank was quick to encourage other countries to take the same approach to “averting the old age crisis”, claiming it would “protect the old and promote growth”. (more…)
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From play to performance: Sport as the new Roman circus
Reading the recent article Is this the moment that will define cricket’s future? by my former university lecturer and continued mentor, Chas Keys, reminded me how sport, once a shared expression of community, is again being redefined by money and media. (more…)
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Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West
It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. And Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact that is a gathering tide from the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there. (more…)
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Inequality and the future of democracy
Rising inequality and declining living standards have posed a threat to democracy in several democracies, but so far not in Australia. However, the increasing inequality of wealth, driven by housing becoming unaffordable without rich parents, is a threat. (more…)
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The RBA says changing rates won’t raise house prices. I wouldn’t be so sure
The Reserve Bank has always denied that its manipulation of short-term interest rates to slow or hasten the growth in demand for goods and services plays any part in worsening the cost of home ownership. But I doubt this. (more…)
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New school funding agreements deny full funding for public schools
The claim by the prime minister, premiers and their education ministers that public schools will be fully funded by 2034 is a blatant falsehood. (more…)
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Australia faces a looming crisis of older women retiring in poverty. Here’s what we can do
Australia faces a serious challenge. Despite important progress on gender equality over recent decades, a looming crisis now threatens the economic security of older women. Without urgent and bold action, we risk consigning further generations of women to poverty in retirement. (more…)
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Rio Tinto flags early closure of Queensland’s biggest coal generator as LNP prepares new energy plan
The clock is now ticking for the ageing Gladstone coal-fired power station after its owners told the Australian Energy Market Operator that they’re bringing forward the closure date of the biggest power plant in Queensland by six years, to March 2029. (more…)
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Nation’s innovation surge continues a long tradition
Many in the West mistakenly think that China lacks innovation, but this view is outdated. (more…)
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Bernie and AOC explain how Trump and GOP are about to double insurance premiums for millions of Americans
“This messaging is approximately 142 times better,” said one political observer, “than Democrats are getting from leadership.” (more…)
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States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases
Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade. (more…)
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‘They need to get cracking’: Bowen on renewable targets and LNP’s ‘poor decisions’ in Queensland
Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen says he is not ready to give up on the country’s ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030, but concedes that energy companies “need to get cracking” to ensure enough wind and solar projects are delivered on time. (more…)
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Sanctions: Sanitised, silent killing
Many will remember the terrible effects of the crippling UN sanctions applied against Iraq, from the time of its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, to the fall of the government of Saddam Hussein, following the loss of the second Iraq war (2003). (more…)
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We killed our car industry and now we’re drafted to fight against Chinese EVs (again?)
The call is getting louder and louder: Australia needs to join allies in restricting Chinese electric vehicles. (more…)
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Andrew Forrest makes big bet on self-lifting turbines in landmark ‘real zero’ deal with Envision
Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest appears to have gone all-in on a radical new “self-lifting” turbine technology that will underpin the development of his first major wind project and underpin his green energy ambitions. (more…)
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Could the Teals win Senate seats in an expanded parliament?
Important discussions are taking place within the government and before the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters about increasing the size of the federal parliament. (more…)
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The economics of Indonesia’s discontent
Economic discontent erupted in protests across Indonesia in late August 2025. The trigger was the proposal to give generous housing allowances to members of parliament, but unrest had been bubbling since early in the year. (more…)
