Australian super funds are rapidly increasing investment in US tech and AI, concentrating risk and tying retirement savings to systems linked to modern warfare. (more…)
Category: Economy
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The WTO is dead? Long live the WTO
Trade ministers gathering to reform the WTO risk starting from the wrong premise. The WTO’s dispute system is impaired, but its core functions remain active. Reform should build on what still works – not start from a false premise of collapse.
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The Strategic Examination of R&D: can Australia’s innovation system reform itself?
A major new review sets out a coherent plan to reform Australia’s innovation system. But the real challenge is not design – it’s whether the government can afford and deliver it.
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Australia’s great wealth transfer divide isn’t between generations
Australia’s so-called ‘great wealth transfer’ will not be a simple shift between generations, but a widening gap between those who inherit assets and those who do not.
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The Budget needs real tax reform, not tinkering
Australia’s tax system increasingly favours capital and older wealth while leaving younger Australians with rising debts and shrinking opportunities.
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Reclaiming the common good from neoliberalism
New thinking about the common good challenges decades of neoliberal policy and raises questions about inequality, public services and Australia’s federal system.
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Australia’s fuel security crisis needs less diesel, not more refineries
Australia’s heavy reliance on imported diesel has left the economy exposed to global shocks, highlighting the need to cut demand rather than simply increase supply.
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Former defence leaders say oil wars threaten our security, and climate change deepens the danger
In full-page statements in the national media today, 19 Australian security practitioners and former Defence leaders have published an Open Letter on why Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels is a critical economic and security vulnerability. (more…)
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How consultocracy became a national security blind spot
Espionage today is less about weapons than insider access to economic policy. Australia’s muted response to the PwC scandal reveals a serious failure to treat economic intelligence as a core national security asset.
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Should Australia copy Canada and New Zealand on immigration policy?
Canada and New Zealand cut migration sharply and saw modest rent falls – but only alongside weaker labour markets and stronger housing supply. The lesson for Australia is not imitation, but stability.
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How Australia should fix capital gains tax
The 50 per cent capital gains tax discount departs from the original purpose of taxing real gains, entrenches inequality and unfairly advantages wealth over work. (more…)
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Why security-first critical mineral policy risks slowing the energy transition
Western efforts to secure critical mineral supply chains from China are increasingly driven by security logic. That approach risks raising costs, slowing decarbonisation and undermining the global energy transition.
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Capital gains tax should increase
Reducing the capital gains tax discount would make the tax system fairer, raise much-needed revenue and have little effect on housing supply, given how constrained that supply already is.
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AI, productivity and the long stall in living standards
Artificial intelligence may offer the best chance to lift stagnant productivity and living standards – but without deliberate policy choices, its benefits will be uneven and limited. (more…)
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When both sides chant ‘lower tax’, the country pays in division
As the Coalition reasserts “lower tax” as political identity and Labor rushes to deny the high-tax label, Australian politics is losing the language needed to fund shared purpose, rebuild trust and sustain public life.
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John Mitchell, David Lindenmayer and Bruce Chapman: Keeping the farm in the family can come at a high cost
As Australia’s farming population ages, poorly planned succession can destroy wealth, fracture families and leave no one better off.
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Capital gains tax reform could reshape Australia’s housing market
As debate over capital gains tax returns to parliament, longstanding concessions are again under scrutiny for their role in driving housing speculation, inequality and intergenerational imbalance.
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Why higher taxes make more sense than higher interest rates
Rather than cutting public spending to restore the budget balance and reduce inflationary pressures, it would be better to increase taxation. (more…)
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How much federal income tax will Elon Musk’s Tesla pay on $5.7 billion in 2025 revenue? $0
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress “have allowed a hugely profitable corporation to avoid paying even a dime of federal income tax on their 2025 US profits.” (more…)
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Period pain is costing the Australian economy billions every year in lost productivity
Period pain and heavy menstrual bleeding are widespread, under-acknowledged, and quietly draining Australia’s economy. New research puts the cost at around $14 billion a year in lost productivity and shows why workplace policy reform is long overdue. (more…)
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Historic EU-India trade deal to slash auto tariffs, double bloc’s India exports by 2032
Brussels diversifies away from China and US risks, while the pact makes India a more attractive place for European firms to sell vehicles and fuel growth. (more…)
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The Supreme Court should ignore Trump – tariffs haven’t rescued the US economy
Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs have “rescued” the US economy relies on selective data, economic misunderstanding, and a dangerous conflation of trade policy with national security. (more…)
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Australia’s economic growth forecasts look upbeat – but the foundations are shaky
According to the government the economy is strengthening, but the risks are all on the downside, especially the projection that productivity will grow significantly faster than it has over the previous 15 years.
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“Take the sign out of the window” – Carney on power, coercion and middle states
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Mark Carney argues the rules-based international order is in rupture, not transition – and that “middle powers” must stop performing compliance and start building shared resilience. His speech – reproduced here – calls for values-based realism, domestic strength and new coalitions to reduce coercion and preserve sovereignty.
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Can we rely on Treasury’s latest net migration forecasts?
Treasury’s Net Overseas Migration forecasts don’t match current visa settings and trends. Migration may fall less than predicted – and stay higher for longer. (more…)
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Australia looks like a winner – but we’re losing where it counts
Australia remains wealthy but structurally fragile – highly dependent on raw exports and poorly positioned for a more complex, decarbonising global economy. Economic complexity is a warning signal we can no longer ignore.
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What does it mean to be bold on the economy?
Australia’s export mix is dangerously narrow. A mission-led industrial strategy is needed to build competitive advantage and lift productivity.
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Best of 2025 – Five reasons Trump’s economy stinks and 10 things the Dems should do about It
The Trump economy is truly awful for most Americans. Democrats need to show America that they can be better trusted to bring prices down and real wages up. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – The new political economy of innovation: Why Australian policymakers need better tools
When the Commonwealth Government reorganised its innovation responsibilities for the fourth time in a decade, public servants made jokes about updating their email signatures again. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – In memoriam: The slow death of the Quad
Quietly, but surely, life is ebbing away from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad). (more…)