Featured Opinion
Labor’s best policy might be admitting Red Sea defence gap
If strategy is Labor’s reason, it raises concerns. If there is no available ship, it raises another set of questions about Australia’s alarming lack of military capabilities.
Editorial
Australia’s Hunter frigate project should be sunk
Its crystal clear that the replacement ships for the Anzac class that we cannot send to the Red Sea will not provide a worthwhile capability for the Royal Australian Navy.
Former Admiral
Beware economists who won’t admit they were wrong
From an economic point of view, 2023 will go down in the record books as one of the best years ever.
Contributor
‘Hark the herald angels sing …’ But peace on earth, when?
Does the strife in the Holy Land question the relevance of Christmas, or render its message more urgent?
Archdeacon
Albanese is running Australia like a low-energy state premier
Labor would be foolish to blame their poll slide solely on interest rates. Their problem is their model of governance belongs in the cheap-money era.
Taiwan: A Trojan horse for Beijing?
Taiwan’s elections next month will once more focus attention on the difficulty of any future move by Beijing to absorb Taiwan.
International editor
The Fed should resist market bullying
The risk is that, to avoid unsettling market volatility, the Fed validates the market loosening with sizeable rate cuts but is forced to reverse course later.
Global financial commentator
Tip private schools out of boardrooms for a more productive Australia
Favouring the wealthy over innate talent in the education system is no way to filter what a country’s human capital might have to offer.
Economist
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Inside the secret school for ASX CEOs
Chanticleer has been given a rare look inside the invite-only course for new ASX150 CEOs, which is the brainchild of BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie.
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Shippers know the Suez is always a crisis waiting to happen
The channel should still be used, when it’s safe, as the savings are great. But knowing there’s a backup is enough assurance that the global economy won’t crash.
- Tim Culpan
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- Inheritance
How to claim your spouse’s super after they die
There’s a way to move their retirement savings to your super – this is how to get things going.
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How to party without being an animal
These are the five things that will drive your neighbours nuts – this is what you can do to avoid them.
- Jimmy Thomson
Yesterday
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AI is a two-speed conversation inside companies
CEOs are exploring all sorts of ways to use artificial intelligence. Their workers, however, feel unprepared for changes.
- Anthony Macdonald
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- Letters to the Editor
The super variant of bracket creep
Readers’ letters on super contributions tax; net zero and offshore wind; NT chief minister, Gina Rinehart; Rex ownership; Labor performance; dividend payouts.
- Opinion
- Investing
Making sense of the December market madness
Equities are on fire and Australian investors are enjoying a broad-based rally in stocks that may just be getting started.
- Jonathan Shapiro
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Rally has more room to run as investors get three green lights
The market has built a head of steam in the last two months, and until there’s a clear risk to the Goldilocks soft landing scenario there is little reason for the bulls to turn.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Cryptocurrencies
3 lessons from 2023’s massive crypto rally
Blockchain currencies didn’t just survive the collapse of FTX, they’ve been the investment of the year. Turns out, decentralised finance doesn’t need exchanges.
- Niall Ferguson
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The good, bad and ugly of business in 2023
Big deals, dud deals, scandals and success stories. In a year of high drama and big market moves, we look back at the winners and losers.
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Here are 11 of the best albums of 2023
This year’s best music features songs to make you think, laugh and dance, plus something special from one of our own.
- James Thomson and Alex Gow
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
More questions, no answers, about Turkish flights take-off
It would be in the national interest for the aviation white paper to lay out a proper pro-competition, pro-passenger framework so that regulatory decisions don’t continue to invite speculation about integrity.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Rinehart walks the talk with $1.7b lithium buy
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has been in a few lithium scraps, but has invested more in the sector than most this year. Azure Minerals is significant.
- Anthony Macdonald
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Red Sea oil spike is exactly what markets and central banks don’t need
Falling energy price have made the fight against inflation much easier, which in turn has boosted markets. The Red Sea attacks threaten to change that.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Health insurance
Keeping premiums affordable requires modern healthcare
If Labor wants to keep health insurance affordable to take pressure off the public system, tougher reforms are needed to make our health system more efficient and sustainable.
- Rachel David
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
What worries me about the Gaza war after my trip to Arab states
No Gulf Arab state will come into Gaza with bags of money to rebuild it unless Israel has a legitimate Palestinian partner and commits to a two-state solution.
- Thomas Friedman
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why the work from home debate is entering a new phase
Australia’s top CEOs have accepted flexible work is here to stay. But almost four years on from the pandemic, there are growing questions about productivity, culture and career development.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Ukraine and its backers need a credible path to victory
The country no longer has a convincing theory of victory. Unless they can come up with one, Western support for Ukraine will continue to waver.
- Gideon Rachman
- Opinion
- Aviation
Crunch question is whether Qantas is too big a national icon to fail?
Is Qantas to be given primacy in Australian aviation or is it really just another privatised airline in a deregulated market?
- Peter Harbison
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- Workplace culture
Culture clash as Baby Boomers and Gen Z stop talking at work
Male managers are so terrified of getting “cancelled” that some are avoiding conversations with their young colleagues altogether.
- Lucy Burton
