Last week Michael Froman, a US trade representative, took his son touring around the Paramount lot in Hollywood to visit a sound mixing stage, watch a movie and pose for happy snaps with company executives…
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Australia’s reform agenda has stalled, according to former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Graeme Samuel, and we won’t see any serious reform attempts for some time. The election of…
Coles, Woolworths and the Food and Grocery Council have released a draft industry code of conduct to help govern their relationships with suppliers. The code will be “voluntary” under section 51AE of the…
In a letter to a political ally in 1900, Theodore Roosevelt coined the phrase “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far”. The corollary was that, without a big stick and preparedness to use…
Foreign investment has been a key issue in national policy debate. Surging levels of foreign investment have provided a fillip to the Australian economy during the global financial crisis, and have been…
A media super-regulator, bigger and bolder than anything considered by the ALP? Or just an ambitious government agency engaged in street theatre as the Coalition slashes the public service? Those are questions…
Trade Minister Andrew Robb has responded to last week’s leak of the intellectual property chapter negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing Australia won’t agree to anything that would “force…
The Coalition government is split over the controversial bid for GrainCorp by American commodities trading giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Treasurer Joe Hockey has found himself torn between upholding…
In the history of trade agreement negotiations, most have been undertaken in secret, justified on the grounds that the governments’ negotiating positions would be weakened if they became public. But this…
Australian investors and superannuation funds have invested hundreds of billions of their life savings with active fund managers. These funds have very high fees compared with index funds to cover not…
Online labour marketplace Freelancer.com listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Friday and saw immediate gains on its initial stock price of 50 cents to a high of A$2.60 before closing at A$1.60…
Australian consumers are embracing digital commerce, but Australian retailers are failing to build long-term relationships with their customers online, according to new research. More than 50% of Australians…
In a controversial move, affiliates of the Industry Super Funds network (AustralianSuper, Cbus and Industry Super Holdings) have spent a combined A$3 million of member funds on an online news website…
China manufactures an enormous amount of consumer goods. Its value to the global economy is estimated to be around US$7 trillion. But stigmatised as low cost, low quality products, Chinese brands have…
When Amazon, known by most as an online department store, extended its web services business into Australia in 2012, few outside the IT sector noticed. Data released last week by the Australian Securities…
From more than one perspective the New Daily, Australia’s latest online news provider, couldn’t have a better chance of survival. With Bruce Guthrie (ex-Herald Sun and Age editor) as editor-in-chief, Daniel…
One of the first acts of Tony Abbott’s government was to declare it intended to “embrace free trade” in its first term in office. Calling the trade minister Australia’s “ambassador for jobs”, the Coalition…
November is a month of two tales for the Australian media industry: one of hope, the other of despair. The arrival on Wednesday of the online news site The New Daily, and reports that The Monthly’s publisher…
The leaking of a key Trans-Pacific Partnership document by Wikileaks this week suggests Australia may side with the US on some key issues including the insertion of an Investor-State Dispute Settlement…
Treasurer Joe Hockey’s unconditional approval of a $450 million takeover offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter (WCB) by Canadian company Saputo has intensified the bidding war around the dairy company…
Earlier this year, I travelled to Melbourne for a conference. Instead of paying to stay in a hotel like I normally would, I paid a local couple to stay in their spare room. On arriving at their clean and…
The world of big business is littered with once popular but now discarded household names like Kodak, Borders and Blockbuster. In this disruptive forces series we find out who might be next, uncovering…
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s affirmed Victoria’s AAA credit rating last week and State Treasurer Michael O’Brien milked the announcement for all it was worth. “Victoria,” he said proudly…
Last month the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States released a proposal that paves the way for “equity crowdfunding”. Unlike existing crowd-funding platforms such as Kickstarter…
From a three-and-a-half year high last month, business confidence data for October shows the post-election honeymoon is over, with business conditions continuing to underperform in non-mining sectors…