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…
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Governments have never been more keen to leverage information technology for public projects, but their track record isn’t particularly good. In Victoria, myki has been branded a “disaster from touch on…
Social media darling Twitter ended last week with US$2.3 billion wiped off its market valuation, following a 7.24% fall in its share price on the second day it traded. Despite the slip, the share price…
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is moving to “real-time” monitoring of share trading as another weapon in the ongoing fight against insider trading. But will the use of this form of…
In agreeing to buy high-end strategy consulting firm Booz & Co, international accounting firm PwC is attempting to reproduce the success of its Australian partnership. In the last decade PwC Australia…
Media companies are failing to deliver transparency about their digital subscriptions, as my recent study about paywalls found. The research of paywalls in eight countries found paid online content presents…
Like most companies, banks report their profits twice a year. Each time the majors report we see headlines about the size of the profits and implicit or explicit criticism of the amount – this time about…
International reporting on China is dominated by stories of the Chinese government’s propensity to block access to a number of foreign online media outlets, search engines and social media forums. There…
The share price of Victorian dairy processor Warrnambool Cheese and Butter (WCB) has more than doubled over recent weeks in response to a takeover tussle between Australian publicly listed company Bega…
In Rupert Murdoch’s fly-in, fly-out visit to speak at the 2013 Annual Lowy Institute Lecture he paid tribute to some traditional Australian values and attributed our success to a number of factors. Murdoch…
Last month Queensland Premier Campbell Newman called for expressions of interest to develop a major integrated resort casino precinct within the Brisbane CBD. The vision is for a new casino surrounded…
Reporting season has delivered another round of record bank profits. Yet, in itself, this is no bad thing. Former Reserve Bank governor, the late Sir Harold Knight, used to quip that profitable banks don’t…
The last few weeks have been a bonanza for shareholders in Australia’s Big Four banks, amid record full year results and handsome increases in dividend payments. But lurking in background have been concerns…
“We want to be innovative” is a catch cry of most Australian organisations. Little wonder. Australian companies are among the least proficient innovators in the OECD and seem to fail at creating the conditions…
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be the part owner of a Melbourne Cup winner? Horse trainer Gai Waterhouse says you could be, by investing in a new company called “Gai Live the Dream” (GLD). The “live the dream…
The balance of risks to Australia’s economy has barely shifted from last month, so that the consensus to keep the cash rate at its current level of 2.5% remains strong, according to Reserve Bank Shadow…
The EU Commission’s autumn economic forecasts are due tomorrow. What makes this event special this year is that there are rumours about a possible change in the Commission’s approach to calculating the…
With each new revelation of the scope of the American National Security Agency’s spying, perceptions of the importance of privacy are hardening around the world. Systematic monitoring of the world’s communications…
A supposition behind the Commonwealth’s Commission of Audit is that government has become “too large”. The first paragraph of the Commission’s terms of reference sets the context, stating: During this…
A new chapter in the long history of British programming on Australian television is about to be written, or rather, rewritten. Last week, BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and FremantleMedia…
Australia’s major banking, retail and manufacturing brands are often regarded as less interested in the aggressive overseas expansion being pursued by market leaders in other countries. Some have tried…
Despite the gloom surrounding the future of media, technological changes present new opportunities for quality journalism - but should call into question the role of state broadcasters such as the ABC…
Andrea Carson: What are you intending to say at the Public Knowledge Forum at Sydney’s Opera House next week? Mary Kissel: I think there is a lot of concern about the decline, or the death, of good quality…
The Tony Abbott government has inherited the ongoing problems of the car industry which Australian governments have attempted to address for decades. It is caught between economic liberal critics of industry…
Whether you believe in climate change or not, there can be no doubt that the impact of extreme weather events is increasing. The combination of more frequent events together with the increased propensity…