Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been forced to respond to calls for stricter food labelling and inspection of food imports, following a spate of hepatitis A infections suspected of being linked…
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I am a member of the “Shadow” RBA Board, which is made up of a collection of industry and academic economists. Just before every meeting of the real-world RBA Board, we announce our recommendations for…
The Henry Tax Review identified 125 taxes within Australia levied by all levels of government. Of those 125 taxes, just 10 taxes raised 90% of all tax revenue. The company tax is the second largest source…
With another fruit picking season in Australia have come the usual reports of “dodgy” labour hire contractors operating in farms around the country. Italian satirical news program Striscia recently picked…
“Oh what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive”. Sir Walter Scott’s comment could have been made about the LIBOR and foreign exchange (forex) scandals engulfing the world’s largest…
Queensland has a new Labor minority government, led by Annastacia Palaszczuk, after the shock defeat of the Liberal National Party. Labor’s pre-election promises were “modest”, leaving many now wondering…
Days after announcing Australia’s largest ever defence contract will be awarded via a “competitive evaluation process”, the government is still scrambling for a sensible definition of what such a process…
As the haze lifts (in the short term at least) on Canberra’s leadership ructions, we can see the extent of the car wreck that is Australia’s economic reform agenda. “Political uncertainty hits business…
“At the moment, we are spending over $100 million a day more than we’re collecting in revenue. Now that’s unsustainable, particularly given we’re spending nearly $40 million a day on the interest on the…
This week “feminist” organisation White Ribbon came into disrepute after one of its ambassadors, psychiatrist and journalist Tanveer Ahmed, wrote an opinion piece in The Australian, suggesting men’s violence…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced long-promised changes to the rules for foreign land purchases and ownership in Australia. There are two key changes. First, the Foreign Investment Review Board…
You know Australia’s in trouble when the Reserve Bank cuts interest rates. Last week, the central bank did precisely that, in belated recognition of the income recession that has struck. Gross domestic…
China’s recent clampdown on foreign casinos has been portrayed as an extension of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive, but it is also more than that. The motives behind Xi’s declaration of war against the…
Much of the current political turmoil in Australia can be traced to Bill Clinton’s famous aphorism: “it’s the economy stupid” – in particular, the plunge in world commodity prices over the past few years…
The OECD’s Going for Growth report released this week is a good reminder of why Tony Abbott wants to be remembered as “the infrastructure Prime Minister”. The OECD argues addressing infrastructure service…
It appeared to be the announcement Australian industry had been waiting for. Finally, political pressure on prime minister Tony Abbott’s leadership had forced a “fair go” for Australian shipbuilding. On…
Some may be surprised to hear the Corporate Tax Association (CTA) is calling for greater transparency around the tax paid by companies. One may ask why major companies would prefer to enhance transparency…
This week’s announcement that Fairfax had acquired a 49% partnership stake in Huffington Post Australia means yet another new entrant into the Australian online media landscape. An Australian edition of…
What is the new normal for the Australian economy? With unemployment rising, commodity prices reaching new lows, and confidence subdued, is the Australian economy prepared to handle offshore headwinds…
“Well, Jon, the Government’s about to bring in a 1.5% corporate, or company, tax cut from the 1st of July. That’s something that obviously we support, because (the) corporate tax rate at 30% is not competitive…
In the wake of Monday’s attempted Liberal leadership spill, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott clearly needs to do something to shore up support. He’s been offered all manner of unsolicited advice…
The move to challenge the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Abbott, coming soon after the shock Queensland election outcome, has in some quarters been blamed on a lack of appetite for reform on the part…
Decades ago, before Yanis Varoufakis became the rock-star finance minister of Greece, he and I developed some game-theoretic models of macroeconomics. The gist of the work was this: for monetary authorities…
In survey after survey bankers rank poorly on ethics and honesty. It’s not hard to find entire websites dedicated to bank hatred. And Bank of America consistently rates in the top 10 most hated companies…
This week’s Reserve Bank interest rate move surprised virtually everyone, bringing the cash rate to 2.25%, yet another historic low. Despite Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey suggesting the rate cut means…