Morrison's industrial relations push needs employers to make a case

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has opened the door to a workplace agenda that could lead to the biggest change in a decade. For the moment, however,...

Bank stocks rake in $17 billion as investors revel in recovery party

It took just one analyst report from the banking industry’s well recognised bear, UBS’ Jon Mott, to finally shift investor sentiment from negative...

Hong Kong's future as China's gateway to the West is under threat

The next few days could determine the future of Hong Kong as China’s gateway to western capital and a key conduit for global trade. They might...

A winter of cobbler and no guilt

Now is the winter of our discontent. It starts on Monday — June 1 — and there is nothing for us to do but sit out the next three months, turn up...

Please Explain podcast: counterfeit face masks in our hospitals

We must not let China use COVID as cover for a Hong Kong power grab

There’s something happening in China and the West needs to pay attention. No, it’s not wet markets or the suppression of whistle-blowing...

Morrison faces some big economic challenges, but it's not 1983

When Scott Morrison announced on Tuesday he wants to get unions and business in a room so they can “work together” to improve the industrial...

Another economic crisis and the cupboard appears bare

“The problem with Australia is that whilst it might handle adversity very well, it doesn’t handle prosperity very well at all,” says Steve...

Free childcare has shown the benefits of generous government subsidies

One of the weirder moments of the COVID-19 crisis has been watching a conservative government introduce universal free childcare – if only...

Reality check on finding new export markets: China's demand dwarfs the rest

It might be conventional wisdom that Australia needs to diversify its trade and reduce dependence on China. There is, however, no magic button that...

Work intrudes further into the home with monitoring software

Question: I just found out that the company I work for uses software to track when I'm at my computer and whether or not I'm doing work from home....

Industrial reform will be PM's Everest – it won't resemble Hawke's Accord

Industrial reform has been the unspoken, unthinkable problem at the heart of the Australian economy for more than a century. The Prime Minister,...

When experts found isolation was a great thing – and that debate isn't settled

In 1958, isolation was seen as necessary and desirable for human functioning. The Kansas City Study of Adult Life was a long-term study tracking...

Should Josh Frydenberg's temporary disclosure rule be made permanent?

There will be some company directors and executives who look at Josh Frydenberg’s decision to extend temporary protections from liability for...

'A frightening insight': There's only one way out of this recession

Lying awake in bed last night thinking about our predicament, a frightening insight came to me: the only way out of a recession is to spend your...

'Ben Johnson bad': Xerri's cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs

The whisper in rugby league circles on Tuesday morning was that “something big” was about to come down. But what? New broadcast deal? More scalps...

Who would be relegated if the Premier League ends? Well, it depends

The English Premier League trophy sits in an empty stadium. Credit:AAP The big question about Project Restart is not what will it take to start it,...

'Wait-and-see' approach could leave the US economy permanently scarred

Listen carefully, and amid the partisan noise you can hear Washington having an important, substantive debate about economic policy: As the Cares...

Please Explain podcast: the theatre industry plans its big comeback

As school goes back, how do you talk to children about COVID?

As if there isn't enough to deal with during this crisis, parents and grandparents must also consider the wellbeing of their children. As children...

Australia shows how policy can stifle renewable energy future

One of the themes emerging as the world looks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot...

The $2.7b gamble: Quibi could be the costliest flop in history

Chances are you've never heard of Quibi. Even if you're young and hip with a finger raised to the wind for the zeitgeist, you may never have heard...

Sectors most likely to shine in post-COVID-19 world

Healthcare and biotech, the shift to the online economy and cyber-security are just some of the sectors of the sharemarket that will likely receive...

There's a better way to fund your retirement

I have lost count of the number of ways the superannuation system has been criticised, complained about and had its rules tinkered with by...

When early access to super can pay off

It is not a good idea to take up the federal government's $20,000 early access to superannuation offer if you are suffering financial hardship –...

The global economy is showing signs of life

The world economy is showing signs of flickering back to life as lockdown restrictions are eased, allowing some activity to resume. Japan ended its...

Why are franking credits declared as income?

I am confused about franking credits. When my wife and I receive our dividend statements, they indicate net dividends and franking credits. But...

'Found' $60 billion should be invested to keep struggling Australians above the poverty line

I felt quite emotional when I heard that the Government would be giving an additional $550 per fortnight for six months to people on the Jobseeker...

'Put your weapons down': Co-operation is the future for workplaces

Remember the Morrison government’s 2019 "Co-Operative Workplaces" discussion paper? Its launch was low-key enough, but amid the ongoing deaths,...

Why am I drawn to conspiracy theories? I have a theory

The first time I gave much thought to conspiracy theories was in my early 20s. It was during Bible study; back in the days when I was a churchgoer....

Out of Asia: the National Library shuts borders and stops collecting on our neighbours

The current crisis in relations with China has exposed the extreme delicacy and importance of Australia’s relationship with its Asian neighbours....

How COVID-19 is driving a booming conspiracy industry

As legitimate newsrooms around the world are crumbling under the financial pressures exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, including at least 157 in...

Removing corporate trash under the cover of COVID

This week’s debate around the hazards of corporate earnings forecasts is pretty much an academic argument. Large investors have already written...

I have a message for knuckle-dragging engine-running bastards who keep their cars idling

Maybe it’s because no one’s servicing their cars at the moment – or maybe it’s because somany people are using their cars as de facto...

Labor has been handed a rare gift but it might not be the last

It was 2009 and a Labor frontbencher was in the parliamentary press gallery spruiking the Rudd government’s $42 billion “nation building and jobs...

After softening-up period, stand by for big hits in TV rights stoush

Hard man Peter V’landys has softened up the rugby league ‘family”, using the media to warn of an inevitable decline in the code's income, ahead...

Rising sharemarket still has some steam left in it

The recent sharemarket rally is not only well deserved, but can continue to head higher. Since the stumbling to lows near the end of March, markets...

Xi's bullying has backfired so far but there's a good reason why he's trying again

It doesn't seem to make much sense. China's President Xi Jinping tried to get tough with Hong Kong and Taiwan last year. The people in both places...

Growing pains: China's surge hit by Trump and the pandemic

For the first time in nearly 30 years China has abandoned setting a growth target for its economy. That's not good news for an Australian economy...

On the campaign trail, best beware candid signs lurking in the grass

Electioneering, as recent spectacular hostilities between would-be Coalition candidates for the Eden-Monaro byelection showed, is a fraught and...

'Not what the citizens of NSW want to hear': The downsides of opening up now

The eight Australian states and territories, plus New Zealand, are in a horse race. They have rounded into the home straight. NZ, Western...

China’s move to rein in Hong Kong is just the start

Beijing: China's move to strip away another layer of Hong Kong's autonomy was not a rash impulse. It was a deliberate act, months in the making. It...

Please Explain podcast: behind the JobKeeper bungle

You know that constant feeling of failing? We're short of 'flow'

Because I'm a mother, and because I once wrote a book about modern parenthood, I've spent a lot of time these days trying to diagnose why it is,...

Silver linings have appeared from life under coronavirus

We’ve done well in Australia to have such a limited loss of life to COVID-19 compared to so many other countries. In different ways, there’s a...

Take lessons from First Nations to come out of COVID crisis a better country

As a proud Kaytetye woman caught between many worlds, I have drawn on the traditional ways of my people to cope with the new realities of COVID-19....

Friends, bad news, moronavirus is getting worse in the US

And where were we? I remember! The last time we met in this space I was doing a little public hand-wringing over the rising damp of...

National reconciliation is closer than we dare imagine

Reconciliation Week is a chance to think about the nation’s unfinished business. I believe national reconciliation is closer than many of us dare...

Forget panic buying, panic driving is next virus fad

We saw panic buying in supermarkets at the beginning of the coronavirus in Australia and now with students heading back to school this week and...

Bold reform needed to prevent even bigger economic blow

Despite governments taking tentative steps towards getting the economy back to normal, current conditions and predictions remain dire. Josh...

The three steps that can take us back to normality

A huge Team Australia effort has supported people and businesses during the lockdown. But we are only at the end of the beginning. How well we...

Why Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane should put an end to old rivalries

Australia’s eastern seaboard boasts three hugely successful cities. The output of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was just over $1,000 billion...

Why Beijing feels compelled to destroy Hong Kong’s freedom

The Chinese Communist Party has been steadily chipping away at Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy over the past decade. On Friday, it put down the...

With NRL in league of its own, Fox must make it the world game

Lachlan Murdoch watches NRL when living in the United States. Presumably he will tune in to his Broncos when they meet the Eels on Thursday night,...

WA gas has been a disaster for the climate – don’t send it east at taxpayer expense

The prospect of an east-west intercontinental gas pipeline has again reared its head after the Morrison Government’s national COVID-19...

PM earned praise for swift action, but now voters must wait and see - and judge

Amid the bewitching strangeness of coronatime, with its unfamiliar ebbs and flows, it is easy to forget what a strange rhythm the entire reign of...

How do you mop up a $60 billion mistake?

Scott Morrison sounds ready to put a $60 billion costings blunder to good use. The Prime Minister has responded to the huge shortfall in the...

Bauer is not the only villain on the scene

For detractors, the situation is clear. Bauer Media, the German publisher, has not just taken over the local magazine industry, it has wrecked it....

Treasury: the budget won't ruin us, but will help save us

Something we should be thankful for is that Scott Morrison saw fit to return the leadership of Treasury to another highly respected macro-economist...

Not so fast: why bullet trains can't revive NSW's regions or relieve the pressure on Sydney

Politicians love to tempt us with visions of faster trains. The NSW and federal governments want to fast-track transport projects to revive the...

Let's disengage from China ... slowly and carefully

Let's hark back to a rosier time. It's not that long ago but it seems a world away. Malcolm Turnbull's prime ministership was in its early bloom....