Housing

Half the houses aren't selling: what a collapsing auction market reveals and what it doesn't.

Australia's auction clearance rate has hit a three-month low — but the headline number may be telling a more complicated story than it first appears.

Fiscal Policy

Why higher bond yields are quietly reshaping the federal budget

The federal budget is losing fiscal space to a cost that never makes a single headline — and the full bill hasn't landed yet.

Fiscal Policy

Argentina's shock therapy worked - but Australia should be wary of copying it

Milei's shock therapy stopped a currency collapse — but the social cost was 57% poverty. What that actually means for Australian fiscal debate.

Immigration

Canada's migration slowdown hints at what Australia's reset could cost

Canada tried the migration reset Australia is debating — and the economic bill is now coming due in ways neither side of our politics is willing to cost.

Fiscal Policy

Chalmers claims savings while spending surges: the budget math that doesn't add up

The Treasurer named his savings figure with precision. He was quieter about what gets spent alongside them — and that gap is what the May budget will have to answer for.

Housing

Government miscalculations don’t mean government fix

The Greens are right that the First Home Guarantee scheme harmed buyers — but their proposed fix could make the underlying problem worse.

trade

Chalmers courts Japan's capital while dodging the real question about Australia's energy fix

Jim Chalmers spent 48 hours in Tokyo with $4 trillion in institutional capital. Whether any of it moves depends on a question the trip didn't answer.

polling

Rising inflation hands One Nation a gift

The RBA and the Treasurer are telling different stories about why prices are rising — and the gap between them is exactly where Pauline Hanson operates.

Housing

Six months down: What’s going to turn around the housing crash?

Prices are falling, tax concessions have been cut, and rates are up — so why are forecasters worried the housing shortage is about to get worse?

Fiscal Policy

The spending Bullock won't name: where the inflation culprit really hides

The RBA has pointed at government spending as an inflation driver — but won't say which spending, leaving mortgage holders to pay for a debate nobody is resolving.

Government Spending

$200m power bill keeps Tassie Aluminum industry alive.

Two smelters, two government bailouts, one pattern — but is Australia building an industry policy or just writing larger cheques each time?

Taxation

Named and ‘shamed’ the big companies that paid no tax. That’s half the story

27% of Australia's largest companies paid no income tax last year — but the ATO says that number means two very different things depending on who you're looking at.

technology

Queensland bets $750k on AI to fix manufacturing for those already using AI

Queensland's new AI grant for manufacturers sounds reasonable — until you ask which businesses can actually win it.

Housing

Greens inquiry blames housing crisis on banks and landlords

The Greens' Senate inquiry says rent caps will fix Australia's rental crisis. The evidence says otherwise — and Australia has already run this experiment.

technology

Government bends ‘evidence’ to create Social Media laws

Australia's government went to the High Court to defend its teen social media ban — and may have handed its opponents their best argument.