Yesterday
The budget in five key charts
The five key graphs to understand the government’s latest federal budget.
- Edmund Tadros
- Opinion
- Federal budget
The costs of the future still start adding up today
Jim Chalmers is betting he can get the balance right between curbing inflation in the short term while promoting growth in the longer term.
- Jennifer Hewett
From babies to Boomers: what’s in the budget for you
The 2024 federal budget includes power bill relief, more training places and additional rent assistance.
- Joanna Mather and Lucy Dean
Solomons, PNG win in $1b-plus Pacific play to ward off China
The government will provide funds for telecommunication cables in the Solomon Islands, help Papua New Guinea with a $600 million bailout and upgrade embassies.
- Andrew Tillett
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Chalmers’ latest effort basks in a green glow
Sit back and behold Jim Chalmers’ big green Australian budget. But making forecasts is easy, and will voters buy the story?
- Andrew Clark
Deeming rate freeze extension keeps pensioners $3300 in the green
The figure used to estimate how much retirees’ investments are earning will remain well below where it would otherwise be, easing fears of an “income cliff”.
- Lucy Dean
Here’s what we know is in Tuesday’s federal budget
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Labor government’s third federal budget this week. Here’s everything we know ahead of the announcement.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Lure global capital with internationally competitive tax reform
Rather than Jim Chalmers’ “new growth model”, the fair dinkum way to increase foreign investment would be to progress a genuine growth agenda.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Australian economy
The one standout success metric for the budget
More investment is required to drive productivity. We won’t get this without cutting red tape and making the things more business-friendly.
- Bran Black
Seven makes Albo pay for Perth snub
If you want to know the cost of inadvertently snubbing Seven in Perth, look no further than the front page of Wednesday’s The West Australian.
- Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
Palestinians’ aggressive lobbying upset Labor but it worked
Australia’s decision to support Palestinian UN membership follows seven months of intense, and aggressive, lobbying by a network of activists.
- Aaron Patrick and Tom McIlroy
How Harvard’s leadership rules are helping train Australia’s MPs
Since 2019, groups of aspiring government ministers at the state and federal level have been undertaking specialist training programs, designed to improve standards.
- Tom McIlroy
Labor goes to war with Meta in far-reaching inquiry
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk could be called on to face federal parliament, as part of a new inquiry into social media algorithms.
- Tom McIlroy
New gas projects receive support amid Labor unease
Resources Minister Madeleine King has backed the development of the Narrabri gas field in NSW, and the Queensland Labor government has given the green light to four new projects in the Bowen Basin.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Gas
Why Albanese is going all in on gas
The Labor government has infuriated climate activists by insisting that gas will play a crucial role in the energy transition for many decades to come. Big producers like Woodside will wait to see what that means.
- Jennifer Hewett
‘Ignore him at your peril’: The man who runs Queensland
The emergence of Gary “Blocker” Bullock as Labor’s most influential unionist is a story of the rise of the left and the decline of the once-mighty AWU.
- David Marin-Guzman and Liam Walsh
Stephen Jones boosts dud Islamic super fund
The minister in charge of the super sector still provides tacit endorsement to a fund that performs so badly it is being regulated out of stand-alone existence.
- Myriam Robin
Markets push interest rate cuts beyond the next election
Investors think the first rate cut may not be until May 2025 or June 2025, complicating Labor’s re-election bid amid red-hot voter concern over cost of living.
- Michael Read
April
Chalmers stares down NSW funding threat in GST row
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says an inequitable GST allocation will likely cost the state its remaining two AAA credit ratings.
- Samantha Hutchinson
NSW set to lose its AAA credit ratings: Mookhey
The NSW Treasurer has blamed a $12 billion budget hit on the GST carve-up, as he conceded the state would be stripped of its top-tier ratings.
- Tom McIlroy
