This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Chalmers must back the central bank he shaped
The RBA cannot fix inflation as fast as a now big-spending government wants. But the treasurer must be wary of damage to the central bank’s credibility.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Australia’s China problem is bigger than we think
Look past the renewed pressure on iron ore prices. China needs radical surgery that its leaders appear reluctant to deliver. A prolonged period of pain looks likely.
- Updated
- James Thomson
No let-up in government’s spending splurge
Labor has left the door open to doling out extra cost of living assistance, even as economists warn that the rapid growth in spending is fuelling inflation.
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Bullock fights her own war
RBA governor Michele Bullock took to the podium on Thursday on a mission to avoid a war of words with the treasurer.
- Jonathan Shapiro
The alternative to high interest rates is recession: Bullock
Michele Bullock has stressed the necessity of high rates just days after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the central bank’s actions were “smashing the economy”.
- Updated
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Government spending plays hero and villain
Jim Chalmers says the weakness of the economy justifies high government spending. He doesn’t want voters to link that with interest rates and inflation.
- Jennifer Hewett
Rate rises are doing what they were meant to
Readers’ letters on interest rate policy; wealth and the young; Australia’s place in Asia; credit card fees; sumo tournaments; fixed-interest investors; and David Rowe’s cartoons.
- Opinion
- GDP
Treasurer v the RBA: Why Chalmers and Bullock are both right
Jim Chalmers says the economy is getting smashed by high rates, but it’s still running too hot for the RBA. The answer is simple: productivity.
- Michael Stutchbury
Record government spending prolonging RBA’s inflation fight
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the economy would have gone backwards without government spending, but economists warn the outlays are making the RBA’s job harder.
- Updated
- Michael Read
- Exclusive
- Inflation
You’re part of the inflation problem, McKibbin tells Chalmers
Former RBA board member Warwick McKibbin says the treasurer should be doing more to get price rises under control, instead of criticising the central bank.
- Michael Read and Lucas Baird
‘It’s self-evident’: Chalmers stands firm on rates ‘smashing the economy’
In a breakfast TV blitz, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has also accused the Coalition of making political capital out of the independent central bank’s decisions.
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Chalmers is more in touch with the economy than the RBA
It’s easy enough to understand the treasurer’s criticism of the RBA in political terms. But the inflation target that is good for the central bank as an institution is not so good for the economy.
- John Quiggin
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Chalmers is smashing Labor’s economic legacy
If only the treasurer focused a little less on managing political expectations and a little more on managing inflation expectations we might have avoided this mess in the first place.
- Steven Hamilton
Consumer slowdown hits profits and GDP growth
Growth in profits and wages is slowing sharply across consumer-facing sectors such as retail and construction, raising expectations for sluggish June GDP figures.
- Michael Read
Attacks on retirees are getting old
Readers’ letters on the wealth of retirees; the Reserve Bank of Australia and fixed-interest investors; and private hospitals
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Raising the bar against mergers will rob everyone of benefits
Why clamp down on mergers with less than maximum benefits when the public would still gain from seeing them go through?
- Bran Black
- Opinion
- Australian economy
Is Anthony Albanese fated to lead the last majority government?
Labor may not hold off the Greens, and the Coalition may not recapture the seats it lost to the teals. Another marriage of convenience may beckon.
- Lidija Ivanovski
- Opinion
- Leading Indicators
These two charts show the worst of the rental crisis is over
Small shifts in behaviour can have a big effect. A jump in the number of homeowners welcoming flatmates has added the equivalent of 106,000 houses onto the market.
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Childcare
The case for making childcare costs tax deductable
Government contributions will again increase demand without boosting supply. No wonder fees keep rising.
- Richard Holden
- Exclusive
- Interest rates
Inflation could become entrenched, ex-RBA research boss warns
The central bank’s former top researcher, John Simon, says the decision not to raise rates further has not been adequately scrutinised by the board.
- Michael Read
