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The AFR View

Yesterday

Victoria’s big builds have imposed a considerable debt burden.

Victoria’s taxing and spending comes home to roost

Victoria could restore its reputation for financial discipline if it started running its infrastructure ambitions in a more efficient way.

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This Month

Anthony Albanese has bought this clifftop house for $4.3 million.

Supply is the only fix for housing affordability

The fuss over the prime minister’s house purchase has highlighted the housing crisis in ways the government would not have wanted.

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Card payment surcharges are a small but daily cost-of-living irritant.

The surcharge ban must lead to lower payment costs

The policy should instead lead to real downward pressure on payment service providers to cut overall costs. The ban should be the incentive to do so.

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Cities like Sydney need to approve more human-level higher density housing.

Councils are the obstacle as our cities grow

Sydney in particular needs councils who listen to the needs of the city and the economy, not the excessive fears of local NIMBYs.

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Steven Miles at Labor’s campaign launch with daughter Bridie, wife Kim McDowell, and former leadership rival Shannon Fentiman.

Queensland’s free lunch underscores states’ debt spiral

State government spending is driving a rising debt pile, and spilling into the national economy as inflationary pressure.

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The Prime Minister seemed to feel the pressures of office this week.

A year on, Labor needs to find another vision

The Voice defeat taught the Albanese government it needed to focus on the economy. But it needs to take better policies to the next election.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers should be congratulated on his consultative approach.

New merger laws must prove they are workable

Some of the bad ideas in the proposed merger reforms have gone. But a newly mandatory system will need to show that it is practical.

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Labor’s flagship Future Made in Australia legislation is now before the Senate.

The government has little to show on economic reform

The Albanese government has added to public spending and put in place no productivity enhancing policies to help.

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RBA governor Michele Bullock.

RBA walks the line on inflation and jobs

The RBA has a dual mandate to contain inflation while also shielding jobs. The Coalition should reconsider its veto of a separate policymaking board to help it do that.

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Last weekend’s protests in Sydney and Melbourne took a pro-terrorist turn.

October 7 should be a day of reflection for Australia

An Israeli victory over Hamas and Hezbollah remains the best outcome for Israel, Palestine and for Australia’s national interests.

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Housing help that boosts demand alone is not going to help.

Housing is starting to shape our future politics

Politicians have a big incentive to start fixing structural blockages to property ownership – their own future might swing on it.

  • Updated
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It’s a good interim result and an early victory roll for soon-to-depart chief executive Jane Hrdlicka.

Qatar-Virgin deal finally the right result for consumers

Petrodollars underwriting a more competitive aviation sector is not new for Australia or many other countries. And it’s something that should be welcomed as ultimately giving consumers the best chance to benefit from meaningful competition.

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The reality is Australia’s position will make no real difference to the war in Gaza that is spreading into Lebanon.

October 7 protests would do more damage to social cohesion

Ideally, the protest organisers would rule out the rallies proceeding based on taste and sensitivity, without even waiting for the court decision in NSW.

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The central bank could now publish the diaries of deputy and assistant governors - as Ms Bullock already does.

RBA must make rules of engagement explicit

The central bank should keep on talking to bankers, market economists, and politicians. But it needs transparent rules to guide it when it does.

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September

Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers the 2023-24 budget outcome in Canberra on Monday.

Chalmers isn’t a fair dinkum fiscal repairer like Keating and Walsh

It’s not unfair to look through Dr Chalmers’ two vanishing surpluses to the bigger budget picture: not enough has been done to tackle Australia’s long-term spending.

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Opposition leader David Crisafulli has an 8-point lead as preferred premier.

Queensland wipeout good for Labor’s federal election chances

The LNP small target strategy is politically effective. It’s on track to take out an unpopular Labor premier and, in the process, give a Labor prime minister a better chance of keeping his job.

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Long-term results for super depends on vigilance over the risks now.

Keeping vigilance over our big super risks

Australians now have a mountain of capital saved in their super system. But size brings its own challenges.

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Inflation has also made the chief inflation fighter the second most powerful person in the country, with Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock installed at number two on the Power list.

Inflation makes or breaks this year’s Power list

The power rankings reveal the splintering of traditional political power in a two-party system that is emerging alongside the economic strains.

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The Greens’ calls to abolish capital gains deductions and limit negative gearing have wedged Labor with younger voters who are struggling to buy a first home amid steeply rising rents and house prices.

Real tax reform could help fix the housing crisis

The political system lacks the maturity to even discuss using tax policy as a serious instrument to help solve the housing shortage.

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Gina Cass-Gottlieb is making the biggest statement of her relatively short time as head of the ACCC

Retail politics of ACCC Coles and Woolies case are bad for business

The investor reaction underlines challenges facing the business community which has tried to push back against the populist anti-big business bashing in Canberra.

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Paula Hitchcock and her husband Nassib Thoumi leave court after Wednesday’s decision.