A beginner’s guide to competition

Australian consumers tend to suffer higher prices because many of the most important markets are oligopolies, rather than competitive, but what do these economic terms mean?

Closing time

Australian firms are going out of business at a rapid rate in a difficult economic environment.

Australia’s economy strategy in Southeast Asia

Economic engagement was a key focus at the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, and there has been some serious money being put on the table by the Australian Government to help “derisk” private sector investment in Southeast Asia.

Enforcing foreign investment rules

Treasury has stepped up enforcement of Australia’s foreign investment regime to find the right balance between protecting national interests and encouraging investment inflows.

With a little help from our friends

The Albanese government wants Australia to revitalise the manufacturing sector, but that won’t be possible without closer cooperation with our trading partners, not least South Korea.

ASIC under the microscope

A new Senate report calls for Australia’s corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), to be replaced by 2 more responsive regulatory agencies.

Free trade or bust

Despite calls for inward economic strategies due to the perceived vulnerability of integrated supply chains, access to international markets has proven to be a form of insurance in times of crisis, responding quickly and efficiently to COVID-19 and energy trade disruptions.

Building a circular economy

The ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra is familiar to everyone, but the circular economy is about more than that, as a new site in Shoalhaven is trying to prove.

Made in Australia

The government’s vision for critical minerals and a Future Made in Australia boldly attempts to move Australia’s economy forward amid slowing global growth and recent domestic economic stagnation, but future budgets will need to build on that investment and identify new income sources to do so.

Fashioning the future

Whatever risks the Albanese government may face in encouraging cutting-edge manufacturing, it has avoided the much greater risk of doing nothing at all in the face of historic global economic change.

Australia’s productivity problem

A new report from the Productivity Commission shows that labour productivity fell sharply in 2022-23, as a record-breaking increase in hours worked failed to generate a similar increase in economic output.

The history and future of economic reform

The reforms of the Hawke and Keating governments helped revitalise the Australian economy but the declining role of government in the production of goods and services and a generally light-handed approach to regulation have failed to arrest a decline in competition and economic dynamism in recent years.