Switzer Daily

Three directors sold twenty million shares. The chairman and the chief executive have gone, the rules that let it happen have been rewritten, and one of the sellers is still on the board. Peter Switzer put it to DroneShield’s investor relations chief directly on this week’s Switzer Show: what would you say to people who lost confidence in the company after directors sold out? “Obviously that is a factor that we are aware of,” Joshua Bolot said.

Mortgage holders know interest rates have risen over the past year, as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the cash rate to fight inflation. But mortgage holders are not alone: governments and business borrowers are facing the same pressure. Australia’s government now has to offer investors more than 5% on its 10-year bonds, which hit a 15-year high on Tuesday after a long period of low interest rates since the global financial crisis in 2008.

In one day, Jim Chalmers dropped his controversial trust tax and sat through a parliamentary committee telling him his Budget changes are making the housing crisis worse. Peter Switzer asks whether one backdown is enough.

Inside a Business Sydney and CLIA lunch overlooking Circular Quay, CLIA global CEO Bud Darr laid out the economics behind why cruise lines choose one destination over another and what it would take for Sydney to climb back up the list. The lunch was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, with two cruise ships docked at Circular Quay in view through the windows. Have you ever thought about how important cruise ships are to the Australian economy?

Australia’s economy expanded by 0.4% in the June quarter, with spending growth driven by record sales of imported electric vehicles. For the year to June, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.1%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, slightly stronger than market expectations. The bureau noted overall growth remained subdued, with spending growth and business investment only in “pockets” of the economy.

Even as unprecedented fires and heatwaves rage across Europe, scientists track the retreat of Antarctic sea ice and a supercharged El Niño system heads our way, Australia’s largest companies are forecasting business-as-usual in a much hotter world. Last year, Australia introduced mandatory company climate reporting. They must now disclose the climate “risks and opportunities” that may affect their prospects.

Report Problem Switzer.com.au Switzer Report Switzer Advisory Text Articles by Jacqueline Peel Markets Australia's largest companies are forecasting business-as-usual in a much hotter world.

There is a crisis of rental housing across Australia. Areas in major cities and regional Australia alike are facing extremely low rental stock and record high rents. Many cities around the globe have cracked down on platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz to try and deal with the overlap of rental shortages and high numbers of short-term rentals.

Jim Chalmers has finally conceded his Budget’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes have contributed to falling house prices, but that’s about as far as the backdown goes. The Treasurer isn’t budging on the policy itself, and he’s certainly not conceding Treasury’s forecasts were wrong. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is now budging on accepting his Budget has contributed to the fall in house prices but at this stage has no interest in changing the policies.

Start-up founders built their businesses on risk. Now Jim Chalmers’ capital gains shake-up might cost them the reward, and top investor Steve Baxter says Canberra will regret it within two years. Steve Baxter reckons Canberra’s new capital gains tax (CGT) changes will prove just as short-lived as Bob Hawke and Paul Keating’s ill-fated 1980s negative gearing experiment, and today’s GDP numbers might show just how badly timed they are.