Peter Switzer
Founder of Switzer, a content & financial services group. Chairman of the Switzer Dividend Growth Fund (SWTZ). Visit switzer.com.au & switzerreport.com.au
Articles by Peter Switzer
RBA too scared to tell Chalmers the truth!
Note: Peter’s trusty laptop has unfortunately bitten the dust this week. He wouldn’t let that stop him, though! Today he’s filed his story via video. Below is the transcript of his discussion for today’s featured story. It’s going to be a very unusual story for me today. My original and trusty laptop went dead on Tuesday.
Australia is mad as hell, and the ATO isn’t helping
Australia is getting angry and its leaders are failing to kill the growing discontent because it has become increasingly clear that being re-elected is more important than taking bold, gutsy decisions to make our leaders more electable and us less angry isn’t a viable option in this WIIFM world we live in.
Here you go Jim, add another $11 billion to your Budget blow out
Call it the price of a Budget screw-up and Treasurer Jim Chalmers now has a costing for a job not done all that well. And that price, on top of the $64.1 billion the disastrous deficit for the country’s budget was heading for, is $11 billion in extra interest repayments.
Fair Work tells small business: suck it up, princess
Employers of white-collar workers have been put under pressure to say yes to employees who want to work from home (WFH). This follows the employment umpire showing small business employers the door, despite requesting a six-month delay to giving workers a right to deliver their services from home.
Houses are getting cheaper, so why are tradie quotes making homeowners faint?
Renovations in Australia are on the slide, and this historically has gone ‘hand in glove’ with property prices that continue to fall across the country. The only positive in this story is that the demand for tradies is falling as the RBA and the Budget terrorise the housing sector and it comes when there is a gross shortage of skilled workers, once again, thanks to state and federal governments.
The RBA is $11.3 billion in the red. Here’s why Jim Chalmers can’t escape the blame.
It’s really no comfort but it might be poetic justice bordering on something ironic that the Reserve Bank seems to be in as much trouble as many businesses and mortgagees are under the current government’s economic policies. And we’re talking about the economy’s key policy maker, which tells us we have a productivity problem admitting to having the second biggest annual loss ever! The loss was $8.5 billion for the 2025–26 financial year.
Who do you love more, Donald Trump or your stocks?
Trump-loving investors better hope he is clobbered in the mid-term elections if they want to make money on stocks in 2027. It has become a brutal choice for disgruntled observers of modern-day politics, who see the likes of Trump and Pauline Hanson as politicians who promise to be different from those mainstream big party players who promise big and fail to deliver or simply lie their way into big election wins.
One politician wants to save business from a year from Hell. The rest should take notice.
The penny has dropped for Kellie Sloane, who aspires to be the next premier of NSW, that a state leader has a key job and that’s to back businesses. It’s a realisation that has been completely lost on our governments in Canberra and Melbourne, and Sloane has accused her opposite number, Premier Chris Minns, of being anti-business. Sloane thinks her state’s small businesses have had a “year from hell” and is calling for a cut to payroll tax.
Jim Chalmers’ Budget has cost the states $30 billion. Is anyone in Treasury paying attention?
Thanks to the Chalmers’ Budget that has triggered an escalation of the property price and sales crisis, a global debt ratings agency says state stamp duty revenue will collapse by an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion (about 20%) this financial year alone.
RBA, put down the sledgehammer. Jim, pick up the scalpel
Australians with home loans and living in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne are hip pocket stressed with those behind on paying their monthly loan repayments running at more than triple the national average. And it’s those who bought at the top of the market and/or were young buyers who are feeling the pain the most, after four hikes in the cash rate this year from the Reserve Bank.
Firmus float flops: why the $44 billion gravy train never left the station
A whole lot of people at the big end of town have waved goodbye to a gravy train that was going to make these already rich people even richer and in doing so have missed out on participating in what was seen as the biggest stock market float of all time. That train is bound to come back into town again but it might not have a price tag of $44 billion from day one.
Rate hikes are crushing suburban families and your bank shares are next
Australians with home loans and living in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne are hip pocket stressed with those behind on paying their monthly loan repayments running at more than triple the national average. And it’s those who bought at the top of the market and/or were young buyers who are feeling the pain the most, after four hikes in the cash rate this year from the Reserve Bank.
Doctor’s orders: Dr Lowe writes Dr Chalmers a script he won’t want to swallow
Another expert economist has ripped into Treasurer Jim Chalmers over the fact that we have a big budget deficit of over $22 billion and we’re set to have deficits for three years totalling $117 billion. That man is someone who did make a mistake on interest rates remaining low until 2024, namely Dr Phil Lowe, but that doesn’t make him wrong now. Like a lot of economists, Lowe made a mistake forecasting that the cash rate could be around a low of 0.1% until 2024, but he did apologise in 2022.
While interest rates keep flying high, should our Treasurer be spending like a Kardashian?
Treasurer Chalmers has a problem: he can’t control his spending. And recent Budget-tracking numbers confirm that our chief money manager is not committed to really knocking the country’s finances into shape. The AFR’s Michael Read has looked at the final wash-up from last year’s Budget, and his report isn’t great reading for anyone wanting fiscal responsibility for this nation’s bottom line.
Baa-d idea, Don: Why your super shouldn’t be Trump’s tariff sacrifice
The Trade Minister thinks our super funds should buy American to keep Donald Trump happy. There’s just one problem, and every financial planner knows its name: the sole purpose test. Pressured by Donald Trump’s 12.5% tariffs, the Trade Minister Don Farrell could be treating our super funds like sheep that could end up like lambs to the slaughter.
Companies being tax like never before!
The number of companies paying no tax in the 2025 financial year fell to 27%, the lowest on record and down from 36%. This means either locally based companies, both Australian and foreign owned, are being more honest or the tax office is getting better at extracting tax.
Will these RBA rate rises crash house prices?
Sydney’s Liverpool is at the epicentre of a national house price crash that could end up being a lot worse than what economists are predicting. And given that the Reserve Bank is driven by economists who try to guess where the economy is going, we really need these well-trained people to guess right.
Chalmers set to be crowned our biggest taxing Treasurer ever!
Ever since I escaped academia to be a financial media commentator/educator and later a wealth advisor, I’ve always tried to be balanced, but gee, Jim Chalmers has made it hard for me to look like an unbiased referee on government economic policy plays.
Clear and Present Danger: rogue AI and the $37 billion threat to business
World, we have a problem. It’s the potential of AI agents to go rogue and, apart from threatening the lives of everyone in the world, its threat to cybersecurity has experts telling us that Australian businesses could lose $37 billion by 2030.
Jobless numbers jump: will this KO a Cup Day rate rise?
Psst. Want to hear a secret? Economists don’t know what’s going on but it doesn’t stop me from reading and interviewing them! In simple terms, I respect them, but I know they are fallible. Why? It’s because economies are complicated and just yesterday I did a speech in Kuala Lumpur for an Australian group where I argued that when it comes to what is going on with our economy and its global counterpart, and especially that of the US, this time it’s all different. We’ve never had a POTUS like Donald J.
Could peace break the RBA’s rate rise reign of terror?
Today brings the latest unemployment number and those in the mortgage belt worried about news stories that say two or three rate rises could be on the cards, should be hoping that economists tipping a jobless rate of 4.5% are wrong. The simple story about the dismal science called economics is that a more worrying labour market is what the Reserve Bank board wants to see.
Dotcom deja vu: should we really be scared of this market?
Artificial Intelligence is now seen as the magic pudding for Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who has told us in his Intergenerational Report that we should expect the AI genie to come to our economic rescue, and the AFR tells us that the CBA economic team agrees.
2065: A Productivity Odyssey. Chalmers puts his faith in the AI machine.
The idea of an Intergenerational Report (IR) sounds noble when the people of today try to guess the future and then make decisions to ensure our children and our children’s children don’t one day look back and say: “What a bunch of selfish bastards our forebears were!” As I say, it’s a noble intention but what gets promised and what actually happens rests on a lot of assumptions, lots of vested interest politicians and even technology that might not yet be conceived and invented.
How the Budget’s property crackdown just handed Chalmers’ super mates a win
On Tuesday week, economists and the bond market are tipping an interest rate rise of 0.25%. And tomorrow we hear from RBA Governor Michele Bullock and the Assistant Governor and chief economist Sarah Hunter, who could try a softening up process to get us ready for the hike, which looks likely next week. And while many respected economists are now talking about two or three rate rises, I think they’re underestimating the impact of the net wealth effect coming out of the housing crisis.
Could a wave of builder collapses be enough to stop the RBA hiking rates?
If there’s one thing that could make our Reserve Bank hesitant about raising interest rates, it will be the news that the building industry has seen a run of construction company collapses since the failure of Bathla. Insolvencies in the sector hit a record 941 in August, which could be a prelude to a wider problem for the overall economy. And that’s going to be a big discussion point for the RBA board before it hands down its highly anticipated interest rate decision on September 29.
Is Chalmers cooking the productivity books or has he found the secret sauce?
Donald Trump has two sides. One side takes actions to stimulate the US economy via business supportive policies, which sometimes are outside the square. The other side manipulates his media messages, which have proven to be unreliable, with his many “war is over” public revelations being a case in point. And news out today tells us Treasurer Chalmers seems to be taking Trump lessons on delivering dodgy media releases, while unfortunately he’s yet to take a Trump tutorial on how to back business.
Wake up, politicians! How can you sleep while our businesses are burning?
Last night I was gobsmacked by a Trump initiative that’s relevant to the question: What’s the price of successive governments that have ignored the importance of fostering businesses to ensure the cutting edge technology and the best productive workers? Try $4 million per worker, which is the expected cost of the Albanese and SA Governments’ bailout for the Whyalla steelworks.
Albo and Jim, stop bashing our business builders
Last night I was staggered by the launch of the Sydney Theatre Company’s promised list of plays for the 2027 season which will star some of the country’s greatest actors, including Richard Roxburgh, Heather Mitchell, Tim Minchin and others who showed up either in person or via Zoom to hail the efforts of this business, which has entertained, educated and influenced Australians since 1978.
Could the RBA send Sydney house prices down 16% in one year?
The good news on property is that the auction clearance rate hit a 19-week high with 60% of the properties up for sale finding a buyer. But the bad news is that this story is one of sellers meeting buyers with the upper hand, with house price experts forecasting that there’s more pain to come for anyone wanting to sell.
He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy. Rents backfire on Chalmers.
Another day and another revelation that screams Jim Chalmers is not the Messiah of Treasurers. To channel the Monty Python film Life of Brian, it’s fair to say that “he’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy”.
How former PM Paul Keating made Mark Bouris rich and why that story matters for your mortgage right now
Some years ago, two Bankstown boys went to a ritzy Bondi restaurant. One has been valued at a personal wealth of over $200 million and has delivered some of the greatest boosts to Australian families’ wealth, and the other has done more than any financial institution or government to ensure Australians retire with internationally-spectacular levels of wealth.
Taxed to the bone: Australia’s 61% post-Covid tax blowout
Covid might have largely ‘come and gone’ for most of us but its economic ‘infection’ means that many of us are coughing up huge piles of taxes to pay for the consequences of programs such as Job Keeper and massive infrastructure programs to reboot once sickened local, state and national economies.
Pauline Hanson’s super plan isn’t the villain Jim Chalmers says it is
The rise and rise of Pauline Hanson continues and her super policy proposals to let pressured Australians access some of their super are scaring Labor and the Coalition into opposing her ideas for different reasons. As a financial planner, I can see Hanson’s super plan as useful and supportable under regulated conditions. And there’s no evidence that what’s on the table would kill super, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is telling everyone.
Trump, the Fed and a housing slump: why September has me on edge
The headline in the AFR reads “Auction activity down by a third as spring selling season kicks off” and it follows a run of local economic data that has economists calling out for a rate rise or two. There are more financial curve balls to report on but nowadays, compared to when I ‘dumped’ academia to be a media commentator, my calls on our financial future aren’t just for readers. I have financial advice clients who trust me to get it right with their super and other investments.
Chalmers blinks on trusts but still needs to reverse his budget hits on housing
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.
Is Treasurer Chalmers giving up on being the ‘I didn’t do It’ boy?
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.
Is Jim Chalmers cooking Australia’s golden goose entrepreneurs?
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.
Capital city homeowners are copping a $100,000 wealth hit
Capital city home owners, brace yourself: the property market’s latest scorecard has a very expensive line item, and whether it gets worse comes down to what the Reserve Bank does next. On housing there’s bad news, even more bad news, good news and even more good news, and it’s all about matters linked to the property sector. However, these scenarios do rely on the Reserve Bank and what it does with interest rates.
Could one builder’s collapse tip Australia into recession?
A single construction company’s collapse has left a $3.3 billion hole and thousands of unfinished homes in its wake. Could Bathla’s failure be the first crack that drags the whole economy down? The failure of a major player in the housing sector such as Bathla, which leaves behind debts of $3.3 billion, will not only leave Labor’s ambitious home-building plan in tatters, but it also poses the question of whether this is the tip of an iceberg that ends in recession.
Rate rises to fight inflation? Turns out rate rises are part of the problem
Household spending just hit a three-year high, inflation is running hot, and economists are lining up to tip more rate rises. But is the cure actually part of the disease? No piece of economic data can be looked at without economists thinking whether that data will make the Reserve Bank raise interest rates. And so it was, when household spending grew at 7% in the year to July, which was the highest annual pace in at least three years.
Rate rise U-turn: why the economists who said ‘no way’ are now saying ‘any day’
Months ago, economists tipped rate cuts. Now they’re tipping a rate rise, as soon as next month. Has the RBA really been “late to the party” again? Economists now think interest rates should rise, again, following the latest inflation number. Now this was a group, who for the last few months were saying rate rises might be over, so why should we believe them? Maybe we shouldn’t, but we do, or at least we should treat their forecasts with a grain of salt.
What Dolly Parton taught me about Albanese getting wrong
Dolly Parton and a $3 billion property collapse taught me the same lesson this week: even sharp opinions can be wrong. So before deciding whether Anthony Albanese’s housing reforms deserve praise or blame, it pays to ask the hardest question of all: could I be wrong?
Why Virgin Australia wants to be your business’s secret travel weapon
Owners of growing businesses know the feeling. The financial year ticks over, the travel budget resets, and somehow it feels smaller than it did 12 months ago. Airfares have gone up, teams are back on the road, and finance managers are being asked to do more with the same money, sometimes less. For the smaller operator, opportunity doesn’t wait. If it means catching a plane, the bags get packed, and finding a good deal along the way is a real bonus.
Can business explain the Albanese threat better than One Nation and the Coalition?
Pauline Hanson and Angus Taylor aren’t the only ones lining up to take a shot at Anthony Albanese. Big business has entered the ring too but if its messaging keeps sounding like an economics lecture, don’t expect Betty and Bob from Blacktown to notice.
Scam reports fall but losses rise. Here’s how to protect yourself.
During Scams Awareness Week, new figures show that while fewer Australians are reporting scams, those who do are losing more money than ever. Here are lessons from one victim’s costly mistake, plus my tips to keep your money safe. In a week called Scams Awareness Week we’re told Australians have lost over half-a-billion dollars to scam merchants. And while the good news is that reported scams are down, the bad news is the amount stolen has risen.
Rents are smashing wages. Chalmers Budget did that.
The Australian talked to OpenCorp’s CEO Cam McLellan, who manages 2,500 properties across Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. He says rents have been rising noticeably since Anthony Albanese won office. And since the Budget’s tax changes, they have spiked even further. “It’s pretty basic math isn’t it?” he told The Australian.
Welcome to the indebted Albo-tross economy
Home › Feature Daily › Welcome to the indebted Albo-tross economy Feature Daily Text August 20, 2026 It’s a record the Albanese Government would prefer not to have with Australia’s total debt now topping one trillion dollars for the first time. But the important question is, who’s to blame? Another related question is just how significant is this debt milestone? An interesting revelation about the nature of federal government debt is that the actual dollar value of public debt can bounce around.
CBA’s Yello switch: Why Qantas flyers might not feel so mellow
The Commonwealth Bank’s new Yello rewards scheme is playing favourites, and Virgin Australia is the winner. Here’s what the RBA’s surcharge ban means for CBA customers and why Qantas frequent flyers might come out worse off. In 1966 a singer called Donovan, who hailed from Scotland, a country known for people who are careful with their money, sang a song called Mellow Yellow.
Dr Chalmers gets a report card, and positive Pete isn’t impressed
While I don’t enjoy playing the critic, between a housing shake-up that’s spooked property owners and a profit reporting season that’s hammering retailers, Treasurer Jim Chalmers is racking up more black marks than gold stars this term. According to my 2GB colleague and breakfast host, Ben Fordham, my nickname is “Positive Pete”, so it doesn’t rest easy with me to be regularly pointing out the negatives that I see with the Albanese Government, and in particular, the work of Jim Chalmers.
Slash immigration, blow the budget: Parkinson’s warning for both sides of politics
Respected Treasury voice Martin Parkinson says slashing immigration won’t just cost us growth, it could cost the surplus too. Here’s why One Nation and the Coalition’s push for lower migration numbers might be a political winner but economic loser. A former top public servant has warned that if One Nation and the Coalition have their way in reducing immigration it would lead to a range of economic problems including debt repayment challenges and a recession.
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