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Barely a week after it was delivered, this year’s federal budget has come under a concerted scare campaign – mostly from wealthy, vested interests. The government had braced for some pushback, but may have been taken aback by the vitriol (“stinker”, “rage bait”, return of “death taxes”) and slump in the polls.
And yet, economists point out the changes to taxes on housing and other investments barely scratch the surface of Australia’s inefficient taxation system. The last major change was the introduction of the GST in 2000, and no one thinks our economy looks the same as it did back then.
There are several important, structural measures that would put the tax system on a more sustainable footing, to manage a greying population and increased demand for services. Jason Nassios and Beth Webster have nominated four changes, including to stamp duty and windfall profits, that would count as real tax reform.
Also today, experts have been looking at the price of oil in the minutes before and after President Trump posts on Truth Social. The pattern they’ve found reveals traders are making unusually timed multimillion-dollar bets just before Trump posts. As our experts write, the chance of this pattern occurring naturally is in the order of one in a billion.
P.S. Yesterday, we launched our annual end-of-financial-year fundraising campaign. If you value our expert-led journalism and can afford to contribute, you can do so here.
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Victoria Thieberger
Business and Economics Editor
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Jason Nassios, Victoria University; Beth Webster
Is Australia finally getting serious about tax reform, or just testing the waters?
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 Timothy Graham, Ella Chorazy, Stephen Harrington, and The Conversation Digital Storytelling Team Hundreds of millions of dollars are being made on well-timed oil bets occurring just before Trump posts. But can we call it insider trading? |
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Thomas Jeffries, Western Sydney University
While other forms of Ebola can be prevented with a vaccine, none are currently available to prevent this rare strain.
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Gorana Grgić, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; University of Sydney
The ‘new NATO’ is caught between competing visions and many unresolved questions.
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Narendar Manohar, Black Dog Institute; Hiroko Fujimoto, Black Dog Institute; Peter Baldwin, Swinburne University of Technology; UNSW Sydney
Long-term data shows children are more likely to develop mental health issues when their parents experience financial stress and housing instability.
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Daniel Binns, RMIT University; Meg Thomas, The University of Queensland
The Academy has decided to ban AI actors and scripts from the Oscars. But machine learning systems are actually used in cinema more often than most people realise.
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Vitomir Kovanovic, Adelaide University
AI infractions could result in a year-long ban from the arXiv system, which is an essential communication channel in many fields of research.
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Fiona Boylan, Edith Cowan University; Amelia Ruscoe, Edith Cowan University
Just when one child is ready, another can’t find a shoe, someone remembers homework and someone else starts crying because they want more breakfast.
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Kate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland
Periodic Bitch tells what it’s like to live with PMDD: an extreme, chronically understudied and widely misunderstood form of premenstrual illness.
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Politics + Society
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Myra Williamson, Auckland University of Technology
Voter turnout in New Zealand elections has been sliding for decades. Research suggests compulsory voting could reverse the trend – so what are the objections?
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Ehsan Noroozinejad, Western Sydney University
Despite some pleasing announcements, the budget still leaves many Australian renters facing significant pressures.
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
The budget is among the most worst rating since Newspoll started surveying people about it in 1988, but Labor remains ahead.
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Health + Medicine
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David Tuffley, Griffith University
Paralysed people are already using brain-computer interfaces to turn their thoughts into text. But there are risks to this technology.
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Business + Economy
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Frederik von Briel, The University of Queensland; Ida Someh, The University of Queensland; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
This federal budget recognises AI can’t transform Australia’s economy if we don’t have the local tech, tools and expertise to implement it.
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Environment + Energy
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Paul Griffin, University of California, Davis; Martien Lubberink, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
A New Zealand-focused analysis finds businesses in areas with healthier ecosystems tend to generate higher sales and profits, revealing an overlooked green benefit.
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Nerkez Opacin, The University of Melbourne; Katherine Johnson, RMIT University; Sarah Bekessy, The University of Melbourne; RMIT University
Loneliness is common – and so is our alienation from nature. New research shows we can tackle both at the same time.
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Science + Technology
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Lisa M. Given, RMIT University
Success will rely significantly on parents’ abilities – and children’s willingness – to engage with these new tools.
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Arts + Culture
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Jess Carniel, University of Southern Queensland
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 was marked by great music, and by continuing controversy over Israel’s participation.
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Books + Ideas
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Catherine McKinnon, University of Wollongong
Conversations about death emphasise choice, control or dignity. Circle of Wonders offers a quiet corrective, insisting that dying is relational.
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Reining in specialist fees
“There is another, fifth option to regulate specialist fees that could be considered, based on an existing federal government initiative, that is missing from Anthony Scott's otherwise insightful article. The Health Department could build upon the existing Urgent Care Centres (UCC) network by setting up 'specialist centres' which could even co-exist at the UCC. The medical specialists could be employed directly by the federal government or agree to bulk bill the consultations as a trade for functioning without any administrative or overhead costs. These specialists would operate much like a medical specialist at a private clinic, receiving referrals from GPs, organising
appropriate investigations using off-site providers and allow individuals to access specialist medical services that are free at the point of care for patients. These clinics could also provide effective price competition for other providers in the area, while still providing individuals with options and choices of provider that are absolutely integral to the provision of health care in Australia.”
Yun Hwang, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney
What's driving tradies away?
“I was very interested in your article regarding five possible reasons for the shortage of tradespeople and apprentices. Judging by the awful stories of hazing and poor pay, the treatment of workers and poor safety would have to be a major reason. Who would be comfortable with their child being on a building site? The unprofessional workplaces and misogyny coupled with poor building standards would put off a lot of potential apprentices and cause the braver ones to leave. If we were focusing on building homes to live in (and not just for builders to sell) and if they were sustainable and part of an aspirational future, surely this would engage future tradies?”
Jane D
The gift of language
“A foreign language is not just a tool for communicating. It’s a signal of respect and the extension of a hand of friendship, a gift of an effort made to relate and to share. The effort of learning a language is not just about 'acquiring knowledge'. It’s the gift of making the effort. Using AI doesn't make the effort, it avoids it. And that avoidance increases barriers to reciprocal relationships. In the eyes of the other party, using AI for language diminishes the AI user.
Glen Davis, NSW
We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
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