Western efforts to choke Russia’s oil profits are failing as production cuts agreed with Saudi Arabia push the market price towards US$100 a barrel and Russia’s biggest customers—China and India—start paying close to full market …
Articles by: "David Uren"
Summit season is in full swing, with the East Asia, BRICS and G20 leaders’ gatherings over the last month and APEC summit yet to come in November in San Francisco. It takes a balloonist’s tolerance …
Australia is more exposed to a downturn in the Chinese economy than any other advanced country. So far, however, commodity markets provide no evidence of a Chinese recession around the corner. The spate of gloomy …
The Chinese economy may be softening and commodity prices falling, but Australia’s exports to China hit a record $102.5 billion in the first half of this year thanks to massive shipments of lithium concentrate. Lithium …
The new military governments across Central and Western Africa enjoy a surprising strength of public support, according to research published by the United Nations Development Programme two weeks before the latest coup in Niger. The UNDP had …
Great opportunities await the Australian critical minerals industry, according to the Productivity Commission, but it says they are unlikely to include manufacture of end products such as batteries. The commission’s critique of the emerging industry …
Speeches by top trade officials last month highlight the rift that has opened up between the US and Australia on trade policy, and the implications for national security. The US is turning its back on …
Critical mineral projects will be favoured for federal government loans under its new critical minerals strategy, but there are to be no tailored tax breaks. Nor are there any plans to make downstream processing a condition of …
The size of the cuts that Australia’s Defence Department must make to existing programs to create room for the recommendations of the defence strategic review will be dictated in part by the persistence of inflation. …
President Joe Biden’s offer to have Australia counted as a ‘domestic’ economy under the US Defense Production Act may give a badly needed boost to the flagging economic relationship between the two countries. The US …
Overall defence funding, 2023–24 Consolidated defence funding (including the Australian Signals Directorate) Funding $52.6 billion Growth on prior year 7% Real growth on previous year 1% Department of Defence government funding Funding $50.1 billion Funding …
All arms of Defence are under pressure to make savings to help fund the nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) program while dealing with impact of inflation. The total resourcing for Defence over the three years to 2025-26 …