The WTO is dead? Long live the WTO
Trade ministers gathering to reform the WTO risk starting from the wrong premise. The WTO’s dispute system is impaired, but its core functions remain active. Reform should build on what still works – not start from a false premise of collapse.
Recent articles in Economy
23 March 2026
The Strategic Examination of R&D: can Australia’s innovation system reform itself?
A major new review sets out a coherent plan to reform Australia’s innovation system. But the real challenge is not design – it's whether the government can afford and deliver it.
19 March 2026
Australia’s great wealth transfer divide isn’t between generations
Australia's so-called 'great wealth transfer' will not be a simple shift between generations, but a widening gap between those who inherit assets and those who do not.
18 March 2026
The Budget needs real tax reform, not tinkering
Australia’s tax system increasingly favours capital and older wealth while leaving younger Australians with rising debts and shrinking opportunities.
18 March 2026
Reclaiming the common good from neoliberalism
New thinking about the common good challenges decades of neoliberal policy and raises questions about inequality, public services and Australia’s federal system.
13 March 2026
Former defence leaders say oil wars threaten our security, and climate change deepens the danger
In full-page statements in the national media today, 19 Australian security practitioners and former Defence leaders have published an Open Letter on why Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels is a critical economic and security vulnerability.
26 February 2026
How consultocracy became a national security blind spot
Espionage today is less about weapons than insider access to economic policy. Australia’s muted response to the PwC scandal reveals a serious failure to treat economic intelligence as a core national security asset.
25 February 2026
Should Australia copy Canada and New Zealand on immigration policy?
Canada and New Zealand cut migration sharply and saw modest rent falls – but only alongside weaker labour markets and stronger housing supply. The lesson for Australia is not imitation, but stability.
25 February 2026
How Australia should fix capital gains tax
The 50 per cent capital gains tax discount departs from the original purpose of taxing real gains, entrenches inequality and unfairly advantages wealth over work.
25 February 2026
Why security-first critical mineral policy risks slowing the energy transition
Western efforts to secure critical mineral supply chains from China are increasingly driven by security logic. That approach risks raising costs, slowing decarbonisation and undermining the global energy transition.
24 February 2026
Capital gains tax should increase
Reducing the capital gains tax discount would make the tax system fairer, raise much-needed revenue and have little effect on housing supply, given how constrained that supply already is.
20 February 2026
AI, productivity and the long stall in living standards
Artificial intelligence may offer the best chance to lift stagnant productivity and living standards – but without deliberate policy choices, its benefits will be uneven and limited.
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