Michael Stutchbury

Sydney

Editor at Large at Australian Financial Review

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afr.com

smh.com.au

Articles

this federal election is about lies on the cost of living, not genuine economic reform from either Labor or the Coalition

2 days ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

“Australia, we have a liar in the Lodge,” declared deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley in her warm-up to Peter Dutton at the party’s election campaign launch. Evidently, an opposition leader can brand the prime minister, in this case Anthony Albanese, a “liar”. Labor can go on and on about Dutton’s “lies”. Loading...
Australia’s housing crisis is about NIMBYs not negative gearing

1 week ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton made a big thing of housing at their duelling election launches last weekend because the threatened great Australian dream is the intergenerational pain point of the inflationary cost-of-living squeeze. The rival Labor and Liberal plans made headlines with their eye-opening demand-side fixes for first home buyers: Albanese’s 5 per cent deposit pledge backed by a government mortgage guarantee versus Dutton’s new tax break for mortgage interest payments. Loading...
Peter Dutton’s Liberals and Anthony Albanese’s Labor lack economic reform

1 week ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

is editor-at-large. He is in his fourth decade of writing for and editing national newspapers. After nearly six years as editor of The Australian, he returned to the Financial Review as editor-in-chief (2011-2024).
Trump goes all-in for his biggest deal ever: China

1 week ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statementIt would be the biggest deal of Donald Trump’s incredible life. But will Chinese President Xi Jinping come to the table after the crass New York property developer turned American president has insulted his people and threatened an impossibly high tariff wall against them? Everyone wants to make a deal, Trump claims.
Labor is giving the people what they want to hear

2 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Apr 9, 2025 – 7.28pm or Subscribe to save articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Follow our live coverage of the 2025 federal election. Blame politicians for an election campaign that is not only failing to come to grips with Australia’s Trump world challenges but is further entrenching a national culture of handouts and dependency. Loading... Michael Stutchbury is editor-at-large.
Politicians are the problem behind the cost-of-living squeeze

2 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Even a global sharemarket market rout triggered by Donald Trump’s trade war can’t inject needed home truths into an election campaign run by a political class that is failing to deal with Australia’s bracing new realities. Weak productivity and real wage growth is a design feature of the Albanese Labor’s care economy model that the Dutton Coalition is failing to challenge. Loading...
Cyberattack exposes Labor big super weakness

2 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Labor’s ho-hum reaction to the cyberattacks on the retirement savings of ordinary Australians just inflames concerns that the union-backed industry superannuation funds that are set to dominate the nation’s financial system are not up to the task. Cyber vulnerability adds to failings in basic service standards for death insurance payouts and helping retired customers draw down their super nest eggs that have drawn stinging rebukes from the nation’s corporate cop. Loading...
Australia is uniquely vulnerable to Donald Trump’s trade war

2 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Apr 4, 2025 – 3.51pm or Subscribe to save articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? The most consequential US presidential jolt to the global trade and financial system since Richard Nixon broke the greenback’s gold standard in 1971 came with a now-familiar amateur-hour execution from the Trump White House.
Trump trade risks go back to the 1890s

3 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

Apr 3, 2025 – 5.04pm or Subscribe to save articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Donald Trump wants his “liberation day” shredding of global trade rules to rival the 1890 McKinley Tariff that jacked up duties on imports into America by nearly 50 per cent.
Bipartisan inflation illusion on no-productivity pay rises

3 weeks ago | afr.com | Michael Stutchbury

The Labor-Liberal joint ticket on jacking up the nation’s award wage floor despite the economy’s falling productivity confirms the magic pudding illusion of Australian politics. On Tuesday, Workplace Minister Murray Watt’s regurgitation of Labor talking points denied the laws of economics by suggesting that workers can enjoy higher real wages even though productivity remains stuck at 2016 levels. Loading...