Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese selling the budget in May. The budget is on track to be in surplus two years earlier than originally forecast.

The tax bill for working Australians is in the mail – and it’s growing

The May budget will improve the nation’s finances over the coming decade. But surpluses will be built on the backs of working Australians.

  • Shane Wright

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The proportion of people who believe house prices need to fall is growing.

A growing majority say house prices have to fall. Even owners

It was the unwritten rule of Australian politics – house prices must rise. But a new poll shows that’s no longer how everyone thinks.

  • Shane Wright
Albanese,Hanson,Taylor 1 x 1

The varnish has come off:Support slips for Hanson

Support for Pauline Hanson and One Nation has soared this year. But there are signs some of her key messages are starting to turn off voters.

  • Shane Wright
Barnaby Joyce in Albury in May.

Joyce’s crazy plan for the Reserve Bank would only make things worse

By saying the RBA should tell the government what it should be doing,the One Nation treasury spokesman effectively outsources economic policy to unelected boffins.

  • Shane Wright
New data suggests 80 per cent of nicotine products are illegal.

Why the government won’t cut cigarette excise to combat illicit tobacco

The government is under pressure to deal with the illegal cigarette trade by slashing excise. But the nation’s illicit tobacco commissioner says that may not be the answer.

  • Shane Wright
Donald Trump has warned Iran that the US will ramp up American attacks.

Ceasefire breakdown a fresh economic threat:Chalmers

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran appears at an end. The rest of the world,including Australian motorists,will pay the economic cost.

  • Shane Wright,Mike Foley andMichael Koziol
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The war against Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. While oil prices have fallen since its reopening,the cost of other everyday goods is likely to remain elevated.

Less pain at the petrol pump,but more pain is coming on grocery bills

Oil prices have subsided from wartime peaks – but the Reserve Bank fears prices for food are likely to continue climbing.

  • Shane Wright
Consumer spending is expected to slow this year and next,contributing to the nation’s poorest growth outlook for decades.

Australia’s real wages slump one of the worst in developed world

One of the nation’s top economic forecasters warns the next two years will also be a grind thanks to higher unemployment and more poor wage growth.

  • Shane Wright
The intergenerational bargain is fraying,according to commission chief Danielle Wood,who says young people’s life choices are being reduced because of the housing market.

High-priced homes have broken the intergenerational bargain

House prices have risen at three times the rate of wages over the past 30 years,hurting the young,their job chances and family plans,a productivity expert has said.

  • Shane Wright
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refuses to drawn on the impact of lower house prices.

Super-sized mortgages giving Australians a massive interest rate headache

Australian mortgages are so large that the nation’s interest bill is higher than when official interest rates were almost 20 per cent.

  • Shane Wright andMelissa Heagney-Bayliss