In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers take a broader look at the State of Australia; our health, wealth, education,...

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd officially filed plans to offer its shares in the US, saying it plans to raise $US1 billion ($A1.078bn) through the placement. The filing confirms the breadth and scale of China’s e-commerce behemoth ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest...

Abbott spurning Indonesia’s invite confirms relationship troubles Australian prime minister Tony Abbott’s decision not to accept Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s invitation to meet at the Open Government Partnership forum Yudhoyono is chairing in Bali this week leaves the bilateral relationship where it has been since November – stuck....

  In the last fortnight, senior executives from cinema operators in Australia, including Village Roadshow and Palace Cinemas, have come out defending their decision to raise movie ticket prices. But do their arguments hold water?   The cinema industry needs to be more open to changing its distribution model. palomaleca Already...

Eating organic food significantly lowers pesticide exposure: study Eating an organic diet for a week can cause pesticide levels to drop by almost 90% in adults, research from RMIT University has found. The study, led by Dr Liza Oates found particpants’ urinary dialkylphosphates (DAPs) measurements were 89% lower when...

Abbott off to Indonesia next week Tony Abbott will interrupt his work on the budget to make a rushed trip to Bali early next week for his first face-to-face encounter with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono since the revelations of Australian spying fractured bilateral relations. The President invited Abbott...

According to the market statistics published by the HKEx, as at 31 December 2013, 1,451 companies were listed on the Main Board of the HKEx and 192 companies were listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the HKEx. The HKEx’s securities market has placed in the top five among...

Australia could benefit substantially from the opening up of China’s capital markets, but this will require changes in policy settings and increased market awareness, a report from UNSW’s Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR) has found. CIFR has released a 128-page research report into the internationalisation of the renminbi...

It seems the People’s Bank of China cannot win. In late February, the gradual appreciation of the renminbi was interrupted by a 1 per cent depreciation (to $1:¥6.12). Though insignificant in overall trade terms, especially when compared with the volatility of floating exchange-rate regimes, the renminbi’s unexpected weakening sparked...

The word innovation is often associated with banks of computers, not the back paddock. But Australia’s agricultural sector is actually a world leader when it comes to research and development. Calls are growing for Australia to reverse a productivity malaise by investing more in knowledge infrastructure – it would...