News & Insights
Former Telstra chairman slams Canberra’s ‘self-serving’ outage outrage
15 Jul 2026
Former Telstra chairman John Mullen has delivered a stinging attack on what he calls the self-serving moral outrage of some politicians following last week’s nationwide outage, defending chief executive Vicki Brady as an exceptional leader…
Read moreInvestors pile into income ETFs to shelter from tax changes
15 Jul 2026
Australian investors are on the hunt for income and are piling into exchange-traded funds that are focused on dividends, bonds and cash amid higher interest rates and looming changes to capital gains tax. Money flowing…
Read moreMore carve-outs from trust changes likely after $3b hit to charities
More carve-outs from Labor’s rushed plan to impose a 30 per cent tax rate on discretionary trusts are likely after Treasury flagged it was looking for ideas on how to deal with a potential $3…
ATO faces $50b tax shortfall as small business debts rise
The Australian Taxation Office may never be able to recover half the $100 billion tax it is owed, says a new report by the Australian National Audit Office that warns small businesses are the biggest…
Scolyer state memorial, Iran says Strait of Hormuz closed
What you need to know Share post Welcome to Need to Know this Monday, July 13. Here are some of the top headlines so far. Source: https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/iran-claims-strait-of-hormuz-is-closed-after-night-of-us-bombing-20260713-p60epl
US launches more strikes after Iran attacks container ship
Dubai | The United States attacked Iran on Sunday over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that set the container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it. Iran apparently…
Has China obtained the world’s most important machine?
The Dutch punch above their weight in technology transfers that shaped the modern world. In the 17th century, their financial and farming innovations spread to Britain, laying the ground for the Industrial Revolution and the…
Investments banks are downgrading Telstra, and not because of the outage
Investment banks have downgraded Telstra and a suite of other ASX-listed telecommunications companies over fears that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will lure customers away from the highly concentrated industry. Analysts from Morgan Stanley and Jarden told…
Trump is being schooled about leverage as Iran deal unravels
Washington | US President Donald Trump last month described the leaders of Iran as pragmatic, rational and smart people, but now he says they are sick, vicious and violent. The change of heart about his foes…
Taylor warns One Nation policies would send interest rates rocketing
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says One Nation’s policies would smash the budget bottom line, force interest rates up 3 percentage points, almost triple the nation’s $1 trillion debt load and potentially spark a sovereign debt…
ASX snaps four-day losing streak as copper miners surge
ASX snaps losing streak as copper miners rally Australian shares snapped a four-day losing streak as investors returned to miners and financials after the latest Middle East flare-up pushed oil prices up. The S&P/ASX 200…
Resmed sells US software business on the cheap as AI threat looms
Resmed has sold an underperforming software business focused on residential aged care to a US private equity firm for $707 million, about a third less than what it paid for the asset eight years ago,…