ABC Business Daily

Fresh employment data just released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, shows the unemployment rate has held steady in line with economists’ expectations. 

What do these numbers mean for the RBA’s interest rate decision next month?

And some Australian small businesses have been surprised to get reimbursements from the US government for money collected from the so-called liberation-day tariffs. 

But according to Trump administration officials, the US continues to face a ‘national emergency’ in trade matters, and another round of tariffs is on the way. 

So who – and what – could be back on America’s levy-list?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Business Reporter Emilia Terzon break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

You can read Emilia's reporting on the businesses clawing back cash from US Customs here.  

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

A brand-new bulletin from the Reserve Bank is out today, capturing how Australians experience and understand the economy. 

And while public awareness for the RBA is high, survey results seem to suggest that people don’t have a great handle on how inflation is affected by interest rates. 

So what problem does this present for the RBA – whose one blunt tool is to toggle rates?

And a new set of draft recommendations from the ASX’s Advisory Group on Corporate Governance raises the question: can diversity targets influence a company’s economic outcome? 

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Business Reporter Steph Chalmers break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

A new AI model from Chinese startup Moonshot has put pressure on Silicon Valley-backed tech titans. Meanwhile markets have taken notice, with downturns on the South Korean KOSPI. 

Could these sorts of tech moves in China, drag the highly valued Space X, Nasdaq and more - back down to earth?

And here in Australia, where the national property conversation carries on, could a lack of housing supply be keeping downsizers from finding new homes? Might stamp duty be part of the problem?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Chief Business Correspondent Ian Verrender break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Daniel Ziffer and GUEST break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Financial regulator ASIC has raised concerns that a private credit crunch could be on the horizon, putting Australians on alert about superannuation and property investment in funds with little or no disclosure obligations.  

Meanwhile ASIC has raked in hundreds of millions in fines - more than four times the previous year’s take, with a new stance on enforcement paying dividends. 

And consulting firm KPMG has issued fines of its own - to partners and staff involved in its audit scandal. 

Lastly, new data from real estate group Ray White suggests people are staying home and skipping out searching for a new one. 

What does a drop in open home attendance tell us about the property market?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC News Business Editor Michael Janda break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

You can read David Taylor's piece on ASIC's private credit warning here. 

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Artificial intelligence is moving fast. Can the Australian government keep up? 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s much-anticipated speech at Sydney University this week detailed what he says makes Australia uniquely attractive to AI investment and outlined the need for a national framework to take advantage of the opportunities AI affords, while ensuring standards and safeguards are put in place. 

Meanwhile, a group of international economists and tech leaders released an open letter, ‘We Must Act Now,’ warning that advanced AI could shake-up the economy more than the Industrial Revolution - and over a much shorter timeframe. 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers returns to That’s Business to dig into what the government is proposing with AI, as well as other pressing questions about the Australian economy. Alan gets the Treasurer’s take on AI safety and sovereignty, the responsibilities of data centres, and the issue of copyright and creatives - who gets paid, and how? Alan also asks the Treasurer about his meeting with Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, who visited Australia earlier this year. 

Then there’s a bit of other stuff to catch up on as well: tax, housing, migration, and the ever-present issue of productivity. As the Treasurer prepares to publish the intergenerational report (IGR) later this year, how will this once-in-a-generation technology of artificial intelligence change Australian lives?

Federal Treasurer Dr. Jim Chalmers joins Alan Kohler to unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler.

Got a burning business question?

Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at [email protected]

SpaceX’s share price has slipped after making IPO-history last month and turning founder and CEO Elon Musk into a trillionaire. 

So how has the market reacted? And what does this mean for the other tech giants in line to go public?

Meanwhile workers at mining behemoth BHP are planning industrial action today - at one of Australia’s huge iron-ore export hubs. 

What does this tell us about labour negotiations in the Pilbara?  

And what’s the latest on Telstra and communication regulator ACMA - both set to appear before an ongoing Senate inquiry tomorrow?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Finance Reporter Alicia Barry break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

You can read Dan's latest reporting on Telstra here. 

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told Australians that it is not a matter of if - or even when -  artificial intelligence will transform the economy. Instead, the question is how that change will happen. 

Meanwhile nearly 200 international economists and tech leaders have signed a statement urging policy makers to take AI’s impending economic impacts seriously. 

So how might the government’s new AI framework allow Australia to be more than a ‘data warehouse’?

And according to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors’ annual study, the average ASX-100 CEO earned over fifty times more than the average full-time wage during the last financial year. 

But what does it mean for the Australian economy if half of the highest earners in ASX-listed companies are based overseas?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC News Business Editor Michael Janda break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

You check out the articles from Alan Kohler and Nassim Khadem mentioned on today's pod.  

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

The price of crude oil has spiked, again. And US President Donald Trump has posted on social media, saying the US will charge a 20 per cent fee on cargo travelling through the contested Strait of Hormuz.

But why is the price of oil still not as high as many would expect? And what economic costs remain behind a ceasefire that appears to have effectively collapsed?

Meanwhile, we continue the conversation on economic productivity, looking at another cornerstone of the Australian economy: property.

So how does the value of Australian housing compare to the size of the economy? And what has the Australian property market done to productivity? 

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Chief Business Correspondent Ian Verrender break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

Check out Ian's recent articles on the global energy crisis and the effect of property on productivity. 

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

The interaction between pay and productivity has driven some of Australia’s biggest economic and policy debates in recent decades.

New research from the Centre for Policy Development suggests that the typical worker’s wages are not keeping pace with productivity growth. And moreover, it's been this way for three decades.   

So why does productivity matter? And what larger questions does this research raise about how we set wages and harness technology here in Australia?

Daniel Ziffer and ABC Business and Economics Reporter Gareth Hutchens break it all down on ABC Business Daily.

You can check out Gareth's piece on the pay and productivity research here. 

Got a burning business question?

We'd love to hear your questions! If there’s business and economic news that has you stumped or you'd like further insight into, we're here to help. Send a short voice recording to the team at [email protected] and we'll attempt to answer it.

Justin Wolfers has spent 25 years in the United States watching the world’s biggest economy from close range - and from the useful distance of an Australian accent that still cuts through the absurdity.

A former Reserve Bank economist and now Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Wolfers has become one of America’s sharpest economic communicators.

He joins Alan Kohler to talk about the health of the US economy, the chaos of Trump-era policymaking, the folly of tariffs, the importance of immigration, and why the decisions made in Washington still ripple all the way to Australia.

They also get into housing, climate change, AI, and the Federal Reserve under Kevin Warsh.

And because this is America in 2026, Alan also asks the obvious question: did Justin Wolfers make the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding guest list? And what does the whole spectacle say about celebrity, wealth and power in modern America?

Justin Wolfers and Alan Kohler unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler.

Got a burning business question?

Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at [email protected]