Matthew Cranston

Businesses now rank the cost of energy as the chief concern for their future, rating it almost three times more worrying than US ­tariff and trade disruptions, ­according to new analysis.

Criminal gangs are fraudulently using legitimate small businesses to smuggle tonnes of illegal tobacco into the country, with customs brokers warning that authorities and freight companies could be turning a blind eye to the multi­million-dollar schemes through ignorance or being paid off.

Former US president Joe Biden’s special co-ordinator for energy security has warned that renewable energy will have no impact in solving the oil crisis.

The Albanese government has ­already spent the entirety of its announced NDIS savings in its latest budget, with $36.8bn booked on an array of measures since December, including an $18bn hospital deal.

Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson has invalidated the Prime Minister’s assertion that his government was returning to the true pre-1999 capital gains tax discount method Paul Keating established.

Queensland police officer Scott McPhee hasn’t been able to save enough money for a deposit to buy a family home. He’s exactly the kind of person Anthony ­Albanese says he wants to help. A hard worker on an average ­income who wants to provide for his family.

A sharp slowdown in loan applications has heightened fears that the property market is cooling faster than expected, with the ­Reserve Bank warning of the impact of Labor’s controversial budget tax changes and the risk an extended downturn could slow the overall economy.