11th March 2022 The coverage of the war in Ukraine reminds us how lucky we are to live in Australia - 'Freedom and democracy'! Our political processes are far from ideal, but our democratic institutions and practices are praised for their robustness, functionality, and resilience. One of the very reasons Vladimir Putin wants to take over [...]

25th February 2022 The Russia-Ukraine issue is dominating every newsfeed, with the disturbing escalation of events over the last 24 hours. As you will be all too aware yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ended weeks of speculation declaring war on Ukraine, claiming Russian self-defence as he sought to demilitarise and replace its leaders. As disturbing as [...]

Welcome to 2022 The new year began much like the last two ended, in the grip of daily Covid updates. 2020 gave us Wuhan, the Ruby Princess, lockdowns and a new normal. Despite the hope for better in 2021, Delta proved the undoing of NSW and Victoria, and even with the vaccine rollout, Omicron is [...]

Issue: 22nd December 2021 2021 Wrap up: Covid the sequel 2021 opened with the good news that Covid numbers were slowing and the promise of vaccines. We distracted ourselves with the traditional summer of cricket and the new year carried with it the hope of renewal and better times ahead. It was easy to believe that [...]

Issue: 10th December 2021 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Decorations are out in force, trees adorn every office, and many Australians, newly out of lockdown, are out painting the town a festive shade of red. And while we have suffered through a touch of volatility over the past few weeks, December, as it [...]

Issue: 26th November 2021 This week President Joe Biden declared that he would re-nominate Jerome Powell as chairman of the US Federal Reserve (his current term expires in February). After what has been quite a drawn-out selection process, it is indeed encouraging that Mr Biden has, at last, made the obvious choice, opting for a 'steady [...]

Issue: 12th November 2021 Climate change concerns and energy woes dominated the global economy these past few weeks as nations attended the UN’s Climate Change Conference (COP26). In something of a conundrum, Global leaders were tasked with presenting a compelling case to continue their aggressive fight against climate change right when the demand for fossil fuels [...]

Issue: 29th October 2021 As we head into the final quarter of 2021 cautious optimism, both economically and socially sums up our feeling at present. Sydney and Melbourne are emerging from their long lockdowns, summer is coming, and Australian vaccinations rates are high and moving higher. If we look to similar countries overseas, high vaccination rates [...]

  Issue: 15th October 2021 The inflation drums grow louder every day. This week former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said the US economy is overheating, and a shortage of Labor is another factor pushing up prices. He criticised the Federal Reserve's lack of action as inflation surges. The International Monetary Fund says the global economy [...]

Issue: 1st October 2021 Over the course of the last 12 months, the world has progressed through three broad phases of a recovery. The first, occurring in Q2 and Q3 of last year was around the growing understanding of the COVID virus and its management through containment measures. Large cap, growth biased stocks benefited at this [...]