It is Wednesday the 16^th of July 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday, in the Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It was a cordial affair, with Xi congratulating Albanese on his re-election, saying that it is important that international turbulence doesn’t derail improvements in the China-Australia relationship.

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News in brief

The local share market set a closing record yesterday with the S&P/ASX200 finishing up 0.7 per cent to 8630 points, eclipsing the previous closing record, though it is still shy of its all-time high. The strong day yesterday followed a rise on Wall Street after Donald Trump  indicated he’s open to negotiate on tariffs.

The Reserve Bank wants to overhaul the payments system, and ban surcharges on credit and debit cards, saving consumers $1.2 billion a year. Under the proposal, surcharges on all debit and credit transactions under the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks would be dropped.

Consumer sentiment is on the rise, slowly, though there are still more pessimists than optimists in the local economy. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey shows an increase in sentiment in June, following rises in April and May. However, it is coming off a very low base.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose stiff financial penalties on Russia if it does not end hostilities with Ukraine even as he pledged fresh weapons supplies for Kyiv.

Animals react to sounds being made by plants, new research suggests, opening up the possibility that an invisible ecosystem might exist between them. A team at Tel Aviv University found that female moths avoided laying their eggs on tomato plants, if the plants made noises they associated with distress.

Fear-o-meter

There are 16.8 million credit and charge cards, and 48.5 million debit cards, registered in Australia. Not all are operational, but nonetheless, it’s a huge amount of plastic.

The Reserve Bank wants to cut surcharges on cards. They were introduced back in 2002 to influence consumer behaviour, according to the central bank, but that isn’t working anymore.

Dropping surcharges will save consumers $1.2 billion. But who will it cost? Is it small business, via higher fees from banks? Is it the banks themselves, that will have to absorb the cost of providing credit and debit cards?

The central bank estimates that 90pc of Australian businesses would be better off under the changes, and Governor Michelle Bullock reckons the “time has come to address some of these high costs and inefficiencies in the system”.

Perhaps, but I get a sense that cutting surcharges might have a bunch of unintended consequences.

Business By Numbers

The top 3 numbers to know for the week, brought to you by Xero

$US123,000: the value of one Bitcoin, up 76 per cent since the election of Donald Trump in November last year. 

5.2 per cent: China's annual growth rate. If China goes well, Australia does well, and the pace of growth is welcome news just as PM Anthony Albanese meets President Xi Jinping.

$1.2 billion: that’s how much the Reserve Bank estimates consumers will save if surcharges on credit and debit cards are dropped.

Who's talking today?

"The census matters more than most people realise. Census data decides where our schools, hospitals, aged care homes, transport services go. It affects how much funding your local areas get and whether your suburb gets a new childcare center or a community park."

Greed-o-meter

Closest electoral races

Teal MP Nicolette Boele won the one-time blue ribbon Liberal seat of Bradfield in Sydney’s north by just 26 votes in the May election. Liberal candidate, Giselle Kapterian who was initially declared the winner by eight votes, is disputing the recount in the High Court. It isn’t the closest election in the 2000’s.

Source: The Guardian

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