A golden year for Wall Street's Australian stock picker
Born in Papua New Guinea and raised in Queensland, McLennan landed in New York via Sydney and London and is now the co-head of First Eagle's global value team, overseeing the asset manager's $US62.3 billion ($94.7 billion) global fund.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Huge call to slash taxes for businesses
Slashing Australia's company tax rate to 20 per cent for the 'vast majority' of businesses would boost GDP by $14bn, the Productivity Commission says, in a major call ahead of the Albanese government's economic reform roundtable. It comes after Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed the intensive talks would take place between August 18 to August 21 and look at ways of improve Australia's tax system. One of the key recommendations made by the PC's interim report released on Thursday was for the company tax rate to be dropped to 20 per cent for the majority of businesses with an annual turnover below $1bn, while companies with a turnover above $1bn would remain at 30 per cent. The budget neutral move has been modelled to increase Australia's GDP by $14bn. Currently Australia has a two-tier system where business with a turnover of less than $50m are hit with a 25 per cent tax rate, while companies above that threshold are taxed at 30 per cent. The Productivity Commission called for the company tax rate to be reduced by 10 per cent for all businesses with an annual turnover of less than $1bn. NewsWire/ Nicholas Eagar Credit: NewsWire The cut to the company tax rate would be combined with a new 5 per cent net cashflow tax, which would target a business' profits instead of its total income, and effectively allows businesses to immediately deduct the full value of their investments. This in turn boosts capital expenditure and is tipped to increase investment in the economy by $8bn. PC deputy chair Alex Robson said the changes would support investment and productivity growth, warning that changes were needed urgently to ensure quality of life doesn't go backwards. 'If we don't get our economy moving again, today's children could be the first generation to not be better off than their parents,' he said. 'We need to spark growth through investment and competition – the best way to do that is to reform our company tax system.' Jim Chalmers welcomed the report and said it would be 'important input' for the roundtable in August. 'This whole process is about building consensus to build a better future for Australians,' stating the government was 'ambitious to do more where we can'. The Treasurer also noted the PC's three recommendations to 'prompt business dynamism,' which included setting a 'clear agenda' to slash red tape, and implement formal expectations for bureaucrats to deliver growth, competition and innovation through regulatory systems. The recommendations comes as the Treasurer has released its agenda for the Economic Reform Roundtable. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia It also called for more oversight to scrutinise new regulations, including creating an independent statutory commissioner and expanding the remit of the Commonwealth parliamentary scrutiny committees. 'Reducing regulatory burden is an important part of our productivity effort and we're working with regulators on potential reforms to be considered as part of the roundtable process,' Mr Chalmers said. 'We recognise that the best way to strengthen our economy and make it more productive is to work through these issues in a methodical and considered way in collaboration with business, unions and the broader community.' The PC's recommendations comes as Labor has released the three-day agenda of its Economic Roundtable which features sessions on combating international risks, boosting business investment and cutting red tap. A specific section will also be dedicated to AI and innovation, while the third day will focus on budget sustainability and tax reform. Attendees will include Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien, Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, former Treasury secretary and Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation chair Ken Henry and current secretary Kenny Wilkinson. The ACTU's top brass including secretary Sally McManus and president Michele O'Neil, and business group leaders including Business Council of Australia boss Bran Black and Australian Industry Group head Innes Willox will also attend. Mr Chalmers said he hoped the 'targeted agenda' would give the group the 'best possible chance of building consensus on the direction of economic reform'.
West Australian
5 hours ago
- West Australian
ASIO spy boss Mike Burgess warns espionage at ‘unprecedented levels' as Aussies targeted ‘more aggressively'
Australia's spy boss has warned espionage has shot to 'unprecedented levels and sophistication', as Australians are being targeted 'more aggressively than ever before'. Director-general of security Mike Burgess said espionage was costing Australia $12.5 Billion a year and warned against complacency in his Annual Hawke Lecture. 'ASIO estimates the threat from espionage will only intensify,' he said. 'Nation states are spying at unprecedented levels, with unprecedented sophistication. ASIO is seeing more Australians targeted – more aggressively – than ever before. 'ASIO has detected 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone – more than the previous eight years combined. 'So our response must also be more serious and sophisticated than ever before.' Recent targets have included a law firm, horticultural laboratories, a peak industry body, and exporter in attacks he labelled the 'tip of an espionage iceberg'. Among key targets in the past couple years has been Australia's trilateral defence pact with the United States and United Kingdom – AUKUS – to deliver nuclear-powered submarines. Mr Burgess said reports had found 'a very unhealthy interest in AUKUS' from foreign intelligence agencies. 'With AUKUS, we are not just defending our sovereign capability. We are also defending critical capability shared by and with our partners,' he said. He said while the 'obvious candidates' of 'China, Russia and Iran' were in the mix of nations targeting Australia – the spying pool was larger and more unexpected than assumed. 'You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets,' he said. Other areas of interest include critical minerals, rare earths extraction and processing, green technology, Antarctic research and trying to map out Australia's critical infrastructure. He said spies can use coercing or seducing techniques to obtain this material in person or most commonly by hacking through technology. In other cases, people have been lured with overseas trips. Mr Burgess said ultimately, espionage damaged Australia's economy and prosperity. He reminded Aussies 'security is a shared responsibility' after taking aim at 'senior officials and executives' for 'shrugging their shoulders' to the issue. He criticised others for whining about the inconvenience of taking burner phones to high-risk countries. More recently ASIO has detected fake companies setting up job ads on popular sites to try to glean information from people. While trying to recruit officials, public servants and military personnel, spies also try to apply for government, media or defence gigs. 'A foreign intelligence service tried to get an asset employed as a researcher at a media outlet, with the aim of shaping its reporting and receiving early warning of critical stories,' he said. Mr Burgess also warned universities around collaborating on joint-research projects, especially with foreign researchers. In one case a visiting academic with links to a foreign government broke into a restricted technology laboratory and filmed its contents. He also told the keynote address that in recent years more current and former defence employees were being targeted. Some have been subjected to covert room searches during overseas trips, approached at conferences or given gifts containing surveillance devices. He also warned people against promoting their access to sensitive information on social media — especially LinkedIn — and made a pointed spray at those boasting their work on AUKUS. 'Close to 400 explicitly say they work on AUKUS, and the figure rises above 2,000 if you include broader references to 'submarines' and 'nuclear',' he said. 'Nearly two and a half thousand publicly boast about having a security clearance and thirteen hundred claim to work in the national security community. 'While these numbers have fallen since I first raised the alarm two years ago, this still makes my head spin.' 'I get that people need to market themselves, but telling social media you hold a security clearance or work on a highly classified project is more than naïve; it's recklessly inviting the attention of a foreign intelligence service.'
Sky News AU
6 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Australian-made rocket company not allowing failure to stop them
Stepmates Studios Mark Nicholson shared his optimistic comments on the recent rocket failure from an Australian made company. 'We're bloody patriots, that's why we're not going to mock this stuff, because this is what we want, we want Australians manufacturing stuff,' Mr Nicholson told Sky News Australia. 'Go Australia, this is the only first step on a long way … we're on the right track this is good.'
