James Murdoch launches astonishing public attack on his father and reveals details of family infighting that could be straight out of the streaming show Succession.
Welcome to Talking Business, a podcast produced in Melbourne Australia. The podcast is available on the Acast site, my own website, the Apple Podcast store or wherever you go to get your podcasts. Or you can get it at the Business Acumen website at www.businessacumen.biz.
For the most exclusive access to leading economists and business leaders from around the world, subscribe to Talking Business from my website leongettler.com.
I am Leon Gettler. My job is to review and monitor the week’s news in business, finance and economics. I bring it all to you, every week.
This is episode number 3 in our series for 2025 and today’s date is Friday February 21.
First, I’ll be talking to And next week, I’ll be talking to Jessica Leonard and Ashleigh Potocki, the owners of Sydney’s The Afterglow, a self-titled automated glow studio. We’ll talk about the challenges Australia’s female entrepreneurs face. Like for example getting funding from lenders who regard businesses run by women as high risk. Although they were the ones who talked to lenders, they needed to get their husbands to act as directors to meet the lending criteria. Basically because their women.
And I’ll be talking to Rabobank economist Michael Every about the impact of Trump’s tariffs not only on China but the global economy. He says Trump’s tariffs create a fractured fragmented global trading system where the US is holding up its own roof and nobody elses. This will apply to China and other economies. It might be ok for the US but there could be serious side effects.
But first, let’s talk to Jessica Leonard and Ashleigh Potocki
So what’s happening in the news?
The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to give a team member working with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive taxpayer data. The I.R.S. is still working out the terms of his assignment, he hasn’t yet gained access to the sensitive data. The systems at the I.R.S. contain the private financial data tied to millions of Americans, including their tax returns, Social Security numbers, addresses, banking details and employment information. The examination of the I.R.S. system represents the latest move by members of Mr. Musk’s team to push the boundaries of access to government data beyond what is typical for political appointees. The Treasury Department has faced questions in recent weeks after lieutenants of Mr. Musk who were assigned to the agency started scrutinizing the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s system, which directs payments across the federal government. DOGE says it’s part of their plan to combat waste, fraud and abuse in the government. Critics say, though, giving a political appointee – such as Elon Musk – access to touch highly sensitive data raises serious concerns about privacy and potential misuse.
James Murdoch has spilled the beans on his relationship with his father Rupert. And for that matter the relationship between the 93-year-old media mogul and his other children. It’s like scenes from Succession. In an article in The Atlantic, James revealed how one attorney referred to James and his sisters as “white, privileged, multibillionaire trust-fund babies.” At another, he read an unsourced passage from a book about the Murdochs to suggest that James was a conniving saboteur. James was seated at a conference table in a Manhattan law office in March 2024 when he realized he was witnessing the final dissolution of his family. Three months earlier, Rupert, had told James and his sisters that he was rewriting the family trust to grant his elder son, Lachlan, full control of the Murdoch empire after his death, rather than splitting it equally among his four oldest children. The amendment was part of a secret plan that the patriarch’s allies had code-named “Project Family Harmony.” Rupert’s shocking decision was the climax of a succession battle that had pitted James and Lachlan, born just 15 months apart, against each other essentially their entire lives. (Their older sisters, Prudence and Elisabeth, had never been serious contenders to run the business: “He is a misogynist,” James said of his father.) Why was this happening? Because Rupert believed that he had no choice but to take aggressive action. He was 92 years old, and was certain that James was plotting with his sisters as soon as he died, after which they would defang his conservative media empire and destroy his life’s work. In the communications that emerged during the discovery process, James had learned how his father talked about him to the rest of the family—how calculating and manipulative he could be. When a packet of documents that James’s lawyer had requested arrived from Rupert, it came with a handwritten note: Dear James, Still time to talk? Love, Dad. P.S.: Love to see my grandchildren one day. James, who could not remember the last time Rupert had taken an interest in his grandchildren, didn’t bother to reply. Now, at the Manhattan law office, James sat across the table from his father and prepared to be deposed. For nearly five hours, Rupert’s attorney asked James a series of withering questions. Have you ever done anything successful on your own? Why were you too busy to say “Happy birthday” to your father when he turned 90? Does it strike you that, in your account, everything that goes wrong is always somebody else’s fault?
The good news is that Australia’s central bank cut rates for the first time in more than four years on Tuesday but warned it was too early to declare victory over inflation and was cautious about the prospects of further easing. Wrapping up its February policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the cash rate by a quarter-point to 4.1%, the first reduction since November 2020 when the pandemic crisis saw rates slashed to an all-time low of 0.1%. “While today’s policy decision recognises the welcome progress on inflation, the Board remains cautious on prospects for further policy easing,” the board said in a statement, noting that upside risks to inflation remain due to a strong labour market. “The Board’s assessment is that monetary policy has been restrictive and will remain so after this reduction in the cash rate.” RBA Governor Michele Bullock pushed back on market pricing of two more rate cuts this year in her press conference. “I want to be very clear that today’s decision does not imply that future rate cuts along the lines suggested by the market are coming,” said Bullock. “The board needs more data that inflation is continuing to decline before making decisions about the future.”
With Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, working to stave off trade retaliation from the Trump administration, plans to threaten US tech giants such as Meta with hundreds of millions of dollars in Australian charges have been paused. Yes, it’s the first shift in Australian policymaking following Donald Trump’s election. We are now seeing the Albanese government going slow on a scheme to penalise digital platforms if they refuse to pay local media outlets for news articles. Why is this? Because Trump last week threatened reciprocal tariffs on “friend and foe” from April domestic taxes placed on US goods. This could potentially ensnare Australia and its GST just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a promise from Trump to consider an exemption for steel and aluminium duties. So the government imposing charges on tech giants is part of this problem. Publishers and tech firms had been told Labor would begin a public process to design the policy, dubbed the news bargaining incentive, in late January. But now, the government has decided it will not move forward with the proposal until the debate on US tariffs died down.
Former foreign minister Bob Carr has urged the Albanese government to abandon Australia’s deference to the US, warning it is a woeful policy response to Donald Trump’s radical agenda. Speaking on the sidelines of the Australia-Canada Leadership Forum, Carr warned that Trump’s policies towards global trade and the rules-based international order were a “tectonic shift” that US allies are yet to properly respond to due to a “state of shock”.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has slammed the Coalition’s decision to quietly delay the final report of its own inquiry into household electrification. He says the opposition has put its political considerations ahead of policies that would likely drive down energy bills. Now the Oppositon-led inquiry was set up in June 2023 after Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg pushed the party to consider the benefits of electrification. Bragg chaired the Senate committee which was due to present its findings in January. Its final report has been delayed until after the federal election. Surprise surprise. Proponents say if households switched from gas to electricity for cooking and heating, and adopted rooftop solar, electric vehicles and home batteries, it would save them money and reduce the number of new power plants and transmission lines required to transition Australia’s grid to clean sources of energy.A damning Productivity Commission report has found that the Australian housing construction sector is only building half as many homes relative to the number of hours worked compared with 30 years ago. The report has called for faster planning approvals and fewer regulations. The report, released on Monday, finds “decades of poor performance” and falling productivity in dwelling construction has contributed to the housing affordability crisis and the sector has fallen “well behind the broader economy”. The commission estimates that, using a simple measure (the number of new homes built compared with the number of hours worked in the sector), housing productivity has dropped 53% since 1995. In simple terms, that means that for the same output, fewer than half as many houses are being completed. A more comprehensive “value-added” measure, which factors in quality improvements and increases in housing size, still shows productivity declined by 12%.
A damning Productivity Commission report has found that the Australian housing construction sector is only building half as many homes relative to the number of hours worked compared with 30 years ago. The report has called for faster planning approvals and fewer regulations. The report, released on Monday, finds “decades of poor performance” and falling productivity in dwelling construction has contributed to the housing affordability crisis and the sector has fallen “well behind the broader economy”. The commission estimates that, using a simple measure (the number of new homes built compared with the number of hours worked in the sector), housing productivity has dropped 53% since 1995. In simple terms, that means that for the same output, fewer than half as many houses are being completed. A more comprehensive “value-added” measure, which factors in quality improvements and increases in housing size, still shows productivity declined by 12%.
And in the lead-up to the election, Opposition leader Peter Dutton now says the Coalition could seek to break up insurance companies found to be gouging policyholders. He says more competition is needed in the sector. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Dutton said the Coalition’s divestiture policy – which threatens to carve apart big supermarkets and hardware chains as a “last resort” to combat price rip-offs – could also be applied to big insurers. Dutton said there were “a number of factors” that had caused premium increases including “mitigation issues” and reinsurance issues that were beyond Australian control. But insurers say they are making just a fraction of the returns from writing policies compared with a decade ago as they defend themselves from Peter Dutton’s accusations that consumers are being overcharged. The Insurance Council of Australia, which represents the major companies including IAG, QBE and Suncorp, says the industry made $5 in profit for every $100 collected from policyholders a decade ago. That number, according to the industry association, is now $1.50.
And as part of its election pitch, the Albanese government has declared that temporary residents will be barred from buying existing homes for at least two years. The Albanese government says it will also crack down on foreign investors hoarding land that could be developed into housing. Overseas investors have largely been barred from buying existing homes in Australia save for limited circumstances. But the new policy will mean people living temporarily in Australia, either for work or study, will also be barred between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2027.
And the profit reporting season is continuing. BHP reported a half-year underlying profit of $5.1 billion, well below consensus estimates for $5.4 billion. Westpac’s net profit declined 9% in the first quarter to $1.7 billion. For the six months through to December 31, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank posted cash earnings of $265.2m, a 1.1% drop on the prior corresponding period. Net profit tumbled 23% to $282.3m. National Australia Bank reported $1.74bn in cash earnings for the first quarter, it was a 2% drop in unaudited cash earnings and a 15 slide in net profit to $1.7bn. ASX-listed business lender Judo bank has reported a 70% lift in profits, topping $40.9m. NZ dairy group A2 Milk’s net profit lifted 7.6% to $NZ91.7m. BlueScope Steel’s profit fell 59% to $179.1m, with underlying profit down 63% to $176.4m. Property trust the GPT Group has turned in a full year loss of $200.7m. Property developer Lendlease posted a net profit after tax of $48 million in the six months to December as it swung from a loss of $136 million a year earlier. Rail haulage group Aurizon’s interim net profit fell 2% to $233 million. Infant and baby products retailer Baby Bunting has posted a 2.4% lift in interim sales to $254.4m to generate a 45.3% leap in profit to $3.9m, as a new growth strategy looks to have arrested declining earnings for the chain. Investment management firm Challenger’s interim normalised net profit jumped 12% to $225.2m. Plumbing parts manufacturer Reliance Worldwide has posted a 31.8% rise in net profit after tax in its half year results to $US67.2m. Hub24 reported a 54% jump in net profit to $33.2 million in the first half. Monadelphous Group Limited reported a significant 41.33% rise in profit after tax to $42,513,000 for the half-year ending December 31, 2024. HMC Capital posted a first half statutory profit after tax of $166.9m. Iluka-backed Deterra Royalties’ net profit slumped 19% to just under $64 million in the first half of fiscal 2025. Infomedia posted an underlying cash EBITDA2 of $16.7 million, up 7%. Seek suffered a a 28% drop in adjusted profit, which fell to $77m. Property investor Dexus notched a statutory net profit of $10.3 million for the six months to December, swinging from a net loss of $597.2 million in the prior corresponding period. SG Fleet profit fell 9.8% to $41,063,000. ARB profit before tax was down 0.7% to 70.3 million. Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources has posted a loss of more than $800 million. Cleanaway Waste Management’s EBIT for the six months to December came in at $195.2m, up 12.2% from the previous corresponding period. Dual-listed building products business Fletcher Building’s NPAT before significant items fell 55% to $NZ53m. James Hardie Industries, the world’s leading fibre cement maker, reported a 15% fall in its third-quarter profit. It posted an adjusted net income of $153.6 million for the three months ended December 31, compared with $179.9 million reported in the same quarter a year ago. The Lottery Corporation, the operator of Oz Lotto and Keno, said profit before significant items declined 7.4% to $369.7m. Iluka’s net profit for the year to December fell to $231 million from $343 million. EBOS Group announced a net profit of $110,489,000, down 18.9%. Data#3’s gross profit was up 10% to $143.6 million. Stockland’s net profit after tax more than doubled to $245 million in the six months to December from $102 million a year earlier. Vicinity Centre’s funds from operations remained stable at $344.1m in the first half of the 2025 financial year. Tasmanian lender MyState has reported a profit plunge, down 8.9% to $15.9m. Santos profit for the 2024 year totalled $US1.264bn ($1.99bn), down on the $US1.416bn reported one year earlier, down 10%. Hansen Technologies Underlying EBTDA was down 26.9% to #8.1 million.
And that’s it for this week. And that’s it for this week. And next week, I’ll be talking to Dario Valenza, the founder of Carbonix, a Sydney based start-up that supplies drones for commercial use in the supply of power
And I’ll be talking to Indeed economist Callam Pickering about Australia’s latest jobs figures.
For the most exclusive access to leading economists and business leaders from around the world, subscribe to Talking Business from my website leongettler.com
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Looking forward to next week’s episode of Talking Business.
