Australia’s hefty Iran bill, Albanese scrounges for fuel & AFR’s budget wishlist

Anthony Macdonald· Host0:00

[upbeat music] The Australian Financial Review. [upbeat music] Hello, I'm Anthony McDonald, Chanticleer columnist at The AFR. Welcome to our weekly news breakdown of all things business, finance and markets. Joining me today for the first time this year, he pulls all the strings in here and he's a big fan of The Tripod, it's The AFR's editor-in-chief, James Chessell. How are you, James?

James Chessell· Guest0:29

Happy to be coming off the bench, Ant, and I'm gonna give it 110%.

Anthony Macdonald· Host0:33

[laughs] Good to hear. This week we'll discuss when a ceasefire's actually a ceasefire. We'll reveal The AFR's wish list for this year's budget, now only a month away. And we'll take a question on AI job cuts. But first, James, welcome back to the pod.

James Chessell· Guest0:52

Thanks, Ant.

Anthony Macdonald· Host0:52

We love having you on. I think you have one of the best jobs in the country. You get to meet loads of interesting and powerful people, and I think readers of the paper should be able to tell that from the editorials you write. It's a nice mix of politics, business, economics, markets, a bit of everything. But it's been a huge start to this year. James Thompson and I went through it on last week's episode, then we got our crystal balls out to look ahead, and I'd like you to do a little bit of the same.

James Chessell· Guest1:17

Okay.

Anthony Macdonald· Host1:17

Before you do, can you please explain to us what's it like running a 24-hour-a-day news operation and a daily paper in this frantic world of Donald Trump and headlines, and never know what you're gonna get when you wake up in the morning?

James Chessell· Guest1:28

Well, on one level