On The Call

The US-Iran war entered a chaotic new chapter following the unravelling of a short-lived ceasefire, with Israel striking Lebanon and Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz once again. Meanwhile, AI infrastructure company Firmus raises $750 million at an $8 billion valuation as it barrels towards its highly anticipated IPO. We discuss: The collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire. Market reaction and oil price...

This week Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei signed a memorendum of understanding with the Australian government during his tour in the country. During the trip Amodei spoke to a roomful of politicians in Canberra, telling them that the technology his company builds could upend labour markets supercharge cyberattacks, and arrive faster than any government is equipped to handle. Meanwhile Canva has moved t...

This week Capital Brief revealed that Canva has acquired Melbourne-based digital out-of-home advertising startup Doohly for $30 million. The Australian design software giant is accelerating its push into broader marketing technology ahead of its well anticipated IPO. Meanwhile One Nation's result in South Australia has become a warning shot for the major parties. We discuss: Canva's Doohly...

Furniture retailer Koala has announced a $68 million IPO on the ASX - a scaled-back but closely watched float. Meanwhile, Atlassian's mass layoffs have rattled staff and raised deeper questions about the company's future amid the SaaSpocolypse. We discuss: Koala's IPO pricing Why the float was shelved last year and why they're pushing ahead now The scarcity of consumer brand stocks...

With the war in Iran intensifying, markets continue to swing wildly. This week saw $90 billion wiped off the ASX as oil prices jumped. While the market has since rebounded, investors are left guessing whether US president Donald Trump will hold firm or blink. Meanwhile, Capital Brief and the Tech Council of Australia co-hosted an event at Parliament House on digital regulation. Assistant productiv...

Amid intense geopolitical instability - a war in Iran, oil prices surging and markets destabalised - the Australian government is pulling together its May budget which is expected to tie together its ambitious plans with a fresh nation building agenda. This week we saw a glimpse of what that might look like. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote an Ideas piece for Capital Brief on why Labor is bac...

On The Call is a weekly live conversation with the Capital Brief newsroom on the stories driving the agenda in Australia’s centres of power. Host Harshdeep Kaur sits down each week with our journalists to dissect what we’re watching and why it matters, and answer questions from our subscribers, live.

One Nation is on the brink of overtaking Labor on primary votes, according to the latest Capital Brief/Demos AU findings.  In the same week, Australia’s first major AI-related job cuts landed as a viral “AI doomsday” blogpost rattled Wall St. Host Harshdeep Kaur is joined by editor in chief John McDuling and ideas editor James Hennessy for this week’s conversation. We discuss: What the latest Capi...