Insights

The election may have cut back the number of auctions at the weekend but it had little impact on the steady clearance rate.

How would it feel if you could walk into the product testing room for your favourite tipple and have a say on the next product it releases?

The private equity owners of Australia's biggest winemaker, Accolade Wines, will pour $15 million into refreshing its flagship Hardys brand to bolster the 160-year-old label's dominance in Britain and prepare for a new assault on the Asian and North American markets.

Swedish retail phenomenon IKEA is inching towards $1 billion in annual Australian sales, with a decision last year to slash its prices setting off a stampede of shoppers out to get flat-pack beds, cupboards and funky crockery.

Barry Suckling, founder of National Builders Group, is facing a Supreme Court fight over allegations that assets were inappropriately transferred or sold off before the company's collapse early last year.

Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti is urging a review of the cap on the number of flights every hour at Sydney Airport as debate is set to heat up about making better use of the existing airport.

More than half of Australians check work while away, writes Christopher Niesche.

Australia's future now depends greatly on Labor's next leader and a diverse group of powerful small-party senators. All must step up to avoid political quagmire.

Tony Abbott ran one of the most disciplined campaigns in memory but his real test will be how he runs a cabinet. The electorate is not sure of abilities which is why alternative parties have done so well.

Syria's crisis needs as much diplomatic attention as it can get. But divisive 'high politics' of security are displacing critical 'low politics' of economic co-ordination.

With the outcome seemingly assured, here is where the action will be on election day.

The take-home pay for Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has risen by just over $1 million to $3.33 million this year, the airline's annual report shows.

Thirty months after it won a messy fight for control of the biggest stake in Pilbara exporter BC Iron, Consolidated Minerals has exited the stock with more than a 16-fold return on its initial investment.

Justice Whelan: "None of the bail conditions apply any more, obviously. Mr [Julian] Smith is a free man."

After a six-week trial, and five years from the time his firm collapsed owing creditors more than $630 million, Julian Smith has walked from court a free man.

The tyranny of distance makes it tougher for local industry, writes Jared Lynch.