Sussan Ley's poisoned chalice; markets surge; iPhone battery fix

Sussan Ley's poisoned chalice; markets surge; iPhone battery fix

News in brief

Sussan Ley has become the Liberal Party's first female leader, beating Angus Taylor by just four votes in the race to replace Peter Dutton. It was a win for the moderates in the Liberal Party, but the narrowness of the victory doesn’t augur well for a unified party in the future.

 

Global share markets, including the ASX, surged yesterday on the back of a 90-day pause in tariffs between the US and China.

 

Consumer sentiment improved slightly between April and May, as share markets recovered from “Liberation Day” falls and the prospect of an interest rate cut improved.

 

Australian investors are buying up Bitcoin, as the crypto-currency reverses a tumble in the first three months of this year. Since early April, Bitcoin is up 37 per cent and analysts forecast it still has a way to run.

 

Apple is planning to use artificial intelligence technology to improve the battery life of its iPhones. An AI-powered battery management mode will feature in iOS 19, an iPhone software update due in September.

Fear-o-meter

Good luck to Sussan Ley leading a federal Liberal Party with one of its lowest representations in parliament since World War II. Someone had to get the party back on track and maybe Ms Ley, who has been in Canberra since 2001, is the right person.

 

But surely the Liberal leadership, when you only have 29 seats in the 150 seat House of Representatives, is something of a poisoned chalice. If Ley does a very good job, she will be Opposition leader for only two terms, or six years. That is because Labor is so far ahead, it will be near impossible for the coalition to make up the gap next election. Being opposition leader for six years is a serious slog.

 

It is something of a shame that the first female leader of the Liberals has been handed such a basket case. Democracies work better when there is a strong, sensible Opposition. That is what we need from the Coalition in the next three years.

Who's talking today?

Jack Riewoldt is a former star AFL player who now helps companies and leadership groups turn around their culture. He certainly knows a thing or two about working as a team:

 

"On the eve of the 2017 grand final, Richmond was in a 37 year Premiership drought and had been a relatively unsuccessful club on and off the field. We actually went down into the old change rooms at Tigerland, sort of derelict a little bit, and in there sat 50 bongo drums. 

 

Now you think leading into the biggest game in arguably Richmond's history, and the last session that the 22 plus the staff plus the players that weren't playing did was they sat around and played the African Bongo drums to simulate the fact that everyone has a drum in life and everyone has a drum, you know, and you can beat the drum really bloody loud and make it about you or you can learn to play the harmony. 

 

And that was our sort of symbolic gesture of what we wanted to do when we went out, and we were lucky enough to beat Adelaide in 2017."

It’s Wednesday the 14th of May 2025, and Sussan Ley is named first female leader of the Liberal Party in its 81-year history, markets jump on tariff hopes, and consumers remain pessimistic about the economy. Plus Bitcoin regains favour with investors, and Apple wants to use AI to extend battery life.

Greed-o-meter

697,000	storage units across Aus / NZ
3,000	self storage facilities in region
$2 billion	annual turnover
7 million	square metres of net storage area
9.2%	total adult population using self storage
$380	average storage fee per sqm per annum

Forwarded from a friend? Sign up to our daily newsletter

There's a bit of activity in the self-storage space. Abacus Storage King has rejected a bid from Public Storage and Ki Corporation to acquire its outstanding shares, after an independent committee judged the $1.47 a share offer as undervalued. It prompted us to take a closer look at the self-storage industry - and it is big. Here's the sector by the numbers:

Listen to today's episode 🎧 

Source: Self Storage Association of Australasia State of the Industry report 2024

Overnight in Dubbo. Tomorrow, they ride.

Sean Aylmer and Adam Lang from the Fear & Greed team have spent the night in Dubbo, resting their quads and glutes. Today they head to Bourke, and bright and early tomorrow they'll be off on a 380km ride through western NSW. 

 

These two novice cyclists are part of the Ride For Country Kids, a major fundraiser for Royal Far West. The goal is to raise as much money as possible to improve life options for kids from rural communities.

 

If you can donate a few dollars to the Fear & Greed team, it will be gratefully appreciated. You can donate here. And we'll be giving supporters a shout-out on the podcast too!