Episode 2 opens with a check-in on the show's central bet: buy, hold or sell Australia? This time the mood shifts. Greg stays a sell. Adrian gets more bearish. Tony, the panel's most consistent buyer, admits he's being dragged toward a hold. What follows is an argument about what's actually happening underneath the headlines. Gold is about to become Australia's second largest export, a $73 billion story this year alone, but the funding for one of its biggest new processing plants came from the United States, not from here. Boards are racing to deploy agentic AI without understanding what it exposes them to, and the cost per task keeps climbing even as the price per token falls. And while Australia exports enough food to feed 75 million people, the panel walks through numbers showing double income households, including teachers and nurses, skipping meals so their kids don't have to. The back half turns to two of the sharpest arguments in the country right now: what Ukraine's drone war means for Australia's own defence industry, and why the tax system, on this panel's read, is actively pushing entrepreneurs and founders out the door. Tony doesn't hold back on what this year's capital gains tax changes have already cost. Nobody on this panel agrees with each other for long, and that's the point. Line of the episode goes to Tony on where AI adoption is really heading: "It's the new heroin of the 2020s." Where do you land? Buy, hold or sell on Australia after this one? Drop your verdict in the comments. We read every one, and the strongest arguments make it into a future episode. Show Notes [00:00] Buy, Hold or Sell: The Panel Checks In Greg holds his sell, Adrian gets more bearish, and Tony admits he's being dragged from buy toward hold before the show even starts. [01:41] Gold Hits $73 Billion, and the Funding Skipped Australia Diggers and Dealers, Joe Hockey's keynote, and the critical minerals processing plant that took six years to fund, with the money coming from the US, not home. [05:12] Boards Are Bluffing on AI, and the Bill Is Quietly Doubling Agentic AI rollouts outpacing cybersecurity, the real economics of tokenomics, and why the CFO is now the number one target in every recruitment brief. "It's the new heroin of the 2020s." Tony Davis, [13:00], on where AI dependency is heading. [13:57] Teachers and Nurses Are Skipping Breakfast The food insecurity numbers nobody expects from a country that grows enough to feed 75 million people, and a debate over whether the fix belongs to government or charity. [24:43] Drones Are Rewriting the Rules of War, and Australia Is Behind FPV kill counts out of Ukraine, four million dollar missiles versus ten thousand dollar drones, and the Australian companies already building counter-drone tech for the rest of the world. [35:51] The Tax System Is Chasing Entrepreneurs Out the Door The Henry Tax Review nobody finished, the GST nobody will touch, and why small business carries two thirds of the ATO's debt book while paying a fraction of total tax collected. [45:56] Bradman, Cadel Evans and the Best Sailing Comeback in History The panel argues out Australia's greatest athlete of all time, and John Bertrand's America's Cup story gets its due. [50:26] Final Verdicts: Two Sells and a Hold Where the panel lands after an hour of arguing it out, and why none of them are as confident as they were at the start. Tell us where you land. Buy, hold or sell on Australia after this episode, and why? Leave your verdict in the comments, we want the pushback as much as the agreement. Follow the Australia Inc Podcast page so you don't miss the next one, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
