Jonathan Barrett

BHP reported that 109 workers lost their jobs or resigned in 2025–26 after 113 confirmed sexual-harassment reports, the company’s highest total since 2023. A further 104 allegations were not investigated because of insufficient information or the affected person’s wishes. Confirmed incidents included indecent touching, stalking, grooming and sexually aggressive remarks. The disclosures come amid broader scrutiny of sexual harassment and discrimination at remote Australian mining sites, with class actions pending against BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue. Workplace investigator Jodie Fox identified isolated work and living arrangements, hierarchical structures and gender imbalance as major risks for women. The disclosures accompanied BHP’s report of a US$9.8 billion annual profit, driven partly by strong copper prices and demand tied to renewable energy and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The live political coverage reports Clare O’Neil’s condemnation of Andrew Bragg’s proposal to reduce the National Construction Code to 80 pages and cut migration to 180,000 a year, warning that weaker standards could deepen inequality and increase household energy costs. Barnaby Joyce criticised One Nation candidate Parminder Singh’s homophobic comments. NSW ICAC hearings heard allegations that Liberal MP Chris Rath helped Reformers avoid summonses and that Jeremy Greenwood arranged security, loans and travel connected to Jean-Claude Perrottet. Anthony Albanese continued to reject calls to apologise to Japan over comments about Sanae Takaichi, while Japan’s ambassador sought to defuse the issue. Other developments included Wilkie’s referral of alleged gambling-industry influence to the anti-corruption commission, Victoria’s plan to vaccinate little penguins against H5 bird flu, cancellation of the Melbourne Royal Show poultry competition, abolition of Victorian group voting tickets, and Commonwealth Bank’s $10.9bn profit.

Fiona Connolly’s 14-year-old son Max died suddenly after collapsing while playing basketball in Sydney in 2021, despite having no known symptoms and appearing healthy after a routine medical check. His case was classified as unexplained sudden cardiac death, a condition that researchers say affects about one person under 35 each day in Australia and has a fatality rate near 90%. The Australian Sudden Cardiac Arrest Alliance is urging the federal government to declare the issue a public health emergency, establish a national registry, increase research funding, improve family support and expand access to CPR training and automated external defibrillators. Experts say inherited arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies may be involved, but many autopsies find no clear abnormality, making prevention and risk identification difficult.

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence, beginning in October and reporting by July 2027, to examine AI’s effects on education, workplaces, government, public health, industry, and culture. The inquiry will consider both the technology’s opportunities and risks, including how it should be used in schools. Opposition spokesman Andrew Hastie instead called for a national parliamentary committee. Other developments included Anthony Albanese’s commitment to amend gambling laws on inducements and children’s exposure to advertising; a proposed ban on unsupervised take-home assessments during New South Wales’s AI education review; talks after a near-miss between aircraft at Sydney airport; a revised Victorian teachers’ pay offer; and continuing ICAC hearings into alleged fake invoices and political donations. Malcolm Turnbull criticized Australia’s AUKUS submarine commitments, while News Corp reported declining paid subscriptions at most major Australian newspaper titles.

At age 14, Max suffered sudden cardiac arrest while playing basketball and died despite his mother Fiona Connolly’s pleas for hospital staff to revive him. The video highlights research suggesting that one person under 35 experiences sudden cardiac arrest each day in Australia and that the condition has a fatality rate of about 90%, while noting that cardiac arrest may occur without warning. Bereavement support is available through Griefline.

A Guardian live blog reports on hearings at the NSW ICAC’s Operation Rosny, where Jean-Claude Perrottet was questioned about messages describing payments as “filthy schools money,” monthly sums from the lobbying company Beckington, alleged political donations and conversations with developer Jean Nassif. Perrottet denied wrongdoing or knowledge of proposed payments and described several claims as jokes, nonsense or “crazy talk.” The coverage also reports that Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and the lobby group Advance will appear before an inquiry into the 2025 federal election; a toxic industrial fire in Port Adelaide prompted evacuations; Australia confirmed its first land-based H5N1 bird-flu case; and nearly 600 childcare services were shut down in a regulatory crackdown. Other developments included a $5,000 fine for threats against a federal MP, a stabbing arrest in Sydney, early signs of housing-market stabilisation, News Corp’s mixed results, Gina Rinehart’s paper loss amid a SpaceX valuation slump, and the ABC investigations chief’s departure.

News Corp’s Australian digital subscriptions fell slightly from 1.166 million to 1.162 million during the financial year, reversing recent growth at mastheads including The Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun. The company’s broader news media division also faced a 2% decline in advertising revenue and costs associated with launching the California Post, while reporting otherwise robust international results. Chief executive Robert Thomson sharply criticized AI companies for using publishers’ work without sufficient compensation, even as News Corp maintains commercial agreements with OpenAI and Meta. His comments come as the Albanese government considers expanding Australia’s news bargaining rules to make technology companies pay media outlets through commercial agreements or a higher levy.

Jetstar will soon include only one small under-seat bag in its standard fare and charge extra for luggage placed in overhead lockers. The airline says its size-based, user-pays model helps keep entry-level fares low, but consumer advocates and aviation experts argue that add-on fees obscure the real price and make comparisons difficult. The policy follows practices used by several European and North American low-cost carriers, while new European Union rules require airlines and booking platforms to show fares that include carry-on luggage at the beginning of the booking process.

A Sydney woman was charged with 62 offences, including alleged threats of death or grievous bodily harm, stalking, intimidation and deception, and was refused bail. The live coverage also reported a High Court ruling quashing a massive Northern Territory groundwater licence after a challenge by native title holders; a harsher sentence being restored for the teenager who killed Emma Lovell during a Queensland home invasion; and NSW legal advice rejecting a parliamentary committee’s finding that Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling gave false evidence. Other major developments included a record Australian sharemarket close, a $287m upgrade to Brisbane Showgrounds for the 2032 Olympics, concern over the spread of H5N1 bird flu among Australian wildlife, challenges to the under-16 social-media ban, persistent NAPLAN achievement gaps, and political disputes involving Gina Rinehart, the Queensland deputy premier, the United Firefighters Union and the former Andrews government.

Jetstar will introduce a paid Priority Carry-on option from February 2027, allowing passengers to place a second, larger bag in an overhead locker and receive priority boarding. Base fares will include only one underseat bag, while the airline removes its 7kg carry-on weight limit but asks passengers to keep bags below 10kg for safe lifting. Fees will vary by route, with examples ranging from $25 to at least $52, and substantially higher prices found for some Melbourne–Tokyo flights. Jetstar says the model will improve boarding, reduce locker congestion and help keep fares low, while the Australian government has urged the airline to demonstrate that claim and clearly disclose inclusions. Checked baggage rules will remain unchanged.

Adani's Carmichael coal operations generated $963.5 million in revenue in the year to 31 March but reported a $340.6 million loss after production and related-party logistics costs, resulting in no corporate tax payable. The project has reportedly paid no company tax since opening in 2021, although it paid $58 million in royalties and an additional $33.1 million to a related party. Adani says it complies with Australian tax and accounting requirements, while analyst Tim Buckley argues its structure enables excessive deductions. The company's North Queensland Export Terminal also reported $356.6 million in revenue, a $6.8 million loss and no company tax.

HSBC will close all 19 of its Australian branches over the next 18 months and withdraw from retail banking after agreeing to sell its approximately A$36bn mortgage and personal loan portfolio to Blackstone. Pepper Money will service the loans once the transaction receives regulatory approval, expected in the first half of 2027. HSBC will phase out other retail products, including deposits and credit cards, while retaining private and institutional banking operations. The decision reflects the difficulty overseas banks face competing in Australia’s concentrated mortgage market, where the five largest lenders control about 80% of lending. Job losses remain unclear, while the Finance Sector Union has criticized the closures as another decline in in-person banking access.

The Alice Springs murder case involving five-year-old Warlpiri girl Kumanjayi Little Baby has been delayed until 3 December because investigators still need to process a substantial volume of forensic evidence and witness statements. The live coverage also reports testimony to Australia’s antisemitism royal commission about threats against Jewish students and alleged failures by schools to recognize antisemitism; weak progress on most Closing the Gap targets despite national success on First Nations preschool enrolment; and political upheaval in Victoria, including the departures of ministers Lily D’Ambrosio and Harriet Shing after Jacinta Allan’s resignation. Other major developments include legal action against Telegram and Optus, a federal MP’s arrest, expanding bird-flu concerns in southern Australia, housing approvals falling short of the government’s target, and disagreement over Pauline Hanson’s proposal to block the return of Australians linked to terrorist groups.

Ben Carroll has become Victoria’s new Labor premier after Jacinta Allan resigned ahead of a leadership challenge. Carroll said he would take a different approach from Allan and Daniel Andrews, with his first major initiative being a royal commission into the construction sector alongside a special prosecutor. Gabrielle Williams was appointed deputy premier. The live coverage also reported scrutiny of KPMG’s audit-leak scandal, allegations involving Catholic Schools NSW and Liberal factional activity, disagreement over public servants’ political expression, a slowing housing market and economy, and markets’ reduced expectations of an August Reserve Bank rate rise. Other developments included a legal challenge to Queensland’s ban on the slogan “from the river to the sea,” bird-flu detections in South Australia, a serious pedestrian crash in Sydney and Hannah Ferguson’s proposed challenge to Anthony Albanese.

Rising economic pessimism, driven by high housing costs, inflation and stagnating wages, has boosted support for One Nation, which links cost‑of‑living pressures to immigration and net‑zero policies. Experts note that the party has capitalised on voter frustration by framing economic issues through its preferred anti‑immigration lens, while mainstream parties struggle to present unified or timely solutions. A sequence of economic shocks, including effects from the Iran war, has weakened household resilience and eroded trust in political elites. One Nation’s surge faces future electoral scrutiny, with economic conditions and credibility likely determining its longer‑term viability as Labor and the Coalition attempt to regain voter confidence.

A nationwide outage damaged Telstra’s reputation for premium, reliable mobile coverage, raising questions about its pricing power, regulatory scrutiny and competitive position. Analysts warn the failure undermines one of Telstra’s core advantages over Optus and Vodafone, while new coverage rules and competition from Starlink add further pressure. The government and consumer groups are calling for compensation, but Telstra has avoided committing to reimburse affected customers. The outage disrupted essential services, transport and small businesses, increasing calls for regulatory intervention and highlighting growing risks to Telstra’s long‑standing market dominance.

South Australia Police began investigating the death of an individual at a regional hospital after Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle linked it to Telstra’s nationwide outage and police contacted the family. The outage disrupted Triple Zero calls, hospitals, rail services and other essential systems, prompting criticism from politicians and renewed scrutiny of telecommunications regulation. The live coverage also reported Australia and India signing an arrangement enabling uranium exports, closer defence cooperation amid concern about China’s missile testing, and possible New Zealand participation in an Australia–Fiji security alliance. At the antisemitism royal commission, ABC and SBS executives defended their editorial independence and coverage while Jillian Segal advocated stronger oversight. Other developments included Gout Gout’s hamstring injury, a doctor pleading guilty to secretly filming hospital workers, Narendra Modi’s Melbourne visit, and the return of Neil the seal to the sea.

The live blog reports that One Nation will contest the Western Australian seat of Secret Harbour after Labor MP and minister Paul Papalia resigned because of a family illness, creating a byelection in a seat Labor won in 2025. It also covers Australia’s condemnation of China’s long-range missile test in the Pacific, which officials called destabilising and irresponsible, alongside a new Australian-Fijian defence alliance. Other developments include a presumed seventh Australian H5 bird-flu case in a wild seabird, criticism of Queensland’s proposed youth bail laws, the closure of seven Hobart pubs and clubs, and an antisemitism inquiry hearing in which Meta discussed moderation of “Zionist” references. Business coverage highlights AustralianSuper’s renewed investment in Whitehaven Coal despite its net-zero pledge and a subdued start to the Australian sharemarket.

AustralianSuper’s renewed investment in coalminer Whitehaven has raised concerns about whether the fund is adhering to its 2020 net zero commitments, after having previously divested from the company. Critics argue the investment signals prioritisation of financial returns over climate risks and may influence other funds to follow suit. Climate and governance advocates warn that companies like Whitehaven and Woodside lack credible emissions plans, while AustralianSuper is also under scrutiny for rebuilding its stake in Mineral Resources despite governance issues. Differing approaches among major super funds highlight tensions between investment strategies, member expectations and climate responsibilities.

One Nation is courting Christian voters through anti-abortion messaging as Pauline Hanson’s popularity rises, but the party’s anti-immigration and monocultural platform risks alienating many churchgoers, particularly migrants who make up a large share of Australia’s Christian population. Christian leaders and analysts warn that Hanson’s rhetoric conflicts with faith-based values of diversity, compassion and welcoming strangers. While One Nation may attract some conservative evangelicals and Catholics, its lack of prominent Christian voices and exclusionary messaging could limit broader appeal. Critics argue that scapegoating migrants distracts from economic and housing policy failures and undermines values of fairness and kindness central to both Australian identity and Christian teaching.

NSW opposition upper-house leader Damien Tudehope stepped aside during a public ICAC inquiry into alleged Liberal branch stacking and illegal donations after confirming he had been called as a witness, while denying any wrongdoing. The live coverage also reported Australia’s first suspected H5 bird-flu case in NSW, government assurances that poultry supplies were safe, and growing surveillance after detections in several states. Other major developments included criticism of KPMG’s new chair over dismissed whistleblower allegations, the resignation of University of Wollongong chancellor Michael Still amid an ICAC connection, a critically ill asylum seeker in Papua New Guinea whose supporters demanded transfer to Australia, and record electric-vehicle sales led by Tesla’s Model Y. Political disputes continued over AI companies’ use of creative work, alleged criminal infiltration of Victorian construction projects, gambling reform, and Moira Deeming’s future in the Victorian Liberal Party.

Female workers have filed a class action against Fortescue alleging systemic sexual harassment, assault and discrimination across its remote Western Australia mining sites from 2006 to 2025. Claims include serious assaults, intimidation and routine misconduct such as theft of personal items, with the suit arguing the company failed to protect women from a dangerous workplace culture. The case, backed by Aristata Capital and filed by JGA Saddler, follows similar actions against BHP and Rio Tinto, which lawyers say reflect an industry-wide cultural failure. Fortescue has declined to comment before proceedings but says it is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace.

New South Wales will freeze public transport fares for a year, reduce vehicle registration fees by $100 and lower the weekly road toll cap to $50 as part of a state budget focused on easing cost-of-living pressures ahead of the 2027 election. The budget forecasts a $2.3bn deficit in 2026-27 before returning to surplus, with rising debt levels offset partly by strong investment returns and mineral royalties. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey emphasised affordability and economic resilience, while the opposition criticised the absence of a broader growth strategy. Key spending includes infrastructure for western Sydney, health services and domestic violence programs, with major housing initiatives notably absent.

Sudden cardiac arrest remains one of the leading causes of death among children and young adults despite major advances in cardiovascular disease prevention. Families describe the shock of losing healthy children without warning, often from inherited conditions that may show no signs until a fatal event. Experts highlight underfunded research, low public awareness and inconsistencies in genetic testing and referral systems across Australia. Survivors’ stories underscore the importance of rapid CPR and defibrillator access, while advocates push for broader AED availability, mandatory CPR training and routine postmortem genetic testing to identify at‑risk relatives. The article details the long, difficult process families face in obtaining diagnoses and preventive care, calling for clearer pathways and stronger public‑health leadership to reduce preventable deaths.

Fuel prices in Australia have dropped below pre‑war levels as global oil supply adjusted more effectively than expected after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Additional crude from alternative Middle Eastern pipelines, strategic stockpile releases, and a sharp reduction in China’s imports helped offset lost supply. Australia maintained fuel availability through diversified imports, reserve releases, and government‑backed financing for private fuel purchases. Brent crude prices have fallen, though analysts warn that risks remain due to low inventories and infrastructure damage. Petrol prices have dropped sharply due to improved supply and temporary tax reductions, while diesel prices remain higher because of tighter global supply conditions.

Electric and hybrid vehicles now account for a third of new car sales in Australia as lower-cost Chinese models, rising petrol prices and improved infrastructure drive mainstream adoption. EV prices have dropped, running costs remain lower than petrol cars and secondhand models are holding their value more strongly. Chinese manufacturers now dominate the Australian EV market, while models from Tesla and BYD lead sales and demand. Market analysis shows rising consumer confidence, though limited public charging infrastructure remains the key obstacle to wider uptake.

Outsourced call centre workers handling Australian Taxation Office calls are paid up to 40% less than equivalent public service staff, according to submissions ahead of Fair Work Commission hearings on “same job, same pay” rules. Former ATO call handler Nathan Brunne argues the gap is structural and increases at senior levels, supported by the Community and Public Sector Union, which says outsourced staff operate entirely within ATO systems. The case will assess whether the outsourcing model is genuine service provision or a means to access cheaper labour. A ruling enforcing equal pay could undermine the viability of outsourced operations as scrutiny of service quality and complaint levels intensifies.

Global oil prices fell to a three-month low and stock markets hit record highs following news of a preliminary US-Iran peace deal that could soon reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore Gulf oil exports. Brent crude dropped to about $83 a barrel, while gas prices in Europe also declined. Equity markets in the US, Europe and Asia rallied, although shares in major oil companies fell. Donald Trump announced that the strait would reopen after the deal is signed, though key details around timing and oversight remain unsettled. Iran indicated a 60-day period to negotiate broader issues including nuclear matters and sanctions. Shipping disruptions persist, with dozens of Japanese-linked vessels still stranded. Emergency stock releases and reduced demand, particularly from China, have partially offset the global supply shortfall. Analysts expect limited further price declines given ongoing uncertainties around finalizing the agreement.

Australia considers extending the temporary fuel excise cut as the government assesses ongoing economic effects from the Middle East conflict. A peace deal between the US and Iran is expected to reopen the strait of Hormuz, though oil markets may take months to stabilise. Officials warn that depleted petroleum reserves and lingering disruptions could keep prices elevated despite a drop in crude oil. Opposition leaders remain cautious about supporting an extension while welcoming the peace announcement, noting continued risks to global energy trade and cost-of-living pressures.

Australia faces rising prices and constrained supplies of base oils used to produce lubricants due to refinery damage and disrupted crude flows stemming from the Middle East conflict. Shortages threaten transport, agriculture and industrial sectors, with some manufacturers already unable to secure high‑grade factory fill oils. Retail prices are expected to increase as wholesale costs surge, potentially leading consumers and farmers to delay maintenance. Australia’s reliance on imports leaves it vulnerable, prompting the Australian Lubricant Association to call for government intervention, including underwriting imports and prioritising base oil supply in regional talks, as officials continue monitoring supply chain risks.