Vidhya CK

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said undisclosed financial arrangements were deceptive and asked for a ban on strata insurance commissions, which were adding to insurance costs.

The University of Sydney and University of Melbourne will have to slash their intake by 7%, limiting the students to 11,900 and 9,300, respectively. Overseas students account for more than 40% in both the universities.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese distanced himself from Swan's comments in the media, saying that both RBA and his government worked to lower inflation. "They are in charge of monetary policy, we are in charge of fiscal policy ... The fight against inflation is one we are all engaged with," he said.

Lending by first-time home buyers increased by 0.8% in July, and was 19.7% higher compared to July 2023. July also recorded a national average of new owner-occupier loans and new investor loans at AU$641,000.

"Australians want stronger protections on AI, we've heard that, we've listened. From today, we're starting to put those protections in place," said Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic as he unveiled a paper with 10 new voluntary guidelines on AI systems.

Founded in 2015, AirTrunk is the largest data center group in Asia Pacific, with 11 sites across Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Meta's regional director of policy, Mia Garlick, stated that the News Media Bargaining Code, which pertained to publishing news content, was "unworkable" as it was not "reflective of the economic realities of news on our services."

The June quarter was driven by increased spending by the government and foreign students, while household consumption took a beat due to high inflation and interest rates. Consumer spending, which declined to 0.2% in the June quarter, was the lowest since the global recession.

As per data by home affairs department, 2,236 applications for a subclass 866 onshore protection visa were made, with 176 from the "Palestinian Authority" in July.

Last week, the Victorian government introduced a bill in Parliament to impose a 7.5% tax on revenue from short-term stays booked for less than 28 days through platforms like Airbnb and Stayz, starting from Jan. 1.

Based on the revised proposal, instead of setting up an independent watchdog with the power to approve or block projects when it is implemented from July 1 next year, the EPA's decision-making authority will rest with the environment minister.

The grocer announced that it will use the funds from the sale to acquire 35% stake in PFD Food Services.

The miner expects to raise its annual output from 322,000 tons to 500,000 metric tons of cathode by the early 2030s and up to 650,000 by the mid-2030s.

"There has been speculation that potential misconduct by ANZ in connection with this issuance may have cost taxpayers. From what I have seen, there is no evidence of this. I've not seen any evidence, any of the data that supports any misconduct, market manipulation or otherwise, from ANZ," ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

"Overall, it's clear there was little momentum behind consumer spending at the start of the quarter. And while it is early days, the data broadly reinforce our view that Australian households are not rushing to spend their newfound tax cuts," economist Abhijit Surya said.

The probe will address eight key questions, such as how WFH should be defined, should employees be given legal right to request for WFH, and how overtime should be authorized and calculated.

However, extending the life of the 2.9 gigawatt Eraring coal plant north of Sydney, which is Australia's single biggest generator, has eased the risk of outages.

Melbourne University's vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell said it would take about a week to finalize the number even as he criticized the move. "It is staggering that we continue to have this debate while there is apparently no serious intent to address really major reform issues," he stated.

Despite the 93.3% drop in profit, the company announced Wednesday an annual net profit of AU$1.71 billion, after tax, for the year 2023-24.

In July, energy prices dropped to 6.4%, compared to the usual 0.9% rise, and as the government announced rebates across the country, further drop in prices were expected.

Primary residences, hotels, motels and caravan parks have been exempted from the short-stay levy.

The intake would be limited to 145,000 in publicly funded universities and 95,000 for vocational institutions, while each institution may set individual limits after consulting the government.

Coles chief executive, Leah Weckert, said the supermarket sales soared as "a lot of Australians were choosing to eat out less and eating at home more."

After achieving a landslide victory in Saturday's election, Lia Finocchiaro stressed her government's priority will be drafting a suite of tough legal reforms before the parliament resumes in mid-to-late October.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) will have the authority to determine whether the refusal by the employee is reasonable or not. It has the power to issue a cease and desist order, and non-compliance will fetch a fine of up to AU$19,000 for an employee or up to AU$94,000 for a company.

According to the new initiatives, the airlines will have to "show cause" the reason for delay and cancellation of flights during their regular briefing to the government, while the ombudsman can seek more information.

Since last November, Houthi rebels have increased their attacks on container ships using drones, ballistic missiles, and even an explosive unmanned vessel. Due to the attacks, many logistics companies were forced to halt the ship movement in the route that handles 12% of the world's seaborne cargo.

An independent review of the RBA last year recommended several proposals, including dividing the bank's board -- one responsible for monetary policy, which will continue to set interest rates, and the other, a Governance Board, to handle operations.

"We know that trade unionists do a great job when they look after the wages and conditions of their members, but there's no place for corruption or intimidation in the building industry. To have a corrupt union, you need a corrupt employer to be paying them money and there's no place for it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.