PM says he also spoke with the US president about Aukus, which ‘remains full steam ahead’. Follow today’s news live
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17m agoQueensland police help deliver baby girl in station’s driveway
39m agoParents call for penalties for social media companies to be increased
2h agoAlbanese says he had ‘productive’, ‘substantial’ call with Trump and Aukus still ‘full steam ahead’
3h agoAlbanese and Trump speak overnight
3h agoKPMG apologises to whistleblower as inquiry looms
3h agoMan dies after house fire on NSW south coast
Anthony Albanese is speaking in Canberra after he held a “productive” and “substantial” call with Donald Trump. He said the pair spoke about a “number of global and regional issues”, including the conflict in the Middle East and recent developments in the Pacific.
Albanese said the pair spoke about the Aukus submarine deal, which “remains full steam ahead”.
We agreed it was a project that is and will continue to deliver benefits for the United States, for Australia, and for the United Kingdom.
He said he raised the issue of tariffs, asking the president to consider full exemption or at the very least no increase of those in effect.
I always put forward Australia’s national interest during these discussions.
Westpac hits out at KPMG ‘drip feeding’ audit leak details
Westpac has made its first public criticism of KPMG, accusing the firm of “drip feeding” details to clients affected by its audit leaks at a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal.
KPMG partners in 2023 leaked board papers from a client, Lendlease, to colleagues who were pursuing and eventually won Westpac’s lucrative audit contract.
Law firm Allens investigated some of the alleged leaks and concluded the information was “not particularly sensitive”, in a December 2025 report. More leaks have since been confirmed.
Michael Ullmer ran the big four bank’s audit selection. He told the inquiry this morning Westpac was not told about the breach until the scandal became public in March and did not get a full explanation of the allegations on 13 May in a process of “drip feeding” information.
Even then, KPMG told Westpac the allegations had not been substantiated. He said:
We go back to KPMG each time, and there’s a drip feeding of information coming out, and so from within Westpac there’s been this escalating concern and strength of our engagement with KPMG.
Ullmer said he subsequently learned KPMG “may have” told Peter Nash, a former KPMG chair and chair of Westpac’s Board Audit Committee, in May 2025 of unsubstantiated allegations, but Nash did not escalate this at Westpac.
Nash resigned from Westpac in July. Ullmer said he believed Nash had failed to discharge his obligations, because he kept a “range of social engagement and connections with KPMG throughout this [audit tender] process”.
Westpac has previously said Nash declared his conflicts of interests and the process was “carefully governed”. Nash has not commented publicly.
Quick-thinking officers have helped safely deliver a baby girl in the back seat of a car parked at a Queensland police station, AAP reports.
Police were returning to the station on Tuesday when they were flagged down by a panicked father in a red hatchback, alerting them his 22-year-old heavily pregnant partner was in the late stages of labour.
The couple had been on the way to Logan hospital when they realised they weren’t going to make it and pulled into the Browns Plains station in Queensland.
Officers swooped in to assist, rushing over to the car parked in the station’s driveway.
Constable Jenna Ziviani, with assistance of an ambulance operator on the phone, helped deliver the baby within seven minutes. Paramedics then arrived shortly after and took the family to the hospital.
Both mother and baby are happy and healthy, recovering at home.
Parents of children who took their own lives, who campaigned for the under 16s social media ban prior to its introduction, have rejected claims the ban is not working or has failed, as they call for the government to increase the fines for non-compliance beyond the planned $99m level.
Speaking at an inquiry into the Albanese government’s legislation to give the eSafety commissioner more investigatory powers and boost the fines for breaches for non-compliance with the ban legislation, parents such as Wayne Holdsworth, father of Mac and founder of SmackTalk, called for the legislation to pass.
Holdsworth compared the ban to other society changes such as seatbelts, and said it would take three to five years to bed. He said Australia should consider fines of up to $500m to make the companies take it seriously.
The tech giants monetise our children … and it is not in their commercial interest to restrict children’s access to these dangerous platforms. So that implies that their driver is money, obviously. So we must target their driver to get them to comply, target their money, their bottom line, their share price. They’ve shown that they do not have a moral compass, but it’s a badge of honour for them.
The tech giants monetise our children … and it is not in their commercial interest to restrict children’s access to these dangerous platforms.
So that implies that their driver is money, obviously.
So we must target their driver to get them to comply, target their money, their bottom line, their share price. They’ve shown that they do not have a moral compass, but it’s a badge of honour for them.
The inquiry will later hear from eSafety, the communications department, Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap, as well as digital rights groups.
Why do Victorian Liberals want a weekly red bin collection?
“Under a government I lead, your red bin will be collected every single week.”
These were not the words of a candidate running for local council but the leader of the opposition in Victoria. Roads, rates and rubbish have traditionally been the domain of local government but, at this year’s state election, bins have become a political talking point.
We’ve rummaged through the claims to sort the trash from the treasure.
Is Australia’s buy now, pay later boom at an end?
Afterpay has never turned a profit in Australia. Last month, it spent millions to take over a Sydney Olympic Park arena.
The company says Afterpay Arena will be the first venue where Australians can “buy now, pay later” for their event tickets, merchandise, dinner and even alcohol.
The deal to take the naming rights from a traditional lender, Qudos Bank, is the latest evolution for a sector that has rapidly expanded over the past decade. But as growth slows and players leave the market, is the buy now, pay later (BNPL) boom over?
