Morning Headlines

New home supply to hit decade low

The supply of new homes will crash to the lowest level in over a decade by 2026 and far short of the federal government’s goal to build 1.2 million homes by mid-2029, according to UDIA’s latest report. The Fin

Bosses tie bonuses to work in the office

Employees of power giant AGL risk having their bonuses cut and performance reviews marked down if they fail to come into the office at least three days each week. The Fin

Vehicle emission cuts steeper than for US

The Albanese government has conceded that vehicle importers will have to reduce their emissions at a much steeper rate than in the US, the nation Australia is trying to emulate, because of the need to play catch-up. The Fin

Get tough with Meta: ex-insider

Australia winning the war with Facebook over news content depends on achieving one herculean task, insider-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen says: convincing Mark Zuckerberg he is wrong. The Fin

The People versus tech terror

Tech giants Meta, Google, X, Telegram, WhatsApp and Reddit face tens of millions of dollars in penalties if they fail to act on terrorist, violent extremism and child abuse material, amid warnings that generative AI is being weaponised. The Aus

Minister snubs US: ‘Kiwis are closest’

Trade Minister Don Farrell says the US is not Australia’s “most trusted ally”, singling out New Zealand as the country’s closest international partner. The Aus

Home builds slump despite migrant surge

Permanent and long-term overseas arrivals are outpacing the construction of new homes at a rate of almost four to one in what the Coalition claims is a housing crisis of the government’s making. The Aus

Rental crisis out of control in one of Perth’s wealthy suburbs

A Mosman Park woman renting a bed on her veranda for $130 a night claims she does it because sleeping outside is a “normal Australian thing to do”. The West

Eco group is nature negative

The Australian Conservation Foundation fears a planned Federal environment watchdog would be “undermined from the very start” if the minister was handed unfettered power to approve projects. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 4: Senators will call PwC International executives before parliament to explain why the company is withholding a report into overseas aspects of the firm’s tax leaks scandal after discovering the global organisation had taken legal control of PwC Australia.

Page 4: A judge has lashed the Transport Workers Union for ‘‘sitting on its backside’’ over its novel claim to be compensated for lost membership fees stemming from Qantas’ illegal outsourcing of 1700 workers.

Page 5: Former prime minister Paul Keating will back Labor’s stabilisation of ties with Beijing when he holds talks with China’s foreign minister this week – a meeting the Albanese government would prefer did not to occur.

Page 7: Australia’s farmers have almost $6 billion sitting in tax haven accounts and most are financially secure despite a much smaller national grain harvest and a wild ride for cattle producers over the past 12 months, data from a federal government department shows.

Page 7: South32’s manganese export operations face severe disruption after the bulk carrier MV Anikitos struck and damaged a loading wharf during high winds and swell stoked by Cyclone Megan in the Northern Territory.

Page 7: The peak advocacy group for Australia’s $420 billion retail sector says claims Coles and Woolworths are price gouging consumers and sending suppliers to the wall are wrong, and that growth in sales and costs have outstripped profits in the past five years.

Page 15: Renewable energy developers insist momentum is building in the clean energy build-out with several billions of dollars worth of projects due to close in the next few years, representing a turnaround from the near 80 per cent plunge in activity last year.

Page 19: Gold miner Perseus says it has secured approval from the Tanzanian government for its $258 million takeover bid for ASX-listed Tanzanian explorer OreCorp, and has vowed that it will not sell its 19.9 per cent stake in the takeover target to a rival bidder.

Page 28: The share market ended yesterday largely where it began, as traders trod water before several central bank decisions this week, including from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Page 31: Home builders coming out of the COVID-19 boom are putting themselves at risk of surging prices once again, with 85.7 per cent of builders still using fixed-price contracts, a new industry survey shows.

The Australian

Page 3: A former Mirvac executive who had spent the afternoon drinking said he felt he had no other choice but to steal a taxi because he “feared for his life”.

Page 4: More than a quarter of a million households will roll off cheap fixed-rate home loans over the next 18 months, a long tail of borrowers who will have a big jump in repayments even if the Reserve Bank is at the end of its hiking cycle.

Page 4: The Albanese government is being urged to increase funding for veterans’ health care amid concern that thousands of former Defence personnel are missing out on critical medical services.

Page 4: Leading business groups have written to Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and five other ministers warning that the end of financial incentives for apprentices and their employers from July risks a collapse in the number of Australians entering traineeships.

Page 5: Labor’s paid parental leave scheme has officially been extended to 26 weeks after its first tranche of reforms passed through the Senate on Monday.

Page 5: The Albanese government has reportedly removed ASIO and ASIS head Mike Burgess from its national security committee.

Page 13: ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott believes the market – and his own bank – is too optimistic in its rate cut expectations, warning that a downward move may not come this year.

Page 14: The country’s second-biggest private hospital operator Healthscope’s consortium of about 25 lenders are poised to appoint an investment bank or financial restructuring adviser to assist with negotiations over debt repayments.

Page 15: AustralianSuper is pressing ahead with generative AI deployments for investment and back-office staff, chief technology officer Mike Backeberg says.

Page 18: Corporate Australia risks heightening the skill shortage as several large businesses look to slash learning and development budgets this year to combat a deterioration in the economy.

The West Australian

Page 5: The Kwinana suburb of Orelia has thrown off its cheap tag to become one of three WA spots to make a list of the 10 best places in Australia to buy property.

Page 8: Laws that created a plum million-dollar job for a WA bureaucrat to live in luxury in London as our “agent-general” are so old they don’t even reference WA as part of Australia.

Page 8: Australia’s consumer watchdog would have the power to ask the courts to split up supermarket giants and crack down on duopolies if Parliament votes in favour of a new Bill.

Page 9: WA Ombudsman Chris Field was not aware of changes to the terms of his $450,000-a-year appointment because he did not read them, he revealed during a Corruption and Crime Commission hearing.

Page 10: The first C-series train will enter service next month in a major milestone for Labor’s 2017 election pledge to revive Perth’s railcar manufacturing industry as part of its broader Metronet commitment.

Page 17: The political fight over the federal government’s $2.4 billion gas tax will drag on for at least another month as the opposition resists pressure to wave through the changes.

Page 18: The consumer watchdog will examine the quality and state of competition in online searches, including how growth in artificial intelligence is affecting the sector and whether Australians should choose their mobile search browser, rather than it being pre-determined.

Page 19: One in five Australian small businesses is planning to invest in artificial intelligence, new research has found, as the technology rapidly evolves and looks likely to become transformative across industries.