The operator of Australia’s stock exchange is promising further reform after copping more criticism from an independent probe commissioned by the corporate watchdog.

The final report of the three-member panel, led by Commonwealth Bank director Rob Whitfield, attacked ASX Ltd’s “insular and defensive culture”, saying it had underinvested in critical market infrastructure in favour of higher shareholder returns.

The report was commissioned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in July 2025, after a number of embarrassing technical glitches at the bourse, including a full-day outage on November 16, 2020, and a settlement failure on December 20, 2024.

The panel’s interim report, delivered in December, was so damning that it led ASIC to force the ASX to hold another $150 million in reserve.

It agreed to reforms following that report, including appointing independent directors not part of ASX Ltd to the boards that govern four of its settlement and clearing functions.

The final report, based on over 140 stakeholder interviews, revealed details of some of the ASX’s technical issues but did not recommend any more specific reforms.

“A ‘laundry list’ approach of detailed recommendations for improvement has not previously served ASX or the market ecosystem well,” the report released on Thursday said.

The ASX had become overwhelmed after being subject to more than 120 reports examining aspects of its governance, capability, culture and risk management in the past five and a half years, the inquiry found.

ASX chairman David Clarke said the 88-page final report, like the 21-page interim report, was tough reading. 

“The panel … found a culture that had become defensive and insular, where we don’t spend enough time looking outward,” he said.

“This is not how we shape and steward the exchange of the future.”

The ASX on February 27 submitted a commitment plan to ASIC, outlining how it would deliver a strategic package of reforms.

Initiatives are underway to strengthen engagement between the ASX and its regulators, ASIC and the Reserve Bank, the report said.

The ASX is also hunting for a new chief executive after CEO Helen Lofthouse announced in February that she would leave in May.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors said in a statement that it would contact the ASX to urge a swift implementation of the actions outlined in the report.

“Australia’s superannuation members deserve strong governance at the top to support the long-term performance of their retirement savings,” the council said.

AS

Celebrities and sportspeople will no longer be allowed to promote gambling on TV, radio or online as part of a long-awaited and wide-ranging crackdown on betting ads.

An overhaul of the nation’s gambling ad laws will come into effect at the start of 2027, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday, aimed at minimising children’s exposure to gambling.

Under the changes, all gambling ads will be banned during live sport broadcasts shown on TV between 6am and 8.30pm.

When sport isn’t being shown, promotions will be limited to three an hour on TV during those hours.

Gambling ads will be banned on online platforms unless users have been verified to be over the age of 18. Platforms will need to allow users to opt out.

Players’ and officials’ uniforms will not be allowed to display the logos of gambling products and betting ads will be banned in sporting venues.

Radio stations will be banned from playing gambling ads during school pick-up and drop-off times.

The reforms would allow Australians to continue betting while reducing gambling harms, Mr Albanese told the National Press Club.

“We are getting the balance right,” he said.

“Letting adults have a punt if they want to, but making sure that our children don’t see betting ads everywhere they look.

“We don’t want kids growing up thinking that footy and gambling are inextricably linked.”

The reforms stem from a report published by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy in June 2023, which the government has yet to formally respond to.

Mr Albanese said a full response to the review would be tabled on parliament’s next sitting day, scheduled for May 12.

Australia’s share market has retreated from an early lead after US President Donald Trump signalled an end to the Iran conflict, although not before further escalations.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Mr Trump told Americans in a live national address.

“We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

The S&P/ASX200 had drifted 0.55 per cent higher ahead of Mr Trump’s speech at noon on Thursday (AEDT), before reversing course when it became clear he wasn’t saying much that was new.

The top-200 had fallen 19.2 points by the end of the address at 12.20 AEDT, down 0.22 per cent, to 8,653.6, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 30.5 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 8,855.1.

The highly anticipated speech gave no real clarity on a US exit, although Mr Trump did indicate he would turn his back on US allies dependent on oil from the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait, a choke point for one fifth of global oil and 60 per cent of Asia’s oil supplies, has been effectively blockaded by Iran since the US and Israel began bombing the Islamic republic at the end of February.

“The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Strait of Hormuz, take care of that passage … lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” Mr Trump said.

Local energy stocks sold off ahead of Mr Trump’s address, but later recovered as Brent crude jumped from around $US100 a barrel to $US105.70 after midday.

Oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos were down more than five and three per cent, respectively, on Thursday morning, but narrowed their losses in Mr Trump’s wake.

Ampol and Viva Energy, which operate Australia’s two remaining fuel refineries, also made up ground.

Ahead of the speech, real estate stocks were outperforming the bourse, after tumbling more than 15 per cent since December following three Reserve Bank interest rate hikes in as many meetings.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used a national address on Wednesday night to urge Australians to think of others when filling up their fuel tanks, but stopped short of signalling fuel rationing despite uncertainty around national supply from May.

Coal miners also sold off, while uranium stocks lacked a clear direction.

ASX-listed gold miners were hammered after a positive start, as the precious metal fell from above $US4,770 ($A6,926) an ounce to $US4,662.

Northern Star share slipped 0.2 per cent, after it said it was on track to achieve its twice-downgraded production guidance, while announcing an on market share buy-back of up to $500 million.

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to reshape its steel and aluminium tariffs regime, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The US would maintain a 50 per cent duty on commodity-grade products, while finished products made from imported steel or aluminium would attract a 25 per cent impost, it said.

Shares in aluminium producer Alcoa surged almost five per cent, while BlueScope Steel only managed a 0.3 per cent improvement to $26.47.

Australia’s heavyweight financials sector looked encouraging in early trade before fading to a 0.3 per cent boost as the big four banks’s leads shrunk.

Bourse operator ASX gained more than two per cent despite the corporate regulator’s final report into the group finding failures of governance and market systems.

“The market and the Australian public need resilient and reliable market infrastructure,” ASIC chair Joe Longo said.

“It is now firmly for ASX to ensure its transformation is successful and enduring.”

In other news, clothing and footwear company KMD Brands had more than half its market value wiped after lifting its trading halt after completing the institutional component of its emergency capital raise.

The Australian dollar was buying 68.89 US cents, down from 69.05 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm, after falling on the back of Mr Trump’s address.

Stocks inched higher, the dollar softened and oil slipped on Thursday as investors held their collective breath ahead of a speech from US President Donald Trump that could ‌outline the end of the war in the Middle East and boost risk appetite.

The prospect of the end to the ‌month-long US-Israel war with Iran has lifted global stocks and knocked the dollar off its recent highs in the past two ‌sessions after a brutal March where soaring oil prices sent risk assets on a tailspin.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a tad higher in early trading after clocking its biggest one-day jump on Wednesday since November 2022. Japan’s Nikkei was poised for a strong start.

The United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “spot hits” ‌if needed, Trump ‌told Reuters on Wednesday, ⁠ahead of his scheduled primetime address to the nation at 0100 GMT on ​Thursday.

Trump and his top officials have offered a variety of timelines for ending the war. He said on Tuesday that the US could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks.

Analysts and investors will analyse the speech to gauge when and how the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route, would reopen and ease the bottleneck in supply ⁠that has hit Asian economies hard.

“A US exit within the next ‌few ​weeks would certainly remove one massive layer of tension,” said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG.

“However, it doesn’t automatically guarantee smooth ​sailing and energy ‌flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Iranian response will be critical, particularly whether Tehran continues to leverage its ​geographical position by imposing tolls or selective inspections on passing tankers and strikes on its neighbouring countries’ energy infrastructure.”

Iran has fired repeatedly on Gulf countries, some home to US bases, and is using the Strait ​of ​Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil ​and liquefied natural gas, as leverage.

Higher energy prices in March ‌stoked fears of global inflation with worries about slowing growth also sapping sentiment.

The US dollar has been the haven of choice among investors during the tumult but the prospect of a ceasefire has led to the greenback weakening this week.

The euro last bought $US1.1591 ($A1.6695) in early trading, holding on to its recent gains. The Japanese yen was at 158.68 per US dollar, ​inching away from the crucial 160 level that traders worry could spur Tokyo to step in and intervene.

The ​front-month Brent contract for June ⁠fell 2.7 per cent, to settle at $US101.16 ($A145.70) per barrel, bouncing off a session low of $US98.35 ($A141.65).

Fishmongers are beginning to feel the nip from the fuel crisis, but they say customers planning their Good Friday feasts should not expect a wave of price rises – yet.

At the South Melbourne Markets, the last line of defence for rising fish prices, a spike in diesel costs for fishing trawlers are starting to flow through to fishmongers as the seafood rush begins for Easter.

Fish prices and transport costs had risen between 10 to 15 per cent since the fuel crisis began for South Melbourne Seafoods, director John Kyzintas said.

But customers should not expect to see a price hike when they go buy their fish, with the business wearing the increased costs.

“Fish is always a little bit more expensive at Easter time – supply and demand. The fuel costs so far haven’t really hit us yet,” Mr Kyzintas told AAP.

The squeeze point might arrive during winter when capture hauls fall to a quarter but the inclement weather means boats have to use twice as much fuel, he said.

But for Will Olver, the manager of Gem Pier Seafood, rising fuel costs have already started to bite.

Hailing from from a commercial fishing family, he said fuel expenses had jumped by as much as 50 per cent, leading to wholesale prices of some popular fish species to double.

“We can’t pass that price on to the customer. They just won’t pay it,” Mr Olver said.

“But the volumes have increased, the workload has increased, and the wages have increased.”

The fishmonger said his business had had to pivot to buying different species that were the same quality but cheaper.

“We’re making less money, sometimes no money,” he said.

The business, like many others, is holding off on purchasing in the wholesale market for as long as they can, hoping wholesalers will get nervous and bring prices down before Good Friday.

“Customers in a crisis like this go into conservative mode. They’re trying to hold on to as much wealth as they can themselves,” Mr Olver said.

He has noticed customers pivoting away from more high end products to lower value products by as much as 30 per cent.

It comes as Australia’s largest wild-caught prawn operation, A Raptis & Sons Group, announced its closure after six decades due to an oversupply of prawns in 2022/23, lower catch volumes and growing costs.

The new Sydney Fish Market is anticipating a healthy 60,000 visitors to walk through on Good Friday for their seafood hit.

Fuel prices skyrocketed after a US-led war on Iran disrupted shipping through one of the world’s biggest oil corridors.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter has told Reuters, setting the stage for what could become the largest ‌stock market listing on record.

A public listing at a potential valuation of more than $US1.75 trillion ($A2.52 trillion) would signal that space exploration has moved from a speculative venture to a mainstream investment theme.

SpaceX’s growth has been driven by its reusable rockets and the Starlink satellite internet ‌network.

The filing comes after SpaceX merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in a deal that valued the rocket company at $US1 trillion and the developer of the Grok chatbot at $US250 billion.

SpaceX is hosting an analyst day on April 21, encouraging research analysts to attend in ‌person, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information.

The company is also offering analysts an optional visit to xAI’s “Macrohard” data centre site in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 23, and plans to hold a virtual session on May 4 to discuss financial models with banks, where banking teams are invited to participate, the source said.

Musk, the world’s richest person, runs a sprawling business empire that spans electric vehicles, space and satellite ventures, AI and social media.

“Investors could use a sum-of-the-parts analysis but, like with Tesla, SpaceX’s valuation could very much fluctuate wildly based off how much the public believes in Musk’s vision,” said Angelo Bochanis, data and index associate at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.

“So far, investors seem to be clamouring for any ‌sort of exposure to SpaceX.”

SpaceX did ‌not immediately respond to a Reuters request ⁠for comment.

The Starbase, Texas-headquartered firm could seek to raise more than $US50 billion in the IPO, handily surpassing the 2019 flotation of Saudi Aramco, which remains the ​largest IPO on record.

A blockbuster SpaceX debut could jolt the IPO market back to life after years of subdued activity, with market participants expecting strong demand from both retail and institutional investors, some drawn by Musk’s brand and others seeking exposure to SpaceX’s fast-growing space and satellite businesses.

SpaceX is the world’s most valuable privately held company, based on the valuation implied by its merger deal with xAI.

The rocket startup was last valued at about $US800 billion in a secondary share sale independently.

Several other high-profile startups, including ChatGPT maker OpenAI and rival Anthropic, are also said to be weighing large IPOs, setting up a broader test of investor appetite for new listings.

Many large startups have remained private for longer, tapping deep pools of capital in private markets, but a listing by a company such as SpaceX could encourage more ⁠of them to pursue public offerings.

Bloomberg News first reported on the confidential filing earlier on Wednesday.

A confidential filing allows a company to submit ‌IPO documents to regulators privately, giving it ​time to address feedback and refine disclosures away from public scrutiny.

Truckies, fuel suppliers and fertiliser producers will be among businesses able to get interest-free loans from the federal government to lessen the impact of the war in the Middle East.

In an address to the National Press Club on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce businesses affected by the fuel supply crisis can access the low-cost loans within a fortnight.

The loans will be distributed as part of the government’s existing $1 billion economic resilience program in the National Reconstruction Fund.

Mr Albanese will say the loans will be critical to getting not just the businesses, but the wider economy, through the crisis caused by the fuel shocks.

“No government can promise to eliminate the pressures this crisis will impose, but we will be a buffer against the worst of it, a shock absorber in a time of global shocks,” he will say.

“We will do everything we can to protect the Australian people from what the world throws at us.”

The speech will be delivered a day after the prime minister gave an address to the nation across all TV and radio platforms about steps taken to lessen the impacts of the fuel crisis.

It is expected to detail Australia’s stance on the Middle East conflict and fuel security measures, while also emphasising economic sovereignty and securing global supply chains.

“Providing this stability and security amidst uncertainty does not mean standing still while the world changes around us. It means anticipating and creating change, true to Australian values and in Australia’s interests,” he will say.

“If people feel like the economy is not working for them, if they’re putting in the effort but not seeing the reward, if planning for the future feels like a luxury, then government cannot provide stability, just by keeping things as they are.

“There is not security in maintaining a status quo that doesn’t work for people.”

The situation in the Middle East and the inflationary challenges it has caused will cast a shadow over May’s federal budget, as the fallout from spikes in petrol prices continue.

The prime minister will say a balance will need to be struck in the budget between making the country more resilient, as well as providing cost-of-living relief.

“It is our government’s most important budget to date, and it will be our most ambitious. It has to be,” he will say.

“The scale of the challenge facing us, and the breadth of opportunities ahead of us, demand that ambition and that urgency.”

Australians will get through coming bumpy months of the global oil crisis by working together, the prime minister says, but one expert fears his rare televised address could stoke panic in the community.

In a speech broadcast on all major television and radio networks, Anthony Albanese urged Australians to look out for one another, warning there may be difficult times ahead.

He urged people to consider getting public transport to work instead of driving in a bid to preserve the nation’s fuel reserves, and told motorists heading on road trips over Easter to only take as much petrol and diesel as they needed.

“That builds our reserves and it saves fuel for people who have no choice but to drive: farmers and miners and tradies who need diesel, every single day,” Mr Albanese said.

“These are uncertain times. But I am absolutely sure of this. We will deal with these global challenges the Australian way: working together, and looking after each other.”

While intended to calm Australians’ nerves as the Middle East oil crisis worsens, the address could have the opposite effect, former Liberal adviser Tony Barry told AAP.

Mr Albanese currently has a negative 17 favourability rating according to Mr Barry’s firm Redbridge, well behind opposition leader Angus Taylor and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

The pollster said giving an address to the nation with such a low approval rating was a recipe for disaster.

“Standing up and telling everybody not to panic is a sure way to make everybody panic,” Mr Barry told AAP.

“People are observing that going to the petrol station is now like a scene from Mad Max.

“They’ll be expecting solutions from the government,” he said.

The decision to cut the fuel excise but then tell motorists to consider avoiding unnecessary petrol and diesel use was also politically flawed, Mr Barry said.

“He’s reduced the price of petrol, and now he’s telling people don’t buy this cheaper petrol.”

US President Donald Trump will deliver a major address about the Middle East war on Thursday (AEDT).

As Mr Albanese prepared to address the nation, Western Australia’s government activated emergency powers, allowing it to force the fuel industry to share information about its supply chains.

The move will allow the state government to demand specific details about where fuel is and where it’s needed, in a bid to alleviate shortages in some areas.

The change is not the same as declaring a state of emergency as was done during the pandemic, Premier Roger Cook said, but was rather targeted specifically at the fuel industry.

“Unfortunately our efforts are being hampered by not having full visibility of the fuel supply chain,” he told reporters in Perth on Wednesday.

“In some cases we don’t know where fuel is or where it will go.”

Federal opposition leader Angus Taylor said more transparency about the availability of fuel was needed to allay Australians’ fears of ongoing shortages.

“This was a rerun of Monday’s press conference and it didn’t give us the detail we need,” he told Seven News on Wednesday night.

“(The government) needs to update us daily on what the situation is,” Mr Taylor said.

Calls for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports have been rubbished by energy producers and the federal opposition.

Days after Liberal industry spokesperson Andrew Hastie expressed openness to higher taxes on the fossil fuel, Nationals senator Susan McDonald was highly critical of new levies.

“The answer is not new taxes that stifle investment and private-sector job creation,” the opposition resources spokesperson told the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook conference in Sydney.

“And worse a tax in response to a very well co-ordinated activist campaign.”

The Middle East war has pushed global gas prices higher, putting Australian exporters in line for windfall profits and sparking calls from the Greens, unions, crossbenchers and One Nation for an urgent 25 per cent tax on gas exports.

The Australia Institute says the export taxes would deliver nearly $350 million to taxpayers each week and be more effective than the existing Petroleum Resources Rent Tax levied on super profits.

The prime minister’s department has reportedly ordered Treasury to model “new levy options” on the gas industry.

Labor has also supported a parliamentary inquiry into the tax regime in another sign Anthony Albanese is open to pursuing changes ahead of the May budget.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there had been no change in policy when queried on Tuesday.

NGO pressure has also intensified, with Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists arrested after disrupting the gas conference on Monday and unfurling banners entitled “tax gas profits”.

Woodside Energy joined other gas majors in warning Australia against a windfall tax.

“We do not support calls to increase tax on some of Australia’s largest employers when it is clear that instead, we should be encouraging the development of new energy supplies,” the gas giant’s vice president marketing and commercial Wojciech Grzech said at the conference.

The roughly $25 billion in taxes, royalties and levies paid by the gas producer since 2011 was highlighted in his address.

Industry rhetoric on an east coast reservation policy was more muted.

Exporters will be forced to reserve between 15 and 25 per cent of gas for domestic use under a federal scheme announced in 2025.

Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch called for a flexible design that avoids forcing more gas onto the domestic market than demanded by local users.

Ms McCulloch warned poorly designed reforms could stifle investment in projects in areas at highest risk of shortfalls.

“This would be at odds with the intent of these reforms,” the head of the gas producer industry group said.

Australia is staring into a stagflation abyss brought about by the war in the Middle East, making meaningful budget reform all the more timely, former Treasury boss Martin Parkinson says.

As fears mount the oil crisis could cause the Albanese government to shy away from ambitious changes to tax and spending in the May budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers reiterated his assurance cost-of-living measures would not crowd out reform.

“I’ve got a heap of respect for Martin. I’ve worked closely with him for a long time, formally and informally, and I think he makes a really important point,” Dr Chalmers told Sky News on Wednesday.

“In this budget, we’re not choosing resilience or reform; we’re choosing resilience and reform.

“Even with the quite extreme global economic uncertainty that we’re seeing, that’s no reason to hit the pause button on some really important changes that we need to make.”

Anthony Albanese and his cabinet colleagues harboured plenty of ambition, Dr Chalmers said, denying the prime minister might clip his wings.

In an address to the National Press Club earlier on Wednesday, Dr Parkinson warned Australia was “staring into the risk of stagflation” – a scenario in which an economy is caught between the twin pressures of rapidly rising prices and mounting unemployment.

That made it all the more urgent to fix Australia’s existing poor productivity performance, which was compounding the challenges of an ageing population and a declining ratio of working-age people.

“To deal with these challenges, we need a broader tax base with better targeted, more efficient taxes, or we need to cut expenditure to deliver a more sustainable fiscal position,” he said.

“We need to incentivise innovation and investment to raise the speed limits to our growth rate, and we need either a larger working-age population or a far more productive working-age population.

“These windows of opportunity close quickly. When they are open, we need to strike and strike hard.”

Dr Parkinson, alongside Settlement Services International chief executive Violet Roumeliotis, called for the government to address the under-utilisation of skilled migrant workers in Australia.

About 620,000 people in Australia were not working in their trained professions, while the nation faced skills shortages in those fields, because their qualifications were not recognised, Ms Roumeliotis said.

“There is … a waiting room of wasted talent,” she said.

“Doctors, nurses, aged care workers, tradespeople, engineers. But they’re not waiting because they lack skills. They are waiting because of slow, expensive and unfair processes, just simply to recognise their credentials.”

Dr Parkinson said short-term cost-of-living measures could go hand in hand with steps towards genuine reform in the budget.

He said it was unrealistic to expect the government would do nothing to ease consumer pressures, such as its decision to halve the fuel excise, despite economists warning it would exacerbate demand and inflation.