A state leader says he was disappointed to learn public servants had covered-up more than $250 million in ineligible COVID-19 business support payments. 

The Victorian government spent billions of dollars supporting small businesses affected by the lockdowns during the pandemic. 

A report by the state’s integrity watchdog on Thursday found an estimated $257 million went to 9000 ineligible businesses.

Rather than report the losses, the probe found two senior bureaucrats withheld the suspected costs from their superiors. 

Mr Carroll, who is now the premier, said on Thursday he was disappointed by the conduct exposed by the watchdog, which he had been briefed on the day prior. 

“I’ve always acted … very professionally and always tried to bring the best out in our public service,” he told reporters. 

“We need to make sure that every public servant knows their job is to provide frank and fearless advice.”

The watchdog made no adverse findings or comments against Mr Carroll, who served a period as minister for industry support and recovery.

The IBAC investigation commenced in August 2022 following whistleblower allegations of corrupt conduct among senior public officials within the since-revamped Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions.

It concerned their response to revelations the department had used a flawed metric when assessing eligibility for COVID-19 era Business Cost Assistance Program grants. 

The assessment relied on GST registrations to determine whether businesses were operational prior to lockdowns. 

But it failed to recognise businesses can lawfully backdate their registrations, meaning some may give a false impression of having been disrupted. 

IBAC Commissioner Victoria Elliott said the ensuing cover-up by select senior bureaucrats fell short of the public’s expectations.

“This was not a one-off event, nor was it due to an oversight,” the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission report reads.

“Decisions were made to withhold information about the magnitude of the loss and misleading information was subsequently created and disseminated over an extended period of time.”

Commissioner Elliot praised the “bravery” of the whistleblowers whose allegations triggered the investigation. 

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on Thursday told reporters the findings were concerning. 

“We have a report from IBAC identifying more corruption and more misuse of taxpayer money,” she said.

“It’s just more evidence of a government that has mismanaged taxpayer money and more evidence that corruption is rife.”

Australia’s share market has trimmed most of its early losses, after weaker than expected jobs data gave the Reserve Bank reason to think twice before its next interest hike.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 8.2 points on Thursday, down 0.09 per cent, to 8719.7, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 28.6 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 8840.4.

The top-200 fell more than 80 points in early trade, but September’s higher-than-expected 4.7 per cent unemployment print softened the local interest rate outlook, handing boosts to financials, communications and utilities stocks.

Investors continued to dump mining stocks, with the raw materials sector plummeting almost four per cent as elevated energy and borrowing costs continued to stifle confidence.

The Australian dollar is buying 69.54 US cents, down from 69.97 on Wednesday at 5pm.

Mary Parsissons will forgo “simple pleasures” such as lunch with friends in her determination to keep paying for private health insurance.

The 83-year-old retired nurse is among millions of older Australians who will lose their additional private health insurance rebate if a controversial government bill gets through. 

The plan would mean those over 65 get means-tested rebates like the rest of the nation, saving the government about $3 billion over four years. 

They will pay about $250 per year more because of the changes, government modelling shows.

The increase will be more for people with higher-level cover.

Ms Parsissons, who has paid for private health with her husband for six decades, said the changes would rid her of “simple pleasures” such as lunch out with friends or going to the movies. 

“At my age, I should be allowed small pleasures every now and again,” the Hobart woman said. 

Health Minister Mark Butler said the change was “responsible and fair” as he reintroduced the bill on Thursday.

It was effectively booted from parliament by the coalition and crossbench in the Senate on Wednesday. 

But Mrs Parsissons said many people her age would no longer be able to afford to pay for insurance, meaning they would languish in the public health system and clog hospitals. 

“Being able to go into hospital as a private outpatient and be diagnosed and treated is worth every penny in private health,” she told AAP, noting some seniors would lose their sense of agency if they could no longer afford to pay. 

The plan would affect many pensioners as the rebate reduction would be calculated based on income in the same way it is for other Australians. 

“The government is committed to moving ahead with this bill,” Mr Butler said. 

Liberal Senator James Paterson said the reintroduction of the bill showed the government’s “contempt for the Senate”.

“This is a particularly cruel cut – a cut of $3 billion to older Australians who are taking out private health insurance, and in doing so, taking pressure off the public system,” he told News24. 

“These are people who don’t have a lot of spare cash, but value their health.”

Older Australians had “done the right thing” by paying their taxes but were being punished because Labor couldn’t control its spending, Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie said. 

“Wake up, do the hard yards up here instead of doing easy targets like our elderly,” she told reporters on Thursday. 

The coalition and Greens have indicated they may push the bill through if pensioners are protected, but both have made clear they will not budge without comprehensive carve-outs. 

“There is a pathway through on this legislation, but we insist on not taking about $1 billion from 1.2 million pensioners in the middle of a cost of living crisis,” Greens leader David Shoebridge told News24. 

Australians caught in the crossfire were feeling scared by the volatility of the bill, National Seniors Australia chief executive Chris Grice said.

Almost a quarter of respondents to a survey by the organisation said they would need to draw on savings to cover health insurance costs. 

Others would scrap their insurance and move onto the public system. 

“There is significant uncertainty about the impact of the cut on private and public hospitals and on the health of our older Australians,” Mr Grice said. 

Tasmania’s premier has been unable to guarantee the state’s new AFL stadium will be built within its current $1.13 billion budget.

Australian-based firm BESIX Watpac was on Thursday named the preferred tenderer for the 23,000-seat roofed waterfront venue at Macquarie Point in Hobart.

The company, which is part of a joint venture in final negotiations to build Brisbane’s Olympic 63,000-seat stadium, beat a construction group headed by Italian firm WeBuild.

Concerns had been raised about the credentials of WeBuild after it came to light the company was facing charges over alleged workplace safety breaches in NSW.

Construction of the stadium was a condition of the Tasmania Devils being granted licences to enter the AFL and AFLW in 2028.

BESIX Watpac is expected to sign a contract by the end of December but the final cost is yet to be settled.

The $1.13 billion estimate was made before the war in the Middle East, which has driven up the cost of construction globally.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the government would release an updated cost for the stadium, which was originally budgeted at $750 million, before the signing of the final contract.

“We’re working through a very rigorous process,” he said.

“I’m not going to detail cost, that is (being) worked through. The procurement process is still live … and that will play out.”

The project remained on track for completion at the end of 2030, in time for the start of the 2031 AFL season, Macquarie Point Development Corporation chief executive Anne Beach said.

BESIX Watpac was named the preferred builder after an intensive process, she said.

The stadium, which was approved in late 2025 by a tight vote in parliament, has proven deeply divisive with the state facing rising budget debt.

The government pledged to cap its spend at $875 million as part of an agreement with independent MPs, with any extra money to be found through value management or reductions in scope.

The federal government has ruled out chipping in more than its current contribution of $240 million, while the AFL is spending $15 million.

“Far from the clear commitments on a cost cap we saw last year, we’ve seen the Liberals trying to gradually get people used to the idea the stadium price will rise,” Greens MP Vica Bayley said.

“This stadium was only approved on the basis of one key promise – that taxpayer costs would be capped.

“If that promise can’t be kept then parliament must be allowed to decide whether it is prepared to accept any increased costs before pen is put to paper on the contract.”

BESIX Watpac has built a 30,000-seat roofed stadium in New Zealand and Townsville’s 25,000-seat Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

Australians trying to buy their first home are being driven away by strict serviceability testing and higher interest rates, with mortgage demand in its sharpest fall since 2022.

Overall mortgage demand dropped 19.2 per cent year-on-year in September, despite house prices across the country slipping 1.1 per cent, according to data from credit reporting body Equifax.

This was coupled with a fall in new home loan applications, which dropped 22.1 per cent compared to 12 months ago.

Australian households were taking a decisive step back, Equifax chief solution officer Kevin James said.

“This is the largest year-on-year decline in first home buyer mortgage demand since December 2022 and baseline prices for properties remain high despite recent market dips,” he told AAP.

Younger people were the hardest hit, as mortgages for 18-25 year olds fell by a quarter, and those for 26-35 year olds slumped 22.5 per cent in September.

Aspiring first home buyers continue to struggle in the property market, with several compounding factors such as strict serviceability testing, high interest rates, and spiralling living costs making it difficult for young Australians to achieve the dream of home ownership.

Mr James said that unfortunately, there was no quick fix.

“There is no silver bullet solution, each element needs to be considered when looking for ways to make the market more accessible for this cohort,” Mr James said.

Even though property values had been easing, baseline prices were still high — with average first home buyer mortgage sizes hovering at record levels of $743,000.

“For many prospective entrants, bridging the deposit and repayment threshold is likely becoming increasingly difficult without institutional or familial support,” Mr James said.

The credit reporting body has also seen signs of friction in refinancing, with lender-switching falling 8.8 per cent compared to a year earlier, after a nearly flat performance in August.

“In the current economic climate, strict regulatory serviceability assessments appear to be holding borrowers in place,” Mr James said.

“Many existing mortgage holders wanting to shop around for a better rate are likely finding themselves unable to clear the serviceability needed, effectively locking them into their current arrangements.”

Meanwhile, Australians aged 56 and over helped drive a surge in credit cards, ahead of the Reserve Bank’s interchange fee cap reduction taking effect on October 1.

Credit card demand rose by a tenth compared to a year earlier, driven by a 36.3 per cent spike among borrowers aged 56 and above.

It’s a different story for young people, as 18–35 year olds pull back across the credit spectrum.

Overall, the surge is not expected to continue at the same rate now that the fee cap reduction has been implemented.

“While the interchange fee cap reduction and related changes to credit card rewards spurred credit card holders to churn their card portfolios throughout August and September, it is likely that this specific driver of demand will taper off as consumers secure rewards terms that suit their needs,” Mr James said.

A state government has moved to shield businesses from any significant consequences of Jim Chalmers’ proposed trust taxes. 

The treasurer introduced 30 per cent minimum trust tax legislation to federal parliament on Wednesday, facing pushback from the coalition, business and a looming Senate review.

Dr Chalmers offered businesses reliant on trust arrangements a work-around, but could not quell uncertainty surrounding the possibility businesses would incur costly state stamp duties.

But NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey vowed a re-elected Labor government would ensure businesses using the Excluded Election Trust arrangement would not incur relevant state taxes.

Mr Mookhey said he worked with the federal treasurer ahead of the move, designed to give business as much certainty as possible, “as early as possible”. 

Business NSW thanked the state government in a statement while taking aim at Labor.

“Business owners have enough on their plate without worrying whether opting into a new federal tax arrangement could trigger a significant stamp duty bill,” chief executive Daniel Hunter said.

“Our latest business conditions survey found 35 per cent of businesses want reducing taxes and charges to be the top priority for the next NSW government.”

The move is one of several policy interventions ahead of the NSW state election in March next year.

Mr Mookhey pledged to reduce state spending to counter inflation while addressing a think tank – a link Dr Chalmers remains pressured to make in Canberra. 

”In my first economic statement to parliament in June 2023, I said the key to bringing inflation under control is to bring our own spending under control,” Mr Mookhey said.

Inflation has an outsized impact on NSW families, who on average hold larger mortgages than other Australians, according to Mr Mookhey. 

He said he was aiming to reduce the state’s debt by more than $10 billion. 

“Fiscal responsibility isn’t easy, it’s not always popular, but it has never been more essential for the prosperity of our great state,” he said. 

NSW also targeted a gas-fired peaking plant under a state initiative to provide insurance to long-term, renewable energy infrastructure. 

The government excludes gas from its renewable Capacity Investment Scheme. 

NSW and federal Labor remain at odds over the state’s GST carve-up, and Mr Minns’ cabinet has been eager to appeal to the state’s small businesses. 

One Nation leader Mike Newman has flashed his private industry credentials during public outings and Liberal leader Kellie Sloane attempted to square-up the government with promises to reduce payroll tax over the week.

More than half of the remaining stores in a struggling womenswear chain will close as its receivers decide on a buyer for the business.

Twenty-six of the 46 remaining Cue and Veronika Maine stores left in Australia and New Zealand will close from Thursday.

The Sydney-based chain went into voluntary administration in September after nearly 60 years in business, citing overhead costs.

A small number of buyers have been shortlisted and receivers Kate Warwick and Vaughan Strawbridge of FTI Consulting have been working through a number of issues with them.

The potential buyers identified a common group of stores that they weren’t interested in, and as a result those stores will shut down, the receivers said in a statement on Thursday.

There are 13 Australian Cue stores shutting down, four in NSW (Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Greenwood and Kotara); two in Canberra; two in Victoria (Doncaster and Moorabbin DFO); one in Hobart, Tasmania; two in Queensland (Pacific Fair and Wintergarden); one in Carousel, WA; and the store in Harbour Town Adelaide.

Nine Australian Veronika Maine locations will shutter: Bondi Junction, Greenwood, Eastgardens and Miranda in NSW; Manuka in ACT; Emporium in Victoria; Chermside in Queensland; Rundle Street in SA; and Claremont in WA.

The combined Cue/Veronika Maine location at the Birkenhead Point outlet in Sydney will also close.

In New Zealand, the Cue stores in Onehunga and Wellington are shuttering, as is the Veronika Maine in Wellington.

These closures are on top of five store locations that the receivers shut down in September. 

The timing of the most recent closures will vary by store and depend largely on stock levels, the receivers said.

Team members will be redeployed into continuing stores when possible.

People are drinking less wine and increasingly selecting from the higher shelves, but that doesn’t mean Australia’s biggest wine company will chuck its bulk brands in the discount bin.

Treasury Wine Estates this week sold Rosemount, Ingoldby ​and Secret Stone to the Oatley family, the latest in a series of unloaded discount brands as it focuses on its luxury labels to drive earnings growth.

But while attempts to sell names like Wolf Blass, Lindemands and Yellowglen had so far been unsuccessful, the wine giant was happy to wait for the right price, chairman John Mullen said.

“We’re not going to just sell brands for $1 to get rid of them, as they don’t fit the portfolio,” he told shareholders at the group’s annual meeting in Melbourne.

“We’ll seek to sell them, but we certainly won’t sell them for unrealistic amounts.”

Tastes and the broader market were changing, with younger people in particular drinking less.

“The macro environment for alcohol beverage remains difficult, reflecting the combination of structural changes to consumption and cyclical factors, including cost of living pressures,” Mr Mullen said.

“The luxury wine market continues to grow and so TWE’s move to rebalance the portfolio towards luxury as opposed lower end wines where the market continues to shrink, is bearing fruit.”

After a more than $1 billion net loss in the recent financial year and TWE shares down around 70 per cent since 2019, some shareholders were less optimistic, with one asking how such a great Australian company had fallen so far, and another calling it a “rundown, has-been” company.

Falling global alcohol consumption, write downs in its US businesses, the bankruptcy of its biggest distributor there and unauthorised parallel sales into China had all impacted Treasury’s bottom line.

“Well, of course, no one’s happy with the year that has just passed,” Mr Mullen said.

“However, TWE was and remains a great company, and is far from rundown.”

The chairman also noted the importance of dividends to shareholders and that the decision not to pay one in 2026 had not been taken lightly.

“The board will consider resuming dividends as leverage moves towards our target level,” he said.

Mr Mullen poured water on rumours the company was planning to carve out a separate ASX-listing for its successful Penfolds brand, with a slight caveat.

“We have no intention to pursue a separate listing from Penfolds at the moment,” he said.

Investors seemed to take the meeting positively, pushing TWE’s share price 1.2 per cent higher to $5.75 in early trade.

Netflix plans to lay off about six per cent of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1000 positions, as the streaming giant makes wider “organisational changes”.

Co-chief executives Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the job cuts in a memo to employees on Wednesday.

They said the company’s product, tech, legal and human resources teams would be the most affected.

“Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly,” Peters and Sarandos wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press.

They maintained business was strong – but that Netflix needed to be “disciplined about where we prioritise our people and resources” as it invests in future growth and “high impact areas to improve our service”.

Beyond the memo from its chief executives, Netflix declined to comment further about the job cuts.

Between membership sign-ups and price increases, Netflix’s profit has grown this year.

In its second financial quarter, the company earned $US3.4 billion ($A4.9 billion) and racked up revenue of $US12.56 billion – up nine per cent and 13% per cent respectively from the same period last year.

Still, Netflix’s forecast for the third quarter fell below Wall Street’s expectations.

The company plans to report those earnings next week.

Competition in the streaming space is growing more crowded overall.

Netflix continues to be a dominant player – accounting for 19 per cent of the market per the latest data from streaming guide JustWatch – but rivals like Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+ are close behind.

HBO Max and Paramount+ are also now under the same roof – Skydance -after Paramount’s $US81 billion buyout of Warner Bros Discovery closed last week.

Netflix initially signed a deal to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business late last year but walked away from that offer back in February.

At the end of 2025, per regulatory filings, Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees worldwide.

The lay-offs announced on Wednesday mark the biggest round of cuts the California-based company has rolled out in years.

As Australian property prices slump nationwide, regional home owners can take solace that their assets have out-performed those in the big smoke over the past year.

In the year to September, regional dwelling values gained 5.6 per cent, while those in the capital cities have declined 1.8 per cent, according to a Cotality report on Thursday.

Even though cities such as Perth and Darwin recorded average dwelling value increases exceeding 10 per cent in the period, the decline in east coast metropolises such as Sydney and Melbourne has brought the average for the capitals down.

The increase in regional-area house prices, albeit from a lower base, has kept the national average stationary in the period, despite the nationwide slump in recent months.

The last quarter proved particularly grim, with only a handful of regional areas and Darwin having sustained price growth.

Central to the continuing downward trend was the impact of sustained and possible future increases to interest rates, which meant buyers had considerably reduced borrowing capacity, according to Cotality research director Tim Lawless.

“They’re also weighing up higher repayments and the prospect of further price falls, which is making some reluctant to commit even if they can afford to buy,” Mr Lawless said.

Sellers are hesitant to list their property as they try to avoid being unable to sell, with more homes staying on the market for longer.

The amount of houses sold in September slumped 20.9 per cent compared to the same month in 2025, despite spring traditionally heralding a boost in market activity.

That slumped continued a nine-month trend of lower sales compared to the same period in 2025.

Again, the metropolitan market has been the main contributor to the decline, as the median property across the capital cities took nearly six weeks to sell.

Renters have also been slugged with rising rents of 5.5 per cent on average in the past year, with Darwin facing the biggest 12-month increase of nearly 12 per cent. 

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said market would likely only rebound once the Reserve Bank, which has implemented four interest rate hikes in 2026, looks certain to cut them.

“But that to me looks to be a fair way off,” he told AAP.

This latest update to the housing market comes after the Australian Property Institute warned prices could fall up to 11 per cent from their March peak and only rebound in late 2027.