European leaders have held emergency security meetings and scrambled to protect their citizens in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered global concerns of escalation into a broader conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting in response to the US and Israeli strikes in Iran. 

Germany and the UK are holding their own emergency meetings on Saturday to discuss the situation. 

The European Union is evacuating some staff from the region.

The responses come after the US and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran, and US President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to “take over your government” — an extraordinary appeal that suggested they could be seeking to end the country’s theocracy after decades of tensions. 

The strikes by the US create a dilemma for its democratic allies. 

While European leaders firmly oppose Iran’s nuclear program and crackdowns by its hard-line theocracy, they are loath to embrace unilateral military action by Trump that could breach international law and unleash a broader conflict.

Trump’s strikes on Iran last June and the arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro last month caused a similar quandary.

It was unclear whether US allies were given any advanced warning of the attacks. 

The German government said it was only given notice Saturday morning. 

France’s junior defence minister said France knew something would happen, but didn’t know when.

“The escalation underway is dangerous for everyone. It must stop,” Macron said in a statement. 

France, which has military presence in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, would offer military aid to its partners in the Middle East, the president said. 

“The outbreak of war among the United States, Israel and Iran has serious consequences for peace and international security,” Macron said.

He called on Iran’s leadership to commit to negotiations on its nuclear and ballistic programs.

“The Iranian people should also be able to build their future freely. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime disqualify it, and necessitate that the people be given a voice,” he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Saturday morning.

“We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict,” a UK government spokesperson said, reiterating Britain’s support for a negotiated solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Britain was not involved in the strikes.

Responding to the attack, the European Union’s top diplomat called the conflict in the Middle East “perilous” and said she was working with Israeli and Arab officials to pursue a negotiated peace.

“Iran’s regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security,” said Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief of the 27-nation bloc, in a post on social media.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in harsher words. 

“These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk provoking further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons,” said its executive director, Melissa Parke. 

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim condemned Israeli strikes on Iran and accompanying US military action, warning that the escalating conflict has pushed the Middle East to the “edge of catastrophe.”

Remote Indigenous communities will benefit from capped grocery costs as a subsidy that helps bring down exorbitant outback prices is expanded to more stores.

Families in Bidyadanga and Yakanarra in the Kimberley, Kiwirrkurra in the Gibson Desert and Jigalong in the Pilbara can access cheaper food and everyday items at an additional 15 remote grocery stores.

The federal government’s Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme will cover 30 essential items in these Western Australian “outback stores”, including tinned vegetables, canned fruit, toilet paper and nappies.

Prices for essential items in remote communities often balloon due to the costs associated with transporting goods to the regions.

The scheme reduces the cost of the items in line with prices people pay in urban areas.

For Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community chief executive Tania Baxter, whose community is the largest remote Aboriginal community in WA, owning and operating a remote store comes with additional challenges.

“The cost of freight and limited buying power of an independent store means that the cost of stock into store is greater than that of the supermarket giants,” she said.

“Many of our customers are on pensions and low incomes, so they are facing financial stress just to maintain housing, power and basic household requirements.”

Ms Baxter said the store, which provided employment opportunities and funding for community programs, could help families access affordable basics without penalising the business.

About 225 remote stores can join under the expanded scheme, with 113 already signed up and saving customers up to 50 per cent off in-store prices.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy urged more stores to get involved.

“For too long, First Nations remote communities have paid too much for food and other essential items, compared to people living in big cities,” Senator McCarthy said.

Approved stores can order stock from a list of 30 essential items to meet community needs.

“Our government knows cost-of-living pressures are felt hardest in our remote communities and that’s why our Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme is so important,” Special Envoy for Remote Communities Marion Scrymgour said.

A 2024 Choice investigation revealed some remote residents were paying twice as much for groceries as consumers in the city.

An Australian home to evidence of animal life from 600 million years ago will be put forward as the country’s next World Heritage Site.

The Flinders Ranges, about 400km north of Adelaide, have been nominated to join the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru among Australia’s globally recognised natural wonders.

A swathe of land covering more than 58,000 hectares across three national parks will be considered by UNESCO.

A decision on whether the area will be enshrined could come as soon as 2027.

The spotlight has intensified on the rugged terrain, with the Flinders Ranges the only Australian site to make this year’s Lonely Planet list for the world’s top places to visit.

The ranges are unique as a place where the emergence of earth’s first complex animals, between 672 and 510 million years ago, can be observed.

They also include the world’s most comprehensive set of Ediacaran fossils.

“The test for whether something qualifies for World Heritage listing is that it must have outstanding universal value,” federal Environment Minister Murray Watt told ABC News on Saturday.

“That global significance of the earliest animal life on earth warrants that World Heritage listing and the protection that comes from it.”

It’s not just prehistoric animals that would be better protected with a World Heritage listing – the site also houses a number of endangered native species.

The yellow-footed rock wallaby, western quoll and thick-billed grasswren would all benefit from the extra environmental protection.

UNESCO requires all World Heritage bids to be consented to by relevant First Nations communities before consideration.

In June, the Adnyamathanha Common Law Holders provided their blessing to the site’s assessment for World Heritage status.

“Adnyamathanha people have made a major contribution … by providing our cultural information so we are front and centre on the world stage,” Elder Charles Jackson said.

“This contribution is crucial and represents an example of working together during a time when there is lots of division and challenges for Aboriginal people.”

Former pastoral land was acquired to add an extra 4500 hectares to the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and bolster the bid.

The nomination has been in the planning for 10 years, South Australian Environment Minister Lucy Hood said.

The 368-page submission comes with almost 4000 pages of supporting material.

“Gaining World Heritage status would rightly recognise the iconic tourist destination as a place you won’t find anywhere else,” Ms Hood said.

Inclusion on the prestigious list would likely stimulate economic benefits to the area by drawing more international tourists.

The federal government has not always seen eye-to-eye with UNESCO, having come under fire for the deteriorating condition of the Great Barrier Reef.

Senator Watt said he was working to ensure the UN committee did not place the reef on the endangered list.

Warner Bros Discovery has agreed to be acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $US110 billion ($A155 billion) deal signed on Saturday AEDT, according to an ‌audio clip by the company, which was reviewed by Reuters.

“Netflix had the legal right to match the PSKY offer. ‌As you all know, they ultimately decided not to do that. That then resulted in a signed agreement with PSKY as of this morning. ‌So that’s where everything stands,” Bruce Campbell, Warner Bros’ chief revenue and strategy officer, said.

Paramount and Warner Bros did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The agreement caps a bidding war after Netflix declined to match Paramount’s latest $US31-per-share offer, which was deemed superior by Warner Bros to the streaming pioneer’s $US27.75-per-share agreement for its studio and streaming assets.

Paramount shares jumped 24 per cent, while Netflix rose 13 per cent ‌as investors welcomed its decision ‌to back out ⁠of the Warner Bros race.

Paramount is expected to easily ​win European Union antitrust approval, with any required divestments likely to be minor, Reuters reported, citing sources.

However, the merger has drawn scrutiny from California State Attorney General Rob Bonta, who said the state is investigating the Paramount deal and will be “vigorous” in its review.

The deal – which includes some $US29 billion in debt – is among Hollywood’s biggest media shake-ups and will create one of the largest film studios in the ⁠world, allowing Paramount to tap Warner’s trove of intellectual property, including franchises such ‌as Fantastic Beasts ​and The Matrix.

It will also allow Paramount to bolster its streaming efforts, with a potential combination of HBO Max and Paramount+, enabling it to ​gain market ‌share and tussle with market leader Netflix.

Paramount was in pursuit of Warner Bros since late last year when it launched a hostile ​campaign to wrestle the company from the streaming giant by consistently raising its offer.

The company, led by billionaire Larry Ellison’s son David Ellison, enticed Warner’s board back to the bargaining table by raising the possibility of an improved cash offer.

In ​its ​revised bid, Paramount raised the termination fee it would ​pay should the deal fail to gain regulatory approval to $US7 billion ‌from $US5.8 billion.

Paramount paid the $US2.8 billion termination fee that Warner Bros owed Netflix, the streaming giant said in a regulatory filing.

Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which owns a small stake in Warner Bros, had also stepped up pressure on the HBO owner to engage more with Paramount.

Politicians on both sides of the political aisle have raised concerns that any deal to acquire Warner Bros could result in fewer choices ​and higher prices for consumers.

Cinema operators are also concerned that combining large Hollywood studios could cost jobs and reduce the ​number of movies released in cinemas.

Romantics may hear the word love and think ‘at first sight’ or ‘is blind’ or ‘conquers all’. 

But research economists will likely be inclined towards the less poetic “assortive mating”.

The phrase describes the long-observed tendency to partner with others from similar educational and socio-economic backgrounds, often after meeting via school, university, work or overlapping social circles.

For decades, that sorting has quietly shaped the make-up of Australian households. 

Analysis from the e61 Institute shows 38 per cent of working-age couples now both hold a university degree.

Graduates are about 85 per cent more likely to partner with another graduate.

But just as the trend seemed to have permanently taken hold, online dating has drastically changed the way people meet.

Swipe culture has expanded the dating pool beyond lecture theatres and office corridors.

Researchers are waiting to establish whether dating apps are reinforcing assortive mating or beginning to undo it.

According to research economist Elyse Dwyer, the pattern of assortive mating that has been developing for more than half a century has fundamentally changed the make-up of Australian couples.

Studies indicate a shift reflecting rising female participation in higher education and the workplace over the past 50 years, Ms Dwyer said, but the data only shows who couples up, not how or why.

“We can make guesses as to how they’re partnering up.

“But to what extent is it this exposure mechanism versus this active seeking out … I’m not quite sure.”

That uncertainty matters in the age of Tinder.

If assortive mating was driven partly by proximity and shared institutions, dating apps have blown open those boundaries. 

A teacher in Parramatta can match with a tradie in Penrith or a consultant from Potts Point, without ever sharing a workplace or campus.

And the priorities users report do not sound especially economic.

Tinder’s Year in Swipe 2025 report says it is seeing “a shift away from box ticking around career level or financial status and toward chemistry, shared values, authenticity and emotional availability”.

“Kindness also remains a major marker of attraction.”

Thirty seven per cent of young singles say shared values are essential in dating, while 64 per cent say emotional honesty is what dating needs most. 

More than half say being rude to staff is their biggest “ick”.

On the surface, Tinder’s findings suggest education level and income may be taking a back seat to banter, kindness and connection.

Ms Dwyer said online dating could push the trend “one of two ways”.

On one hand, apps often display education and job information, making it easy to filter. On the other, they remove the structural limits of meeting only through work or study.

“There’s some very early stage research coming out of the US that suggests it’s likely to be the second explanation … but that’s only using about 10 years of data,” Ms Dwyer said.

“Time will tell.”

If that early evidence holds, the algorithms reshaping modern romance may also be loosening a decades-old pattern of matching like-for-like.

But whether swiping right widens social circles or simply sorts them in new ways may take years to show up in the statistics.

US producer prices accelerated in January, with the cost of goods outside the volatile food and energy category increasing by the most in more than three and a half years as businesses passed on import tariffs ‌and raised prices at the start of 2026. 

The stronger-than-expected increase in the Producer Price Index reported by the Labor Department on Friday reinforced economists’ expectations that the Federal Reserve would not resume cutting interest rates before its June 16-17 meeting. 

The Producer Price Index ‌was boosted by a widening in margins, including for professional and commercial equipment wholesaling as well as apparel, footwear, and accessories retailing.

Some components, like domestic airfares and healthcare, which go into the calculation of the Personal Consumption Expenditures price indexes, the inflation measures ‌tracked by the US central bank for its 2.0 per cent target, increased solidly last month. 

Economists estimated the so-called core Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation, excluding food and energy, increased by as much as 0.5 per cent on a monthly basis in January after rounding. 

That measure rose 0.4 per cent in December, which was the biggest advance in 10 months.

“Wider margins for producers could add some upside for consumer costs in coming months as firms pass along higher costs for services,” said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide. 

“Given still-buoyant core inflation and the recent firming of job gains, we expect the Fed to remain on pause during its upcoming March meeting.”

The PPI for final demand rose 0.5 per cent last month after advancing by a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent in December, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor ‌Statistics said. 

Economists polled by ‌Reuters had forecast the PPI would gain ⁠0.3 per cent after a previously reported 0.5 per cent increase in December.

In the 12 months through January, the PPI increased 2.9 per cent after rising 3.0 per cent in December. 

The moderation ​in the year-on-year producer inflation rate reflected the dropping out of last year’s high readings from the calculation.

Core PPI rose 0.8 per cent last month after gaining 0.6 per cent in December. Core producer inflation increased 3.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis. 

The report was delayed by a brief shutdown of the federal government that ended early this month.

Services prices jumped 0.8 per cent in January, reflecting a 2.5 per cent increase in trade services, which measure changes in margins received by wholesalers and retailers. 

Margins for professional and commercial equipment wholesaling surged 14.4 per cent, indicating businesses were passing on tariffs.

Prices also rose for chemicals and allied products wholesaling, bundled wired telecommunications access services, health, beauty and optical goods retailing, and food and alcohol retailing. 

Transportation and warehousing services prices climbed 1.0 per cent, but the cost of services less trade, transportation and ⁠warehousing was unchanged.

“The problem last month appeared to be tariff-related,” said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics. 

“If ‌we exclude trade and transportation, ​other core services prices were unchanged.”

The Producer Price Index report contributed to a stock market drop on Wall Street. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies. 

US Treasury yields mostly fell. 

The US Supreme Court last Friday struck down the sweeping tariffs that ​President Donald Trump had ‌pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies. 

However, Trump swiftly imposed a 10 per cent global tariff for 150 days to replace some of the emergency duties and then announced it would rise to 15 per cent.

Mary mania is set to sweep Australia.

Tasmania’s own Danish queen and husband, King Frederik, will next month embark on a six-day state visit to Australia.

It will be their first and only, and feature an enormous green energy-focused business delegation in tow. 

Traditional owners are set to welcome the Danish royal couple at Uluru, where they will watch the sunset with Indigenous elders.

The visit highlight is expected to evoke echoes of the 1983 British royal tour when the late Princess Diana and husband, Charles, now King, visited the iconic rock.

“It’s an opportunity for them to see the natural beauty of Australia,” according to Danish Ambassador to Australia Ingrid Dahl-Madsen, adding that Mary and Frederik have a keen interest in biodiversity.

“It’s going to be a pretty packed program.”

The tour begins on March 14 and will also take the visiting royals to Canberra, Melbourne and Mary’s hometown, Hobart.

“There’s such a positive vibe … around the relationship of our two countries,” Ms Dahl-Madsen says.

“The Australian heritage of Queen Mary plays a big part of that.”

Governor-General Sam Mostyn will host the couple in Canberra, where they will visit the federal parliament and be ceremonially welcomed with a 21-gun salute.

Royal reporter for Danish magazine Billed-Bladet, Marianne Singer, has covered multiple state visits and says the tour will garner much attention in Denmark because Mary is “going back to her roots”.

“It’s something really close to her heart,” Ms Singer says.

“I think you can expect her to greet as many people as she can on walkabouts.” 

Traditionally, such top-tier visits also feature more formal social settings, Ms Singer says.

“You can expect a lot of glamour at the state banquet – tiara and (fancy) dresses,” she adds.

A second dinner will likely feature Danish cultural entertainment, such as ballet or opera.

“The return dinner is the king and queen’s way of saying thank you for the nice welcome,” Ms Singer says.

The royal visit is likely to provide a tourism boost for Australia.

British Prince William and Princess Kate’s 2014 trip Down Under resulted in a 125 per cent spike in booking enquiries from the UK to the Tourism Australia website.

The most recently available data shows some 27,000 Danes travelled to Australia in 2024, the same year the Danish royal couple were promoted when former Queen Margrethe II became the first monarch in 900 years to abdicate.

This is their fourth official visit to Australia; the last one was in 2013.

The trip is not the first back home since Mary took on the new role; she slipped into the country in February 2025 and was spotted browsing stalls at Hobart’s Salamanca Market. 

She also jetted in with her twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, to attend her niece’s wedding in Tasmania in October 2024.

The tour will likely feature a nod to Australian fashion, with the royal frequently donning Aussie labels Zimmerman and MOSS & SPY.

The royal couple will be accompanied by a delegation of 55 companies.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Climate Minister Lars Aagaard were also scheduled to join the tour. 

However, Denmark’s election was called on Thursday for March 24, so it’s likely they will stay behind to campaign, as two ministers are party leaders.

Denmark’s job-creating, economic-growth-generating green energy transition is a major theme of the trip.

The tiny country of six million is a global leader in offshore wind energy.

More than 88 per cent of its net electricity generation came from renewables in 2024 and it aims to reach 100 per cent by the end of the decade.

“This change we will make in our energy system, decarbonising, it’s not something an individual country or region has a monopoly on,” Mr Aagaard this week told a group of Australian reporters in Copenhagen.

“We are seeking partners. We are seeking business opportunities,” he said.

“I truly believe it is a two-way street. I think we will all be winners if we succeed in building more resilient, more secure decarbonised energy systems.”

Danish Industry senior vice president Troels Ranis says Denmark considers Australia an “attractive and reliable” investment destination and his country is keen to share its expertise on balancing renewables in the power grid. 

“We know what we are good at,” he tells AAP.

“We know what we can deliver. We can deliver cheap energy: offshore wind.”

Danish energy giant Orsted and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners hope to get offshore wind projects up and running off the coast of Gippsland in Victoria.

CIP has begun construction on a large battery project to help South Australia’s energy storage as the state pushes for 100 per cent net renewable energy by next year.

CIP also hopes to develop the Murchison Green Hydrogen Project near Kalbarri in Western Australia, which would use solar and wind-powered hydrogen and convert it to green ammonia for export. However, the company is waiting for a market to kick off before it makes a final investment decision.

The state visit comes at a time when Australia is trying to nut out a long-awaited free trade deal with the European Union, amid tariff chaos from the Trump administration.

“I very much expect to see concrete deals on collaboration … coming out of this visit,” Ms Dahl-Madsen says.

Lisa Martin travelled across Denmark as a guest of a Danish Foreign Ministry media program.

Laws protecting survivors of child sexual abuse should be standardised across Australia, a candidate in a critical federal by-election says.

Independent Michelle Milthorpe hopes to win the NSW seat of Farrer on her second attempt, in a by-election triggered by former Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s resignation from parliament.

Before her tilt at politics, Ms Milthorpe campaigned successfully alongside her two daughters to allow victims of child abuse to give prerecorded evidence in court, rather than potentially having to face their abuser when giving live testimony.

The change was made in NSW, but the now-independent candidate wants the laws introduced nationwide.

“That would be the absolute dream,” she told AAP.

Ms Milthorpe said her main campaign priorities were access to housing, healthcare and childcare across the regional electorate – which is larger than some small European countries.

But improving support for victim survivors was a “passion”.

“If there was an opportunity for me to be a voice in that space, I would certainly take that opportunity on,” she said.

Ms Milthorpe’s daughters, Pippa and Rose, were both aged under 10 when were abused by a family friend.

The family spent years going through the courts, a process which Pippa has previously described as confusing and challenging.

Despite being loosely affiliated with teal independent MPs, Ms Milthorpe has broken with them on water policy – a controversial issue in Farrer, which includes towns along the Murray River from Albury to the South Australian border.

The federal government has long sought to buy water back from farmers, who use it for irrigation, and instead return the water to the river for environmental reasons.

This practice is fiercely opposed by many agricultural groups, who argue the water is needed for growing crops.

Ms Milthorpe declared buybacks “need to stop” and called for an independent review of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which governs the catchment across four states.

“It’s a disgrace that we have people that need the water, who don’t own the water,” she said.

The independent candidate, whose platform includes a focus on the environment, said it was possible to protect natural sites while also protecting food security.

Ms Milthorpe ran against Ms Ley in the 2025 federal election, narrowing the Liberal margin to 6.2 per cent.

The independent candidate has started her campaign with a $60,000 war chest from the Regional Voices Fund – an organisation which aims to get more independents elected.

She is expected to be one of four key contenders when the by-election is called.

The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are all planning to run but are yet to announce candidates.

The Liberals or Nationals have held the seat since its inception in 1949. 

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will start to “provisionally implement” a massive trade deal with the Mercosur bloc of nations in South America despite not having approval from European Parliament.

“When they are ready, we are ready,” von der Leyen said on Friday.

With backing from Europe leaders, she said she the commission would “provisionally apply the agreement” after Uruguay and Argentina ratified the EU-Mercosur trade deal on Thursday.

The deal has been negotiated for a quarter-century among countries that are now home to more than 700 million people and account for a quarter of global gross domestic product, creating one of the world’s largest free trade zones.

It follows global trade shocks from the tariffs imposed by the United States and throttling of critical mineral supplies for China that pushed the 27-nation EU to forge a raft of free trade deals with other nations across the world.

However, the deal has faced vehement opposition from Europe’s agriculture sector and was expected to face tough questions by elected representatives in European Parliament.

Von der Leyen is basically sidestepping for now those MPs – an unusual move for the European executive and one likely to prompt criticism.

“Mercosur embodies the spirit in which Europe is acting on the global scene,” von der Leyen said at a news conference.

No questions were allowed.

“Our businesses, our workers, and our citizens will reap the benefits, and they should reap them as soon as possible,” she said.

“This is about resilience, this is about growth, and Europe shaping its own future.”

She also acknowledged that the “agreement can only be fully concluded once the European Parliament has given its consent”.

“So the commission will continue closely with all EU institutions, member states, and stakeholders to ensure a smooth and transparent process,” she said.

Harvey Norman has delivered double-digit sales growth and raised its dividend, but the retailer’s shares have taken a tumble.

The electronics and homewares retailer on Friday announced it had made a $466.31 million profit before tax for the half-year to December 31, up 16.5 per cent from a year ago. 

Excluding the impact of property revaluations and leases, its profit before tax rose 20.1 per cent to $372.8 million, with system sales revenue up 6.9 per cent to $5.2 billion.

FNArena founder Rudi Filapek-Vandyck tweeted that according to Citi, the interim report had missed forecasts on most key financial metrics.

Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey said he was mystified by the slide in shares.

The company thought it was a “reasonably good result, and would have thought the shares would have gone up, not down,” Mr Harvey told AAP

Sales at the company’s 196 Australian franchisees rose 4.8 per cent to $3.5 billion, which the company said reflected continued demand across technology-led products, particularly AI-enabled computing and mobile devices.

Mr Harvey said its franchisees’ Australian sales had been “very good across the board”, and its company-owned international operations, which span seven countries, were going “pretty good”.

“We think Malaysia and Singapore are going to get stronger and stronger,” he said.

Harvey Norman will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 14.5 cents per share, up 20.8 per cent from its 12 cent interim dividend a year ago.

Harvey Norman shares closed Friday down 9.0 per cent to $5.76, their lowest level since early August.

Mr Harvey said Harvey Norman continued to be misunderstood and under-appreciated by the market. 

“Harvey Norman is not a retailer as such. It’s a retailer-property company,” he said. 

It was continually compared to JB Hi-Fi or the Good Guys, which owned no property, while Harvey Norman owned vast amounts of real estate across the world, Mr Harvey said.

“We’re a very different retailer, because we’re a property owner and retailer,” he said.