The federal Liberal and National parties are set to reunite after an acrimonious three-week split.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her Nationals counterpart, David Littleproud, have agreed on a deal to restore senior Nationals to the front bench after they were sacked or stood down for breaking solidarity conventions over hate-speech laws.

An announcement confirming the reunion was expected on Sunday, which would see the coalition restored and all former Nationals frontbenchers reinstated to shadow cabinet.

Mr Littleproud offered for all former Nationals shadow ministers to spend two weeks on the back bench, while an offer previously put forward by Ms Ley would have seen them spend six months in the sin bin.

A compromise of six weeks on the back bench, backdated to the mass resignation on January 21, provided an end to the stalemate, Liberal sources confirmed to AAP.

Mr Littleproud and deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan will immediately rejoin leadership meetings and shadow cabinet processes.

The Nationals initially proposed keeping the coalition apart for six weeks.

The leaders are also expected to sign an agreement codifying the convention of shadow cabinet solidarity, in which frontbenchers must step down from their roles if they vote against an agreed position of the Liberal-National joint party room.

The written agreement clearly sets out that the joint party room has primacy over the individual National and Liberal party rooms, addressing the contradiction that instigated the split.

Three Nationals frontbenchers – Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald – voted against Labor’s hate-speech laws, in line with a party decision but in defiance of an agreed shadow cabinet position to vote in favour.

The trio later tendered their resignations to Ms Ley, which she accepted.

But the move triggered a furious response from Mr Littleproud and the Nationals, who resigned from shadow cabinet en masse and caused the coalition collapse.

Asked about the prospect of a reunion on Sunday morning, the Nationals leader said he was not going to pre-empt any announcement but blamed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the split by rushing the vote on hate-speech laws.

“The reality was none of us were afforded proper time because of the timelines Anthony Albanese put on us to vote on a free speech bill,” he told Nine’s Today program.

Ms Ley gave the Nationals a deadline of Sunday to respond to her offer to revive the coalition before their shadow cabinet positions were provided to Liberal replacements.

The reunification comes during a seismic shift in Australia’s right-wing political landscape, with minor-party One Nation surging past the former coalition partners in some polls.

But tensions between Liberals and Nationals remain elevated.

Liberal MPs were livid at Mr Littleproud’s insistence the two parties could not get back together with Ms Ley at the helm of the senior coalition partner, which they saw as an unwelcome intervention in internal party affairs.

Opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson would not confirm reports of the coalition reunion but said there had been significant steps based on conversations he’d been having.

“I’m hopeful that there’s a pathway where we can focus back on Labor, and that has to be the objective,” he told Sky News.

Polls have opened in Japan in an election that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will allow her to push new conservative policies.

Polls predict the election will hand Takaichi ‍a resounding win, although record snowfall in parts of the country could keep many voters at home on Sunday.

The conservative coalition of Takaichi, the nation’s first female leader, could win more ​than 300 of the 465 seats in the lower house of parliament, according to multiple opinion polls, a large gain from the 233 it is defending.

If the coalition of Takaichi’s ⁠Liberal Democratic Party with the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, wins 310 seats, it would be able to override the opposition-controlled upper chamber.

Takaichi, 64, who became prime minister in October after being selected LDP leader, sought a mandate from voters in a rare winter election as she rides a wave of popularity.

With a straight-talking style and an image as a hard worker that have won her support, especially with younger voters, Takaichi has ‌accelerated military spending to ​counter China, which she sparked a diplomatic row with, and pushed economic stimulus and tax cuts that have rattled financial markets.

“If Takaichi wins big, ‍she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments, including on consumption tax” cuts, said Seiji Inada, managing director at FGS Global, a strategic advisory consultancy. 

“Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”

She has promised to suspend the eight per cent sales tax on food for two years to help households cope with rising prices, partly driven by the yen’s sharp fall.

Takaichi has generated a social media-led wave, mostly among voters, of a Sanae-mania called “sanakatsu” for products she uses, such as her handbag and ​the pink pen she scribbles notes with in parliament.

A recent opinion poll found voters under ‌30 favouring her by more than 90 per cent.

That young cohort, however, is less likely to vote than the older generations that have long been the bedrock of LDP support.

On Thursday, Takaichi received the endorsement of US President ​Donald Trump, a signal that may appeal to right-leaning voters but could also put off some moderates.

With up to 70cm of snow forecast in northern and eastern regions on Sunday, some voters will have to battle blizzards to pass their verdict on her administration. It is only the third postwar election held in February, with elections typically called during milder months.

In Nagaoka in the rural northern prefecture of Niigata, where snow was piled ​more ​than one metre high along the roadsides on Saturday, campaigners urged ​people to vote early to avoid expected snow storms.

“It’s bad enough here in the ​towns, but in the mountains there’s twice as much snow. It’s hard just to leave the house,” said Takehiko Igarashi, a volunteer for the Japanese Communist Party, which he said was calling up supporters and offering to drive them to polling stations.

Turnout in recent lower house elections has hovered around the mid-50 per cent range. Any slump on Sunday could amplify the influence of organised voting blocs.

One of those is Komeito, which last year quit its coalition with the LDP and has merged into a centrist group with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Komeito has close ties to the lay-Buddhist Soka Gakkai group, which claims at least eight million members nationwide.

Voters will pick lawmakers in 289 single-seat constituencies, with the rest decided by proportional-representation votes ‍for parties.

Polls close at 8pm (10pm AEDT), when broadcasters are expected to issue projections based on their exit polls. 

Opponents of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia must remember it comes in response to the anti-Semitic terrorist attack at Bondi, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

Rallies have been organised in capital cities ahead of Mr Herzog’s visit, which starts on Monday, with police in Sydney vowing to crack down on unauthorised protest action.

Mr Albanese said he and Mr Herzog would meet with the families of Bondi massacre victims during the five-day tour.

“I hope that people are respectful of the fact that this is a difficult time for families, particularly in the Bondi community, from the Chabad community there,” he told a press conference in Perth on Saturday.

Mr Herzog has also defended the tour, saying his visit is important to the Australian Jewish community reeling from the attack.

Protesters and human rights experts have called for Mr Herzog’s invitation to be rescinded, citing his culpability in Israel’s bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

“We cannot allow Herzog’s propaganda tour for the State of Israel to go ahead. We cannot allow genocide to be normalised,” said the Palestine Action Group’s Josh Lees.

Mr Herzog has previously said Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, before later clarifying his remarks.

A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found the statement might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.

The NSW government has approved special event public safety arrangements to bolster the number of police deployed during Mr Herzog’s visit.

Anyone who fails to comply with police directions will face penalties including fines of up to $5500.

A protest march from Sydney Town Hall through the city has been declared an unauthorised route, but several members of parliament have urged police to allow the rally to proceed.

The United States ‍and India have moved closer to a trade pact, releasing an interim framework that would lower tariffs, reshape energy ties and deepen economic co-operation as both countries seek to realign global supply chains.

The framework reaffirms a ​commitment to negotiations toward a broader bilateral trade agreement, the two governments said in a joint statement on Friday, while noting further negotiations were needed to complete the pact.

Separately, US President Donald Trump in an executive order removed the additional 25 per cent ⁠tariff imposed on Indian goods for Russian oil purchases as New Delhi “committed to stop directly or indirectly importing” Russian oil.

However, US officials will monitor and recommend reinstating the tariff if India resumes oil procurement from Russia, the order said, as Washington maintains pressure on India to restrict energy ties with Moscow.

The India-US joint statement on Friday did not mention India’s Russian oil purchases or a formal pledge from India to confirm the move.

Trump announced a deal with India on Monday to cut US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent in exchange for India halting purchases of Russian oil and lowering trade barriers.

Half of the 50 per cent rate had been imposed separately by Trump ‌as punishment for India’s purchases ​of Russian oil, which he said were fuelling Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

Trump signed an executive order on Friday rescinding that 25 per cent portion after India agreed this week to shift ‍its oil buying to the US and Venezuela.

However, the statement indicated New Delhi resisted Washington’s push to broadly open its agricultural market.

Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said in a social media post on X the agreement safeguards farmers’ interests and rural livelihoods by “completely protecting sensitive agricultural and dairy products”.

India’s opposition Congress party, however, said the trade deal was concluded largely on US terms and hurt farmers and traders, calling it a pact that compromised national interests.

Friday’s joint statement provides additional details compared with initial outlines of the trade deal revealed by Trump on Monday.

It confirms that India will purchase $US500 billion ($A713 billion) in US goods over a five-year period, including oil, gas, coking ​coal, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, and technology products.

The last category includes graphics processing units, typically used for AI ‌applications, and other goods used in data centres.

It said India would eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains and red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed ​fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits.

But the deal will apply an 18 per cent tariff rate on most imports to the US from India, including textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and ‍rubber, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products and certain machinery.

Goyal had said on Thursday that Washington and New Delhi aimed to sign a formal trade agreement in March, after which India’s tariff cuts on US exports would go into effect.

When not toiling in a sweaty underground substation, Aurelia St Quintin spends her days slaving over her university texts. 

The third-year apprentice electrician joined Ausgrid directly out of high school and is concurrently completing a bachelor of electrical engineering.

“My career looks a lot different to that of most of my friends,” she says.

“But I feel really proud when we’re together, to point out infrastructure and be able to explain to them how it all works.” 

Ms St Quintin says she enjoys the challenge of a busy schedule and learning how the concepts of her apprenticeship and degree compliment each other.

Starting Monday, apprentices will be celebrated and apprenticeships promoted as a way of highlighting their role in shaping the future of industry across the country, during National Apprenticeship Week.

Apprenticeships boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by a $1.2 billion federal wage subsidy, but commencements numbers have dropped since its expiry.

Still, a few fields have remained resilient, including electricians and child care workers, figures show.

According to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 133,255 Australians began apprenticeships in the 12 months to June 30, a drop of 51.9 per cent from their peak in 2021/22.

Trades in-training starts in 2024/25 remained higher than they were before 2019 but non-trade traineeships were about 10 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. 

Among the fields that saw apprenticeship growth from 2022-25 while their overall workforces shrunk were environmental science, structural steel and welding work, aircraft maintenance engineering, toolmaking and engineering patternmaking, air conditioning mechanics, aged and disabled care, security work and livestock farming.

In Newcastle, 35-year-old Joshua Jones is working as an electrician at fibre optic and data cabling company RAD Electric Co. after receiving his TAFE electrotechnology certificate.

“Electrical is a trade where your skills are in demand and can take you anywhere,” he says.

“An apprenticeship gives you real experience, real qualifications and long-term career options.”

As a father, Mr Jones says choosing a trade that offers stability and long-term career options was important to him. 

Elisha Jane Grice, a Central Coast mum of two who works as electrician with Terrigal Electrical after getting a similar TAFE certificate, says she was drawn to the trade for its hands-on nature.

“I knew I didn’t want a general office job,” she says.

“I love being outdoors and doing something different every day and an apprenticeship really suited that.”

She is the only woman in her training cohort but describes both TAFE and her workplace as supportive environments, crediting her employer with being flexible about family life. 

“An apprenticeship is sometimes seen as the easy option but it’s definitely not,”  Ms Grice says. 

“The skills you learn are so valuable and you can take them anywhere, which makes it really rewarding.”

Ms Grice and Mr Jones are part of a trend of more mature Australians taking up apprenticeships.

Commencements among 25-44-year-olds are up 54 per cent since 1995, compared with 17 per cent growth for those 19 and under.

“What we’re seeing in classrooms right across the state is a real shift in who is coming into trades,” says TAFE NSW electrical trades team leader, Stuart Bailey.  

“More adults are choosing apprenticeships because they want practical skills, secure work and a career that can grow with them.”

Older students bring life experience and motivation and a clear sense of purpose and stability, he adds.

Ausgrid welcomed its most recent intake of apprentices into its “bright spark” program in January.

The cohort, which includes a number of mature-age starters, gets to choose from three trade streams: electrical, linework and cable jointing.

Each offers on-the-job rotational training with experienced field teams across overhead works, substations, transmission lines, underground works and safety, says Ausgrid, which maintains the poles, wires and cable that deliver power to over 1.8 million NSW customers.

“It’s a really exciting time to take up an apprenticeship in the energy sector,” according to the company’s group executive for people and culture, Celina Cross.

“An apprenticeship with Ausgrid is no longer just a trade pathway, it’s a front-row seat to the energy transition,” she says.

“We are feeling the impacts of a growing skills gap in the energy industry and we’re responding by investing in our apprenticeships to build capability now, and into the future.”

The company offers its apprentices supervision, support and mentoring from experienced field teams during the program, Ms Cross says.

Just over a quarter of the apprentices are women.

Ms St Quintin says she’s enjoyed great support and mentoring but adds that the early starts have been an adjustment. She’s not a morning person.

There were also days where Ausgrid’s underground substations in the Sydney CBD could get very warm but the job was so interesting she got used to it. 

She’s now working on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, learning about protection of electrical infrastructure including overhead lines and kiosks.

She hopes to become an engineering officer when she finishes her studies so she can do both technical and field work.

The ball is in Sussan Ley’s court as she mulls the Nationals’ counteroffer to restore the coalition.

But the disunity is expected to continue as the Liberal leader presses ahead with plans to name a new leadership team.

The Nationals have offered for all their former shadow ministers to remain benched for a fortnight before rejoining the political marriage.

They would have been forced to spend six months on the back bench for breaking shadow cabinet solidarity under the reunion offer previously put forward by Ms Ley.

The furore began in mid-January when Nationals senators Ross Cadell, Susan McDonald and Bridget McKenzie voted against hate speech legislation, which shadow cabinet had agreed to support. 

All three offered their resignations and Ms Ley accepted them, prompting the coalition collapse.

Mr Littleproud said his shadow ministerial colleagues would have voted against the legislation in the lower house rather than abstain had it not been for timing, as amendments were being worked up. 

He maintains the senators didn’t break solidarity as the legislation that came before the Senate was significantly amended from what was agreed in cabinet and that a formal position wasn’t adopted by a joint party room meeting. 

The Liberal leader is unlikely to accept the Nationals’ counteroffer as she believes it is a stalling tactic to prolong coalition negotiations.

Ms Ley had given the Nationals a deadline of Sunday to come to the table before announcing Liberal replacements for her shadow cabinet and ministry, while Mr Littleproud has said he won’t be held to any arbitrary deadline.

This could entrench the split for longer as it becomes harder to sack colleagues who have been given a significant pay bump and extra staff to handle their portfolios.

It also complicates the political calculus as Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor plots a leadership coup against the party’s first female leader, with some of his supporters predicting a challenge as early as the coming week.

With only a handful of votes separating the pair, Ms Ley can shore up support by promoting swinging backbenchers, rather than wait for the Nationals to come to the table. 

Mr Littleproud has an acrimonious relationship with Ms Ley going back years, and has openly questioned her leadership.

Delaying negotiations and therefore stalling the naming of more Liberal frontbenchers could ultimately help decide the Liberal leadership in Mr Taylor’s favour by taking a card out of Ms Ley’s deck.

The Nationals walking out has left the former coalition’s senate estimates tactics in disarray as Liberals have portfolios dropped on their desks just days before being expected to question public servants over shortcomings. 

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the only way to stave off populist, right-wing parties like One Nation – which is surging in the polls off the back of coalition disunity – was by coming up with credible policies that address people’s grievances. 

This included bread and butter issues like housing affordability, health, education and infrastructure, he said. 

“If people despair that the traditional parties are not able to fix it, they’ll say, ‘what do I have to lose?'” he said in Sydney.

Shares in the company that owns Australia’s most popular property website have tumbled after warning listings could fall by as much as three per cent this financial year.

Realestate.com.au owner REA Group said on Friday that national buy listings were down six per cent in the first half and predicted a decline of one to three per cent for the full year.

January listings were down eight per cent compared to the same month last year, with the big markets of Melbourne and Sydney down one per cent each.

There were also larger-than-expected declines in Perth and Brisbane, REA Group said.

The company’s shares were down nine per cent to $166.03 – the lowest level since late 2023 – around lunchtime.

REA Group’s new chief executive Cameron McIntyre said that Australia’s property market was healthy, supported by strong employment levels and population growth.

“While we saw an increase in interest rates this week, the prospect of rising rates was already widely flagged and the underlying fundamentals of the market remain very strong,” he said.

Supply had improved in Melbourne and Sydney, but some vendors had delayed their listings because of limited stock in smaller capital cities.

“Anecdotally, across the country, our customers are telling us that they’re seeing very good numbers coming through open for inspections, which aligns with that view of a buoyant level of demand that we’re seeing,” he said.

REA Group posted first-half revenue of $916 million, up five per cent from a year ago, while its underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and depreciation – grew six per cent to $569 million.

Bottom line net profit rose nine per cent to $341 million.

REA Group announced a $200 million share buyback as well as an interim fully-franked dividend of $1.24 per cent, up 13 per cent from a year ago.

However, RBC Capital Markets analyst Garry Sherriff said the company’s update was negative and the results missed consensus forecasts.

“Looking forward, higher interest rates typically are generally negative for new listing volumes,” he said.

CoStar, the US-based commercial property company that acquired Domain in August for $3 billion, remains a “thorn” in the side for REA, with CoStar’s founder in Australia at the present, Mr Sherriff said.

But REA Group said it was very pleased with its result and had rolled out a number of artificial intelligence initiatives, including conversational search through a partnership with OpenAI.

So far, though, traffic from ChatGPT is “a fraction of a fraction, and that fraction has declined, not increased more recently,” Mr McIntyre told analysts.

“You’re talking about sub one per cent in terms of how we think about it going forward.”

Thousands of demonstrators are set to defy protest restrictions when they rally against the Israeli president’s contentious visit to Australia next week, as police warn activists face arrest.

Rallies have been organised in every state capital across the country ahead of Isaac Herzog’s five-day tour, including a major protest in Sydney on Monday.

But organisers’ proposed protest route – from Town Hall to NSW Parliament House – is prohibited under a declaration that allows police to refuse to authorise public assemblies in key parts of the city.

NSW Police have instead urged Palestine Action Group to come to the table and move the rally to an approved area.

“We do not want to be placed in a situation where we are at Town Hall on Monday evening with a significant number of people enforcing the declaration,” acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan told reporters on Friday.

“That may and potentially will result in arrests.

“That can be easily avoided through consultation and working with us to enable protest activity in the right area at the right time.”

Mr Dunstan suggested protesters march along a lawful route from Hyde Park to Belmont Park that had been used on Sunday.

After the Bondi shooting, laws rushed through NSW parliament gave police powers to prevent NSW residents from seeking authorisation for rallies after a declared terrorist incident, leaving participants vulnerable to arrest for obstructing traffic or pedestrians, or marching through the streets.

About 4000 people are expected to attend Monday’s rally and 500 police will be deployed to monitor the march.

While all visits by heads of state are well policed, Mr Dunstan acknowledged there was “a little bit more attention with this one”.

Israel’s president was controversially invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people on December 14.

He is set to meet with federal politicians as well as those impacted by the terrorist incident.

But protesters and human rights experts have called for his invitation to be rescinded, citing his culpability in Israel’s bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

Mr Herzog has previously said Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found the statement might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles maintained the president will be a “welcome and honoured guest” in Australia.

“To have the president of Israel here, the equivalent of our governor-general, is really significant for Australia’s Jewish community in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre,” he told reporters.

“He will be treated with all the dignity and respect that he deserves.”

But even some within Labor’s ranks do not want to roll out the red carpet for the Israeli leader.

NSW Labor backbencher Sarah Kaine has said she will be marching with the protest over concerns about the visit while federal backbencher Ed Husic has said he is “very uncomfortable” about the tour.

Atlassian is “building a bloody great business”, its founder says, as its US market stock falls to a seven-year low amid growing losses and a wider software sector sell-off.

The Sydney-quartered software company delivered $US1.6 billion ($A2.3 billion) in revenue in the three months to December 31, up 23 per cent from a year ago and ahead of expectations.

Its net loss for the quarter widened to $US42.6 million ($A61 million), however, up from $US38.2 million ($A54.7 million) a year ago.

Atlassian makes a suite of cloud-based collaboration tools, including Jira and Trello, used for software development and project management.

It said on Friday it now had more than 350,000 customers, including 80 per cent of the Fortune 500.

“We had a fantastic Q2. We’re building a bloody great business,” Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes told shareholders in a letter.

Still, Atlassian’s Nasdaq-listed shares dropped 6.3 per cent to $US98.41 on Thursday – the lowest level since early 2019 and representing a 69.3 per cent loss in the past 12 months. 

After Atlassian’s second-quarter results were released on Friday morning Australian time, its TEAM shares fell further in US after-hours trading, dropping 3.6 per cent to $US94.51.

A major sell-off has hit US software stocks this week, partly fuelled by artificial intelligence company Anthropic releasing a plug-in that can apparently automate high-level legal work. 

It led to investor fears AI agents could disrupt the business models of highly profitable software-as-a-service firms – the darlings of the tech sector for their stable, subscription-based revenue models.

The US S&P500 software and service index tumbled 4.7 per cent and has fallen 20.9 per cent in the past month to its lowest level since April, in a sell-off dubbed “software-mageddon” and “Saasocalypse”.

Major names hit by the rout include Microsoft, Salesforce and Thomson Reuters, as well as Xero, which is listed on the Australian exchange.

“I’m convinced AI is great for Atlassian,” Mr Cannon-Brookes said in his shareholder letter. 

“Others think software is dead.”

Mr Cannon-Brookes told analysts in a conference call that thousands of customers were using Atlassian’s AI code-generation tools to increase productivity.

“As I’ve said before, AI is the best thing to happen to Atlassian,” he said.

Enterprise customers, he said, needed a platform that was trustworthy, compliant and secure.

“AI enables us to do that better than we ever have in our domain of helping their teams to collaborate and be better,” he said.

Atlassian is “building a bloody great business”, its founder says, as its US market stock falls to a seven-year low amid growing losses and a wider software sector sell-off.

The Sydney-quartered software company delivered $US1.6 billion ($A2.3 billion) in revenue in the three months to December 31, up 23 per cent from a year ago and ahead of expectations.

Its net loss for the quarter widened to $US42.6 million ($A61 million), however, up from $US38.2 million ($A54.7 million) a year ago.

Atlassian makes a suite of cloud-based collaboration tools, including Jira and Trello, used for software development and project management.

It said on Friday it now had more than 350,000 customers, including 80 per cent of the Fortune 500.

“We had a fantastic Q2. We’re building a bloody great business,” Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes told shareholders in a letter.

Still, Atlassian’s Nasdaq-listed shares dropped 6.3 per cent to $US98.41 on Thursday – the lowest level since early 2019 and representing a 69.3 per cent loss in the past 12 months. 

After Atlassian’s second-quarter results were released on Friday morning Australian time, its TEAM shares fell further in US after-hours trading, dropping 3.6 per cent to $US94.51.

A major sell-off has hit US software stocks this week, partly fuelled by artificial intelligence company Anthropic releasing a plug-in that can apparently automate high-level legal work. 

It led to investor fears AI agents could disrupt the business models of highly profitable software-as-a-service firms – the darlings of the tech sector for their stable, subscription-based revenue models.

The US S&P500 software and service index tumbled 4.7 per cent and has fallen 20.9 per cent in the past month to its lowest level since April, in a sell-off dubbed “software-mageddon” and “Saasocalypse”.

Major names hit by the rout include Microsoft, Salesforce and Thomson Reuters, as well as Xero, which is listed on the Australian exchange.

“I’m convinced AI is great for Atlassian,” Mr Cannon-Brookes said in his shareholder letter. 

“Others think software is dead.”

Mr Cannon-Brookes told analysts in a conference call that thousands of customers were using Atlassian’s AI code-generation tools to increase productivity.

“As I’ve said before, AI is the best thing to happen to Atlassian,” he said.

Enterprise customers, he said, needed a platform that was trustworthy, compliant and secure.

“AI enables us to do that better than we ever have in our domain of helping their teams to collaborate and be better,” he said.