One of Australia’s biggest apartment and residential communities suppliers has recorded strong growth in home sales as debate rages across the nation about access to ownership.

Mirvac on Wednesday reported a five per cent rise in net operating profit to $248 million in the first half of 2025/26, from the same period last year.

The result came after residential property sales jumped 38 per cent, with more than a thousand lots exchanged, of which 835 were settled, representing a boost of 22 per cent.

Given the new, rising interest rates environment, Mirvac CEO Campbell Hanan said home seeker inquiry levels in January and February were similar to December, as the group heads toward the end of its first half.

“I can’t stress enough, there is a chronic undersupply of housing in Australia and that chronic undersupply is going to be there for a while,” Mr Hanan told analysts during a briefing.

“There is a lot of pent-up demand that is looking to find a solution to this housing problem.”

One rate hike by the central bank in February may not be enough to move the needle on slower demand, Mr Hanna noted, pointing to a recent sold-out land release for a residential community in Perth’s Bullsbrook.

Mirvac CEO of development Stuart Penklis said customer sentiment around interest rates going up was happening in September and October.

“We’ve seen continued momentum across our projects, particularly from a leads (or inquiries) perspective,” he said.

“Leads are the strongest they’ve been in four years in the December quarter and that has continued into January and February.”

Mr Penklis noted Mirvac’s portfolio was not reliant just on first home buyers, but on upgraders and right-sizers, particularly in the middle ring of its target capital cities and NSW.

Pre-sales have been heavily skewed at 69 per cent to upgraders and right-sizers, followed by 19 per cent to investors, and seven per cent to first home buyers.

It’s currently looking to build 800 apartments on the site of the old Sydney Fish Market in Blackwattle Bay, with first settlements targeted for 2030.

In Karnup, about 51km from the Perth CBD, it’s building 1500 new homes in partnership with the West Australian government.

Mr Penklis said the semi-rural area was one of the fastest-growing catchments in Australia.

“The underlying (housing) market fundamentals remain supportive, including strong population growth, continued undersupply, resilient house prices and rental growth expectations,” he said.

“We remain uniquely positioned across the full residential spectrum – growth corridors, middle and inner rings – with the capability to deliver land built-form housing and apartments.”

Mirvac performed well across all its businesses, which include property development, ownership and management in the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Mr Hanan said.

Its portfolio comprises residential communities, office buildings, industrial assets, retail centres and build-to-rent projects.

Mirvac will pay investors a half-year distribution of 4.7 cents per stapled security.

Its securities jumped almost 5.5 per cent to $2.04 in morning trading.

Australia’s biggest lottery operator says it’s had a resilient first half despite it being the least-favourable period for winning jackpots in about four years.

The Lottery Corp, which runs the Powerball and Oz Lotto draws and Keno games, booked a bottom-line first-half net profit of $173.3 million, down 1.4 per cent.

Revenue for the period grew by two per cent on the equivalent half to $1.8 billion, as earnings before interest and tax dipped one per cent to $313 million.

But the performance showed resilience, despite a $400 million unfavourable impact on turnover during “the least favourable half year for jackpot outcomes” since its demerger from gaming group Tabcorp in 2022.

Around half of the group’s turnover came from jackpot games, chief financial officer Adam Newman said.

“There is going to always be a period of volatility, depending upon where those balls come out of the barrel,” he told analysts during an earnings briefing.

“I don’t think we can get away from that.”

Despite the lack of jackpots, it was a strong underlying performance, according to The Lott’s CEO Wayne Pickup.

Its lotteries division posted a 2.8 per fall in underlying earnings to $269.3 million, as the value of its Powerball and OzLotto jackpots declined by 14.2 per cent.

“Growth in the base game portfolio largely offset reduced jackpot games volumes,” Mr Pickup told shareholders.

But The Lott also noted its new $6 million division 1 offer and subscription price increase for Saturday Lotto draws, implemented in May, “won immediate acceptance” with strong price retention.

A similar price increase was made for Powerball in November, and further hikes remained on the table.

“It’s something that the business has done extremely well over time, and it will certainly continue to be one of our levers, but not the only lever that we looked at,” Mr Pickup said.

“And as you probably know with these lottery products, that price increase correlates through to bigger jackpots, bigger prizes, so that there’s an immediate upside for customers, for our retail partners, as well through commissions.”

Set for Life will be The Lott’s next game refresh, with additional upfront prizes for divisions 1 and 2, coupled with a pricier subscription.

The Lott’s popular Keno arm continued to grow, with a 11.8 per cent rise in underlying earnings to $43.7 million.

Lottery Corp will pay an interim dividend of eight cents for the half year ended December 31, in line with the previous corresponding period.

Looking ahead, the company remains focused on its strategy, which includes evolving as a digital entertainment company, concentrating on Australia’s heavily regulated market and making technology investments.

“Ultimately, we want customers to choose us for entertainment, not just for big jackpots,” Mr Pickup said.

“Technology enables personalised experiences at scale, that’s what keeps customers coming back and engaged.”

The stock market responded positively to the results, sending The Lott’s share price five per cent higher to $5.42 in morning trading.

Five years after Warren Buffett sold off all of Berkshire Hathaway’s newspapers and predicted unending declines for most of the industry, Berkshire disclosed a new $US350 million ($A496 million) investment in the New York Times.

The somewhat surprising move highlighted the quarterly update Berkshire filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission about the company’s stock holdings in Buffett’s last quarter as CEO. 

Berkshire also increased its investment in Chevron just before President Donald Trump ordered the arrest of Venezuela’s president, and the Omaha-based company continued selling off more of its Bank of America and Apple shares.

 At the time that Buffett sold off Berkshire’s dozens of newspapers in 2020 he concluded the industry was “toast”.

But even then he suggested that newspapers with a national brand like the Times or Wall Street Journal might still do well. 

“It’s a full circle moment for Berkshire Hathaway in reinvesting in news and a huge vote of confidence by Berkshire in the business strategy of the New York Times,” said Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. 

Franklin said the Times may have its roots in the newspaper business, but today it’s a thriving digital business with popular games like Wordle, a well known sports platform called The Athletic and more than 12 million digital subscribers. 

He said maybe struggling local newspapers can draw some lessons from the “digital news powerhouse” the Times has become and find ways to offer online games and showcase the local sports coverage that readers can’t get elsewhere.

These quarterly stock portfolio filings don’t make clear whether Buffett made every move or whether one of Berkshire’s other investment managers did.

Buffett generally handled any investments worth more than $US1 billion ($A1.4 billion), so at the size of this Times investment it’s not certain whether this was one of his bets. 

But many investors will still try to copy it because of Buffett’s remarkable track record over the decades before he handed the CEO title over to Greg Abel in January after six decades of leading Berkshire. Shares of the Times jumped nearly three per cent in after hours trading after Berkshire disclosed the stake. 

Australia’s largest steel maker is back in a takeover play after its predators upped an offer to buy the group.

The Stokes family-controlled SGH and its US bid partner Steel Dynamics on Wednesday put a “best and final” $32.35 per share offer to BlueScope shareholders on the table, valuing the company at about $15 billion.

That compares to their $30-per-share proposal revealed in January, which was rejected by the target as undervaluing its assets and potential.

BlueScope soon after announced it would hand back $438 million to shareholders.

Earlier in the week, chief executive Tania Archibald told investors at a results briefing that the company intended to lift its shareholder distribution target to return 75 per cent of free cash flow, up from its previous target of 50 per cent.

The Port Kembla steelworks owner on Monday posted a first-half net profit for 2025/26 of $390.8 million, up 118 per cent from the same time a year ago.

SGH and Steel Dynamics said their revised offer presented an attractive premium for BlueScope shareholders.

“The increased purchase price represents SGH and SDI’s best and final offer in the absence of a superior competing proposal for all or a material part of BSL,” they said in a statement.

The pair still plan to split BlueScope, with SGH keeping its Australian and other regional operations and on-selling the North American operations to Steel Dynamics.

In addition to the Port Kembla steelworks in southern NSW, BlueScope has the North Star operation in the US state of Ohio, which uses scrap to produce hot-rolled steel at low cost.

Shares in BlueScope, which is yet to formally respond to the new offer, ended at $28 on Tuesday.

Agrochemical maker Bayer and lawyers for cancer patients announced a proposed $US7.25 billion ($A10.26 billion) settlement to resolve thousands of US lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer.

The proposed settlement on Tuesday comes as the US Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments in April on Bayer’s assertion that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts. That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement.

But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual Supreme Court ruling.

Patients would be assured of receiving settlement money even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer’s favour. And Bayer would be protected from potentially larger costs if the high court rules against it.

Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018, disputes the assertion that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

But the company has warned that mounting legal costs are threatening its ability to continue selling the product in US agricultural markets.

“Litigation uncertainly has plagued the company for years, and this settlement gives the company a road to closure,” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said.

The proposed settlement was filed in St Louis Circuit Court in Missouri, home to Bayer’s North America crop science division and the state where many of the lawsuits have been brought. The settlement still needs the court’s approval.

More than 125,000 plaintiffs have lodged legal claims over Roundup since 2015, according to the settlement documents.

Few have gone to jurors, with 13 verdicts for Bayer and 11 for plaintiffs, including a $US2.1 billion ($A3 billion) award by a Georgia jury last year.

Others already have been resolved through separate settlements, including two recent ones that would take care of about 77,000 of the claims.

The newly proposed nationwide settlement is designed to address most of the remaining lawsuits, as well as any additional cases brought in the coming years by people who were exposed to Roundup before Tuesday.

If too many plaintiffs opt out of the proposed settlement, Bayer said it reserves the right to cancel it. But Bayer did not specify how many opt-outs would have to occur.

The deal calls for Bayer to make annual payments into a special fund for up to 21 years, totalling as much as $US7.25 billion.

The amount of money paid out to individuals would vary depending on how they used Roundup, how old they were when diagnosed and the severity of their non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

An agricultural, industrial or turf worker exposed at length to Roundup would receive an average of $US165,000 ($A233,594) if they were diagnosed with an aggressive form of the illness while younger than age 60, according to the proposed settlement.

Meanwhile, a residential Roundup user diagnosed between the ages of 60-77 with a less aggressive form of the illness would receive an average of $US20,000 ($A28,314).

“No settlement can erase a diagnosis, but this agreement is designed to ensure that both today’s and tomorrow’s patients have access to meaningful compensation,” said lawyer Christopher Seeger, who would represent current claimants under the settlement.

President Donald Trump’s administration has weighed in on Bayer’s behalf, reversing the position of former President Joe Biden’s administration and putting it at odds with some supporters of the Make America Healthy Again agenda who oppose giving the company the legal immunity it seeks.

The company simultaneously has been lobbying state legislatures to shield pesticide manufacturers from state failure-to-warn lawsuits when their products follow federal labelling requirements.

American actor Shia LaBeouf has been arrested after allegedly hitting two men during Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans.

Police say they were called to the scene in New Orleans’ French Quarter at around 12.45am on Tuesday after reports of an assault.

The New Orleans police department said LaBeouf was reportedly becoming increasingly aggressive while at Royal Street Inn and Bar.

An employee tried to remove LaBeouf but once outside the actor allegedly hit a man “multiple times with closed fists”.

Witnesses reportedly told police that LaBeouf left the area but later returned and continued to act aggressively.

Another man told officers the actor punched him on the nose, the police department said.

The actor had to be restrained until police officers arrived, and was later taken to hospital for “treatment of unknown injuries”.

Police said that after being released from hospital the actor was arrested and charged with “two counts of simple battery”.

LaBeouf rose to fame on the Disney Channel in the early 2000s, and is known for films including Holes, Fury, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and the Transformers franchise.

He has been somewhat absent from the Hollywood limelight after his former partner, musician FKA Twigs, accused him of being physically and emotionally abusive.

The British singer, whose legal name is Tahliah Barnett, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles in December 2019 alleging that LaBeouf was a danger to women.

The 33-year-old from Cheltenham alleged the actor once slammed her into a car, tried to strangle her and knowingly gave her an unspecified sexually transmitted disease.

LaBeouf denied “each and every allegation” made by his former partner. The pair settled the lawsuit last June.

Representatives for LaBeouf have been contacted for comment.

With the prospect of paying at least $1 million for a home in many of Australia’s capital cities, buyers are once again looking to escape to the country.

The regional property market surged in the three months to January, outpacing the capitals, according to figures from data firm Cotality released on Wednesday.

Dwelling values rose 3.2 per cent for the quarter in regional areas, compared to 2.1 per cent in the combined capitals.

Competitive market conditions in the cities, poor housing affordability and a boost in internal migration sent buyers packing for the country long after COVID-19 lockdowns sparked the initial migration trend.

“With capital city prices still near record highs and stock levels tight, many households are once again looking to regional Australia for greater value and livability,” the firm’s head of research Gerard Burg said.

“We’re seeing momentum build across a wide range of regional markets, from inland hubs to coastal centres and mining-adjacent regions.

“This reflects a renewed movement of people and capital into areas where buyers’ budgets stretch further and competition for available homes is strong.”

Sydney’s median home value sat at $1.23 million in January, followed by Brisbane at $1.02 million, with Perth and Adelaide tipping over $900,000, according to a PropTrack report released on February 2.

Compared to those cities’ prices, many of the fastest-growing regions can offer only modest housing affordability relief, if any.

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast had a median value of more than $1.2 million in January, with weekly rents at $832, Cotality’s data showed.

Geelong, a Victorian port city and hotspot for Melbourne escapees, had a median value of $771,298, with rents at $558.

The NSW Hunter region has long been one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia, with a median of $956,142 and rents at $698 in Newcastle-Maitland.

The market report showed Wagga Wagga, in southern NSW, experienced the highest growth in value at 8.1 per cent for the quarter.

The median value in the regional city was $665,062 in January.

Regional Western Australia had the strongest growth among the states, with values rising 6.1 per cent, up from 4.9 per cent.

Albany, a coastal city on the state’s southern tip, experienced a value hike of 7.7 per cent, with a median value of $783,389.

Queensland and South Australia’s markets also grew, while regional NSW and Victoria only shifted slightly.

Small local market declines were recorded in the Bowral, Mittagong and Bateman’s Bay regions in southern NSW, and in Warrnambool on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. 

A renewed focus on the regions is not good news for all locals, as low rental vacancy rates are met with rapidly increasing rents.

Regional rent growth was slightly above the capitals at 1.6 per cent, compared to 1.4 per cent.

Rents outside the cities have risen by almost 42 per cent in the past five years, well ahead of wage growth at 17.5 per cent.

Wage growth is expected to remain on hold, despite large pockets of the workforce receiving a pay bump.

Data for the December quarter will be released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with annual growth set to be steady at 3.4 per cent.

Annual growth has been at 3.4 per cent since the March quarter, despite a rise in quarterly figures.

Should the forecasts hold true, wages would be trending below inflation, which ticked up to 3.8 per cent in the year to December.

The December quarter will take in a pay rise for aged care workers across Australia, which came into effect from October.

The increase in salary was the final stage of wage rises for the sector following a case lodged by the Health Services Union to the Fair Work Commission at the end of 2022.

Wages in aged care have been increasing since 2023, which now see employees paid an extra $433 per week.

NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent predicted wage growth would remain in line with forecasts from the Reserve Bank.

“There will be a boost of around five basis points from the October tranche of pay rises related to the work value case for aged care workers,” he said.

“Wage price index growth has been supported over the past year by public sector wage agreement that incorporate some catch-up growth.”

The most recent wage figures saw pay packets for the private sector rising 0.7 per cent for the September quarter, while public sector wages rose 0.9 per cent.

But a rise in wages has seen a rise in the number of businesses shutting their doors, with figures showing the hospitality sector was more under pressure than other industries .

The business risk index for January from CreditorWatch revealed 10.4 per cent of service businesses closed in the past year, more than any other sector, double that of the economy-wide average.

CreditorWatch chief executive Patrick Coghlan said rising wages had seen narrow margins for business owners being squeezed.

“Asset‑backed pubs and clubs are holding firm, but cafes and restaurants are operating on razor‑thin margins with very little room for error,” he said.

“When overdue invoices in food service are running at more than double the national average, that’s not cyclical noise – it’s sustained financial stress.”

The report said a rise in food prices of more than seven per cent in the past year was also a factor.

Economy wide, there were 1366 insolvencies during December 2025, the third-highest monthly total recorded.

All eyes are on the coalition’s immigration policy as leader Angus Taylor calls for unity following the announcement of a front bench rewarding his supporters.

Mr Taylor has spent his first days in leadership spruiking the opposition’s stance on immigration, promising to slash migrant numbers and “shut the door” on people who don’t respect Australian values. 

He said an immigration policy would be developed with his new-look shadow cabinet, but would not be drawn on details.

“For too long, immigration numbers have been too high, and standards have been too low,” Mr Taylor said.

“If someone doesn’t subscribe to our core beliefs, the door must be shut.”

Mr Taylor returned members to the front bench who were axed by former leader Sussan Ley, who he ousted in a party room ballot on Friday. 

“Today marks a fresh beginning, an opportunity to put the past behind us and to remember that our historic strength comes through unity,” he said in Sydney on Tuesday.

Conservative supporter Senator Jonno Duniam has been given the shadow ministry home affairs and immigration. 

“We’re going to protect our way of life. We’ve got to get immigration policy right,” Mr Taylor said.

He has denied seeing an immigration policy document, developed under Ms Ley and leaked to media on Monday, that took a hardline stance to ban migrants from specific regions of 13 countries. 

The regions included are within Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Somalia and Egypt. 

The proposal would also seek to remove up to 100,000 asylum seekers and people on student visas faster.

“Frankly, I don’t know what the document is,” Mr Taylor told ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday.

Former immigration minister Paul Scarr, who lost his shadow ministry, said on Monday he “never agreed” or signed off on the policy document and disowned the country ban aspect. 

Andrew Hastie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson were promoted in the shadow cabinet shake-up.

Several moderates and key backers of Ms Ley, including Alex Hawke and Paul Scarr, were taken off the front bench. 

Leading the opposition in managing the economy, deputy leader Jane Hume holds the finance portfolio and Tim Wilson is the shadow treasurer. 

Moderate Andrew Bragg retains the housing portfolio and will take on the role of environment spokesman, while James Paterson has shifted from finance to defence.

Conservative Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie had stepped down from Ms Ley’s front bench last October, citing disagreement over immigration policy. Mr Taylor gave him the energy portfolio.

Liberals hope to claw back ground under Mr Taylor’s leadership after bleeding votes to One Nation in recent opinion polls. 

Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration party has had a surge in opinion polls since the federal election.

Thomas Pritzker will retire as the executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels after details of his affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in documents related to the burgeoning investigation of ties the notorious sex trafficker had to the elite and powerful. 

Pritzker, in a prepared statement, said he deeply regrets his association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a long time associate of Epstein.

“I exercised terrible judgement in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner,” Pritzker said in a statement. 

“I condemn the actions and the harm caused by Epstein and Maxwell and I feel deep sorrow for the pain they inflicted on their victims.” 

Some emails between Pritzker and Epstein are included in a cache of Epstein-related documents recently released by the US Department of Justice.

Epstein died by suicide while incarcerated in 2019 after he was charged with sex trafficking.

Pritzker served as executive chairman of Hyatt for more than 20 years. His retirement is effective immediately.

Pritzker, 75, also will not stand for re-election to Hyatt’s board at its annual shareholders meeting.

The news of Pritzker’s retirement as executive chairman of Hyatt comes days after Dubai announced a new chairman for logistics company DP World, replacing the outgoing head who was named in the Epstein documents.

The announcement by the government’s Dubai Media Office did not specifically name Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. However, it said that Essa Kazim was named DP World’s chairman and Yuvraj Narayan was named group CEO. Those were positions held by bin Sulayem.