Britain’s jobless rate edged up in late 2025 to its highest in ‌more than a decade outside the pandemic period and wage growth slowed further, data shows, adding to investor bets on a UK ‌interest rate cut in March.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.2 per cent in the last three months of 2025, the highest since 2015 not including the pandemic, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics. 

It hit 5.3 per cent in late 2020 and stood at 5.1 per cent in the three months to November.

“Today’s data raises the prospect of the Bank of England resuming cutting interest rates in March,” Yael  Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said.

The data from the ONS ⁠showed weaker inflationary heat from growth in workers’ earnings.

Annual wage growth, excluding ‌bonuses, slowed ​to 4.2 per cent in the last three months of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, matching forecasts by most economists ​in a ‌Reuters poll and down from 4.4 per cent in the three months to November.

The BoE is watching pay as a gauge of ​how long Britain’s above-target inflation is likely to last.

Earlier in February, the central bank said previously strong wage growth in the private sector was starting to reflect the weakening of the jobs market.

Private sector annual wage growth excluding bonuses ​slowed to ​3.4 per cent in the three months to December, down ​from 3.6 per cent in the three months to November.

Last week ONS data ‌showed weaker-than-expected growth in the overall economy in the October-to-December period, hurt in part by speculation about tax increases in finance minister Rachel Reeves’ budget at the end of November.

There were some signs in the most recent figures included in Tuesday’s data release that the labour market might be stabilising after taking a hit on Reeves’ increase last April in a tax paid by employers.

The number of ​people in payrolled employment fell by 11,000 people in January from December.

In December, payrolls fell by a revised 6000, the ​smallest drop since August last year ⁠and a much softer fall than a provisional estimate of a plunge of 43,000.

Artificial intelligence, robot vehicles and drones are transforming Australian farming in a bid to boost efficiency, overcome labour shortages, and improve sustainability.

Yet innovators say the agriculture-technology (AgTech) industry needs stronger backing to truly thrive, with development depending on research, innovation, and taking risks that translate into a real-world impact.

Queensland-based company SwarmFarm Robotics took that leap more than a decade ago, investing early in the promise of autonomous agriculture.

The company discovered how emerging technologies could play a significant role in helping farming adapt to a changing climate and landscape.

“Breakthroughs don’t start by asking farmers what they want. They start by noticing what everyone else thinks is fixed and can’t be changed,” the company’s chief executive and co-founder, Andrew Bate, said. 

“Those moments didn’t just start a company, they revealed a way of seeing things differently.”

Robotics are revolutionising agriculture, with technology enabling precision farming through automated planting, harvesting and crop monitoring, while reducing labour costs and increasing efficiency.

The technology seeks to work with farmers and streamline their daily tasks.

While adoption of these tools is becoming more mainstream, Mr Bate said Australia’s AgTech industry could be further strengthened through greater investment in research.

Speaking on a panel of innovators at AgriFutures Australia’s evokeAG event in Melbourne on Tuesday, he explained that research has the potential to elevate products and refine their quality.

George Peppou, chief executive and co-founder of Vow – a food tech start-up specialising in cell-cultured meat – told the panel that Australia’s innovation sector needs to embrace failure in order to take its next step forward. 

“We don’t have an innovation culture that embraces risk and tolerates failure very well,” he said. 

AgTech development needs to be backed at government levels, Mr Peppou said, adding that Australia was a difficult place to get a manufacturing startup off the ground.

In terms of farming, Mr Bate said he was knocked back multiple times in the early stages of building his business, adding that he and his team built 100 robots in a farm workshop before establishing a fully operational facility.

“I look back and that journey has hardened us and taught us things and now we have the IP around manufacturing,” he added.

Since its launch in 2012, the company has deployed autonomous robots to farmers who have used them to commercially farm more than 5.1 million acres.

Looking ahead, Mr Bate said it is essential for innovators to keep pushing ideas, even if they do not necessarily make sense at first.

“Progress stalls when we optimise outside inherited constraints,” he said.

“SwarmFarm isn’t really even about robots or autonomy; it’s an entire new farming system.”

Coles has defended its “down down” discount campaign, saying grocery shoppers understand they represent “fair dinkum” price reductions.

The retail giant on Tuesday told the Federal Court the public would accept the promotions as price drops, accusing the consumer watchdog of attributing “sophisticated thought processes” to ordinary customers.

In the second day of a high-profile trial, Coles lawyers said its “down down” prices were genuine discounts offered to shoppers after an increase in wholesale costs charged by suppliers during a post-COVID inflation surge in 2022 and 2023.

Coles is fighting claims by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it misled customers by artificially increasing prices before reducing them and claiming shoppers were getting a discount.

The grocery chain’s barrister, John Sheahan KC, said there were two critical questions in the case: what the price tickets conveyed to consumers and were they misleading.

“The ordinary, reasonable consumer would not be concerned with the relative duration of the ‘was’ price in the past,” he said.

“What they would be concerned with when they’re walking down the aisle trying to work out what to buy today for their shopping is whether the claimed discount was … fair dinkum.

“So long as the ‘was’ price is a genuine price, not contrived or ephemeral, then the consumer’s interest is appropriately satisfied.”

Mr Sheahan accepted Justice Michael O’Bryan’s proposition that an ordinary consumer would consider the “down down” campaign to be a promotion.

“I think I can take this as general knowledge, that as you walk down an aisle in a supermarket, and you see different coloured labels, and the fact that a label hangs out lower … it’s a discount of some kind,” Justice O’Bryan said.

Mr Sheahan said the ACCC’s case was “too complex to credibly attribute to an ordinary, reasonable consumer walking down an aisle of Coles”.

It was a genuinely unusual feature of the case that the regulator was attributing “sophisticated thought processes to the ordinary, reasonable consumer”, he added.

“Normally, it’s the advertiser says, ‘oh, well, you know, the consumer could see through that, they take this into account, they’d understand.’ But this is the other way around.

“There are layers and layers of indeterminacy in what they attribute to the ordinary, reasonable consumers’ understanding of this very simple ticket.”

Justice O’Bryan said it seemed the task for the court was to simply to conclude what was conveyed and if it was misleading.

Mr Sheahan said grocery prices often fluctuated, particularly during periods of high inflation, such as 2022 and 2023.

“In the end all prices are temporary – nothing lasts forever,” he said.

The case continues.

Jewish and Palestinian students and staff are bearing the brunt of ingrained racism at universities as institutions are chastised for failing to address hate on campus.

People from Indigenous, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, Pasifika, Maori and Muslim backgrounds also face high rates of racism, a landmark Australian Human Rights Commission report released on Tuesday found. 

“Racism at university is not confined to isolated incidents or individual behaviour, it is systemic,” Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said.

“Racism is pervasive across the sector, affecting many groups in serious ways.”

The discrimination damaged people’s identity and self-esteem as well as their wellbeing and safety, he said.

More than 90 per cent of Jews and Palestinians reported experiencing racism due to their religion or ethnicity at university, according to the Racism@Uni Study, which surveyed more than 76,000 students and staff from 42 universities in September. 

More than eight in 10 respondents from Indigenous, Chinese, Middle Eastern and northeast Asian backgrounds reported racism. 

However, only six per cent of people made a complaint about the racism they suffered, with trust in the university process low.

The study’s 47 recommendations included universities having a positive duty to stamp out racism, the creation of national and university-specific anti-racism plans and more reporting and transparency requirements.

Universities Australia labelled the findings deeply troubling, saying racism had no place at universities. 

“No one should feel unsafe, diminished or excluded because of their culture, faith or background,” the peak body said in a statement.

“Universities accept our responsibility to confront racism wherever it occurs.

“We will continue listening, learning and acting together to ensure our universities live up to the standards our communities rightly expect.”

Noting institutions were bound to ensure academic freedom and freedom of speech, this could never be used to justify spreading harm or impacting another person’s rights, Universities Australia said.

Education Minister Jason Clare flagged major changes as the federal government considers the report’s recommendations.

“We’ll comb through it and respond in due course,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

“But one of (the recommendations) … is to raise that standard that universities need to comply with. 

“We’ve already said that we will do that, and that work’s under way.”

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Baby Bunting’s attempt to re-imagine the way parents shop for their kiddos is paying off, with first-half sales growth exceeding forecasts. 

Australia’s biggest specialist baby goods retailer lifted sales for the six months to December 29 by 6.7 per cent to $271.4 million.

Net profit rose 4.1 per cent to $5 million, compared to the previous corresponding half-year.

Same-store sales rose 4.7 per cent, beating guidance of two to three per cent comparable sales growth, while sales at Baby Bunting’s nine “stores of the future” grew 25 per cent, and at the top end of guidance. 

That momentum has continued into the second half, with same-store sales up 6.7 per cent in the seven weeks to Sunday.  

Chief executive Mark Teperson said it was a strong result that exceeded expectations across multiple metrics and demonstrated strong momentum in its strategy.

“Our record revenue result was driven by growth in our customer base, the continued success of our store of the future program, along with strong gross margin performance,” he said.

Baby Bunting’s “stores of the future” feature experience hubs where parents can engage, learn and shop, along with showcases for Baby Bunting’s partner brands. 

They also feature spaces like a “whimsical glass bottle canopy” designed to spark a sense of wonder, and calming spaces meant to evoke a friend’s kitchen.

Six more Baby Bunting stores were refurbished and converted to the future format during the half, after three stores pioneered the concept in 2024/25.

Baby Bunting also opened three small-format stores in the last few months of 2025, at shopping malls on the Gold Coast and in suburbs of Melbourne and Adelaide, but they have not done quite so well.

Mr Teperson said one of those BabyBunting Junior stores was performing to target while two were slightly behind.

“We are large-format destination retailers,” he said in a conference call with analysts. 

“As we move into a shopping centre environment, we’ve recognised that there is some finesse in the execution that we need to bring in how we convert more passing traffic into in-store shoppers.”

The stores are showing signs of improvement, but tentative plans to open two or three more small-format stores are on hold for the rest of the second half.

Baby Bunting ended the half with 74 stores in Australia and five in New Zealand.

It plans to refurbish another six stores to “stores of the future” during the second half, which involves closing them for 10 to 12 weeks and opening two new large format stores, in the NSW Central Coast and suburban Melbourne.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Jackie Moody said that Baby Bunting’s stores of the future program had delivered a strong lift in sales, but its first-half profit had narrowly missed expectations.

The retailer’s forecasts for capital expenditure over 2025/26 had increased by 29 per cent to $41 million to $43 million, Ms Moody noted.

Baby Bunting said it wouldn’t pay a dividend while it focuses on growth.

In morning trading, Baby Bunting shares rose 11.8 per cent to a three-week high of $2.46.

Miner Vicuna Corporation, controlled by Australia’s BHP ‌and Canada’s Lundin Mining has announced a $US18 billion ($A25 ‌billion) multi-year investment plan to develop copper, gold ‌and silver mining projects in northern Argentina.

The initial investment in its Josemaria and Filo del Sol projects in the province of San ‌Juan will ‌be $US7 billion ($A9.9 ⁠billion) with capital deployment scheduled from ​2027 until production begins in 2030, Vicuna said in a statement on Monday.

The project is forecast to average 395,000 tonnes of copper, 711,000 ounces of ⁠gold, and ‌22.2 ​million ounces of silver annually over its first ​25 years.

Output ‌during the first decade is projected ​at approximately 2.5 million tonnes of copper, 5.5 million ounces of gold, and 214 million ​ounces ​of silver.

Development ​of the Josemaria and ‌Filo del Sol mining projects will be carried out in three stages.

The first stage will be focused on the Josemaria deposit, with ​the latter two focused on Filo del Sol. 

The world’s biggest mining company has posted a 28 per cent boost in interim profit after its copper division delivered most of its earnings, as prices for the metal soared during the half.

BHP, which is the largest miner by market value, made a net profit of $US5.6 billion ($A7.9 billion) ($A7.9 billion) for the first half of 2025/26, on an 11 per cent lift in revenue to $US27.9 billion ($A39.4 billion).

“This half marks a milestone for BHP with copper contributing the largest share of our overall earnings, at 51 per cent of underlying,” CEO Mike Henry said on Tuesday.

BHP is also the world’s largest copper producer, whose operations include the Escondida mine in Chile and Olympic Dam in South Australia.

The group has now lifted its 2025/26 copper output guidance to 1.9-2.0 million tonnes.

“This is allowing us to maximise increased earnings from the recent run-up in copper prices as well as gold,” Mr Henry said.

First half group underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – jumped 25 per cent to $US15.5 billion ($A21.9 billion), after the record $US8 billion ($A11 billion) contribution from copper.

BHP on Tuesday also revealed its jointly owned copper, gold and silver mining business in Argentina will spend $US18 billion ($A25 billion) to develop new projects.

Vicuna Corporation is controlled by BHP ‌and Canada’s Lundin Mining.

BHP will pay shareholders a first-half dividend of US73 cents per share, up from US 50 cents previously.

The company has a market value on the Australian stock exchange of $255.8 billion. 

The Reserve Bank’s rationale behind increasing interest rates for the first time in more than two years is set to be revealed in full.

The central bank on Tuesday will unveil the minutes from its most recent meeting in early February, when the board decided to raise the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent.

It was the first time since November 2023 the Reserve Bank had opted for a rate hike and followed an uptick in inflation above its target band of between two and three per cent.

While Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has since been questioned on the board’s decision at a press conference and two parliamentary hearings, the minutes are expected to shed more light on the factors that went into the call.

The minutes could support the message that further rate increases are in the pipeline, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said.

“The minutes from the last RBA meeting will likely reinforce the RBA’s hawkish stance with more warnings that it will raise rates again if inflation data does not improve enough,” he said.

The board previously said inflationary pressures picked up in the second half of 2025 and were likely to linger throughout 2026.

“While part of the pick-up in inflation is assessed to reflect temporary factors, it is evident that private demand is growing more quickly than expected, capacity pressures are greater than previously assessed and labour market conditions are a little tight,” the board said.

Ms Bullock previously said a resurgence in inflation had forced the bank’s hand, with the speed of consumer spending and business investment catching the board off guard.

A statement from the bank’s monetary board at the time of the interest rate decision warned of uncertainties for the domestic policy.

“On the domestic side, if growth in demand is stronger than expected, and growth in the economy’s supply capacity remains limited, it is likely to add further to capacity pressures,” the statement said.

Angus Taylor’s looming frontbench reshuffle is expected to reward key conservatives but the opposition leader is being warned a successful shadow ministry must strike the right balance. 

The announcement could be made as early as Tuesday, after Mr Taylor ousted the Liberal Party’s first female leader Sussan Ley in a spill.

It is widely expected the Hume MP will reward his factional allies, with senators Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Sarah Henderson and Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie tipped to return to the frontline.

Promotions could come at the expense of Ms Ley’s key backers after she was ousted on Friday, losing to Mr Taylor’s 34 votes in a party room ballot.

Alex Hawke, Andrew Wallace, Scott Buchholz and Anne Ruston are among those who face losing their shadow ministries.

However, an expert said Mr Taylor should take notes from former Liberal leader John Howard’s “broad church” approach to designing a front bench, ensuring moderate and conservative voices were represented.

“The most important job for Angus Taylor right now is to come up with a front bench … that can work together to make policy, because that was Peter Dutton’s greatest failing,” Australian National University political scientist Jill Sheppard said. 

“He’ll have to balance stacking the front bench full of his own.”

One way to strike that balance might be to promote moderate Tim Wilson to shadow treasurer, Dr Sheppard said. 

Senator Nampijinpa Price is lobbying for a frontbench role, declaring “I’m back baby” while remaining unapologetic about previous negative remarks about Indian voters. 

“I’m back baby … I was having a breather, but I’m back. The fire’s back,” she said on Karl Stefanovic’s podcast. 

The NT senator was axed from Ms Ley’s front bench after claiming the Albanese government prioritised migrants who were likely to vote Labor, naming Indian Australians as an example. 

She failed to apologise for the comments and refused to voice support for Ms Ley’s leadership.

“Don’t try to force me to apologise for something that doesn’t require an apology,” she said.

Senator Henderson, who was dumped from Ms Ley’s front bench when it was announced in May, made her desire to return clear.

“I do hope that I return to the front bench but as Angus has made very clear, we are in such a dire situation,” she said.

The first poll released since Ms Ley was ousted shows support for the coalition up three points to 23 per cent, a tie with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

“Angus Taylor has made fairly clear that he knows the initial challenge for the coalition right now is from the right and that they need to stem this bleed of voters,” Dr Sheppard said. 

Asked if the Nationals would renegotiate the deal that brought the coalition back together, Nationals MP Kevin Hogan said his party was relaxed about it.

Ms Ley agreed to reunite the coalition on condition the Nationals frontbenchers who broke shadow cabinet solidarity over hate crime laws in January were suspended for six weeks

“If we come back on March the first or we come back tomorrow, we are relaxed about that,” Mr Hogan told Sky News.

The veracity of one of Australia’s biggest gas companies’ promises to slash emissions will be put to the test as the Federal Court rules on a landmark greenwashing case.

In a judgment expected to have implications for climate commitments made by all businesses, the court will rule on allegations Santos breached corporate and consumer law with its representations of environmental goals.

The case brought by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility challenged claims made by Santos that natural gas provided “clean energy” and that the company had a “credible and clear plan” to achieve net zero by 2040.

The shareholder advocacy group’s lawyers further alleged the energy company’s descriptions of blue hydrogen as “clean” and “zero emissions” were misleading.

Blue hydrogen is a fuel created using gas that relies on carbon-capture technologies to deal with the emissions.

The company’s defence lawyers rejected allegations its net-zero goals lacked credibility, arguing they were always targets, not promises, and claimed the “clean” hydrogen fuel label was used only when accompanied by carbon credits.

The case was all about the credibility of corporate climate promises, Monash Business School Green Lab researcher Ella Vines said.

“It sends an important signal about how companies must frame their net-zero commitments and transition pathways,” Dr Vines said.

Courts were increasingly being asked to determine whether long-term emissions reduction claims were backed by concrete, near-term action and credible assumptions, the expert in corporate sustainability regulation said.

“The decision will shape how boards approach climate risk disclosure, transition planning and public communications,” Dr Vines said.

Santos allegedly made the misleading statements at a December 2020 investor day and in its 2020 annual report and climate change report, both published in February 2021.

The advocacy group is seeking injunctions forcing the firm to issue a corrective notice about the environmental impacts of its operations.

It is not seeking damages or compensation, saying it filed the lawsuit to vindicate the public interest in ensuring corporate climate change commitments were reasonably based.

The corporate responsibility centre holds shares in firms such as Santos to try to force them to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the primary international climate change pact.