Members of a Christian sect should be investigated over claims it attempted to disrupt the 2025 federal election, ministers say.

A parliamentary inquiry will probe the Exclusive Brethren on Friday over claims it paid far-right activists to disrupt appearances of the Albanese government on the campaign trail.

The inquiry is also examining wider efforts by the Exclusive Brethren during the election as part of campaigning for the coalition.

Members of the sect normally do not vote.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the allegations were chilling.

“No one should underestimate the significance of a democracy as cherished as ours, shifting to a pathway where physical intimidation gets paid for because of your political views,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“We need to draw a line under this, we need to make sure that if this is what has happened in the 2025 election, that it is an aberration that is rejected by everybody today.

“There is too much at stake.”

Mr Burke said the allegations were more alarming in the context of rising security threats levelled at federal politicians.

“The sharpest escalation I’ve seen in terms of the risk is where that physical intimidation might become something that is a fee for service,” he said.

The brethren’s director Lloyd Grimshaw said the church had been subjected to “extraordinary attacks”.

He said while members of the sect participated in the election, they did not do so of their own volition.

“They did this under their own steam … and under their own name. Not my church’s,” he told the inquiry.

“But some people did get involved and they brought friends.”

Mr Grimshaw disputed claims the church donated to or organised donations for political parties.

“Neither my church nor any of its directors including me, made any reportable donations to anyone,” he said.

“We agree reform is needed to help prevent aggressive conduct, deliberate obstruction, and intimidating behaviour at electoral booths.

“We call on the AEC to issue guidance making it explicitly clear that it is unacceptable for any volunteers to be singled out, insulted, or discriminated against based on their religion.”

Federal minister Mark Butler said the claims of disruption by sect members could set a dangerous precedent.

“Everyone understands this could get quite dangerous if random people are being paid to go in and create trouble,” he told ABC Radio.

“It doesn’t take much imagination to think about this becoming really quite dangerous.”

Coalition frontbencher Michael McCormack also called for the investigation into the claims.

“Whether it’s the Plymouth Brethren or unions or whoever, they have a duty of care and a level of respect that they should bring to that parliamentary procedure and democratic procedure. That is not happening at the moment,” he told ABC Radio.

“It shouldn’t  happen (from) anybody. It shouldn’t happen from any side of politics. It shouldn’t happen full stop.”

Australia’s largest chicken meat supplier has delivered a slump in annual profit on the back of cost increases and says the operating environment remains challenging.

Inghams Group, which farms, processes, and sells chicken and turkeys, made a net profit of $34.6 million in 2025/26, down 61.5 per cent.

The annual result comes on the back of a 65 per cent fall in first-half earnings to $18.1 million reported in February.

Full year revenue was $3.2 billion, a gain of 2.4 per cent, on underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation – of $186.4 million.

The underlying result, which fell by more than 21 per cent, was at the lower end of its guidance of between $180 million and $200 million for the year ended June 30.

“Encouragingly, our earnings in the second half were materially above the first half, reflecting the improved underlying operating metrics,” chief executive Ed Alexander said on Friday.

Inghams also racked up cost savings of $82 million after cutting inventory – mainly processed chicken and turkey – and diversifying its customer list, as its key Australian market returned to volume growth.

In total, it processed just over 470 kilotonnes of chickens and turkeys in the year, as the core net selling price increased 1.4 per cent to $6.40 per kilo – still close to its best in at least four years.

Its Australian revenue rose 3.5 per cent to $2.7 billion, on a 2.4 per cent increase in the net country sale price to $6.50 per kilo.

In New Zealand, it achieved a net selling price of $NZ6.81 per kilo.

Inghams sells products to supermarket giant Woolworths, but now at a lower volume after a new supply contract was settled in 2025, although this has been offset by gains for other retailers.

Looking ahead, the poultry group said input cost inflation continues to be a challenge, alongside softer Australian wholesale market conditions.

“While the operating environment remains challenging, we enter financial year 2027 with a more balanced network, a stronger and more diversified customer portfolio,” Mr Alexander said.

Inghams, which trades around $2.20 per share, declared a final dividend of 6.1 cents per share, taking the total for the year to 10.1 cents.

Chinese technology giant Alibaba has reported a 75 per cent drop in profit for the latest quarter as it invested big in artificial intelligence infrastructure, even as revenue coming from its AI-related services gained 45 per cent.

The Hong Kong- and US-listed company, which started out in e-commerce and online retail but is increasingly focused on AI technologies, said that its profit for April-June was at 10.5 billion yuan ($A2.2 billion), down from 43.1 billion yuan the same quarter last year.

Quarterly revenue grew nine per cent to almost 269 billion yuan, with revenue from its AI cloud and compute services up 45 per cent to 48.4 billion yuan.

But capital expenditures, including investments in AI infrastructure to meet customer demand, jumped 75 per cent to 67.7 billion yuan during the quarter, weighing on profits.

Alibaba attributed the significant increase in spending to factors including “fluctuations” in procurement cycles, increase in CPU (central processing unit), compute capacity in anticipation of growing customer adoption of AI “agents” and higher pricing of chip components.

“As we continue to ramp up our supply, our AI and Cloud revenue growth will accelerate further in the coming quarters, alongside continued improvement in profitability,” Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said in prepared remarks during an earnings conference.

Alibaba’s US-traded shares fell more than three per cent on Thursday.

Alibaba, one of China’s biggest companies, said last year it planned to invest at least 380 billion yuan over three years in cloud computing and AI infrastructure.

It has been making advances with its flagship Qwen AI and has launched “agentic” AI services for commercial customers.

In July, it previewed its Qwen3.8-Max AI model which the company said was “second only” to Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5.

It has also pledged an ambitious goal of surpassing $US100 billion ($A140 billion) in terms of annual AI and cloud revenue within the next five years.

Australia will press for a scrupulous investigation into the death of slain humanitarian worker Zomi Frankcom after the Israeli government refused to apologise.

Ms Frankcom was killed in an attack on an aid convoy in April 2024 while working with colleagues to deliver food and basic supplies in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military announced on Thursday it had found there was no suspicion of criminal misconduct surrounding the Australian’s death, despite a previous finding that there had been failures in how it was carried out.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled Israel’s response to the attack as a “so-called” and “nothing to see here” report.

“Australia deserves better,” he told ABC’s 7.30 program.

“There’s a need for a far more transparent and clear explanation from the Israeli government.”

Mr Albanese said he would work with Ms Frankcom’s family to call for an independent review into the attack.

“We will press the Israeli government. The direction, we have said today, we’ll discuss with Ms Frankcom’s family,” he said.

“They deserve to be consulted on these issues, and we’ll do that, and then we’ll make an announcement in the coming days.”

Ms Frankcom’s family said the findings were a miscarriage of justice and an insult to her legacy.

Israel has also so far refused to release audio from the drone strikes that targeted the aid convoy.

“Zomi and her colleagues deserve more than an internal, opaque process that ends with a short statement by the Israeli military absolving their soldiers of criminal wrongdoing,” Ms Frankcom’s family said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong condemned the actions of Israel, saying they fell short of the accountability Australia expected.

Israeli ambassador Hillel Newman was summoned to Parliament House by Senator Wong on Thursday morning to explain the outcome of the two-year investigation.

“(I) have directed Australia’s ambassador to Israel to convey our views directly to Israel as the Australian government considers next steps,” Senator Wong told media after meeting with the ambassador.

Calls grew throughout the day for Dr Hillel to be expelled from Australia over his refusal to apologise for Ms Frankcom’s death.

Pro-Palestine advocates, including Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi and the Jewish Council of Australia, also demanded sanctions be placed on Israel.

“Penny Wong says this decision falls short of the accountability we expect. She’s right. So why is the response to a complete failure of accountability just a stern word to the ambassador?,” the Jewish Council’s executive director Sarah Schwartz said in a statement.

Senator Wong maintained that ties with Israel were important for advancing Australia’s diplomatic interests.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has bought a 19th-century ‌Gothic-style castle overlooking a river in the ‌southeast of Ireland, 200km from his company’s European headquarters, a spokesman says.

Strancally Castle was built about 1830 on land overlooking the River ‌Blackwater and ‌underwent ⁠extensive renovation in 2003, according to ​a state architectural archive.

The transaction is not listed on the Irish state property price register.

The Irish Times, which ⁠first reported ‌the purchase, ​estimated the property might be worth ​between 20 million euro and 30 ‌million euro (between $A33 million and $A49 ‌million).

A spokesman for Zuckerberg said he ​and his family were “excited to continue caring for this historic ​home ​and look forward to ​spending time in ‌Ireland”.

Meta employs about 1500 people in Ireland, where a number of US tech multinationals have their European headquarters, in part ​due to the country’s favourable ​tax regime.

A number of mass deaths in two states have been described as a deeply concerning shift in Australia’s bird flu outbreak.

More than 1000 crested terns have been found dead on remote islands off South Australia, Premier Peter Malinauskas confirmed on Thursday.

Almost 30 dead penguins have also been discovered on King Island off Tasmania, a week after confirmation of the state’s first bird flu case.

A suspected H5 case involving a little penguin from Kangaroo Island is also being investigated by the SA government.

“The loss of more than 1000 birds is deeply concerning and the state government is treating these events with the utmost seriousness,” Mr Malinauskas said on Thursday.

“Of particular concern, we are also investigating a suspected case involving a little penguin from Kangaroo Island.

“The bird deaths were detected on Wednesday on offshore sites including North and South Page Islands off Kangaroo Island.

SA has 177 confirmed bird flu cases, the most of any state.Mr Malinauskas said no mass mortality had been reported in mammals and bird flu had not been detected in poultry or livestock.

Specialist teams have been sent to King Island after 28 penguins and three crested terns were discovered at the Port of Grassy.

The animals were being tested for H5 bird flu, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff posted on social media.

“While that testing happens, further teams are being surged to the area,” he said.

Tasmania has 11 confirmed bird flu cases since the virus was first found in the state on August 13 at Rocky Cape, on the northwest coast.

Mr Rockliff said the arrival of the teams would greatly increase the surveillance and collection capacity.

“The risk to Tasmanians remains very low. And there remains zero detection in Tasmanian poultry,” he said.

The Invasive Species Council said the mass death indicated bird flu devastation was “becoming very real”.

“This is a sad day for Australian wildlife, but it is only the start of the scale of deaths we can expect in the months ahead as the virus spreads,” council chief executive Jack Gough said in a statement.

“This is why we have been calling for urgent investment to protect our wildlife from other threats like foxes, cats and habitat destruction.”

A Chinese court has sentenced Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire founder of China’s Evergrande real estate group, to life in prison for large-scale fraud.

Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court also fined Evergrande Group 8.82 billion yuan ($A1.84 billion) and Evergrande Real Estate seven billion yuan, according to a statement issued by the court on Thursday.

The court also ordered all his personal property confiscated.

Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, pleaded guilty in April to a series of charges, including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and corporate bribery.

Evergrande was the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer with more than $US300 billion ($A421 billion) in liabilities before it was ordered to liquidate.

Its downfall, which came as Chinese government officials cracked down on excessive borrowing in 2020, tipped the entire Chinese real estate market into crisis.

Australians’ love of high-protein products has helped return an iconic dairy and food company to profit, despite a tough year for primary industries.

Bega Cheese, which makes cheese, yoghurt and peanut butter alongside popular spreads like Vegemite, made a net profit of $54.8 million in 2025/26.

That was a strong turnaround from an $8.5 million loss in the prior year, after revenue rose 6.7 per cent to $3.8 billion.

“In the year that we’ve just been through, particularly with events such as conflict in the Middle East, we’ve been able to demonstrate how agile we can be and how we can adjust to great challenges,” executive chair Barry Irvin said.

Bega is three years into a five-year plan to streamline its asset base, including production sites, and work its assets harder while cutting costs.

Chief executive Peter Findlay said the company was achieving its goals and he was confident about where Bega was heading, after cutting about 250 jobs and generating more than $20 million in savings in 2025/26.

“This year … the key categories we really wanted to focus on were around yoghurt, milk-based beverages, spreads – where our strongest brands sit – and obviously cream cheese,” he told an earnings briefing on Thursday.

New launches have focused on high protein and “better for you” products under its Bega, Farmers Union and Dairy Farmers brands, including protein smoothies, yoghurt pouches and high-protein low-fat sliced cheese.

“The consumer continues to make very difficult decisions around the products they want to buy and eat and drink,” Mr Findlay said.

But their focus remains on gut health and high-protein products like yoghurt, as well as products for weight management, like low-fat items, as well as everyday performance products such as milk drinks, and treats including peanut butter.

Bega’s market research shows gut health is a big factor given its links to general wellness.

“We know this trend is going to stay and we know yoghurt is in that space … as well as a real trend in protein,” Mr Findlay said.

Sales for Bega’s yoghurt category in Australia rose by 16 per cent to $2.45 billion in the year, as part of the consumer push for products with higher protein levels.

“Demand for protein is expected to continue to elevate in financial year 2027 and beyond,” Bega said.

Bega shares were almost five per cent higher in early afternoon trading at $6.30, its best level in about six months.

During the year, Bega bought about 1.4 million litres of milk, which was an increase of seven per cent.

It holds the number-two market position for yoghurt and fresh milk and is first in milk-based beverages and spreads.

Australia remains Bega’s largest market, accounting for 84 per cent of total revenue, but it remains excited about opportunities in the Middle East and Asia.

The regions import sizeable volumes of cheese and yoghurt. Purchasing power is rising as populations get richer, and dairy consumption increases.

“We are very excited about the capacity we’ll unlock at the start of financial year 2028, and so I see that as a significant run ahead of us both in Southeast Asia and the Middle East,” Mr Findlay said.

Bega’s underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – jumped 22 per cent to $202.3 million, in line with guidance.

It has forecast underlying earnings between $240 million and $245 million for 2026/07.

Bega declared a final dividend of 7.5 cents, taking the total for the year to 14.5 cents.

Australia’s federal gross debt has crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time, as the budget comes under more strain from rising interest payments.

The Australian Office of Financial Management, which manages the nation’s sovereign debt, issued $4.1 billion of debt on Thursday, bringing the total amount owed by the Commonwealth to $1000.8 billion.

While gross debt will come back below $1 trillion on Friday, when $6 billion of notes mature, more debt issued in the weeks following will take the figure back to 13 digits.

The federal budget in May predicted gross debt to hit $1.25 trillion by 2029/30.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said the record debt would only be paid off by higher taxes on future generations of Australians.

He said Labor had received a $400 billion revenue windfall in government, but instead of paying down the debt, extra spending had fuelled inflation.

“We know that it’s costing about $2000 per Australian taxpayer to continue to finance this debt, and as a consequence, it could be a $2000 tax cut that was offered if it wasn’t there,” Mr Wilson said.

Interest payments to service the debt are forecast to cost the budget $29.6 billion this financial year and are set to rise to $42.3 billion by 2029/30.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the debt would be even worse if the coalition was still in charge.

“No amount of hyperventilating from the Liberal Party today will change the fact that debt is $200 billion lower this year than what they left us,” he said in a statement.

“Under the Liberals and Nationals, gross debt would have crossed the trillion-dollar mark three years ago.

“If the coalition had been in power today, gross debt this year would already be approaching $1.2 trillion.”

Compared to international peers, like the US and the UK which have a debt-to-GDP ratio over 100 per cent, Commonwealth gross debt is relatively low at about one third of GDP.

Net debt, which paints a more accurate picture of the government’s financial health, is projected to hit $616.9 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, which is about 20 per cent of GDP.

When combined with state and territory debt, Australia’s national net debt was projected to rise to 36.5 per cent by 2029/30, the Parliamentary Budget Office said on Wednesday.

The PBO forecasts national gross debt to hit $2 trillion, or 58 per cent of GDP, by 2029/30.

Credit rating agencies S&P Global and Moody’s recently reaffirmed Australia’s AAA rating, citing its modest public debt by international standards, strong institutions and robust government finances.

Australia’s share market is heading for its first positive session this week, after precious metals surged on a US government bond market intervention.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 11.7 points by midday, up 0.13 per cent, to 9,065.5, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 21.7 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 9,276.9.

It came after a modest rebound in US stocks overnight as the US government announced support for long-dated government bonds, after a global sell-off had unnerved investors.

That triggered a relief rally rather than over a fresh wave of optimism, Moomoo dealing manager Paco Chow said.

“The recovery came after the US Treasury announced plans to double buybacks of longer-dated bonds,” Mr Chow said.

“That additional demand helped ease borrowing costs, which had climbed sharply.”

The intervention came as US government debt reached $US40 trillion ($A56.2 trillion), and as Australia’s sovereign debt has topped $1 trillion for the first time.

Falling bond yields sent gold and other precious metals surging, with spot gold above $US4,520 ($A6,356) an ounce for the first time since early June.

The local gold sub-index rocketed eight per cent higher, with strong leads from Evolution and Newmont, along with Northern Star after an in-line earnings result.

BHP also did some heavy-lifting, with its shares up 2.2 per cent to $65.08, just 87 cents short of record highs.

Fortescue slipped 0.6 per cent after after its full-year bottom-line profit slumped to $US2.9 billion ($A4 billion) due to a $737 million write-off of its green metal Iron Bridge mine, while underlying earnings improved.

The health care sector continued its strong rebound, up more than two per cent, as CSL continued its post-earnings rally and segment-based buying persisted.

Local technology stocks performed well, and the energy sector gained 0.8 per cent as crude prices continued to edge higher.

The heavyweight financials sector fell almost two per cent, with insurers weighing heavily as Medibank tumbled, despite improving its underlying full-year profit 2.9 per cent to $636.8 million.

The major banks continued to sell off, with CommBank leading the big four lower with a 2.1 per cent slump to 10-week lows of $157.21 per share.

Consumer cyclical stocks eased 0.2 per cent in a mixed session for the sector.

Supercheap Auto owner Super Retail was a stand out, with its shares rocketing more than 16 per cent higher after growing total sales 3.2 per cent despite a tough retail environment.

In other earnings news, Cleanaway’s full-year statutory net profit tumbled by more than a third to $98.5 million, but its $2.62 share price still found support from EQT’s recent $3.13 per share takeover bid.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.15 US cents, up from 70.75 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm AEST, but easing slightly after a weaker-than-expected jobs report.