Sweeping last-minute changes to Labor’s gambling reforms, including a crackdown on inducements, have been unveiled in parliament, hours before the release of a damning report on the matter.

A Senate committee report on the proposed changes was tabled on Monday night, slamming the government’s attempt to protect vulnerable people from gambling addictions as being too little, too late.

It contained criticism from the coalition, Greens and independent senator David Pocock.

The reforms were referred to the committee for an inquiry over concerns they did not adequately break the connection between betting and sport nor protect kids from gambling exposure.

“This package is not an evidence-led public health response to a public health issue,” Senator Pocock said in the report.

“It leaves gambling advertising embedded in sport and across Australian media, shifts responsibility onto parents and preserves major parts of the system that have made Australians the biggest gambling losers in the world on a per capita basis.”

But the government appeared to anticipate the report’s critical contents.

Amendments to the reforms, announced just hours before the report was tabled, included restrictions on inducements and limited commissions for affiliate agents.

The changes respond to concerns from the Greens, who said they would not support the bill in its earlier form.

“Inducements are a toxic practice that prey on those who can least afford to gamble and must be outlawed,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“Gambling companies must not be allowed to continue to make massive profits off vulnerable people.”

The government also pledged a new opt-out register for gambling ads, which would allow Australians to sign up for a one-stop shop for removing the ads from online platforms.

It would function similarly to the Do Not Call register for spam calls, following concerns raised that people would struggle to stay on top of individual opt-out options on each online service.

A levy would be imposed on gambling companies to cover the cost of the register, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament.

But critics of the government’s work, including the coalition, have said the drawn-out changes were far too delayed.

A report by late Labor MP Peta Murphy into the matter was published in 2023 and contained more than 30 recommendations to limit the power of Australia’s gambling industry.

Feedback in the committee report noted many of the recommendations had not been included in the reforms.

“Even the government’s response to this (Ms Murphy’s) report, tabled on May 12, 2026 – the day of the federal budget when many journalists were in the budget lock-up – became a cynical exercise in media management,” the coalition said in its response.

The amendments are expected to be debated on Tuesday and signify an end to lengthy pushback from the coalition and crossbench.

Reforms are likely to proceed quickly through both houses by the end of the sitting week, though the coalition has not yet publicly committed to supporting the package.

Taiwan is determined to strengthen its defences and plans record ‌defence spending next year, President Lai Ching-te says, describing his government’s military budget proposal as an investment in peace.

Taiwan’s cabinet ‌will unveil next year’s budget on Thursday, including a breakdown of where defence spending will go, but Lai confirmed media reports that 2027’s overall defence budget would exceed T$1 trillion $A44.15 billion for the first time.

His announcement comes as China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past few years to assert its claims, which ‌Taipei strongly rejects.

But ‌Taiwan also faces ⁠calls from Washington to spend more on its own defence, mirroring US pressure on ​Europe, something Lai has enthusiastically embraced.

Addressing a meeting about next year’s budget, Lai said defence spending in 2027 would reach T$1.1225 trillion – exceeding three per cent of gross domestic product, according to a transcript of the remarks released by his office.

He said this “demonstrates Taiwan’s determination to strengthen its self-defence capabilities”.

“Investing in defence is investing in peace; we will continue to build a more solid defence force to maintain ⁠peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region,” Lai ‌added.

Taiwan’s government has made military modernisation a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defences, including ​developing made-in-Taiwan submarines, ‌given the rising threat from China.

China’s military operates almost daily in the waters and skies around Taiwan, and Beijing has ​also been honing new tactics, such as coastguard “law enforcement” patrols off Taiwan’s east coast in the Pacific Ocean.

William Chung, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan Defence Ministry think-tank the Institute for National Defence and Security Research, said China’s east ​coast ​activities were not only aimed at exerting psychological pressure, ​but also combat training and intelligence gathering.

“If actual hostilities break ‌out across the Taiwan Strait, the entire eastern maritime area of Taiwan will be Taiwan’s most critical outlet to the outside world,” he told a forum in Taipei earlier on Monday.

Taiwan finished its annual Han Kuang military drills last week, simulating a range of battle scenarios including how to break a potential Chinese maritime blockade.

China’s Defence Ministry called the drills a “wasteful charade” that “stoked war panic”.

Lai ​also faces a challenge from Taiwan’s opposition-dominated parliament, which only passed this year’s budget late on Friday after months of ​delays.

The two main opposition parties ⁠say they will not write blank cheques for the government. 

Myanmar junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing has left for Russia for his first official visit to the country since he assumed ‌the presidency in April.

Russia will be the fifth country ‌Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming president, with official trips to India, China, Laos, and ‌earlier this month, Thailand.

The former general is the subject of a raft of western sanctions and has been on a quest for international legitimacy since winning a vote in parliament to become president, which came after an election dominated by an army-backed ‌party in ‌the absence of ⁠a viable opposition.

Min Aung Hlaing made four visits to ​Russia as junta chief, the first in June 2021 to attend a security conference, five months after seizing power in a coup.

He visited twice in 2022 and again in March 2025 when he held formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Russia ⁠is hoping to open up opportunities ‌in ​Myanmar for its energy companies. 

The two countries signed an agreement to construct a small-scale nuclear ​power plant ‌in Myanmar when Min Aung Hlaing met Putin in 2025.

Russia and Myanmar ​signed a memorandum on investment cooperation for the strategically located Dawei Special Economic Zone in February 2025, including the construction of a port and an oil refinery.

Min ​Aung Hlaing’s latest trip includes ​a Myanmar-Russia business forum. 

Joining him will be ‌the chief minister of the Tanintharyi region, where Dawei is located, and the head of Myanmar’s aerospace agency, according to state media.

Defence ties have grown in recent years with Moscow providing army training and university scholarships to thousands of Myanmar soldiers, as well ​as selling arms to a military blacklisted by some western countries.

Russia also ​earlier this year ⁠said it would help to train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut. 

Labor has seized on the chance to tout its support for the superannuation system after One Nation floated a plan to let struggling households dip into their retirement savings earlier.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reignited the debate surrounding superannuation when she labelled the scheme “broken” on Sunday.

She called for a relaxation of rules that would allow people to withdraw their retirement savings in times of crisis to help with the cost of living.

Labor capitalised on the debate during Question Time to accuse right-wing parties of threatening to wind back the three-decade-old compulsory superannuation system.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to protect superannuation against any changes put forward by the opposition parties.

“We know that it is at risk because the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation all want to decimate universal super,” Mr Albanese said.

“Not only do they want to drag Australians back to the past, they want to damage their future as well.”

Five more ministers answered questions asking about the benefits of superannuation for women, workers, parents and the economy.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said his party was still working out the detail of its policy, but superannuation funds should be available to people if they were at risk of becoming homeless.

“There are people living in their cars who’ve got a job,” he told reporters.

“You can say, ‘I’m going to get access to this because it’s my money’.”

But Nationals leader Matt Canavan questioned whether Senator Hanson thought the policy through before she spoke a day earlier.

“You can see that this morning because the policy didn’t seem to last to the next One Nation meeting, with Barnaby Joyce already walking it back this morning,” he said.

“There are already provisions in place to allow people to access their superannuation if they’re in true financial hardship or need for a particular medical needs.”

Superannuation can be accessed early for a variety of reasons, including to stop the foreclosure or forced sale of a home.

Only the sum of repayments for one quarter and mortgage interest for one year can be withdrawn from a super account in one 12-month period.

Tax office figures show 67,900 early super releases were approved in 2024/25, amounting to just over $1.4 billion.

The Super Members Council said any move to wind back compulsory retirement savings would make Australians poorer, push more retirees onto the aged pension and drive up future taxes.

The message to all politicians was “don’t stuff up our super”, council chief executive Misha Schubert said.

Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume said maintaining the nation’s superannuation system was important.

“We also know that the biggest indicator of economic security in retirement isn’t how much superannuation you have, it’s whether you own a home,” she told News24.

“That’s why it’s so important that we allow Australians the opportunity to get into a home should they want to buy one.”

The coalition took policies of allowing first home buyers to access their superannuation to help fund a deposit to the previous two elections.

Her comments contrasted with earlier comments from frontbench Liberal colleague Andrew Bragg, who described compulsory superannuation as “one of the biggest public policy failures since federation”.

The brawl over retirement savings erupted as the major parties attempt to strike a deal on several key pieces of legislation, including cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and gambling rules.

For more than a century, cafes in the Italian city ‌of Padua have welcomed customers for an early evening drink, or aperitivo, encouraging them to sit outside and socialise before dinner.

As Europe bakes under its fifth heatwave of the year, the traditional 6-7 ‌pm slot has all but disappeared as people seek air-conditioning indoors, cutting sales for many hospitality businesses.

Adding to the pressure, extreme heat often falls outside traditional business interruption insurance, exposing a growing protection gap for companies ‌across Europe.

Moody’s has published estimates that last summer’s European heatwaves cost €43 billion ($A70 billion) ($US50 billion ($A70 billion)) in lost economic output while generating only about €500 million ($A815 million) of insured payouts.

In Padua, aperitivo often now starts later, “which means that the outdoor seating areas, the terraces, the spaces outside … are left unused and empty,” said Federica Luni, president of hospitality association APPE Padova.

According to a survey of about 600 hospitality businesses in the city and its province, more than 80 per cent reported turnover declines of around 20 per cent during the recent heatwave.

“A 20 per cent decline wipes out your margin,” Luni said.

Heatwaves are increasingly taking a toll on Europe’s economy, ‌reducing productivity, curbing consumer ‌spending and raising operating costs. 

For ⁠insurers, such losses can be difficult to cover because they often stem from indirect operational disruption rather than property damage.

“Heat in itself ​is not a traditionally insured risk,” said Swenja Surminski, managing director for climate and sustainability at Marsh.

“Extreme heat rarely causes catastrophic physical damage the way a flood or a storm does, but the financial operational disruption that it triggers can be just as severe.”

A 2023 survey of 9000 small and medium-sized firms for Europe’s insurance regulator found 28 per cent held business interruption cover as part of their property insurance, while 17 per cent had non-damage business interruption protection covering events such as strike action.

The protection gap is widening as the economic costs of extreme heat mount. Trains are delayed, agricultural yields fall and factory cooling costs rise, ⁠while workers often struggle to maintain productivity during prolonged spells of extreme temperatures.

Companies that flagged a hit from ‌hot weather or warned about ​its potential future impact when reporting second-quarter earnings included Swedish shop-fitting provider ITAB Group, Italian cement producer Buzzi and French payments firm Worldline.

Heat often acts as a compound risk, interacting with drought, wildfire ​and water shortages ‌rather than triggering a single identifiable loss event. That makes it harder to model and insure than some other natural catastrophes.

The challenge is particularly acute in Europe, the fastest-warming continent. Reuters ​Climate Monitor showed the average temperature across western Europe was nearly 10C above the 1961 to 1990 average on August 11.

Data compiled by environmental disclosure platform CDP showed 35 per cent of companies it tracks identified heatwaves as a risk driver, led by businesses in manufacturing, services, infrastructure and food-related sectors.

While insurance may cover some physical losses linked ​to events such ​as power outages, businesses often say compensation does little to offset lost sales ​and reduced customer activity.

“The real loss is the revenue you don’t make and the business ‌activity that never takes place because of the outage,” Luni said.

To bridge the gap, insurers are increasingly exploring parametric products that pay out automatically when temperatures exceed pre-defined thresholds. Unlike traditional indemnity-based insurance, such policies do not require a lengthy loss-adjustment process.

The European market for parametric insurance is expected to reach $US7.93 billion ($A11.15 billion) by 2031, according to a report by KBV Research, with compound annual growth of 9.5 per cent between 2025 and 2032.

Such policies are already being used in agriculture, where heat can reduce crop yields or livestock productivity, and industry experts see scope for expansion into sectors including transport and workforce protection.

“Parametric insurance can really ​play a role,” said Aidan Kerr, head of UK and Ireland public sector solutions at Swiss Re.

Even so, many companies will need to focus primarily on adapting their operations to withstand ​more frequent periods of extreme heat through measures such ⁠as investing in cooling technologies, redesigning workplaces and stress-testing supply chains, Surminski said.

“Take action to avoid the losses rather than address ​them once they’ve occurred.”

Jailed celebrity agent Ralph Carr has complained about reputation damage and being in “living hell” after he was convicted of raping a former employee.

The 66-year-old talent manager, behind the careers of ex-AFL star Dustin Martin, singer Kate Ceberano and ex-wife Tina Arena, was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault by a Victorian County Court jury.

For almost three years, Carr successfully kept his name out of the news but he was unmasked earlier in August with the lifting of a suppression order.

Sporting a bald head and grey prison tracksuit, he was almost unrecognisable as he faced court on Monday.

Carr maintained his innocence and was applying for a temporary delay to his sentence pending an appeal against his convictions, defence lawyer Dermot Dann told the court.

Mr Dann said his client’s unmasking had impacted his mental health, leading to suicidal thoughts, depressive symptoms and anxiety.

“For someone who maintains innocence, this is a terrible, terrible situation,” he said.

“When he describes it as a living hell and that he’s destroyed, it adds to the picture.”

Carr’s mental health history dates back to 2023 when he was arrested and charged, but Mr Dann said the “single greatest factor exacerbating risk” was public identification in the media.

The convicted rapist’s mental wellbeing was also linked to the outcome of his application as it offered him hope, Mr Dann argued.

“Because of the nature (and) scale of reporting, publicity, his career (has been) destroyed,” he said.

“No matter how successful his appeal or stay application, he sees the damage to his career is done because his career relied on public relations, knowing people at the right time.”

Psychiatrist Jackie Rakov, who had been treating Carr, said he was being held in a section of prison for high-profile inmates and spending 23 hours a day inside his cell.

Dr Rakov told the court Carr’s suicide risk was “dynamic” and could increase if the stay application was unsuccessful.

Carr was convicted of assaulting a former employee at his Melbourne home in the early hours of March 24, 2023, after she became emotional discussing a relationship break-up.

He hugged her and began kissing her and touching her breasts, waist and buttocks while she tried to push him away.

When she told him to stop, Carr told her he couldn’t because she was “so sexy” before raping her twice while she cried into a pillow.

A victim impact statement for the woman was not tendered in court.

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Thousands of people are still waiting for aid on the Indonesian island of Flores as the country marked its 81st Independence Day, days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 54 people and damaged hundreds of homes.

Many residents spent the day mourning victims, searching for loved ones and waiting for aid to arrive in communities still cut off by the deadly quake.

More than 1300 homes were damaged when the quake struck East Nusa Tenggara province on Saturday, with nearly 250 destroyed on Flores alone. 

Some 5000 people were forced into temporary shelters and 135 people were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The province’s governor declared a 14-day state of emergency on Sunday.

The quake occurred at a depth of 10km shortly before 6am on Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey. 

Residents fled in panic as tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted. Authorities have since recorded at least 995 aftershocks, but only 46 were felt by residents.

Thousands of people on Flores camped outside collapsed homes under tarpaulin tents overnight into Monday, sleeping outside because of the danger of more aftershocks. 

An Associated Press photojournalist saw widespread devastation across the island, with fallen trees blocking roads, giant boulders hurled downslope by landslides, and homes left shattered or heavily damaged. Parked cars were crushed when buildings collapsed during the quake. 

For many residents, the disaster revived painful memories of a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores in 1992, killing about 2500 people.

“My house is just rubble now,” said Rasyid Jafar, a clothing trader in the village of Reo, the hardest-hit area in Manggarai regency.

“We need food, medicine and clean water urgently.”

More than 3500 military and police personnel have been deployed across the disaster zone and 275 tons of aid have been to the area, though logistical challenges have slowed deliveries to some hard-hit communities.

While some relief has trickled in, survivors say they still need equipment to cook food.

“We have nothing left … Why isn’t there a public kitchen?” said Mariana Tewu, another villager in Reo.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped arc of seismic faults and volcanoes.

In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake triggered a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi that killed more than 4400 people. 

In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, nearly 170,000 in Aceh province alone.

Shares in a leading electronics and homewares retailer are on track for their worst single-day loss after sales took a hit for the start of the new financial year.

JB Hi-Fi shares by midday on Monday had plunged 11.4 per cent to $72.41, on pace to exceed their 10.8 per cent fall on March 23, 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company posted solid numbers for the financial year ending June 30, including record sales of $11.06 billion and a sharply higher dividend.

But investors appeared to be looking past those figures and at its trading update for 2026/27, eToro analyst Josh Gilbert said.

Same-store sales at the group’s flagship Australian JB Hi-Fi stores were down 1.4 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2025 and had dropped 1.7 per cent at appliance chain The Good Guys.

“It is one month, it is a small month, and I would say, it’s not a promotional period,” JB Hi-Fi chief executive Nick Wells told analysts on a conference call.

“Promotional periods have become increasingly important when customers are looking for value,.

“So periods like end-of-financial-year in June or Black Friday become really important and then maybe it touches a little bit those non-promotional periods like July.”

The previous year’s July sales were boosted by a new Nintendo handheld video game console and the release of Samsung’s latest folding smartphone, Mr Wells added.

Suppliers had also enacted some “pretty material” price rises with less frequent discounting, he said.

Tech companies such as Apple have blamed soaring chip prices, driven by demand from artificial intelligence data centres, for increasing costs.

It was difficult to say how much of the July sales drop was driven by rising prices and how much it was caused by cost-of-living pressures, Mr Wells said.

But Mr Gilbert noted problems with supply and demand had the same impact on profits.

“Rent and wages don’t stop just because there’s less stock to sell,” he said.

JB Hi-Fi is considered a bellwether for Australia’s discretionary retail companies, meaning Monday’s share price fall would likely weigh on the sector, Mr Gilbert said.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner expected the share price drop given the poor trading update for July, but said the company’s results for 2025/26 were in line with consensus expectations.

The group grew its full-year statutory net profit after tax by six per cent to $489.9 million, while sales climbed 4.8 per cent.

Sales at the group’s more than 200 Australian JB Hi-Fi stores rose 4.4 per cent to $7.4 billion, with same-store sales up 3.2 per cent.

New Zealand store sales rose 26 per cent to $NZ499.5 million ($416 million), with same-stores sales up 15.3 per cent.

The Good Guys sales were up 2.7 per cent to $2.9 billion.

JB Hi-Fi announced a final dividend of $1.27 a share, fully franked, up 21 per cent from a year earlier.

Including its interim dividend, the company will pay out a total of $3.37 a share for 2025/26, up 22.5 per cent from a year ago, after last year hiking the portion of profit it aims to send to shareholders.

An Australian-based global property group is back in the red after posting its fourth annual loss in five years, as its offshore retreat and foreign asset sales continue to hit its bottom line.

Lendlease, which has development, construction and investment management arms, suffered a bottom line loss of $749 million in the year ended June 30.

That was a major turnaround from a $225 million net profit in the previous year.

“This is obviously a disappointing outcome,” Lendlease chief financial officer Andrew Nieland told an earnings briefing on Monday.

Buyers were being careful in the current market environment, chief investment officer Penny Ransom said.

“It’s fair to say, with the uncertainty that is in the market, buyers are taking more time to consider their their transactions,” she told analysts.

“But what that also brings is a real focus on quality.”

It has been more than two years since Lendlease began selling off its construction units in the UK, US and Canada to focus on its Australian business, but the massive restructure continues to weigh.

The group posted an operating loss of $567 million, which included a positive $233 million contribution from investments, development and construction.

It also booked an $800 million loss from its capital release unit, which was designed to ring-fence and sell off Lendlease’s offshore operations and projects.

The overall loss means Lendlease will not pay a final distribution for the period, leaving the full-year distribution at 15.7 cents per share.

Some shareholders opted to vote via the sell button, sending its share price more than nine per cent lower to $2.93.

Still, Mr Nieland was optimistic about the group’s future as the restructure continued.

“Lendlease’s depth of capability across the real estate spectrum provides us with a strong competitive position that supports a positive outlook for the group,” Mr Nieland said. 

“We will remain disciplined with our capital allocation decisions and focused on creating long-term value and sustainable returns for our security holders.”

Positive signs included cost-cutting, with net overheads slashed from $466 million in the 2025 financial year to $363 million, a 22 per cent reduction.

The largest contributor to the improvement was an $84 million reduction in net employee overhead.

“With the full benefit of cost action still to be realised, we have entered financial year 2027 with an exit run rate or net overhead of $350 million, in line with our prior targets,” Mr Nieland said.

The result came as incoming chief executive and former AustralianSuper executive Nick O’Neil prepares to take the reins, following Tony Lombardo’s departure earlier in August.

Australia’s share market is weaker but ongoing uncertainty around energy supply is boosting oil-linked stocks and offsetting weakness in the retail sector, as profit season continues.

The leading S&P/ASX200 index fell 22.3 points by midday on Monday to be down 0.26 per cent, to 9,091.1, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 16.4 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 9,296.8.

The local earnings season was heading into a busy week, especially for the resources sector, Moomoo market strategy consultant Greg Boland said.

“Investors will be looking beyond headline earnings to guidance, commodity prices, capital expenditure and dividend expectations,” he said.

“With the ASX trading near record levels, company results will be important in determining whether current valuations can be supported by stronger earnings growth.”

A gloomy household spending outlook continued to weigh on consumer discretionary stocks, which fell 2.5 per cent as JB Hi-Fi, Super Retail, Wesfarmers and Harvey Norman led a broad sector sell-off.

JB Hi-Fi was down more than 11 per cent and on track for its worst session since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, after revealing Australian sales were contracting.

Materials stocks offered the index some support, with the segment up 1.6 per cent as gold and copper prices jumped, with gold trading at $US4,396 ($A6,195) an ounce.

BHP advanced one per cent to $61.95 ahead of its full-year results on Tuesday, with fellow mega-miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue showing similar gains.

Battery minerals producers continued to rebound in unison with recovering lithium prices, while rare earths producers also made gains.

The heavyweight financials sector was under pressure, tumbling as NAB shares dived almost five per cent despite its third-quarter update delivering a $1.8 billion statutory net profit, up almost a third on its average for the quarter.

Real estate stocks also sold off, led by a nearly nine per cent dump in LendLease shares after it cut its dividend and posted a $749 million loss, its fourth in five years.

The energy sector gained 0.8 per cent as Brent crude again topped $US89 a barrel, after the US promised to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran.

Woodside and Santos each rose roughly one per cent, with Santos to deliver financial results for the recent half on Wednesday.

In other earnings news, shares in market information provider Iress tumbled by almost a tenth despite the company’s net profit ballooning 85 per cent to $32 million.

Aurizon shares plummeted by a similar amount, despite delivering an in-line profit of $362 million.

Looking ahead, earnings from BHP, CSL, Cochlear, Evolution Mining and Northern Star are in the spotlight ahead of their results this week.

On Thursday, traders will be watching local employment data for a look under the hood of the Australian economy, with analysts split on the Reserve Bank’s road ahead on interest rates.

The Australian dollar was buying 70.97 US cents, up from 70.68 US cents on Friday at 5pm AEST.