By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia said on Thursday it would introduce legislation to parliament to cancel Russia’s lease to build a new embassy in the national capital of Canberra, citing national security. The move follows the conclusion of a long-running litigation regarding the leased site after the federal court ruled last month that an…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian senator on Thursday said she was followed, aggressively propositioned and inappropriately touched by another senator in parliament house, and called on the government to make the building safer for women. In a tearful address in parliament, independent senator Lidia Thorpe said she has decided not to pursue legal action or…
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s most decorated war veteran, found by a civil court to have played a part in the murder of four Afghans while serving in Afghanistan, said he was devastated by what he called an “incorrect” judgement and he would not apologise for his actions. In his first public comments since the court ruling,…
By Stella Qiu SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian employment blew past expectations in May, while the jobless rate edged lower and participation rate climbed to a record high, an extraordinarily strong report that adds pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates further. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday showed net employment…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian state on Thursday imposed a three-month ban on PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) local unit from receiving new tax-related contracts – the latest repercussion to hit the firm after its misuse of confidential federal government tax plans. PwC has come under fire after a former tax partner in the firm who was advising…
By Sinéad Carew (Reuters) – MSCI’s global equity index closed slightly higher on Wednesday after a volatile afternoon while the dollar cut its losses after the U.S. Federal Reserve paused interest rate hikes as was widely expected but signalled that it could raise rates by another half percentage point by year-end. The central bank issued…
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar slid on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, as expected, but signaled that borrowing costs will increase by another 50 basis points (bps) by end-December. The dollar index was last down 0.3% at 103.01 after hitting a four-week low of 102.66 in…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank will pay out just over A$1 million in back pay after an internal review found on Wednesday the bank had systematically underpaid more than a thousand current and former employees. A review into the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) “more complex remuneration arrangements” identified 1,173 current and former staff…
By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand needs to keep increasing the supply of houses to address housing affordability, which is still a concern, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, adding that land should be freed up to promote investment. “The cyclical downturn in (house) prices does not imply that the structural housing…
By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian lender ANZ Group is looking at opportunities to invest more in the critical minerals sector as part of its efforts to support decarbonisation and has recently backed its first stand-alone lithium deal, an executive said on Wednesday. ANZ has traditionally supported long-life, low-risk mine projects for Australia’s staple…
