Australia news live: Westpac accuses KPMG of ‘drip feeding’ information on alleged leaks; Qantas refunds passengers stranded in Johannesburg for two nights | Australia news
Albanese says he had ‘productive’, ‘substantial’ call with Trump and Aukus still ‘full steam ahead’
Anthony Albanese is speaking in Canberra after he held a “productive” and “substantial” call with Donald Trump. He said the pair spoke about a “number of global and regional issues”, including the conflict in the Middle East and recent developments in the Pacific.
Albanese said the pair spoke about the Aukus submarine deal, which “remains full steam ahead”.
We agreed it was a project that is and will continue to deliver benefits for the United States, for Australia, and for the United Kingdom.
He said he raised the issue of tariffs, asking the president to consider full exemption or at the very least no increase of those in effect.
I always put forward Australia’s national interest during these discussions.
Key events
Amanda Meade
Alan Jones trial continues
The second alleged victim to give evidence in Alan Jones’s indecent assault trial has entered the witness box in a closed court at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court.
The man, known as complainant C, has told the court he started working at 2GB in the mid-2000s when he was 18 years old after he finished school.
He said he wrote an email to broadcaster Ray Hadley and asked if there was any work available, and he invited the school leaver to meet with him.
“He offered to pay me out of his own pocket for three months,” C told the court, and he later secured full-time employment at the radio station.
Jones’s defence barrister, Gabrielle Bashir SC, has argued during the trial that some of the complainants were egged on to complain about Jones by media rivals.
They included, Bashir alleged, shockjock Hadley, who worked at 2GB alongside Jones.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges. The trial continues.
Qantas refunds passengers stuck in Johannesburg for two nights after A380 issue
Qantas has refunded hundreds of customers aboard an A380 jet that was delayed for days after mechanical issues stranded passengers in Johannesburg, South Africa, for two nights.
Flight QF64 was initially due to depart South Africa on 10 August en route to Sydney, but shortly after it left the gate the aircraft returned due to a mechanical issue. Passengers were told to disembark and spend the night after a spare part needed to be flown in from Dubai. By the time the part came in, it required extra work to make the plane safe to fly, resulting in a two-night stay for those travellers.
A replacement plane ultimately ventured to Johannesburg to pick everyone up, and the group returned to Sydney yesterday evening.
All passengers were offered either $200 in compensation or 20,000 frequent flyer points, and were told upon landing back in Australia they would also be refunded for the leg from Johannesburg to Sydney, less taxes, as well as an Uber home.
Westpac hits out at KPMG ‘drip feeding’ alleged audit leak details
Luca Ittimani
Westpac has made its first public criticism of KPMG, accusing the firm of “drip feeding” details to clients affected by its alleged audit leaks at a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal.
KPMG partners in 2023 leaked board papers from a client, Lendlease, to colleagues who were pursuing and eventually won Westpac’s lucrative audit contract.
Law firm Allens investigated some of the alleged leaks and concluded the information was “not particularly sensitive”, in a December 2025 report. More leaks have since been confirmed.
Michael Ullmer ran the big four bank’s audit selection. He told the inquiry this morning Westpac was not told about the breach until the scandal became public in March and did not get a full explanation of the allegations on 13 May in a process of “drip feeding” information.
Even then, KPMG told Westpac the allegations had not been substantiated. He said:
We go back to KPMG each time, and there’s a drip feeding of information coming out, and so from within Westpac there’s been this escalating concern and strength of our engagement with KPMG.
Ullmer said he subsequently learned KPMG “may have” told Peter Nash, a former KPMG chair and chair of Westpac’s Board Audit Committee, in May 2025 of unsubstantiated allegations, but Nash did not escalate this at Westpac.
Nash resigned from Westpac in July. Ullmer said he believed Nash had failed to discharge his obligations, because he kept a “range of social engagement and connections with KPMG throughout this [audit tender] process”.
Westpac has previously said Nash declared his conflicts of interests and the process was “carefully governed”. Nash has not commented publicly.
Queensland police help deliver baby girl in station’s driveway
Quick-thinking officers have helped safely deliver a baby girl in the back seat of a car parked at a Queensland police station, AAP reports.
Police were returning to the station on Tuesday when they were flagged down by a panicked father in a red hatchback, alerting them his 22-year-old heavily pregnant partner was in the late stages of labour.
The couple had been on the way to Logan hospital when they realised they weren’t going to make it and pulled into the Browns Plains station in Queensland.
Officers swooped in to assist, rushing over to the car parked in the station’s driveway.
Constable Jenna Ziviani, with assistance of an ambulance operator on the phone, helped deliver the baby within seven minutes. Paramedics then arrived shortly after and took the family to the hospital.
Both mother and baby are happy and healthy, recovering at home.
Parents call for penalties for social media companies to be increased
Josh Taylor
Parents of children who took their own lives, who campaigned for the under 16s social media ban prior to its introduction, have rejected claims the ban is not working or has failed, as they call for the government to increase the fines for non-compliance beyond the planned $99m level.
Speaking at an inquiry into the Albanese government’s legislation to give the eSafety commissioner more investigatory powers and boost the fines for breaches for non-compliance with the ban legislation, parents such as Wayne Holdsworth, father of Mac and founder of SmackTalk, called for the legislation to pass.
Holdsworth compared the ban to other society changes such as seatbelts, and said it would take three to five years to bed. He said Australia should consider fines of up to $500m to make the companies take it seriously.
He said:
The tech giants monetise our children … and it is not in their commercial interest to restrict children’s access to these dangerous platforms.
So that implies that their driver is money, obviously.
So we must target their driver to get them to comply, target their money, their bottom line, their share price. They’ve shown that they do not have a moral compass, but it’s a badge of honour for them.
The inquiry will later hear from eSafety, the communications department, Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap, as well as digital rights groups.
Petra Stock
Why do Victorian Liberals want a weekly red bin collection?
“Under a government I lead, your red bin will be collected every single week.”
These were not the words of a candidate running for local council but the leader of the opposition in Victoria. Roads, rates and rubbish have traditionally been the domain of local government but, at this year’s state election, bins have become a political talking point.
We’ve rummaged through the claims to sort the trash from the treasure.
Read more:
Luca Ittimani
Is Australia’s buy now, pay later boom at an end?
Afterpay has never turned a profit in Australia. Last month, it spent millions to take over a Sydney Olympic Park arena.
The company says Afterpay Arena will be the first venue where Australians can “buy now, pay later” for their event tickets, merchandise, dinner and even alcohol.
The deal to take the naming rights from a traditional lender, Qudos Bank, is the latest evolution for a sector that has rapidly expanded over the past decade. But as growth slows and players leave the market, is the buy now, pay later (BNPL) boom over?
Read more here:
Albanese says he always does a ‘range of interviews’ amid criticism over melon comments
Albanese was just asked about a series of events for which he’s faced heavy criticism in the media, including his appearance on a comedy podcast that prompted an apology over his remarks on Kylie Minogue and his recent comments about a gift of melons from Japan’s prime minister.
Albanese said of the podcast comments, referred to as “melon-gate”:
I reiterate the fact that the interpretation that some have put on it was not correct. … I do a range of interviews … you can look at these things in hindsight.
In modern media, I talk to a range of people, many of whom I don’t agree with.
The issue of the relationship with Japan though, the relationship has never been stronger.
Albanese says gambling inducements are ‘over the top’
Albanese said gambling inducements are “over the top and need to be wound back”.
The government is hopeful about getting its gambling reforms past parliament next week. The prime minister said:
Look, we’re working constructively across the parliament to put in place these reforms. They are important.
The problem is addiction and when someone has an addiction, if there are inducements that are encouraging that addiction, that’s a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with people having a punt on a Saturday … the problem is if it’s an addiction.
He said he welcomes the “constructive discussions” the parties have had so far.
Albanese says he had ‘productive’, ‘substantial’ call with Trump and Aukus still ‘full steam ahead’
Anthony Albanese is speaking in Canberra after he held a “productive” and “substantial” call with Donald Trump. He said the pair spoke about a “number of global and regional issues”, including the conflict in the Middle East and recent developments in the Pacific.
Albanese said the pair spoke about the Aukus submarine deal, which “remains full steam ahead”.
We agreed it was a project that is and will continue to deliver benefits for the United States, for Australia, and for the United Kingdom.
He said he raised the issue of tariffs, asking the president to consider full exemption or at the very least no increase of those in effect.
I always put forward Australia’s national interest during these discussions.
Cherry-Evans confirms NRL exit
Daly Cherry-Evans has given himself every chance to book-end his NRL career with a second premiership, after confirming 2026 will be his last in Australia, AAP reports.
The Sydney Roosters star announced on Friday he would finish in the NRL at season’s end, before moving to the English Super League for a one-year swansong at Hull FC.
His exit will bring the curtain down on one of the NRL’s most storied careers, after making his debut at Manly in 2011 before his shock Sea Eagles exit at the end of last season.
At the age of 37, Cherry-Evans is the second-most capped player in NRL history and has a string of records including the most 40-20s ever kicked, most golden-point winners and most field goals in the NRL era.
He also captained both Queensland and Australia, helping lead the Maroons to three series wins and also claiming a Clive Churchill Medal in 2013.
The prime minister will speak about the call in a few minutes, at 7.30am, Canberra time. We’ll bring you details from the presser soon.
Albanese and Trump speak overnight
Tom McIlroy
Anthony Albanese and the US president, Donald Trump, spoke overnight, the prime minister’s office confirmed.
Albanese is expected to say more about the call early this morning from Canberra.
The call comes a day after US defence official Eldridge Colby gave an endorsement of the Aukus nuclear submarine pact. Australia and the US are also discussing concerns about Trump’s latest round of trade tariffs and the ongoing Iran war.
More to come soon.
Good morning, and happy Friday. We’re back to regular news today after another week in parliament. Nick Visser here – let’s get to it.
Luca Ittimani
Parliamentary committee urges reform of whistleblower laws
The Labor-led parliamentary committee investigating KPMG’s audit leaks has put pressure on the Albanese government to reform laws that could have protected the scandal’s whistleblower.
The committee, which includes five Labor MPs, on 9 July asked Anthony Albanese to urgently fix whistleblower protections. On Thursday, it published a 30 July letter from Albanese’s assistant minister, Patrick Gorman, acknowledging the concerns and saying Treasury was reviewing tax and corporate whistleblower laws.
The committee also shared its submission to Treasury’s review, in which it said Australian law failed to protect the whistleblower and was “largely ineffective in deterring misconduct”.
The laws had issues that were “long standing, well known, and have been well-ventilated over many years”, demonstrated most recently by the KPMG whistleblower’s difficulties, the submission reads.
The committee said it had made dozens of recommendations in the past decade, unanimously backed by members across the political spectrum, and noted “the ongoing importance of all the recommendations made by the committee that have not yet been implemented by the government”.
KPMG apologises to whistleblower as inquiry looms
Luca Ittimani
KPMG has contacted the man who blew the whistle on its audit leaks scandal to apologise, ahead of an inquiry into its failures today.
The whistleblower was a KPMG employee who sent an email raising alarm in May 2024, in which he claims he was covered by Australia’s legal protections.
In a letter published by the inquiry committee, Mike Ebeid, KPMG’s new chair, offers a series of mea culpas.
Ebeid told the whistleblower that KPMG still believed not think his email was protected by Australia’s complex whistleblower laws. Ebeid said the firm had still treated the issue as if it were being raised as an official whistleblower issue and would not challenge the matter if a legal case was brought against it.
Ebeid has also admitted the firm did not ask its lawyers to investigate “every aspect” of the whistleblower’s allegations, meaning it did not look into some of the ethical issues now being examined.
He said KPMG had in April 2026 wrongly claimed it had “not substantiated” allegations of internal leaks because investigations by December 2025 had found confidential information was being shared.
Man dies after house fire on NSW south coast
Achol Arok
NSW police have declared a critical incident investigation into the death of a man who allegedly barricaded himself inside a home and started a fire.
Emergency services attended a unit on the state’s south coast at about 1.15pm on Thursday, after reports of concern for the man’s welfare.
Authorities were forced to gain entry to the unit and extinguish the fire.
The 57-year-old man was treated for his injuries at the scene but could not be revived.
The man has yet to be formally identified. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
KPMG has reached out to apologise to the man who exposed its audit leaks scandal before an inquiry into its failures today, while Labor MPs want the government to do more to protect whistleblowers. More coming up.
NSW police have declared a critical incident investigation into the death of a man who allegedly barricaded himself inside a home in Bomaderry and started a fire. More details coming up.
