Australia

Commonwealth Bank closed its 2026 year with a $10.9 billion profit, but the sharper number is investor home loan applications: down 28 per cent since the May budget, with total applications down 15 per cent.

Michaelia Cash has referred the leak of confidential Japan correspondence to the AFP and the government has rejected an internal probe, sparking a heated question time exchange with Clare O'Neil.

Settlement day is the most financially exposed moment in a property buyer's life, and payment redirection scammers know it. One Perth buyer got within minutes of losing $1.2 million.

The Fair Work Commission has set Australia's first pay floor for gig delivery workers: $31.30 to $32.00 an hour from 17 August, with insurance, dispute rights and annual increases built in.

The Default Market Offer is the number most electricity customers have never heard of, even though it directly sets the ceiling on what they pay. The DMO is a safety-net price rather than the cheapest plan available, and it acts as a reference price to help consumers compare market offers.

One number should stop every would-be political operative in this country: $45,000. That is what Jarrod Davis's decision to skip a single line of text on a pamphlet ultimately cost him.

Westpac says mortgage applications have fallen 20 per cent since the May budget scrapped investor tax concessions, as third-quarter cash earnings slipped to A$1.8 billion and the bank tips investor credit growth to roughly halve in 2027.

The RBA has held the cash rate at 4.35 per cent as ANZ warns Sydney house prices could fall as much as 14.5 per cent, the steepest decline since the early 1980s, with budget tax changes driving the downturn.