After a promising morning rally fueled by optimism over potential diplomatic progress in the Middle East, Australia’s benchmark sharemarket surrendered nearly all its early advances on a choppy day of trading, as investors recalibrated their expectations for a swift resolution to ongoing regional tensions. By the closing bell, the ASX 200 posted only a marginal gain of 7.90 points (0.09%) to settle at 8978.70, while the broader All Ordinaries index fared slightly better, climbing 16 points (0.17%) to 9181.10. The Australian dollar also saw a bump, rising to 71.40 US cents against its American counterpart.Trading across the benchmark’s 11 sectors was deeply mixed, with just five closing in positive territory. The information technology, healthcare and materials sectors led the modest uptick, with standout performers including logistics tech firm WiseTech, which gained 3.63% to reach $39.96, accounting software provider Xero that climbed 2.62% to $75.10, and enterprise tech provider Technology One that rose 2.86% to $28.81. In healthcare, global biotech leader CSL added 0.98% to $139.44, sleep apnea device maker ResMed gained 1.52% to $32.70, and medical imaging technology firm Pro Medicus jumped 4.09% to $137.42.The day’s bullish opening came on the heels of another strong overnight session on Wall Street, which had pushed the ASX 200 as high as 9015.4 points early in the day. Over the prior 10 trading days, both the S&P 500 and tech-focused Nasdaq had notched gains of more than 10% each, driven largely by early hopes that new peace talks between the U.S. and Iran would ease regional conflict. Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, explained that the overnight global equity rally was sparked by falling oil prices tied to news that fresh U.S.-Iran negotiations would move forward as ceasefire talks progressed. Even so, Rodda warned that underlying risks of a renewed escalation of conflict remain largely unaddressed. “Superficially, the markets appear to be holding onto hopes rather than anchoring themselves in reality,” he noted, adding that ongoing blockades in the region continue to disrupt global oil supplies, leaving the global economy in a precarious position.Those underlying risks dragged on investor sentiment through the second half of Australia’s trading session, erasing most of the morning’s gains even amid confirmation that U.S.-Iran talks could resume in Pakistan within 48 hours. Benchmark Brent crude prices reversed earlier falls, rising 0.8% to $US95.58, a development that reinforced investor jitters over energy market volatility.In individual corporate news, several companies posted notable gains on the day. Virgin Australia shares jumped 7.23% to $2.52 after the airline announced it had hedged most of its exposure to rising fuel costs, offsetting projected half-year cost increases of $30 million to $40 million with a planned 1% cut to domestic flight capacity to reduce further expenses. Gold explorer Evolution Mining rallied 9.55% to $14.45 following the release of strong positive drill results from its Mungair and Cowal operations. Agricultural chemical maker Nufarm surged 11.26% to $2.47 after an upbeat trading update forecast underlying earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization between $239 million and $244 million, marking a 17% increase from the prior year. The day’s largest corporate loss came from Telix Pharmaceuticals, whose shares fell 4.21% to $14.80 after the company announced a $US600 million convertible note offering set to mature in 2031.
标签： Oceania
大洋洲
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Australian pleads guilty to creating deepfake porn in landmark case
In a groundbreaking legal milestone that highlights Australia’s escalating battle against AI-fueled online abuse, 19-year-old William Hamish Yeates has entered a guilty plea to multiple charges related to non-consensual deepfake pornography, becoming the first person prosecuted under the country’s newly enacted national law criminalizing manipulated sexual content. The law, which targets the non-consensual creation and distribution of altered intimate imagery, carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment for offenders.
During Wednesday’s court hearing, Yeates pleaded guilty to four counts: creating and altering sexual material without a victim’s consent, distributing the illicit content, and using a digital communications service in a harassing and offensive manner. Originally, the teenager faced 20 separate Commonwealth charges, but prosecutors from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) withdrew the remaining counts following his guilty plea. Court documents confirm that Yeates shared the manipulated intimate images of his unnamed victim across multiple accounts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, without her permission. As he left the courtroom, Yeates declined to answer questions from reporters, and he is scheduled to return for a sentencing hearing next month.
While a small number of Australian states had previously implemented their own local regulations governing deepfake content, this case marks the first prosecution brought under the unified national law, setting a critical legal precedent for future cases across the country.
Digital safety experts have long warned that non-consensual deepfake pornography, most often generated using advancing artificial intelligence technology, represents an evolving and dangerous frontier of gender-based abuse and youth bullying. Official data collected by Australia’s eSafety Commission, the country’s internet regulator, backs up these concerns. In 2024 testimony to the Australian parliament, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant highlighted the explosive growth of harmful deepfake content online, noting that the volume of explicit deepfake material has surged by 550% year-over-year since 2019.
Grant’s data also underscores the disproportionate impact of this abuse on women and girls: of all deepfake material currently circulating online, 98% is pornographic, and 99% of that explicit content targets female victims. In response to the growing crisis, the eSafety Commission has actively pushed to restrict and ban so-called “nudify” apps within Australia, tools that allow users to generate non-consensual explicit deepfakes from ordinary photos with minimal technical skill.
For individuals affected by image-based abuse or deepfake harm, support services are available through the BBC Action Line Australia.
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Aussie finance giant Latitude Finance Australia hit with $3.96m fine after 2.7m anti-spam law breaches
One of Australia’s major financial services providers has been handed a substantial eight-figure penalty for persistent violations of the nation’s spam marketing regulations, marking the second time in as many years the firm has been punished for identical misconduct. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the country’s independent communications regulator, announced this week that Latitude Finance Australia will pay $3.96 million in penalties after an investigation uncovered more than 2.7 million breaches of Australian spam legislation.
Of the millions of unauthorized and non-compliant marketing messages distributed by the firm, more than 2.3 million failed to include accurate contact information for the company as required by law. Additionally, 344,416 of these commercial messages lacked a working unsubscribe mechanism that would allow recipients to opt out of future communications, according to ACMA’s official findings. Most of the non-compliant messages were sent to promote Latitude’s line of credit card products and other consumer financial services. While many messages instructed users to reply with the word ‘STOP’ to opt out of future mailings, the regulator confirmed that a large share of these requests were never processed correctly due to broken systems.
Samantha York, a sitting member of the ACMA authority, emphasized that the size of the penalty was directly tied to both the staggering scale of the violations and the fact that this is a repeat offense. Back in 2022, Latitude was already ordered to pay $1.55 million in penalties for nearly identical spam law breaches. “Latitude is now a two-time offender and it is disappointing that it let consumers down again,” York said in a formal statement. “The spam laws have been in place for more than 20 years, there is simply no excuse for ongoing noncompliance, particularly after previous enforcement action. Given Latitude’s history of noncompliance, we will be very closely monitoring how it meets its obligations going forward.”
In an official disclosure filed with the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning, Latitude acknowledged the regulator’s findings and the imposed penalty. The company noted that as soon as internal teams identified that it had sent potentially non-compliant SMS marketing messages, it self-reported the issue to ACMA and immediately moved to update and strengthen its internal spam compliance protocols. As part of an enforceable undertaking agreed to with the regulator, Latitude will now hire an independent third-party compliance expert to audit and verify that its updated processes meet all legal requirements moving forward.
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AFL 2026: Port Adelaide star Zak Butters finds an ally in Essendon coach Brad Scott
A controversial disciplinary ruling against Port Adelaide star midfielder Zak Butters has sparked public pushback, with one high-profile rival coach and the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) questioning the fundamental logic of the tribunal’s finding, delivered Tuesday afternoon.
Butters was handed a AU$1,500 fine after the tribunal found him guilty of making a suspicious comment to field umpire Nick Foot following a contentious in-match call. According to the umpire’s account, Butters asked, “How much are they paying you?” — a line that implies accusations of bias or match-fixing. Butters has pushed back on this characterization, arguing his comment was actually a misheard phrase along the lines of “How are you paying that?”
The case has thrown a spotlight on a glaring evidential gap: Foot’s on-field microphone failed to clearly capture the full exchange, leaving no concrete audio evidence to corroborate either version of events. Despite this absence of clear proof, the tribunal ultimately sided with the umpire’s testimony, even rejecting additional consistent testimony from Butters’ teammate Ollie Wines that aligned with the player’s account. After the match, Butters attempted to clarify the misunderstanding with Foot directly, but the veteran umpire refused to engage in further discussion.
Essendon head coach Brad Scott, a former AFL staff member who now leads the Bombers, has become one of the most prominent voices questioning the ruling, saying he shares the widespread confusion shared by most Australian Rules football fans and observers. While Scott made clear he supports the league’s rule barring general post-match dialogue between players and umpires, arguing that opening that door would create far more problems for the sport at all competition levels, he says the tribunal’s conclusion defies basic evidentiary logic.
“Like every other footy follower out there, I’m waiting for a clear explanation of how one person’s testimony can be prioritized over another when there is no other supporting evidence,” Scott told reporters. “There’s nothing to back up either side beyond conflicting accounts, so how you reach a firm conclusion on that basis is totally beyond me. Hopefully we’ll get a clearer explanation down the line.”
Scott’s public criticism comes shortly after AFLPA chief executive James Gallagher issued a formal statement expressing disappointment with the ruling and confirming the union’s full backing for Butters as he explores an appeal. Gallagher noted that the incident, rooted in a simple miscommunication over what was said on the field, should have been resolved immediately after the match rather than being escalated to a full tribunal hearing.
The union head added that the tribunal’s choice to uphold the charge without sufficient reasonable doubt, while rejecting evidence consistent with Butters’ account, is deeply concerning for player stakeholders. Ahead of the 2026 season, the AFLPA had already pledged to closely monitor tribunal rulings after a string of player complaints about disciplinary processes in recent seasons. Gallagher stressed that maintaining player confidence in the league’s disciplinary system is a core priority for the union, and it will continue to support both Butters and Port Adelaide through every step of the appeal process.
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Australia ‘better placed’ for energy crisis triggered by Iran war due to renewable uptake: Bowen
As the Israel-US conflict with Iran sends global energy markets into chaos, Australia is far better positioned to weather resulting price volatility and supply disruptions than it was during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine crisis – and progress in renewable energy adoption deserves much of the credit, Australia’s Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said.
Following Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s total oil supply passes, global energy markets have been roiled by extreme volatility. International benchmark Brent crude has seesawed wildly around the $100 per barrel mark in recent trading sessions, while damage to liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in the Persian Gulf – most notably in major exporter Qatar – has tightened global gas supplies and pushed prices sharply upward.
Bowen pushed back Wednesday against claims made by Amos Hochstein, a former energy security official in the Biden administration, who argued that renewable energy sources are incapable of resolving ongoing global energy crises. When pressed by Australian journalists on whether he shared Hochstein’s view, Bowen made clear he holds a sharply different perspective, pointing to tangible progress in Australia’s energy transition that has reduced national exposure to global fossil fuel price shocks.
“One of the reasons we are better placed in this international energy crisis than we were even in 2022, for the last one, was that we are using a lot less gas,” Bowen explained, noting that Australian gas generation fell to 1.5 terawatt-hours last summer, down from 2.7 terawatt-hours in the summer of 2022. “That means that if the gas price goes up, we are less vulnerable to that – it will still have impact, but less vulnerable than we were because we’re using less gas. And one of the big reasons we’re using less gas, is we’re using more batteries to get through the night. So I think renewables are part of a common sense, careful, calibrated approach to a more reliable energy system.”
As of Saturday, Bowen confirmed Australia’s national fuel stockpiles have remained stable amid the crisis, though localized supply shortages persist across the country. Approximately 2% of Australian service stations – equaling 156 locations – still report being out of diesel, with every state recording at least a small number of dry petrol outlets.
Alongside his assessment of national preparedness for global energy shocks, Bowen also announced new emissions data this week showing that on-site carbon pollution from Australia’s largest industrial facilities has fallen by 12%, or 5.8 million metric tons, under the federal government’s signature safeguard mechanism policy. That reduction is equal to removing 2 million passenger vehicles from Australian roads, or roughly 60% of the nation’s total annual domestic aviation emissions, Bowen noted.
“This is good policy working well, providing that investment certainty for industry to make the investments they need to make sure that their operations are viable on an ongoing basis, but also reducing emissions as they go,” he said.
The safeguard mechanism requires large industrial emitters to cap and gradually cut their greenhouse gas output, a policy that the opposition Liberal-National Coalition has repeatedly promised to abolish, framing it as an unfair, punitive regulation on Australian business. Critics have also argued that the policy’s allowance for carbon offsets creates a loophole that lets major polluters continue emitting at unchanged levels while purchasing offsets to comply with rules.
Bowen pushed back against that critique, clarifying that the 12% reduction reported this week counts only direct on-site emissions cuts from facility operations, not emissions reductions achieved through offset purchases. “We’re not talking about offsets. We’re talking about firms making investments and new solutions,” he said.
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Pope to urge peace in Cameroon’s conflict zone
Pope Leo XIV is set to land in Cameroon Wednesday, kicking off the second leg of his landmark African tour that has already been marked by unexpected tensions: verbal attacks from former U.S. President Donald Trump and twin suicide bombings during his opening stop in Algeria.
The 70-year-old pontiff’s four-day schedule in the majority French-speaking central African nation opens with a private audience with 92-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest sitting head of state who has held uninterrupted power since 1982 and is currently serving his eighth consecutive term. The 3:20 pm (1420 GMT) closed-door meeting has already split the country’s Catholic community, which makes up roughly one-third of Cameroon’s population.
Local clergy have raised urgent concerns that the meeting will provide a public relations boost to Biya’s administration, just six months after security forces violently cracked down on mass protests sparked by disputed results of the country’s presidential election.
On Thursday, following his meeting with Biya, the Pope will travel under heavy security to Bamenda, the heart of Cameroon’s long-running Anglophone separatist insurgency. There, he will lead a prayer service for peace before a gathering of 20,000 worshippers, fulfilling the core mission of his Cameroon visit: calling for an end to nearly a decade of armed conflict.
The roots of what is known as the Anglophone Crisis stretch back to the 1970s, when the former French and British-administered regions of Cameroon formally unified. The country’s English-speaking minority, concentrated in the northwest and southwest regions, quickly raised alarms about the erosion of their unique legal institutions and cultural identity. A deadly government crackdown on peaceful Anglophone protests in 2016 escalated into full-scale armed conflict between separatist fighters and Cameroonian government forces, a dispute that remains unresolved to this day. By 2024, human rights non-governmental organizations estimate the violence has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Leo launched his first ever international papal tour in Algeria on Monday, where he paid homage to Saint Augustine, one of Christianity’s most influential theologians, at his birthplace and celebrated mass at a historic basilica that draws 18,000 interfaith pilgrims annually, including Muslim and Jewish worshippers. During the service, he urged Algeria’s small Christian community to “bear witness to the Gospel through simple gestures, genuine relationships and a dialogue lived out day by day.”
His trip to Algeria was overshadowed by twin suicide bombings in the city of Blida. While Algerian authorities have not yet issued an official statement, a well-placed government source confirmed the attacks, noting investigators do not currently believe the bombings were connected to the Pope’s visit to the majority-Muslim country. No fatalities have been reported beyond the two bombers themselves.
Even before the tour began, the pontiff’s trip faced unplanned controversy after Donald Trump launched a verbal attack against him, saying he was “not a big fan” of the pope after Leo called for renewed peace efforts in the Middle East. U.S. Vice President JD Vance doubled down on the criticism during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia on Tuesday, arguing the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality… and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance added: “It’s important, in the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Leo dismissed the criticisms outright while speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane en route to Cameroon. Citing the biblical verse “Blessed are the peacemakers,” the pontiff said: “I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”
This visit marks the fourth papal trip to Cameroon, a diverse multi-religious nation often called “Africa in miniature” for its wide range of ethnic and linguistic groups. Streets in the capital Yaoundé have already been lined with welcoming banners and Vatican flags in anticipation of the Pope’s arrival. On Friday, Leo will celebrate open-air mass for hundreds of thousands of worshippers at a stadium in Cameroon’s economic hub Douala, before departing for Angola on Saturday to conclude the third leg of his African tour.
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Australia’s richest person must share part of her mining fortunes, court rules
After more than a decade of bitter legal wrangling over one of Australia’s most profitable iron ore projects, the Supreme Court of Western Australia has delivered a split decision in the high-profile lawsuit against Gina Rinehart, the country’s wealthiest individual, granting partial wins to both sides of the dispute. Rinehart, who holds an estimated personal net worth of A$38 billion, inherited her father Lang Hancock’s iron ore holdings in 1992 and grew the portfolio into a dominant mining force across Western Australia’s resource-rich Pilbara region, anchored in part by the massive Hope Downs iron ore development. At the heart of the legal conflict is a decades-old joint venture agreement forged between Hancock and his close business partner Peter Wright, founders of the iron ore pioneering Hanwright partnership that first laid claim to the Pilbara’s mineral reserves decades ago. The heirs to Wright’s stake, organized under Wright Prospecting, launched the legal challenge alongside two of Rinehart’s own children – Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock – arguing that Rinehart had breached the original partnership agreement and wrongfully withheld rightful shares of profits and control from the claimants. The 51-day 2023 trial centered on competing claims to royalties and mining rights for the Hope Downs project, which is currently jointly operated by global mining giant Rio Tinto and Rinehart’s flagship company Hancock Prospecting. In 2023 alone, the site generated A$832 million in revenue for Hancock Prospecting, with Rio Tinto paying a 2.5% royalty on production to Rinehart’s firm. Justice Jennifer Smith, presiding over the case, ruled that half of all past and future royalties from the project must be awarded to the Wright family, upholding their core claim that they were entitled to a share of the project’s ongoing profits. However, the judge rejected the Wright family’s demand for a split of formal mining rights, leaving full ownership of those critical assets with Rinehart. The court also dismissed claims from Rinehart’s two children, who had argued that their mother moved lucrative Hope Downs mining rights out of a family trust to intentionally cut them off from an inheritance their grandfather intended for them. Rinehart’s defense had argued the transfer was made over legitimate concerns about irregularities in her father’s business dealings, while her children countered the move was designed to exclude Rinehart’s stepmother, Rose Porteous, from accessing the family fortune. A separate claim for royalties brought by the family of late engineer Don Rhodes was partially granted by the court. In responses to the ruling, representatives from both sides characterized the outcome as a victory. Jay Newby, executive director of Hancock Prospecting, noted that the judgment confirmed the company’s full ownership of the Hope Downs mining rights and firmly rejected the broader ownership claims brought by the Wright family and Rinehart’s children. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Wright Prospecting said the organization was “pleased to finally receive a result in our favour” after 13 years of litigation. Beyond her control of Australia’s largest private mining empire, Rinehart is known as one of the country’s most influential private donors, contributing heavily to conservative political parties, national sports programs, and charitable causes across Australia.
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Harry says children should be an ‘upgrade’ of their parents
On the second day of his private working visit to Australia, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, merged his longstanding advocacy for mental health and love of sport to launch a landmark new report on paternal well-being, opening up about his own journey as a father and the intergenerational shift shaping modern parenting.
Greeting the Melbourne crowd with a casual “G’day everyone” and a lighthearted nod to the Western Bulldogs AFL team’s strong start to the 2026 season, the Duke centered his remarks on evolving approaches to parenting, drawing a direct connection to his own experience growing up in the British royal family and raising his own children today. He noted that global social shifts have rendered outdated parenting models obsolete, arguing that each new generation of parents has the opportunity to build on the lessons of the past.
“The world around us has changed massively, so there is no version of where parenting is going to be the same as we experienced,” he told attendees. “From my perspective, our kids are our upgrades. That’s not how I was taught, but that was my take on it… Even if you had the best upbringing in the world, the best parenting in the world, there’s still room for improvement.” A longstanding public advocate for open discussion of mental health struggles, the Duke also pushed back against the persistent stigma that discourages fathers from seeking support when they are struggling, framing openness as a sign of strength rather than weakness.
“For so many years it has been seen as a weakness to stick your hands up. I find it’s the opposite,” he said. “The more grief I get for talking about it, the more I want to stand up and talk about it. I know if I go quiet about it – what does that say to everyone else?”
The event, hosted by men’s health charity Movember, marked the launch of new research that lays bare the unaddressed mental health challenges facing new fathers. The study’s findings are stark: one in five fathers report extreme feelings of isolation in the period after welcoming a child, while just under 60% of new dads were never asked how they were coping in their baby’s first 12 months. The report also found that more than 70% of surveyed fathers are actively committed to parenting differently than their own fathers did, a trend Movember leaders say aligns directly with Harry’s public messaging.
Dr. Zac Seidler, Movember’s Global Director of Research, praised the Duke for bringing authentic, personal experience to the advocacy effort. “He’s really passionate about this, it matters to him, and he told us real stories that he had experienced, stuff that he’d spoken about with his wife, with his therapist,” Seidler said. “He really just wanted to get to the heart of it and talk about advocating for change. I think Harry was just talking about this seismic intergenerational shift that we’re all experiencing. We want to do things differently; we want to learn from our fathers, whether it’s mistakes or otherwise and really lean into what it means to be a dad today.”
Nathan Appo, the first Indigenous Australian to sit on Movember’s global board and a Mamu man from Far North Queensland, acknowledged the complicated context of Harry’s visit, noting that many of the systemic health barriers facing First Nations Australians trace back to British colonialism carried out by the Duke’s ancestors more than 250 years ago. Even so, Appo praised Harry for centering Indigenous voices and engaging meaningfully with the community’s challenges.
“As you travel around the world, connecting with Indigenous people to understand their history and what our people face regularly, the barriers that we face… and how that impacts on health is really important,” Appo told the BBC. “Building your knowledge to give you a good understanding of how you can change policy for the better is really important, and I think Harry is someone who does that. He’s using his platform to promote and empower people around the world and do the right things. It’s hard not to be drawn to people like that.”
After the report launch, Harry leaned into the second half of his day’s agenda: trying his hand at Australian Rules Football, the dominant sport of Melbourne, with players from the Western Bulldogs. Under the guidance of Bulldogs midfielder Adam Treloar, the Duke, a former keen rugby player in his youth, learned the basics of holding the oval-shaped AFL ball and navigating the field. Treloar described Harry as enthusiastic and genuinely curious about the sport, noting that the interaction felt far from the stiff, scripted meetings common for high-profile visitors.
“He went alright, he was very keen on learning,” Treloar told reporters. “I don’t think we had enough time to really teach him, but he was super keen, asking how we hold the footy and where the laces go. It was pretty normal. We had a great conversation. One of the teammates that was with me has four pubs and was talking about his pubs and maybe coming down for a beer if he has some spare time, which obviously he doesn’t, but it just seemed really genuine and authentic.”
Harry’s wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, did not attend Wednesday’s public event, and no public appearances have been scheduled for her on this day. A spokesperson for the couple did not respond to BBC requests for comment on Meghan’s plans during the trip. The couple, who stepped down as working British royals in 2020, are traveling to Australia in a private capacity, combining charitable engagements like Harry’s mental health launch with private commercial work. It is understood that Meghan is using the trip to explore plans for expanding her As Ever lifestyle brand into the Australian market. Following his Melbourne commitments, Harry is set to travel to Canberra for engagements later on Wednesday.
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AFL 2026: Melbourne coach Steven King has united with his fellow coaches on a fixture flaw
Just six games into his tenure as Melbourne Football Club’s senior AFL coach, Steven King has added his voice to a growing cohort of league coaches pushing for major changes to the Victorian Football League (VFL) competition fixture, citing disruptive scheduling gaps that derail player development pathways.
The Demons’ reserves affiliate, the Casey Demons, have only been able to complete two regular matches through the first chunk of the 2024 season, with a scheduled bye for the club and a league-wide break to accommodate the VFL State of Origin exhibition match forcing the side into an extended break. The fragmented, stop-start schedule left King’s side with no official competitive outlet for their development players, prompting Melbourne to arrange an unofficial scratch match against Essendon’s reserves at the Bombers’ training base, the Hangar, this past Sunday.
King explained that the current scheduling structure fails star development players waiting for their chance to break into the senior AFL lineup. “I’ve got 12 to 15 players who are hungry to compete every week to prove they deserve an AFL call-up, and right now they can’t get that game time in the official competition,” King said. He pointed out a specific conflict with the State of Origin round: when the VFL pauses all club matches for the representative game, only a tiny handful of VFL-listed players get selected to participate, leaving dozens of AFL-listed reserves with no competitive match to play. “This is something the AFL should look into adjusting. If stand-alone clubs get a bye when they lose players to the State of Origin game, why can’t our AFL-listed reserves get the opportunity to keep playing?” he added.
The disjointed fixture has also forced awkward, difficult conversations between King and players on the cusp of senior selection. “Players come up to me and ask, ‘Does this mean I’m out of contention for the first six weeks because there are no games for me to prove myself?’ That’s a really tough question to answer,” King said. “All our guys want is to get out on the ground and play, so they can put their hand up for senior selection. I know most other clubs have already raised concerns about this issue, and I will be following the proper channels to push for change too.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, Melbourne is set to face the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday for the annual Jim Stynes Foundation charity match. The game comes as a critical bounce-back opportunity for the Demons, who suffered an upset loss to Essendon during the league’s recent Gather Round.
When asked about his game plan for the Lions, who boast one of the deepest, most talented midfield groups in the competition, King said he would prioritize sticking to Melbourne’s own identity rather than completely overhauling the Demons’ game plan to counter the opposition. “We can’t be a club that just reacts every week and changes how we play to match the opponent,” King explained. “We know what works for our game and what fuels our belief. Of course we will tweak a few things to limit the Lions’ strengths — that’s just standard preparation. But as a young coach, I want this group to play our brand of footy and play to our own strengths.”
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US lawmaker demands FIFA pay World Cup transport bill amid ticket hikes
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the world’s biggest football tournament, has sparked a growing political controversy in the United States over proposed public transport fare hikes that would charge visiting fans and local commuters exorbitant prices to reach match venues. On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a leading New York Democratic lawmaker, became the most prominent voice calling on football’s global governing body to cover all public transit costs tied to the tournament, arguing the multi-billion dollar organization should not pass its hosting expenses onto local communities.
Schumer’s public call to action came in response to an exclusive report first published by sports outlet The Athletic, which revealed that New Jersey Transit, the state’s main public transit agency, was considering charging fans more than $100 for a single round-trip ticket between Manhattan’s Penn Station and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. MetLife Stadium is set to host eight World Cup matches, including the tournament’s final on July 19, making it one of the most high-profile venues in this summer’s iteration of the World Cup.
For context, a standard off-event round-trip ticket on the same route currently costs just $12.90, meaning the proposed hike would represent a more than 675% increase over regular fares. Schumer took to social media platform X to outline his argument, noting that FIFA projects it will earn a record $11 billion in total revenue from the 2026 tournament. “FIFA is set to reap nearly $11 billion from this summer’s World Cup, yet New York area commuters and residents are being handed the bill,” Schumer said in his statement. “The least FIFA can do is ensure New York residents can go to the stadium without being gouged at the turnstile. I am demanding FIFA step up and cover transportation costs for host cities and states. New York commuters and residents should not subsidize an $11 billion windfall.”
Schumer was not alone in criticizing the proposed fare increases. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also joined the pushback, saying that exorbitant transport costs run counter to the goal of making the World Cup accessible to all fans. “The World Cup should be as affordable and accessible as possible,” Hochul wrote on X. “Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me.”
When contacted by Agence France-Presse for comment on the controversy, NJ Transit did not issue an immediate response. The Athletic had previously obtained an official statement from an agency spokesperson noting that no final pricing decision has been confirmed. “The ticket prices for match day travel have not been finalized and any reference to cost would be unconfirmed speculation,” the spokesperson told the outlet. Still, unnamed NJ Transit sources cited by The Athletic estimate that arranging extra transit services for the eight matches at MetLife Stadium will cost the agency approximately $48 million, creating a major budget shortfall that officials are looking to offset.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has already ruled out using state taxpayer funds to cover the additional costs. “We are not going to be paying for moving the people who are viewing the World Cup on the back of New Jersey taxpayers and New Jersey commuters,” Sherrill said Monday, leaving agency officials looking for alternative ways to cover the costs.
The transit fare controversy is not limited to New Jersey. Earlier this month, officials in Massachusetts confirmed that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will charge $80 for a round-trip ticket from downtown Boston to Gillette Stadium, which is hosting multiple World Cup matches. That price marks a 300% increase over the standard $20 off-event fare, highlighting a nationwide trend of host transit agencies looking to pass extra World Cup costs onto fans. As of Tuesday, FIFA has not issued a public response to Schumer’s demand to cover the transit costs.