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  • Middle East rocked by heaviest attacks since Iran-US ceasefire

    Middle East rocked by heaviest attacks since Iran-US ceasefire

    The Middle East has been plunged back into widespread conflict this week, with the largest exchange of military strikes between the United States and Iran taking place since a bilateral ceasefire was agreed in April. The resumption of active hostilities centered around the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for nearly a fifth of the world’s daily oil trade, has thrown years of diplomatic efforts to lock in a permanent end to conflict into serious jeopardy.

    After a second consecutive day of U.S. airstrikes against Iranian targets on Monday, Iranian officials issued a stark warning: Tehran will formally withdraw from its compliance with the June ceasefire framework agreement if Washington continues to fail to uphold its own commitments under the deal. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed the breakdown in the agreement, noting that Iran has repeatedly matched U.S. non-compliance with reciprocal action, and will continue to do so. “There is no doubt that this document is in crisis,” Baqaei stated. “Each time that the other party has failed to meet its obligations, we did not uphold ours. We will continue to act in this manner.” Despite the escalating tensions, Baqaei added that Tehran remains engaged in diplomatic talks with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman to prevent further regional escalation.

    Shortly after Iran’s threat, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s most powerful military force, announced retaliatory strikes targeting four U.S.-aligned Gulf nations: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman. The strikes triggered air raid warnings across Bahrain, while military forces in Jordan intercepted four Iranian missiles and Kuwaiti troops intercepted multiple “hostile aerial targets.” Bahrain’s military condemned the action as “heinous attacks with missiles and drones that target civilians,” confirming it had shot down a number of Iranian projectiles by Monday morning. Iranian state media reported two civilian casualties from the latest wave of U.S. strikes, including one fatality and four injuries at a water pumping station in the southwestern city of Mahshahr. Fresh unexplained blasts were also reported near the coastal city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran at midday Monday, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.

    U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed it had completed a new round of overnight airstrikes targeting dozens of Iranian positions across multiple locations. The U.S. military said the strikes used precision munitions launched from aircraft, naval vessels and drones, with the explicit goal of degrading Iran’s capability to attack commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The new round of fighting began early Sunday, when Iran launched an attack on a commercial cargo vessel in the strait that forced the entire crew to abandon ship after the vessel caught fire. Following that attack, the IRGC announced via Iran’s official IRNA news agency that “the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region.” CENTCOM pushed back against that claim in a post on X, asserting that the waterway remained “open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit.”

    The competing claims over access to the strait have roiled global energy markets, as fears of disrupted supply pushed oil prices up by as much as 4.5% in trading on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to nearly $74 per barrel, reversing the sharp drop in prices that followed the announcement of the June framework agreement.

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate gained momentum after President Donald Trump declared the April ceasefire over earlier this week, but mediators have struggled to reverse the breakdown in talks. Pakistan, one of the key intermediaries in the negotiations, issued a statement expressing “deep concern at escalation in regional tensions.” Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. strikes had “caused the return of insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz” and “rendered futile all efforts” at establishing lasting regional peace.

    Independent analysts largely view the current escalation as a temporary phase in long-running negotiations, rather than a precursor to full-scale permanent war. Bader Al-Saif, an associate fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, noted that both Washington and Tehran want to reach a negotiated settlement that favors their own strategic priorities, and have turned back to large-scale attacks to gain leverage ahead of final talks. “Both sides want to end the impasse on their own terms, and they are increasingly finding it difficult to do so. Hence the return to and increase in the scale of attacks,” Al-Saif explained. “That only prolongs what will eventually happen: a negotiated settlement.”

  • Kenya’s goons: a world of political violence and desperation

    Kenya’s goons: a world of political violence and desperation

    As Kenya approaches its 2027 general election, a disturbing trend has taken root in the country’s political landscape: widespread hiring of low-paid armed thugs — locally referred to as “goons” — by political operatives to disrupt opposition rallies, attack anti-government demonstrators, and intimidate civil rights activists. Fueled by crippling systemic poverty and cutthroat political competition, this entrenched culture of violence is raising urgent alarm that the upcoming poll could descend into uncontrolled chaos.

    A recent investigation by Nairobi-based independent research firm Odipo Dev has documented a clear “rate card” for these hired enforcers: local councilors pay as little as 500 Kenyan shillings (approximately $4) per day for their services, while members of parliament pay up to 1,000 shillings ($8) daily. For thousands of unemployed and underprivileged young Kenyans, this meager pay is often the only accessible source of income in an economy starved of formal work opportunities.

    AFP spoke with five current goons on condition of anonymity, and their accounts lay bare the cycle of desperation that traps young people in this violent trade. Twenty-seven-year-old Marius, who has worked as a goon since he was 17, grew up in Korogocho, one of Nairobi’s most impoverished informal settlements, raised by a single mother who could not afford secondary school fees. His childhood dream of becoming a surgeon was quickly quashed, leaving him functionally illiterate with few other options to support himself. “You end up being a goon to at least earn something,” he explained. Though he initially projected confidence in his work, he later admitted he hides his dangerous trade from his young son, saying “I don’t want to expose him to the bad things I do. I don’t want him to follow in my shoes.” Marius already lost five teeth in a political brawl, when he was paid to disrupt the opening of a hospital by a rival politician.

    Widespread official collusion enables this goon culture, even as both politicians and police publicly claim to be working to eradicate it. During large-scale anti-government protests in 2023, AFP correspondents witnessed hundreds of goons operating directly alongside uniformed police to attack demonstrators, before the goons looted and vandalized businesses in central Nairobi. Just last month, CCTV footage obtained by AFP shows uniformed officers marching alongside an armed gang that stormed Nairobi’s iconic All Saints Church to violently break up a planned civil society meeting. Earlier this month, an opposition rally in southwest Kenya was overrun by armed men, leaving one attendee dead and several others wounded — video footage from the scene shows police standing by passively, making no attempt to intervene.

    National Police Service spokesperson Michael Muchiri dismissed allegations of institutional collaboration with goons as “preposterous,” telling AFP that any complicit officers are rogue actors currently under investigation. “The National Police Service is determined to ensure the ‘goon culture’ does not gain a foothold in this country,” Muchiri said. But analysts note that politicians from every major political faction rely on goons, filling a perceived gap in state security that leaves politicians unable to count on police protection for their events and operations. “There is a policing gap… and politicians feel the need to have this machinery either to defend themselves or to intimidate their opponents,” explained Odipo Dev researcher Darius Okolla.

    Goonism in Kenya is not a new phenomenon; it has deep, poisonous roots that stretch back decades to the authoritarian rule of former president Daniel arap Moi. In the 1992 election cycle, Moi’s ruling party Kanu formed the group Youth for Kanu ’92 (YK’92), a youth movement organized to rally support for the incumbent regime, and it was widely accused of vote-buying and orchestrating political violence against opposition groups. A key organizer of YK’92 was current Kenyan President William Ruto, who was later charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in the widespread 2007-2008 post-election violence that killed more than 1,000 people. The case ultimately collapsed after witnesses reported widespread intimidation.

    Interviewees told AFP that since Ruto took office in 2022, following a divisive general election, the use of goons has reached a new peak. The Ruto administration has faced massive youth-led protests sparked by skyrocketing living costs, widespread economic hardship, and public anger over systemic corruption, and goons have been systematically deployed to crush these demonstrations. “The goons were used to put them down,” Marius said. “The goon rate has increased highly because (Ruto) likes operations like that.” The Ruto administration did not respond to multiple requests for comment from AFP for this report.

    Rights advocates warn that if the current trend of escalating political violence through hired goons continues, Kenya has little chance of holding free, fair, and peaceful elections in August 2027. “If this trend continues, it is evident that Kenya will not have free, fair, and peaceful elections” said Hussein Khalid of Kenyan human rights organization Vocal Africa.

    At its core, the rise of goon culture is driven by systemic economic desperation. World Bank data shows that roughly 800,000 young Kenyans enter the labor market every year, but the formal sector only creates around 100,000 new jobs annually, leaving seven out of eight new jobseekers locked out of formal work. Even educated young people struggle to find stable work: 28-year-old Daniel, a former altar boy who grew up in one of Nairobi’s slums as one of seven children, saw his parents scrape together enough money to put him through university where he studied criminology. But in Kenya, landing a formal job often requires political connections and cash to “buy” the position — resources his family did not have.

    “They say education is the key, but honestly speaking we never find the padlock open,” Daniel told AFP. He has now worked as a goon for seven years, and he speaks openly of the deep regret he feels for the violence he has committed. “You find that you have even hit a woman… that woman is like my mother. But you had no option,” he said. Political handlers typically supply goons with alcohol and drugs to numb the self-loathing that comes with the job. “In a sober mind, it’s not easy,” he added.

    Daniel alternates between shame and grim pragmatism about his role. He knows politicians use him “like tissue paper” to do their dirty work and will discard him once he is no longer useful, but he still welcomes the cash the work provides. He and other goons are already looking forward to the 2027 election campaign, when they expect a surge in demand for their services. “We are counting ourselves rich in the coming months because the election campaigns will be open,” he said. “At least we can benefit: we can get phones, come back with cash we are promised by these leaders.” Goons also gain a form of gang-like social status in their low-income neighborhoods, where many young people see them as local heroes. “We are heroes to these kids,” Daniel said.

    The trade is deliberately structured to avoid leaving a digital trail: goons are hired through offline neighborhood networks, with no text messages or digital payments that could be traced. Recruits are instructed to gather at a prearranged location, dress all in black, and bring face coverings to hide their identities. All payments are made in cash, often in new, unmarked banknotes, according to interviewees.

    Goons operate in cells of 20 to 50 people, led by a senior local handler. The most violent and ruthless enforcers — referred to as “person in the top gear” — have a small chance to climb the ranks, eventually becoming middlemen who connect politicians to low-level goons, and even potentially gaining access to mainstream political society. Multiple interviewees pointed to Calvince “Gaucho” Okoth, a controversial youth organizer who has been repeatedly linked to violent political mobilization despite denying he is a goon. Last month, Nairobi Governor Jonathan Sakaja appointed Okoth to the board of a local public hospital. “Someone like Gaucho was once a big fish. Now he’s a shark,” Daniel said.

    Most goons care little for the political causes they are paid to advance, and many openly oppose the politicians they work for. “In Kibera, what you usually say: your money is not you,” explained 23-year-old David. The policy concerns of rights groups and middle-class anti-government protesters also feel distant and abstract to most goons, who face immediate survival pressures. “If we side with them, we will not be employed,” Marius explained. Having watched politicians profit from corruption and violence, many young goons see joining the system as the only way to get a share of the country’s wealth. “Each and every youth is interested in that activity because if you can’t beat them, then join them,” Daniel said.

  • Heartland Wines in voluntary administration after more than two decades producing premium reds

    Heartland Wines in voluntary administration after more than two decades producing premium reds

    After building a 20-year legacy crafting award-winning South Australian red wines, Heartland Wines has entered voluntary administration, leaving the future of the well-known regional wine label uncertain.

    Founded in the early 2000s by a collective of industry leaders including celebrated winemaker Ben Glaetzer, Scott Collett, Grant Tilbrook, Geoff Hardy and Vicky Arnold, Heartland Wines built its reputation on producing premium yet approachable red vintages sourced from two iconic South Australian wine growing regions: Langhorne Creek and the Limestone Coast. Over its two decades in operation, the label launched popular products including Director’s Cut Shiraz and Heartland One, focusing on iconic varieties such as Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and built distribution across domestic and international markets.

    On June 15, the company officially appointed Daniel Lopresti and Anna Agostino from insolvency firm Clifton Hall as voluntary administrators, in a move initiated by Heartland Wines’ own leadership under Section 436A of Australia’s Corporations Act, according to official notices filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

    The next steps for the winery will now be determined by its creditors, who will vote on three potential outcomes: allowing the business to continue operating via a structured deed of company arrangement, returning control of the company back to its board of directors, or winding up the business entirely. For consumers and industry observers, the administration of the well-regarded regional label highlights ongoing economic pressures facing small and medium-sized wine producers in Australia’s competitive global wine market.

  • Australian sharemarket defies global fears as big banks offset tech slump

    Australian sharemarket defies global fears as big banks offset tech slump

    Against a backdrop of escalating geopolitical conflict between the United States and Iran that sent global oil prices soaring and dragged most international equity markets lower, Australia’s domestic sharemarket defied broader headwinds to notch a marginal positive close in Monday’s trading session.

    The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 squeezed out a tiny 2.50-point gain, equal to 0.03 percent, to settle at 8808.50, while the broader All Ordinaries index posted a barely perceptible 0.70-point drop, or 0.01 percent, to end the day at 9003.00. The Australian dollar also softened against the U.S. dollar, falling to 69.29 U.S. cents by market close.

    Trading was deeply split across the market’s 11 sectors, with five closing in positive territory. Solid gains in consumer discretionary stocks and the nation’s largest retail banks offset a sharp downturn in the technology sector, which pulled the overall market back from larger gains. Leading the upward momentum in consumer discretionary was retail conglomerate Wesfarmers, which climbed 1.81 percent to $91.32. The Lottery Corp added 1.46 percent to close at $5.56, and electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi rose 1.09 percent to finish at $78.95.

    Australia’s big four national banks emerged as one of the day’s strongest performing groups. Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.69 percent to hit a round $170.00, Westpac Banking Corp added 0.99 percent to reach $36.90, National Australia Bank climbed 1.11 percent to $40.05, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group outperformed its peers with a 1.14 percent rally to close at $36.46.

    The main drag on market performance came from technology stocks, which collectively slumped 2.57 percent after a weak lead-in from overseas tech markets. Cloud accounting firm Xero led the downturn, dropping 4.31 percent to $70.24. Logistics technology firm WiseTech Global fell 2.00 percent to $33.32, and data center operator NextDC declined 3.16 percent to $13.50.

    The escalating exchange of military strikes between the U.S. and Iran dominated market sentiment through the session, driving a near five percent spike in international Brent Crude prices, which rose to just over $79 U.S. per barrel, equal to roughly $113.99 Australian. Iran launched missile and drone attacks on bases linked to the U.S. across Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, while the U.S. military carried out coordinated strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, including air defense systems, coastal radar outposts, and missile and drone facilities. Over the weekend, Iran announced it would close the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for 20 percent of global oil supplies, until further notice, though U.S. Central Command confirmed the waterway remained open to transit.

    Vivek Dhar, head of commodities and sustainability research at Commonwealth Bank, explained that the oil price jump stemmed from market uncertainty over the future accessibility of the strait. “Over the past week, oil prices have traded in a tight range between $75 U.S. and $80 U.S. per barrel,” Dhar noted. “This price range signals that markets broadly expect the Strait of Hormuz will remain open for oil tanker transit, so investors have heavily discounted Iran’s claims that it has closed the waterway.”

    In individual corporate news, fashion retailer City Chic was one of the day’s top performers, with shares surging 27.78 percent to $0.069 after the firm upgraded its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization guidance to a range of $11.5 million to $12.5 million, representing an 80 to 95 percent jump compared to the same period last year. Aged care provider Regis Healthcare fell 2.53 percent to $6.16 after chief financial officer Rick Rostolis announced he would retire at the end of August, capping a more than 40-year career across multiple ASX-listed firms. Outdoor advertising firm Ooh!media jumped 4.07 percent to $1.54 after confirming it had received three non-binding takeover proposals from private equity groups Pacific Equity Partners, I Square Capital, and Oaktree Capital Management. The leading proposal values the firm at $871.6 million. Mining firm Regis Resources slipped 0.92 percent to $60.46 after it announced it would abandon its planned acquisition of junior miner Vault Minerals, clearing the way for rival bidder Genesis Minerals to proceed with its own takeover offer for Vault. Following the announcement, Genesis shares climbed 3.70 percent to $5.88, while Vault Minerals added 0.82 percent to close at $4.91.

  • ‘Beautiful smile’: Tributes for six-year-old boy killed in horror crash

    ‘Beautiful smile’: Tributes for six-year-old boy killed in horror crash

    A young life cut far too short by a devastating car crash in Queensland’s Scenic Rim region is leaving a lasting legacy of compassion, after 6-year-old Ari Currie’s final gift of organ donation has given new life to other sick children. The Beaudesert community has rallied around Ari’s grieving family in the wake of the tragedy, pouring out support that has overwhelmed the close-knit clan.

    The fatal collision unfolded on July 6 at the busy intersection of Mount Lindesay Highway and Gould Hill Road, where Ari was traveling with his 56-year-old grandmother Gaye and 15-year-old cousin Hollie in their Nissan Qashqai. The vehicle collided head-on with a Subaru Impreza sedan, leaving Ari with catastrophic injuries. He was airlifted by emergency responders to a tertiary children’s hospital, where he spent five days in the pediatric intensive care unit before succumbing to his injuries on July 11.

    In the darkest moment of their grief, Ari’s family made the extraordinary decision to honor his inherently kind nature by donating his organs, a choice that has seen the little boy described as a real-life superhero for the children who will now survive thanks to his gift. Tributes have flowed in from across the region, highlighting the warmth, joy and generosity that defined Ari’s too-brief life.

    “Ari was a cherished son, an adored brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend, and his absence has left an unimaginable void in the lives of those who loved him most,” reads a statement shared on a community-organized GoFundMe page set up to support the family. His grandfather Brad Currie paid public tribute to his grandson in a moving Facebook post, noting that Ari carried a warmth and wisdom that defied his young age. “Ari lived every day with a joy that most of us spend a lifetime trying to find,” Brad wrote. “His compassion was remarkable for someone so young. He possessed a wisdom and generosity that was far beyond his years.”

    Local community groups have stepped forward to stand with the Currie family, led by the Beaudesert Kingfishers Rugby League Club, where members of one youth team wore personalized armbands embroidered with Ari’s name during matches as a quiet tribute. “It was our way of letting the Currie family know they are surrounded by love, strength, and the unwavering support of our community,” the club explained in a public post. The club also shared the fundraiser to its social media channels, noting that many club families share close ties with the Curries, and that the entire club community feels the weight of the loss. “There are simply no words that can ease the pain of such an unimaginable tragedy,” the post added.

    The GoFundMe initiative was launched to cover unexpected funeral costs and ease the financial strain of ongoing medical care for Gaye and Hollie, both of whom sustained non-fatal injuries in the crash and are recovering from their trauma. Ari’s family says they have been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Beaudesert community and beyond, describing the wave of kindness as nothing short of incredible. “The family is absolutely blown away at all this love, kindness and support,” the fundraiser update reads. “You have all helped to ease the pressure and they are incredibly thankful.”

    A warning issued alongside the original reporting notes that the story contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person, shared with the permission of Ari’s family.

  • NSW pledges to press ahead with gun buyback after only ACT signs up

    NSW pledges to press ahead with gun buyback after only ACT signs up

    Six months after the deadly Bondi Beach terrorist attack that claimed 15 innocent lives, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has confirmed his state will proceed with a contentious national gun buyback scheme, even as most other Australian jurisdictions have walked away from the federal government’s reform plan.

    Late last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese laid out an ambitious timeline to secure buy-in from all state and territorial governments for a unified national firearms reform package, with all legislation slated to pass by July 1. The proposed buyback was explicitly modeled after the landmark 1996 gun control measure introduced by then-Prime Minister John Howard in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, one of Australia’s worst mass shooting events.

    But widespread pushback has derailed the national framework. Most states led by conservative opposition parties have refused to commit to sharing the cost of the voluntary buyback program. Even the center-left Labor government of Victoria rejected the scheme in May, following an independent policy review, choosing instead to direct enforcement resources exclusively at criminal firearms possession.

    Addressing reporters on Monday, Minns acknowledged that only the Australian Capital Territory has formally signed on to the federal plan, with Western Australia taking a separate, tangential approach. “To be frank … it does look like it will be NSW, the ACT, and a very similar form of reform in Western Australia – but, that’s likely to be the only states,” Minns said. “Nonetheless, we’re going ahead with it. We think it’s important for our state. We’re the ones who had the worst terrorism event the country’s seen and we want to have tough gun laws in place to keep people safe.”

    Minns noted the buyback was briefly raised during the most recent national cabinet meeting but was not a major topic of debate. While he expressed disappointment that more jurisdictions did not join the national effort, he made clear NSW would not weaken its standards to align with less restrictive policies across the country. “We’re not going to be drawn down to the lowest common denominator across those jurisdictions,” he said. “If we’re going to have to, or we have to have, the toughest gun laws in Australia, that’s exactly what will happen.”

    Western Australia has not formally joined the Albanese government’s coordinated buyback, but it has launched its own independent state-level buyback program that will run through 2026. Many of NSW’s post-Bondi firearms restrictions, including caps on the number of guns an individual can own, were already modeled on WA’s existing regulatory framework. The ACT is also moving forward with parallel reforms aligned with the national plan, including its own gun ownership cap and reclassification of certain weapon categories.

    The reform push has faced sharp criticism from political opponents, who argue the new rules disproportionately penalize law-abiding gun owners rather than targeting violent criminals. Nationals Leader Matt Canavan recently condemned the plan as a failure, arguing that targeting legal firearm owners was never an appropriate response to the Bondi attack. “This was confirmed by the interim report of the royal commission, which said that no state or federal agency reported that the laws as they stood at the time were insufficient to prevent an attack,” Canavan said. “States and territories have rightly walked away from this unworkable scheme because it went too far. The only thing Labor accomplished was demonising lawful firearm owners.”

    Albanese’s federal government secured parliamentary approval for the reform package – including enabling legislation for the buyback, new requirements that gun licences only be issued to Australian citizens, and new limits on licence length – when parliament resumed in early January. However, the vast majority of firearms regulation in Australia falls under state jurisdiction, leaving the federal government dependent on state cooperation to implement a uniform national regime.

    A full royal commission examining the Bondi attack, focused on issues of anti-Semitism and social cohesion, is currently holding public hearings, with a final report expected to be released before the end of the year.

  • Daly Cherry-Evans advice to Sam Walker after similar State of Origin journey

    Daly Cherry-Evans advice to Sam Walker after similar State of Origin journey

    As the NRL premiership race intensifies, rugby league veteran playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans has opened up about the unique growth opportunities that come with defeat at rugby league’s most intense representative level, offering a thoughtful perspective on young Queensland Maroons rookie Sam Walker’s first State of Origin experience.

    Walker, 24, makes his return to Sydney Roosters duty this Friday, just one week after he and the Maroons suffered a heartbreaking decider loss in Brisbane that ended their 2024 State of Origin campaign. The young halfback’s first Origin series was a rollercoaster: he turned heads with standout performances in the opening two matches, only to walk away with the bitter taste of a series defeat after the final game. Now, he is set to rejoin his club full-time as the Roosters push toward a premiership title.

    Cherry-Evans, who made his own Maroons debut back in 2013 at the exact same age of 24, says there is no question the Origin experience will change Walker for the better. The veteran Manly playmaker argues that defeat in a high-stakes representative series often teaches players far more than a victory ever could. “Origin’s a great development piece for any player that gets to play in that arena, and Sammy will be no different,” Cherry-Evans explained in comments to NewsWire. “He will have taken so many great lessons from it – the experience of playing in front of massive crowds, being in camp with the elite players of the game – there’s so much to take from that environment. There’s probably a fair argument to say you learn more out of a series loss than you do a win. He’ll come back no doubt extremely determined to finish this year successfully.”

    One of the biggest takeaways for Walker, Cherry-Evans notes, came from six weeks of training and playing alongside Queensland legend Cameron Munster – a partnership that has already added new layers to the young playmaker’s game. While Cherry-Evans says he has already spotted subtle changes to Walker’s approach on and off the pitch, he is clear that the Roosters don’t need Walker to reinvent himself after his representative debut. The young halfback has long been celebrated for his natural, unstructured style of play, and Cherry-Evans emphasizes that this natural ability is what makes him so valuable to the club. “The best part about it is, of course he’s learnt things, of course he’s come back with a few good ideas or some improvements in his game, but he’s still Sam Walker,” he said. “And that’s the part that we need to always remember; Sam at his best is good enough. If he has improved, which I’m sure he has from Origin, well that’s even better for us as a club. As long as Sam’s not trying to be anything else but himself, I think that’s going to be great for us.”

    Looking back on his own career, Cherry-Evans added that the lessons from his first Origin series took far longer to sink in than many might expect. Just a few months after his 2013 maiden Origin appearance, Cherry-Evans led Manly to an NRL grand final against the Roosters, but he says that early run of form wasn’t a direct result of the lessons he learned in representative camp. “I’ll be honest, my head was spinning for the first six years of my career,” he admitted. “Playing Origin early, playing for Australia early and having success at club land early were some of the most amazing memories I’ll never forget. But as for how did I evolve and change, I think there’s a really fair argument to say I didn’t really get it until probably six to eight years into my career. I had a lot of amazing players around me, but for whatever reason, all that advice and information just didn’t quite give me the full benefits until a bit later in my career. It’s not as if it wasn’t sinking in, it just took me a bit of time to figure it out.”

    Now, as Walker prepares to face off against Munster this Friday in his first club game post-Origin, the rugby league world will be watching closely to see how the young playmaker translates the lessons of his first bitter Origin series defeat into club success for the Roosters.

  • Powerful pharmacy lobby using secret deals to inflate medicine prices, report claims

    Powerful pharmacy lobby using secret deals to inflate medicine prices, report claims

    A new analysis from one of Australia’s leading independent think tanks has ignited fierce debate over pharmaceutical pricing, claiming that closed-door negotiations between the federal government and a powerful industry lobby have forced taxpayers and patients to overpay billions of dollars annually for prescription medications. The Grattan Institute’s new report pulls back the curtain on decades of opaque policy making, arguing that the Pharmacy Guild of Australia — the national body representing the majority of Australian community pharmacy owners — has leveraged its significant political influence to lock out patient representatives and hide critical cost data from public scrutiny during funding and policy negotiations.

    Lead researcher and Grattan’s Health Program Director Peter Breadon argues that this closed negotiating model is a global outlier. “Unlike almost every other developed nation, Australia’s negotiations for pharmacy funding exclude all stakeholders outside the Guild and the government, and proceed almost entirely without public, evidence-based cost data,” Breadon explained in the report. “This poor governance structure has only delivered bad outcomes for everyone except pharmacy owners themselves.”

    The report’s economic modelling estimates that Australian pharmacies collect nearly $3 billion annually in excessive dispensing fees, driven by a lack of market competition and restrictive industry rules that block widespread discounts for consumers. Under Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which subsidises most prescription medications for the public, the nation’s 6,000 community pharmacies fill 335 million prescriptions each year at a total taxpayer cost of $3.8 billion. Breadon’s analysis found the average dispensing fee — charged to cover the cost of verifying prescriptions, preparing medications, and providing patient counselling — currently sits at $9.24 per script, a figure that cannot be justified because the Guild has repeatedly blocked efforts to measure the actual cost of dispensing services.

    “No one knows the real cost of filling a prescription in an Australian community pharmacy, and that is no accident,” Breadon said. “Fees should be set independently, tied to actual operational costs, not the outcome of closed-door bargaining. Unjustified inflated fees need to be scrapped entirely.”

    The report also takes aim at the existing Community Pharmacy Agreements, which the institute says include overly generous funding terms that shield pharmacy owners from revenue declines while inflating profits at the expense of taxpayers and consumers. Breadon added that while regulatory rules already allow pharmacies to discount medications priced below the PBS maximum co-payment — a policy that has delivered $319 million in annual savings for patients in 2025 — a web of complex industry regulations prevents pharmacies from passing additional savings on to consumers for other prescription drugs. Simplifying these discount rules alone could deliver an extra $48 million in annual savings for Australian patients, the modelling found.

    To fix the systemic flaws, the Grattan Institute is calling for a full overhaul of the negotiating framework: the federal government should open negotiations to independent, evidence-based fee-setting, the same model used for other Australian health care sectors. If wholesale reform is not pursued, Breadon said, patient representatives should at minimum be included at the negotiating table, with all cost data released to the public to justify final funding decisions. “The Australian government spends billions of dollars on community pharmacy services every year,” Breadon said. “Fairer fee structures and stronger competition will ensure the system works for patients, not just pharmacy owners.”

    The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has pushed back forcefully against the report’s claims, with National Vice President Simon Blacker arguing the organisation has a long track record of advancing affordable access to medications for Australians. Blacker highlighted the Guild’s recent collaboration with the federal government to cut the PBS general co-payment to $25 starting in January 2026, a reduction that will bring the co-payment to its lowest level since 2004 — only the second cut to the co-payment in the PBS’s entire history.

    Blacker also reaffirmed the critical public health role that community pharmacies play across Australia, noting that increasingly, specially trained pharmacists are able to diagnose, treat, and prescribe for a wide range of common acute and chronic health conditions — a expanded scope of practice that Blacker says should be supported by a national consistent prescribing framework. Both the Grattan Institute and the Pharmacy Guild have acknowledged the essential role community pharmacies play in guaranteeing access to medicines, health advice, and frontline care for Australian communities, leaving the debate focused on governance and pricing rather than the core value of local pharmacy services.

  • Cult activewear brand Stax collapses into voluntary liquidation

    Cult activewear brand Stax collapses into voluntary liquidation

    Once a rising Australian challenger to global activewear giants Lululemon and Nike, popular inclusive fashion label Stax has formally entered voluntary liquidation, leaving thousands of customers uncertain about unfulfilled orders and unusable gift cards, according to official updates from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

    The liquidation process comes after National Australia Bank (NAB), Australia’s one of the big four banking groups, appointed receivers from FTI Consulting earlier this year to recover outstanding debt owed by the brand. Following this step, the ACCC confirmed that joint liquidators Brian Silvia and Michael Hird from Cascap Advisory have been appointed to oversee the wind-down of multiple Stax corporate entities. Unlike receivers, whose primary mandate is to recover funds for specific creditors (in this case NAB), liquidators are tasked with selling off all remaining assets of the insolvent business and distributing proceeds evenly across all outstanding creditors.

    Founded in 2015 and formally registered in Western Australia in 2017, Stax grew from a small grassroots startup to a major competitor in the global activewear market. The brand built a massive cult following across Australia for its signature “buttery soft” leggings, fashion-forward designs, and industry-leading inclusive sizing, operating both an e-commerce platform and two physical boutique stores in Sydney and Liverpool. At its peak operational height, Stax generated more than AUD 30 million in annual revenue and employed more than 160 workers across the country. Just one month before entering liquidation, Stax’s co-founders Dan and Matilda Murray made a last-ditch effort to keep the business solvent, selling off its retail store assets and luxury personal vehicles including a Lamborghini and a Porsche.

    In an official public statement posted to Stax’s website, the brand confirmed that a large number of pending customer orders will not be fulfilled, and the company is no longer able to honor outstanding gift cards or store credit notes. Receivers first took control of Stax operations on June 24 to assess the business and negotiate with key stakeholders to explore options for continued trading, but those talks have not resulted in a rescue deal to date.

    Customers who purchased items in pre-sale promotions on or before June 24 face particular uncertainty: the company noted that most pre-ordered goods were not held in domestic stock, instead relying on overseas suppliers to manufacture and ship inventory to Australia. Order fulfillment for these purchases depends on cooperation from the full supply chain, including overseas manufacturers, freight forwarders, and third-party logistics providers, many of which are also owed outstanding payments by Stax. For all other undelivered orders placed before June 24, delivery is similarly contingent on reaching a new agreement with the third-party logistics firm, which is an unsecured creditor of the insolvent Stax group.

    At this stage, the business is also unable to process any returns or exchanges for customers, and all unused gift cards and credit notes will not be accepted for future purchases. “We recognise how disappointing this will be for affected customers and we are sorry for the impact this has. Should this position change, we will provide updates promptly,” the statement read. As of the latest update, liquidators are continuing their assessment of the business’s remaining assets and creditor claims, with further updates expected as the wind-down process progresses.

  • Surprising new data reveals most financially confident generation

    Surprising new data reveals most financially confident generation

    Against a backdrop of ongoing national cost-of-living pressures and shifting economic expectations, new data from Australia’s MLC Real Retirement Report has upended common generational stereotypes, revealing that Generation Z is now the most financially confident cohort in the country — even as they report the highest levels of frustration with their current financial circumstances. The annual report, which surveys thousands of Australians to gauge attitudes toward workforce exit and long-term financial security, draws a nuanced picture of young Australians’ relationship with money: while systemic barriers and early career challenges leave many struggling to hit their savings targets, Gen Z is proactively taking control of their financial futures far earlier than previous generations.

    According to the report’s findings, 45% of Gen Z Australians report feeling confident or extremely confident in their personal financial knowledge, outpacing Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers by a clear margin. This confidence translates into forward-thinking planning: many Gen Z respondents already expect to retire as early as age 63, and are actively leveraging strategies to grow their retirement savings, including switching superannuation funds to access better returns or lower fees, using salary sacrificing to boost pre-tax contributions, and seeking professional financial guidance tailored to their long-term goals.

    Renee Howie, chief customer officer at MLC, attributed Gen Z’s distinct approach to financial planning to the unstable socio-economic environment they have come of age in. Rather than waiting for external systems or employers to secure their retirement, Howie explained, young Australians have embraced personal agency over the factors they can control, most notably their superannuation savings. “They’re not waiting for it to be done to them. They’re actually taking control and wanting to build their financial security for the future themselves,” Howie said in an interview. “There is a lot more control that they have in their super than they might have in other external factors that affect their financial capability today.”

    The report also identifies a major shift in core financial priorities for Gen Z: for the first time, financial freedom and retirement security have overtaken home ownership as the primary savings goal for many young Australians. Howie noted that this shift aligns with Gen Z’s focus on autonomy, explaining that financial independence is ultimately a goal centered on control over one’s own life and future. “It means that they have an interest, they’re planning for the long term, they’re making choices around their investments,” she said.

    Despite this unprecedented proactivity and confidence, the report also highlights significant challenges facing Gen Z on their path to a comfortable retirement. Only 45% of Gen Z respondents believe they are currently on track to meet their retirement goals, while just 30% have actually started putting aside dedicated retirement savings. Gen Z also reported higher levels of frustration with their current financial situation than any other generation, with 37% saying they feel held back by systemic cost-of-living pressures that make consistent saving difficult.

    Still, Howie struck an optimistic tone about Gen Z’s long-term prospects, pointing to the rise of financial influencers (or “finfluencers”) on social media and the expanded availability of free digital financial education tools as game-changing advantages for young people. These resources give Gen Z early access to money management skills that older generations often did not learn until mid-career, creating a foundation for healthy long-term saving habits. “Gen Z also get to see what their peers are doing through the likes of social channels, and so the education is leading them to consider their own circumstance,” Howie said. “Not only are they actively switching member funds, they’re also more predominantly going into products that enable them to have a little bit more control and a little bit more choice.”