Each morning we post a selection of our favourite news stories from the day’s news. These posts also give you a chance to see how we can summarise news for you.
Labor flags reforms to big four firms
Original article by Edmund Tadros, Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 16 : 1-Jul-26
The fallout from KPMG’s audit scandal is continuing, with eight of the firm’s top partners advising of their departure; the scandal had already resulted in the ousting of several key executives, including CEO Andrew Yates and chairman Martin Sheppard. Meanwhile, the federal government has released Treasury’s position paper on the regulation of accounting and consulting firms. Amongst other things, the Treasury has recommended stricter regulation of the sector, harsher penalties and imposing mandatory time limits on audit contracts. Another option that Treasury has canvassed is effectively breaking up the major accounting firms by restricting them to no more than 400 partners.
CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY
Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll: National-led Government holds narrow majority (51%) of support in June
Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Jul-26
Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for June 2026 shows that support for the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) is virtually unchanged at 51%, a clear lead over the Labour-Greens-Maori Party Parliamentary Opposition (little changed on 42%). Amongst the Government support for National increased by 0.5% to 31%, although support for NZ First was down 0.5% to 10.5% and support for ACT was down 0.5% to 9.5%. For the Parliamentary Opposition, support for Labour was down 1% to 25.5%, support for the Greens increased 1% to 13.5% and support for the Maori Party rose 0.5% to 3%. A further 7% (unchanged) of electors supported a minor party outside Parliament. The survey results for June would lead to the National-led Government winning 61 seats (down seven seats from the last election) and the Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition would win 51 seats (down four seats). This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile – with a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 891 electors from 25 May to 21 June. Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating rose 3.5 points to 88 in June.
CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, NATIONAL PARTY OF NEW ZEALAND, ACT NEW ZEALAND, NEW ZEALAND FIRST PARTY, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND), GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI PARTY
New IR laws open doors to more union corruption, say employers
Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Jun-26
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has defended an exemption to discrimination laws that would allow the federal government to favour businesses that have union-backed enterprise agreements when awarding public contracts. The bill was passed by the Senate on Monday night, and Rishworth says it will be good for workers and will be used with discretion. However, the Australian Industry Group is concerned that the legislation has been rushed through parliament without sufficient scrutiny; CEO Innes Willox warns that it will import the ‘Victorian disease’ to Canberra, a reference to the ongoing corruption scandal regarding the state’s Big Build infrastructure program.
CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP
ALP snubs Greens, unions on teen super
Original article by Thomas Henry, Matthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-Jul-26
The Greens have moved to block a provision in payday superannuation laws that exempt businesses from making super contributions to employees under the age of 18 who work for less than 30 hours per week. However, the Senate has agreed to delay parliamentary debate on the disallowance motion, which has the support of unions and super funds. The ACTU’s assistant secretary Joseph Mitchell says it is unfair that young workers are not paid super on their wages, contending that doing so could boost their super balance by thousands of dollars when they retire. Business Council of Australia CEO Bran Black opposes the motion, arguing the need for measures that make it easier rather than harder to employ people.
CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ACTU, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA
Democracy under assault from significant third parties at 2025 federal election, parliamentary inquiry finds
Original article by Dan Jervis-Bardy
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 1-Jul-26
The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has made 14 recommendations in the interim report of its 2025 federal election review. Amongst other things, the inquiry has proposed a new mandatory code of conduct for all participants at polling places; this includes so-called ‘third party’ campaigners such as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and the Advance lobby group. The committee is chaired by Labor MP Jerome Laxale, who says the conduct of some third parties at the 2025 election felt like an assault on democracy; he adds that many voters had reported "unsafe and intimidatory experiences" at polling places in targeted electorates.
CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON ELECTORAL MATTERS, PLYMOUTH BRETHEN CHRISTIAN CHURCH, ADVANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 3.1pts to 75.9 driven by more people expecting their finances to be better off next year
Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Jul-26
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 2.1pts to 72.8 in in the week to 28 June, its highest rating since early March. Consumer Confidence is still 10.5pts lower than a year ago (87.2), but 4.5pts above the 2026 weekly average of 71.4. Analysis by State shows that Consumer Confidence increased in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, but was down slightly in South Australia. Now 17% of Australians (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 24% (up 2ppts) of respondents expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 39% (down 4 ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. Only 6% (unchanged) of respondents expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 35% (down 7ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 19% (down 3ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 43% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ
Bowen’s world COP goals
Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Jul-26
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says his co-presidency of the COP31 climate summit in November will have positive economic benefits for Australia. Bowen concedes that he does not expect the summit in Turkey to result in "massive breakthroughs" on global climate action, contending that there will be a "more iterative" step forward on the issue compared with landmark ones such as COP21 in Paris. Bowen has also indicated that a push to curb coal and gas exports will not be on the agenda for COP during his joint presidency. Taxpayers are facing a bill of more than $500m in travel costs for Bowen and his team of more than 100 bureaucrats ahead of the summit.
CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
Regulator loses case against Rex directors
Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 19 : 1-Jul-26
The NSW Supreme Court has ruled that Rex Airlines’ former non-executive directors John Sharp, Lincoln Pan and Siddharth Khotkar had not breached their continuous disclosure obligations. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission had alleged that the failed airline’s directors had known for some months that it was on track to post a large loss in 2023, but had withheld this information from investors; Rex subsequently posted a loss of $31.7m for fiscal 2023, and it was placed in administration in mid-2024. Rex’s former executive chairman Lim Kim Hai will be sentenced later this year, having changed his plea guilty after the trial commenced.
CORPORATES
REX AIRLINES PTY LTD, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION
First-home negative equity alarm
Original article by Noah Yim, Mackenzie Scott
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Jul-26
Property industry data shows that dwelling prices have fallen in nine of the 10 postcodes nationwide that have had the highest uptake of the federal government’s five per cent deposit scheme. The vast majority of these postcodes are in Melbourne, which has recorded the biggest fall in dwelling prices. Tim Lawless from Cotality says that some buyers who used the First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme are likely to experience a short-term period of negative equity; he adds that most of them will not be unduly impacted unless they need to sell their home for some reason.
CORPORATES
COTALITY
NRL rights tiebreaker looms as Nine plots eleventh-hour pitch to V’landys
Original article by Steve Jackson, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 1-Jul-26
Recent media reports indicated that the National Rugby League is poised to finalise a new seven-year rights deal with its current broadcast partners, Nine Entertainment and Foxtel. However, Nine CEO Mike Stanton is believed to be planning to hold further talks with the Australian Rugby League Commission’s chairman Peter V’landys in London, with a view to securing exclusive linear TV and streaming rights. Stanton is expected to argue that splitting the rights will limit the NRL’s growth.
CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMMISSION LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD
ABIX 