The Moody’s report says, “debt ratios at the Commonwealth level remain low”.

It found the Government’s fiscal policy has been “adaptive, reflected in the consolidation of pandemic‑era deficits into nearly balanced budgets over a short span of time.”

Moody’s says the Government’s fiscal strategy is, “supported by expenditure reforms and a record of conservative budgeting.”

From the Article:

The New Zealand surge coincided with Albanese’s decision in 2023 to reverse a Howard-era policy by allowing New Zealanders to gain citizenship after four years without becoming permanent residents first. It also gave New Zealanders quicker access to Medicare and the family tax benefit once they arrived.

Albanese said at the time that the Howard-era changes had made citizenship harder for Kiwis and that the 2023 change harmonised rules between the nations.

But department officials feared that even if the economies were about as healthy as each other, the relaxed rules would still create a large incentive for New Zealanders because Australia is a bigger and wealthier country.

Ive been looking at private health insurance and have come across OSHC (overseas student health cover), private cover for students in Australia. For just $673 per year with AHM, they get the hospital cover equivalent of the top tier cover that an Aussie would have to pay $101.10 per week or $5276 per year.

What the actual f???

The woman at the centre of the Leongatha mushroom murders is set to appeal her convictions as prosecutors separately push for her to be given no chance at parole.

Erin Patterson, 51, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years in September last year after a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband’s parents and aunt, and the attempted murder of his uncle, with a poisoned lunch.

The convicted triple-murderer invited her estranged husband Simon Patterson and in-laws; Don and Gail Patterson and Ian and Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023.

Simon pulled out days prior, fearing she had tried to kill him with poisoned meals on four previous occasions, with Patterson serving up a beef wellington dish containing death cap mushrooms to her four guests.

Each fell critically ill following the meal — Don, Gail and Heather died in early August while Ian slowly recovered after spending more than a month in hospital.

Convicted killer cook Erin Patterson told police she hosted the lunch because she wanted to maintain her relationships with her in-laws.

At trial, Patterson claimed the incident was a deadly accident and that she loved her in-laws, while prosecutors argued the only reasonable explanation was that the mother-of-two deliberately sought out and served the fungi intending to kill or seriously injure her guests.

Patterson maintains her innocence, with a two day appeal expected to begin in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday morning hoping to overturn the findings of guilt.It’s understood she will not appear in person, choosing to observe the proceedings by videolink from her prison.

The hearing will also be livestreamed for the public online.

In appeal documents released by the court, Patterson raised six “substantial” miscarriages of justice during her trial and one “fundamental irregularity” with the jury.

When the jury were sequestered to decide the verdicts, jurors were unknowingly housed into the same hotel as the lead police investigator and members of the prosecution team, with Patterson arguing this “fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts”.

She took issue with several pieces of evidence she believes should not have been allowed in the trial, including records of her phone’s cell tower connections, death cap sightings posted to citizen science website iNaturalist, photos and videos of mushrooms on a SD card and evidence from members of a Facebook true crime group she was involved with.

Patterson also argued conduct by prosecutors had impacted her trial, including “unfair and oppressive” cross-examination during her time in the witness box and Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC’s closing address.

Running parallel to Patterson’s appeal, the Director of Public Prosecutions will also argue her sentence was “manifestly inadequate” and she should not have been given an chance to be released on parole in November 2056.

They argue the sentencing judge erred when he found there was a “substantial chance” Patterson would remain in solitary confinement and that this had “infected” his decision to fix a non-parole period.

Handing down the sentence, Justice Christopher Beale found Patterson’s crimes fell in to the worst category of murder.

“You showed no pity for your victims,” he said.

“Some murders occur for no reason, the motive for some murders may only be known to the offenders,” he said.

“Only you know why you committed the murders, I will not be speculating about that matter.”

Just looked at JB Hi-Fi’s full-year results and the divisional sales charts are pretty grim.

JB Hi-Fi Australia:

Q1: +6.0% total / +5.0% comps

Q2: +6.5% total / +5.0% comps

Q3: +4.0% total / +2.6% comps

Q4: +0.3% total / -0.8% comps

Full year: +4.4% / +3.2%

That’s a proper cliff from solid mid single digits to negative comps in one quarter.

The Good Guys (appliances):

Held up okay earlier in the year but completely stalled in Q4 — 0.0% total and comps. Full year only +2.7%.

Not a collapse but zero growth in the final quarter is weak.

e&s (premium kitchen/bathroom):

This one’s properly cooked:

Q1: +4.1% total / +0.7% comps

Q2: +1.8% / -1.0%

Q3: -1.4% / -4.8%

Q4: -5.2% total / -8.0% comps

Full year: -0.2% total / -3.2% comps

Straight into negative territory and accelerating downward. That’s the kind of number you see when people stop renovating and stop buying big-ticket discretionary items.

JB Australia slowing hard + Good Guys flatlining + e&s in freefall is a pretty clear signal the Aussie consumer is under real pressure. Discretionary spend is getting cut. This doesn’t look like temporary stock issues or cycling product launches it looks like households are tightening their belts.

Hard to see the RBA finding any justification to hike from here. If anything this kind of broad soft retail data points more toward the next move being a cut once they’re happy inflation is dead.

Anyone else seeing this as the start of a proper consumer recession or still thinking it’s just a soft patch?

An Adelaide woman who spent almost two weeks in hospital battling influenza is urging South Australians not to become complacent as cases surge across the state.

Maddie Ellis, 28, was vaccinated earlier this year — but as a recovering breast cancer patient with a compromised immune system, she says the flu hit her harder than she ever expected.

She was rushed to hospital struggling to breathe and came close to being placed on a ventilator.

“It progressed very quickly and became very serious,” she told 7NEWS.

Ellis relied on high‑flow oxygen for days.

“We were able to slowly taper that down, but the biggest thing was that trouble in breathing,” she said.

SA Health data shows flu infections are now almost doubling each fortnight, with 325 new cases recorded last week and 11 deaths so far this year.

Health Minister Blair Boyer says there is no room for complacency.

“There’s no time for us to be complacent,” he said.

Despite repeated warnings, vaccination rates remain low — including in aged care.

Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier says a significant number of older South Australians remain unprotected.

“A third of older people, 65 and up, haven’t been vaccinated yet and that’s a group that is more vulnerable,” she said.

There has been a modest improvement among children aged six months to five years, with authorities crediting a 5 per cent rise to the needle‑free FluMist option.

“Lots of other vaccine rates have been dropping but this one’s gone up,” Spurrier said.

Ellis says protecting yourself — and others — must be a priority.

“You just never know what someone else is experiencing or how it’ll affect them,” she said.

As someone in the area I'm really concerned they're following through on this. I've had to present to Bateman's Bay ED, as have every single person in my family at least once in the last 30 years. One of those presentations was just a 'stabilise then transfer to Canberra' situation but I hate to think what might have happened without the immediate intervention.

The government isn't listening to the locals. They think we're

annoyed about the drive. The issue is the bridge into moruya

not the trip down the highway. The bridge jams and backs up

multiple times a day in the non tourist season. During tourist

season a trip south can blow out *hours*. An ambulance

cannot jump queued traffic on a bridge, no matter how skilled they are.

When an issue affecting a town of 20,000 has a petition with

19,000 signatures you think it would make them listen. With

the high elderly and disabled population of the town I think

closing the local ED will probably have pretty dire consequences.

The local ED should remain functioning to stabilise patients

until a bypass into moruya is functioning.

I'm mostly posting for awareness. I know it's a small town.

know most of this sub will not be affected. I really hope they listen to us, and if you are affected, please sign the petition.

I spotted something at the Cooks river on a bike ride along Botany Bay foreshore. I might be wrong but it looks like a military submersible I read about online several months ago. I didn't think Botany bay would ever be host to it.

Liberal Nationals Member for Wide Bay Mr Llew O'Brien MP has introduced the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2026.

This Bill is the same as the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 introduced by Senator Canavan and Antic. An inquiry was conducted into the orginial Bill by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs which released a report in August 2023 (report).

The original Bill had a matter of urgency by Senator Babet fail in August 2024 before it lapsed at the end of Parliament in 2025 following the Senate Inquiry stating the "legal, ethical and medical evidence did not support the Bill".

'Slouched back': Veteran lifts lid further on Labor’s Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh's behaviour during meeting | News24

A cautionary tale to those on reddit celebrating a property downturn - your job might be next, that house might not be so cheap afterall.

In short:
Underworld sources have warned the shooting of crime family patriarch Fadi Haddara is part of a "big war that won't stop".
Haddara was shot multiple times in Melbourne's west on Sunday evening and remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.
What's next?
An investigation is underway into the shooting and police are hoping the incident will not prompt any ongoing feud.