AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 20 at 0630
KPMG (SYDNEY)
Australians are being told they have a right to be deeply suspicious about trusting big accounting firms after a second consultancy scandal.
KPMG Australia executives were grilled by members of a parliamentary committee in Canberra on Friday over allegations the company misused confidential documents from its client Lendlease to develop audit pitches for Westpac and Dexus.
The hearing comes after another major accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC), was found to have leaked secret Australian government tax plans to corporations to help avoid a law PwC had helped write.
"Two of the big four firms have the dubious honour of having united the Australian parliament across all political divides around the failure to be honest and to act appropriately," Greens senator Barbara Pocock told KPMG Australia's former chief executive Andrew Yates at a hearing on Friday.
BudgetNSW (SYDNEY)
Despite the World Cup match playing in his office, Daniel Mookhey is more comfortable trying to balance his state's budget than a soccer ball.
The NSW treasurer will be delivering his fourth budget for the nation's largest state economy on Tuesday - and potentially his last, pending the outcome of the election scheduled for March.
It comes at a time of multiple economic headwinds, including rising interest rates and a stalled property market, and the fallout from the war in the Middle East putting a further brake on the already sluggish Australian economy.
While the NSW economy was expected to grow by 2.5 per cent in the coming financial year, that forecast has been downgraded to a meagre one per cent, Mr Mookhey revealed in a recent speech.
NDIS (CANBERRA)
Disability advocates are calling on the Albanese government to pause its plan to rush through an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme after a major report into the changes was again delayed.
A parliamentary inquiry was due to hand down its report on June 16, before its deadline was moved forward by three days.
The report isn't expected to be published until June 23.
Labor is trying to land a deal with the Greens, which would extend the inquiry into the proposed reform in exchange for the minor party's support for the government's tax changes announced in the federal budget.
Under changes to the $56 billion NDIS, the government would kick 160,000 people off the scheme to rein in spending.
Ebola (BUNIA)
At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, and, because of the symptoms, could indicate Ebola is spreading fast there.
It was not possible to confirm the causes of death because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia - the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo - had until Thursday refused testing the living or dead, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.
However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola, a camp spokesperson, a bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society leader told Reuters.
"People didn't just die like this before," camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.
Trump Meloni (ROME)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her, after the US President told an Italian TV channel that she had "begged" him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.
Meloni said she was "astonished" by his comments, which were "completely made up".
She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.
Underscoring how much Trump's comments have angered Meloni's government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he was cancelling a planned visit to the US next week.
The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the war on Iran.
Iran (WASHINGTON/DUBAI/ZURICH)
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, a US official said, after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.
US-Iran talks in Switzerland planned for Friday were cancelled as fighting flared in Lebanon, creating new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations vital to ensure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.
The senior US official said shortly before 4pm Lebanon time that a ceasefire would come into effect then.
"We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire," the official said on background, saying that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the agreement with help from Iran.
Teachers Vic (MELBOURNE)
More strike disruptions loom for students after public school educators rejected a government's wage and conditions offer that would have made them some of the best paid in Australia.
The Victorian Education Union's more than 60,000 public school teachers, principals and support staff have voted down a state government offer on pay and conditions, with 57.7 per cent of voting members rejecting the offer.
The Labor government in May put forward a revised pay offer of between 28 to 32 per cent over four years following the state's first teachers' strike in more than a decade.
While the minimum 28 per cent pay bump was a "good offer", union branch president Justin Mullaly said members were also under immediate and critical pressure around workload.
Flu (SYDNEY)
A single suspected case of bird flu has triggered fears a deadly strain that has killed millions of animals worldwide has reached the Australian mainland.
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins confirmed a single migratory wild bird had been detected with a suspected case of the disease in Western Australia.
But it was too early to confirm it was the concerning H5N1 strain that has killed millions of birds around the world, the minister said, with results from further testing expected on Saturday.
Mainland Australia is the only continent yet to detect the killer strain.
"There is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time, nor is there any evidence of infection in poultry," Ms Collins said.
"If it is confirmed to be the H5 bird flu, this will be sobering, but not unexpected, given the spread globally."
In finance ...
KPMG (SYDNEY)
The chair of a major consulting firm has been hauled over the coals after refusing to hand over documents linked to a whistleblower and audit leak scandal.
KPMG is feeling the heat over an audit breach furore and the alleged mistreatment of the staff member, which is being probed by a senate committee.
The company has denied the inquiry access to investigation documents, citing confidentiality, professional privilege and the risk of prejudicing the administration of justice.
Committee head Deborah O'Neill told KPMG chair Martin Sheppard, who made the decision, it was "outrageous".
"Mr Shepherd, do you understand how we find it hard to tolerate when ... you say you've got a commitment to transparency and then you're hiding, you are reserving legal professional privilege," she told him during a hearing in Canberra on Friday.
Markets Aust (SYDNEY)
Australia's share market has wiped most of the week's gains in two sessions, as a rising greenback and global growth concerns dragged metals prices lower.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 82.4 points on Friday, down 0.92 per cent, to 8,828.7, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 79.5 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 9,047.3.
The top-200 scraped a gain of less than 0.3 per cent for the week, after a four-day rally on the US-Iran peace deal disintegrated from Thursday as tumbling metals prices hammered local miners.
Only the energy sector, health care companies and consumer-facing stocks ended the week's final session higher.
The Aussie dollar is buying 70.04 US cents, down from 70.38 US cents on Thursday, as the greenback strength index sailed to 13-month highs as bets narrowed on incoming US interest rate hikes.
In entertainment ...
Royals Harry (LONDON)
Speculation is mounting the King could be reunited with his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were offered royal accommodation for their UK visit.
Harry and Meghan staying at a palace with their children would signal a major thawing in the relationship between the King and his son, and offer the perfect opportunity for Charles to reconnect with the young royals.
It is four years since Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, last saw their grandfather the King in person during Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
The Sussexes are expected to travel from their Californian home to the UK next month to attend celebrations marking the one-year countdown to Harry's Invictus Games hosted by Birmingham, with the duke also due to attend events with WellChild and Scotty's Little Soldiers, charities he supports.
Baldwin (LONDON)
Alec Baldwin would rather face "bears and wolves" trying to eat him than put his children to bed.
The 68-year-old star - who has Ireland, 30, with ex-wife Kim Basinger and Carmen, 12, Rafael, 10, Leonardo, nine, Romeo, eight, Eduardo, five, Maria Lucia, also five, and three-year-old Ilaria with spouse Hilaria - admitted the evening routine in his household can be very hectic while being grilled by one of his kids.
Speaking to daughter Carmen for Extra, he laughed when she asked him which was the most difficult out of "navigating Hollywood or getting seven kids to go to bed".
"I'd rather be on a frozen mountain in Alaska filming an adventure movie where bears and wolves and condors are trying to eat me then put kids to bed," said the actor.
In sport ...
WC26 Aust (SEATTLE)
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has dropped goalscorers Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe to the bench for Australia's blockbuster clash with the United States.
Veteran Mathew Leckie, playing for the first time at his fourth World Cup, and Nishan Velupillay are the two inclusions in attack for the game that could determine who finishes top of group D.
Irankunda, who was electric in the 2-0 win over Turkey, including scoring a brilliant opener, and Metcalfe, who delivered a wonderful second-half goal, loom as impact substitutes.
Popovic has stuck with impressive young goalkeeper Patrick Beach and the same defence and midfield that bested Turkey, with Harry Souttar captain again.
US star Christian Pulisic was unable to prove his fitness after a left calf injury and was left out of Mauricio Pochettino's squad altogether.
Gol Open (LONDON)
Former champion Wyndham Clark has seen his four-shot overnight lead halved as the first round of the US Open concluded early on Friday morning at Shinnecock Hills.
Clark, the 2024 victor and one of four previous winners occupying the top four places heading into round two, parred his remaining two holes after returning at 6.35am local time to sign for a six-under-par 64.
Dustin Johnson, a winner at an equally-tough course in Oakmont in 2016, rolled back the years to post a 66 after he birdied two of his final three holes to move into second place.
The 41-year-old American, who plays on the LIV Golf circuit, has missed six cuts in his last 11 majors with a best finish of joint-23rd but was one of Thursday's late starters to benefit from the absence of forecasted high winds to leave the course at the most vulnerable it will be all week.
Ends Bulletin
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