source : the age
A Sydney private school is accused of checking students’ underwear, ordering them to share bedrooms with teachers, forbidding them from dating and telling them what they must study at university, Emily Kowal reveals in an investigation today.
When Alexandra Garth was in primary school, she was punished by her teachers for not wearing the mandated black underwear. Teachers would conduct uniform inspections and, if flashes of colour were spotted, students would be reprimanded. The rule remains – though checks have been abandoned – at Redeemer Baptist School in North Parramatta.
Redeemer Baptist School – run entirely by volunteers, who are members of the ministry order of Redeemer Baptist Church – denies any wrongdoing.
But former students have shared numerous allegations of authoritarian control. Read more here.
The former KPMG executive who revealed allegations that senior staff at the firm had used confidential material from major companies to win work says speaking out has had devastating consequences.
In documents published by a parliamentary committee investigating the anonymous whistleblower’s allegations – several of which have been confirmed to be true – the ex-KPMG employee detailed the strategies allegedly used against them.
“If I were asked, genuinely, whether I would do this again, my answer would be no,” he wrote.
“Not because the matters were not worth raising, and not because I regret raising them, but because of what I now know, and could not have known then, about what disclosing them at a firm like KPMG, in the legal and regulatory environment that exists in Australia today, actually involves.”
The whistleblower informed KPMG of the allegations, which included that senior staff had accessed board papers from Lendlease and used them to help win work from Westpac, in 2024 but has said he faced years of obfuscation and retaliation from the consultancy firm.
The whistleblower’s submission was published after a blockbuster day of hearings on Friday.
Australians have long struggled with geographic isolation, but national carrier Qantas is close to overcoming the country’s isolation and reaping profits from ultra-long flights travelling from Sydney to London or New York.
Qantas expects its long-haul operation to be fully up and running within 2½ years and is forecasting earnings of $400 million annually from a fleet of 12 specially adapted Airbus A350-1000 ULR’s flying from Sydney to London and New York, said chief executive Vanessa Hudson.
The ambitious program is not simply about rolling out a fleet of 12 ultra-long-haul jets that can fly more than 18,000 kilometres, but it’s also taking advantage of Australia’s unique geography, which for a long time has been a stumbling block for air carriers.
Given the distance and range, planes departing Sydney can fly east or west to arrive at their destinations, a flexibility that takes advantage of seasonal wind patterns that is not available for mid-point carriers in Europe or the United States.
“We look around the world and ask who would be the other carriers that would have the business case for the 12 aircraft. And we can’t see many,” Hudson told a group of journalists invited by the airline to the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France.
Read more on the long haul plans here.
Federal police are investigating billionaire businessman Richard White over claims that he exploited a woman’s immigration status and financial insecurity for sex and that he provided false information on a visa application.
The Australian Federal Police’s human exploitation taskforce launched the investigation into White, executive chairman of WiseTech Global, one of the country’s most successful software companies, this year after a complaint from a former executive at another company he controls, Kyckr.
White is alleged to have used his power and influence to coerce Caroline Heidemann, a Brazilian once employed by WiseTech as a cleaner, into a sexual relationship. Heidemann made similar claims against White last year, but she ultimately reached a settlement with the businessman.
In her report to the AFP, former Kyckr chief executive Kathy Phelan alleges White had made up a reason to hire Heidemann after she left WiseTech, and that he provided false information to the government to get her a visa.
The investigation by Kate McClymont and Max Maddison is here.
US President Donald Trump threatened to restart the war with Iran even as Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials for the first talks under an interim peace deal, overshadowed by Tehran’s announcement that it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The talks in the Qatari-owned Swiss mountaintop resort of Buergenstock on Sunday (Switzerland time) were the first to be held under the terms of a memorandum of understanding agreed a week ago.
It calls for the strait to be reopened and for a halt to all hostilities, including in Lebanon, which US ally Israel invaded in March.
But Iran, arguing that Washington had failed to meet its commitment to halt fighting in Lebanon, said it had shut the strait again and that Sunday’s talks would not cover substantive issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer appears set to resign after cabinet ministers urged him to make way for rival leader Andy Burnham in a transition that could be announced on Monday.
One of Starmer’s closest allies, Business Secretary Peter Kyle, said the prime minister was considering his future at the weekend after talking to colleagues following Burnham’s election to parliament last Thursday.
US President Donald Trump fuelled talk of an imminent resignation by declaring it would happen.
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The federal government’s housing affordability push has widespread support, new polling shows.
The broad parameters of the government’s tax changes, including the restriction of negative gearing to new properties and a return to the pre-1999 capital tax gains concession system, go to the Senate on Monday for debate.
The government believes it will have the support of the Greens to push through reforms that Anthony Albanese said on Sunday were aimed at making housing more affordable for young people.
“What this reform is about, fundamentally, is making sure that young Australians can aspire to having a roof over their head. This is what this change is all about,” the prime minister told Sky News.
Hello and welcome to our national news live coverage for Monday, June 22. Here are today’s main headlines.
Public supports house price falls: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s bid to make housing more affordable for young Australians has widespread support despite the pushback against his overhaul of the tax system, with new polling showing most voters are comfortable with a fall in house prices.
Starmer to resign: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer appears set to resign after cabinet ministers urged him to make way for rival leader Andy Burnham in a transition that could be announced as soon as Monday (London time).
WiseTech boss probed over sex, trafficking claims: Federal police are investigating billionaire businessman Richard White over claims that he exploited a woman’s immigration status and financial insecurity for sex and that he provided false information on a visa application.
Trump threatens Iran with new attacks: US President Donald Trump has threatened to restart the war with Iran even as Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials for the first talks under an interim peace deal.
KPMG whistleblower speaks out: The former KPMG executive who revealed allegations that senior staff at the firm had used confidential material from major companies to win work says speaking out has had devastating consequences.
