The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank has confirmed the news mortgage borrowers would not have wanted to hear — interest rates are highly unlikely to head lower anytime soon.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Andrew Hauser said it was “still true” that Australians had very likely seen the last rate cuts this cycle.

In December, RBA governor Michele Bullock effectively ruled out a rate cut for the foreseeable future and said the central bank’s board had only weighed up keeping rates on hold or raising them.

Her deputy said a surprise fall in inflation has not changed that view.

“The governor said … that the likelihood, at least in the near term, of further rate cuts was probably very low,” Mr Hauser said on Thursday.

“That’s still true, I think, if I’m honest with you.

“I know that won’t be the message that everyone watching this will want to hear.”

Andrew Hauser joined the RBA in 2024 from the Bank of England. (ABC News: Adam Wyatt)

The RBA deputy reiterated that the central bank’s priority was ensuring inflation remained on target, between 2 and 3 per cent.

The consumer price index (CPI), released yesterday, showed headline inflation running at 3.4 per cent in the year to November, while the RBA’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, the trimmed mean, was at 3.2 per cent.

“I think we all remember the pain and the difficulty, many of us are still working that through, of that persistent high period of inflation over the last few years,” Mr Hauser said.

“It’s our job to ensure that doesn’t happen again.”

Inflation too high, but ‘not a lot of news’ in this week’s data

Reactions to Wednesday’s inflation data were mixed, after the CPI eased back more than many economists had forecast.

Mr Hauser talked down the significance, however, describing it as “helpful” but “largely as we expected”.

“Inflation above 3 per cent — let’s be clear, it’s too high,” he said.

“We wish to keep inflation between 2 and 3 per cent, that is currently above that.”

Mr Hauser said there “wasn’t a lot of news in the data yesterday for us”.

He said inflation coming down partly reflected the Black Friday sales in November, but measures around the costs of housing picked up.

“Most of those numbers were broadly in line with our expectations.”

RBA takes one-to-two-year view on inflation: Hauser

Mr Hauser also emphasised that the RBA did not target inflation as it stood currently.

“We’re trying to target inflation in a year or two years’ time and judging the outlook for inflation.”

He said that judgement did not just include the current level of inflation, but also “on the pace of demand and conditions in the labour market, on global conditions … and five or six other variables”.

Inflation cools but February ‘remains in play’

Inflation cooled in November, with the consumer price index rising 3.4 per cent over the year, down from 3.8 per cent a month earlier.

November was just the second set of full monthly CPI data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The ABS will release the December quarterly CPI data at the end of January, giving the central bank another inflation update before its next meeting.

“We will be waiting for the quarterly inflation number in two or three weeks’ time before we take a view on where we think inflation is today,” Mr Hauser said.

As for what that number would need to be to prompt a rate rise, Mr Hauser offered a tongue-in-cheek response.

“How rude can I be on the ABC?” he asked.

“But we are not targeting Q4 2025 inflation … you can’t even target inflation a quarter out.

“You’re targeting the whole time inflation out a year to two years, and that informs making a judgement.”

The deputy governor said if the number was “spectacularly high or spectacularly low, we’d have to ask ourselves what was driving that, and that might be an important part of our overall judgement”.

“But we don’t have a rule that says if it’s 0.9 we hold, and if it’s 1 we raise and if it’s 0.7 we cut — we take a view of the whole economy.”

Hauser says Venezuela creates ‘geopolitical pressures’

The trade policy uncertainty and resulting financial market volatility generated by Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs dominated the RBA’s international concerns last year.

Follow the money as 2026’s economy asks big questions of all of us

Australia’s top economists talk interest rate hikes and market movements.

“It’s clear if you look at the geopolitical, geo-economic situation, 2026 is going to be as challenging as 2025,” Mr Hauser said

Mr Hauser noted that the tariff fallout has so far been less damaging than initially feared, in both the scope of the tariffs themselves as well as retaliatory measures.

“There’s been this extraordinary parallelism, really, between exceptional policy uncertainty, which as you say has continued in 2026, but a surprisingly benign economic outcome and a financial market outcome,” Mr Hauser said.

“I think Venezeuela is an interesting example of that continued duality.”

2026 began with the US strike on Venezuela, which has the potential for a “good news, bad news” economic fallout, Andrew Hauser says. (Reuters: Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

Mr Hauser said the US strikes on Venezuela had clearly created “a whole bunch of new geopolitical pressures”.

“But it also offers the prospect, doesn’t it, if Venezuela, that has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, manages to mobilise more of that output in the world economy, that oil prices might come down and that would mean cheaper petrol at the pumps for every Australia,” he said.

The deputy governor said “none of that has crystallised yet”, noting the muted reaction in the oil market.

“But this ‘good news, bad news’ approach to the world, I think is probably likely to be a key theme for 2026, just as much as much as it was for 2025.”

RBA tips inflation a ‘tiny bit higher’ than forecasts

Back on the domestic front, RBA’s February interest rates decision will be accompanied by its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, containing its updated economic forecasts.

Market assumptions about interest rate moves form part of the conditions underlying the RBA’s forecasts.

When the RBA’s last set of forecasts were published in November, rate cuts were still being priced in by financial markets.

RBA’s quandary: To hold or to hike?

The Reserve Bank governor has opened the door to interest rate hikes in 2026, but how soon will she walk through it?

“Our outlook for inflation was that it would be above 3 per cent for a period of time at the end of 2025, into the first part of 2026 before coming back gradually to sit just above the 2.5 per cent target, under an assumption that interest rates would fall,” Mr Hauser said of the November forecasts.

“I think our current view is that inflation in the December quarter of 2025 is probably likely to come out just a tiny bit higher, in an underlying sense, than that number that we had in November.”

Asked about market pricing for the February meeting, which currently sits around two-thirds for rates to remain on hold and one-third for a rate hike, Mr Hauser said he would not comment on whether it was “a sensible estimate of the outcome”.

“It’s true, as you say, that markets are not placing 100 per cent weight increase in February … you pay your money, you take your choice.

“It’s what financial markets have assumed.”

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Limerick 1-28

Cork 0-16

Experience counted heavily as Cork’s Co-op SuperStores Munster Hurling League campaign began with defeat to Limerick at TUS Gaelic Grounds on Wednesday night.

With the starters from last year’s All-Ireland final still in cold storage and college players preluded from lining out, Ben O’Connor’s side was again a mix of newcomers and those pushing for greater game-time. However, a crowd of 2,362 witnessed a Limerick team featuring more big names play with a greater slickness – though the visitors were not helped by a worrying turnover rate on their own puckouts, both long and short.

While Colin O’Brien did have the game’s opening score in the first minute, it was the only time Cork led, with a pair of Tom Morrissey points putting Limerick in front. Morrissey, Peter Casey and Cian Lynch provided ten first-half points between them as the Shannonsiders amassed a 0-16 to 0-7 half-time lead – and that despite having 11 wides to just two for Cork, the first of those coming five minutes before half-time.

The closest either side came to a goal in the opening period was when a turnover afforded Jack O’Connor the chance to run at the Limerick defence – his low effort was well-placed but Colin Ryan in the Limerick goal did well to keep it out. Colm McCarthy did ensure that Cork took a point from that phase of play to leave it 0-4 to 0-2 with seven minutes gone but by the 16th it was 0-10 to 0-4 in favour of the hosts, for whom Will O’Donoghue was able to dictate matters at centre-back.

Long-range efforts in quick succession from wing-back Matthew Fitzgerald and Lynch moved them seven ahead and, while Cork wing-back Tom Hanley – who did show up well for the most part – replied, the hosts had four of the last five points of the half.

John English of Limerick has a shot on goal despite the efforts of Colm McCarthy of Cork. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The lead might even have been more had John English’s surging run not been halted illegally following a good catch from Gearóid Hegarty.

The 2020 hurler of the year was playing at corner-forward and had been influential in the first half despite not being among Limerick’s eight scorers. That statistic looked like changing in the 35th minute when Donnacha Ó Dálaigh’s pass across gave him a goal chance; while he sidestepped goalkeeper Brion Saunderson, Ger Millerick – excellent throughout – was there to make an intervention.

By that stage, Limerick had outscored Cork by 0-4 to 0-1 since half-time and Morrissey converted the 65 that accrued and another from a free immediately afterwards.

The lead stretched to 14 points, 0-23 to 0-9, before Cork had a mild flurry with points from Seán Desmond, Cathal McCarthy (free) and Jack Cahalane but it was only brief respite.

Limerick led by 0-23 to 0-12 when sub Hugh Flanagan – who had gone close shortly beforehand – set up Ó Dálaigh for a goal and 15 points separated the sides at the end.

Scorers for Limerick: T Morrissey 0-6 (0-3 f, 0-2 65), D Ó Dálaigh 1-3, P Casey 0-4, C Lynch, J English 0-3 each, P O’Donovan 0-2, D O’Donovan, C Thomas, M Fitzgerald, G Hegarty, M Casey, J Finn, J Cosgrove 0-1 each.

Cork: C McCarthy 0-3 (0-2 f), S Desmond, R O’Flynn, B O’Sullivan (0-2 f) 0-2 each, T Hanley, C Tobin, Colin O’Brien, J O’Connor, J Cahalane, M Barrett 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: C Ryan; E Stokes, S Finn, B Murphy; C Thomas, W O’Donoghue, M Fitzgerald; C Lynch, D O’Donovan; J English, P Casey, T Morrissey; G Hegarty, D Ó Dálaigh, P O’Donovan.

Subs: J Fitzgerald for O’Donovan, M Casey for O’Donoghue (both half-time), E Hurley for P Casey (43), D O’Shea for Thomas, H Flanagan for Lynch (both 46), J O’Connor for Hegarty, J Cosgrove for P O’Donovan, J Finn for Fitzgerald (all 56).

CORK: B Saunderson; C Doolan, E Roche, G Millerick; T Hanley, E Twomey, C Tobin; C Darcy, J Kearney; Colin O’Brien, C McCarthy, J O’Connor; R O’Flynn, S Desmond, J Cahalane.

Subs: B O’Sullivan for Colin O’Brien, Cormac O’Brien for Kearney (both half-time), J Casey for Tobin, B O’Flynn for Darcy, M Barrett for McCarthy (all 52).

Referee: T Walsh (Waterford).

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People can make a number of simple changes an expert and Martin Lewis have said

People can make some minor boiler settings changes to save hundreds of pounds, experts have said(Image: PA)

Anyone who has a boiler built after April 2005 it being told of a top tip to save cash – while keeping the home warm. Householders with a condensing combi boiler – which is likely if it was installed after April 2005 – a tweak of the settings could save you cash.

These boilers allow you to adjust what is known as the boiler flow temperature – how hot the water is when it leaves the boiler and goes to your radiators.

Tom Lyon, energy expert at Compare the Market said: ”A study by Nesta found that for homes with a combi boiler, reducing the flow temperature, to around 60C (140F) rather than 70-80C (158-176F) can help to cut gas consumption by around 6-8pc.’

Uswitch says the average annual gas bill is £682 per year, so this saving could be roughly £55. People are told to make sure they don’t turn it down below 75C for radiators and 60C for hot water, though, as this is the temperature at which the legionella bacteria is killed.

If you have a hot water tank, adding an 80mm thick insulation jacket, which costs about £22, will keep the water warmer for longer and could allow you to reduce the time you spend with the heating on.

Personal finance expert Martin Lewis has shared his top tips for saving money on heating. The personal finance expert discussed his energy-saving advice on his ITV show, with the Money Saving Expert site he founded confirming that all the tips are still relevant.

Mr Lewis highlighted key heating strategies that everyone should be implementing to significantly reduce their bills. His advice covers optimal boiler temperatures, and how adjusting a simple setting on your heating system can save you money.

On the subject of setting the temperature, Mr Lewis challenged viewers: “Now this is a big one. Take my 1 degree challenge. The World Health organisation says 18 degrees is fine for healthy adults, younger, older, or ill, you might need more. Who’s got their thermostat on at 18 degrees or less? I’d like you to try reducing 1 degree, say you’re at 21, try reducing to 20. That could save you around 10% on the heating bill.”

He also warned against a common mistake people make by cranking up their heat higher than necessary in an attempt to warm up their homes faster. Mr Lewis explained: “This isn’t scientific. But if you think about it, if your heating is only kicking in at 15 degrees, which it may well be, and you’re heating to 21, only heating to 20 is actually a really significant saving. Don’t think 0 to 20, think 15 to 20 to get it in your head.

“And another thing, I bet you do this, who, when it gets cold, turns the thermostat up in the house? Now look, your thermostat will get you up to the temperature you want. This is a panic reaction, it’s cold, I’m going to turn it up more. The thermostat dictates what the temperature is. Don’t turn it up, just wait for it to get to the heat, and then you won’t need to pay too much more. “

Mr Lewis has advised people to reduce their ‘flow rate’. He explained: “Now you’d normally want it to be around 60 degrees, but most people’s boilers are set higher. That’s really inefficient. It’s not just it’s using more heat, it’s inefficient. You can turn this down, it won’t affect the heat of your house, it’ll still be the same temperature. It won’t affect your hot water temperature, it might take slightly longer to get up to the maximum temperature.

“But it can cut £100 a year off your bill, and it is well worth everyone doing. I’ve got successes. Yeah, I have. This is from David, his boiler had a high temperature of 85 degrees. He now has a boiler flow temperature of 60, which works just as well and saves them money. This is an absolute no brainer. Everyone with a combi boiler should be trying this one.”

For more tips and an explanation of changing the boiler settings click here.

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Mr Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were abducted from Venezuela’s capital Caracas on Saturday by US special forces during a military assault.

In Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as interim President in the National Assembly. She described Maduro and his wife as heroes and said she took the oath of office with pain because of the suffering caused by “illegitimate military aggression”.

The United Nations Security Council has been holding an emergency debate on the US operation. The UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected”. Iran and China both called for Maduro’s immediate release with China’s foreign ministry accusing the US of “a clear violation of international law”.

Shares in some US oil companies have risen sharply, after the Trump administration made clear that it plans to control Venezuela’s oil industry.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith, Orla Guerin, Simon Jack, Chris Mason and Jeremy Bowen.

Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news

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ATLANTA — Eliminating state income taxes sounds great to many voters, but Republicans backing the push in multiple states still face questions about whether such big tax cuts can be made without raising other taxes or sharply cutting state funding for education, health care and other services.

Georgia on Wednesday became the latest state to launch a bid to abolish its personal income tax, with Republican leaders in the Senate backing a proposal to zero it out by 2032. This year, Georgia’s personal income tax is projected to collect about $16.5 billion, or 44% of the state’s general revenue.

The push is driven by politics. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Republican who leads the state Senate, has made eliminating income taxes a centerpiece of his 2026 campaign for governor. State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican who led a committee to abolish the tax, is among candidates to succeed Jones as lieutenant governor.

“This is the first vote that we are going to get to take to address affordability,” Tillery said.

But it’s unclear if the proposal will pass. Georgia House Republicans may want to continue nibbling away at the tax in smaller bites, preferring a “measured” approach. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said Wednesday that his big 2026 goal is to eliminate property taxes for homeowners, but said he’s willing to consider the Senate plan.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, serving his last year, has been cool to total elimination of the income tax. He declined to comment Wednesday on the Senate plan, but spokesperson Carter Chapman said Kemp wants “to continue lowering taxes and putting more money in Georgians’ pockets as he has throughout his term.”

The state’s Democratic minority opposes the move, saying it would mostly benefit high earners and the state needs money to provide services.

Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri have all set goals to abolish the personal income tax, joining eight other states that don’t tax personal income. Eight other states besides Georgia are cutting personal income tax rates this year, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group generally skeptical of higher taxes.

“We’ve seen a lot of states cut their income tax rates in the last four or five years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming out of it,” said Aravind Boddupalli, senior researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Supporters say cuts help a state compete for new residents and businesses, pointing to growth in Texas and Florida, two states without personal income taxes.

“Your income tax is a tax on productivity,” said Manish Bhatt, who studies state taxes for the Tax Foundation. “If you are taxing productivity, you are potentially losing out on economic gains.”

Georgia has already been cutting income taxes, taking what was once a top income tax rate of 6% and lowering it to a 5.19% flat rate. Republicans broadly support a further cut for individual and corporate taxpayers to 4.99% this year, worth an estimated $800 million in foregone tax revenue.

The Senate plan would then freeze the corporate rate and focus on individual tax cuts. It proposes in 2027 to exempt the first $50,000 of income for a single person or $100,000 for a married couple, up from $12,000 and $24,000 now.

Faced with Democratic criticism about affordability, the big increase in exempt income is central to Republicans’ own arguments about how they can make money stretch farther. About 70% of Georgians reported less than $100,000 of taxable income in 2024, according to state figures.

“It is a plan that gives benefits first to hardworking families,” Tillery said.

The initial rate cut, plus the exemption proposal, would lower Georgia revenue by $3.8 billion in its 2027 budget year. Tillery says the state could pay by using surplus tax revenue and shifting back to paying for capital expenditures through borrowing instead of cash. But those moves probably wouldn’t cover the foregone revenue even in the first year, much less $13 billion more in cuts to get to zero.

Tillery said revenue should be bolstered by trimming business income and sales tax breaks, saying legislators should reduce “corporate welfare.” But lawmakers and Kemp have balked at curtailing those measures in recent years.

Tax cuts haven’t always been a political bonanza. In Kansas, after Republicans under Gov. Sam Brownback cut income taxes steeply more than a decade ago, voters revolted at budget cuts and lawmakers imposed multiple tax increases to cover persistent budget shortfalls, including restoring some income tax cuts. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly won her first term in 2018 by framing the race as a referendum on Brownback’s policies.

“State income taxes are only bad if you fundamentally don’t believe that the services, the public investments that state governments provide, are worth anything,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow with the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy .

In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and GOP legislative leaders have made phasing out the state’s income tax a top priority for the session starting Wednesday. They’re looking to expand sales taxes to services which currently are untaxed to help offset lost revenue.

“We want to do this in a smart, efficient way that’s not going to have the state go off some sort of fiscal cliff,” Missouri House Majority Leader Alex Riley told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

But expanding sales taxes could fall more heavily on poorer taxpayers. The liberal-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimated that if Georgia doesn’t expand its sales tax, the combined state and local sales tax rate would have to rise sharply from the current 7.42% to recover revenue losses.

All that leads to questions about income-tax elimination plans, even from Republicans. Burns, the Georgia House speaker, said he’s “open” to any plan that benefits Georgians.

“But we’ve got to have the details, and it has to work,” Burns said. “We need to make sure we can continue to do vital services — health care, public safety, education, all the things we talked about.”

___

Associated Press writer David Lieb contributed from Jefferson City, Missouri.

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‘It is not safe to be in bushland areas’: campers told to leave many popular areas in Victoria

Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer of Fire Forest Management Victoria, said it is unsafe to be in bushland areas anywhere in Victoria over the coming days, saying public lands in many popular areas are now closed and it will be illegal to remain there. He said:

My advice is that it is not safe to be in bushland areas. Irrespective of the fire rating. We never know where a bushfire is going to start.

Campers in the Wimmera, Northern Country and North Central districts on public lands will be required to leave campgrounds by 7am Friday. That includes popular sites on the Goulburn River, the Murray River and in the Grampians National Park.

Private caravan parts and local government lands are under their own emergency management plans.

Hardman said of public land closures:

It is just too dangerous, it is not survivable if you are caught in a fire. … We’re formally closing all public land [in those districts]. It is illegal to be in public land in those areas.

A full list of areas affected by closures will be published on the Parks Victoria website later today.

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Updated at 01.44 CET

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Fire danger sign cut down during Victoria heatwave

Victoria police have said investigators are “dumbfounded” after an automated fire danger sign was cut down in the town of Koonoomoo yesterday.

Officials said they believe unknown offenders cut down the sign – valued at around $60,000 – sometime between 8am and 1pm on Wednesday and allegedly stole the solar battery from it before leaving the rest behind. The sign alerts the community to the current fire safety danger ratings.

The rating was set to high in Koonoomoo and the surrounding areas, with total fire bans in other areas. Leah Booth, a detective acting sergeant, said in a statement:

To damage a sign that alerts the community to the fire danger rating is completely reckless and dangerous.

These signs are in place to make sure people who are in the area are aware of the fire danger safety rating to abide by the restrictions and act if needed.

You are not only cutting down and damaging a sign, but you are also potentially putting the wider community at risk.

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Updated at 03.09 CET

Donna Lu

Extreme temperatures send thousands to hospital each year, study finds

Extreme hot and cold temperatures are sending thousands of Australians to emergency departments annually, new research finds.

An analysis of more than 1.4m emergency department presentations in the Australian Capital Territory between 2000 and 2021 has found that one in 40 visits – almost 36,000 presentations – were heat-related.

The study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, projects that heat-related visits will rise between 2040 and 2061 due to extreme heat linked to global heating.

The findings “highlight the urgent need for region-specific climate change adaptation strategies to mitigate the growing health impacts of temperature extremes”, the researchers write.

The Australian National University’s Dr Michael Tong, the study’s lead author, said:

Our research showed that young people under 20 are significantly more likely to end up in hospital emergency department on hot days, usually on the day itself. Likewise, adults aged 20 to 60 were at increased risk on both extreme and moderate heat days.

About 4% of ED presentations in the ACT were related to cold weather, the research found.

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Updated at 02.52 CET

Residents told ‘too late to leave’ as fire in Victoria’s Longwood continues to burn

Communities near Longwood have been told it is too late to leave and to take shelter now as an out-of-control bushfire continues to burn.

The Country Fire Authority issued the additional warning at 12.20pm for residents at Avenel, Dropmore, Highlands, Ruffy, Tarcombe and Upton Hill.

There is a bushfire at Longwood that is not yet under control. The bushfire is travelling from Longwood in a south-westerly direction towards Highlands Road.

This fire is threatening homes and lives. It is too late to leave the area safely so you must take shelter now. You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive.

A relief centre is open at the Seymour Sports and Aquatic Centre, Pollard Street Seymour. A number of roads in the area remain closed, including the Hume Freeway between Violet Town and Avenel.

Three additional emergency warnings to leave immediately remain active near Longwood and Walwa.

Fire in the area of Victoria’s Longwood. Photograph: Sassafras-Ferny Creek CFAShare

Updated at 02.53 CET

Tory Shepherd

Safari park reopens in South Australia after extreme heat

On the ramifications of the south-eastern heatwave – South Australia’s Monarto Safari Park (the “largest safari experience outside of Africa”) is open today after closing yesterday because of extreme weather. The park said:

It’s still warm, so the animals are enjoying warm-weather enrichment, including icy treats for the giraffes.

During hot conditions, keepers adjust daily routines and provide additional cooling options such as ice blocks, cooling mats, fans and misters, while closely monitoring animal behaviour.

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Updated at 02.31 CET

Residents west of Walwa in north-east Victoria urged to leave immediately

Communities west of Walwa in north-east Victoria have been urged to leave immediately, with an emergency warning issued for an out-of-control bushfire.

The warning covers Bungil, Burrowye, Guys Forest, Koetong, Mount Alfred, Mount Alfred Gap and Thologolong.

Vic Emergency said the bushfire, 25km west of Walwa, was travelling from Mt Lawson national park.

It is spotting ahead of the fire into the private land around the Burrowye area. Properties within the warning area could be impacted.

An emergency warning to leave immediately also remains active for Longwood East, Upton Hill, Avenel, Locksley, Longwood, Ruffy, Tarcombe, Dropmore, Caveat, Highlands and Terip Terip.

Five fires are at a watch and act level around Walwa and Seymour.

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Updated at 02.09 CET

Groups launch court challenge to NSW laws restricting protests after terror attacks

Penry Buckley

A constitutional challenge has been launched against controversial laws in New South Wales that restrict protest actions for up to three months after terrorist incidents, introduced following the December Bondi attack.

The groups the Blak Caucus, Palestine Action Group (PAG) and Jews Against the Occupation ‘48 filed the challenge in the NSW supreme court on Wednesday, arguing in the court summons that the laws are invalid because they “impermissibly burden the implied constitutional freedom of communication on government and political matters”.

Protesters during the Palestine Action Group’s March for Humanity last August. Photograph: Flavio Brancaleone/AAP

The co-applicants announced their intention to challenge the laws, which prevent protests being authorised by police after a public assembly restriction declaration (Pard). The laws were rushed through parliament last month after the Bondi massacre.

In December, PAG organiser Josh Lees accused the government of stripping away the right to peaceful protest with “no evidence at all” that it would make anyone safer.

Read more here:

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Updated at 02.02 CET

Multiple schools and education facilities closed across Victoria

450 public and private schools and early childhood centres will be closed tomorrow, many of which have ongoing school holiday programs. Those schools and centres are in the Wimmera, Northern Country and North Central districts.

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Updated at 02.01 CET

‘It is not safe to be in bushland areas’: campers told to leave many popular areas in Victoria

Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer of Fire Forest Management Victoria, said it is unsafe to be in bushland areas anywhere in Victoria over the coming days, saying public lands in many popular areas are now closed and it will be illegal to remain there. He said:

My advice is that it is not safe to be in bushland areas. Irrespective of the fire rating. We never know where a bushfire is going to start.

Campers in the Wimmera, Northern Country and North Central districts on public lands will be required to leave campgrounds by 7am Friday. That includes popular sites on the Goulburn River, the Murray River and in the Grampians National Park.

Private caravan parts and local government lands are under their own emergency management plans.

Hardman said of public land closures:

It is just too dangerous, it is not survivable if you are caught in a fire. … We’re formally closing all public land [in those districts]. It is illegal to be in public land in those areas.

A full list of areas affected by closures will be published on the Parks Victoria website later today.

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Updated at 01.44 CET

Cait Kelly

Victoria braces for extremely dangerous fire conditions

Victoria will experience its worst fire day since November 2019, when fires blazed through the state.

The deputy premier, Ben Carroll, has just been speaking to media – he has told people to get fire-prepared and leave immediately if they are in an evacuation zona.

Conditions in parts of the state are expected to get so bad there will be dry lightning and temperatures could hit upper 40s in the northern parts of the state.

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Updated at 03.10 CET

Fire near Longwood not expected to be contained today

The Longwood fire in Victoria will not be contained today.

Heffernan said tough conditions means a fire near Longwood will not be contained today. Multiple towns near the bushfire are under leave immediately warnings, and a long stretch of the Hume Highway is currently closed in both directions from Violet Town to Seymour.

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Updated at 01.26 CET

Statewide fire ban for Victoria on Friday amid ‘very, very dire bushfire day’

The entire state of Victoria will be under a fire ban tomorrow, 9 January, amid an ongoing heatwave.

The emergency services minister, Vicki Ward, said during a press conference:

We are one of the most fire-prone areas in the world, this is why the warnings much be adhered to.

You do not want emergency services to work harder than they already have. Please look at the app, watch the notifications, leave when you are asked to. Do not stay behind, it is not safe.

Jason Heffernan, the chief officer of the Country Fire Authority, said conditions will be “dire” tomorrow, including potential wind gusts of 80km/h to 100km/h:

We’re going to see a return of the 40 degree, in fact we’re going to be in the mid to upper end of the 40 degree spectrum particularly in the northern part of the state.

Tomorrow is a very, very dire bushfire day in the state of Victoria.

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Updated at 01.26 CET

Tory Shepherd

Heat hits Adelaide’s flying foxes

Adelaide is a touch on the cooler side today – 39C as opposed to the 42.6C it hit on Wednesday afternoon.

Sadly, that high heat hit Adelaide’s population of flying foxes. Bat Rescue South Australia reported that a few hundred juveniles were lost to the heat.

Flying foxes in Adelaide’s Botanic Park in 2024. Photograph: Sia Duff/The Guardian

“But on a brighter note our team spent hours out in the heat spraying babies to keep them hydrated and cool to be reunited with their mums,” the organisation said, adding while they only had a couple in care they expected more over the coming days.

More than a hundred flying foxes were hospitalised in Queensland last November after they were smashed by giant hail, too.

If you’re around a bat colony and see a distressed bat, do not go near them. In SA call Bat Rescue SA on 0475 132 093.

Read more about Adelaide’s megabat colony here:

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Updated at 01.26 CET

11 charged after New Year’s Day brawl in NSW

11 people have been charged after a New Year’s Day brawl at a hotel in the NSW town of Coonabarabran, NSW police said this morning.

Officers arrived to the hotel around 1.50am on the morning of 1 January, where they found 80 people gathered, many of whom were allegedly involved in the brawl.

Multiple police stations were called to assist before a move-on direction was given. Paramedics treated multiple people at the scene.

Those charged with affray and other charges included men and women between the ages of 20 and 42. All have been granted conditional bail and are due to appear in court later this month.

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Updated at 00.50 CET

Fire bans across SA, Victoria and NSW today

Just a reminder that total fire bans are in effect across many regions in southern Australia today.

In South Australia, the Mid North region is under a total fire ban.

In Victoria, the entirety of the northern part of the state, including Mailee, the Northern Country district, the North East district and the North Central district are all under total fire bans.

And in NSW the Southern Riverina, which borders Victoria, is under a total fire ban.

The bans broadly prohibit any open flames or hot works, as well as outdoor cooking and barbecuing with solid fuels, among other activities.

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Updated at 01.24 CET

Frydenberg concerned with potential head of Bondi royal commission

Josh Frydenberg said he is concerned with the potential name floated to lead a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attacks: former high court justice Virginia Bell.

The former politician wrote on X last night that the Jewish community had expressed “serious concerns” with Bell, saying it was “unthinkable” that Anthony Albanese “would choose a commissioner that did not have the total confidence of the Jewish community.

He wrote:

This is a time for unity and national healing.

This is a time to turn back the tide of hate and antisemitism that has destroyed so many lives.

Prime Minister, I appeal to you, this is the time to do the right thing and call a Commonwealth Royal Commission with the appointment of the right Commissioner whose leadership will provide the answers and solutions our country so urgently needs.

Tonight the Prime Minister has floated the name of Virginia Bell to lead a Commonwealth Royal Commisson into antisemitism and the events leading up to the Bondi massacre.

The Prime Minister has been told directly by leaders of the Jewish community that they have serious concerns…

— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) January 7, 2026Share

Updated at 00.13 CET

Police appealing for information after number of suspicious fires in southern NSW

NSW police are appealing for dashcam footage after a number of suspicious fires in the state’s south over the past fortnight.

Officials said a spate of grass fires between 28 December and 6 January have occurred about 24km from the town of Mulwala, along the Victorian border.

The incidents include a small grass fire on Monday that burnt a small area around 11.45am, with no property damaged. Another fire was reported at 6.40pm on Wednesday, which burnt about 1 hectare of grassland. No property was damaged.

Police have asked anyone with dashcam footage or information of suspicious behaviour to come forward.

“We are concerned with hot conditions over the next few days, that there may be more incidents, so we are urging anyone who has dashcam footage or videos to come forward and provide them to police or submit them through the QR on our Murray River PD Facebook page,” Paul Smith, the Murray River police district commander superintendent, said in a statement.

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Updated at 23.45 CET

Kelly Burke

Highly transmissible flu strain infects more than 2,500 Australians

More than 2,500 Australians rang in the new year with a highly transmissible new strain of influenza, and health authorities are on alert for what could be Australia’s worst year since tracking began 35 years ago.

Last year’s record, when more than half a million Australians contracted a laboratory-certified form of flu and 1,508 people died, was a 44% increase on the 2024 mortality rate.

The unseasonably high rate of infection for just the first week of January has been driven by a mutation of Influenza A H3N2 known as subclade K – now colloquially referred to as Super-K – first identified in September by scientists at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

Read more here:

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Updated at 23.32 CET

Donna Lu

Heat is Australia’s ‘silent killer’. Here are the symptoms to watch out for

Experts warn that the heat people actually experience could far exceed what is forecast – because the Bureau of Meteorology measures air temperature in the shade.

“Depending on what surface you’re standing on and the radiant heat, it could be up to 10C hotter,” says Dr Kim Loo, the NSW and ACT deputy chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Heatwaves have been described as a “silent killer” because they do not leave the same large-scale visible scars as bushfires and floods – but extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related hospitalisations and deaths in Australia.

What effect does extreme heat have on the body? Here are the warning signs of heat stress to look out for, and what to do to minimise health risks.

Read more here:

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Stretch of Hume Highway in Victoria closed because of bushfire

A 74km stretch of the Hume Highway is closed this morning between the Victorian towns of Seymour and Violet Town due a bushfire in the Longwood area.

An emergency warning urging residents to leave immediately is in effect for Locksley, Longwood, Longwood East, Ruffy, Tarcombe and Upton Hill as the bushfire is not yet under control.

VicEmergency says leaving immediately is the “safest option before conditions become too dangerous”.

The major artery between Sydney and Melbourne will be busy with holiday travellers, but alternate routes around the closure are accessible.

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Updated at 23.28 CET

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These are some of the places that best capture Skye’s distinctive flavour…

Loch Bay Restaurant

1 Macleods Terrace, Stein, Isle of Skye, IV55 8GA

Tucked away on the quiet Waternish peninsula, Loch Bay Restaurant is one of Skye’s most accomplished dining destinations.

With a MICHELIN star, it is known for its confident, refined approach to seafood, drawing on the exceptional shellfish landed daily around the island.

Its tasting menus are elegant and precise, highlighting langoustine, scallops and lobster alongside carefully chosen seasonal accompaniments. While the cooking is technically impressive, the atmosphere remains refreshingly relaxed, with lochside views that underscore the restaurant’s deep connection to its surroundings.

Loch Bay is a destination restaurant in every sense, yet one that feels entirely at home on Skye.

Edinbane Lodge

Old Dunvegan Road, Edinbane, Isle of Skye, IV51 9PW

Edinbane Lodge has quickly established itself as one of Skye’s most exciting restaurants, offering inventive tasting menus rooted firmly in local produce.

Set within a former hunting lodge, the dining room blends contemporary style with a sense of Highland heritage, playing on many of owner Calum Montgomery’s own childhood experiences.

The menu changes with the seasons, reflecting what is available from Skye’s waters, crofts and hedgerows, with foraged ingredients often playing a starring role.

Dishes are creative without being overly complicated, balancing bold flavours with finesse and precision. With its warm hospitality and immersive dining experience, Edinbane Lodge feels both ambitious and welcoming. The hand-dived scallop is worth the trip here alone.

Kinloch Lodge

Sleat, Isle of Skye, IV43 8QY

One of only a few venues located on the Sleat peninsula, Kinloch Lodge offers one of Skye’s most elegant dining experiences. The historic shooting lodge is home to a restaurant that combines classic Highland grandeur with refined, ingredient-led cooking.

Menus focus on the best of Skye’s natural larder, from local shellfish to estate-reared meat and seasonal produce, all prepared with a light, confident touch.

Dining at Kinloch Lodge feels like a true occasion, whether you’re staying overnight or visiting for lunch or dinner. Its Sunday roast is hands down the best on the island.

The Three Chimneys

Colbost, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, IV55 8ZT

When you think of Skye’s culinary scene, The Three Chimneys is notably one of the top spots to visit. Overlooking Loch Dunvegan, this landmark destination helped define the island’s reputation for serious food, and it was former owners Eddie and Shirley Spear who truly put this spot on the map.

The menus celebrate local ingredients treated with respect and classical technique, and the chef’s table is undoubtedly the best seat in the house.

While the setting is undeniably dramatic, the cooking remains grounded, with flavours that reflect the surrounding landscape rather than overshadow it. Decades after opening, The Three Chimneys continues to draw food lovers from around the world, not only for its consistency and quality, but for its role in shaping Skye’s culinary identity.

Scorrybreac

7 Bosville Terrace, Portree, Isley of Skye, IV51 9DG

Set in a small whitewashed fisherman’s cottage above Portree Harbour, Scorrybreac offers one of Skye’s most intimate and sought-after dining experiences.

With a small, limited number of tables, the restaurant focuses on carefully curated tasting menus that showcase thoughtful cooking, allowing the quality of the raw materials to shine without unnecessary embellishment.

There’s a calm, understated atmosphere to dining here, with views across the water reinforcing the restaurant’s close relationship with the island’s landscape. Scorrybreac feels personal, and it truly is like dining in chef patron Calum Munro’s front room.

Dunvegan Restaurant

Main Street, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, IV55 8WA

For something a little different to the norm on Skye, seek out the Dunvegan Restaurant.

Known as Skye’s fire restaurant, owners Tim and Blair Hunter-Davies, who bought the venue in 2019, have worked hard to curate a truly unique dining experience that differs from many of Skye’s other fine dining establishments.

Almost every ingredient on the menu is cooked on Tim’s Argentinian-style Asado grill and they have a very close relationship with all of their suppliers, ensuring the local economy reaps the benefits of their success.

Be sure to ask for the kitchen tour. You won’t regret seeing behind the scenes.

There’s also a coffee shop and deli on site at the restaurant with rooms, so do pop in for a quick something if you don’t have time to stop for lunch or dinner.

The Stein Inn

Macleods Terrace, Stein, Isle of Skye, IV55 8GA

Claiming the title of Skye’s oldest inn, The Stein Inn is steeped in history and character.

Its lochside setting on the Waternish peninsula makes it a particularly atmospheric place to dine, especially on a clear evening.

The menu focuses on honest, comforting food, with fresh seafood sitting comfortably alongside pub classics. The best part is looking out over the water where the langoustines on the menu have been freshly landed that morning.

There’s no pretence at The Stein Inn, just well-cooked dishes served in a relaxed, welcoming environment. It’s very popular with locals and visitors alike, and its interior is as intriguing as its menu, a feast for the eyes, one might say.

The Hungry Gull

Staffin, Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9JU

For something more casual, The Hungry Gull is one of the island’s most popular food stops. This small operation has earned a loyal following for its excellent meals served simply and well.

Fresh fish and chips, the best burgers you’ll find on Skye and daily specials showcase local fare without unnecessary embellishment, making it perfect for an informal meal on the go. And even if you’re not in the mood for their hand-cut chips, you best order a portion because they are some of the best you’ll have.

It isn’t uncommon to see queues forming at this popular spot, proving that Skye’s best food doesn’t always require linen tablecloths. If you can, arrive sharp.

Bog Myrtle Cafe

Struan, Isle of Skye, IV56 8FB

Bog Myrtle Cafe is a welcoming daytime spot known for its relaxed atmosphere and consistently good food.

Run by husband and wife, Mania Pietrzak-Clarke and John Clarke-Pietrzak, it’s a popular stop for travellers crossing the island. The menu focuses on hearty lunches, generous sandwiches, soups and excellent home baking, all made with care and seasonal ingredients.

Coffee is taken seriously, and the informal setting makes it an easy place to linger.

Whether you’re stopping for a light bite or settling in for lunch, Bog Myrtle Cafe offers comforting, unfussy food that reflects Skye’s slower pace of life.

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Cafe Cùil

Carbost, Isle of Skye, IV47 8SU

A five-minute drive along the road from Talisker Distillery and you’ll find Skye’s most popular brunch restaurant, Cafe Cùil.

This gorgeous spot has become a firm favourite for brunch and lunch and champions seasonal, locally inspired cooking, with menus that balance comfort and creativity.

Owned by Clare Coghill, the esteemed chef celebrates everything that makes this part of the world so special, foraging for the day’s specials and for unique ingredients used in their hot and cold drinks.

Expect generous portions, thoughtful options and flavours that feel nourishing after a morning exploring.

There’s a warmth to Cafe Cùil that extends beyond the food as it almost acts as a community hub. Here you can put your Scottish Gaelic to the test while enjoying some of the best Skye hospitality.

Order the Lochalsh beef brisket rarebit or the Scotch pancakes. You can’t leave without trying those.

Birch

Bayfield Road, Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9EL

Birch brings modern cafe life to Portree, offering a contemporary contrast to some of the island’s more traditional spots.

Known for excellent coffee, sourdough toast, pastries and light seasonal dishes, it’s a go-to for breakfast or a relaxed lunch.

The atmosphere is bright and unfussy, appealing to both locals and visitors looking for quality without formality.

Birch reflects Skye’s evolving food scene – confident, casual and quietly stylish – proving that great cafe culture has a place here.

Lean To Coffee

8, Ashaig, Isle of Skye, IV42 8PZ

Lean To Coffee has become a much-loved stop on Skye’s food map, particularly for those travelling through Skye after crossing over the bridge from the mainland.

Set within a simple, contemporary space, it focuses on high-quality coffee and thoughtfully made food.

The coffee is excellent, carefully sourced and expertly brewed, while the menu features generous breakfasts, mouthwatering toasties and light lunch options made with good local ingredients. There is also an array of freshly made bakes that can’t be overlooked.

There’s an easy, unfussy charm to Lean To Coffee that makes it ideal for a relaxed start to the day or a mid-journey pause.

Popular with locals and visitors alike, it, too, captures Skye’s growing cafe culture. Please note that the cafe seating is mainly outdoors

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The Trump administration plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in US accounts, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, making the clearest statement yet on Washington’s strategy to bring the impoverished nation’s crude to market and manage its most valuable resource.

Wright, who spoke at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference in Miami Wednesday, said initially the barrels would come from crude Venezuela is holding in storage, which has been filling up amid the US blockade and threatening to force some production off line. 

“We’re just going to get that crude moving again and sell it,” Wright said. “We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela – first this backed-up stored oil and then indefinitely going forward we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela.”

The plan comes as the Trump administration is pushing for US energy companies to rebuild Venezuela’s decaying oil infrastructure and revive its flagging production. The US is also selectively rolling back sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector as part of the effort, the Energy Department said.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that Venezuela would relinquish as much as 50 million barrels of its oil for the US to sell, valued at about $2.8 billion at current market prices. 

The US has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.

Revenue from the sales will be held in US Treasury accounts, a move that would protect the proceeds from Venezuela’s creditors, a person familiar with the matter said. The funds will benefit the American and Venezuelan people, Leavitt said.

“All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in US-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds,” Leavitt said. “Those funds will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States.”

Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said in a statement that it’s in negotiations with Washington over crude sales through a framework that would be similar to its arrangement with Chevron Corp., the only US oil major still operating in the country.

Earlier, US forces seized two more sanctioned oil tankers, including one flying a Russian flag, as the Trump administration pushes to control all exports of Venezuelan crude. One was seized in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland, and the other was apprehended in the Caribbean region.

Trump is pushing for US oil companies such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. to rebuild Venezuela’s infrastructure and revive production now that the US has removed former President Nicolás Maduro. The administration has already had conversations with multiple oil companies, according to an official. The president is set to meet with energy executives on Friday, Leavitt said.

“It’s just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now,” she said. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also may attend the sit-down that’s being planned, according to people familiar with the matter.

Venezuela’s oil sector has suffered from years of corruption, underinvestment and neglect, and its production is less than 1 million barrels a day. Wright estimated that output could be increased by several hundred thousand barrels a day in the short to medium term.

Restoring the industry to its former glories would be a huge undertaking, costing an estimated US$ 10 billion per year over the next decade, according to estimates from Francisco Monaldi, director of Latin American energy policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Venezuela sits atop some of the world’s largest crude reserves, but companies will want to ensure there’s a stable government in place before making any long-term investments. They will also want some degree of confidence Washington will support their presence in Venezuela even after Trump is no longer in office.

Chevron is working in Venezuela under a special licence from Washington. Exxon and ConocoPhillips previously operated inside the country but left after their assets were nationalised by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, in the mid-2000s.

Global oil futures slipped 1.3% Wednesday, trading at around US$ 60 a barrel.

TIMES/BLOOMBERG

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Crans-Montana’s mayor, Nicolas Feraud, said: “We regret that – we owe it to the families and we will accept the responsibility.”

Officials also announced a ban on the use of sparklers in local venues – sparklers on bottles carried too close to the ceiling were the likely cause of the fire, a preliminary investigation has found.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the French couple who managed the La Constellation bar – a venue known to be popular with a younger crowd in the ski resort town, where the drinking age is 16.

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For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news

#Switzerland #CransMontana #Fire #BBCNews

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In partnership with Mastercard

The most forward-thinking owners are already leveraging tools like AI-driven cash flow insights and embedded finance tools that sit inside their platforms of choice. 

The next wave of payment innovation? It’s all about making business smarter and more secure.

SmartCompany spoke to Anouska Ladds, Mastercard’s executive vice president of commercial and new payment flows for the Asia-Pacific region, to unpack some of the key money trends that will define the year ahead. 

You’ll also discover how SMEs can get ahead of the curve with the help of the brand-new Mastercard Digital Doors Australia resource hub. Ready?

Smarter business news. Straight to your inbox.

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Four money trends to know about in 2026

1. The digitisation of payments and expense management

Time-consuming finance tasks are holding businesses back. “Manual processes still dominate SME finance in Australia – 80% rely on paper-based expense workflows, causing delays and errors,” says Ladds.

“The shift to digital-first payment systems and automated reconciliation is accelerating, driven by cost pressures and the need for real-time visibility.”

This is about far more than mere efficiency. As Ladds puts it, digitising payments “can save SMEs thousands of hours annually and boost productivity by up to 70%”. With better forecasting and less risk of fraud, SMEs can finally put more attention on their growth ambitions – and less on needless admin.

2. Embedded finance is the ‘super app’ of B2B payments

‘Embedded finance’ is when financial tools are integrated into other systems and platforms you already use. For consumers, this appears in everything from rideshare apps to reward programs to digital wallets. For businesses, the integrations may be in accounting software, supplier portals or other non-financial platforms. 

“Embedded finance is crossing the aisle from consumer into B2B ecosystems, enabling SMEs to access credit, insurance and payment tools directly within their operational platforms,” Ladds says.

It’s a trend that’s especially pronounced in Asia-Pacific, where “fragmented systems have historically slowed B2B transactions”. In fact, recent research shows that Australian SMEs have the highest appetite for embedded services compared to businesses in the US, UK, China and Singapore.

“Payments need to be embedded into platforms and processes that SMEs are already familiar with and use,” Ladds says. 

The result? “Faster access to liquidity and less reliance on traditional banking structures – key to scaling in uncertain conditions.”

3. Flexible funding and access to capital

After years of volatile interest rates, your run-of-the-mill ‘credit’ isn’t always the best fit for growing companies. “With traditional banks tightening credit, non-bank lenders and fintech platforms offering adaptive repayment terms and revolving credit lines are gaining traction,” Ladds says.

These newer models “align with seasonal revenue cycles and project-based cash flows”, which gives SMEs breathing room when sales fluctuate. The biggest advantage, she adds, is resilience: “Flexibility in financing helps SMEs maintain liquidity during slow periods and invest confidently during growth phases. This resilience is essential as interest rates and inflation remain unpredictable.”

4. Real-time payments and AI-driven cash flow insights

Speed and intelligence are the new hallmarks of successful financial management, according to Ladds. “APAC is leading in real-time payment adoption, and 2026 will see AI-powered tools embedded in payment workflows for invoice matching, fraud detection and cash position forecasting.”

By the end of 2026 it is expected that about one-third of B2B payment workflows will use autonomous AI agents. That will hopefully mean speedier transactions and fewer errors – not to mention a wealth of additional data to inform smarter decision-making. 

“Faster, smarter money movement reduces operational friction, improves supplier relationships. and enables SMEs to make data-driven decisions quickly,” she adds.

Leveraging data for growth

Far too many SMEs underestimate the value of the data they already hold, Ladds says.

“Data is a growth lever SMEs often overlook, but payment data can unlock powerful insights,” she explains.

Businesses can use it to “improve cash flow management, smarter marketing and customer engagement, and optimise pricing and channel strategy”.

Tracking which payment options customers prefer, for example, can help cut down on cart abandonment, while staying on top of settlement times can uncover any liquidity risks before they snowball. “Through tools like Merchant Insights dashboards, SMEs can access aggregated, anonymised data to benchmark performance, spot trends and make informed decisions.”

Where to start

If you’re ready to modernise your payments and future-proof your business, Mastercard Digital Doors Australia is a free hub that can help you get there faster. Ladds recommends three areas to explore:

Establish your digital presence: Learn how to build an online identity and reach more customers.

Secure and streamline operations: Upskill yourself with guides on cash flow management, cybersecurity, efficiency and much more.

Get exclusive deals: Mastercard Business cardholders can access easy savings specials through the business hub, including exclusive offers, trials and discounts on platforms like Xero, Shopify, Google Workspace and DocuSign. Offers are subject to change; terms and conditions apply.

The future of small business finance is digital and highly data driven. The SMEs that lean into these money trends early will find themselves ahead of the curve in 2026 and beyond.

Find out more at the Mastercard Digital Doors Australia website.

Mastercard seeks to help as many Australian retailers as possible, to grow their businesses by embracing all forms of payment to provide customers the choice to make transactions whichever way they want to, with no restrictions.

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