At Australia’s annual Christmas lunch the biggest slice of pie will again go to Coles and Woolworths, and while a new inquiry looks set to examine their profit margins, New Zealand offers a lesson in just how difficult it is to disrupt a duopoly. The companies that own Australia’s major supermarkets posted billion-dollar profits this year, prompting calls for a Christmas …

Australia has lost a second straight Davis Cup final, after Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur were beaten in their singles matches in a 2-0 defeat to Italy. Australian tennis dreams were dashed again as Lleyton Hewitt’s team succumbed in a second straight Davis Cup final amid heartbreak and another jolting reality check in Malaga. Italy ended up lifting the …

Emergency and health experts warn Australia is heading into the first of a series of high-risk bushfire seasons, as overlapping bushfire periods stretch resources. Record-breaking dry conditions and warmer than average temperatures during early spring are behind the increased fire risk for large areas of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, say Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) in …

Brittany Higgins has broken down in tears during cross-examination in the Federal Court, as lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann suggested she had not been raped at Parliament House in 2019. CONTENT WARNING: This article contains graphic details of sexual assault allegations.  Mr Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for broadcasting an interview with Ms Higgins on The Project, …

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says a backbench push for more cost-of-living relief is “not unusual”, as the government faces pressure to do more in its mid-year budget update. Mr Chalmers will today meet with Labor MPs calling for additional relief, but said next month’s Mid-Year Economic Financial Outlook should be considered an update, not a “mini-budget” with additional relief measures. …

A police hunt is continuing for two men who allegedly fled the scene of a fatal car crash as officers try to piece together the events leading up to the tragedy. Two boys were killed after being thrown from a car which crashed on a suburban street in Ashcroft in Sydney’s southwest about 10.50am on Monday. The boys are yet to …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has invited China’s President Xi Jinping to visit Australia as the two leaders “worked out some problems” in a face-to-face meeting in Beijing. Albanese declared his high-level talks with Xi “very successful” while the Chinese president said they were ushering a new era in relations. The prime minister met with the Chinese president in the Great …

Anthony Albanese won’t admit he trusts Xi Jinping, but says the Chinese President has never let him down as he prepares for a crucial meeting with him in Beijing. The Prime Minister arrived in China on Sunday night Australian time, and has left open the possibility of Australia backing its bid to join a trans-Pacific trade bloc. Albanese has also …

The reverberations of the spectacularly failed Voice referendum are continuing to hit the Albanese government, leaving it in a politically weaker position to convince Australians they are the better option to handle the cost-of-living crisis squeezing them. Ministers are anxiously awaiting the Reserve Bank board’s decision on Tuesday under new governor Michele Bullock on whether it will raise interest rates …

Five people who lost their lives when a car ploughed into the Daylesford pub’s beer garden have been identified as two families holidaying together over Victoria’s long weekend. News Corp named three of the victims as Point Cook lawyer Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, 9, and partner Jatin Chugh, 30. The other two deceased have been named by The Indian Sun as Vivek …