When all is said and done, the only thing of value any of us have is our reputation. For years, Westpac chief Brian Hartzer and his chairman Lindsay Maxsted have been handsomely rewarded for their stewardship of one of the country’s biggest financial institutions. Along the way, they’ve been elevated to pillars of society. That now counts for nought. Community …

The affair of the alleged Chinese spy seeking asylum in Australia has grown even murkier, with Beijing saying he is nothing but a confidence trickster and common criminal Nine newspapers reported on Saturday that Wang “William” Liqiang has provided Australia’s counter-espionage agency ASIO details of how China’s senior military intelligence officers fund and conduct political interference operations in Hong Kong, …

A Perth man who defrauded Centrelink of more than $110,000 while running a multi-million-dollar shopping trolley collection business has been sentenced to three years’ jail. Ali Ayad, 49, received Newstart payments and carer allowance between May 2010 and December 2017 while he was operating the business, which had a turnover of almost $3.6 million. The District Court was told most …

The Chinese embassy in Canberra has hit back at Australian media reports of a man who says he worked as a secret Chinese operative for five years, saying he is a convicted fraudster. Wang Liqiang told Nine Newspapers he was seeking asylum in Australia, and was willing to detail his operations working as an intelligence agent for the Communist Party. …

An Adelaide woman acquitted of terror offences will be forced to comply with a series of controls over her movements and behaviour. Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif, 24, was found guilty of being a member of the Islamic State terror group following a jury trial last year. But the verdict was set aside and she was acquitted in a Court of Criminal Appeal …

The Socceroos have held on for a narrow 1-0 win over Jordan in their 2022 World Cup qualifier to record their first away win over the hosts. Adam Taggart’s 13th-minute chipped finish at the King Abdullah II Stadium on Thursday night allowed the Socceroos to stay top of Group B with 12 points after four wins from four starts. “It …

The coalition and Labor are even in two-party preferred terms for the first time since the May election, the latest Newspoll shows. The turnaround in the ALP’s fortunes comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison battles the drought and a faltering economy. The government’s billion-dollar drought relief package has not tracked through to the voters interviewed for the latest Newspoll in The …

More than 850,000 hectares of land in New South Wales have been razed since the start of this year’s unprecedented bushfire season — the equivalent to more than 1 million rugby league fields. The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) confirmed the extent of the damage to date, ahead of a warning about “catastrophic” conditions facing Greater Sydney and the Greater Hunter areas …

President Trump has executed a policy U-turn on Syria. He’s now tasking U.S. forces that he’d promised to withdraw from there with a new mission: securing the oil fields of southeastern Syria. And it’s raising questions about just what he intends to do with that oil. Trump has appeared fixated on Syria’s largely defunct oil fields in the weeks since his Oct. 9 …

Australian and Chinese leaders have talked up the opportunities for future cooperation on issues of common interest, brushing aside recent diplomatic strain stemming from philosophical differences. A 45-minute meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was the first item on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s agenda as he flew in to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon ahead of the East Asia Summit on …