Queensland Productivity Commission argues construction industry ‘reset’ needed to fix housing crisis and deliver Olympics

Queensland’s Productivity Commission has flagged a broad construction industry “reset” that could threaten existing enterprise bargaining agreements, arguing it may be required if the state is to build its way out of a housing crisis – and host the Olympics.The commission released an interim report on Thursday into improving productivity in the construction sector that called on the Queensland government to permanently remove so-called “Best Practice Industry Conditions” (BPICs) from its procurement policy.Adopted under the previous Labor government in 2018, BPICs outlined construction union workers’ pay and conditions for all major state projects. Union proponents claim BPICs improved safety and lifted standards and created apprenticeship opportunities for women and Indigenous workers – industry opponents complained it led to cost blowouts and worksite shutdowns.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThe Liberal National party deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, hit pause on BPICs in November until the re-established Productivity Commission completed its building industry review

Tax rises in autumn would force our prices up, retailers tell Reeves

Rachel Reeves has been warned by Britain’s biggest retailers that tax rises in her autumn budget could trigger higher shop prices, hitting household incomes and the economy.With high street chains closing stores and cutting jobs, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said two-thirds of finance directors predicted there would be further price increases over the next year, even before any rise in tax in the autumn budget.Iceland, Poundland and New Look were among major retailers to announce store closures in recent months, amid business warnings over the impact of tax rises in the chancellor’s first budget.A survey of retail industry finance directors by the BRC, which represents more than 9,000 stores that employ 300,000 workers, found that 85% had raised prices in response to measures brought in since Labour came to power in 2024.Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said a fresh round of tax increases would force retailers to push up prices further and leave many households struggling to cope

Wall Street delighted with Microsoft as it spends $100bn on AI

Microsoft, the world’s second-most valuable company, is dumping enormous sums of money into its artificial intelligence efforts. At the same time, the company is earning money hand over fist. Investors are thrilled.The enterprise software giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that exceeded expectations on Wednesday as the company races to acquire datacenters and talent, which continues to be investigated by investors. The company predicted its capital expenditure for the next fiscal year would top $100bn, a 14% increase from the year prior

YouTube to gauge US users’ ages with AI after UK and Australia add age checks

YouTube announced on Tuesday that it will begin to use artificial intelligence to estimate the ages of users in the US, in order to show them age-appropriate content.The rollout of the new feature comes one day after Australia’s government announced it would ban children under 16 from using YouTube and less than a week after the UK implemented sweeping age checks on content on social networks.YouTube’s AI age verification on its home turf indicates it is putting into place a form of compliance with the Australian and UK requirements, despite its persistent opposition to age-check requirements.“Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin to roll out machine learning to a small set of users in the US to estimate their age, so that teens are treated as teens and adults as adults,” wrote James Beser, director of product management for YouTube Youth, in a blogpost titled Extending our built-in protections to more teens on YouTube.YouTube was promised an exemption from Australia’s social media ban last year by the then communications minister, but the Australian government said on Monday that the platform would, in fact, be included in the country’s ban on children under 16 using social networks

‘King’ Kyle Chalmers out to reassert dominance over princeling upstarts at swimming worlds | Kieran Pender

It is rare to find such a decorated athlete – one with a regal moniker, no less – who still thrives on being the underdog. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, “King Kyle”, has won just about everything there is to win in international swimming. Yet year after year he returns, somehow still the underdog, somehow ready to spring another upset.In recent days, at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, it has been more of the same. On Sunday, Chalmers anchored Australia’s relay team to an unexpected gold in the men’s 4×100m freestyle relay

Approach to AFLW’s 10th season suggests some remain unconvinced of its value | Jack Snape

Football will return to Victorian free-to-air television on Saturdays to mark the start of the AFLW season, but the first three rounds will be split across Channel Seven’s main and secondary channels in a sign the broadcaster is not fully convinced of the competition’s ability to draw ratings.The AFL has faced criticism this season for its new broadcast deal which has given Saturday’s men’s matches exclusively to Foxtel in Victoria, in an attempt to increase Thursday night coverage on Seven.While Seven is still finalising its AFLW programming, only the season-opening Thursday night double-header of Carlton v Collingwood followed by West Coast v Gold Coast, as well as Sunday afternoon slots, are set be shown to Victorians on Seven’s main channel over the first three rounds.The qualified support for the women’s code from Seven comes as AFL head office seeks to accelerate growth in a competition entering its tenth season, and address negative perceptions about the AFLW.On Tuesday, the AFL chief executive, Andrew Dillon, rejected the language used in a story in the Age earlier this month which claimed the AFL told clubs at a CEOs’ meeting that the AFLW was “losing $50m” each year