Iress spruiks ‘transformation' as it ponders interest from PE suitors
The Australian Financial Review reported last week that Blackstone and Thoma Bravo, a specialist in enterprise software investing, were in discussions with Iress. The company later confirmed the interest, adding it had rebuffed a bid from Blackstone of $10.50 per share.
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Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Plan to save A-League club from folding
Western United's current investors are hoping to save the club from A-League extinction rather than rely on proposed new owners KAM Melbourne. Stripped of its A-League licence last Friday by Football Australia, United has until Saturday to lodge an appeal against the decision, which was made due to the financially embattled Victorian club's failure to meet the criteria required for a licence. United and its parent company Western Melbourne Group had hoped its financial woes – including a six-figure sum owed to the club's former striker Aleksandar Prijovic and a multimillion-dollar tax debt reportedly owed by United chairman Jason Sourasis – were solved by a proposed $100 million investment from KAM Melbourne that was announced in May. However, the Australian Professional Leagues, which runs the A-League, is yet to receive the completed ownership proposal from KAM Melbourne, a subsidiary of American company KAS Sports. With ongoing uncertainty about KAM Melbourne's ability to submit a viable proposal, it's understood investors that make up WMG – which is headed by Sourasis – have been advised and encouraged to pay the club's debts to ensure United's future. Paying Prijovic would lead to FIFA lifting the ban it imposed on United from registering new signings. That, as well as payment of the tax bill, would go a long towards United's appeal against being stripped off its licence being successful. United's squad continues to train at the club's Tarneit base under coach, Socceroos great John Aloisi. Under the guidance of Aloisi, United won the 2022 A-League championship, with Switzerland-born Serbian international Prijovic having played a leading role in the club's 2-0n grand final win over Melbourne City at AAMI Park. Western United Captain Josh Risdon, Head Coach John Aloisi and Star Brazilian Striker Daniel Penha. Linda Higginson Credit: News Corp Australia Meanwhile, Socceroos defender Jason Davidson has rejoined Melbourne Victory on a two-year deal. Davidson, 34, spent the 2021-22 season with the Victory before spend the past three years in Europe with stints at Eupen (Belgium) and Panserraikos (Greece). 'Returning to Victory after three years in Europe is incredibly exciting,' Davidson said. 'My time overseas has only made me more hungry for success. I intend to bring my best to the team, alongside the rest of the playing group, and help drive success this season.' Victory coach Arthur Diles said: 'Jason has proven his ability to be a game changer in both the A-League and on the international stage.'
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Julie Bishop rejects bullying allegations and Labor abandons the P-word
Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Brett Worthington gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House. It's one big happy family at the good ship government and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In interview after interview Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers were jumping out of their skin to tell the world just how aligned they were. We text all the time, they said. We meet in person all they time, they insisted. Don't believe what you read in the newspapers, they cried. Questions arose after the Australian Financial Review reported on Wednesday that the two men had held private talks to agree to rein in public expectations about the artist formerly known as the productivity roundtable. The paper reported any tension was mere "frisson" rather than anything serious but it prompted no shortage of rebuttals. It's been months since Albanese first announced the treasurer would hold a three-day productivity summit in August. In the time since, the rebrandings have been thick and fast, as no shortage of ideas emerge ahead of the what's now being called the three-day economic roundtable (productivity is so yesterday, it seems). There is nothing new about points of tension between prime ministers and treasurers, and there is little to suggest Albanese and Chalmers' relationship is any different to their predecessors. Treasurers have the freedom to be ambitious, while prime ministers tend to be more cautious, acutely aware of public sentiment. That's been on display here. Chalmers has bemoaned the "rule in, rule out" game, encouraging people instead to bring forward their best ideas to boost productivity (or whatever word the government is now using). Albanese, meanwhile, has been very willing to rule out proposals, whether its changes to negative gearing or adopting a four-day work week. When it was first pitched, the government vowed the roundtable wouldn't bear the hallmarks of the first term jobs and skills summit, the announcements from which seemed pre-ordained before the event. Leaked Treasury advice, revealed by the ABC on Thursday, went some way to undermining that thanks to a pre-written list of outcomes for the yet-to-be-held event. The document was prepared for the cabinet. Chalmers insists that it shouldn't be a "big surprise" that briefings had been prepared. But Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, smelling a rat, argued it showed the talks were a "stitch up". Both men say there is low hanging fruit that they hope the economic reform-nee-productivity roundtable can tackle. While it remains to be seen what fruit will be picked next week, one thing that is almost certain is that if you drive an EV, you should expect things are about to get more costly. Labor looks set to use the summit the thrash out road user charging rules to see electric vehicle owners make a greater contribution to road repairs, to help offset falling fuel excise revenue. As for why no one says productivity? Ask people in Labor and they will tell you the word tanks in focus groups. When people hear it, they think it means they need to work harder, even if the ambition is the opposite. Albanese's week started with a highly choreographed event, in which he and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong pledged Australia would recognise Palestine next month. The scale of the moment can't be understated. Decades in the making, Albanese and Wong have spent recent months painstakingly preparing for the pledge, knowing all too well that once said, there'd be no going back. Shame no one told Parliament House's lawn mower, the engine of which roared so loudly that the Albanese and Wong could hardly be heard. Albanese has talked about recognising Palestinian statehood for decades and he seemed acutely aware of the moment. But telling too was how quickly he then donned a hard hat and high-vis vest. He headed to Melbourne on Tuesday to talk about housing and to Brisbane on Wednesday to talk batteries and to attend the Ekka, where he happily ate a famous strawberry sundae (maybe don't look up the pictures of the consumption). While questions about Palestinian recognition might have followed him, the image people saw was that of PM moving throughout the country, signalling his agenda was much bigger than events in the Middle East. Attracting barely a peep from the United States, the Coalition quickly announced it would repeal the recognition if it won the next election, before accusing Labor of emboldening Hamas. Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Michaelia Cash has taken with gusto to adding theatrical flair to her pronunciation of Hamas, so much so it's almost impossible to describe. Pronunciation aside, this is where things start getting confusing. On Wednesday, Nine newspapers published comments attributed to one of Hamas's co-founders, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, praising Albanese's "political courage", comments the Coalition couldn't pounce on quick enough. But then a statement published on Hamas's English and Telegram channels denied the issuing of the statement, insisting Yousef was imprisoned without any means of communication. Awkwardly for Ley, after saying Hamas was "cheering" on the government, when told Hamas had rejected the comments she replied: "I am not responding to comments by Hamas and nor am I taking them seriously." A quick look at former foreign minister Julie Bishop's Instagram profile shows a dizzying post-political career filled with curated images of her travelling the world, speaking at global events and attending glitzy opening nights. The former foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader retired from federal politics in 2019 after failing to replace Malcolm Turnbull as PM. In the years since, she's opened an advisory firm, joined boards and become a special UN envoy on Myanmar. Among her more prestigious appointments was becoming the chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU). For such a high-profile figure, Bishop has been noticeably quiet in the role in recent months as festering tensions at the ANU boil over amid widespread job and funding cuts. Which brings us to this week and a Senate inquiry interrogating the quality of governance at the nation's universities. Appearing on Tuesday, ANU academic Liz Allen used parliamentary privilege to accuse Bishop and other members of the executive of bullying. Allen, a staff-elected member of the ANU council until she quit earlier this year, accused Bishop of being "hostile and arrogant" to staff and suggested the previous vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt had "kept the chancellor's behaviour in check". In highly charged testimony, she spoke of the personal toll she had experienced and accused Bishop of blocking her from leaving a room after berating her. Bishop didn't appear at the hearing but issued a statement to "reject any suggestion" that she had acted in "any way other than with respect, courtesy and civility". Speaking on Wednesday, ACT senator David Pocock said "everyone in the room was really moved" by Allen's testimony and said it highlighted the human toll poor leadership and governance was having at the ANU. He's also called for Bishop to stand aside while the allegations are investigated. For now, neither Bishop nor embattled vice chancellor Genevieve Bell are budging but neither are the calls for their removal.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
While Trump blusters over Ukraine, Putin's laughing all the way to Alaska
The conventional model dictates that sanctions be imposed gradually, following stern warnings. This gives the Russian regime time to prepare for the impact: to subsidise domestic production of goods that will no longer be imported (Obama-era sanctions did wonders for Russian farmers and cheese makers), to prioritise new export markets as well as to find third-party countries through which to, say, export oil or import dual-use technology. It also bolsters ties between Russia and countries that are already under US sanctions – such as Iran, which has become an essential partner in Russia's drone warfare. And still, one presidential administration after another has touted sanctions as its main instrument in getting Putin to change his ways. Joe Biden imposed multiple rounds of sanctions, though none were 'devastating', as he had promised. Trump imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India, ostensibly as a penalty for importing Russian oil, and has promised more secondary tariffs for Russia's other trade partners. Year after year, American presidents do the same thing, expecting different results. In this one way, Trump is no crazier than his predecessors. However difficult it is for foreign-policy theorists to grapple with the limitations of the economic pressure approach, for Trump it is all but impossible. Again and again, Trump has shown that he assumes everyone is motivated by money. He is not alone in this: Many Western analysts have repeatedly suggested that Putin would seek an off-ramp in Ukraine once the war proved costly for Russia and, perhaps more to the point, for him personally. As much as Putin loves wealth, he has shown that he loves power even more – eternal power in his own country, which he wins by expanding Russia's borders, and power in the world at large, which he wins by making other leaders fear him. Trump seems to be unaware that, by meeting with Putin, he is giving Putin exactly what the Russian leader wants – a demonstration of his power. Trump is giving Putin additional gifts by agreeing to meet him without Zelensky and by sidelining the European Union. Trump is affirming for all of Russia to see what Putin has claimed all along: that the conflict is really between Russia and the United States. The moment Putin walks into the negotiating room, he has gotten everything he wants – plus an opportunity to make a quip about Alaska as historically Russian land (consider this a prediction). If the meeting does not produce an agreement, Putin loses nothing. Trump, on the other hand, would lose face if he walked out empty-handed. He may be motivated to accept something, anything. The conditions for peace that Russia offered in June were merely a more elaborate display of the four things Putin has consistently demanded: land, including parts of Ukraine that Russia has not occupied; an end to Western military aid to Ukraine; guarantees that Ukraine will never be invited to join NATO; and a change of leadership in Ukraine. Trump can agree to those conditions, but Zelensky will never accept them. Putin has very little reason to change his demands. Still, if the Russian leader is inclined to help Trump look good – a big if – they may emerge with some kind of ceasefire agreement. This may be a time-limited ceasefire, contingent on Ukrainian withdrawal from parts of eastern Ukraine. Such a deal would force Ukraine to retreat from positions it considers strategically important while giving Russia a couple of months to regroup before attacking again, on the pretext that Ukraine didn't abide by Russian demands. Another possibility that has been floated is a ban on waging war deep inside enemy territory, or an air truce. Such an agreement would save lives – in Kyiv and Odesa, which have come under Russian barrages day after day, but also in Russian cities, which Ukraine has grown increasingly capable of attacking with drones. For Ukraine, an air truce would come at tremendous strategic cost. It would continue to be a country at war. It would still be governed under a set of state-of-emergency provisions. Families would continue to be separated, with so many women and children having fled to western Europe while the men remained. Worst of all, people would continue dying at the front, in the villages and towns near the front line, and in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometres) in. The ability to attack deep in Russian territory is Ukraine's sole negotiating advantage. These days, Russian airports are frequently forced to suspend operations because of drone attacks. The mayor of Moscow reports on the number of drones intercepted by air defence in much the same way as the mayor of Kyiv does. This is not enough to destabilise Putin's regime, but it is enough to make him nervous. If drone attacks deep inside Russian territory stopped, war – what Russian propaganda still calls the 'special military operation' – may once again come to feel far away. The only thing that could force Putin to negotiate in earnest is the possibility of military defeat. Without that prospect, he is content to let the war continue forever. He doesn't care about losing wealth as much as Trump imagines he does, and he doesn't care about losing soldiers at all. In 2022, and again this May, the Kremlin noted that Peter the Great's war with Sweden, which began in 1700, lasted 21 years. This war, too, could go on for decades. One doesn't have to go back centuries to imagine what that would be like. The forever war is already here. A devastating new documentary, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, by Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov shows what it looks like. Loading The film follows a Ukrainian brigade trying to liberate a small village. It takes them months to cover the distance in the movie's title, roughly the equivalent of just over a mile. The movie shows the gigantic horrors of war – entire cities destroyed, swaths of farmland turned into minefields and what looks like miles of identical fresh graves – and the smallness of it: handfuls of soldiers, armed with semiautomatic rifles, killing and being killed one person at a time, taking one prisoner at a time, fighting for one trench at a time, in terrifying minutes that stretch into hours. It is relentless like a nightmare. A platoon commander says that he dreams of the fighting, then wakes up to the fighting. 'And I thought, this war is a nightmare none of us can wake up from,' the narrator says. As the soldiers on-screen drag themselves through mud and ruins, the voices of Western commentators and newscasters occasionally intrude, off-screen. 'Western confidence is likely to dip.' 'If we're not getting results here, then perhaps Ukraine wants to think about another plan, even some land concessions for peace.' 'Western officials have expressed disappointment in a much-vaunted counteroffensive.' 'Russia has millions more men from whom to draw. There's no path to a military victory here, only more death.' 'How sustainable is this level of support when there's really no end in sight to the war?' Those are not, in the end, complicated questions. No, Ukraine cannot win this war as it is fought now. Yes, this war may drag on indefinitely, and yes, this means more death. But this was never and still is not the only possible outcome. The United States and NATO have always had the capacity to put an end to this war the only way it can be ended: by defeating Putin. They have consistently chosen not to do that, relying instead on old, failed policies. In this one way, Trump is more of the same. He just puts on a much bigger show. M. Gessen is an Opinion columnist for The New York Times. They won a George Polk award for opinion writing in 2024. They are the author of 11 books, including , which won the National Book Award in 2017.
