Australian Pensions Dive Back Into Local Debt as Trade War Haven
By and Ruth Carson
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After years of venturing offshore, some of Australia's biggest pension funds are scooping up more government bonds at home — assets they now deem among the safest as trade-war risks rattle markets.
Australian Retirement Trust, the nation's second-largest fund by assets, has ratcheted up its Aussie bond allocation in some strategies to nearly the highest level since the global financial crisis almost two decades ago. Rival Colonial First State Investments Ltd. likes Australian fixed income including government bonds for their haven qualities.
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
New hiring trend used by Woolworths, Bunnings labelled 'dehumanising'
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Woolworths was hit with a massive hiring surge during the pandemic, where the supermarket giant had to recruit 27,000 people within 10 weeks. It turned to for help so "they never had to go through that as a team again". Within one week, the AI chatbot was able to interview more than 10,000 applicants. The AI Smart Interview is able to meet with one million candidates a year and hire 50,000 of them. Not only that, but every single candidate received personalised feedback, which is a rarity in the job hunting process these days. Tennis Australia has to fill thousands of roles every year for the Australian Open, and it was estimated that process took 7,000 hours to assess and recruit all the candidates. However, this process was drastically reduced thanks to AI interviews shortlisting the best applicants. People around the world have been posting videos showing what some AI interviews looked like and they weren't pretty. They can glitch in the middle of the chat and candidates weren't sure whether they were meant to wait until it fixed itself, or end the call and potentially ruin their chances. Leo Humphries encountered this recently when he applied for a job at a large US company and said it was a bizarre experience. "At first, I wasn't sure how to feel," he told Newsweek. "I think in the moment I just felt a sense of disappointment." The chatbot started out perfectly fine, but then it started saying: "For our first question, let's circle back. Tell me about a time when, when, when, let's." He initially thought it was a prank, but then realised it was just an error in the system. "I wasn't given too much explanation beforehand, so it definitely caught me off guard," he in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Tom's Guide
4 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
NBN 500 speed boosts start in September — does your plan qualify for the FREE upgrade?
If you're reading this article, there's a reasonable chance you're connected to your home internet service. And if you're one of the many millions of Aussies on Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), you may be about to receive a free upgrade to your connection thanks to a planned speed boost coming in a few short months. So are you eligible? In September, NBN Co is preparing to shake up the Australian broadband landscape by introducing a new fastest speed tier (NBN 2000) alongside up to 5x speed boosts for existing tiers (NBN 100 and NBN 250) for free. Yes, you read that right — these wholesale changes to existing tiers are coming in at no additional cost for service providers, so we expect many of the latter will pass these changes on to customers on NBN 100 and NBN 250 plans. The 5x speed boost — the highest of all the planned speed increases — will be applied to the current NBN 100 tier, for a top theoretical speed of 500Mbps. There's no confirmation yet on what these plans will actually be called, so much like the NBN 750 plans that will replace NBN 250, we've chosen to dub this particular tier as 'NBN 500', to reflect its 500Mbps top speed. So, what exactly does that mean for you and your existing NBN connection, how much will the speed boost cost for customers, and is it worth the switch? We've gathered all the available information currently available to bring you the critical answers. Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate. NBN Co has announced that the new plans will be accessible to retail service providers starting on September 14, 2025. This is the official wholesale rollout date for providers, so while the speed bumps might not immediately be available to end users, we anticipate that at least some providers will have NBN 500 plans ready for residential and business orders sometime in October. From September, an NBN 100 plan on a fibre to the premises (FTTP) or hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) connection will offer five times faster wholesale download speeds (500Mbps) and double the upload speeds (50Mbps), according to NBN Co. If such speed boosts are passed on by RSPs — and there's no major reason why they shouldn't be, if you ask us — NBN 500 plans should provide theoretical download speeds of up to 500Mbps. Do note that the 500Mbps figure is theoretical, as real-world speeds may vary due to factors like connection type, location, internet service provider and the speed of the service you're connecting to. However, given that most NBN 100 plans achieve speeds close to (or in some cases, over) their theoretical maximum, it's likely that RSPs will increase their claimed typical evening speeds to something approaching 500Mbps, and pass the increase on to end users. What we don't know yet is how these new speeds will impact international internet speeds that travel beyond the NBN, which as the 'national' in its name suggests, only connects directly to sites and services within Australia. Each service provider utilises international fibre pipelines connect Aussies to servers hosted in other countries, which can include things like online games servers and more niche streaming platforms. These speeds are largely dependent on each service provider's own capacity to handle international bandwidth, which can vary greatly. Thankfully, major sites or web companies such as YouTube, Netflix and Meta (for Facebook and Instagram) have dedicated Australian servers, and the speed increase may help immediately deliver faster connections to these platforms. However, for other sites hosted in overseas locations, some RSPs may not have enough bandwidth to simultaneously handle thousands of customers suddenly downloading at 5x previous speeds — particularly during the peak evening hours. With NBN Co providing these upgrades to RSPs at no extra cost, NBN 500 plans should theoretically be priced similarly to NBN 100 plans — which average AU$92.01p/m in June 2025. Given current prices, we can reasonably speculate that NBN 500 plans could cost between AU$80p/m to AU$100p/m, in line with most NBN 100 plans ongoing costs right now. We suspect that potential introductory offers could reduce this to around AU$75p/m for the first six months. NBN plan pricing does differ greatly between telcos, though, with the most expensive NBN 100 provider being Telstra at AU$110p/m. The cheapest provider on the tier is SpinTel, at just AU$70p/m (for 6 months, then AU$86.95p/m ongoing). Much like other NBN plans, it will undoubtedly pay to shop around for the best NBN 500 deals when they officially debut. As with all fixed-line NBN plans advertising over 100Mbps, NBN 500 will only be available to homes and businesses with either fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) or hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) connection types. If you're on another NBN connection type, such as fibre to the node (FTTN), you'll need to upgrade to a full fibre installation to access NBN 500 plans. Thankfully, many properties are eligible for NBN Co's free fibre rollout program, which is set to provide over 10 million households with FTTP by the end of 2025. If you want to jump over to one of these new faster plans but haven't upgraded yet, you can check your eligibility on NBN Co's website. If you're considering switching to a NBN 500 plan, there are several factors to weigh. Firstly, the best NBN plan for your needs largely depends on your household's internet requirements and connection type. We've already discussed the connection types you'll need above, so what about speeds? Well, if you're already on a 100Mbps plan and connect via HFC or FTTP, your plan should theoretically automatically be upgraded to NBN 500 with the speed boost. However, NBN 100 plans aren't the only ones getting accelerated this year. NBN 250 plans will get a 3x maximum speed increase to 750Mbps, and at a wholesale level, NBN 1000 plans will have their included bandwidth increased to support a minimum speed of 750Mbps. (This could, in turn, help more providers finally offer 'true' gigabit plans that reach 1,000Mbps typical evening speeds.) Alongside these increases, NBN 2000 plans will also be introduced for FTTP and HFC addresses. So, post-September 14, all NBN 100 plans and above should automatically get upgraded to faster speeds. This may come with a small price increase vs current plan costs, too, given the NBN Co wholesale changes coming into effect on July 1. However, given that all tiers have received a wholesale increase of under AU$2, we don't anticipate that prices will change too much. You may find that manually switching to NBN 500 isn't necessary, especially if you're already on a NBN 100 plan and have an FTTP connection. If you're currently on a 250Mbps plan, you may even want to consider downgrading to 100Mbps, as the planned 5x speed boost to that tier will not only double your current 250Mbps speeds, but should also cost you less. Now, 500Mbps is a lot of internet — it's 10x more than what's offered by NBN 50 plans, which continue to be the most popular speed with Aussie households according to the ACCC. That tier's 50Mbps top download speeds are often fine for households of up to four users. But, with data predicting that most homes will have over 40 internet-connected devices by 2030, you may want your speeds boosted after all. If you have the right connection type to sign up for an NBN 500 plan and were already considering an upgrade from a slower speed, we'd suggest giving it a go, and if you find the speeds aren't necessary, you can always drop back down to a slower plan. There are plenty of great NBN deals on offer at the moment, thanks to EOFY sales. Currently, our top-rated NBN 100 plan is offered by Aussie Broadband, which includes a AU$10 discount each month for the first six months. We've also included Superloop's NBN 1000 plan, as EOFY is an ideal time to try out the current top speed before the new tiers roll out. You can then decide to switch to one of the latter plans once your introductory offer ends. Aussie Broadband | NBN 100 | AU$85p/m using code DEAL10 (for 6 months, then AU$95p/m) Advertising 99Mbps downloads and 16Mbps uploads, Aussie Broadband's NBN 100 plan comes in at AU$85p/m for the first 6 months using code DEAL10 during EOFY. Knocking a total of AU$60 off the first year before the price increases, Aussie's discounts are quite rare — the last time we saw similar outlays was during Black Friday 2024 — so if you've wanted to try out the telco's premium service for less, now's a great time. ABB is highly rated among gamers and heavy internet users alike, so if you find your current provider is lacking in those areas, it could be worth the switch. You can also bundle a home or mobile phone line alongside your service, starting from AU$10p/m. All ABB plans work on a no lock-in contract basis and have unlimited data. Total minimum cost: AU$85 | Total first year cost: AU$1,080 | Total yearly cost: AU$1,140 Superloop | NBN 1000 | AU$85p/m (for 6 months, then AU$109p/m) Right now, Superloop's NBN 1000 plan has been slashed by a massive AU$24p/m over the first six months, offering a nice AU$144 discount. Advertising lightning-fast speeds of 860Mbps in the busy evening hours, Superloop's speed claims are some of the fastest available on the tier, coming in just behind Flip's 900Mbps, Swoop's 890Mbps and Buddy Telco's 875Mbps. This deal offers incredible value for money, as the AU$85p/m cost is far cheaper than some of the major telco's 50Mbps plans — and delivers 17.2 times the maximum speeds. If you need all the megabits, Superloop's got 'em. Total minimum cost: AU$85 | Total first year cost: AU$1,164 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$1,308
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Australia to begin talks on security, defence with EU
By Alasdair Pal and Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday the country would commence negotiations on a security and defence partnership with the European Union, and was also hopeful of a "symbolically important" trade deal. Albanese met with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa on the sidelines of the G7 summit where they discussed the EU proposal for a defence partnership. "We see this as an important framework for our current and future cooperation in areas like defence industry, cyber and counter-terrorism," Albanese told a news conference in Kananaskis where he is attending the G7 summit. Ministers from both sides will progress the talks in the coming weeks, Albanese said, adding he expected discussions to be concluded "pretty quickly". The EU struck defence partnerships with Japan and South Korea in November. EU officials have previously said these are not military alliances. Albanese said he was hopeful that recently revived negotiations for a separate free trade agreement with the European Union would result in a deal. "At this time its also symbolically important to see an outcome of an expansion of trade, because that is something that is going through difficult times at the moment," he told reporters. Albanese said "half" of the outstanding issues had been resolved, although Australia wanted to see greater access for its sheep and beef exports to Europe. Albanese met with senior U.S. trade officials, after the Australian leader's scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump was cancelled when Trump left the G7 a day early. Australia has highlighted its abundance of critical minerals in negotiations with the United States as it seeks to have U.S. tariffs lifted.
