Australian news and politics live: Hannah Ferguson acknowledges Country at Press Club after ‘disturbing’ talks

Ms Ferguson, who runs an immensely popular political social media page, said her work in political media stemmed from her desire to offer something different to a younger audience.

“I am not a journalist, and I have never claimed to be. I never will,” she said.

“Research tells us that more than half of Australians get their news on social media, but I don’t ever want to be seen as a source of breaking headlines.”

“My intention is to provide opinions, distribute ideas and ask people to look at their own moral compass in relation to mine.”

“I don’t seek agreement. I want to develop media literacy and encourage people to expand their news diet.”

Ms Ferguson shared, “I grew up in a middle-class household and was the first to attend university.”

“I spent my childhood in Western Sydney, and there regional Orange. To say that my world view was conservative is an understatement.”

“When I was accepted to study law, it was not because I had the required 99 ATAR, but because the University of Queensland saw a context that included apprehended violence.”

Ferguson continued, “I wanted to enact change on a personal level and for the broader community that I lived in. The experience that I had, I hope, resonates with so many as a common vision for Australian progress.”

Ms Ferguson said, “It’s incredibly meaningful as a member of Generation Z to see the media willing to see a new voice.”

“At the age of 10, I decided naively that I wanted to be the Prime Minister of this country.

“I chose this career on my first trip to Canberra on a school excursion in grade 4.

“Shockingly, in the House of Representatives, seeing politicians hurl insults at each other is not what made me want to get the top job.

“During the tour, the system of preferential voting was explained to me.

“The concept that every person had a vote and an equal voice within that vote was impactful.”

Hannah Ferguson, a prominent Gen Z online personality, co-founder and chief executive of Cheek Media Co is speaking at the National Press Club.

Cheek Media Co. is an independent Australian news commentary platform that discusses topics sitting at the intersection of feminist, social and political issues.

“I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land we are on, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to those past and present,” Ms Ferguson started.

“After the disturbing conversation in the past few weeks, it’s never been more important to recognise the enduring connection that First Nations people have to this country.”

Australian wages lifted 3.4 per cent over the past 12 months, with education, healthcare and social assistance among the best performers so far this year.

That was faster than the pace of inflation, which was 2.4 per cent for the year to March.

But although the figures were an improvement on the previous quarter, there was a sign that wages may not keep growing faster than the cost of living.

March quarter wage growth was 0.9 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. That was in line with inflation for the same three-month period.

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One of Australia’s biggest financial providers is in court again after allegedly failing to report up to 1.5 billion short sales, putting at risk the nation’s financial stability.

Corporate watchdog ASIC alleges Macquarie Securities - Macquarie Group’s cash brokering division - failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between December 2009 and February 2024.

ASIC estimates the true figure is likely to be between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales, but the inadequacy of the brokering division’s reporting systems makes it impossible to narrow down beyond such a large range.

Short sales refer to selling stock or other securities that an entity does not currently own in the hope of buying at a lower price later on - essentially a bet that the product will decline in value.

The method was used by traders to bet against the financial instruments that were causing the housing bubble that sparked the 2008 global financial crisis, as popularised in the Hollywood film The Big Short.

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Liberal Senator Jane Hume has criticised former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s “very small” leadership group during the election campaign.

“During the heat of the election campaign, things get pointier and centralised, there’s a small leadership group, there’s a small campaign group, they have to be extremely nimble,” she told Sky News on Wednesday.

“That group was very, very small this time around.

“And I know that, you know, coming out onto the media and reading about some of the policies that we were launching only the day before or the morning of, you know, that can be quite disturbing.

“I think it’s probably the only way you could put it.”

Commonwealth Bank has reported a flat quarterly profit of $2.6 billion, while warning that uncertainty continues to dog the economy.

The bank’s revenue rose by one per cent over the quarter to $14.1b, largely driven by lending growth and higher trading income, while expenses grew one per cent to $6.37b. The bank said it also saw a slight uptick in impaired loans.

Commbank chief executive Matt Comyn described the quarter as “another challenging period for many Australian households and businesses dealing with cost-of-living pressures”, and said the bank was proactively engaging with customers facing hardship.

He also said the global turmoil could impact the country’s economic rebound.

“There is heightened risk to the global economy from geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty which could slow the domestic economy,” Mr Comyn said.

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The Australian Electoral Commission has issued a statement confirming that a batch of votes was lost after election night.

Votes from the Hustville polling place in the division of Barton, NSW, were counted before they were “temporarily” lost before “scrutiny” checks.

The AEC said when it became clear the votes were missing, it “exhausted numerous avenues of inquiry, ascertaining that the authorised transport officer inadvertently maintained possession of the single missing container”.

“All ballot papers were still in the recovered ballot paper transport container and were promptly returned to the counting centre and have undergone fresh scrutiny,” the AEC statement said.

“The fresh scrutiny count matched the initial count and the election in the Division of Barton was unaffected by this incident.”

The AEC said the temporary loss “shouldn’t have occurred” and that it was “deeply concerned” about the incident.

The first woman leader of the federal Liberal party could be doomed to fail as she tries to rescue the party from one of its lowest points in the wake of the election.

After a close contest against ex-shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, former deputy leader Sussan Ley on Tuesday won the top job and a place in the history books.

While the milestone has been celebrated, her victory follows a brutal May 3 vote loss that decimated the coalition’s ranks, and some warn Ms Ley could be the next victim of a “glass cliff”.

Coined by Australian National University gender equality expert Michelle Ryan and her research partner Alex Haslan in 2005, the term refers to a phenomenon where women, and those from minority groups, are more likely to be appointed to top positions during times of crisis, meaning they can be set up to fail.

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