More Than 100 Victorians Urge Parties to Publish Debt Reduction Plans

Conceptual illustration of a blank open letter, document folders and coin stacks overlooking Melbourne Parliament House

Updated: 30 October 2026, 3:22 am AEDT (Sydney)

More than 100 Victorian business, sport and media figures have signed an open letter asking every party contesting the state election to produce a credible plan to reduce government debt. Campaign group AMPLIFY announced the joint appeal on Thursday, 29 October, ahead of the 28 November election.

The signatories include AFL figures Toby Greene and Gerard Healy, former Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett, entrepreneur Sid Myer and Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen. The letter asks political leaders to explain how they would bring debt down, rather than make broad promises.

AMPLIFY founder Paul Bassat said the campaign reflected concerns about the cost of servicing debt and its effect on future generations. These are the campaigners’ arguments for changes to fiscal policy; the letter does not announce a government decision.

In an interview published by news.com.au on Thursday, signatory and former Australia Post chief Ahmed Fahour called for an independently audited economic plan and a review of budget and capital spending.

The appeal puts parties’ financing and spending plans under scrutiny before voters go to the polls. The reviewed announcement does not record commitments from the parties in response.

Comments

Volkanovski Stops Evloev in Round Two to Retain UFC Featherweight Title

Updated: 25 October 2026 at 8:23 am AEDT Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski retained the UFC featherweight championship by stopping Movsar Evloev in the second round at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning, 25 October, Australian eastern time. The UFC’s official results recorded the finish as a technical knockout from strikes at four minutes and 54 seconds of round two. The main event took place at Etihad Arena. Evloev had success in the opening round and remained competitive through much of the second, the promotion’s report said. Volkanovski then landed a right hand that forced the challenger back, followed him with further strikes and finished the contest on the canvas. CBS Sports’ live coverage independently confirmed the second-round stoppage, describing the referee waving off the fight as Volkanovski landed ground strikes and Evloev covered up. The result handed Evloev his first professional defeat. It also moved Volkanovski ahead of José Aldo for the most featherweight title-...

Damaging Winds Sweep Western NSW as Severe Storm System Moves East

Updated: 25 October 2026, 7:18 pm AEDT A line of severe thunderstorms brought damaging winds to western New South Wales on Sunday, 25 October, as a broad storm system moved across eastern Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology’s noon AEDT briefing confirmed that storms had already produced damaging winds that morning and extended into north-east Victoria. The Guardian reported on Sunday afternoon that gusts of up to 100km/h had been recorded in the NSW central west around midday. It also reported a severe thunderstorm warning covering Sydney, greater Wollongong and parts of the Blue Mountains and surrounding districts that afternoon. The bureau said a cold front and trough were driving the outbreak. Its Sunday briefing identified damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain as risks across affected parts of NSW, the ACT, eastern Victoria and southern Queensland. Those hazards were forecasts, rather than confirmation that every area would experience them. Rain had already caused flash floo...

Apple Announces M6 MacBook Pro at A$3,199 Ahead of Australian Preorders

Updated: 29 October 2026, 9:24 am AEDT (Sydney) Apple has announced an M6-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro starting at A$3,199 including GST in Australia, with preorders scheduled to begin on Thursday, 29 October, and retail availability from Friday, 6 November. The company’s Australian announcement, dated 28 October , lists a starting education price of A$3,039 including GST. The laptop will be offered in silver and space black, with deliveries and sales through Apple stores and authorised resellers due from 6 November. The M6 configuration includes a 12-core CPU, a 12-core graphics processor and 16GB of unified memory as standard, configurable up to 32GB. Apple also lists Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and three Thunderbolt 4 ports, alongside HDMI, an SDXC card slot and MagSafe charging. Apple claims up to 24 hours of battery life and improved graphics and AI performance over the M5 model. These are manufacturer test claims, rather than results of independent testing for this report. Australian pub...

9 To 5 Aussie

Search This Blog