Nine flags further restructuring amid cultural reset
Jonathan Barrett
Nine Entertainment will expand its restructuring program into next financial year as part of a business and cultural reset after the company’s earnings were buffeted by subdued advertising conditions and the end of a content deal.
The broadcaster and publisher reported a 15% drop in its half-year group earnings to $268m, weighed down by the end of its arrangement with Facebook owner Meta.
Revenue from the company’s broadcast arm, its biggest division, fell 3%, while streaming revenue at 9Now jumped higher.
Nine said in its six-month results there would be further restructuring in the next financial year as part of a program to reduce costs.
It is seeking to find cost efficiencies of more than $100m by mid 2027. Nine’s acting CEO, Matt Stanton, told shareholders today:
At the same time, we intend to take this opportunity to transform both the culture at Nine and as leaders in the industry, the underlying cultural issues that have plagued the broader media sector in Australia for many years.
A bombshell report released last year revealed Nine had a systemic issue with the abuse of power and authority, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment across the company.
The broadcaster is also looking to streamline its news operations for its television and streaming business. Stanton said:
We intend to streamline the news gathering processes nationally, aimed at ultimately improving news editorial workflow. We will look for opportunities to bring production to nine rather than rely on outside broadcast.
Key events
Shortage of funnel-web spiders puts anti-venom program at risk, Reptile Park says
The Australian Reptile Park says it is urgently seeking more funnel-web spider donations, to help sustain its venom program.
The park said this year’s funnel-web season had been slower than usual, but upcoming humid and wet weather across Sydney was set to increase sightings of the spider.
Funnel-web’s will seek out sheltered, shady spots during the rainfall, making houses and gardens the perfect environment. The park said it had received far fewer spiders than normal for this time of year, “which could have deadly consequences.”
No funnel web bites have led to death since antivenom was introduced in 1981, but the park said that “without a steady supply of spiders, the program is at risk”.
Spider keeper Emma Teni is urging the public to catch any funnel-web spider they come across, and said:
Every spider received could be the one that saves a life. The venom program relies entirely on public donations of these spiders, and without them, the production of antivenom— which has saved countless Australians— would not be possible.
To learn more about how to safely capture a funnel-web and donate it, you can have a read online here.
Government releases response to review of paid family and domestic violence leave
Earlier this morning, the government released its response to an independent review of the paid family and domestic violence leave.
The review found the leave was “life changing” for those accessing it and that there is broad stakeholder support from employers and unions.
In a statement from the minister for finance and women, Katy Gallagher, social services minister Amanda Rishworth and employment minister Murray Watt, they said the government accepts all five recommendations from the review. Work is now underway on:
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integrating the leave as an ordinary workplace practice across Australian workplaces;
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providing tailored guidance for priority cohorts, such as First Nations, culturally and linguistically diverse and casual employees;
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training programs for first responders, health, allied health and community frontline workers who commonly interact with victim-survivors on the entitlement;
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additional strategies to improve awareness and access to the entitlement.
The review also found that “ongoing stigma around family and domestic violence was a barrier to workers accessing the leave,” the joint statement said. The statement said resources would be updated and re-promoted to incorporate feedback from the review.
Cait Kelly
Everybody’s Home says ‘poll after poll’ shows support for winding back negative gearing and capital gains tax
Continuing from our last post: Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said the “worst housing crisis in living memory is smashing Australians” and “voters are ready to turn their pain into political power.”
Poll after poll has shown us that voters are open to winding back investor tax breaks like negative gearing and the CGT discount. This poll shows that voters strongly favour affordable homes over investor tax breaks. Twice as many voters say funding affordable housing, rather than property investor tax breaks, is the fairest way for the federal government to address housing affordability.
Phasing out investor tax breaks isn’t just fair, it will make housing more affordable. Every dollar that goes to property investors through tax breaks is a dollar that could build social housing for Australians.
Voters are demanding the next federal government make commitments that match the scale of the housing crisis. That means building more social housing, ending investor tax breaks and strengthening renter protections.
Cait Kelly
Only small number of voters support tax breaks for property investors, polling shows
New polling in key federal electorates reveals only a small percentage of voters support tax breaks for property investors – while almost half would like to see more funding for affordable homes.
Commissioned by Everybody’s Home, uComms polled more than 2,500 voters across Bennelong (NSW), Brisbane (Queensland), Cowan (WA) and Kooyong (Victoria) in February. The poll shows:
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Two in five (44%) prefer funding affordable homes, compared with only one in five (17.5%) who favour tax concessions for property investors.
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Two in five (44%) voters believe both Labor and Liberal are not committing to solutions that will make housing more affordable for most Australians, with only 9% of voters believing they are.
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Three in five (60%) are likely to vote for a party or candidate who prioritises solutions that make renting more affordable and secure.
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Housing (37%) is the biggest cost-of-living pressure for voters, followed by groceries (26%), energy bills (16%) and insurance (9%).
Woodside’s profit more than doubles to $5.6bn
Sticking with Woodside for a moment: AAP reports that its statutory net profit after tax rose 115% in 2024 to $US3.57bn ($5.62bn), but that it will pay a smaller dividend.
Australia’s largest oil and gas producer said its underlying net profit for the 12 months to 31 December was down 13% to $US2.88bn ($4.5bn), primarily due to lower oil and gas prices.
The company produced a record 193.9m barrels of oil equivalent in 2024, underpinned by strong early production at its Sangomar oil field off the coast of Senegal, which generated US$950m in sales revenue since producing its first oil in June.
Woodside’s Scarborough project 375km off the Pilbara coast of WA is now 80% complete and on track for its first LNG cargo in 2026, chief executive Meg O’Neill said.
Woodside said its operating revenue was down 6% to $US13.2bn, as the average realised price it received for oil equivalent dropped 7%. Production costs were down 2% despite the inflationary environment, Woodside highlighted.
Woodside said it would pay a 53 US cent per share fully franked final dividend, down from 60 cents per share a year ago.
Albanese says delayed decision on North West Shelf gas project not about playing politics
Wrapping up the press conference, Anthony Albanese was asked why the government has delayed a decision on the Woodside-run North West Shelf gas project.
He rejected the notion this was “playing politics”, and deferred a further question to the environment minister.
PM rejects notion Australia would be involved in peace negotiations between US, Ukraine and Russia
Asked if Australia would be involved in peace negotiations between the US, Ukraine and Russia, Anthony Albanese said Australia had not been involved.
But our position is very clear. We regard the struggle of the people of Ukraine as being a struggle between a country defending its sovereignty, defending its borders, defending the rule of law, a democracy in the Ukraine, versus an authoritarian regime that has breached international law, that has engaged in barbaric activity and attacks against infrastructure and civilians in Ukraine.
This is an unlawful action by Russia. We have stood with the people of Ukraine, because their struggle is the struggle for the international rule of law.
Albanese says Defence was ‘certainly aware’ of Chinese live fire exercise after Virgin pilot first alerted to it
Another reporter asked Anthony Albanese if he is concerned it was a Virgin Australia pilot that first alerted to the Chinese warship live fire exercise in the Tasman sea, rather than Defence?
He said the Defence was “certainly aware”, and he had spoken with the chief of the ADF about what has occurred.
Australia has had frigates, both monitoring by sea and by air, of the presence in the region of these Chinese vessels.
PM says government has gone through budget ‘line by line’ to account for Medicare pledge money
A reporter asked how Labor is planning to fund its Medicare pledge – with Peter Dutton flagging public sector cuts to do so.
Anthony Albanese took aim at the Coalition for cutting jobs, and said:
We accounted for much of this money as well, in the mid-year economic forecast. We have gone through the budget line by line. We didn’t do what the Coalition did, which was on Sunday say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll just make this big commitment without knowing what it is, without seeing any of the detail before it’s even been announced.’
Albanese criticises Dutton’s move to cut public sector jobs
After Labor announced its Medicare pledge, Peter Dutton said the Coalition would match this dollar for dollar, cutting public sector jobs to fund it.
Speaking to reporters just now, Anthony Albanese claimed there was “no opposition health policy”:
There is no opposition health policy. They just said on Saturday, in something that it was sincere as a fake tan, said that he’d match it. Well, it’ll fade away, just like a fake tan does. And when they come into office, you can rest assured the cuts will be back, because he needs to make cuts.
Albanese said slashing 36,000 public servants would lead to “less people providing support for our veterans, less people providing the support that Australians need, perhaps more robodebt being brought back as well”.
PM attacks Dutton’s record as health minister
Speaking about the measures included in Labor’s Medicare announcement, Anthony Albanese claimed that “all of this is under threat if we are not successful in the election”.
As he has done in previous days, the prime minister is taking aim at opposition leader Peter Dutton’s track record as health minister, and said:
What we know is that Peter Dutton, when he was health minister, ripped $50bn out of the hospital system, tried to introduce a GP tax every time people visited a GP which meant, of course, abolishing bulk billing altogether. We know that he said there were too many free visits to the doctor, and that it was unsustainable … We know he tried to introduce a tax when people would visit a hospital, as well as a pharmaceutical tax. When he couldn’t get his way on that, he froze the Medicare rebate for six years, which is why bulk billing went into free fall.
Setting the scene for the federal election, the PM said the election campaign would be “about two different views of Australia, our health system, with Medicare at its heart”.
Albanese addresses reporters in Sydney
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing the media in Chatswood in Sydney, touting the government’s $8.5bn Medicare pledge.
He said supporting Medicare was the “Australian way”, comparing it with the US healthcare system:
We do not need an Americanisation of the health system. What we need is for Australians to be able to rely upon the fact that when they need it, they will get the care that they need – and primary healthcare through our GPs is so important.
Nine flags further restructuring amid cultural reset
Jonathan Barrett
Nine Entertainment will expand its restructuring program into next financial year as part of a business and cultural reset after the company’s earnings were buffeted by subdued advertising conditions and the end of a content deal.
The broadcaster and publisher reported a 15% drop in its half-year group earnings to $268m, weighed down by the end of its arrangement with Facebook owner Meta.
Revenue from the company’s broadcast arm, its biggest division, fell 3%, while streaming revenue at 9Now jumped higher.
Nine said in its six-month results there would be further restructuring in the next financial year as part of a program to reduce costs.
It is seeking to find cost efficiencies of more than $100m by mid 2027. Nine’s acting CEO, Matt Stanton, told shareholders today:
At the same time, we intend to take this opportunity to transform both the culture at Nine and as leaders in the industry, the underlying cultural issues that have plagued the broader media sector in Australia for many years.
A bombshell report released last year revealed Nine had a systemic issue with the abuse of power and authority, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment across the company.
The broadcaster is also looking to streamline its news operations for its television and streaming business. Stanton said:
We intend to streamline the news gathering processes nationally, aimed at ultimately improving news editorial workflow. We will look for opportunities to bring production to nine rather than rely on outside broadcast.
