The packaged food industry has failed to reach the government's target for uptake of the health star rating system, and government will now decide if it should be mandated.

More than 10 years after it was first launched, uptake of the system has plateaued at 37 per cent – well below the government's 70 per cent target.

Food ministers across Australian state and territory governments have previously indicated labels would be made mandatory if the industry failed to meet the target by today's deadline.

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"The government's targets were extremely generous, yet the multibillion-dollar packaged food industry has not even come anywhere close to meeting them," Associate Professor Alexandra Jones from The George Institute said.

"Simple nutrition information shouldn't be optional.

"Shoppers have a right to clear information that helps them quickly and easily understand the healthiness of what's available on supermarket shelves."

What is the health star rating system?

The health star rating system rates the overall nutritional profile of a packaged food product from 0.5 to 5 stars.

Manufacturers input the nutritional information of their product on a government website, which uses an algorithm to calculate a rating between 0.5 and five stars.

The algorithm gives points for protein, fibre, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes and removes them for saturated fat, sugar and salt.

Consumers ideally then use the rating to compare similar products and ultimately make healthier choices.

However, experts say the ability to compare products is limited as only a third of products currently feature a rating.

And unsurprisingly, it's being exploited as a marketing tool, with five-star products far more likely to feature the rating (61 per cent) compared to half-star products (16 per cent).

VicHealth chief executive Professor Anna Peeters said the findings highlight an opportunity to strengthen food labelling in Australia.

"In Australia, ultra processed foods contribute 42 per cent of the population's daily energy intake and more than 60 per cent of supermarket shelf space is taken up by discretionary foods," Peeters said.

"This is an opportunity for government, industry and the community to align on creating a fairer, more transparent food system that supports health and wellbeing."

When is the system likely to be mandated?

Jones said ministers should be able to approve the regulatory standards by this time next year.

She urged them to commit to the time frame to avoid further delay.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand told 9news.com.au it is continuing preparatory work for a mandated system.

"Food ministers are expected to receive the final uptake figures in early 2026, along with an update on our preparatory work," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"With this information, food ministers will decide whether to ask FSANZ to formally raise a proposal to consider mandating the HSR system.

"If asked to raise a proposal, we will be required to follow the legislated processes for changing the Food Standards Code as outlined in the FSANZ Act, which includes public consultation.

"FSANZ would progress this work as a matter of priority."

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Severe thunderstorms are possible in Bay of Plenty, Taupō, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

The funds come from round two of the Government’s $70m Major Events and Tourism package.

A man accused of leading police to former childcare worker and alleged pedophile Joshua Brown has pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges.

Michael Simon Wilson, 36, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court today and he opted to fast-track more than 60 charges to a higher court.

The alleged offences include child abuse possession and transmission, aggravated use of a carriage service, bestiality, and his alleged rape of a teen he met on social media.

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Wilson was alleged to have committed the offences between April 2022 and May 2025, and many of the charges arose from an analysis of his mobile phone, the court was told previously.

His lawyer Heather Anderson said that set of offences were proceeding straight to the County Court with pleas of not guilty to each as they involved alleged child victims.

Wilson, who appeared in court via video link from Metropolitan Remand Centre on Friday, was asked to formally enter his plea before magistrate Gerard Lethbridge.

"Not guilty, Your Honour," the accused man replied as the charges were aired.

"I have noted your pleas of not guilty to all charges," Lethbridge said.

"As no application for bail is made, you are remanded in custody."

He will next face a directions hearing at Melbourne's County Court on December 15.

Wilson is separately accused of eight offences, including rape and allegations he detained a woman against her will and kept her under surveillance.

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Anderson said her client planned to fight those charges, and a one-day contested committal hearing was set down for February 25 next year.

In October, Wilson tried for a gag order over his case and its alleged links to Brown.

He failed after a magistrate found just because Brown's case had "notoriety" it did not mean he was entitled to a suppression order.

Prosecutors told the court at the time police were investigating Wilson's alleged offending when they found information on his devices that led them to the accused childcare molester.

Brown, who will next face court in February, has been charged with more than 70 offences related to his alleged abuse of eight children in his care between April 2022 and January 2023.

He is yet to enter a plea to any of the charges.

Wilson is not charged with any childcare-related offending.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800.

Natarsha Ikiua was on sick leave when she was recognised filming a health ad.

A high-profile Chinese woman accused of causing a head-on collision with Kyle Sandilands' driver will fight allegations she drove dangerously.

Yang Lanlan, 23, was driving her Rolls-Royce in Sydney's eastern suburbs on July 26 about 3.30am when she allegedly collided with a Mercedes driven by George Plassaras, a driver for the controversial radio figure.

She has been charged with dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, not giving particulars to police and refusing or failing to submit to breath analysis.

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She also faces a back-up charge of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

Yang was excused from appearing at Downing Centre Local Court today, with her lawyer Michael Korn entering not guilty pleas to all the charges on her behalf.

"Obviously the matter is quite tough and it's drawn a lot of attention, but she's getting through it," he told reporters outside court.

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Enthusiastic onlookers filled the courtroom today, hoping to get a glimpse of the enigmatic 23-year-old.

Her family's wealth and supposed ties to high-ranking Chinese officials has generated significant online speculation in Australia and China.

Plassaras was trapped in his vehicle for an hour before being freed and taken to hospital with serious injuries, but Yang emerged unscathed, according to Sandilands.

The radio host sang the 52-year-old's praises while outlining his road to recovery.

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The driver had broken several ribs, both his femurs and hips and suffered a ruptured spleen and broken spine, Sandilands said.

"I saw him and went, 'oh shit, George you look horrible' – I was nearly crying," he said during the Kyle & Jackie O show in late July.

Yang tested positive during a roadside breath test but allegedly refused to undergo a breath analysis when she was arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station.

The case will return to court on January 30.

Yang is again excused from appearing.

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Founder Jeremy Tātere MacLeod says the trust will secure the festival’s future.

Westpac has paid back more than $50 million to staff after years of underpayment, the Fair Work Ombudsman has said.

The underpayments, which occurred over an 11-year period, were primarily caused by failures in Westpac's systems, governance processes, and compliance oversight, the ombudsman said.

Further shortcomings included inadequate record-keeping, reliance on systems requiring manual adjustments, and input errors.

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Employees were underpaid their casual loading and minimum wages for ordinary hours, allowances such as for higher duties and weekend penalties, termination payments, leave payments and more.

To date, Westpac has back-paid a total of more than $50.26 million, plus almost $9 million in interest and applicable superannuation, to nearly 47,000 current and former staff who were underpaid between January 2014 and February 2025.

Back-payments to individuals ranged from less than $5 to $56,085 in one instance. The average back payment was about $1000.

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Also, $90,490 has been paid into the federal unclaimed monies account for former employees who could not be found.

Anybody can check if unpaid wages are being held for them.

Westpac has also signed an enforceable undertaking, which will see the corporation pay $800,000 in a "contrition payment" to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund.

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Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said an EU was an appropriate outcome as Westpac had fully cooperated with the investigation and demonstrated a strong commitment to rectifying its non-compliance issues and ensuring future compliance.

"Westpac has made full back-payments for all underpayments owed to employees it could locate," Booth said.

"This includes back-payments extending well beyond the six-year liability limitation period. Under the Enforceable Undertaking, it has committed to rectifying any future underpayments it identifies in full, plus interest and superannuation, and implementing stringent measures to ensure all staff are paid correctly in future."

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The EU will also see the bank commission an independent audit to check compliance with workplace laws.

The ombudsman began to investigate the wages and entitlements of staff in December 2020 after Westpac self-reported its underpayments.

"Westpac uncovered these issues as part of our own review in 2020 and when we found them, we immediately moved to put things right," a Westpac spokesperson said.

"We're genuinely sorry this happened. Paying our people correctly is a fundamental obligation which we take seriously and we apologise again to all affected employees.

"As part of our comprehensive remediation program, we repaid those affected including employees who have since left the company. We did not ask anyone who has been overpaid to repay any money.

"We've also updated our systems and processes, investing significantly to better manage entitlements."

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The Liberal Party has been savaged for abandoning its net zero target, with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull accusing the MPs who drove the change of having the memory of goldfish.

Speaking to ABC radio this morning, Turnbull said Opposition Leader Sussan Ley's decision would have disastrous political consequences.

"It's Groundhog Day," he said.

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"They're sending a message to most Australians, they do not take climate change seriously.

"What the Liberal Party is doing is essentially flying in the face of reality, not just the reality of the physics of global warming, but the reality of economics…

"If you want to fight to the death over who's going to have the 15 per cent or 10 per cent (of the vote) that people of Pauline Hanson's persuasion might be disposed to, knock yourself out, but that is no way ever to get back into government."

Climate policy has long been a sticking point in the Liberal party room, with Turnbull himself dumped as opposition leader back in 2009 after supporting the Rudd government's emissions trading scheme.

The party has hemorrhaged seats in capital cities – particularly in inner-metropolitan areas – to teal independents, Labor and the Greens in the past two elections, much of which has been attributed to comparatively weak climate policies.

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Turnbull said he had sympathy for Ley, a moderate who confirmed the switch to abandon net zero after a majority of Liberal MPs, driven by the conservatives, spoke out against the policy.

"Unfortunately she's caught in this terrible fishbowl, if you like, with the Liberal party room," he said.

"They've got the memory of goldfish and the dining habits of piranhas.

"They seem to just keep on forgetting and making the same mistake again and again… 

"It is leading them into this spiral which has resulted in them losing almost all of their city seats, losing almost all of their safest seats, the lowest vote they've ever had. 

"Now they want to double down and do it again."

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The government, as well as the teal independents and Greens, have also been quick to condemn the Liberals' decision.

But the criticism hasn't just come from politicians, with scientists lamenting the move as a step backwards.

"(It's) a catastrophic failure to acknowledge both climate science and energy system dynamics… this intentional policy failure immediately exposes Australia to the severe physical risks detailed in the National Climate Risk Assessment," Associate Professor James Hopeward from the University of South Australia said. 

"Under the highest warming scenarios (3.0°C) considered in the NCRA, severe heatwave events could more than quadruple, dramatically increasing heat-related mortality."

Ley said the Liberals would prioritise cheap energy over emissions reductions through a "technology agnostic" approach – including potentially funding more coal power, even though scientists, including those at the CSIRO, have repeatedly pointed to renewables as the cheapest form of energy.

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"The decision… doesn't pass the pub test," ANU energy expert Ken Baldwin said.

"It ignores… the economics which say that it is vastly cheaper to address climate change than to do nothing, and the business case for replacing our aging fleet of coal-fired power stations by using renewables as the cheapest option to keep electricity prices down."

Ley also said the party remained committed to the Paris Agreement – even though removing the net zero target would be in breach of the treaty – and reaching net zero would be a "welcome outcome".

"They will not happen by accident, something to 'welcome' if we stumble across it," Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vice-chair Mark Howden said. 

"Additionally, the Paris Agreement has a 'ratchet' clause which requires nations to successively increase their emission-reduction goals, so suggestions of stepping back our goals are incompatible with that agreement."

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Disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's web of high-profile connections grows ever more complex with the release of thousands of new emails and correspondences by the US House Oversight Committee.

US President Donald Trump again labelled the "Epstein file" a "hoax" after Democrats on the committee leaked three emails that mentioned Trump, including Epstein saying Trump "knew about the girls" Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was recruiting from Mar-a-Lago.

But more revelations are emerging from among the 20,000-plus trove of documents that followed those initial three emails – and they aren't all about Trump.

The emails below have been left in their original text and contain some spelling and grammatical errors.

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Bill Clinton

In other emails, Epstein strategised how to respond to accuser Virginia Giuffre's allegations, which included an account of meeting former president Bill Clinton on Epstein's island in the Caribbean.

"Presidents at dinner on caribean islands. ( clinton was never ever there, easy to confirm ). Sharing a bath with a Prince ( bathtub too small even for one adult ). sex slave being paid thousands of dollars. ( while at the exact same time, she was working as a hostess in a burger bar )."

Clinton has acknowledged travelling on Epstein's private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes.

Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them, including Giuffre.

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In a 2016 email to a reporter, Epstein denied ever spending time with Clinton or his vice president Al Gore on his island.

"You can also add, fresh politcal juice by stating that Clinton was never on the island," Epstein wrote.

"I never met Al Gore. No diners on the island either, no matter how much detail has been in the press."

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

The new emails undercut the former Prince Andrew's claim that a now-infamous snapshot of him with his arm around Giuffre's partly bare midriff was doctored because he couldn't remember it being taken.

"Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew as many of my employees have," Epstein wrote in one 2011 email in which he called Giuffre a liar.

Epstein repeatedly disparaged Giuffre, calling her "nothing more than a telephone answerer".

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He discussed getting a reporter to investigate her, suggesting "Buckingham Palace would love it".

When the Mail on Sunday sought comment before publishing a story in March 2011 about Giuffre's allegations, Epstein forwarded the email to a contact listed as "The Duke" that is partly redacted but appears to be Mountbatten-Windsor.

"Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations," the reply from the email listed as "The Duke" said.

"I can't take any more of this (on) my end."

When he asked Epstein how he planned to respond to the tabloid's request, Epstein said he wasn't sure.

"The only person she didn't have sex with was Elvis," he wrote.

Ghislaine Maxwell

In January 2015, an anonymous woman – later revealed to be Giuffre – filed a lawsuit alleging that Epstein and Maxwell groomed and sexually abused her between 1998 and 2002.

The lawsuit alleged they forced her to become a "sex slave" to powerful men – including a royal prince later revealed to be Mountbatten-Windsor.

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied the allegation and later settled a lawsuit Giuffre filed against him.

In several email exchanges on January 10, 2015, after the lawsuit was filed, Epstein and Maxwell coordinated their public response to the allegations.

"Initial response, too many unanswered question raised, relationship with jeffrey/…I am writing to writin to respond to alleagtinoin that have been made wchich are categorically untrue," Epstein wrote to Maxwell.

Maxwell responded by asking if her lawyer could speak with a lawyer, then wrote: "I have to distance myself from you in statement too. And they need me to say I was not aware of massage w/ andrew in my house. These things they have to stay along w/ meeting [REDACTED] and rebutting those allegations. I needs it asap."

After Epstein assured Maxwell he was on the phone with his lawyer about getting her a lawyer, she replied, "I need it written out in full."

"Call me," Epstein replied.

Maxwell later settled a defamation lawsuit with Giuffre in June 2017 for an undisclosed sum.

In an interview with the Justice Department this summer, Maxwell said her relationship with Epstein was "almost nonexistent" between 2010 and 2019 outside of corresponding over legal matters.

Soon-Yi Previn

The emails show an interesting exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Soon-Yi Previn, the wife of controversial filmmaker Woody Allen.

Epstein sent an article to Previn, titled, "Bill Clinton's CIA chief joins Trump campaign."

The article, published by The Hill in September 2016, was about the former Clinton-appointed CIA director James Woolsey joining Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

"Woody said it doesn't mean anything," Previn wrote in response to Epstein.

It's unclear why Epstein flagged the news to Previn and what, if any, interest she or her husband would have had in Woolsey's involvement with Trump.

Donald Trump

So far, no correspondence between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein has emerged, nor has Trump been accused of any wrongdoing in the documents released.

But Epstein had plenty to say about his one-time friend.

He called Trump "borderline insane" in a 2018 email exchange with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

"Trump – borderline insane," Epstein wrote on December 22, 2018.

It's unclear what prompted the exchange between Epstein and Summers.

A week after Trump was inaugurated to his first term as US president, he signed an executive order banning the entry of foreign nationals from Muslim majority countries for 90 days, widely referred to as the "Muslim ban".

Epstein said in an email to a New York Times reporter on January 28, 2017: "IT helps as he is seen as keeping his word."

He added later in the email: "That being said Donald is f—— crazy, I told you that."

In a March 24, 2018, email chain with Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, Epstein shared a Daily Beast article titled, "How Close Is Donald Trump to a Psychiatric Breakdown?"

The exchange shows Epstein forwarding the story early that morning to Ruemmler, with her replying: "Not confidence inspiring."

Epstein then responded: "but – accurate."

A year earlier in July 2017, Ruemmler wrote an email to Epstein saying, "Trump is truly stupid."

"Duh," Epstein replied several hours later.

It is not clear why Ruemmler and Epstein were corresponding at the time.

In December 2018, Epstein emailed Ruemmler about Trump's behaviour, writing:

"you might want to tell your dem friends that treating trump like a mafia don, ignores the fact that he has great dangerous power. tightening the noose too slowly, risks a very bad situation. gambino was never the commander in chief. there was little gambino could do as the walls closed in. not so with this maniac."

In 2018, Epstein also questioned in an email with a reporter whether Trump was suffering from "early dementia".

Steve Bannon

In early June 2019, Trump made a state visit to the United Kingdom, where he was welcomed by the former Prince Andrew.

A photo shows Andrew grinning as he shakes Trump's hand.

In a June 2019 email exchange with Steve Bannon, Trump's former White House chief strategist, Epstein wrote, "prince andrew and trump today.. Tooo [sic] funny." And then he added, "recall prince andrews accuser came out of mara lago [sic]."

Bannon replied, "Can't believe nobody is making u [sic] the connective tissue."

It's unclear what exactly Bannon meant by the message.

Trump fired him from the White House in 2017, though Bannon remained influential in conservative politics, as he does today.

Trump and Andrew socialised together in the 1990s and 2000s, per newspaper reports, alongside Epstein and Maxwell, sometimes at Mar-A-Lago.

CNN reached out to Bannon for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Peter Mandelson

The new cache of documents from the House committee also seem to shed further light on the extent of the contact between Epstein and Peter Mandelson, who was recently fired as British ambassador to the US over his ties to Epstein.

Emails show that the pair were in contact as late as 2016 when Mandelson appeared to reference Epstein's birthday two weeks earlier.

"63 years old. You made it," he wrote.

Their exchange also appears to suggest that Mandelson had cautioned Epstein to avoid Mountbatten-Windsor, with the disgraced financier writing that "you were right about staying away from Andrew".

Mandelson responds, "Yes, without Andrew it would not have gone nuclear."

It's unclear exactly what the two men are referring to.

CNN has attempted to reach out to Mandelson for comment.

Mandelson was fired as Britain's ambassador to the US in September after Bloomberg published a trove of emails between him and Epstein which revealed the depth of their friendship.

Those emails had shown that Mandelson had sent Epstein messages of support until 2010 – even after the sex offender was convicted of soliciting prostitution with a minor in Florida two years prior.

– Reported with CNN and Associated Press.

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