THE BRIEF – TUESDAY JULY 15 By Matt Buchanan  CHALMERS OFFENSIVE GETS UNDERWAY ​ The Treasurer might not be promising a new tax—but the sound of economic reform drums is growing louder. The AFR’s Ronald Mizen reports that the Commonwealth Bank has thrown a red flag into Jim Chalmers’ roundtable with a blunt submission: forget about corporate tax cuts, target wealth instead, and review the GST. A “frank submission” indeed. Most notably, the CBA directly contradicts the Business Council of Australia—of which it's a member—by arguing company tax cuts should not be the priority. That chorus gets louder in The Australian, where Matthew Cranston and Greg Brown write that Chalmers is now “open” to new taxes and more cuts to spending. Their story follows the accidental release of Treasury advice warning that without these changes, the budget isn’t sustainable.  And then there’s Samantha Maiden’s report in The Daily Tel

Following the success of LegaXy, a sports and entertainment venture, the founding team has expanded into the digital content arena with the launch of Bajarbattu Media.   This next-generation media company is focused on creating original, engaging content across a variety of genres.  Bajarbattu Media is positioned as a modern infotainment hub, combining impactful storytelling with innovative digital formats to captivate, inform, and entertain Indian audiences.

Image source: India Today, Indian Express and The Core; Edited by Dinesh Raj M   The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) has slammed the “reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide” that has been doing the rounds since the report was made public on Saturday. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) report stated that both fuel switches on the Boeing 787 transitioned from “run” to “cut-off” three seconds after it took off from the runway, cutting off fuel supply to the engines. Soon after the report’s release, pilots and aviation experts, in interviews and posts on social media, claimed one of the pilots had knowingly cut off the fuel supply switch. Hot off the Press The Airline Pilots’ Association of India has also stated that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the Air India 171 crash led to the promoting of a “presumption of pilot guilt” even before the probe was complete, reported

By all accounts, it should have been a routine political event. Speeches, applause, dinner. But what unfolded at Vaiko’s Sattur meeting on July 9 was a full-on crash course in how not to treat journalists and how quickly insecurity can spiral into violence. According to Tamil Janam TV reporter Jayaram, who was on the ground, the evening took a turn after Durai Vaiko (Vaiko’s son and rising political face) delivered his speech and left for his 8 PM flight. Naturally, most of the crowd followed suit. Some left, others rushed for selfies. What remained was a hall of scattered chairs and a visibly rattled Vaiko Sr., who lashed out on the mic to get people to sit back down. From that point, things got uncomfortable and then ugly. Journalists, including those from Tamil Janam TV, Polimer TV, News7 Tamil and Thanthi TV, continued covering the event. Some shot footage of empty chairs, a scene any honest reporter would capture. But instead of taking the optics in stride or issuing a

Beverley McGarvey, President Network 10 and Paul Whittaker, Sky News Austrtalia CEO. The deal unveiled today will see a new multi-year distribution agreement with Sky News Australia to continue broadcasting free-to-air channel Sky News Regional in existing regional markets across New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. In addition, the Network 10 sales team will commercially represent all advertising inventory for this regional free-to-air channel. Beverley McGarvey, President Network 10, Head of Streaming and Regional Lead Paramount Australia & New Zealand, said: “We’re pleased to have reached a new agreement with Sky News Australia that maintains the existing selection of channels for regional audiences. This deal also leverages the expertise of our unified national sales team, broadens our advertising inventory and national market offering, giving our clients and partners unparalleled access to key regional audiences.” Paul Whittaker, Sky News Australia Chief Exe

ALBANEASY DOES IT/FROM CHINA WITH LOVE So, Albanese is in China and still not saying the quiet part out loud: what Australia would actually do in the event of a US-China conflict over Taiwan. It’s not for lack of asking. Clare Armstrong (across The Daily Telegraph, The Advertiser, The Courier-Mail, and The Herald Sun) captures the PM’s ongoing rhetorical sidestep as pressure from Washington intensifies. And Paul Sakkal and Michael Koziol in the Age and SMH report that the PM backed the AUKUS agreement to deliver Australia nuclear-powered subs, and quoted the government boilerplate: “The $368million partnership with the US and the UK was designed to promote peace and security in our region.” There were stronger takes, however. The AFR’s Andrew Tillett and Ronald Mizen describe Albanese as caught in a diplomatic bind, with trade optics in Shanghai clashing against US expectations. The overall tone from mastheads is calm-but-concerned, with The Australian’s Ben Packham

    News brand news.com.au has released what it calls significant updates to its mobile app, aimed at delivering a seamless and engaging experience for consumers and expanded advertising capabilities for clients.  After carrying out what the company calls, “comprehensive consumer research”, the news.com.au product, delivery, and editorial teams collaborated to launch improvements to the app, tailored to the “contemporary news consumption habits of Australians”.  Free News & Lifestyle Editor-in-Chief Mick Carroll said: “The news cycle this year is moving rapidly – every day, things are happening that will personally impact every Australian, in ways they haven’t even realised yet. With this app we are getting Australia’s best journalism to our audience where, when and how they want it.” News.com.au Editor Kerry Warren added: “Our new app delivers the news that matters to you, in a format audiences are screaming out for. Whether you care about politics,