Brisbane Hustle · Oct 11, 2026
Trivia ❓
What is the name of the artificial beach located in the heart of Brisbane's South Bank Parklands?
Answer at the bottom
Brisbane Local
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co has stripped senior Australian partner Chris Bradley of his leadership role at its research arm following an internal conduct review triggered by dismissive online remarks he made about challenges facing women in the workplace.
Bradley was removed from his board position at the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm's high-profile business and economic research unit, as well as from roles on several internal committees. He retains his position as a senior partner at the firm. McKinsey spokesman Taylor Burns confirmed the action, stating: "Following our conduct review process, we have removed the partner from his leadership roles, including at the McKinsey Global Institute. His public comments fell well short of the standards we expect at our firm."
The controversy stems from a LinkedIn exchange last month between Bradley and Julia Carreon, a former Wall Street executive and co-author of the book Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling. The exchange centred on the concept of the "glass cliff" — a term coined by academics to describe research suggesting female leaders are more likely to be offered CEO positions at struggling or crisis-ridden companies. Bradley called the glass cliff "a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain" and questioned whether the concept even existed. He also wrote: "I am not going to start researching glass cliffs as I don't think it ranks in the top 1000 problems of the world." The posts were subsequently deleted and McKinsey previously distanced itself from his remarks before initiating the conduct review.
Carreon responded to Bradley's comments by saying he displayed "willful ignorance" and expressed hope it would be a "teaching moment for Mr Bradley and McKinsey." In a later LinkedIn post, she said his remarks "showcases exactly what Shannon Nutter and I hoped to expose in our new book: the absurd amount of energy women are forced to spend proving our own experiences are real." Bradley, who is listed as the author of A Century of Plenty and the father of three daughters on his McKinsey profile, could not be reached for comment. He is also a member of the Sydney-based conservative think tank the Centre for Independent Studies. McKinsey has published its Women in the Workplace study, compiled with Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In advocacy group, for more than a decade, and a 2020 McKinsey report on women in healthcare specifically references the glass cliff concept.
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A tobacco store on St Georges Road in Fitzroy North has been completely destroyed by a fire police are treating as suspicious, after emergency services were called to the scene at around 3:45am on Monday.
Residents woken by the blaze
Neighbours say they were jolted awake by a series of loud explosions before seeing the shop fully engulfed in flames. One nearby resident told reporters she and her partner smelled and heard the fire before stepping outside to investigate. "It sounded like sparks going off in different areas of the neighbourhood, and then two minutes later, just a massive explosion," she said. "We went outside our front door and it was big, black smoke coming across."
Firefighters worked to contain the blaze and prevent it spreading, but two neighbouring businesses were also damaged in the incident. No one was inside the tobacco store at the time.
Investigators believe the shop was broken into and deliberately set alight by one or more offenders. Witnesses reported seeing a dark-coloured vehicle leaving the scene. A crime scene has since been established.
Part of a broader arson pattern
The Fitzroy North fire is the latest in a string of suspicious blazes under investigation across Victoria. Last week, Victoria Police confirmed a targeted operation focused on reducing arson across the state had resulted in more than 160 arrests this year. Police are urging anyone with information, dashcam footage, or CCTV to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online.
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A proposed conventional gas project in Western Australia's Kimberley region has been referred to the state's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for assessment, with the company behind it claiming it could meet the region's power needs using locally produced energy for the first time.
Buru Energy lodged the referral for its Rafael conventional gas project in early October. The facility would be built in the Canning Basin, roughly 85 kilometres south of Derby, and draw on two co-located production wells. Conventional gas is extracted through standard drilling and pumping — not hydraulic fracturing.
Buru Energy executive chairman David Maxwell said the Rafael project represented a genuine first for the region.
"At the moment, the Kimberley relies on imported energy from Karratha, Perth, Darwin, and Asia," he said. "It's the first opportunity for the Kimberley to have gas and LPG supplied from within the region."
The proposed plant would produce up to 300 tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas per day — the equivalent of around 16 to 17 terajoules — alongside LPG and condensate. Maxwell said the Kimberley currently uses between six and 13 terajoules per day for power generation depending on the season, meaning the project would have capacity to cover 100 per cent of local gas demand. He added it could also supply into the northern Pilbara, and provide a quarter to a third of the Kimberley's LPG needs.
Fracking Concerns Shadow the Proposal
Environmental groups have raised concerns about the project's broader implications. Environs Kimberley executive director Martin Pritchard described the Rafael project as a potential "Trojan horse for fracking," pointing to Buru's ASX statements as evidence the company harbours longer-term unconventional extraction ambitions.
Maxwell firmly rejected the characterisation. "It's got nothing to do with fracking at all," he said, adding that any future fracking activity would require a completely separate EPA referral, application, and approval process.
The Rafael project sits within the Canning Basin, an area not covered by WA's statewide ban on fracking, which applies to more than 98 per cent of the state. The broader fracking debate in the region has intensified following the EPA's earlier recommendation that a separate proposal — the Valhalla Gas Exploration and Appraisal Program by Bennett Resources — proceed subject to conditions. That decision drew a record 8,000 appeals.
Buru expects a decision from the EPA on the Rafael referral by the end of the year. If approved, the company has said the project could be powering northern WA by 2029.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a sweeping investigation and the prosecution of any soldiers who participated in NAZA, an explosive documentary about Israel's military conduct in Gaza.
Netanyahu wrote directly to the heads of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, and the country's attorney-general — who holds the power to order prosecutions — demanding action against those involved. "The film spins a false, misleading, and biased narrative that slanders the State of Israel and the IDF globally," Netanyahu wrote, adding that participants should face charges including leaking sensitive information, criminal libel, and damaging Israel's diplomatic and security interests.
About the documentary
NAZA — a reference to an Israeli military acronym for collateral damage — was directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who previously won an Academy Award for their 2024 film No Other Land, which examined Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. The documentary, released to critical acclaim at the Venice International Film Festival, features interviews with two dozen soldiers and intelligence officials speaking under anonymity. Their testimony accuses the IDF of systematic mass civilian killings in Gaza and details targeting techniques, including the use of artificial intelligence. The IDF has rejected the film's allegations, and the Israeli government has released a counter-documentary in an effort to discredit it.
The film has ignited fierce domestic debate in Israel. Abraham and Szor faced allegations of treason as well as threats against them and their families, and neither had returned to Israel as of the report's publication. Netanyahu and senior members of his government had already moved to pursue legislation that would allow the state to strip citizenship from those deemed to have smeared Israeli soldiers. Various organisations, including Reporters Without Borders, condemned the government's campaign against the filmmakers, characterising it as an attack on press freedom ahead of Israel's election scheduled for October 27. One of Netanyahu's electoral challengers, Gadi Eisenkot, echoed the government's criticism of the film. NAZA is scheduled to begin screening in some Australian cinemas later this week.
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A 43-year-old man has died following a single-vehicle crash in Victoria's Mallee region on Sunday afternoon, with detectives now investigating the circumstances of the collision.
Police say the driver lost control on Watchem-Warracknabeal Road at Watchem West — approximately 300 kilometres north-west of Melbourne — and struck trees at around 4pm. Emergency services attended the scene, but the man did not survive.
Detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit have been called in to lead the investigation into the crash.
The fatality has pushed the provisional 2026 Victorian road toll to 202. Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or submit a report anonymously at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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US President Donald Trump declared on Sunday — Washington DC time — that an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was effective immediately, catching Ukrainian officials off guard and triggering confusion over whether any formal agreement had actually been reached.
Trump posted on social media that "both parties have agreed" to the truce, urging both sides not to break it. But Ukrainian officials in Kyiv told media they had no prior information about the ceasefire, and the Kremlin offered no public response. Within hours of Trump's declaration, Russian strikes hit a power plant in eastern Ukraine along with other targets.
Zelensky's Conditions and Allied Support
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the ceasefire announcement "was news for me," telling US outlet Axios reporter Barack Ravid that Ukraine would accept the deal — but only if Russia agreed as well. "If president Trump negotiated it with Putin – please tell us when the ceasefire begins – we are ready and we will accept it," Zelensky said. He held a rapid series of calls with NATO leaders after Trump's statement, receiving public backing from French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said she "fully supported" Zelensky's call for a ceasefire protecting energy infrastructure and global food supplies. Von der Leyen confirmed EU leaders would meet this week to discuss further funding for Ukraine, including money for drones and missiles.
By Sunday night Ukrainian time, Zelensky reported no halt in Russian attacks. He said a power plant in Kharkiv had been struck that evening and that over the previous week alone, Russia had carried out more than 200 strikes on Ukrainian electricity generation and transmission facilities, along with 17 strikes targeting gas and oil infrastructure. He added that more than 150 people had been killed and more than 700 wounded during that period. Reports also emerged that Trump was threatening to cut weapons supplies to Ukraine — under a program funded by European nations — as leverage to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Trump had previously argued were driving up diesel costs on world markets.
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Damaging winds and large hailstones swept across Adelaide on Sunday, leaving trees blocking roads, vehicles damaged, and the State Emergency Service fielding more than 100 calls for assistance since Sunday afternoon.
Around four in five of those SES call-outs were attributed to fallen trees, with duty officer Ian Bonython confirming the majority of incidents were concentrated in Adelaide's north. Multiple fallen-tree reports were recorded across the inner north-east, from Payneham towards Paradise, and the situation had largely resolved by Sunday night.
Storm Catches Residents Off Guard
Vale Park resident Niall Dowdell had arrived home from a Barossa trip to mark his wedding anniversary when the storm struck. He stepped outside to move his car to safety, only to find a large tree had already come down on its front end. "We heard a bit of thunder and then the rain just came in really heavy and then within a couple of minutes I've come out and the tree's down on my car," Mr Dowdell said, adding he believed a lightning strike may have felled it. In Nailsworth, a resident emerged to discover a neighbour's trampoline had blown into their yard.
Several storms crossed metropolitan Adelaide on Sunday afternoon, mostly clearing by 9pm. The SES recorded 3 centimetres of hailstones at Happy Valley at 7:45 pm. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Urshla Connor said storm activity would persist into Monday, though conditions were expected to contract toward north-eastern parts of South Australia. "Still seeing a lot of cloud, showers and certainly still some rumbles of thunder," she said.
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North Melbourne's pursuit of Sydney Swans defender Nick Blakey has hit an early wall, with the Roos' opening offer knocked back as the AFL trade period enters its crucial final days.
North's First Offer Falls Well Short
According to Trade Radio reporter Tom Morris, North Melbourne offered Sydney pick six and a pick in the 30s, while asking the Swans to send a pick in the 50s back alongside Blakey. The Roos do not currently hold a pick in the 30s, with reporting suggesting they were working around pick 33 — a selection that may arrive as part of a deal involving Zane Duursma. The offer was described as well below what Sydney would expect, with the rejection coming almost immediately.
The Duursma situation is now central to how North Melbourne builds its trade hand. Melbourne has increased its offer for the North midfielder, with AFL.com.au reporting the Demons have added pick 33 to their package. The two clubs have been some distance apart in negotiations, but the updated offer is expected to bring them closer. Every asset North can secure from that deal feeds directly into what they can put on the table for Blakey.
Elsewhere in trade news, Carlton's pursuit of Greater Western Sydney's Lachie Whitfield remains unresolved. The Blues are keen to use two later picks in any Whitfield deal, holding their earlier selections in reserve to manage a potential Cody Walker bid. The Giants are reportedly seeking more. Should Carlton be forced to choose, the club is expected to prioritise Walker over Whitfield.
At Collingwood, rumours around defender Dan Houston continue to surface, including reports over the weekend, though the club maintains he is not available and not seeking a move. Midfielder Jordan De Goey is not expected to move. Port Adelaide, meanwhile, is understood to be looking to trade its pick five following a major deal completed on Friday, with that selection now considered available.
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Security is always excessive until it's not enough.
💡 Answer: Streets Beach
