Ben Butler

A high-flying Australian financier accused of swindling a struggling Vietnamese petroleum trading company has been languishing in a Ho Chi Minh City cell for two months.

Taxpayers have funded $1.6 million in payments to the firefighters union via Fire Rescue Victoria, court documents allege, under an income protection scheme the state's fire chief has said should outrage all Victorians.

Embark Education launches a takeover bid for rival early childcare company Mayfield Education, alarming experts who say providers that fail to meet baseline safety standards are being allowed to expand without oversight.

Since 2017, Melbourne building boss Mike Harris has overseen four company collapses. Left behind are clients who have lost their life savings and staff who couldn't pay their mortgages.

Police will be trusted to decide whether their own conduct was illegal during a secret prison bugging program, with prosecutors saying they will only reassess cases the force flags for review.

Financial services company Netwealth has agreed to pay more than $100 million to more than 1,000 clients who invested in the failed First Guardian super fund through its platform.

ASX bosses say they are committed to reform after the corporate regulator lashes the operator's failings in a report, saying it underestimates long-term problems, is insular and defensive with deficiencies in culture and leadership.

Shares in stock exchange operator ASX fell as the regulator increases its capital requirements after damning inquiry findings. The local share market started the week in the red, weighed down by heavy selling in the miners.

Malaysian company MediCeram, which previously made moulds for Australian glove-maker Ansell, has denied claims it abused the rights of its Bangladeshi workers. 

The executive had a suspected stroke, went temporarily blind and was hospitalised five times after regularly clocking more than 100 hours a week on the job, according to documents filed with the Federal Court.

A Master Builders Association of Victoria board member fails in their bid to identify the person who made a complaint about their conduct — provoking a colourful ruling from the presiding judge.

Former Magpies skipper Scott Pendlebury has hired one of Australia's most high-profile commercial lawyers to claim millions that he alleges his former confidant misappropriated.

The former financial adviser to Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury has racked up a multi-million dollar tax debt since 2021.

The Collingwood player alleges Jason Sourasis, who helmed A-League club Western United before its collapse, misappropriated more than $2 million over a decade.

The chief executive and chief operating officer at one of Australia's biggest childcare chains have resigned following a string of scandals, including dozens of sex abuse charges being laid against a former employee.

The government says about 40 Victorian workers retained their Working with Children Check despite being deemed an unacceptable risk to children by the education department.

The death of a 15-week-old baby in an unlicensed home day care in Victoria’s north-west is among more than two dozen disturbing childcare incidents recorded in government documents unearthed by the ABC. 

More than a dozen customers of MJ Harris Group have told the ABC they have been left significantly out of pocket after the company went into liquidation this week.

Matthew Hopkins shared racist and antisemitic material from the Neo-Nazi group on social media and described Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf as a "brilliant book" to his followers.

Despite G8 knowing about problems, an ABC investigation can reveal how the childcare giant downplayed concerns and maintained it had conducted checks.

Melbourne-based company Ansell has confirmed it investigated allegations at a Malaysian factory and identified issues that do not meet labour standards.

An ABC investigation can reveal the Catholic Church tried to revive a highly controversial legal loophole that stopped it from being sued by victims of sexual abuse for millions of dollars in damages, after it was scrapped in 2018.

The alleged actions of Dezi Freeman, accused of shooting dead two police officers, reveal a tiny town fraying over anti-authoritarian ideology taken to its unthinkable extreme.

Dezi Freeman, the 56-year-old Porepunkah man wanted over the fatal shooting of two police officers, last year complained to a court that he had his firearms licence cancelled and lost membership to his gun club.

The man accused of shooting dead two police officers in Victoria's north-east is a "sovereign citizen" who once called police offensive names and was involved in an attempt to have Daniel Andrews tried for treason.