How this historic pub legally wiped tax debt to stay open
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News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Smorgon high-flyer sells historic South Yarra home for millions
A member of the affluent Smorgon family and one of Melbourne's most eligible bachelorettes, Amanda Smorgon, has farewelled her South Yarra house. The Victorian-era home sold for an undisclosed price after being listed with $5m-$5.5m expectations. Ms Smorgon is a lawyer, public speaker and co-president of the United Israel Appeal Women's Division, a charity that focuses on fundraising and philanthropic initiatives to support Israel and Jewish people. The Smorgon dynasty, previously headed by the late industrialist Victor Smorgon, is thought to be one of Australia's richest families with an estimated total wealth of more than $2.7bn. In July, a Herald Sun article on Melbourne's most eligible single women featured Ms Smorgon alongside identities such as ex-MasterChef judge Melissa Leong, former Bachelorette Australia and journalist Georgia Love and lawyer turned property developer Zana Pali. Ms Smorgon's four-bedroom house showcases a formal dining room with a marble fireplace, plus an outdoor pool and kitchen fitted with a built-in barbecue and banquette seating. Marshall White Stonnington director Nicholas Brooks declined to comment on the sold price. But he said the abode's period features and location in a quiet cul-de-sac had wowed plenty of buyers with more than 100 groups inspecting the property during the sales campaign. 'It attracted a pretty wide variety of buyers including local families, upsizers, downsizers and interstate buyers from Sydney and Western Australia,' Mr Brooks said. A family ended up purchasing the impressive pad. Some houses in the residence's street are believed to have previously served as homes for workers from the circa-1847 Como House in South Yarra. The historic mansion and gardens were originally owned by Supreme Court judge Sir Edward Eyre Williams and later served as the long-time home of wealthy pastoralist Charles Armytage and his family. In 1959, it was acquired by the National Trust of Australia.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Broome's Son Ming eatery closes, sparking fears town's Asian heritage will vanish
After tens of thousands of meals over more than three decades in Western Australia's north, a devastating fire has forced the closure of Son Ming Chinese Restaurant. The building's distinctive facade has been a fixture of Chinatown, the central business district in Broome, for more than 100 years. Hong Yu's father-in-law ran the now heritage-listed building as a general store along Broome's Chinatown strip during the mid-to-late 1900s, before retiring. Its connection to the family remained strong in the intervening years, with Ms Yu eventually opening the restaurant, which she ran with husband Sam, in 1993. "The others said, 'Your father's going to retire and you got no job, you got the shop there, how about changing it to the restaurant?'" Ms Yu said. The first English phrase Ms Yu learnt was "What would you like?" as she served behind the till and waited on tables. Son Ming became more than a place to eat, evolving into a gathering spot, a museum, and a living archive of Chinese-Australian history in Broome. "I wanted people to know the Broome Chinese community had been here for a long time," Ms Yu said. But after decades of service, a kitchen fire led to the restaurant's closure. In late June, two people passing by jumped into action upon seeing smoke coming from the restaurant's kitchen. While the blaze was contained to the kitchen, sparing the rest of the property, Ms Yu said the incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. "I can't pay for it to be fixed." The closure represents a loss for Broome, a town with deep multicultural roots dating back to the late 1800s when the pearling industry drew people from China, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. European pearling masters successfully lobbied for Broome to be exempt from the White Australia Policy, creating a thriving multicultural community on the shores of Roebuck Bay. Broome had a majority Asian population for much of the first half of the 20th century. But only a few of the original family-run businesses in Chinatown remain. Ms Yu curated a museum upstairs from the restaurant in a bid to preserve some of the history. "When my father passed, I cleaned up and there were all these little photos I hadn't seen before," she said. Ms Yu led the local Chinese Community group in restoring graves in the Chinese cemetery, installing commemorative family names on plaques and coordinating events during Shinju Matsuri, the annual festival celebrating Broome's Asian heritage. For many locals, the closure signals the end of an era. Doug Fong was born in Chinatown, just before the start of World War II, in a building across the street from what would become Son Ming. "Inside the store, they had so many things on their walls depicting Chinese society living in Broome," he said. Mr Fong said he feared people would forget the culture that gave the town its prominence, with younger generations moving away for work and education opportunities. "Broome being such a multicultural town, we need to be part of keeping that attitude going," he said. His wife Margaret said the closure felt like a piece of the town's Chinese history was "disappearing". Ms Yu will continue as chairperson of the Chinese Community group, but said she was unsure what the future held after the restaurant closed.
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
ACTU boss Sally McManus calls for five-year plan to limit negative gearing, CGT concessions to one investment property
Union boss Sally McManus has urged Labor to 'bite the bullet' and slash tax benefits for Australians with invest properties through a five-year plan which would only allow people to access the tax incentives on one home. Speaking to the ABC, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary said the changes were needed to tackle intergenerational inequity and calm soaring house prices which have locked young people out of the market. Under the ACTU's proposal, which will be debated at the Jim Chalmers' Economic Reform Roundtable in August, both negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions would be limited to one investment property. Current conditions would be grandfathered for the next five years for existing homes 'to allow people to adjust'. The move would also annually add about $1.5bn to the budget, or $6bn over the forward estimates. 'One of the biggest issues in terms of living standards for younger people in Australia is the issue of housing affordability. It's the number one issue. We need to address it,' Ms McManus said on Sunday. ACTU secretary Sally McManus urged Labor to 'bite the bullet' and enact the changes. Picture: NewsWire/ Ian Currie 'Young people should have the same aspirations as the generations before them, and at the moment, then don't. It's been wiped out by the fact that the housing prices have gone up twice the rate of wages over the last 25 years.' She said the provisions would target the 'small number of investors' who own '25 per cent of investment properties'. Ms McManus quoted a study from the NSW Productivity Commission in 2024, which found the state was losing about 7000 people aged between 30 to 40 years old a year - something that could result in Sydney being a city with no grandchildren. 'That has been driving or fuelling the housing prices. I don't think that we ever intended even for this to happen as a result of these tax measures but this is where we're at,' she said. 'Unless we change it, unless we change it, working people can't live where they work. They can't live where they grew up.' Asked whether Labor had the political will to enact the changes, she urged Labor to 'bite bullet' and be 'brave enough to do something about it'. It not, they would be at risk of 'abandoning' the younger generations,' she added. 'We're going to go and argue it. We're going to advocate for it. In the end, the Government will make their decisions based on what they think is the national interest. We would say that it is in the national interest,' she said. Previously, Labor has unsuccessfully taken changes to negative gearing and capital gains concessions to the 2016 and 2019 federal elections under former opposition leader Bill Shorten, before Anthony Albanese ended the policies. However the government has faced pressure from grassroots advocacy group Labor for Housing to reconsider the concessions. Jessica Wang NewsWire Federal Politics Reporter Jessica Wang is a federal politics reporter for NewsWire based in the Canberra Press Gallery. She previously covered NSW state politics for the Wire and has also worked at and Mamamia covering breaking news, entertainment, and lifestyle. @imjesswang_ Jessica Wang
