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There's been a modest uptick in the number of ANZ customers asking for help but the head of the big four bank says borrowers, overall, are proving resilient.

ANZ chief executive officer Shayne Elliott said some customers were struggling as rising interest rates pushed up borrowing costs but most were "managing their way through" the current financial pressures.

Higher interest rates have been inflating mortgage repayments, with the high cost of living also eating into household budgets.

Addressing a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, Mr Elliot said only six of every $1000 in its Australian home loans portfolio was overdue by more than 90 days.

"This is better than before the pandemic," he said.

The bank boss offered three explanations for the display of resilience - the strong levels of employment, big savings buffers and robust credit standards that have kept lending responsible.

But he said these were aggregate numbers and some Australian households were struggling, with the bank observing a "modest increase" in the number of customers asking for help.

"We will continue to watch how our customers are going and support them when we can," he said.

NAB chief Ross McEwan will also appear at the parliamentary economics committee hearing in Canberra on Wednesday.

He will be followed by the bosses of Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank on Thursday.

Committee chair Daniel Mulino said the two-day hearing was a timely opportunity to put the spotlight on the four banks, which control 80 per cent of the Australian market.

"Australian households and small businesses depend on these banks for general banking, mortgages and business loans," Dr Mulino said.

"It is crucial our banks are resilient but also competitive."

© AAP 2023

Daniel Ricciardo's exile from Formula One is over with the veteran Australian driver set to be back on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix a week on Sunday.

In the short-term, the eight-time grand prix winner will replace Nyck de Vries at Red Bull's junior team AlphaTauri for the rest of the season.

In the longer term, the move could lead to him joining the all-conquering Red Bull main team again as world champion Max Verstappen's No.2 - an outcome he recently said would be a "fairytale ending" to his career.

It is a remarkable comeback for the 34-year-old who was axed by McLaren at the end of last year - and replaced by another Australian Oscar Piastri - after two underwhelming seasons which included one shining moment, victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

Unable to find a drive this year, Ricciardo wound up as a reserve driver for Red Bull, for whom he had won seven grands prix.

But he so impressed in the support role that the organisation have opted for him to replace de Vries, who has been dropped after only 10 races.

With Piastri in Ricciardo's old seat at McLaren there are now two Australian racers in Formula One for the first time since Ricciardo and Mark Webber were both on the grid a decade ago.

"I'm stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family," said Ricciardo on Tuesday.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team," Alpha Tauri team principal Franz Tost said.

"There's no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight forward.

"The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner."

The reference to Ricciardo's easy integration into the team is especially relevant with Sergio Perez's poor form fuelling speculation that he may be replaced.

The West Australian is now in prime position to stake a claim to be the beneficiary were that to happen.

It won't be hard to improve on de Vries who failed to score a single point with a best finish of 12th at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.

Ricciardo's appointment came the same day as he was back in the cockpit at Silverstone doing tyre testing, following work in the simulator.

"It is great to see Daniel hasn't lost any form while away from racing," said Red Bull principal Christian Horner.

"We are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri."

AlphaTauri are last in the standings with just two points from 10 races.

Ricciardo began his F1 career with HRT Racing in 2011 before he joined AlphaTauri, then called Toro Rosso, in 2012.

He made a surprise switch to Renault in 2019, but after two years - and two podium finishes - he moved to McLaren.

Now he finds himself back with the group where he has had the most success.

with agencies

© PAA 2023

TikTok officials concede "serious changes" were needed at the social media company in the wake of a spying scandal.

The admission, from Australian general manager Lee Hunter, came during a fiery hearing on Tuesday of a parliamentary committee probing foreign interference through social media.

It also followed a story, first reported by Forbes, that employees of TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, allegedly spied on US journalists following negative stories written about it.

Mr Hunter previously denied the incident in an opinion piece last December in the Daily Telegraph, saying the method of surveillance was not possible.

But the general manager told the inquiry "rogue employees" had since been let go by the company.

"This is not what the company stands for. These employees were seeking to isolate the source of leaked confidential company information," he said.

"With this serious misconduct from these rogue employees, serious changes need to happen in the business."

Mr Hunter said TikTok had ramped up efforts on data security following the spying scandal.

"I want to reassure Australians and in particular Australian journalists their safety and security on our platform is our number one priority," he said.

However, he stood by the opinion piece, saying he would not categorise the efforts of the employees as spying.

The parliamentary committee is examining how Australian elections and government agencies can be safeguarded online.

TikTok's director of public policy Ella Wood-Joyce rejected claims the app was a national security risk, after the federal government ordered the platform be removed from government devices.

Australia followed the move of other nations, including the US and UK, in implementing the ban.

"We don't believe there is evidence to support claims TikTok is a national security risk," she said.

"We are very open to government to speak to them about what we do, how we do it and how we're continuing to invest to keep our app and our users safe."

Earlier, officials from Facebook parent company Meta reassured its new social media presence, Threads, would be monitored for misinformation in similar ways to its other sites.

Meta launched the platform less than a week ago and it is being seen as a direct rival to Twitter.

Since then, more than 100 million users have signed up.

Meta's Australian head of public policy Josh Machin said the approach to Threads to combat misinformation or enforce community standards would be similar to that on its other platforms.

"All of the policies that currently apply on Facebook and Instagram apply on Threads," he told the hearing.

"Anything that would be removed or would violate our community standards on Facebook and Instagram from day one is being removed on Threads as well."

Mr Machin said while the platform was new, work was under way to have fact-checking labels on posts and labels identifying accounts as being affiliated with state-owned media.

Committee chair Liberal senator James Paterson accused Chinese social media platform WeChat and parent company TenCent of being in contempt in parliament.

Despite multiple attempts for WeChat officials to appear before the committee, the social media company has declined.

Senator Paterson said there was no compulsion for the company to appear due to it not being based in Australia.

"Compelling evidence has been put to the committee by expert witnesses that WeChat engages in surveillance, censorship and foreign interference on its platform, and yet, senators will not have the opportunity to test these propositions with the company or potential regulatory solutions to it," he said.

© AAP 2023