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Australians are set to spend $735 million on Father's Day gifts this year, down 7.7 per cent from 2021, according to Australian Retail Association research released on Sunday.
The research, undertaken with polling firm Roy Morgan, also found fewer consumers planned to buy a Father's Day gift, with that metric falling four percentage points to 36 per cent.
Forty-two per cent of respondents, who did plan to buy a gift, said cost of living challenges would impact how much they spent, the research found.
Father's Day this year falls on September 4, amid rising inflation that is expected to peak at an annual rate of 7.75 per cent by the December quarter, before retreating.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra said the slip in Father's Day spending was expected given the challenging economic environment.
"There's no doubt it's an incredibly difficult period for many businesses and consumers as inflationary pressures take hold ... it's not a surprise to see the spending forecasts for Father's Day down a bit this year," Mr Zahra said in a statement.
He said retailers would still be buoyed by the annual gift-giving event, pointing to food, wine, spirits and confectionary as the most popular purchases.
Environmental sustainability was also at the forefront of buyers' minds, with 55 per cent of those polled planning to purchase something good for the planet.
Twenty-seven per cent of respondents said they planned to buy gifts online, the research also found.
"Father's Day is the last gift-giving event before Christmas and provides retailers with a good barometer for how consumer discretionary spending is likely to track over the festive season," Mr Zahra said.
"The concern is with inflation yet to peak, and cost of living challenges likely to worsen before they get better, consumers will be squeezed even further when it comes to their discretionary purchases."
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The seizure of classified US government documents from Donald Trump's sprawling Mar-a-Lago retreat spotlights the ongoing national security concerns presented by the former president, and the home he dubbed the Winter White House, security experts say.
Trump is under federal investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it unlawful to spy for another country or mishandle US defence information, including sharing it with people not authorised to receive it, a search warrant shows.
As president, Trump sometimes shared information, regardless of its sensitivity. Early in his presidency, he spontaneously gave highly classified information to Russia's foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation while he was in the Oval Office, US officials said at the time.
But it was at Mar-a-Lago, where well-heeled members and people attended weddings and fundraising dinners frolic on a breezy ocean patio, that US intelligence seemed especially at risk. While Secret Service provided physical security for the venue while Trump was president and afterward, they are not responsible for vetting guests or members.
The Justice Department's search warrant raises concerns about national security, former DOJ official Mary McCord said.
"Clearly they thought it was very serious to get these materials back into secured space," McCord said.
"Even just retention of highly classified documents in improper storage - particularly given Mar-a-Lago, the foreign visitors there and others who might have connections with foreign governments and foreign agents - creates a significant national security threat."
Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records were "all declassified" and placed in "secure storage".
McCord said, however, she saw no "plausible argument that he had made a conscious decision about each one of these to declassify them before he left". After leaving office, she said, he did not have the power to declassify information.
Monday's seizure by FBI agents of multiple sets of documents and dozens of boxes, including information about US defence and a reference to the "French President", poses a frightening scenario for intelligence professionals.
"It's a nightmarish environment for a careful handling of highly classified information," said a former US intelligence officer. "It's just a nightmare."
The DOJ hasn't provided specific information about how or where the documents and photos had been stored, but the club's general vulnerabilities have been well documented.
In a high-profile example, Trump huddled in 2017 with Japan's then-prime minister Shinzo Abe at an outdoor dinner table while guests hovered nearby, listening and taking photos that they later posted on Twitter.
The dinner was disrupted by a North Korean missile test, and guests listened as Trump and Abe figured out what to say in response. After issuing a statement, Trump dropped by a wedding party at the club.
"What we saw was Trump be so lax in security that he was having a sensitive meeting regarding a potential war topic where non-US government personnel could observe and photograph," said Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specialises in national security cases.
"It would have been easy for someone to also have had a device that heard and recorded what Trump was saying as well."
White House aides did set up a secure room at Mar-a-Lago for sensitive discussions. That was where Trump decided to launch air strikes against Syria for the use of chemical weapons in April 2017.
The decision made, Trump repaired to dinner with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Over a dessert of chocolate cake, Trump informed Xi about the air strikes.
In 2019, a Chinese woman who passed security checkpoints at the club carrying a thumb drive coded with "malicious" software was arrested for entering a restricted property and making false statements to officials, authorities said at the time.
Then-White House chief of staff John Kelly launched an effort to try to limit who had access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago, but the effort fizzled when Trump refused to co-operate, aides said at the time.
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Rarely has football ever mattered so little.
In simple terms, North Queensland were beaten 32-18 by the Sydney Roosters on Saturday.
The Cowboys were gutsy. They twice fought back from double-figure margins but were ultimately out-muscled and outplayed.
With it, North Queensland's shot at a maiden minor premiership is almost certainly gone.
Penrith now hold a six-point lead with three rounds to go, with a significant for-and-against advantage meaning they will surely finish first.
Coach Todd Payten was also unhappy over three refereeing calls, including one where Matt Lodge held Griffin Neame back in a scrum and Roosters hooker Sam Verrills scored.
Payten was insistent it didn't cost his side the match, but against a club like the Roosters it didn't help.
But after the two days North Queensland has endured following the death of former coach Paul Green, that all paled into insignificance.
Ten members of North Queensland's team played under Green two years ago.
And bona fide Cowboy stars such as Valentine Holmes represented Queensland in the State of Origin arena when Green was in charge last year.
Flags flew at half-mast at the SCG, while the Cowboys were visibly moved during the minute's silence before play.
"There's just no real words to express what has happened ... and how it has affected a lot of people in the rugby league community and families," co-captain Jason Taumalolo said.
"I can't imagine what (Green's wife) Amanda and the kids are going through.
"Everyone should have someone to talk to regardless of how big or small a problem is. No-one should have to carry that sort of pressure around with them."
Taumalolo said that message had been discussed among Cowboys players, with the NRL also providing welfare assistance.
"I'd like to think we are a tight-knit group and we are able to talk to each other, whenever we go through a tough time or something really difficult," he said.
"I think everyone copes with loss and grief differently. I'm not sure about any of the other boys but everyone is affected differently.
"What has happened has really shocked and rattled most of us. It's going to take some time to get over it."
Playing on Saturday was never in question for the Cowboys but management is unsure how to treat the next few days.
The squad will return to Townsville on Sunday and play on Friday, but some days off remain an option ahead of another emotional week.
"Jase has just touched on how everyone is affected differently. Some will have a range of emotions at different times," Payten said.
"Some will feel it immediately. Some feel it maybe a few days later, some might be a couple of weeks.
"It's our job and my job to make sure that we keep an eye out for each other."
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
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A child from the NSW north coast may be the third person linked to the recent Splendour In The Grass festival to contract meningococcal disease.
Earlier this month a Sydney man in his 40s who had attended the festival died with the disease.
NSW Health has urged anyone who attended Splendour In The Grass - which took place from July 21-24 at the North Byron Parklands - to be alert to symptoms of the potentially fatal disease.
Anyone showing symptoms - which can include a red or purple rash, fever, headache, stiffness, light sensitivity, nausea, diarrhoea, drowsiness and confusion - are urged to contact a doctor immediately.
Although the diseases is uncommon it can be fatal, with authorities warning it can develop very quickly and kill within hours.
A Northern Territory man in his 30s died with meningococcal on Friday, while a two-year-old child with the diseases died in rural South Australia in July.
Health authorities in the territory said the man had undertaken no recent interstate or international travel.
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