This blog is now closed
Ex-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court
Bruce Lehrmann arrives at a Toowoomba court for a committal hearing into allegations he raped a woman in 2021.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Australian economy
Peter Dutton’s plan to ditch 2030 emissions target would drive up power bills, Penny Wong says
Comments come after opposition leader claims higher grocery prices are result of Labor ‘not taking into account gas and nuclear’
- Disastrous, dark shadow, destroys our economy: five climate elders on Dutton’s emissions stance
- Then and now: what Dutton and the Coalition used to say about a 2030 emissions target
- Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Penny Wong has warned that ditching 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets would lead to higher electricity prices as Peter Dutton foreshadowed an election campaign fought on energy policy.
The opposition leader told Sky News on Sunday that energy would be a “big difference between the two parties as we head into the next election”, a week after backing away from Australia’s legislated 2030 emissions target of a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels.
Continue reading...Australian banks to alert customers on interest rate moves under changes to get savers better deals
Move comes after consumer watchdog found banks were using pricing strategies that were highly complex or took advantage of the tendency to set and forget
People will be alerted each time their interest rate moves and when promotional offers expire under a suite of changes aimed at prodding bank customers to snag a better deal.
The federal government plans to act on a number of recommendations from two Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reports that found bank customers could earn and save more if not for barriers stopping them switching to better offers.
Continue reading...Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened
This blog is now closed
The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.
Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.
I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?
This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.
Continue reading...Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says
Follow the day’s news live
- Two NSW police officers charged with assaulting 92-year-old man in Sydney
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Chalmers asked about findings that jobseekers unable to afford ‘basics of life’
The treasurer Jim Chalmers was up on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, asked about new Anglicare data showing Australians on income support are “structurally unable to afford the basics of life”.
This is the primary motivation for the substantial cost of living relief that we’re providing in the budget. Whether it is the tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, help with student debt and cheaper medicines, plus the increases to jobseeker – which were in the budget before last – all of these are important ways that we can not just understand and acknowledge the pressures that people are under, but actually respond to them.
Continue reading...Australia’s unemployment rate dips to 4% as economy adds 40,000 new jobs
Jobless rate eases as employers shrug off rising costs to keep adding to their workforces
- Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Australia’s unemployment rate eased last month as employers shrugged off rising costs including higher interest bills to keep adding to their workforces.
The jobless rate was 4% in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with economists’ predictions and was a slight drop from April’s 4.1%.
Continue reading...New ‘targeted’ search in Samantha Murphy investigation – as it happened
This blog is now closed.
- Bacchus Marsh Grammar: Victorian premier blasts ‘disgraceful’ conduct after AI fake nude photo allegations
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Sydney’s light rail network disrupted today amid industrial action
A reminder for Sydney commuters that the light rail network will be disrupted today amid planned industrial action.
Recent estimates have Australians consuming around 3,300,000 bags of cocaine per year, with every single one of them bought off the black market. There is no way of knowing whether any of them have been cut with deadly substances like fentanyl or nitazene.
We have to acknowledge that the majority of people who use cocaine do so recreationally and there is absolutely no chance of stopping people using the drug. We therefore need to consider all options to reduce harm, including regulating cocaine in a similar way to how we regulate alcohol.
Continue reading...Australian capital city rents have biggest monthly fall in over four years but crisis ‘far from over’
Sydney house rents still nation’s highest but an expected rise in vacancy rates this winter could provide some relief to tenants, expert says
- Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Average asking rents in Australia’s capital cities fell 0.5% in May, the largest percentage monthly decline in more than four years.
New data released by SQM property research shows the fall in average capital city rents – to $723 in May – was the largest monthly percentage decline on that measure since April 2020.
Continue reading...Australia news live: Dutton suggests Coalition won’t provide 2030 emissions target before election5; Qld state budget announcement today
Opposition leader says Coalition will ‘make our announcements in relation to our targets in due course’. Follow today’s news headlines live
Murray Watt says the opposition has “started the new climate wars” after Barnaby Joyce and Keith Pitt, two senior Nationals, called for Australia to pull out of the Paris agreement. You can read more on this from Karen Middleton below:
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Watt said:
We’re back to the same old climate wars in the Coalition. I saw overnight that [Joyce and Pitt] openly called for the Coalition to pull out of the Paris agreement. They’ve spent the last couple of days trying to paper over the cracks in the Coalition, saying that they can withdraw the target without withdrawing from the agreement. Now it’s out there in the open for everyone to see. And you can set your clock by Barnaby Joyce causing new climate wars within the Coalition. It’s seem like we’re back to the bad old days.
We’re on track to get to 42%, which is only 1% short of the 43% target.
Continue reading...Shannon Fentiman referred to Queensland ethics committee over ‘cross your legs’ stoush – as it happened
This blog is now closed
- IT expert wins long-running freedom of information court battle over robodebt documents
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Max-Chandler Mather weighs in on Bandt’s potential legal action against attorney-general
Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about the ongoing stoush between his party and Labor, with Adam Bandt threatening legal action against the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, over comments on pro-Palestine protests.
Asking me to comment on the specifics of a case like that – outrageous comments by the attorney general, completely baseless and without fact … this is an attempt to distract from the fact that the Labor government is complicit in a genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.
Continue reading...Politics live: question time claims and counter-claims over Australia’s military ties with Israel
Follow all the day’s news live
- Robodebt: national corruption watchdog won’t investigate officials referred by royal commission
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Going fully electric would save households more than $600 a year for next four decades, report says
Households would save an average of $608 a year for the next 40 years if new residential buildings in New South Wales were required to be fully electric, according to a report commissioned by climate organisation 350 Australia.
It cuts energy bills for local residents and small businesses during a cost of living crisis and reduces climate pollution, at almost no cost to councils. It will be low-income people and renters who will benefit most from council-led electrification.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: $600,000 speechwriter not responsible for Bill Shorten’s ‘zingers’, Matt Keogh says
Workplace relations minister Tony Burke has conceded role wouldn’t ordinarily be paid that much. Follow today’s news headlines live
For a bit of a change of pace, you may enjoy this essay from Malcolm Turnbull in Foreign Affairs, where he outlines how he believes world leaders can deal with a second Trump presidency.
Turnbull bases a lot of his arguments on his own dealings with Donald Trump while prime minister. He runs through the infamous refugee deal phone call (the transcript of which was leaked) and the trade back-and-forths over tariffs.
The caricature of Trump as a one-dimensional, irrational monster is so entrenched that many forget that he can be, when it suits him, intelligently transactional. Like most bullies, he will bend others to his will when he can, and when he cannot, he will try to make a deal. But to get to the deal-making stage, Trump’s counterparts have to stand up to the bullying first.
I would certainly like to see the performance lifted. I would like to see better outcomes, particularly for the more vulnerable cohorts.
We also have work going on, in response to a parliamentary inquiry into the employment services system, going on in parallel to overseeing this new system.
Continue reading...Minimum wage workers in Australia to get a 3.75% pay rise over the next 12 months
Annual increase compares with 4.1% pace of wage price index growth in year to March
- Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Australia’s lowest-paid workers will collect a pay rise of 3.75% in the coming year, a result likely to please the Reserve Bank but dismay unions who sought a 5% rise.
The Fair Work Commission announced the 2024-25 decision for minimum and award wages on Monday. The increase affects about one in four employees from 1 July.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: government has discretion over acting on ICC arrest warrants, officials say
Meanwhile, government to rewrite visa cancellation rules after independent tribunal gave non-citizens with serious criminal convictions their visas back. Follow the day’s news live
- Criminals facing deportation from Australia have had their visas restored. How did this happen and who is to blame? | Explainer
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Andrew Giles was asked why he wasn’t told about what was happening with his directive in the tribunals – why there weren’t meetings to receive updates.
He said there were meetings with his department which were taking place “pretty regularly”.
What has been unacceptable is the fact that these AAT decisions to set aside cancellations that were made under section 99 that were made by this government by my department – we were not advised, I was not told that these cancellations had been overturned by the tribunal.
That’s the issue that I’m deeply concerned about. And that’s what I’m focusing on fixing now.
There are around 30 that I’ve called up as a matter of absolute urgency and they are dealt with through the day and night.
I’m gonna get to the bottom of this – a protocol that I put in place was not adhered to, that is entirely unsatisfactory. As I said, I’m now focused on dealing with the urgent issue which is the cancellation consideration, I put in place a new protocol and I want to get to the bottom of what happened and why.
Continue reading...MP urges colleagues not to use Gaza as ‘opportunity to gain votes’ – as it happened
This blog is now closed.
- Labor reverses course on ministerial ruling that saw criminals given visas
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
WA shooter’s daughter says police ‘ignored’ warnings
Social services minister Amanda Rishworth has been asked about the powerful statement Ariel Bombara released yesterday, claiming Western Australian police had “ignored” warnings from her and her mother that their lives were under threat.
By that point we felt completely helpless and I had to focus on getting mum to safety. I did everything I could to protect my mother, and when my father couldn’t find us he murdered her best friend and her best friend’s daughter.
Rents have surged in Australia’s capital cities, with only 5.9% of city overall rentals now costing less than $400 a week.
At the start of the pandemic, one in five house rentals in Sydney cost less than $400 a week – that figure is now one in 50.
In Melbourne, one in 25 house rentals now costs less than $400.
The national share of rentals available under $400 dropped by one third annually to just 10.4%.
ACT had the smallest share of properties listed to rent under $400 at 2.1%, followed by Sydney (3.8%) and Perth (5.6%).
Melbourne saw the largest annual decline in the share of houses listed for less than $400 a week, followed by Adelaide and Sydney.
In regional markets, only 16.3% per cent of houses were advertised for under $400 a week in April.
Regional WA (14.8%) had the smallest portion of homes listed to rent below $400 of the regions, followed by regional Queensland (15.8%) and regional NSW (21.5%).
Continue reading...Australia politics live: cabinet ‘crafting the offer’ for next election, PM tells caucus; transport department boss quizzed over Taylor Swift shirt
Anthony Albanese reminds his colleagues that government now in the final 12 months of its first term. Follow the day’s news live
‘Last 24 hours only reinforces need’ for immediate humanitarian ceasefire, return of hostages and aid access, Conroy says
Pat Conroy was also asked about Israel’s assault on a refugee camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah.
Well, we’re incredibly concerned by what we saw in Rafah. And that’s why we’ve been continuing to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We’ve also called for an immediate return of all hostages that Hamas have taken. And the immediate opening of access so we can get massive amounts of humanitarian support into the Gaza. So immediate humanitarian ceasefire, release of hostages and immediate flow of aid is critical. That’s the Australian government’s position and you’re absolutely right, what we’ve seen overnight or over the last 24 hours only reinforces the need for those three things.
No, to be quite frank, we don’t. The Papua New Guinean government has asked the UN agencies to coordinate partner countries and those assessments are going on right now. But this is an incredibly inaccessible part of Papua New Guinea. And it’s a really challenging process for everyone.
Continue reading...Australia news live: aged care Covid vaccination rates ‘disappointingly low’, chief medical officer warns
This blog is now closed.
- Zachary Rolfe accused of ‘racist’ assault weeks before fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker, inquest told
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Malinauskas can’t ‘overstate the complexity’ of Aukus endeavour
Peter Malinauskas said his visit to the United States “unequivocally” confirmed what a massive challenge it will be to develop a workforce of 30,000 at the Osborne shipyard to build nuclear-powered submarines.
I don’t think I could possibly overstate the complexity of the task that is before us, simply because it is the most complex machine that has ever been built in human history.
And that is everything from developing the skills that are required at a vocational level but also the university level, but similarly making sure that we’re starting to upskill existing parts of the naval shipbuilding supply chain, amongst others who can participate in this process. And South Australia industry alone has got more than enough work on its hands for me to be able to say, as a premier, [it’s] time to sort of abandon the parochial nature of industrial policy we see between states around defence and instead invite everyone to lift their eyes and look what is important for the national effort in this regard.
We know that building nuclear submarines is going to take a national enterprise and a national effort, but our ambitions to be able to build these submarines domestically requires a supply chain and an industry that are capable of delivering the parts that are required.
Now, in order to be able to do that, I think as a first big step – we’ve got to see if we can’t participate in the nuclear submarine supply chain in advance of the … Aukus submarines construction commencing later this decade. So, what we’ve negotiated with [HII], that builds the Virginia class submarines, is an opportunity for South Australian suppliers to supply to the Virginia class program.
Continue reading...Australia news live: students at two universities pack up pro-Palestine camps; Queensland rejects carbon capture project over aquifer fears
Follow the day’s news live
- Daniel Duggan loses fight against extradition to US over allegedly training Chinese pilots, magistrate rules
- Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Taiwan interested in critical-minerals trade with Australia
Taiwan’s representative to Australia, Douglas Hsu, spoke to ABC RN just earlier about China’s military drills around Taiwan and trading with Australia.
We will continue to show our interest in engaging with Australia on the trade front. I think in the past few months, especially on critical minerals, I had a few opportunities to travel to West Australia and Northern Territory to talk with the businessman in the critical minerals industries.
I found that well, first of all, I was very surprised or impressed by the scale of Australia’s mining industry, and we’ll definitely look forward to bringing more Taiwanese business to work even more closely with Australian partners.
It’s really about ensuring services can do early work that can stop children from experiencing harm, helping kids before they get to crisis point and intervening early to break that cycle of violence and abuse.
Continue reading...Government plan to fix ‘robotax fiasco’ doesn’t go far enough, critics say
Compensation needed for those who have already paid debts incurred before 2017, independent MP says
A federal government plan to unwind a “callous” tax campaign designed to extract historical debts does not go far enough and should include compensation for those who were unfairly pressured into making payments, critics of the scheme say.
The ATO program dubbed “robotax” was designed to raise as much as $15.2bn by pursuing an assortment of debts – many of which were inadvertently accrued decades ago and had been hidden from taxpayers.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: Ed Husic says Coalition position on ICC arrest warrants is ‘staggering’; Plibersek in rogue microphone mishap during Sky News interview
Labor minister says Peter Dutton’s opposition ‘wants to pick what law and order it’ll follow’
Ed Husic details government’s new battery strategy
The industry and science minister, Ed Husic, has been speaking to ABC RN about the government’s newly unveiled national battery strategy. As Karen Middleton reports, the strategy is aimed at turning Australia from a “dig-and-ship” economy that sells off its critical minerals into a powerhouse manufacturer of better and safer renewable energy storage.
China is obviously the biggest producer [and] a lot of countries are recognising that their dependency on that concentrated supply chain isn’t in [their] national interest longer-term. If there are disruptions to that supply, either accidental or otherwise, we’re left vulnerable and these are in terms of the batteries themselves – they’re complex in nature. It’s also driven by software, so we need to have safe and secure batteries, energy storage systems, longer term.
Continue reading...