Australia news live: only 54.3% of Virgin flights and 66.3% of Qantas flights on time last month, transport minister says

‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live

‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.

Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.

The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.

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Australia news live: Natasha Fyles resigns as Northern Territory chief minister; PM to visit north Queensland flood zones on Thursday

Follow the latest updates live

Communities urged to exercise caution amid ‘huge volumes of water’

QFES commissioner Steve Smith has also made some comments on the flood situation up in Queensland.

There’s still huge volumes of water moving down through the systems, so at different points on the water, in the water catchments, they’re going to have rises. So we need people to stay informed, and they’ve done a great job in doing that. So we want that to continue with the support from community.

No. So we have commenced a search and rescue investigation into that. Degarra was one of the communities we couldn’t get into yesterday, but we have been speaking to a local man where there were a number of rescues completed yesterday in Degarra. So we have dispatched the water police vessel this morning, which left in the early hours of this morning and is on the way to that location. And in addition to that, we’ve now got rescue helicopters going that way as well.

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Tax ombudsman criticises ATO’s robotax for not considering ‘financial vulnerability’ of recipients

Karen Payne says the debt notices had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require the government implementing a legislative fix

Australia’s tax ombudsman says the government should consider putting time limits on debt collection and ensure that people are not put into hardship after an ATO campaign to resurrect thousands of historical debts caused widespread distress and confusion.

Karen Payne, the country’s top tax bureaucrat in charge of the complaints management service, said the ATO campaign to extract the debts from tax refunds had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require a legislative fix.

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Do you know more? Email jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com

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Australians may get more cost-of-living relief in the next budget, Jim Chalmers says

Exclusive: Treasurer says government working on measures to ease the squeeze as well as policies to accelerate transition to net-zero emissions

Jim Chalmers has said Australians could receive more help with cost-of-living relief in the budget next May and confirmed the government is working up new policy measures to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.

In an end-of-year interview with Guardian Australia following the release this week of the mid-year budget update, the treasurer said the government would consider further interventions to help households between now and the May budget as long as measures didn’t fuel inflationary pressure, which has been moderating.

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Australian news live: major Victorian road project blows out by more than $10bn; backing UN Gaza ceasefire vote the ‘right call’, PM says

PM says: ‘Hamas can have no role in the future governance of of Gaza, and we need to work towards a political solution.’ Follow the day’s news live

Focus on mental health

The government will be injecting $456m into digital mental health services – including Lifeline and Beyond Blue – to give people to with anxiety and depression better access to mental health services.

Some people go through situational distress through a relationship breakdown or a job loss or bereavement, and they need relatively short periods of support. They might not have a diagnosable mental illness, but they’re certainly distressed and they need support and that really is what the digital investment we’re looking at today is particularly targeted that there are people who go through periods of anxiety and depression and better access.

There’s definitely a gap there for people with more complex needs, but better access which is the scheme that provides Medicare rebates for psychological therapy, the one that we’re talking about, that is not designed to pick up those people and really we need to find alternative systems of support for them.

That is really the concerning growing area of need in the country, not just here in Australia and other countries as well.

They’re now close to $100 a session on average, but there’s many that are higher than that as you indicate. So affordability is a driver of inequity as well and so we’re looking at ways in which we can put out different systems for people who just don’t have the capacity to pay those sorts of gap fees.

We’ve made clear that we will always make the ADF available to states and territories when it’s needed. But we do need to have some other options in place.

We’re a lot better prepared as a country than we were heading into black summer four years ago.

At the federal level, things have significantly changed. We’ve now got one coordinated Emergency Management Agency rather than responsibilities being split between different agencies. We’ve started building a national emergency management stockpile for the very first time, we’ve got the largest fleet of firefighting aircraft that Australia’s ever seen.

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Tropical Cyclone Jasper live update tracker: category 2 storm hits North Qld, more than 14,000 homes lose power, BoM radar track map – latest

BoM tracker map shows forecast path of category 2 cyclone will hit north of Cairns and Port Douglas on the Queensland coast at about 1pm with heavy rain, 140km/h winds and storm surge predicted. Follow the latest Australia news and weather updates today

Ceasefire ‘can’t be one-sided’

Emergency management minister Murray Watt is also speaking to ABC RN this morning, and was asked about the PM’s joint letter with his New Zealand and Canadian counterparts urging a ceasefire.

[It] shows that we want to work with like-minded countries towards what would be a just and enduring peace. I think the whole world has been pleased to see the release of hostages and the pause in hostilities that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, but what we need to do is move towards a sustainable ceasefire …

I think everyone who watches this conflict unfolds on their television screens, is really disturbed about the loss of life that we’re seeing go on at the moment.

I think that’s the value that a country like Australia can play here by really taking that even-handed approach that does call out the abhorrent behaviour by Hamas, but also as a friend of Israel, calls on them to respect international humanitarian law.

We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.

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Stronger than expected budget position to fuel calls for cost of living relief, economists say

Majority of additional revenue disclosed in mid-year budget update likely to be banked to avoid further stoking inflation

The Albanese government’s mid-year budget update will reveal a fiscal “sweet spot” fuelled by strong commodity prices, population growth and a resilient labour market, economists say.

But experts believe the government is likely to play down the positive budget position in order to curb calls for more cost of living relief that could stoke inflation and keep interest rates higher for longer.

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Australia news live: ABC cancels The Drum; two feared dead in NSW plane crash

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Education review due

Education minister Jason Clare spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier about the much-anticipated review into Australia’s education system, released today.

You talk about entrenched disadvantage in our schools, this report tells us we’ve got one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD, not by the colour of your skin but the size of your parents’ pay packet. Children are more likely to fall behind at school if they’re from a poor family and from the bush, but if they’re at a school where a lot of people are experiencing disadvantage it’s even harder to catch up. There’s a number of things we need to do to turn that around.

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Australia news live: Shannon Fentiman announces tilt at Queensland Labor leadership

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Palaszczuk made decision ‘in the interest of the state’, Swan says

ALP national secretary Wayne Swan has spoken to ABC RN about Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s resignation announcement yesterday.

That’s always ever present for any leader at any time but I think she made the decision in the interest of the state and I think in her own interest as well.

I think people are sensibly discussing what the options are and if one candidate has a pretty clear majority then I think it would be unlikely that you’d see a battle, because it would simply be very difficult for the government over a period of time when they need to re-establish a leader in the job.

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Labor targets student and some worker visas in overhaul of Australia’s temporary migration program

Government says temporary migration system is ‘broken’ and changes to student and skilled worker visas are needed to address exploitation

The Albanese government will lift the bar for international students and some workers to get a visa and as it seeks to overhaul what it says is Australia’s “broken” temporary migration program.

A new 10-year temporary migration strategy to be released on Monday will include moves to crack down on the use of student visas as a “back door” entry for employers looking to import low-skilled workers, while the government will also create new visas targeting highly skilled workers, particularly those in growth industries. It comes with the government flagging that overseas migration has peaked and is set to fall in the next 12 months.

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Foreign investors who snap up Australian homes to face higher taxes

Fees for foreign investors who leave properties vacant will double and taxes will triple for those who buy existing houses

Foreign investors in Australia will face higher fees and steeper penalties for buying existing homes and leaving them empty as the government aims to address housing affordability.

The federal government on Sunday announced new rules tripling taxes for foreigners who buy existing houses in Australia and a doubling in fees for those who leave dwellings vacant.

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Final question time of the year – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

MPs don casual wear for late-night sitting

Given the late sitting (the house has been doing “family friendly” hours for most of the year, which has made sittings past 8pm or 8.30pm rare) there were a few more casual looks on the benches than we are used to.

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There are 26 jobseekers for every entry-level position in Australia, report finds

Anglicare chief says its survey shows more than half a million people are being ‘left behind’, with demand for starter jobs outstripping supply across country

A lack of suitable jobs and a trend towards insecure work is locking hundreds of thousands of people in poverty, according to a new report that finds there are 26 jobseekers for every entry-level position in Australia.

Anglicare’s annual Jobs Snapshot found that of the 26 people out of work for each entry-level position, 18 are technically “long-term” unemployed, meaning they have been out of the workforce for more than 12 months.

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Bracket creep is cooling Australia’s economy – it’s good news for interest rates but not for household budgets

The weak economy probably means the next RBA rates move – short of an inflation surprise next month – will be a cut

Philip Lowe used his final speech as Reserve Bank governor to call on fiscal policy to “provide a stronger helping hand” in managing inflation so the central bank didn’t have to carry most of the load – and the ire.

“Raising interest rates and tightening policy can make you very unpopular, as I know all too well,” Lowe said on 7 September, 10 days before many battling borrowers cheered him out the door.

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Jim Chalmers open to clean energy investment reforms pushed by super funds

Treasurer says government ‘committed to consider’ proposals, including concessional finance to bankroll new transmission infrastructure

Jim Chalmers has signalled the Albanese government is open to considering sweeping reforms being championed by industry superannuation funds to unlock billions in private capital to fund Australia’s clean energy transition.

After meeting on Tuesday with banks, venture capital firms, super funds and investor groups in Canberra, the treasurer told journalists he had committed to consider specific measures proposed by AustralianSuper, cbus, HostPlus, CareSuper, Hesta, UniSuper and the behemoth Australian fund IFM Investors.

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Australia news live: Reserve Bank to deliver year’s last interest rates decision as economists tip no change

Poll finds 28 of 30 economists expect central bank to keep cash rate steady at 4.35%. Follow the day’s news live

Good morning, and happy Tuesday.

I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be with you on the blog today – many thanks to Martin for kicking things off.

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Dutton urges PM to put preventive detention on national cabinet agenda – as it happened

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Assistant climate change minister asked whether Australia ‘can be taken seriously’ without fossil fuel phase-out promise

The assistant minister for climate change and energy, Jenny McAllister, was also making the rounds this morning amid the Cop28 summit.

We, of course, are working towards transforming our national electricity system to incorporate 82% renewables by 2030. This is a really ambitious transformation, but one that we believe will lay the foundations for a cleaner and more affordable energy system for Australians.

If you think about what it means to take our energy system from 33% renewables to 82%, that does mean that our fossil fuel use within our own energy system at home is changing very dramatically over the course of a decade.

We know that globally, we need to see similar changes and similar investments in the new technologies to drive low emissions power, not just here in Australia, but actually, right across the world.

… or any electorate around the country where it is proven to be technologically feasible, has a social licence and it is going to get prices down.

We have to be humble enough at these conferences at Cop to say what are other countries doing? What peer countries are doing is they are saying we are looking at nuclear energy as part of the balanced mix.

We must in Australia be driven not by ideology, but by economics and engineering and learn from those countries and that includes consideration for zero emissions nuclear energy, and people may be arguing all they like, but we will be very open and transparent as we always have been.

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Stage set for national cabinet clash over GST – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

The NSW Australian Paramedics Association will take part in a 12-hour strike today, from 7am to 7pm, despite the threat of legal action.

Members will still attend emergency “lights and sirens” jobs as part of an ongoing pay dispute.

We want to assure the public that emergencies will still be attended to, with our focus intensifying on life-threatening cases.

Our decision to limit responses to non-emergency jobs enhances our capacity to manage critical cases.

Facing potential legal repercussions and a substantial fine of up to $20,000 per day, our commitment remains firm.

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Industry super funds warn slow transition to net zero puts Australia at risk of losing ‘attractive’ investments

A new report argues that $12bn a year on average between now and 2050 will be required to transition to renewable energy

Industry super funds have warned the Albanese government that Australia’s energy transition risks falling behind as big funds chase more compelling investment opportunities in the US, UK and Europe.

AustralianSuper, cbus, HostPlus, CareSuper, HESTA and UniSuper have co-authored a new report with Australian fund IFM Investors calling for more favourable investment conditions underwritten by taxpayers to unlock private capital for the domestic transition to net zero emissions.

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Australia politics live: Albanese says Israel-Hamas war protest at Melbourne hotel ‘beyond contempt’

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Chalmers: ‘We are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation’

Is Jim Chalmers confident that interest rates could fall from next year?

My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. And we saw overnight from the OECD, we saw from Deloitte Access Economics, we saw in the Bureau of Statistics data which came out yesterday, that we are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation and that will determine the future directory trajectory of interest rates

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