Good afternoon. The fallout from the Aukus submarine pact continues, with Malcolm Turnbull the latest former PM to criticise the deal.
Turnbull questioned the merit of partnering with the UK given their economy faces “existential problems”. “You’ve got to ask yourself whether Britain is going to be able to sustain investment in its navy and its military in the years ahead,” he said.
The high-profile rift among Labor figureheads rolls on, with Anthony Albanese saying he “fundamentally” disagreed with Paul Keating’s view, adding that Keating’s remarks yesterday at the National Press Club “diminish him”.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency says it will insist on inspecting Australia’s future nuclear submarines to ensure no fissile material is diverted.
Important reading: Keating attacked the Nine newspapers for what he called a “provocative” series warning of war with China. Nine Entertainment defended the series as an attempt to broaden the China debate in a manner independent of government. But was it truly independent, or merely echoes from a hawkish defence establishment eager to derail foreign affairs minister Penny Wong’s attempts to stabilise relations with China? The award-winning journalist Margaret Simons investigates.
Top news
Global banking fears | The Swiss central bank will loan embattled giant Credit Suisse $81.5bn a day after its share price plummeted to a record low. That wasn’t enough, however, to assuage fears of a broader crisis in the global banking sector. Asian stocks slid, as did shares in Australia’s big banks, which were down about 2% in early trading today.
New Zealand recession? | The economy shrank 0.6% in the December quarter – larger than predicted by any of New Zealand’s major banks. Annually, GDP is still growing, up 2.4% year on year. If the downturn continues this quarter, it would mean New Zealand is about six months into a recession. To be considered “in recession”, the economy has to record negative GDP growth for two consecutive quarters.
Unemployment rate falls | Australia’s economy added almost 65,000 jobs in February, more than economists expected, indicating hiring was holding up amid the record run of interest rate rises. The jobless rate fell to 3.5%, compared with January’s reported 3.7%.
Bruce Lehrmann ‘millions’ text | Lehrmann (pictured) allegedly sent a text to his then girlfriend on 15 February 2021 that he could obtain millions in a defamation claim if he was named in the media, a court has heard. “If I’m named tonight, he says I’m up for millions as defamation,” the text read. Lehrmann, who was giving evidence in person today, explained that he was trying to placate his girlfriend. Lehrmann is seeking to sue Network Ten and News Corp over their reporting of Brittany Higgins’s allegations of rape two years ago, allegations which he has consistently and vehemently denied.
Latitude cyber-attack | Consumer lender Latitude Financial has been hit by a “sophisticated and malicious cyber-attack” that has resulted in the theft of more than 100,000 identification documents and 225,000 customer records. The non-bank lender, which offers personal loans and credit to customers shopping at such stores as JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, said in a statement that most of the identification documents were copies of driver’s licences.
US threatens to ban TikTok | The Biden administration is reportedly threatening to ban the popular social platform unless its Chinese owners divest their stakes. It’s the latest and most dramatic move in a series of escalations driven by fears that US user data held by the company could be passed on to China’s government.
Israel civil war warning | Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, says civil war “is within touching distance”. His comments come amid continued mass protests against the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to weaken the judiciary. Netanyahu has previously said overhauling the judiciary has nothing to do with his corruption trial.
Latest Banksy mural smashed | The site of Banksy’s latest work (pictured), an outside wall of a derelict farmhouse in the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent, has been demolished. The work was confirmed in three photographs posted on Wednesday on the anonymous street artist’s Instagram account.
Full Story
How did robodebt collect debts unlawfully for five years?
Hearings into the royal commission into robodebt have just wrapped up, and we’ve learned a lot. Guardian Australia’s social affairs and inequality editor, Luke Henriques-Gomes, goes through the key moments of the inquiry in this 30-minute episode.
What they said …
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“If we can afford to spend $400bn on submarines, we can afford to fix Medicare.”- Daniel Andrews
In numbers
$520k – that’s what the median house price would be in Melbourne if they had risen in line with wage growth over the last 20 years. It’s currently at $842k. For Sydney, the difference is even more stark, with the current median house price sitting at $1.2m. It would be $836k if house prices grew in parallel with wages. Certainly puts housing affordability into perspective.
Before bed read
What would you do if you discovered a doppelganger was making mint on OnlyFans? Well, the UK broadcaster Adrian Chiles has written a must-read column about his impersonator – a bloke from Leeds named Mike.
“Someone paid me £500 to read out Chiles’ column in the Guardian while performing a sex act on myself. I thought at the time: ‘This is weird’,” he writes. “Weird, Mike? Do you really think so? He’s getting paid more for doing what he said he was doing while reading out my column than I got for writing it. What’s the world coming to?”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: READ. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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