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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Natasha May and Emily Wind (earlier)

Bridge reopens after fatal crash – as it happened

Australia Ukraine Pat Conroy BCA Andrew Wilkie David McBride Mark Dreyfus Labor NATO
Emergency services respond to a multi-vehicle collision on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Thursday.
Emergency services respond to a multi-vehicle collision on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Thursday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

What we learned - Thursday 17 October

It’s time to start winding down our live news coverage for the day. Here’s what’s been keeping us busy:

Thank you for joining us today. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. Take care!

Updated

NSW government previews Opera House illumination ahead of Royal visit

Here’s a preview of the light installation that will be displayed on the Sydney Opera House to coincide with the arrival of King Charles III and Queen Camilla this weekend.

The New South Wales government has released images of the photo montage it will project on the Opera House’s sails after testing it out early this morning:

The building will be lit up with a four-minute photo montage depicting the king’s and queen’s previous visits to NSW and Australia from 8pm Friday:

The government has said members of the public will have the opportunity to see the British royals at the Opera House forecourt at 4.20pm next Tuesday, 22 October.

Updated

Staff ‘furious’ as ANU announces more job cuts

The Australian National University has announced a further 108 job losses after earlier this month cutting 50 positions, leaving staff “furious”.

The ANU revealed the changes today as part of ongoing restructure efforts, which will also see 21 new roles created.

The university on Tuesday also asked staff to forgo an agreed pay rise to save jobs, which the National Tertiary Education Union’s ACT Division Secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy claimed would not work:

It is staggering that a Vice Chancellor thinks they can convince staff that giving up their pay will save jobs, while at the same time announcing further job cuts.

The NTEU ANU branch president, Millan Pintos-Lopez, said ANU staff were “furious that a vice-chancellor is promising to save jobs while cutting them”.

Last week the ANU Council gave directions to the chancellery to reduce the university’s recurring cost base by $250m by the end of 2025, including $100m in staff expenditure.

The NTEU estimated that a $100m cut will end up leaving a total of 638 full-time equivalent staff out of work.

An ANU spokesperson said staff affected by the proposed changes had been advised prior to today’s staff meetings. In an email to the community, the vice-chancellor, Genevieve Bell, encouraged staff to engage in consultation processes and seek support:

I urge you to seek support in whatever form you need – including the staff supports provided through our wellbeing teams. Change can be deeply unsettling, and the safety and wellbeing of staff is of paramount importance.

You can read more on ANU’s finances below:

Updated

Sydney Harbour Bridge reopens but drivers warned to avoid area

We have some breaking news at the conclusion of that press conference.

Two lanes of the Sydney Harbour Bridge have been reopened after extensive delays, the coordinator-general of Transport for NSW, Howard Collins, has confirmed.

Just as the press conference was wrapping up, Collins was alerted traffic was resuming in a limited fashion on the bridge. But he warned with cars backed up for 12km, it was best for drivers to avoid the bridge and take diverted routes.

Updated

Jordan Rosser, NSW Ambulance’s acting zone manager for Sydney, said a helicopter came to the scene of the Sydney Harbour Bridge crash and assessed four people at the scene. They found two people deceased and a further two people were transported to Royal North Shore hospital in a stable condition.

Updated

Drivers told to ‘avoid the area’ of Harbour Bridge

NSW authorities are urging Sydneysiders to avoid the area around the Sydney Harbour Bridge after today’s crash. Both north and southbound lanes remain closed. The coordinator-general of Transport for NSW, Howard Collins, told the press conference the traffic may be protracted even if lanes open to clear for the afternoon peak.

Updated

NSW government employee arrested over alleged sexual assaults

Police allege a man used his position as a NSW government employee to arrange for two women to meet him, where they were sexually assaulted.

The man, aged 54, will face court today in Penrith after being arrested this morning at a home in Windsor, on Sydney’s north-western edge. He was taken to the local police station and refused bail.

Police were investigating reports that a 41-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in August. During the investigation, detectives spoke with a 55-year-old woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted at a Concord home in March.

The man is charged with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent, carry out sexual act with another without consent, and intentionally record intimate image without consent.

Updated

NSW police are also holding a press conference this hour with more information about the fatal crash which has closed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Our reporter Caitlin Cassidy is at that press conference and informs us a 28-year-old man is in hospital in a stable condition.

Motorcyclist arrested at Harbour Bridge crime scene

A motorcyclist has also been arrested for allegedly riding through the crime scene at the Harbour Bridge, police say:

As emergency services were treating those at the scene, a motorcyclist allegedly rode through the crime scene. He was arrested and taken to Day Street Police Station where he is assisting with inquiries.

Updated

Second person dies after crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge

A second person has died after the crash on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, police say.

Emergency services were called to the bridge at about 1.40pm on Thursday, where they found three cars and a bus had collided. Police confirmed one man died at the scene and a second was in a critical condition.

In a statement released just now police said a second person had now died:

NSW Ambulance paramedics have treated multiple people for injuries; however, two men died at the scene.

They have not yet been formally identified.

The bus driver was uninjured, and no passengers were on board at the time.

Updated

Bombshell report reveals systemic bullying and harassment at Nine

We mentioned earlier the independent review commissioned by Nine Entertainment was due today. That report is now out and has revealed systemic bullying and harassment – you can read the full story from Amanda Meade:

Updated

People ‘languishing’ in hospital while waiting for NDIS care

Hundreds of people with disabilities are “languishing” in public hospitals while they wait for adequate support, leaving them vulnerable to harm and infection, AAP reports.

Workforce shortages and a lack of disability accommodation in rural areas has led to an increase in NDIS participants staying in hospital, the Western NSW Local Health District chief executive, Mark Spittal, said at an inquiry today.

NSW hospitals had 294 such people yet to be discharged in early October because no NDIS supports were in place or their assessments had not been finalised.

Spittal told the federal inquiry examining the experience of rural NDIS participants in Dubbo that hospitals were the support providers of last resort for people with disabilities:

That’s certainly not the place that somebody with a significant disability should be languishing. Their risk of acquiring infection, the risk of being marginalised because the acute care needs of somebody else in the ward will take predominance and, as a result, being unintentionally harmed are very, very high.

An NDIS assessment can take several weeks involving a number of health practitioners at a time when GPs in major regional centres had closed their books, he said.

If you’re a highly complex person with highly-complex disabilities needing access to primary care and you do not already have a (GP), your chances of being able to execute that are virtually zero.

People living with disabilities in small towns were also having to move and leave their families behind to access specialised support, he said.

Updated

Debris balls getting smaller, EPA says

The size of the debris balls vary between a marble and tennis ball, Stephen Beaman from the Environment Protection Authority tells press:

We are actually seeing, as we move away from the Coogee area, the size of the balls are getting smaller.

Probably getting a lot of wave action in the surf zone, breaking that material up.

  • This post has been updated to correct Stephen Beaman’s name.

Updated

NSW EPA analysing “quite unusual” tar ball debris

The NSW Environment Protection Authority is currently analysing samples of the black ball-shaped debris.

Stephen Beaman, EPA’s executive director of regulatory practice and services, confirms their tests results are matching up with those of Randwick city council’s.

Speaking from Coogee, Beaman told press:

We’ve had our specialists out collecting samples and having these samples analysed by our laboratories. We’re using this information to get further detail on what the nature of the material is, so we can use that to identify the … sources of contamination.

Beaman told press the material “is quite unusual,” and that “it is quite a fibrous material”. He said it has a hydrocarbon base.

He said it is too early to predict where it has come from, and clarified that oil can come from both boats and land sources.

  • This post has been updated to correct Stephen Beaman’s name and title.

Updated

Thanks Emily and good afternoon everyone!

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, I’ll hand over to Natasha May who will be with you for the next little while. Take care.

Circling back to the Sydney beach debris

Reverse and drift modelling will be used to consider the currents and wind in ascertaining where the black ball-shaped debris is coming from.

David Wood from NSW Maritime has told reporters:

We are also working with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to find where these contaminants may have come from. They will do reverse modelling and drift modelling, taking into account the currents and wind, for us to be able to work out whether it comes from south, north or east of NSW, to try and give better information on the likely source.

Updated

Weather agencies warning of severe storms, unsettled weather

The Bureau of Meteorology has published a severe weather update, with severe thunderstorms possible throughout central and southern Australia today.

The NSW SES has also shared an update, urging people in western parts of the state to prepare for unsettled weather in the coming few days.

Updated

NSW Maritime says they can’t see any more tar balls drifting towards Sydney beaches

NSW Maritime said they have seen no more sheen or balls drifting towards Sydney beaches, after black debris forced the closure of seven beaches.

Speaking to reporters from Coogee, David Wood from NSW Maritime said:

We’ve been working over the last two days with Port Authority of NSW.

We’ve had vessels out on our water. We can ensure that we can’t see any more sheen on that water. We also can’t see any more balls that are drifting in towards the beaches of the city, which is a good sign at the moment.

Updated

NSW Maritime coordinating response to debris on Sydney beaches

Daren Wood, director of NSW Maritime, and Stephen Beaman, executive director of regulatory practice and services for the NSW EPA, have addressed press a short while ago on the thousands of small black balls that have washed up on beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Speaking from Coogee, Wood said NSW Maritime is taking coordination of the incident.

They will be coordinating with Randwick City Council, EPA, the Port Authority and Australian Maritime Safety.

  • This post has been updated to correct Stephen Beaman’s name and title.

Updated

Cyber firm says it had to publicly ‘shame’ X into taking action on China-linked bot network

Cybersecurity firm CyberCX has told the Australian parliament it was forced to brief the government and media about a China-linked bot network of 5,000 accounts on X because the company was unable to report it to X directly.

The firm announced in August it had identified a network of at least 5,000 inauthentic X accounts almost certainly controlled by an AI large-language model-based system which the firm termed the Green Cicada Network.

They assessed that the system was designed, at least in part, to ‘launder’ politically divisive narratives by rewording organic content as new posts and replies and to amplify organic divisive content on X through engagement. It was primarily focused on US politics and culture but had also amplified hot-button political issues in Australia, the UK and other countries.

Speaking before a parliamentary inquiry on the Albanese government’s misinformation and disinformation bill, CyberCX’s executive director of corporate affairs, Jordan Newnham, said CyberCX it was difficult to report all 5,000 accounts to X, and CyberCX had been “banging our head against the wall” trying to contact X on it, so CyberCX reported the findings to government and then to media “basically just to shame X into taking action, which it looks like they have.”

Newnham said X had suspended some of the accounts, but the so-called “puppet master” account for the bot network had appeared to delete its own account. He said CyberCX had still yet to hear from X on the matter.

Updated

Hearing into government’s misinformation bill

International bodies voicing concern about issues and developments in Australia could fall afoul of the government’s misinformation bill, the Human Rights Commission has claimed, saying the controversial legislation created “doubt” over public debates.

A hearing into the bill, which is on its second run-through after being introduced then pulled and rewritten following strong public criticism, is being held today in Canberra. Lorraine Finlay, the Human Rights Commissioner, said the AHRC had concerns about how the bill would work.

The Coalition has said it will oppose the government’s bill. The Liberal senator Dave Sharma asked Finlay about whether she thought a body like the United Nations or the OECD voicing concerns about economic conditions in Australia, or bleaching of the coral reef, could fall foul of the misinformation laws – insofar as such claims could cause harm to public confidence in financial markets or have consequences for the Australian community, which are stipulations in the legislation.

“Potentially,” Findlay replied.

She said there was “doubt” about how comments from such international bodies would be treated – “and that doubt is really at the heart of the concerns we have about this legislation, that there isn’t a precision in the definitions that allow for clarity about who is in and who is out.”

The idea you’re even creating tiers of speech rights, is problematic from our perspective.

Finlay said the AHRC had concerns about the bill creating “uncertainty” over how various institutions could participate in public debate.

That uncertainty in our view, the real harm of it, it leads to the potential of over-censorship. Whether that’s by the platforms or indeed by individuals or organisations who might choose not to engage in speech that they otherwise would, because of a concern of whether they would be protected under the legislation or not.

Finlay raised concern over the breadth of the definitions in the bill, and what she called “vagueness” of the definitions.

Updated

Traffic banked up towards Sydney Harbour Bridge

Here is a look at the traffic banked up at the Sydney Harbour Bridge. According to Tripview, a route 207 bus is stuck in the traffic.

Sydney Harbour Bridge closed in both directions after crash

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is closed in both directions following a multi-vehicle, fatal collision this afternoon.

Emergency services and Transport for NSW are attending the scene, and a helicopter.

Heavy traffic conditions are being reported, with motorists told to expect significant delays, avoid the area and use an alternative route.

Motorists can consider using the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in both directions.

As we just reported, one person has died at the scene and a second is in a critical condition after the collision, which involved a bus that had no passengers on board at the time.

Updated

One person killed in multi-vehicle crash on Sydney Harbour Bridge

Emergency services are responding to a multi-vehicle collision on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

NSW Police said the incident involved three cars and a bus, around 1.40pm, and one person has died at the scene.

A second is in a critical condition, police said, with paramedics assessing a number of other patients.

The bus driver is uninjured, police said, and no passengers were on board at the time.

Eight ambulance resources responded, including a helicopter. Emergency services are still on the scene responding.

Updated

Tar balls now sighted at 11 Sydney beaches

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has inspected three beaches riddled with black balls and has observed balls at a further eight, taking the total number of affected beaches to 11.

EPA officers inspected Coogee Beach, Gordons Bay and Maroubra Beach this morning, all of which are fully or partially closed to the public.

Balls were also observed at Bondi, Bronte, Clovelly and Tamarama, which were closed earlier today, as well as Congong, Frenchmans, Little Bay and Malabar.

While Randwick council tests suggested the balls contained hydrocarbon, consistent with the makeup of tar balls, the EPA were yet to confirm the balls’ origins and potential risks to the community.

In a statement, the agency advised against swimming or touching any balls that may have washed ashore until clean-ups were complete.

The EPA encouraged the community to report further ball sitings to the NSW Environment Line on 131 555 or email info@epa.nsw.gov.au.

Updated

Randwick mayor provides update on beach closures, cannot confirm if they will reopen by weekend

The mayor of Randwick council, Dylan Parker, is providing an update on the beach closures, after tar balls washed ashore.

As we flagged just earlier, seven beaches across Sydney have now closed as a result. Parker said council was liaising with NSW Maritime and the NSW government.

There’ll be more from them later on to say … but our beaches will remain closed and we’re investigating other beaches along the Randwick local government area …

We had clean-up crews working at Coogee Beach. [It] looks pretty good but we’re still waiting on the tides to come in in order to investigate. It remains under investigation as to what the source of the contaminant is but we’ll update the community as things come to light.

He said the “approximately golf-sized black balls” have been washing up onto the shore at Coogee Beach “as recently as this morning”.

We don’t currently know what the situation will be on the weekend, but we’re having ongoing conversations … We’d love to be open, but we’re not in a position to say that just yet. What we like to do is thank the community for their patience while we go through this situation.

Updated

Shadow workplace relations minister on latest job figures

The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, was speaking to reporters from Melbourne just earlier about the latest job figures.

She said the 4.1% unemployment rate was “welcomed by the Coalition” but argued “when you look behind the figures, we are now seeing what are incredibly concerning trends.”

She said the growth was occurring in the public sector, not the private sector, and that the hours worked was also increased in the public sector but not the private.

The public sector jobs growth is now outpacing the private sector and that is because the Albanese government [is] great at creating public sector jobs, but not so good [at] motivating the private sector to create jobs.

Nine to hold all staff meeting at 4pm to outline culture review findings

All staff from Nine Entertainment’s television and newspaper divisions have been invited to an online briefing at 4pm today at which management will outline the findings of an independent cultural review.

It was commissioned after allegations of inappropriate behaviour and broader cultural issues in the television newsrooms were uncovered earlier this year.

The majority of the problems have occurred within the Channel Nine newsrooms and not the newsrooms of the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Acting chief executive officer Matt Stanton told staff the review by Intersection may be a challenging time for employees and confidential support is available. After staff have been briefed the findings will be made public.

Stanton replaced Nine’s former chief executive Mike Sneesby who commissioned the review in May. Former television news boss Darren Wick left the business earlier this year after allegations of inappropriate conduct.

Updated

'Undermines the democratic process': journalist responds after ACT opposition leader gives him the finger

The Riotact journalist to whom the ACT opposition leader, Elizabeth Lee, gave the middle finger has responded.

Journalist Ian Bushnell said he is frustrated at being made the centre of a viral news story, in a post published to Riotact.

I was just doing my job. It’s very awkward for a journalist to be at the centre of the story rather than just reporting on it.

Bushnell is a former news editor of the Canberra Times and said attacks on journalists were now more common than they were earlier in his career.

Trying to attack journalists for just doing their job is something the public should be extremely concerned about. It undermines the democratic process.

He also rejected any suggestion of being unprofessional, and said as a journalist he was “there to ask questions on behalf of the public”.

Ms Lee is the only politician I’ve had these sorts of exchanges with. I’m on good terms with everyone else, and I thought I was on good terms with her.

Updated

Murray Watt says jobs figures ‘remarkable achievement’

The employment and workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, was speaking in Melbourne earlier about today’s job figures.

He welcomed news that gains had lifted the number of extra jobs since the Albanese government took office to more than 1 million, and told reporters:

This is the most jobs ever created in a single parliamentary term by any Australian government ever. It’s the first time in Australian history that any government has created more than 1 million new jobs in a single parliamentary term … This is a remarkable achievement in the context of a slowing economy and a labour market that’s expected to soften.

NSW premier on closed Sydney beaches

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said eastern beaches had been closed “out of an abundance of caution” after tar balls washed ashore this week.

He said the public would be kept updated on the investigations being led by the NSW Environment Protection Authority. He said:

We need to make sure that we’re fully investigating. It’s an unusual occurrence on Sydney’s beaches. The EPA is leading those investigations. The council is responsible for closing down the beaches.

Updated

Three more Sydney beaches closed 'out of precaution' over tar balls

Three more Sydney beaches have been closed “out of precaution”, after mysterious tar balls have washed ashore.

Waverly Council said all of its beached were closed to the public today, after it was informed that “pea to marble size balls” were observed by EPA staff on Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches.

All beaches in the Waverly LGA would now be closed as a precaution, the council said, until further investigation has been carried out.

Mayor Will Nemesh said council would prioritise the safety of the community, and continue to monitor the situation closely:

The wellbeing of our community is paramount. That’s why council has taken the precaution to close our beaches.

The list of closed Sydney beaches now includes:

  • Clovelly Beach

  • The northern end of Maroubra Beach

  • Coogee Beach

  • Gordons Bay

  • Bondi Beach

  • Tamarama Beach

  • Bronte Beach

Updated

Aussie shares rally to second all-time high of the week

The local share market has set its second all-time high for the week and is on track for its best daily performance in five weeks, AAP reports.

At noon Aedt the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 81.4 points, or 0.98%, to 8,366.1, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 80 points, or 0.93%, to 8,636.6.

The ASX200 had been up by as much as 1.2% in late morning trading, but trimmed its gains after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported better-than-expected jobs data for September, with another 64,000 created.

Ten of the ASX’s 11 sectors were higher at midday, all except technology. The property sector was the biggest gainer, up 1.4% as Goodman Group advanced 2% and Charter Hall climbed 2.7%.

Westpac and NAB were leading the big four banks at midday, both up 1.2%. CBA had added 0.5% and ANZ was 0.7% higher. It was a bit of a more muted day for the heavyweight mining sector. BHP was up 0.2% and Rio Tinto and Fortescue had both climbed 0.3%.

The Australian dollar was buying 67.07 US cents, from 66.96 US cents at yesterday’s ASX close.

How a ‘putrid’ find in a museum cupboard could be the key to bringing the Tasmanian tiger back to life

Breakthroughs sometimes turn up in unexpected places. The researchers working on the international push to bring back the thylacine say theirs turned up in a long-ignored bucket in the back of a cupboard at a Melbourne museum.

It contained an astonishingly well-preserved head of the extinct marsupial, also known as the Tasmanian tiger – containing material the scientists thought would be impossible to find.

The project to bring back the thylacine is being driven by Colossal, a Texas-based biotechnology “de-extinction and species preservation” company that is also aiming to recreate the woolly mammoth and the dodo using genetic engineering techniques.

You can read more details about this project, below:

Chalmers cheers 1m jobs during Albanese government

As we flagged, the Albanese needed about an extra 23,000 jobs from the September data to pass the 1m mark since they took office in May 2022. The 64,100 that were added handily cleared that bar (subject to revisions).

Chalmers has chimed in and said:

This is the first and only time any government of any political persuasion has overseen the creation of a million new jobs in a single parliamentary term. We welcome the fact that the majority of these million new jobs are full time and around half are for women.

For what it’s worth, the comparison look like this (as of last August), so Chalmers’ office put out a month ago:

Still, the good news has an aftertaste: the RBA is looking for the jobs market to cool a bit to take out what it sees as excessive demand in the economy before it gets out its interest rate axe.

Anyway, you can follow on at home here as well:

Map of the Sydney beach closures after tar balls washed ashore

Circling back to news that two more Sydney beaches had closed, after tar balls washed ashore. The beaches that are currently closed are:

  • Clovelly Beach

  • The northern end of Maroubra Beach

  • Coogee beach

  • Gordons Bay

As Rafqa Touma reported just earlier, the four beaches will be closed until further notice.

Greens call on government to fund national anti-racism strategy

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, the deputy Greens leader and spokesperson for anti-racism, has called on the government to fund a national anti-racism strategy.

This follows the release of a report commissioned by the AHRC, with first-hand accounts revealing racism in Australia was “ubiquitous, insidious and profoundly damaging”. (You can read more earlier in the blog here).

In a statement, Faruqi said the report shows “racism is entrenched in Australia, and that it is rooted in settler colonialism and whiteness as an ideology and practice.”

Racism is rife across society - in government, in the media, in interactions with the police, in workplaces, in playgrounds. For how long will First Nations people and people of colour in this country be subjected to racism before it is acknowledged and systemically tackled by the government?

Instead of using ‘social cohesion’ as a distraction and a way of cracking down on legitimate protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Labor must fully fund the AHRC to urgently implement a national anti-racism strategy.

The Labor government can start today by mandating anti-racism training for all parliamentarians, to challenge white privilege which is at the core of racism in this country.

Two charged after investigation into suspicious fire on northern beaches

Two people have been charged after an investigation into an alleged suspicious fire on Sydney’s northern beaches last year, New South Wales Police said.

On Monday, police arrested a 21-year-old man in Wauchope in connection to a truck fire in Cromer in April 2023.

NSW Fire and Rescue crews extinguished the blaze, but the truck was destroyed. Police established a crime scene and began investigating the incident.

In a statement, police said the man was taken to Port Macquarie police station, where he was charged with damage to property by fire/explosive over $15,000. He was granted conditional bail to appear before local in November.

A 38-year-old woman was arrested in Cromer yesterday. She was taken to Manly police station, where she was charged with dishonestly destroying or damaging property with a view to making a gain from it.

She was refused bail to appear before Manly local court today.

Updated

More Sydney beaches closed due to pollution

Clovelly Beach and the northern end of Maroubra Beach have been closed after tar balls washed ashore overnight.

Coogee beach was closed on Tuesday, and Gordons Bay beach was closed on Wednesday, with beachgoers warned not to touch or go near the debris, which preliminary testing shows as a hydrocarbon-based pollutant, but we still don’t know where the balls are coming from.

The four beaches will be closed until further notice.

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker said Council would continue to remove the material across all beaches throughout the day:

We don’t yet know what has happened to produce the debris washing up on our beaches, but we will continue to work with relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the public and clean up our beaches.

Updated

Banking outages taking longer to fix, RBA report says

Australian consumers and businesses are suffering longer outages for digital payment services, the research from the Reserve Bank of Australia has revealed.

As AAP reports, this comes one day after a string of outages hit Westpac and subsidiaries including St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA, leaving customers unable to access their accounts online.

The research, published today, was based on incident reports issued to the RBA from payment providers dating back to 2012, and more detailed statistics starting in 2021. The data detailed significant financial outages lasting longer than 30 minutes.

Researchers Jared Griffiths and Matthew Joyce found the number of financial outages in Australia had dropped over the period, but the duration of financial outages had not fallen, with the median length of incidents involving fast money transfers and ATMs lasting more than two hours – and next-day transfer outages taking almost eight hours to resolve.

The report noted that “every incident or outage can potentially cause inconvenience or economic harm for end-users of those systems.”

Given the wide-reaching impact of outages, the effective management of operational risk in the payments system has never been more important.

Consumers’ reliance on contactless payments and digital banking had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, RMIT finance senior lecturer Dr My Nguyen said, giving any outage a stronger impact. But Nguyen said in terms of global trends, “Australia is doing fairly well for reliability.”

Updated

Robust jobs market makes a RBA rate cut this year very unlikely

Any way you slice it, Australia’s labour market has been going gangbusters for most of this year and September turned out to be no exception (despite the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, bracing everyone for a downward arrow).

Every state bar South Australia posted a lower jobless rate (seasonally adjusted) compared with August. Among the big economies, Western Australia led the way at 3.6%, down from 3.9%, with New South Wales also back into the “3s” at 3.7% from 4.1%. Queensland, which goes to the polls in a bit over a week, didn’t do too badly either, at 4.1%, easing from 4.2%, and Victoria’s eased by a similar margin to 4.4%.

The lowest jobless rate in the land award went to the ACT (which handily goes to the polls this weekend). It fell to 3.4% from 3.8% (cue moaning in some media about government staff levels bulking up). South Australia’s increase to 4.3% from 3.9% in August was the only laggard.

As the ABS notes, employment over the past year has risen at 3.1% versus population’s 2.5% growth rate.

A generally downbeat NAB survey out at the same time as the jobs figures showed finding staff remains a challenge:

Expectations for employment in three and 12 months edged down slightly, but the share of firms reporting availability of labour as a constraint edged back up to 82% (from 79%).

In such conditions, shy of a sharply lower inflation result for the September quarter (out from the ABS on 30 October), the RBA looks unlikely to lower its cash rate soon. Perhaps a jump in inflation (though not very likely) might put another rate rise back on the agenda?

Updated

Queensland LNP candidate alleges he was physically assaulted by two people

The LNP candidate for Gregory in the upcoming Queensland election, Sean Dillon, has told 4BC radio he was assaulted and threatened near his home by two people.

He alleged he was told “shut your union bashing mouth” by two people, and thrown on the bonnet of his car.

Dillon told the station the incident was “terrifying” and “pretty horrific”, occurring 20km from his house after he pulled over to assist someone.

I was physically accosted at that point, and it was pretty explicit … the instructions about what they thought around my continued involvement in politics and what I should or shouldn’t do.

Dillon said he was in shock afterwards, because “it was the last thing that you expect as a political candidate”. He said the alleged offenders did not have their faces covered, but were not known to him.

Dillon said he has good relationships with various union members, and “there’s certainly no union bashing when it comes to me”.

Queensland police confirmed it received a complaint in relation to an alleged assault on 27 August, around 6.30pm, at the intersection of Eulimbie Road and Clermont Alpha Road in Alpha.

Police said investigations are continuing.

Stocks pared gains before release of jobs figures

Underscoring the strength of the jobs figures and the reduced chance of an early RBA interest rate cut, the Australian dollar jumped about 0.2 of a US cent to US66.9c and stocks pared their gains for the day to 0.85% from 1.15% just before the release of the jobs figures.

Updated

Job additions should lift total since Albanese took office to more than 1 million

Economists had also expected the economy to add a net 25,000 jobs. Instead, more than 51,000 full-time positions alone were added with more than 12,000 part-time roles added as well.

Unless there are revisions to previous months’ tallies, the September job additions should lift the total since the Albanese government took office to more than 1 million new jobs.

More on the latest job figures

The jobless rate for September was 4.1%, lower than the 4.2% rate expected by economists. The ABS also revised lower the August unemployment rate to 4.1%, meaning the month to month rate was unchanged.

Australia's jobless rate holds at 4.1% as economy adds 64,100 jobs

Australia’s employers added more than 64,000 jobs last month, most of them full-time, making it less likely the Reserve Bank will cut its key interest rate this side of Christmas.

More to come.

Child left with life-threatening injuries following collision in Melbourne

Victorian police are investigating after a three-year-old child was hit by a car in Melbourne earlier this morning.

Police believe a vehicle struck the child at the intersection of James Cook Drive and Heatherton Road, in Endeavour Hills, about 8.30am.

The three-year-old was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. The driver, a 24-year-old Endeavour Hills man, stopped at the scene and is speaking with police.

The exact circumstances surrounding the collision are yet to be established, police said, and the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Updated

$15m fine for Star Sydney casino, suspension prolonged

The suspension of The Star Sydney’s licence has been prolonged and millions more handed down in fines, AAP reports, after a second probe into the casino revealed further, significant failings.

The casino operator was advised this morning that it was being hit with a $15m fine for the breaches, the NSW Independent Casino Commission announced. Star Entertainment Group had started to clean up its act but huge questions remain around competence and capability, chief commissioner Philip Crawford said.

Another extension of its existing Sydney licence suspension and independent manager’s appointment is aimed at protecting employment at the business. Crawford said:

We’ve had in our minds for quite some time that the public interest is served around the jobs. If Sydney Star fails, the Star group will fail, and that’s a group that employs 9000-plus people ... it would affect the lives of a lot of people. There’s no coming back if you take the licence away.

An independent review into governance and management at the casino must be completed by the end of the financial year. Senior management will be “refreshed” in a bid to reset the leadership group, while conditions around the casino’s licence have been amended.

  • National Gambling Helpline: 1800 858 858

Updated

ACT chief minister, deputy prime minister, weigh in on middle finger debacle

The ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, has responded to reports that the opposition leader, Elizabeth Lee, gave a journalist the middle finger yesterday afternoon, ahead of Saturday’s territory election.

As AAP reports, Barr has told reporters:

Over the course of a campaign you learn a lot about how individuals respond to immense pressure. I can understand that frustration but equally that’s part of the role in government.

Every week, you have to make difficult decisions, give press conferences where you are likely to get questions that are uncomfortable, where occasionally if the journalist doesn’t feel you’re answering the question, they may have a follow-up question, or two or three or four.

For more on this, including reactions from Richard Marles and Matt Canavan, have a read below:

Updated

How has a fugitive father hidden his three children for so long?

You may have seen reports earlier this month that New Zealand fugitive Tom Phillips and his three children were spotted together for the first time in nearly three years.

Just before Christmas 2021, he fled into the wilderness with his children, Ember, now 8, Maverick, now 9, and Jayda, now 11, after a dispute with their mother.

The group was spotted earlier in the month on Marokopa farmland, in New Zealand’s Waikato region, after a chance encounter with teenage pig hunters.

As Michelle Duff reports, the country is desperate to know where he is and why – after three winters spent hiding in rugged backcountry with his children – he hasn’t been caught. You can read more on this below:

Updated

Victorian opposition slams greyhound motion from Animal Justice Party MP

The Victorian opposition spokesperson for racing, Tim Bull, has had a crack at Labor for supporting a motion by Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell to introduce further transparency measures for greyhound racing dog deaths.

The motion, which passed parliament’s upper house yesterday, will force Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) to report how many dogs are killed off track and the reasons for their deaths, as well a breakdown of all rehoming, including dogs sent overseas and interstate.

But Bull said the new measures were “unachievable and costly”. He said in a statement:

You cannot allow the Animal Justice party, with one MP out of 128, to dictate greyhound governance from the parliament chamber. It is a ridiculous notion. I am stunned the minister would side with an MP who publicly states she wishes to end greyhound racing. He is running with the foxes and hunting with the hounds.

GRV already has in place a microchipping program that tracks the location, custody and medical history of Victorian greyhounds throughout their lives, however it has no power to command members of the general public to report a second change of ownership of a pet greyhound. This is not the job of GRV and falls within council pet registration.

Apart from being impossible to implement, as GRV simply does not have these powers, it is a process that would come at cost in a period when declining betting turnover is impacting all codes.

For more on Purcell’s motion, you can have a read below:

Updated

Here’s a look at the national forecasts across Australia’s capital cities, from the Bureau of Meteorology:

Workplace hearing damage affecting one in 10 Aussies

Hearing loss from a workplace incident has affected one in 10 Australians despite most saying ear protection is not necessary, a report has revealed.

As AAP reports, Hearing Australia data released today surveyed more than 1,000 people on their experience with, and avoiding, hearing damage. A quarter of respondents said they knew someone who has experienced workplace noise-related damage.

Eleven per cent experienced damage from workplace noise themselves, but one in three gave little thought to protecting themselves. Hearing Australia’s principal audiologist Karen Hirschausen said:

Many people don’t fully understand the risk to their hearing in a nightclub or concert, and they overestimate the length of time they can spend in these noisy environments without hearing protection before risking hearing damage.

When people are in loud environments like this, they [need to] take steps to protect their hearing, such as having regular breaks and moving away from speakers.

Hirschausen believes workplace laws that stipulate noise-exposed workers should have their hearing tested when they start work, and then at two-yearly intervals, should be reinforced.

Updated

People with asthma urged to stay vigilant as thunderstorm asthma season begins next month

People with hay fever are urged to stay alert this thunderstorm asthma season which starts in November and mainly affects south-east Australia.

According to Prof Jo Douglass from Asthma Australia, many thunderstorm asthma sufferers believe they only suffer from hay fever.

In 2016, only a third of the 3,500 who presented at Victorian hospitals with thunderstorm asthma had previously suffered from asthma. Almost nine in 10 had previously had hay fever.

She said it was important for hay fever sufferers to recognise symptoms associated with asthma, such as night waking and morning wheezing.

Those suffering from asthma and hay fever are encouraged to check pollen levels, ensure their asthma action plan is up to date, use a preventer inhaler and keep hay fever under control.

Updated

Bureau of Meteorology testing tropical cyclone warning system

The Bureau of Meteorology says it will be testing its tropical cyclone warning system today. The routine testing will occur from 10am to 5pm Aedt, marked “TEST” and appearing on the Bureau’s website and weather app.

University of Melbourne’s chancellor backs condemnation of actions of some pro-Palestine protesters

The University of Melbourne’s chancellor has expressed “full support” for the vice-chancellor’s condemnation of the actions of some pro-Palestine protesters during a sit-in last week.

Last Wednesday, a group of students, staff and alumni occupied the office of a Jewish staff member in a bid for the university to cut their ties with universities in Israel, some masked and wearing Palestinian keffiyehs.

Jane Hansen confirmed the university council met on campus on Wednesday as part of its usual cycle of meetings. She said there were no specific items or resolutions about these matters, however council expressed its full support for previous statements made by the vice-chancellor and senior staff in relation to the protest.

Around two dozen protesters gathered at the same time on campus, alleging more actions were coming and sit ins were “not violent”.

Hanson said:

Intentional acts of antisemitism, intimidation, violence or vilification against members of our community are completely unacceptable, as is any threat to the principles of academic freedom.

On Tuesday, deputy vice-chancellors Prof Mark Cassidy and Prof Michael Wesley wrote to staff reiterating international research was “fundamental” to the university and staff and students “must be free to undertake their work without fear or intimidation”.

Updated

McBride to have appeal heard next March in bid to have jail sentence thrown out or reduced

The former army lawyer David McBride will have his appeal heard next March in a bid to throw out, or reduce, his jail sentence.

McBride is serving time in Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Centre after he was sentenced to five years and eight months for pleading guilty to three charges in November 2023 of stealing commonwealth information and passing that to journalists at the ABC.

The material was used as the basis for a 2017 investigative series exposing alleged war crimes by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan, titled the Afghan Files.

McBride was given a non-parole period of 27 months and will remain in jail until at least August 2026 if his appeal is unsuccessful.

His appeal will be heard on 3 March 2025 in the ACT supreme court and is expected to last for a day.

McBride’s legal team is seeking to appeal against the convictions and the severity of the sentence on the basis McBride believed it was his duty to release the information in the public interest.

McBride’s lawyer, Eddie Lloyd, told Guardian Australia earlier this month McBride will argue he took an oath to serve the country and uphold the rule of law and, for that reason, felt he had “a duty to the public” to “blow the whistle”.

Updated

Victorian premier hints at major housing announcement

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has suggested she will be making a significant announcement on housing soon.

Speaking outside parliament this morning, Allan said the lack of affordable housing could be to blame for the nation’s falling birth rate:

There are many reasons why women, why families choose to have kids and to have a certain number of kids, and these are really personal decisions. Yes, they are influenced by economic circumstances, whether you can get into a home, whether you can get into a home that’s close to your family supports. This is why building more homes is so important and building them in exactly the locations that Victorians are looking.

She said Victorians want to live “close to where they grew up” but are priced out:

Many want to live close to mum and dad or their family networks, so that when they have kids they’ve got that support network around them. Because I can tell you, it takes a village to raise a child. I’m blessed to have my family support me and as we are raising our kids, and that is true for so many Victorians.

If you live an hour more away from your family support, that makes it harder and harder, and that’s why building more homes, particularly in and around the suburbs of Melbourne, is so vitally important … That is why, very soon, I’ll be having a lot more to say about how we are going to do a lot more to build more homes in and around the suburbs of Melbourne.

Updated

No rebirth of baby bonus despite falling fertility rate

Sticking with the declining birthrate for a moment, and AAP reports a revival of the baby bonus is not being considered by the government.

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, told Sunrise the federal government was not considering reintroducing the baby bonus to boost the fertility rate:

It’s not something that we’ve been discussing. I’m interested, obviously, in the figures. We want to do what we can to make it easier for families and couples to have children and we are doing that. It is important that we have a sustainable birthrate.

The baby bonus was set up by the Howard government and gave $3,000 lump sum payments to new parents of children born from July 2004. The then treasurer, Peter Costello, urged families to “have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country”.

Marles said the government was focused on cost-of-living measures for families.

Updated

Demographer says birthrate below 1.5 would be hard to come back from

Demographer Liz Allen from the Australian National University says the declining birthrate figures, released by the ABS yesterday, are “historic”.

As we reported in yesterday’s blog, in 2023 there were 286,998 births registered in Australia, with a total fertility rate of 1.50 babies per woman. The total fertility rate has slowly dropped from 1.86 in 1993.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast earlier, Allen said the figures were “breathtaking”.

It feels like we have hit rock bottom. I mean, these are historic figures, particularly the total fertility rate. What is most concerning to me as a demographer is once we break this 1.5 births per woman threshold, if we go any lower, we’re going to have really great difficulty bringing it back, as other countries around the world have shown.

Allen said that this decline is not “necessarily [happening] by choice”, and that young people are “unlikely to achieve their desired family size.”

We’re not talking oodles of children here, we’re talking one or two. The hurdles and barriers to have a much-wanted family are just insurmountable now. We have housing unaffordability, we have job insecurity and economic insecurity more broadly. We’ve got gender inequality and climate change that are really at the front of mind for our young people.

Updated

Just to some breaking international news this last hour, former One Direction member Liam Payne has died aged 31 after falling from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.

You can read more on this below, with more details to follow:

Updated

One million jobs created during Albanese government? We’ll know soon

Later this morning we’ll get September labour force figures from the ABS, and it’s possible we’ll nudge past the 1-million-extra-jobs mark since the Albanese government came to office in May 2022.

Economists’ consensus is the Australian economy added 25,000 jobs last month, enough to keep the unemployment rate at 4.2%. Last month, there was a net increase of 47,500 jobs, although all were part-time roles, with 3,100 full-time jobs lost (prior to ABS revisions).

Numbers do get tweaked, but, as of last month, the government could point to 977,700 jobs created since it took office (including about 52,800 in May 2022 itself when they took office three weeks in, if we want to quibble).

Before today’s release, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was dampening expectations of a good set of numbers for September:

Our labour market is not immune from the weakness in the economy and is softening around the edges. We’ve seen that in a host of data points, including the rise in the unemployment rate and lower average hours in recent months.

Some of those data points come from Treasury itself, so perhaps Chalmers is opening some “early mail”.

As always, though, changes to the participation rate (which has been hovering at record highs at 67.1%) could push the unemployment rate up or down. That’s why we tend to focus on the jobs added or lost (and the hours worked) as better guides to what’s going on in the economy.

Anyway, watch out for the numbers at 11.30am AEDT.

Updated

More on Green group estimate of Queensland LNP coal plan

Continuing from our last post: Callide unit C, which is 13 years younger than unit B, blew up in 2021, knocking out power to 375,000 homes and businesses. All four Callide units went offline in 2022 due to multiple equipment failures at all of the plants.

Energy strategist Clare Silcock said:

Coal-fired power stations are increasingly a liability as they age and more renewable energy comes online. The troubled Callide C is a stark example of this, where we’ve seen multiple catastrophic failures, and the private company that owns half of the power plant has gone into administration because they can’t front the costs of keeping coal-fired power stations open.

Neighbouring Callide B is also experiencing reliability issues. Over the past three years it’s only been able to operate at 70% capacity due to numerous unit breakdowns, often during summer at times of peak demand.

Silcock said the government should simply close the plant as scheduled and spend the money on renewable energy instead.

Updated

Green group estimates LNP’s keep coal plan would cost $420m a year

A Liberal National party pledge to keep a Queensland coal station open beyond its scheduled closure would cost up to $420m a year, according to the Queensland Conservation Council.

Callide unit B was built in 1988 and is due to close in 2028. The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, has pledged to keep coal power “indefinitely”, specifically promising to keep Callide B running longer.

Crisafulli said last week the notion you can “turn off Queensland’s baseload power without impacting reliability or people’s hip pocket” by the early 2030s was “fanciful.”

The plant made an annual loss of about $60m a year over the past five years, QCC says. Unit B is 100% publicly owned, which means the taxpayer foots the bill. Energy strategist Clare Silcock said the cost would dramatically increase past 2028:

The LNP’s comments about keeping Callide B open beyond the end of its life are playing dangerous politics with our energy system. Callide B was designed with a lifespan of 40 years. Keeping it open beyond then could cost Queenslanders up to $420m in 2029 and expose us to higher risks of outages and pollution.

More to come in a moment.

Updated

‘More than hurtful words’: Australia’s systemic racism

Systemic experiences of racial discrimination at health services, schools, workplaces and when interacting with police have led the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to double down on calls for a National Anti-Racism Framework.

As AAP reports, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) consulted with 860 participants for a report, commissioned by the AHRC.

Respondents reported feeling that their cultural background affected the quality of health care they received from professionals, while others said they felt unsafe at school due to teachers discriminating. Racism was prevalent regardless of age, sexuality, faith, disability or cultural background, the commission found.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said the first-hand accounts revealed racism in Australia was “ubiquitous, insidious and profoundly damaging”.

The racism described is more than hurtful words being said to someone … it is systemic, often involving dealings with some level of authority, whose power determines access to opportunities, basic needs, services, or justice.

Racism seeps into almost every aspect of people’s lives, and in ways that have become so normalised that victims don’t feel they can talk about it … everyday racism is hidden in plain sight.

The report’s 11 recommendations included the government committing to a whole-of-society anti-racism agenda, with public and private institutions urged to have discrimination policies in place including preventative and redress mechanisms.

Overhaul of compensation system for serious crime victims in Victoria announced

Victims of serious crime in Victoria will be able to access an additional $25,000 in financial assistance, as part of a major overhaul of the state’s compensation system.

The minister for victim support, Enver Erdogan, this morning has announced the victims of crime assistance tribunal, known as Vocat, will be abolished and replaced with a new online financial assistance scheme.

Under the new scheme, which comes into effect on 18 November, primary victims of crime will be able to access $60,000 for loss of income, medical, counselling and safety-related expenses, as well as an additional $25,000 in certain circumstances.

Secondary victims – someone who is injured at the scene or witnesses the crime – and family members of victims will continue to be able to access up to $50,000.

The new scheme also removes the harmful practice of pooling $100,000 of financial assistance for families, with compensation awarded to each individual family member. Previous strict definitions around who was considered family have also been scrapped, meaning Aboriginal kinship relations, LGBTQ+ relationships and other family members such as in-laws can apply.

Victims will no longer have to go into court to complete the process and are able to choose to receive a recognition statement from the state acknowledging the effects of the crime and expressing condolences. Erdogan said:

Going through the court system can be quite traumatic. Vocat operates out of the magistrates court and that can be quite confrontational to be frank, because you might need attend and face your perpetrator. And we’ve heard from victims, especially of domestic violence and sexual violence, how difficult that can be, the anxiety.

There’s people that usually have suffered quite considerable physical, mental injuries as a result of the crime, and obviously going to an online-based system is just a lot easier and more straightforward, and that’s the reason why we proceeded down this path, in consultation with victims.

Updated

Opposition supports donation of tanks to Ukraine

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, says he “strongly supports” a move from the government to donate 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

In a post to X, he wrote:

Strongly support the decision to gift 49 M1A1 tanks being retired by the Australian Army to Ukraine. It was crucial to not repeat the mistakes of the Taipan helicopters, which were buried by the Albanese government rather than gifted. The tanks should be delivered asap.

Early this year, Australia refused Ukraine’s request to donate its retired fleet of Taipan helicopters – stating they couldn’t be returned in a flying condition. The fleet was dismantled and buried.

Updated

Marles’ denies bullying problem in his office

Circling back to Richard Marles’ interview on the Today show, where he was asked whether his office has a bullying problem.

This comes after Marles’ chief of staff, Jo Tarnawsky, alleges her boss effectively sacked her without warning in a phone call on 30 April, the day after they returned from a challenging but successful visit to Ukraine, for which she says he had credited her.

Marles said “no”, his office doesn’t have a bullying problem, and pointed to his statement in parliament last week.

Obviously I feel very sad that this situation has got to the point that it has. And as I said last week, you know, Jo Tarnawsky is somebody who I’ve known a long time, who worked with me right back in 2012, and I’m very grateful for the service that she’s provided to me, then and now.

You know, this matter is now in the hands of lawyers, which is obviously Jo’s right. And it’s very difficult for me as a result to comment much on it further.

Independent review into Nine Entertainment to be released today

An independent review, commissioned by Nine Entertainment after it acknowledged “alleged inappropriate behaviour and broader cultural issues” in its television newsrooms, will be released today.

The report will examine inappropriate behaviour and a “concentration of power” at the organisation that has “damaged the trust and fairness within our television newsrooms”.

Nine’s former chief executive Mike Sneesby commissioned the review in May after media reports about how management handled allegations of inappropriate behaviour by former television news boss Darren Wick.

News Corp and Nine newspaper reports alleged inappropriate touching of female staff at Nine Entertainment functions, including Christmas parties and the Logies television awards.

Wick left the company in March and Sneesby followed in September.

Updated

South Australia’s shadow minister for women on abortion legislation that was rejected overnight

Yesterday, South Australia’s upper house held a conscience vote on legislation that would force women seeking an abortion after 27 weeks and six days – an extremely rare occurrence – to be induced, to deliver the child alive, and keep it or adopt it out.

The bill was narrowly defeated with 10 votes opposed to 9 in favour, as Tory Shepherd reports:

The state’s shadow minister for women, Michelle Lensink, is a vocal opponent of the bill and had to dash to parliament to vote. She was on leave having chemotherapy, and had believed she had a ‘pair’ who would sit out the vote so as to not affect the result.

At the last minute MLC Dennis Hood stepped in to pair her. Speaking to ABC RN this morning about what happened, she said:

It was quite bizarre, and I think it just shows how desperate … some people can be in this debate … it’s just a terrible piece of legislation.

As for how close the vote ended up being, Lensink said: “that’s sort of margin that we have on conscience votes in the Legislative Council at the moment”. Asked about what alliances occurred within the parliament around this, she said:

There’s a lot of, particularly women, who work together, who understand that these are not simple choices that other women make when they go through them, that they’re very challenging … We know people’s circumstances who’ve been through this. So, you know, we work to try and make sure that that is respected and that the parliament understands that these are decisions that people have to make with the advice of their doctors and midwives, and they shouldn’t have the parliament sort of sticking its nose in randomly at the most stressful point properly in their entire lives.

Marles again asked about PM’s property purchase

Richard Marles was up on the Today show earlier, and was asked about the prime minister’s $4.3m property purchase – which has made headlines this week amid the cost of living crisis.

Marles defended the move and said Anthony Albanese is “entitled to his own personal affairs and his own private life, and obviously the property that he and his partner purchased sit in that domain”.

I don’t think Australians are going to be particularly interested in that. I think what Australians are interested in is what the prime minister does when he comes to work.

Updated

ACT opposition leader gives reporter the middle finger in lead-up to election

In the final days leading up to the ACT election this Saturday, the opposition leader, Elizabeth Lee, has made headlines for giving a journalist the middle finger.

Lee, who is the leader of the Canberra Liberals, had a tense exchange with a reporter during a press conference yesterday, telling them: “I will answer the question in my own way Ian [Bushnell], you don’t get to dictate how I answer the question.”

She is then seen walking away, before suddenly turning back to the camera and “flipping the bird”. ABC reported the full exchange – regarding the costs of her party’s policies – as follows:

Bushnell: “I just want you to answer the question.”

Lee: “Are you finished?”

Bushnell: “I am, answer the question.”

Lee: “Are you finished or not? I will answer the question in my own way Ian. You don’t get to dictate how I answer the question.”

Bushnell: “OK.”

As the ABC reports, Lee apologised later that afternoon and said she had a “history with this journalist”, who is from RiotACT.

Earlier, I engaged in poor behaviour that was unprofessional, and I apologise … I respect the work that journalists do, including asking the tough questions, and I think that I have demonstrated during this term that I’m willing to step up and answer tough questions.

I don’t excuse my behaviour. It was poor behaviour and I am disappointed in myself and, in a moment of frustration, I did let the emotional side of my reaction get the better of me.

Updated

Thunderstorm risk over most of South Australia today

Miriam Bradbury said there was widespread risks of thunderstorms through much of southern and south-eastern Australia today:

The severe storm risk today covers pretty much the entire state of South Australia, including the Adelaide area. But it also catches states on this border area of South Australia too.

She said severe thunderstorms may occur across southern inland Western Australia, inland New South Wales and parts of Victoria, bringing damaging winds, large hail and heavy falls, “or a combination of all three”.

Updated

Super cell thunderstorm over Casterton in Victoria, with tennis ball-size hail

Miriam Bradbury from the Bureau of Meteorology was speaking with ABC News Breakfast earlier, about the thunderstorms that have lashed the south-east coast in recent days.

She said storms throughout multiple states intensified through the afternoon and evening yesterday, with “very significant storms” in western Victoria. She pointed to the town of Casterton in the Horsham area, which experienced a super cell thunderstorm.

That did bring some incredibly heavy downpours. We had 22mm in 20 minutes at Casterton, which is a lot of rainfall to happen in a very short space of time, as well as very large hail, pushing up towards tennis ball size and some very strong and gusty winds.

She said super cell storms are “sort of one step up from severe thunderstorms, which are a couple of steps up from everyday thunderstorms in the first place”.

Severe Weather Australia has shared some images of the giant hail and thunderstorm damage across Casterton here.

Updated

Richard Marles questioned on declining birthrate data

Richard Marles was also asked about new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a declining birthrate.

As we reported in yesterday’s blog, in 2023 there were 286,998 births registered in Australia, with a total fertility rate of 1.50 babies per woman.

The total fertility rate has slowly dropped from 1.86 in 1993. The decline is most prominent among women aged 15 to 19, the ABS said, while the age-specific fertility rate of women aged 40 to 44 years has almost doubled in 30 years.

Responding to the figures, Marles said this is why “we are focused on the sorts of costs of living pressures that impact families, so that we can do what we can to make it more affordable for people to raise a family”.

We know people are doing it tough, and are not for a moment are we saying that the job is done here … We understand that we want people to be able to meet their dreams and aspirations in terms of having a family.

Our reporter Tory Shepherd has taken a look at plummeting birthrates worldwide, which you can read more on below in these two pieces:

Updated

Richard Marles on donation of tanks to Ukraine

The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier and also spoke to the donation of 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. He said:

We know this will be a conflict that goes for a long time. We are in there for the long haul. This will not be the last package that we provide to Ukraine, as we have consistently said. And we’ll stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to resolve its conflicts on its own terms.

Asked about concerns that Donald Trump may reduce support for Ukraine if elected as US president, Marles said “there’s a lot at stake”.

We cannot allow to stand the idea that a large country can invade a smaller nation, not by reference to international law but reference to power and might. We stand with the international community in terms of supporting Ukraine, and we’ll continue to do that. And obviously, what plays out in America is a matter for the American people. But it really matters that the global community continue to support Ukraine in its fight.

Updated

Conroy provides more detail on donation of 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, has been speaking with ABC RN after the announcement Australia would donate 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. You can read more about this earlier in the blog from Daniel Hurst, here.

Asked what changed, after the Albanese government initially indicated a donation wouldn’t occur, Conroy said:

We were talking with the Ukrainian government about their priorities and they made clear this is one of their priorities … Another important factor was the delivery of our new M1A2 tanks beginning in the middle of this year that free up these tanks to be released to Ukraine.

So this is part of a broader process, and there are other checks and balances – including support from the United States – for the transfer of this equipment.

Conroy couldn’t disclose when the tanks would be delivered due to “operational security”. Asked if the tanks were safe for use, he said Australia was talking with Ukraine about whether “some of these tanks will require some modifications to be fixed for battlefield”.

We’ve made it very clear that we’re unwavering in our support for the people of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war, and we’ve made it very clear that we’ll be supporting Ukraine as long as it takes for them to end the war on their terms and to maintain pressure on Russia.

Updated

People held on Nauru moved into community, struggling with everyday costs

Caseworkers with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre say the “majority” of people held in closed detention on Nauru have recently been moved into the community – however are struggling with the cost of everyday essentials.

According to a statement from the ASRC, those in the community are allocated $230 per fortnight to survive on. About 39 people are living in “a complex similar to a detention centre and must share one small, office-sized kitchen”, the centre said, while transportation is posing a barrier for those in more remote areas.

The ASRC is calling on the government to urgently evacuate all people held on Nauru for medical care and support while they wait for protection claims to be processed. Its deputy chief executive, Jana Favero, said:

People should never have been sent to Nauru in the first place … The harm of offshore detention is well documented and will continue until we stop outsourcing our moral responsibility and honour our refugee convention obligations.

Mohammad Bashir Anjum, who is currently held on Nauru, said “our mental health is not good and we rely on medicines to live our daily life”.

There is no certainty about the future and what may happen to us. With the small financial allowance no one can afford three meals a day … We have spoken to authorities to request an increase in the financial allowance, and our requests were ignored.

You can read more on this, from June, below:

Updated

Supermarkets 'public enemy No 1' in cost of living crisis, according to survey

New polling from the Australia Institute shows that Australians view the supermarkets as “public enemy No 1” in the cost of living crisis.

The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work surveyed 1,014 voters, and 83% said supermarkets deserve some blame – or a great deal of blame – for the soaring cost of living.

It puts the supermarkets ahead of energy companies on 82%, banks at 73%, and the government on 71%. Sixty per cent of voters said groceries had the most notable cost increase – far ahead of the next highest result of utilities at 21%.

Sixty-four per cent said they supported increasing supermarket competition. Centre For Future Work senior researcher and report co-author Lisa Heap said the results were “emphatic.”

Australians are pointing the finger squarely at supermarkets as public enemy No 1 in the cost-of-living crisis … More people blame supermarkets for the cost-of-living crunch than governments or banks.

The public’s appetite for increased supermarket competition is unmistakable. Nearly two-thirds of voters see it as crucial for alleviating cost-of-living pressures … There’s likely to be political rewards for taking actions that increase supermarket competition.

The cost of living crisis means people are spending less on essential services, the survey also found, with 37% spending less on heating/cooling their home, 29% spending less on healthy food and 26% less on seeing a doctor.

Updated

King Charles to arrive in Australia tomorrow

Tomorrow, King Charles will touch down in Australia. The six-day tour will take in Sydney and Canberra and is the first visit by a sitting monarch in 13 years. But not everyone is excited.

Reporter Kate Lyons tells Matilda Boseley how the King’s visit has reignited the republic debate – even if the government seems to have given up on the idea.

Updated

Commonwealth Bank pays $7.5m fine over spam emails

Commonwealth Bank has paid a $7.5m fine after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) found the bank had sent over 170m emails that did not comply with Australian spam laws.

The Acma investigation found that between November 2022 and April 2024, CBA had sent over 170m marketing messages to Australians that did not include a way to unsubscribe. Acma found that 34.8m of these messages were also sent to people who either had not consented or had withdrawn their consent to receive these messages.

It follows a $3.55m fine against CBA in May last year over 65m emails that did not have working unsubscribe arrangements. Acma chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, said:

Australians are sick and tired of this kind of spam intruding on their privacy and it’s clear CBA did not have its systems in order.

The rules are clear, if a message includes marketing content or direct links to marketing content, it is a commercial message and must give people the option to unsubscribe.

The confusion often lies for businesses in whether messages sent to customers are considered commercial (which would require an unsubscribe option) or non-commercial.

Acma has also accepted a three-year court-enforceable undertaking from CBA to address the issues. A spokesperson for CBA said the bank apologised for sending the non-compliant messages, and accepted the findings of the investigation:

Timely and relevant information for our customers is incredibly important, and the way we classify that information to meet our regulatory requirements and customer expectations is an absolute priority. We are committed to meeting our obligations and we’re dedicating significant time and resources to this.

More on the joint union’s statement

Yesterday’s rift between trade union factions coincided with a forum between building and construction contractors and unions and governments on challenges for the sector.

At yesterday’s meeting, the National Construction Industry Forum agreed to develop a blueprint for reform due to be delivered in six months’ time.

The workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, said “working together to address the persistent challenges facing this industry is key to ensuring it is an industry that works for everyone”.

Watt later told ABC radio he didn’t believe there was a divide in the trade union movement at all. Watt said:

There is no doubt whatsoever that the overwhelming majority of unions and union members support action being taken to clean up the CFMEU. I think that the union movement generally acknowledges that it has been very damaging for the union movement as a whole to have a small number of people within the union movement bring disgrace on the union movement and the very good work that unions do for Australians.

Asked whether the split would present issues with the federal government’s reform, Watt said he was “going to get on with it”.

We’re going to get on with cleaning up the CFMEU Construction Division and developing a construction industry that works for everyone. If other people want to go and have other meetings, that’s fine. But I’m more convinced than ever, having spoken to the ACTU national executive, that the union movement supports change.

Updated

Group of 20 unions defy Albanese overhaul

A group of more than 20 trade unions have defied the Albanese government’s attempts to overhaul unions within the construction industry after allegations of corruption and criminal links made against the CFMEU earlier this year.

Yesterday afternoon, the National Building Industry Group of Unions condemned the federal Labor government for placing the embattled union under administration.

In a statement, the group said the CFMEU had been denied “basic natural justice” in a trial by parliament and the media. The statement continued:

If a government can legislate outcomes for one union, then all unions are at risk. A union belongs to its members. Union members and their democratically elected leaders decide the future of their union, not knee-jerk legislation.

The group, which includes leaders from the CFMEU, and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), will hold a Trade Unions for Democracy Summit in December to discuss proposals for the creation of an alternative to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which has backed the government’s response to allegations against to the CFMEU.

Updated

Good morning

And happy Thursday – thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage today.

As always, you can reach out with any tips or questions via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.

Crossbenchers to bring whistleblower protection bill next month

Four independent crossbenchers will introduce a bill to establish a whistleblower protection authority when Parliament resumes next month.

Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie will introduce the proposal, supported by crossbench colleagues Helen Haines, David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie, to create a new body that will support federal whistleblowers, investigate potential retaliation by employers, and ensure disclosures are properly handled.

The private member’s bill will come almost a year-and-half after the National Anti-Corruption Commission first opened its doors, and more than a year after the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, confirmed a protection body was one of a number of options under consideration.

Dreyfus has previously said the government is “committed to ensuring that Australia has effective protections for whistleblowers”.

But Wilkie said the introduction of a standalone protection body was “long overdue”.

The government must end the war against whistleblowers by supporting my bill. Only then can we ensure whistleblowers are protected, not punished, prosecuted or imprisoned.

The crossbenchers are urging the major parties to support the bill.

The announcement coincides with a hearing in the ACT supreme court this morning to determine when former army lawyer David McBride – who is considered by some to be a war crimes whistleblower – will be able to have his appeal heard.

McBride was jailed in May for five years and eight months after pleading guilty to three charges in November 2023 of stealing commonwealth information and passing that to journalists at the ABC.

The documents formed the basis of the 2017 investigative series exposing alleged war crimes by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan, titled the Afghan Files.

Updated

BCA says changing zoning laws will open up housing supply

Big business is urging the federal government to change zoning laws to allow more housing development close to infrastructure and services as part of a push to force a greater focus on increasing housing supply.

Before publishing a report next week examining the housing supply challenge, the Business Council of Australia has proposed a program of land rezoning and changes to generate greater consistency in zoning laws across the states and territories.

The BCA chief executive, Bran Black, said:

We need state and territory governments to unlock more land for homes in cities and towns across Australia so we can fix this supply crisis.

These changes need to allow for greater density and height near good transport services, while at the same time protecting the quality of life, green space and heritage of an area.

He said there should be more streamlined processes for home builders to put forward their own proposals to boost housing supply thorough rezoning.

The BCA is also calling for what it describes as a “competition payment” to create incentives for housing development.

Earlier this week, the BCA called for local councils to be forced to set, and abide by, deadlines for making decisions on housing development applications, to ease what it argued had become a bottleneck at the local government level.

Updated

Australia to donate 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Australia will donate 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the federal government has announced.

The donation is in addition to previously announced support, which included 120 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles.

Government figures indicate the value of the 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks is about $245m in total. It means that the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country has topped $1.3bn. When non-military support is included, Australia’s overall support to Ukraine is valued at $1.5bn to date.

The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, will represent Australia at the Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week. Australia is not a member of Nato but Conroy is expected to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Conroy said in a statement that the tanks would “deliver more firepower and mobility to the Ukrainian armed forces, and complement the support provided by our partners for Ukraine”.

The 49 tanks to be donated are near the end of their life. Sources said this meant that a small number of these tanks may need to be fixed by Australia before being delivered. Alternatively, the Australian government has offered to deliver all of the tanks quickly and Ukraine could use the ones with issues for spare parts. It will be left to Ukraine to decide which option to take up.

The Australian army, meanwhile, is expected to retain a small number of M1A1 Abrams tanks to assist the transition and introduction of the new M1A2 fleet.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, said:

Australia’s support for Ukraine has not wavered since Russia’s illegal invasion, and Australia will continue standing with Ukraine.

Updated

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind.

In a boost to Ukraine’s war effort – as its president presents a new military strategy dubbed a “victory plan” against Russia – Australia has offered Ukraine almost all of its Abrams tanks, which were due to retire next year. More on this soon.

The South Australian bill to change the law on later terminations was narrowly defeated in the state’s upper house last night. By the narrowest margin of 10 votes to nine, the upper house last night voted to reject legislation that would force women seeking an abortion after 27 weeks and six days – an extremely rare occurrence – to be induced, to deliver the child alive, and keep it or adopt it out.

Anthony Albanese may face renewed backbench pressure to ease capital gains tax concessions, as Labor MPs privately express dismay at his decision to buy a $4.3m waterfront home on the New South Wales Central Coast before an election in the middle of a housing crisis. Meanwhile, big business is urging the federal government to change zoning laws to allow more housing development close to infrastructure and services as part of a push to force a greater focus on increasing housing supply. More coming up.

The most prominent republicans concede the challenges they face to have an Australian head of state, but also claim the arrival this week of King Charles and Queen Camilla may be the shot in the arm their campaign needs. We have a full report and analysis, plus our Full Story podcast on the subject.

And a group of building industry unions say they plan an alternative to the ACTU as they unite to reject Labor’s crackdown on the CFMEU. More on that also coming up.

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