Hi there, it's Thursday, July 28. Here's what you need to get going today.
One thing to know right now: Data on Closing the Gap is incredibly disturbing'
Only four of the 17 targets are on track to be met in the next decade. Here's the lowdown:
- Modest improvements have been recorded for life outcomes for children, healthy birth weights, school attendance and lowering youth detention
- But the rates of adult imprisonment and out-of-home care, child development and deaths by suicide are actually worsening
- Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says the results are "disappointing", adding:
"It's incredibly disturbing to see that a number of Closing the Gap targets are not on track."
- So what's next? The minister says, "More work needs to be done," and she wants to know more about how priority reforms (partnerships between government and Indigenous communities) are being rolled out
- There's a meeting of the joint council on the issue in Adelaide at the end of August
One thing you’ll be hearing about today: Inflation (again)
This time, it's the Treasurer's economic update, which comes on the back of some rough inflation numbers yesterday. Here's what we know:
- Jim Chalmers has been laying the groundwork for grim economic news. Yesterday he called the annual 6.1 per cent inflation rate "confronting"
- And he said today's update in parliament won't be much better. We know GDP last financial year was expected to grow by 4.25 per cent, but that's been revised down to 3.75 per cent
- Here's ABC political reporter Matthew Doran on what we can expect today:
"He'll tell parliament today that while other countries are still looking at Australia's economic performance with a sense of envy, growth will be less than previously forecast."
- And for something *completely* different, the last ever episode of Neighbours will screen tonight (it's on Channels 10 and 10 Peach from 7:30pm)
- Superfans will be watching it in Fed Square, and we've already seen plenty of leaked images of the big names returning, like this one of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan:
News while you snoozed
Let's get you up to speed.
- Commuters in NSW are facing delays this morning after trains stopped for four hours overnight, as part of ongoing industrial action. Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said:
"Those customers that travel early in the morning are most impacted. And we expect to get a full timetable back up and running with normal train frequencies by about 8am."
- The US has revealed it has offered Russia a deal to release basketball star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan. Public acknowledgement of the offer, at a time when the US has otherwise shunned Russia, reflects the mounting pressure on the Biden administration to get the pair home
- The oldest patient yet has been cured of HIV after receiving a stem-cell transplant for leukaemia — a 66-year-old. The doctors sought a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, a mechanism that first worked to cure the "Berlin patient", Timothy Ray Brown, in 2007
- The US central bank has hiked interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point as it tries to curb runaway inflation — and it's the fourth rate rise this year
The news Australia is searching for
- Earthquake Philippines: Authorities in the nation are investigating the full extent of the damage caused by a magnitude-7 earthquake in the north of the country that has killed at least four people
One more thing: Biggest pink diamond found in 300 years
Meet the Lulo rose.
Found in Angola, the rare pure pink diamond is believed to be the largest found in 300 years
The Australian site operator named the 170-carat gem after the mine it was found in.
Now for the real question: How much could it go for? A 132.5-carat gem (cut down to the 59.6-carat pink star diamond) sold for $71.2 million in 2017.
This one's going out to international tender, so we'll have to wait and see.
That's it for now
We'll be back later on with more.
ABC/wires
