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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Kris Swales

Afternoon Update: Unemployment rises to 3.7%; Queensland shooting declared terrorism; and the ‘perfect’ cosmic explosion

Jim Chalmers
Jim Chalmers said the Albanese government had expected the uptick in the unemployment rate from 3.5 to 3.7%. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.7% in January, the highest it has been since the Reserve Bank started its nine-month run of interest rate hikes last May. The BetaShares economist David Bassanese says the labour figures, weak retail sales and slumping consumer confidence suggest the economy “may be beginning to finally buckle under the weight of interest rate increases”.

Jim Chalmers was more forthright in his assessment, warning of a “really difficult year” ahead for Australians and the economy. “When the economy slows, when the unemployment rate picks up even if it still remains at or near historic lows, there are human consequences,” the treasurer said.

NAB took the baton from the Commonwealth Bank in announcing a bumper profit boost, taking in $2.15bn across the December quarter and noting rising interest rates had “benefited our revenue”. It came as Domain said there had been an “unprecedented” collapse in the number of new property listings, eclipsing pullbacks during the pandemic and the banking royal commission.

Top news

NSW Liberal upper house MP Peter Poulos
NSW Liberal upper house MP Peter Poulos was not formally punished after admitting he circulated explicit photos of a female rival. Photograph: Councillor Cameron Waters Facebook page.
  • Internal fury over Liberal MP’s explicit photo sharing | Women inside the New South Wales Liberal party are furious that Peter Poulos has not faced formal sanctions after admitting he circulated explicit photos of a female rival (he has since apologised). Vivian Hodgson, the secretary of the party’s Strathfield women’s branch, wrote in an email seen by Guardian Australia that she was concerned that this “turn of events, if not dealt with in a timely manner, will lose us the [NSW] election”.

  • Wieambilla shooting ‘a religiously motivated terrorist attack’ | Queensland police have declared last year’s fatal shooting of two officers and a neighbour on a remote property an act of terrorism. They said the Train family members subscribed to “premillennialism”, a broad fundamentalist belief system that comes from Christian theology, and likened the attack to the 1993 Waco massacre in Texas.

  • ClubsNSW drops contempt charges against Friendlyjordies | ClubsNSW has dropped criminal contempt charges against YouTuber Jordan Shanks over an interview with pokies whistleblower Troy Stolz. In the interview, titled “The Legal way to take a life”, Stoltz detailed his battle with cancer and the impact of his bitter federal court dispute with his former employer.

The two men have gone missing in the remote Dugald River zinc mine near Cloncurry, Queensland.
Two men have gone missing at the remote Dugald River zinc mine near Cloncurry, Queensland. Photograph: ABC News
  • Miners’ ute found as search continues | Two miners trapped about 125 metres underground near Cloncurry in Queensland have not been seen or heard from since they went missing on Wednesday. The operator of the Dugald River zinc mine says it is still hopeful for a “positive” outcome in the search after it found the pair’s utility vehicle. Work has been suspended at the mine while the rescue mission continues.

  • Victoria ‘won’t hesitate’ to raise criminal age | Daniel Andrews has made his strongest indication yet that Victoria will abandon a national process to raise the age of criminal responsibility and go it alone. Guardian Australia has learned the Victorian government recently canvassed two options for raising the age: increasing it from 10 to 12, or increasing it to 14, but with an exception for serious offences.

The kilonova explosion occurred when the remnants of two massive stars collided.
The kilonova explosion occurred when the remnants of two massive stars collided. Photograph: Albert Sneppen/Reuters
  • A ‘fundamentally astonishing’ cosmic explosion | Astronomers have been blown away by what they’re dubbing the “perfect explosion” caused by the collision of two neutron stars. The event, about 140-150m light years from Earth, created a rapidly expanding fireball of luminous matter before collapsing to form a black hole.

  • Trump’s World Bank pick makes early exit | The World Bank president, David Malpass, is quitting just months after a fumbled answer on whether he accepted the scientific consensus on global warming, earning the ire of the White House. Malpass, appointed by Donald Trump, will vacate the helm with less than a year remaining in a five-year term.

Full Story

Terry and Kathy Strong
Terry Strong with his wife, Kathy, in 2021. The former semiprofessional rugby league player suffered from severe CTE in his later years and died that year. Photograph: supplied by the Strong family

Is this Australia’s turning point for concussions in sport?

A Senate inquiry is examining the link between repeated concussions and other head injuries from contact sports including AFL, rugby league and rugby union, as well as a neurodegenerative disease called CTE. Listen to this 23-minute episode.

What they said …

Drag kings and queens pose during a media preview for WorldPride celebrations, kicking off in Sydney on Friday.
Drag kings and queens pose during a media preview for WorldPride celebrations, kicking off in Sydney on Friday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

***

“We won the bid when it came to [marriage] equality and everyone thinks the job’s done, but it isn’t done yet. It’s conversion therapy, it’s birth certificate reform, it’s surrogacy.” – Albert Kruger, Mardi Gras chief executive

Pressure is building on the NSW government to ban gay conversion practices as the 17-day WorldPride festival prepares to take over Sydney. The state premier, Dominic Perrottet, earlier this week repeatedly refused to make his position clear to voters.

In numbers

892 Australians have died from Covid so far this year, including 308 in aged care

The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, told Senate estimates the rate of Covid deaths had dropped dramatically from the “dark days” early in the pandemic. He also predicted “at least another couple” of Covid waves this year.

Before bed read

Caffeine consumption has been found to decrease the risk of depression.
Caffeine consumption has been found to decrease the risk of depression. Photograph: Halfpoint/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Contemplating another coffee? Here’s some food for thought: while peak caffeine concentration in your blood takes about 45 minutes, it has a half-life of about six hours. Joel Snape has all the intel on how many cups is enough, and how best to avoid tossing-and-turning when it’s time to call it a night.

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