AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 4 at 0700
Economy (CANBERRA)
Contentious tax changes will have a larger drag on home prices than the government forecast in the budget, according to analysis from Australia's largest lender.
Winding back negative gearing and the capital gains discount for established properties will weigh on home prices by five per cent, compared to Treasury forecasts of a two per cent drag, Commonwealth Bank senior economists Trent Saunders and Ashwin Clarke found.
A slowdown in the property market was already underway before the budget due to global uncertainty and rising interest rates.
But the quick response to the tax changes suggested the near-term impact will be sharper than expected, the duo said in a research note on Wednesday.
"We now expect national dwelling prices to be flat over 2026, down from a forecast of three per cent at budget and five per cent in March."
BudgetSA (ADELAIDE)
A government will impose a partial freeze on public service recruitment as it intensifies its budget focus on reining in the state's growing debt burden.
But the South Australian Opposition says the budget is "cooked" and Labor has no plan to manage the state's debt, which is predicted to balloon to close to $50 billion by 2039.
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis will deliver the Malinauskas government's first state budget on Thursday since its resounding election victory in March.
It has announced a partial freeze on recruiting of non-frontline public sector for the next 12 months, which is forecast to cut 1000 positions and save $120 million.
Mr Koutsantonis described it as "back office efficiency" that would not affect frontline areas such as teachers, police, doctors and nurses.
Iran (DUBAI/WASHINGTON)
Gulf hostilities have flared again as Iranian attacks on Kuwait damaged its airport and injured dozens while the US military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, with diplomacy to halt the war showing little sign of progress.
The attacks are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire, sending oil prices up more than two per cent, as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.
Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation authority said.
UK Nowak (LONDON)
Britain's interior minister has accused activists of hijacking a tragedy to stir up violence after police were attacked at a protest over the death of a teenager who was handcuffed as he lay dying while his killer falsely claimed a racist attack.
Police were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks and flares late on Tuesday by some of the hundreds who attended a protest in the southern English coast city of Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December.
Two people were arrested and 11 officers and a police dog were injured, police said.
Nowak's death has triggered debates about policing and knife crime and has spurred claims by far-right activists and politicians that there is bias against white people in the justice system.
Ukraine (ST PETERSBURG)
Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St Petersburg and set it ablaze, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says, as the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum promoted by President Vladimir Putin.
The drones flew more than 1000km to hit the terminal, Zelenskiy said on social media on Wednesday.
Clouds of black smoke rose over the city's port after the attack.
Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city's infrastructure, without providing further details.
The airport of St Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack.
Authorities also cut off mobile internet services.
The economic forum in St Petersburg begins on Wednesday and Putin is set to speak on Friday at what the Kremlin views as a prestige event, although major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago.
Iran (CAIRO)
Gulf hostilities have flared again, with an Iranian missile attack damaging Kuwait's airport and the US military carrying out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz as diplomacy between Washington and Tehran show little progress.
The latest flare-up, which sent oil prices higher, comes with the conflict stalemated in a shaky ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, more than three months after initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended and diverted elsewhere until further notice after an Iranian drone and missile attack one of its terminals.
The attack caused injuries and severely damaged some airport facilities, state media reported.
Bahrain's army said it intercepted three missiles and several drones.
Earlier, the US Central Command said two Iranian missiles shot at Kuwait fell short or broke up in flight, while several ballistic missiles aimed at regional targets failed and three missiles heading for Bahrain were intercepted.
Legal: Toby (SYDNEY)
A man who booed during a Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day dawn service has refused to apologise while being sentenced in court.
Eli Joseph Toby pleaded guilty in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday to one count of committing a nuisance at a war memorial for booing loudly while Uncle Ray Minniecon was delivering the Welcome.
When asked by Judge Greg Grogin whether he was sorry for what he had done, Toby said he had "mixed feelings".
"I'm sorry it has caused such an uproar and I'm sorry to my family," he said.
Toby said he was expressing his belief Welcome to Country ceremonies were overdone and should not be performed at Anzac Day commemorations.
"My behaviour was not designed to be offensive to Aboriginal or Indigenous people," he said.
Legal: Waden (BRISBANE)
In a battered notebook, a former US beauty queen tried to convince herself life was worth fighting for.
"I am thankful I am alive, thankful for what I have," Priscilla Brooten wrote.
Weeks later, she disappeared into a winter's night and has never been seen again.
Prosecutors allege her former partner Mark Sheridan Waden murdered his ex-girlfriend and disposed of her body.
Waden has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Brooten on July 5, 2018, then spinning a web of wild stories about why she suddenly disappeared from the home they shared in Brisbane's north.
Her diary entry has been shown to a jury after Waden's earlier trial was aborted when a juror was caught researching the case online.
A new jury was sworn in before crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate on Wednesday delivered his opening address for the second time this week in Brisbane Supreme Court.
In finance ...
Lottery (SYDNEY)
Australia's largest lottery operator is building a new smartphone app because its digital operation has done a poor job of recreating the fun of playing the lottery.
The Lottery Corporation, which runs Powerball, Oz Lotto and Set for Life, plans to launch an AI-powered smartphone app built from scratch in the next 12 to 18 months.
Online lottery tickets were more convenient - and more profitable for the company - but something about the retail experience had been lost, the company's chief operating officer for digital Loren Somerville said.
"It was never just a transaction in retail," she told analysts at an investor day on Wednesday.
Buying a ticket from a local newsagent was a fun, ritualistic experience that might involve banter with the person behind the counter, while The Lott's smartphone app just meant picking numbers from a grid and paying for them, Ms Somerville said.
Economy (CANBERRA)
Australia's economic growth rate slowed to 0.3 per cent in the first three months of the year as the effects of interest rate rises and the Iran war started to be felt.
Growth in gross domestic product was down from the rapid 0.9 per cent expansion recorded in the December quarter, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed on Wednesday.
The result was largely in line with economist forecasts.
Annual GDP growth was 2.5 per cent, stable from December after a downward revision, but below the Reserve Bank's May forecast of 2.6 per cent.
"Economic growth slowed in the March quarter, with modest household and public sector expenditure as well as cyclone disruptions to mining and export activities," ABS head of national accounts Grace Kim said.
In entertainment ...
Arts Silenced (SYDNEY)
A powerful Australian film aims to shift conversations, change cultures and make it safer for women to speak out against gendered violence by reforming the laws that seek to silence them.
The highly anticipated documentary Silenced opened the Sydney Film Festival with its Australian premier on Wednesday night.
Emmy-winning director Selina Miles follows acclaimed human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson as she fights against the weaponisation of defamation law by alleged perpetrators.
It charts a post #MeToo world, using courtroom footage, media coverage and interviews to demonstrate how legal systems across the world are being used to discredit both victim-survivors and the journalists who report their stories.
Former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins tells her story in the film, having participated in both a criminal and civil trial following allegations Bruce Lehrmann raped her inside Parliament House in 2019.
Labeouf (NEW ORLEANS)
Actor Shia LaBeouf has pleaded guilty to three counts of simple battery and was sentenced to probation for punching people outside a New Orleans bar during Mardi Gras in February.
LaBeouf will also be required to attend an alcohol treatment program under the sentence handed down by an Orleans Parish judge on Wednesday, according to Sarah Chervinsky, an attorney for the actor.
LeBeouf, most widely known for his starring roles in 2007's Transformers and in 2008's Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, had been released on bail following his arrest near the city's historic French Quarter. Video of the February 17 encounter shows a shirtless LaBeouf outside a bar shoving one person to the ground and hitting another person in the face, "causing his nose to possibly dislocate," according to a New Orleans police report.
In sport ...
AFL Magpies (MELBOURNE)
Collingwood and Melbourne have broken with Big Freeze tradition, coming together to hear from the Daniher family ahead of Monday's massive AFL clash.
Neale Daniher's wife Jan and daughter Bec spoke to the two clubs at the MCG on Wednesday afternoon ahead of their annual King's Birthday blockbuster.
The 12th Big Freeze game takes on even greater meaning after Daniher died last week, ending his 13-year fight with motor neurone disease.
Previously, Daniher would visit the two clubs separately for a pre-game talk - even after MND had taken his voice.
His sister Nerolee was also in the room on Wednesday and Magpies defender Isaac Quaynor said it was a special occasion.
"I just want to touch on the impressive nature of Bec and Jan speaking in front of the whole group - such a powerful moment," Quaynor said.
BBL (SYDNEY)
Players have been left confused, uncertain and anxious by Cricket Victoria announcing plans to sell one of its BBL licences to private investors, says the Australian Cricketers' Association.
CV stunned the cricket world on Tuesday by informing players and staff it would effectively merge its existing BBL franchises the Melbourne Renegades and Stars into one team from this summer.
That would clear the way for CV to sell its second licence to private investors, pending approval from ACA and Cricket Australia.
But on Wednesday, the players' union ACA said that approval was a long way from being granted, and lamented CV's sudden announcement.
"Whilst a potential agreement between CA and the ACA is being discussed, it is not imminent and as such, any talk of privatising any teams for the coming season is premature," read a press statement.
Ends Bulletin
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