What we learned today, Wednesday 24 September
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. We’ll be back first thing tomorrow, but until then, here were today’s major developments:
Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump have met for the first time at a reception for world leaders hosted by the US president, ahead of a formal meeting at the White House on 20 October. The prime minister also posted a grinning selfie with Trump onto social media.
The Reserve Bank will delay its next interest rate cut until 2026, economists say, after figures released today showed inflation jumped to 3% and the highest in a year.
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford. Dr Kerry Schott has been appointed by the Optus board to conduct an independent review into last week’s triple zero outage.
The ABC has been ordered by the federal court to pay Antoinette Lattouf a total of $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act and the ABC’s enterprise agreement when it unlawfully terminated the casual presenter for holding a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
And a panel of experts has told the inquiry into SA’s harmful algal bloom that while Karenia mikimotoi was the species initially identified as the cause of the bloom, there are other species that may never have been studied before.
Updated
Anthony Albanese posts grinning selfie with Donald Trump
The prime minister has posted a beaming selfie with president Donald Trump to Instagram ahead of their planned meeting this month.
Anthony Albanese, who is looking in the image like the cat who got the cream after securing his first face-to-face meeting with Trump in October, wrote in the caption:
Good to chat with President Donald Trump at US welcome reception for world leaders attending United Nations General Assembly.
We do not have confirmation as to who suggested the selfie, or whether it was taken with the front facing or back facing camera.
Updated
Man drowns on NSW Central Coast
A man in his 50s has died after being pulled unconscious from the water at a beach on the Central Coast of New South Wales this afternoon.
NSW police said about 3pm, emergency services were called to Soldiers beach at Norah Head following reports a swimmer was in trouble.
The man, believed to be aged in his 50s, was pulled from the water unresponsive and treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics, however he died at the scene.
He is yet to be formally identified, police say, and inquiries into the incident are ongoing. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
A report released last month by Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia found 357 people drowned in the past financial year – the highest drowning death toll since records began in 1996.
The annual drowning report found there had been 34 more deaths than the previous year’s total of 323, and a 27% increase on the 10-year average.
Updated
Australian shares suffer worst day in three weeks
The local share market has suffered its worst drop in three weeks after a domestic inflation readout and cautious commentary from the US Federal Reserve reduced expectations for interest rate cuts at home and abroad.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday fell 81.4 points, or 0.92%, to 8,764.5, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 80.2 points, or 0.88%, to 9,057.6.
The Australian dollar spiked to a five-day high after the inflation readout, buying 66.23 US cents, from 65.93 US cents at 5pm on Tuesday.
-Australian Associated Press.
Kim Beazley wary over Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Trump
The former Australian ambassador to the US and Labor opposition leader, Kim Beazley, says it would be a “good idea” for the prime minister to avoid meeting Donald Trump until the future of Aukus was decided.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, to discuss next month’s meeting in Washington, Beazley said:
I would rather think it’d be good idea for the prime minister not to be meeting Donald Trump until what we’re doing with Aukus is sorted.
Beazley said it would be a “hard meeting” because of the live review of Aukus, and “tendency on the part of the American president to try and finish negotiations”.
He said those negotiating the program’s future were doing “very well” and American counterparts were “responding very well”, however he doubted the issue would be resolved in the coming weeks.
It will still be pending when the prime minister goes and sees the president and hopefully it stays like that and the prime minister is able to talk to the president about one thing that we really have to offer, which is our critical minerals.
Updated
Trade minister to push US administration to return Australian tariffs to zero
Farrell said he would meet with his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer, to discuss the Trump administration’s tariff policy with Australia in the coming days.
Asked whether the hardline stance the US had taken was pushing south-east Asian nations to deal more closely with China, he said we “have to accept the world as it is”.
America has changed its policies in recent times. I will be meeting with my counterpart over the next couple of day, and I’ll be talking to him about trying to reverse some of the policies that the United States have adopted in respect to their trading arrangements …
I think we should continue to execute the arguments with the Americans that we have a free trade agreement with America that was freely entered into 20 years ago and that agreement provides that trade between Australia and the United States should be tariff free.
All we’re asking Americans to do is to honour the terms of our trade agreement. The Americans may have issues with the way in which that agreement operates but the message I will be giving to Mr Greer is look … we believe it should return to where it ought to be based on our free trade agreement and that is zero tariff on all products going from Australia into the United States.
Updated
Australia ‘could do more’ with trade relationship with China, Don Farrell says
The minister for trade and tourism, Don Farrell is appearing on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today to discuss his trip to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meetings with economic ministers.
Asked what outcomes were expected, Farrell said Australia could do more in the region, particularly in regards to selling food and wine, the digital space and with critical minerals.
Too often in the past, Australia has flown over South-east Asia … This will be an opportunity to meet with my counterparts and discuss ways in which we can build free and fair trade in a world that is increasingly difficult in the trading space.
Pointing to American tariffs and economic unpredictability and whether China was becoming a “more stable” trading partner, Farrell said Australia had a “very good trading partnership” with the Asian nation but we “could do more”.
China is now our largest trading partner. Over the last three and a half years we have managed to stabilise our relationship … The policy of this government is to try and diversify our trading relationships so we now have a new free trade agreement with the United Kingdom … with India … and on the 1 October, a new free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates comes into force.
Updated
Inflation jump wipes out rate cuts until 2026, economists say
The Reserve Bank will delay its next interest rate cut until 2026, economists say, after figures released today showed inflation jumped to 3% and the highest in a year.
Sally Auld, NAB’s chief economist, had expected rate cuts in November and February, but now predicts the next move won’t come until May.
We think the signal in today’s data is too strong to ignore.
The RBA as recently as this week warned against reading too much into the monthly figures, saying they offered only a partial read on inflation.
And the consumer price report also showed the headline figure was pushed higher by a 25% jump in electricity prices over the year as power bill subsidies rolled off - something the central bank has been predicting.
But Auld said the price of various services were rising too quickly, and this would be reflected in the RBA’s preferred quarterly measure of underlying inflation.
Deutsche Bank’s chief economist, Phil O’Donaghoe, told clients inflation was proving “stickier” than expected, and that a forecast rate cut in November would now be delayed to February.
Other economists were more sanguine, although they cautioned that there was now a higher chance that inflation would come in hotter in the September quarterly consumer price report.
CBA’s Harry Ottley said his team was sticking with another – and final – rate cut in November. He said:
Today’s data, however, suggests this is not a done deal and tension is building in the economic data.
The RBA meets on Monday, and the very slim chance of a rate cut after that meeting has disappeared.
Updated
Victoria’s premier says the BCA is ‘run by Liberals’ after they reject working from home
The premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked about the Business Council Australia submission at her press conference this morning. She rejected the “false claims” that companies would move interstate and said Black was a Liberal. (Black has worked as a staffer for several NSW Liberal leaders including as chief-of-staff to former premier Dominic Perrottet). She went on:
Well, it’s no surprise that an organisation run by Liberals is opposing working from home. Working from home is good for families. It’s good for the economy.
Indeed, many of Victoria and Australia’s major companies are proud of the fact that they have flexible working arrangements. That includes working from home. They advertise it when they look to attract the best and brightest to come and work for them. We need to protect working from home, because we know many Liberals oppose working from home.
We’ve seen, as I’ve just mentioned, an organisation that’s headed by a Liberal is opposing working from home. We’ve seen other Liberals as well, Tim Wilson, James Newbury, just to name a couple who’ve also come out and said they don’t support working from home. And the real question here for [opposition leader] Brad Battin is, will he pull those, pull those Liberals into line and back work from home, or will he back his Liberal colleagues?
Updated
Business Council of Australia opposes right to work from home
Earlier today, the Business Council of Australia released its submission to the Victorian government’s consultation on a proposed right to work from home at least two days a week and – unsurprisingly – they aren’t supportive.
At a press conference in Melbourne, the lobby group’s chief executive Bran Black said working from home arrangements should be “agreed between employers and employees at a workplace level”. He told reporters:
We’ve opposed the Victorian government’s proposal to legislate, [to] mandate working from home arrangements, and I want to be crystal clear in this regard, we don’t oppose working from home … Hundreds of thousands of Australians already have flexible working arrangements in place. They embrace working from home opportunities … when you mandate a single one size fits all, heavy handed, top down ‘government knows best’ approach – that doesn’t do it.
Black also noted that it would lead to “multiple compliance processes” for employees who operate across multiple states, creating a “headache” that could lead them to shift jobs and investment interstate.
I hear frequently [from businesses that] they don’t regard Victoria as a good place to invest. I’ve heard the word un-investable. Let’s turn that around. Let’s not look at policies that deliver short term sugar hits like a work from home legislative arrangements. Let’s look at policies that genuinely seek to drive economic growth.
Updated
ABC managing director says Lattouf saga has been ‘deeply felt’ at the broadcaster
ABC managing director Hugh Marks put out a statement earlier after a court ordered the broadcaster to pay Antoinette Lattouf $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for terminating her employment.
Marks said the ABC acknowledged the decision and would “continue to reflect on the court’s findings”, adding:
This matter has been deeply felt at the ABC. As I’ve said previously, it was not handled in line with our values and expectations and Ms Lattouf, our staff and the public were let down. We take the matter seriously and have reflected on the lessons learned and their implications. We must be better.
I would like to reiterate the ABC’s sincere apology to Ms Lattouf and wish her all the best in the future.
Updated
Algal bloom inquiry turns to ‘who knew what, and when’
This morning’s algal bloom inquiry in Canberra was very focused on the science – what we do know, and the many (many) things we don’t know about the South Australian disaster.
This afternoon the focus has moved to the more political: who knew what, and when?
There’s a sprawling ecosystem of department and agency chiefs being grilled about if and when things were “fed up the chain”, as Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young put it.
Surfers first raised the alarm that something was in the water in March, and the state government got involved later that month.
But it’s fair to say that it wasn’t until the deadly bloom hit Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches that it got a wider audience. Things then snowballed, money and support packages started flowing. The fish kept dying.
Federal environment minister Murray Watt faced outrage for not acting faster both on the bloom and on the marine heatwave that preceded it.
In today’s Senate inquiry into the bloom, various people have said they first became aware of the bloom in March (which was then corrected to May), or April, or July, and that Watt was formally briefed in July.
“Why wasn’t this information flowing faster?” Hanson-Young asked.
Federal agencies were aware but nobody told the federal government.
Updated
That’s all from me! Caitlin Cassidy will be your blog captain for the rest of today’s news.
Optus to pay $100m fine for ‘predatory’ sales practices targeting vulnerable Australians
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the action against Optus last year, and in a judgment on Wednesday, Justice John O’Sullivan, said Optus had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” in the practices affecting over 400 customers, and Optus senior management knew, or ought to have known about the systemic failures that allowed the conduct to occur.
He said Optus failed to act with any sense of urgency and abrogated any semblance of responsible corporate behaviour.
He said:
Of particular concern is the fact that Optus conduct predominantly affected vulnerable consumers, including people with mental disabilities, people suffering from financial hardship, those with low financial literacy and people with limited English proficiency and or learning difficulties. Again, many of the vulnerable consumers were also First Nations Australians from regional, remote and very remote communities.
In one example reported by Guardian Australia, a woman with an intellectual disability was signed up to 24 plans she could not afford.
He said the $100m penalty would have a deterrence factor for Optus and others who may think contravention would pay.
The court agreed to the orders proposed by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Optus of the fines and remedies suggested.
Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, said earlier today Optus would issue a statement following the judgment.
Rue has previously apologised for the conduct – which occurred before he became chief executive – and has made changes, including taking over franchises involved in the conduct.
Updated
Laneway festival sells out Sydney and Melbourne dates
Chappell Roan is turning out to be a major drawcard for next year’s Laneway festival.
The event, featuring Alex G, Lucy Dacus, Wet Leg and Role Model, has completely sold out in Sydney and Melbourne. The festival wrote on Instagram:
It’s been a record couple of days, and we can’t thank you enough for the enthusiasm for the festival – we feel so honoured.
Tickets are still available for the Gold Coast, Auckland, Perth and Adelaide.
Teenager charged following alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney CBD
A teenager has been charged following an investigation into an alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney’s CBD this week.
In a statement, NSW police say a 16-year-old boy was arrested yesterday in relation to an alleged assault on a train travelling towards Town Hall station about 4.20pm on Monday.
Police allege a man, 66, was walking towards a train door exit when he was approached by two males. The pair allegedly made threats at knifepoint about the man’s religion before assaulting the 66-year-old and fleeing the scene.
Following investigations, police executed a search warrant at an address in Padstow yesterday, where they arrested the 16-year-old boy.
He was taken to Bankstown Police station where he was charged with being armed with the intent to commit an indictable offence, common assault, as well as publicly threatening violence on the grounds of religion.
He was refused bail to appear at children’s court today.
Updated
Logged-out searchers won’t need to verify age, Senate inquiry told – video
The lead author of codes that will require search engines and other services to check the age of users and filter out adult and violent content for those deemed to be under the age of 18 says people will still be able to search the internet without needing to be age checked.
Speaking to a parliamentary inquiry on the codes, Dr Jennifer Duxbury, director of regulatory affairs at tech industry group Digi, explains how it would work.
SA algal bloom could contain species unknown to scientists
“This is possibly the most difficult organism I’ve had to work with,” algal bloom expert Dr Christopher Bolch has told an inquiry in Canberra.
A panel of experts has told the inquiry into SA’s harmful algal bloom that while Karenia mikimotoi was the species initially identified as the cause of the bloom, there are other species that may never have been studied before.
Bolch, from the Australian and New Zealand Marine Harmful Algal Bloom Network, said he had examined samples from the bloom that contained “a species we know very little about”.
“They are still trying to determine exactly which species it is or whether it is new,” he said.
The network’s professor Shauna Murray, who is leading the group investigating the bloom, said “we don’t actually know which Karenia species we have in this bloom yet”.
There are four or five, she said, and one is producing brevetoxins, but it’s not clear which one. That means it’s not even clear what the cause of the bloom was, she said, or what is causing toxic effects.
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies emeritus professor Gustaaf Hallegraeff said it was “almost certainly an organism that has never been cultured anywhere else in the world”.
The network is working on an almost voluntary basis, although it is working with state government agencies, and says grants are needed for better resourcing and research.
Updated
Optus outage ‘a process issue, not an investment issue’, CEO insists
Rue was asked if a lack of investment in Optus by its parent company, Singtel, could be linked to the outage. Rue stressed there was no issue with staffing or investment, saying a standard process behind the upgrade was not followed.
That’s not an investment issue. That is people not following processes …
This is not about lack of staff. What has occurred here is a standard process that’s not been followed. What the independent review, again, will do is outline the facts of that, which we’ll make public.
But that is a process issue, not an investment issue.
Updated
Rue says independent review will identify the causes behind outage, adding 480 triple-zero calls did not get through
Rue said the independent review conducted by Dr Kerry Schott, reported earlier in the blog, would identify the causes behind the outage and examine Optus’ processes during network upgrades. He said:
The independent review will investigate the series of events that took place here and determine why all triple-zero calls could not divert correctly. To be very clear, Optus is accountable for the operations of its network …
The independent review, as well as our ongoing investigations, will be examining why this happened and will determine whether there are any patterns that exist in the call failures.
Of 631 people who called triple-zero during the outage, 480 did not get through. The remainder were able to access emergency services, either through the Optus network or through other carriers.
Updated
Optus CEO apologises again for triple-zero outage, saying he will be as ‘open and transparent as we can’ amid investigation
Optus CEO Stephen Rue is holding a press conference at Optus headquarters after the triple-zero outage last week.
Rue maintained he had made a “commitment to be as open and transparent as we can”, adding:
There are very many moving parts to this. We do not want to release inaccurate information and therefore are doing our very best to ensure we have established the facts before we discuss them.
… Once again, I would like to apologise to everyone impacted by the triple-zero failures. There are no words, no words, that can express how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people, who could not reach emergency services in their time of need.
Updated
Thousands without power in WA’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Thousands of customers are without power in the regional town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia after an unplanned outage hit large swathes of the region.
Western Power said around 5,000 customers were experiencing the outage, with an estimated restoration time around 3.30pm local time.
The ABC notes its the third major blackout in the mining city in about two years.
Updated
Chalmers says Optus triple-zero outage ‘a disgrace’ that can ‘never happen again’
Chalmers said the government would “get to the bottom” of what happened with Optus’ triple-zero outage, adding:
What we’ve seen with Optus and with the failures from triple zero is a disgrace. And my colleagues have made that clear. These are devastating, disgraceful developments … we will get to the bottom of what’s happened here.
This can never happen again.
Updated
Chalmers says inflation figures show ‘we’ve got a lot going for us’
Chalmers has been speaking to reporters after the release of the latest monthly inflation data. He said the latest figures showed there was still “a lot of work to do”, but reflected an economy in good standing:
We’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’ve got a lot going for us as well …
Today’s figures show the very substantial and sustained progress that we have made when it comes to underlying inflation. Despite the increased volatility in the global economy, underlying inflation is within the target range and that’s a promising result in uncertain times.
Updated
Jim Chalmers flags terms of reference for ‘contentious’ GST review
Later today Jim Chalmers will release the terms of reference for the Productivity Commission’s scheduled review of the GST.
Speaking to journalists, the treasurer said “the GST distribution will always be a contentious issue”:
These terms of reference are broad enough to look into some of the issues and concerns which have been raised by the states.
The commonwealth collects GST revenue and then distributes it between the states and territories according to a complex formula managed by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.
This formula is supposed to carve up the GST according to the needs of the different jurisdictions and their capacity to generate their own income.
This principle of “horizontal fiscal equalisation” – that the fiscally weaker states would be pulled up towards the strongest – was violated when the Morrison government, in a bid to shore up political support in the west, guaranteed a level of GST for the country’s richest state, Western Australia.
Saul Eslake, an independent economist, has described the WA GST deal (which has been supported by Labor) as “the worst Australian public policy decision of the 21st century”.
We’ll soon find out whether the PC’s terms of reference for its review of the GST distribution will include WA’s sweetheart deal.
Updated
Optus’s parent company backs telco following triple zero outage
The chief executive of Optus’s parent company Singtel, Yuen Kuan Moon, apologised for the triple zero outage last week, saying Singtel is supporting Optus through its transformation following chief executive Stephen Rue’s appointment in November last year.
In a statement on Wednesday, Moon said Singtel was “deeply sorry” for the outage, and “hearts go out” to the family and friends of those who died.
Moon indicated Singtel was supporting the executive team through the investigation process:
Optus is in the midst of an ongoing transformation led by Stephen Rue who was appointed 11 months ago to lead the charge.
We will continue to fully support the Optus board and management team as they work through this incident and accelerate the changes needed.
We are committed to the continued transformation of Optus to improve the processes and resiliency of the company and improve the reliability of critical services.
Singtel has invested over $9.3bn in Optus in the past five years. Moon said a large portion of this investment has gone to building network infrastructure.
Moon is expected to visit Australia next week.
Updated
Electricity prices up 25% from last year as rebates finish
A surge in electricity costs as government rebates roll off has pushed inflation to 3% in August, its highest in a year.
Household power bills have risen 25% over the past 12 months, the monthly figures from the ABS show, as subsidies lapsed in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.
The new official statistics come before the Reserve Bank of Australia’s next two-day meeting starting on Monday, where the monetary policy board is expected to hold its cash rate steady at 3.6%.
The ABS’s head of price statistics, Michelle Marquardt, said a 3% rise in grocery prices and a 13% jump in tobacco costs also helped explain the rise in the headline rate of inflation.
Despite the apparent resurgence in inflation, economists and financial markets still expect interest rates to fall further, with the next cut most likely at the November meeting.
The head of the RBA’s economics division, Sarah Hunter, recently cautioned against reading too much into the monthly statistics, saying they offered an incomplete and more volatile measure of inflation than the quarterly data.
Underlying inflation – which removes large, temporary movements in prices – fell from 2.7% in July to 2.6% in the latest figures.
Updated
Reports Vanuatu could sign new policing deal with China
The opposition says the government’s “failures” in the Pacific are “coming home to roost”, amid reports Vanuatu plans to sign a new policing agreement with China.
The ABC reports Vanuatu’s police minister, Andrew Napuat, said China had agreed to send 20 police motorcycles, 20 drones and other equipment to the Pacific nation. The announcement comes after Anthony Albanese left Vanuatu last week without signing the Nakamal pact between Australia and the Pacific nation.
Guardian Australia has not yet confirmed if Vanuatu is planning to sign the new agreement with China.
The Albanese government hasn’t directly commented on the report, but a spokesperson said in a statement:
Australia is Vanuatu’s largest economic, development, security and humanitarian partner. The government is aware China continues to have a small police presence in Vanuatu.
When it comes to security, our view is well known – that Pacific security needs are the responsibility of the Pacific, as agreed by Pacific leaders.
Shadow foreign minister, Michaelia Cash, says the government has “dropped the ball”.
Mr Albanese has been so focused on formally recognising a state partially run by terrorists that he has dropped the ball in our region.
It is extremely regrettable that Mr Albanese has been unable to get expected deals signed with both Vanuatu and PNG.
Updated
Price says she will not ‘sit back and be silent’
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price also told 2GB she and her colleagues would not “stay silent” on publicly airing their policy positions while the Liberal party finalises its policies in opposition. She said:
We don’t have much in the way of policy. We are supposed to be an effective opposition. We do want to be able to do our job, so we’re not going to sit back and be silent until such time as we have policy positions on a number of issues.
Nampijinpa Price, who was dumped from the shadow ministry earlier this month, was asked whether she still had confidence in Sussan Ley as leader. She responded:
I’d love to be able to have the confidence of the leader myself … I think the fact that I’ve been demoted probably demonstrates that …
Updated
Price says Andrew Hastie will make ‘remarkable leader one day’
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has backed her Liberal colleague, Andrew Hastie, as someone who will “make a remarkable leader one day” amid rumblings the former SAS soldier could make a tilt at opposition leadership.
Nampijinpa Price was asked by 2GB this morning whether she believed Hastie had what it takes to be an opposition leader, to which she responded: “Oh, look, I think so. I think he’s passionate. He’s got conviction”.
On Hastie’s party detractors, many of whom have anonymously criticised him to the media this week, Nampijinpa Price said:
I think they probably see him as some kind of threat because he is so good at what he does, is so good at the job that he does and representing Australians.
Hastie, a Western Australian MP elected in 2015, has been increasingly vocal in recent weeks about his opposition to net zero and support for domestic manufacturing. Hastie has also previously expressed his ambition for the Liberal leadership.
Updated
Westpac cuts 200 bank branch jobs to focus on app
Westpac will cut 200 bank teller roles, prompting union warnings the face-to-face services are shrinking further.
The branch-based jobs won’t be needed because the bank will be focusing on digital and app services, which have far higher customer satisfaction than branches or contact centres, staff were told in an email on Tuesday.
Westpac plans to update its app and spend $200m updating ATMs and branches, according to the email from the general manager of Westpac’s retail division, Damien Macrae.
The Finance Sector Union has warned that the loss of face-to-face roles will hurt staff, and customers relying on branch services, with its national secretary, Julia Angrisano, saying:
Westpac is asking loyal tellers to migrate customers to digital services that ultimately eliminate their own jobs. It’s callous and shortsighted … communities still rely on face-to-face banking.
The bank has continued to hire in other divisions, with Macrae telling staff 33 branch workers had swapped to home finance in the past year. Another 200 staff will be hired to work in home and small business loans, he said.
The cuts come amid Westpac’s broader restructure to get rid of an estimated 1,500 jobs in 2025. Each of the big four is cutting jobs, with 3,500 expected to go at ANZ and hundreds already sacked at Commonwealth Bank and NAB.
Updated
‘Don’t verbal me’: Albanese clashes with journalist
Anthony Albanese clarified comments he made about not being able to call Donald Trump, tussling with a high-profile journalist about his access to the US president.
Before the May federal election, Albanese was asked if he had Trump’s phone number. He told a pre-election debate he did not have a direct line, saying “it’s not the way it works” when world leaders want to contact each another.
“There’s people taking notes from either side, it’s not a casual relationship,” Albanese said in April.
I don’t have Donald Trump’s number.
After confirmation he would meet Trump at the White House next month, Nightly journalist Latika Bourke asked Albanese about the comments in New York. Bourke noted French president Emmanuel Macron had called Trump hours earlier, when his motorcade was blocked by Trump’s in downtown Manhattan.
“Don’t verbal me, don’t verbal me,” Albanese said, interrupting Bourke’s question about being able to call Trump. The PM went on:
The point I was making was between leaders of nations. You organise phone calls, you have note takers, you do it in rooms where mobiles aren’t allowed. That’s the point.
Albanese is due at the White House on 20 October.
Updated
ABC ordered to pay Antoinette Lattouf another $150,000 for unlawful termination over Gaza Instagram post
The ABC has been ordered by the federal court to pay Antoinette Lattouf a total of $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act and the ABC’s enterprise agreement when it unlawfully terminated the casual presenter for holding a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
The pecuniary penalty is on top of a previous order to pay Lattouf compensation of $70,000.
The decision on penalties brings to an end a highly charged dispute, which began in December 2023 when the journalist’s on-air shifts were cut short three days into a five-day stint hosting ABC Radio’s Sydney Mornings.
Read more here:
Updated
Albanese and Trump meet briefly in New York for the first time
Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump have met for the first time, at a reception for world leaders hosted by the US president.
Ahead of a formal meeting at the White House on 20 October, Albanese and Trump spoke on Tuesday night in New York, Wednesday morning Australian time.
We are told the pair had a good conversation about their forthcoming meeting in Washington DC. Earlier in the day, Albanese said the two men had a good relationship, developed in four phone calls since Trump’s return to the White House.
Trump hosted the reception on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, along with first lady Melania Trump.
Albanese was accompanied by his partner, Jodie Haydon.
Updated
Mark Butler says he is ‘really worried’ by Trump’s unproven comments linking autism to paracetamol use in pregnancy
Australia’s health minister has addressed Donald Trump’s “worrying” unproven claims about autism, AAP reports.
Flanked by US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US president baselessly linked autism to the use of paracetamol by pregnant women, and to childhood vaccines.
Health minister Mark Butler said he is “really worried” the comments will leave more than 200,000 pregnant Australian women unsure or afraid of what to do when they become sick, particularly with fever. He told Nine’s Today this morning:
I don’t want pregnant women right now to feel unsure about what to do. I don’t want women who were pregnant in the past to feel unsure or even guilty about the fact that they took a treatment that was advised to them as being safe.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Tuesday joined other medicines regulators, leading clinicians and scientists to say “robust scientific evidence” shows no causal link between the use of paracetamol in pregnancy and autism or ADHD.
Updated
SA algal bloom ‘far too extensive’ to eradicate, senate inquiry hears
The largest harmful algal bloom ever treated was roughly 100 sq km, a global expert told an inquiry this morning, which is a fraction of the size of South Australia’s bloom.
“Your bloom is many, many, many times bigger than that already,” Dr Donald Anderson, senior scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The SA bloom covers about 4,500 sq km.
Anderson told the senate inquiry into the bloom:
If you tried to do something [to eradicate it] you would be doing something no one else in the world has ever done. It’s far too extensive, too big.
The best thing to do, he said, was to look at monitoring and forecasting abilities, provide information on and manage the effects of the bloom, and develop resources to tackle future, smaller blooms, and to protect resources such as aquaculture.
You can read more from Anderson here.
Updated
Dr Kerry Schott appointed to Optus review into triple zero outage
Dr Kerry Schott, former Deutsche Bank managing director and member of a number of boards over the years including the NBN, has been appointed by the Optus board to conduct an independent review into last week’s triple zero outage that has been linked to the deaths of three people.
The review will look at the causes, applicable processes, protocols and operations that surrounded the incident last Thursday, and examine the operational management of triple zero calls in the Optus network.
It will also look at monitoring and operational effectiveness, and the actions taken by Optus in response to the incident.
Optus chair, John Arthur, said the incident was “clearly unacceptable” and apologised to the public for “this failure in our accountability to all those who relied on our triple zero services”.
He added:
I particularly express my deep condolences to the families and friends of the four people who passed away.
The board is working with Optus chief executive Stephen Rue and the executive team to understand what went wrong and why, and what needs to be done to prevent it happening in future.
The review is expected to be completed before the end of this year. The Optus board has committed to making the report public.
Updated
Top climate researchers write to PM with frustrations over emissions targets: ‘we fear for what is to come’
Dozens of Australian scientists, including some of the country’s top climate researchers, have written to Anthony Albanese expressing dismay at the government’s 2035 emissions reduction target.
The government last week announced it had accepted the advice of the Climate Change Authority to set a target range of a 62-70% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 2005 levels.
Sixty-one scientists and researchers have signed a letter imploring the government “to go further”. The signatories include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors David Karoly, Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Gretta Pecl and Nathan Bindoff.
They said they had “spent our careers building the evidence base that supports greater mitigation ambition than what you, prime minister, have chosen” and that multiple studies had shown a cut of 75% or more by 2035 was “not only possible, but would create a significant overall benefit for Australia”.
The letter said meeting targets above the government’s range “does not come without its challenges”, but there is a full decade to deliver them:
We fear for what is to come if countries like Australia – with among the highest potential to immediately, drastically and permanently reduce greenhouse gas emissions of any other in the world – fail to live up to the commitment to deliver emissions reduction targets that represent the highest possible ambition as required by the Paris Agreement.
Updated
Logged-out searchers won’t need to verify age, industry group says
The lead author of codes that will require search engines and other services to check the age of users and filter out adult and violent content for those deemed to be under the age of 18 has said people will still be able to search the internet without needing to be age checked.
Guardian Australia has reported previously on the age check codes, to operate from December.
Speaking before a parliamentary inquiry on the codes, Dr Jennifer Duxbury, director of regulatory affairs at tech industry group Digi, was asked by Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, how it would work.
Henderson asked:
If I am a young woman wanting to do a Google search, how will I know that my privacy is being protected without having to go through age assurance, prove who I am and provide my ID?
Duxbury replied:
The way that the search engine code works, it does not prevent you from doing a search online without being required to be age assured, right?
It’s only if you’re in a logged-in state when you’re using your Google account or your Microsoft account to conduct your search online that page assurance requirements will kick in.
You can be anonymous, you can search in an anonymous and logged-out state.
When asked why anyone would log in, Duxbury said the advantage would be you will be able to access imagery such as pornography in search results that won’t appear in safe search results in a logged-out state.
Updated
Lanyon says he’s made ‘mistakes in the past’
Circling back to the announcement that Mal Lanyon will be the next NSW police commissioner, there was a lot of attention at the press conference on two incidents that have raised questions about Lanyon’s suitability for the role.
This includes a 2021 incident in which he was found collapsed near Goulburn’s “Big Merino” sculpture, and his admission to taking his wife and another couple on an operational police boat for New Year’s Eve in 2023.
Lanyon said:
I have made mistakes in the past, and I’ve always sought to learn from those experiences and believe in honesty, accountability and integrity.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
I want to be frank about it: this decision was not made based on who had the mistake-free, perfect record. I want to make it clear that for me, it was based on who I believe should be in the commissioner chair on New South Wales’ worst day, and when the public’s in danger, and the New South Wales police force needs exceptional leadership.
He’s led the Reconstruction Authority. He’s had the most difficult command in the New South Wales police, not just for one year or two years, but for over a decade.
Updated
New NSW police commissioner says he takes on role with ‘deep sense of duty’
Mal Lanyon appeared before the media a short time ago after it was announced, after weeks of speculation, that he would be next New South Wales police commissioner.
Standing alongside the NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the state police minister, Yasmin Catley, Lanyon said:
This is one of the greatest responsibilities in the public service, and I take it on with humility and a deep sense of duty.
I acknowledge Commissioner Karen Webb for her distinguished 38-year career in the police force. She leaves a legacy of achievement as the first woman to lead the New South Wales Police forces and as a commissioner who delivered enduring reforms.
Lanyon said he will be focus on tackling organised crime, youth crime and “strengthening community safety in our regions, and supporting victims of domestic and family violence”.
I also want to strengthen the culture of the New South Wales police force, [and] cultivate a culture of respect, professionalism and fairness.
I want every officer, every member of the executive [to be] part of one team, united behind the force’s goals, motivated by purpose and community.
Updated
Victorian police say family violence increases during AFL grand final weekends
Family violence reports increase on the AFL grand final weekend, but there was no increase on the day of the game itself.
Family Violence Command acting assistant commissioner Sharon McKinnon said there was a 9% increase in family violence incidents over the grand final long weekend in September last year compared with 2023.
There were 796 family violence incidents during the three-day long weekend, up from 729 incidents the year before.
But the number of family violence incidents on the actual day of the game for the past five years has remained consistent, with no apparent increase. McKinnon said:
The Christmas, New Year and Easter periods remain the most prevalent times for family violence offending.
Our key message is that police will take all reports of family violence crime seriously and will always respond to keep victims safe and hold perpetrators to account.
Police will always continue to work through peak holiday periods to provide safety to the community.
There is never an excuse for family violence and police will ensure that each crime is investigated and that all offenders are held to account.
Updated
Acting NSW police commissioner says Mal Lanyon a ‘highly accomplished and respected leader’
As reported earlier, Mal Lanyon has been named the new commissioner of the NSW police force, succeeding Karen Webb.
Peter Thurtell, the acting commissioner of the force, said in a statement this morning:
Commissioner-elect Lanyon is a highly accomplished and respected leader, bringing more than 37 years of policing experience to the role. His dedication to public service and his deep understanding of the challenges facing modern policing make him exceptionally well-suited to lead the NSW police force into its next chapter.
The NSW police force is in safe hands. Under Commissioner-elect Lanyon’s leadership, we can move forward with confidence to meet the challenges ahead and continue delivering for the people of New South Wales.
Updated
Gambling evolution making it harder to monitor how many people gamble
Liz Neville, the director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, said the study shows the gambling industry is rapidly evolving, making it harder to monitor how many people are participating and facing gambling harm.
Neville spoke to RN Breakfast this morning:
I think it tells us that the gambling industry in all its forms – and bearing in mind that the survey covered things ranging from lotteries, bingo, scratchies, pokies, race betting, sports betting, the full gamut of gambling activities – I think what it tells us is that this is a rapidly evolving industry.
And there’s many forms and types of activities that are emerging that we are having trouble, I think, keeping up with from a purely conventional approach to monitoring of gambling participation and harm.
Updated
More Australians gambling every month, research says
The number of Australians gambling and the prevalence of harm has increased, with nearly one-third of adults betting each month, according to new research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
The survey of 3,881 people in 2024 has prompted the institute’s director, Liz Neville, to call for “a more robust approach” to preventing gambling harm, including a careful examination of current policies.
The government is yet to respond to a landmark parliamentary inquiry in June 2023, which recommended several policy changes including a comprehensive ban on advertising and the creation of a more powerful national regulator.
The study found 65% of adults gambled at least once a year, which was an 8 percentage point increase on the data recorded in 2019. It found 15% experienced guilt or stress about their gambling and sold possessions to help chase their losses.
The Australian Gambling Research Centre’s research fellow, Dr Gabriel Tillman, said the findings confirmed the increasingly negative impact of wagering.
The fact that more than 3 million Australian adults are experiencing harms from their gambling, and these numbers have increased in recent years despite harm-reduction measures should concern Australians.
Updated
Australia’s bid to host the COP31 climate talks in Adelaide this year still a work in progress
Anthony Albanese and the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, are seeking to press the case to host the COP31 climate talks with Turkey during their visit to New York this week.
Bowen met his counterpart, Murat Kurum, on the sidelines of the UN summit and the prime minister is seeking a meeting with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in coming days.
Albanese said he wanted to make the case for the Pacific to host the talks in conjunction with Australia. Turkey also wants to host, so unless a compromise can be reached, the summit will default to Bonn in Germany.
“The Pacific is important,” Albanese said on Wednesday morning, Australian time.
One of the things that’s complicated is it is a joint bid by Australia and the Pacific, so any arrangements we will discuss with our Pacific neighbours, as we have been.
I’ve already had discussions with a range of Pacific leaders who are here as well. I will be having discussions with President Erdogan as well.
The prime minister did not say when he would speak to the Turkish leader but he still has a number of bilateral meetings before leaving the US.
Updated
Mike Huckabee says it’s not a low point in US-Australia relationship, but he’s ‘comforted’ Sussan Ley wrote to US Republicans
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said the relationship between the US and Australia is not at a low point, but said it is at a “point of stress”. He told RN:
I don’t know that I would call it a low point. It’s a point of stress. That’s fair to say. It’s a point of strong disagreement, not mild. This is a strong disagreement. And we feel like the government of Australia has made a very serious mistake.
Huckabee was asked about opposition leader Sussan Ley’s letter to US Republicans, where she said a Coalition government would reverse Albanese’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state:
Well, it would tell me that not everybody in Australia agrees with maybe the leadership. And I’m comforted by that because it does tell me that there are those who are looking at this from what’s best for not just the Middle East, but best really for a global resolve of a situation that is hurting many and helping no one.
Updated
US ambassador to Israel says US feels ‘very strong disappointment’, perhaps ‘disgust’, about Australian decision to recognise Palestinian state
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said there is “very, very strong disappointment” in Washington DC about Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, saying some would possibly use the word “disgust” about it.
Huckabee spoke to RN Breakfast this morning as Anthony Albanese continues his trip to the UN general assembly in New York. The US ambassador said:
The United States’ position is one of strong disagreement with nations that are calling unilaterally for a Palestinian state. … The bigger problem is something that we continue to try to say to these European nations, to Australia, to Canada, and others. It is having the opposite effect of what I think these countries want …
I think it’s possible for nations to disagree on some things and agree on others and still maintain a relationship. That’s not to say that there is not very, very strong disappointment, and perhaps the word disgust would be a more appropriate term for how the US feels toward what we thought are our friends.
We think [they] should be standing together with us and opposing Hamas and demanding the hostages’ release.
Updated
Albanese looking forward to meeting President Trump
Anthony Albanese says he’s looking forward to meeting the US president, Donald Trump, at the White House next month.
The prime minister was left off Trump’s schedule in New York this week but the stand-alone Oval Office meeting has been confirmed by both sides during the UN visit this week.
“President Trump agreed to a meeting some time ago,” Albanese said after a visit to Macquarie Bank’s Manhattan headquarters. “We had another chat about it on the phone, and we’ll have a meeting in Washington DC on 20 October.
“What [we] do is have discussions with President Trump that are diplomatic and where we have discussions with each other. I don’t broadcast everything.”
Updated
Mal Lanyon named as NSW new police commissioner
Former deputy commissioner, Mal Lanyon, has been named New South Wales’s new police commissioner, replacing Karen Webb.
The appointment of the 38-year veteran of the NSW police is due to be announced by the premier, Chris Minns, this morning.
He is expected to take over on 1 October.
Updated
Albanese says 20 October meeting with Trump demonstrates ‘important relationship’ between US and Australia
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said Australia and the US maintained an “important relationship” after the White House confirmed he would meet with Donald Trump in Washington DC on 20 October.
Albanese told reporters in a press conference in New York that he didn’t “broadcast everything,” but his office has had discussions with Trump that have laid the foundation for the meeting. He said earlier:
The United States is an important relationship for us and today the meetings, as I foreshadowed, in spite of some of the commentary, as I foreshadowed, if people listen to what we say, we had agreed on a meeting.
And today the meetings that president Trump are having – he’s in New York for one day – are understandably focused on peace in the Middle East.
Updated
Good morning, and happy Wednesday. Nick Visser here to take over the morning blog from Martin Farrer. Let’s dive in.
PM meets with world leaders at sidelines of UN meeting
Anthony Albanese and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, have represented Australia on the floor of the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York.
Along with the Dfat secretary, Jan Adams, the pair listened to US president Donald Trump’s address to the 80th anniversary session of the UN.
Trump dismissed moves by allies including Australia to recognise Palestinian statehood, insisting world leaders should instead demand the return of hostages taken by Hamas in the 7 October attacks.
On the sidelines, the PM met with a range of world leaders, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, Lương Cường of Vietnam and Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
He also met the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and the boss of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
More on Trump’s speech here:
Updated
Albanese to make case for US capital to flow to Australian economy
Anthony Albanese and Australia’s ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, are preparing to attend a major investment event in New York in the next few hours.
Hosted by Macquarie, the event will include a strong pitch from the prime minister for American capital to flow into the Australian economy.
It comes ahead of his national address to the UN on Tuesday night, local time.
Albanese will say some of the biggest names in American business are expanding their footprint in Australia, namechecking Google, Microsoft and Amazon for efforts in digital infrastructure, cloud computing and quantum.
The prime minister will say:
American capital and Australian manufacturing are a natural fit. And if we move now, we can make them an unbeatable combination. We can put our investment partnership at the centre of a defining global opportunity.
The world’s shift to clean energy represents the biggest change since the industrial revolution. We are looking at ever-increasing global demand for clean energy and the technology that generates and stores it.
And if you started with a blank piece of paper and wrote down every asset and resource you would need to thrive in that economic environment, at the end of it, you would hold in your hand a list of Australia’s strengths.
Albanese expected to meet Trump for first time at world leader reception in New York
Donald Trump’s presence is already dominating the UN general assembly in New York, with the US president set to host a reception for visiting world leaders on Tuesday night, local time.
We expect the event will be the first time that Anthony Albanese will meet Trump in person, likely a short hello as part of the formalities. The prime minister and his partner, Jodie Haydon, are attending the reception to represent Australia, along with dozens of other leaders in town for the UN.
The White House press office has released timings for the event, expected to start about 9am Sydney time.
The president will speak at the reception, before returning to Washington DC, about two hours later. We don’t expect to have much information from inside the room, given journalists are barred from observing the proceedings.
Trump and Albanese have not held a formal bilateral meeting in New York, despite a big push by Australian diplomats to get the two leaders together this week, though the White House has confirmed they will hold a proper one-to-one meeting next month.
Trump addressed the UN earlier in the day and his presence is being felt in every meeting, from recognition of Palestine, to climate change, to wider geopolitical affairs.
Haydon will also attend the Fostering the Future Together reception hosted by Melania Trump today.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best overnight and breaking news before Nick Visser gets on board.
After Donald Trump’s excoriating speech to the UN general assembly in which he scolded Australia and other countries for recognising Palestine, Anthony Albanese will meet the US president at a reception in New York in a couple of hours. The pair will hold a proper one-to-one meeting next month. We’ll bring you all the details.
The number of Australians gambling and the prevalence of harm has increased with nearly one-third of adults betting each month, according to new research. More coming up.
