What we learned, 5 October 2025
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
Melbourne’s Town Hall station – the first new train station in Melbourne’s CBD in more than 40 years – has now completed construction.
A 20% cut to Hecs debts is expected to begin being processed next month with all those eligible to receive confirmation by the end of the year.
New South Wales police have formed a strike force to investigate after an 84-year-old was found dead in suspicious circumstances.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, says Australia should be doing more to assist Australians who participated in the Sumud flotilla in Israeli custody;
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh said she backed Andrew Hastie’s stance on immigration issues.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
A woman has died in a suspected drowning on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Emergency services responded to a call for help on Prahran Avenue, Frenchs Forest, at 10.30am on Sunday morning.
Upon arrival officers attached to Northern Beaches Police Area Command attended and found an elderly woman, believed to be in her 80s, unresponsive in a swimming pool.
Fire and Rescue NSW officers pulled the woman from the pool before she was assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics, but she died at the scene.
A crime scene has been established, and police have commenced an investigation.
Inquiries are ongoing.
A report will be prepared for the Coroner.
Auction activity has climbed this weekend with 1,961 auctions to be held.
This is a slight increase on the 1,735 held last week and roughly on par with the 1961 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 71.9% across the country, which follows the 71.4% preliminary rate recorded last week and is above the 68.7% actual rate on final numbers and well above the 59.5% at the same time last year.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 421 of 509 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 72.4%
Melbourne: 922 of 1,169 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.6%
Brisbane: 114 0f 147 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 69.3%
Adelaide: 52 of 67 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 78.8%
Canberra: 51 of 56 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6%
Tasmania: No auctions held.
Perth: 11 of 13 auctions held.
Consumer confidence survey to signpost spending outlook
Australian households have been steadily gaining in confidence and fresh sentiment surveys could signal further growth in spending.
Analysts and policymakers will get a read on how consumers are feeling about the economy in an otherwise quiet week for hard data.
Australian households have been steadily gaining confidence in recent months, as reported in Westpac and the Melbourne Institute’s monthly consumer sentiment index.
While not as pivotal to the Reserve Bank’s thinking around monetary policy, it serves as a forward indicator for spending and economic growth, given household consumption accounts for about half of Australia’s gross domestic product.
Despite a 3.1% drop in September, falling interest rates and rising disposable incomes have been boosting sentiment and confidence could bounce back when the latest update is released on Tuesday.
Along with consumer spending, the RBA has also revealed it is keeping a close eye on the jobs market.
Labour indicators show businesses are finding it less difficult to find workers than two or three years ago.
But the unemployment rate has settled at 4.2% after rising steadily since mid-2022, which suggests the labour market has stabilised, said RBA governor Michele Bullock.
Bullock rattled traders’ confidence that further monetary policy easing was on the way, after leaving interest rates on hold last week.
She will be grilled by senators about the decision on Friday as she fronts a second parliamentary hearing in less than three weeks.
– AAP
Updated
‘Time is running out’: Sportsbet offered share of $1m in bonus bets if customers gambled on AFL grand final day
Australia’s largest online bookmaker texted customers offering a guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets if they gambled on the morning of the AFL grand final.
The messages were among a series texted to a Victorian man’s phone by Sportsbet during the AFL finals series in an apparent attempt to entice him to gamble more.
More than two years ago a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended all online gambling inducements be banned “without delay”, citing evidence of harm to customers. The federal government is yet to formally respond to the report.
The offer of “a guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets” was only provided if the man copied one of Sportsbet’s suggested same-game multi bets. These allow gambling on a combination of outcomes during a game, and all must succeed for the bet to be paid out.
Analysis has shown that multi-bets have a high fail rate for gamblers and leaked documents have shown the AFL receives a higher percentage of each bet placed on these products.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Henry Belot:
Allan flags expanded police powers against retail crime
Taking questions about new legislation to give police more powers to respond to instances of abuse against retail workers, Allan said her government is “continuing to look at giving police more powers to crack down”.
There is absolutely no tolerance for this shocking, brazen behaviour that we are seeing, this repeat serious offending, which is why we have strengthened the laws, particularly our bail laws, to make it the toughest test in the nation for these serious repeat offenders to get bail, we are seeing with the work we’ve already done, that more people are in remand, both adults and youth.
In response to a question about changes to the emergency services levy – there was a protest outside the train station where the premier was holding the press conference – Allan said the levy has been expanded “with the sole purpose of providing more support and more funding”.
So it’s a little hard to understand why the leadership of the [United Firefighters Union] would campaign against additional funding. That’s a matter for the UFU to respond to, because we are focused on providing more resources. And indeed, that’s all our Labor government has done. We’ve funded more firefighters, more trucks, more stations.
Updated
Victorian premier thanks 7,000 Metro Tunnel workers as Town Hall station finishes construction
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has given a press conference 27 metres below the Melbourne CBD to mark the end of construction on Town Hall station.
The premier thanked 7,000 workers who contributed to the project that involved digging through 500,000 tonnes of soil to a depth equivalent to a five storey building.
I do want to thank the thousands of workers who worked around the clock, not just deep below ground in some really complex construction conditions, but over a period of time where, above ground, the world saw a lot of change over that eight-year period while the workers here kept the Metro Tunnel project going.
Allan said the project showed what can happen when a state government was committed to public transport, and used the occasion to take a dig at the Liberal party who, the premier reminded those listening, “labelled the Metro Tunnel a hoax.”
Labor has built the Metro Tunnel with the support of thousands of workers. We’re finishing the Metro Tunnel, and it will open later this year, a full year ahead of schedule to welcome passengers, to see what investment and a determination to work through the challenges that come with complex construction projects like this one.
The Metro Tunnel is expected to open up a year ahead of schedule, but the premier did not offer specifics about the timetable or the exact date. Allan said she expects the public will respond with “a sense of awe and amazement”.
I’ve had the privilege of being down here a couple of times now, and I still get enormously excited and awed by this construction feat.
Updated
Latham threatens legal action after removal from Sydney racecourse
Police have escorted controversial New South Wales MP Mark Latham from a major racecourse, sparking an outraged response from the one-time federal Labor and state One Nation leader.
Police confirmed a 64-year-old man was removed from the members’ area at Sydney’s Royal Randwick racecourse at the request of turf club officials about 1.45pm on Saturday.
No further action was taken as the man complied, NSW police said in a statement.
An Australian Turf Club spokesperson said Latham wasn’t allowed at the track after resigning his membership after an investigation into him allegedly abusing a club official in April.
But the independent NSW upper house MP flagged legal action over the incident, footage of which was posted on social media, saying he hadn’t been notified of any ban from the venue and calling the turf club’s statement “completely false”.
Latham said he appeared at the track as another member’s guest.
A turf club director “went out of her way to greet me, discuss relevant matters and made no mention of any problem whatsoever with me being on-course”, he added in a series of posts on social media.
Latham said he first heard of the purported ban when a club staff member approached him during a race to notify him he wasn’t welcome.
He said he initially ignored the staff member’s request as they didn’t produce any supporting documents.
– AAP
Updated
‘Baudin’s black cockatoo or bauxite?’
The destruction of Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests for bauxite mining will push a threatened black cockatoo “to and beyond the brink of extinction” if governments allowed it to continue, conservationists have warned.
Mark Henryon, a volunteer with Birdlife Western Australia, said there was a clear choice that would decide whether the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo would survive. “Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both,” he said.
Henryon has spent years advocating for better protection of what he describes as the state’s “forgotten” black cockatoo.
The dark-feathered, white-cheeked bird with a call like a squeaky gate is endemic to the state’s south-west.
Compared with the higher profile Carnaby’s black cockatoo, the Baudin’s has a longer, narrower bill, which Henryon said it used like a surgical tool to extract the seeds from the marri nuts it fed on, without destroying the whole nut.
BirdLife WA nominated the species for “uplisting” to critically endangered in 2023 under the state’s laws after research found the species’ population had declined by 90% in 40 years.
The proposal would have brought the state conservation status into line with international bodies such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which lists the Baudin’s as critically endangered.
But the state’s threatened species scientific committee rejected the nomination, citing insufficient data.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Lisa Cox:
Updated
NSW police oppose pro-Palestinian protest at Opera House
Pro-Palestine protesters will once again march on the State Library of Victoria on Sunday, in a now-familiar display of solidarity in Melbourne.
But protesters in Sydney will have to get supreme court approval to rally at the Sydney Opera House forecourt after opposition by NSW police, who say the proposed event on 12 October would be unsafe.
Opposition frontbencher Melissa McIntosh urged the state government to use all levers to block the “disrespectful” rally.
The event is due to take place shortly after the two-year anniversary of the 7 October 2023 attacks in which Hamas killed 1200 people and resulted in hundreds more being taken hostage.
There’s nothing respectful in having a protest at the Opera House, one of our most well-known, recognised icons, at that point in time.
- AAP
Updated
Australia’s recognition of Palestinian state part of international momentum towards peace, industry minister says
Australia is fulfilling its obligations on the international stage with its recognition of a Palestinian state, industry minister, Tim Ayres, said on Sunday.
Speaking to Sky News, Ayres said that the move to recognise a Palestinian state was necessary to help build momentum towards a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
I think that Australia is playing the role that Australians would expect it to, as a middle power, engaged with our partners around the world, particularly on the question of statehood.
But you’ve seen over the whole two-year period, Australia playing a role for a ceasefire, working with partners on those questions, working with partners on questions like making sure that there’s a strong international consensus for adhering to international law.
In terms of statehood, of course, it’s part of creating momentum towards a peaceful settlement.
In a follow-up appearance, McIntosh accused the government’s recognition of a Palestinian state as a “hinderance” to achieving a ceasefire.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, opposition frontbencher Melissa McIntosh was dismissive of the move.
“Tell the PM he’s dreaming if he thinks that he had a whole lot of influence.
President Trump and the US administration, it seems, were working on this for some time, and actually publicly said that Australia’s position on this was more of a hindrance than a help.
– with AAP
Updated
After finding refuge in Australia, a trailblazing judge fears the Taliban will take revenge on her family
The Taliban commander, armed with a machine gun, hopped out of a tan Ford ranger the US troops had left behind. Flanked by fighters, he knocked on the door of the female judge who had put him behind bars.
It was 17 August 2021 – two days after the Taliban captured Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul following the withdrawal of US and allied troops. The Taliban’s subsequent mass release of prisoners unleashed criminals who were seeking revenge. Female judges – staunch advocates for women’s rights and justice – faced deadly reprisals.
A phone call from a neighbour alerted Pakiza Nawim’s husband that the commander she had sentenced for the rape of a 13-year-old boy three years earlier was at their front door. Luckily, the family had already fled, knowing the inevitable collapse of Afghanistan left Nawim exposed because of her work.
But four years later, Nawim and her colleagues fear the Taliban could seek retribution against their family members in Afghanistan and those at risk of deportation in neighbouring countries.
For more on this story read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Adeshola Ore:
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh backs Hastie on immigration
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has expressed support for colleague Andrew Hastie, after he quit the opposition frontbench on Friday over a dispute with Sussan Ley.
Hastie, the now former shadow home affairs minister, said he was resigning because Ley had not offered him any role in the formation of immigration policy for the Coalition.
Speaking on Sky News, McIntosh, the shadow communications minister, said MPs of the calibre of Hastie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Jane Hume should be on the Coalition’s frontbench.
He’s done great work for our party but he’s made his decision and he’s not indicated that there’s any other intent behind it except for not being able to voice his opinions on immigration.
I can feel that for him because I come from an outer metro seat where high immigration is putting pressure on infrastructure.
Infrastructure costs are out of control. Our hospitals are bursting at the seams. Major roads around Western Sydney International airport have potholes on them still.”
McIntosh, the MP for the Sydney seat of Lindsay, said she could understand why Hastie had made his decision on the question of immigration.
It’s important to his community. It’s important to my community.
Updated
Shortage of ADHD medications to continue
A shortage of ADHD medications is expected to continue into 2026 thanks to shortages of raw materials, supply chain issues, growing demand and stockpiling by retailers, the head of the ADHD Foundation says.
Speaking to ABC on Sunday, Christopher Wiseman said there were five reasons feeding into supply shortages of critical ADHD medication drugs, including production controls imposed by the US government and complex supply chain issues.
Wiseman said that those on long-acting stimulants should speak to their doctor about switching to a shorter-acting version of those drugs.
Medical professionals are always the first port of call. So go and see your GP, go and see your psychiatrist. Whoever is your prescriber. There are some great information sources through the ADHD Foundation website. The ADHD Professional Association have got guidelines around what to do in these situations.
Updated
Three sisters, Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, walk hand in hand into a Melbourne courtroom for the first day of the trial of Malka Leifer, their former school principal and abuser.
Nicole, who will give evidence first, is smiling but anxious. She’s spent days holed up in a serviced apartment near Melbourne’s county court with her sisters, poring over her witness statement. Even in the car on the way to court, she’s re-reading it.
“Don’t read it now,” Dassi tells her, gently yet firmly.
You’re not going to know every single detail. That’s impossible. Our memory doesn’t work like that.
But they soon discover the court expects exactly that. Within days, all three sisters will have taken the stand, enduring cross-examinations they each describe as deeply traumatic.
“We were on trial,” Elly tells Guardian Australia.
That’s what we all felt being on the stand – that we were the ones on trial.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Benita Kolovs:
Police investigating after 84-year-old woman found dead in Sydney home
New South Wales police have formed a taskforce to investigate the death of a woman in north-western Sydney on Saturday.
Emergency services were call to a property in Melonba, near Mt Druitt, at about midday on Saturday due to a concern for welfare.
Police found the body of an 84-year-old woman in her bedroom.
Her death is being treated as suspicious and a crime scene has been established.
Strike Force Vado has been formed to investigate the death with a postmortem examination expected to be carried out.
Updated
James Paterson says Hastie move to backbench part of Liberals’ ‘debate and contest about ideas’
The sooner the Liberal party can sort out its differences the better but it may take a while after Andrew Hastie’s departure to the back bench, according to one of the rogue MP’s closest colleagues.
Senator James Paterson says the opposition needs to resolve big questions about its policy positions as quickly as possible.
But we do have to make sure we go through our processes. We have to make sure we have those debates.
One of the reflections we’ve all had about the last parliamentary term is that there wasn’t enough debate and contest about ideas, that we need to robustly contest policy before we settle on it.
Hastie defended his decision on Saturday to quit shadow cabinet but ruled out challenging Sussan Ley for the party’s top job.
The former SAS soldier says he wants the freedom to be more outspoken on immigration by sitting on the back bench.
With the Liberals’ cabinet bound by solidarity when it comes to policy, members can’t cross the floor to vote against an established position.
On the back bench, I’ll continue to advocate for things I believe in.
His decision follows the recent demotion of another hardline campaigner on immigration, senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
She was removed from the shadow ministry in September after refusing to apologise for comments disparaging of Indian Australians.
– AAP
Updated
Melbourne's Town Hall underground train station complete
Town Hall station – first new train station in Melbourne’s CBD in more than 40 years – is complete.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, and transport infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, will today visit Town Hall station to announce that construction on the fourth of five Metro Tunnel stations is complete, paving the way for the long-awaited tunnel to open by the end of the year. Anzac, Arden and Parkville were handed over to Metro Trains in April.
Located below Swanston Street, the station also has an entrance at Federation Square and new pedestrian underpass that will allow underground transfers between Town Hall and Flinders Street without the need to tap on or off.
Town Hall – along with State Library – were the most complex of the five stations, as the tunnel had to travel underneath the existing City Loop. The total space excavated for Town Hall station, including the platform and concourse levels, was 260m long and as deep as a five-storey building, up to 33m under Swanston Street. The station itself sits 27m below street level.
The $13.48bn Metro Tunnel will connect the Sunbury line in the west to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new underground city stations, forming a single 97km train line.
It will deliver more frequent services from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham and free up City Loop capacity, returning Frankston trains to the loop.
Now in its third term, Labor is pinning its hopes on the tunnel delivering political capital before the November 2026 state election.
In a statement, Allan said:
We invested in public transport – and just look at the results. The Metro Tunnel will cut congestion and get you to work, uni and home sooner – and it opens this year.
Williams said:
With Town Hall Station now complete, we’re another step closer to opening the Metro Tunnel later this year – completely transforming the way Melbourne moves.
Updated
It is too early in negotiations over new environmental laws to rule anything out, Waters says, but the Greens want to see “environmental laws that work, that actually protect the environment and act on the climate crisis”.
Asked about the safeguard mechanism, Waters says the government is “talking about go zones” but “should be talking about no-go zones”.
What I’m very interested to know that the minister hasn’t answered yet is: is the Bowen basin going to be a go zone, where there are 22 coal projects awaiting approval? Is the government going to continue to green-light coal and gas, fossil fuel projects by big companies that make big donations to their re-election coffers but pay very little tax, in some cases none at all. That’s what I’m concerned about and the fact that the minister has not clarified that yet is not a good sign.
Updated
Greens leader urges government to end native forest logging
Asked whether windfarm projects should take priority over local environmental concerns, Waters says:
We are going to need to balance the need for large-scale and small-scale renewable energy against the needs of biodiversity and I don’t think it’s beyond our ability, David, to find the right location for those projects. We’d like to see government be the ones investing in those projects and I just don’t think it’s impossible to site them in the right place. That is very doable.
Waters is also asked about perceptions the Greens have been “too obstructionist” on negotiating environmental regulations and whether she is “willing to stand in the way of environmental law changes this time?”
Waters:
To pick you up on that, the prime minister killed that arrangement that we were about to ink for stronger environmental protections. So I’m afraid it was the prime minister blocking positive reform in that regard.
Asked how cooperative the Greens will be in this parliament:
We’re happy to have talks with the minister and those talks have begun but, unfortunately, the minister seems to be sending signals that he’d rather do a deal with the Coalition for environmental laws that don’t protect the planet.
Asked about whether there are any red lines for the party, Waters says that “one of the best outcomes” would be for the government to commit to end native forest logging.
Those laws were written last century and don’t even require the minister of the day to think about climate, let alone block on the basis of climate. That will continue to be a core demand of ours. You can’t have environmental laws that don’t protect the environment or think about the climate impacts of what we do.
Updated
Labor’s 2035 emissions target ‘delivered for coal and gas companies’, Waters says
Asked about the government’s 62% to 70% emissions reduction targets, Larissa Waters says the government’s has “low balled” with its current targets in light of advice from climate science.
I’m concerned that this 62% target just delivered for the coal and gas companies that have so much power and influence on this government and on the last and people are right to be concerned that their future is imperilled just because this government won’t stand up to the Woodsides or the Chevrons or the Glencores of the world.
Waters is asked about whether the Greens support statements from the Climate Change Authority that windfarm construction will quadruple to meet more ambitious climate targets.
I support quadrupling renewable energy. I have an open mind as to what particular technology will be the most efficient.
Waters is challenged over this point, with Speers attempting to probe the tensions between constructing renewable energy projects in areas that might be biodiversity hotspots or protected forests.
Waters is asked about specific windfarm locations, including one in northern Tasmania, but says she is not familiar with the specifics of the project.
This is why we need environmental laws that actually work.
Updated
Australia should be doing more to assist Gaza flotilla activists detained by Israel, Waters says
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, should be doing more to assist six Australians who took part in a flotilla that was intercepted by the Israeli military as it was attempting to break a naval blockade on Gaza to bring aid to the besieged strip, Larissa Waters says.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) said they were providing consular assistance to five Australians detained in Israel and were seeking confirmation of the detention of another Australian.
The Greens leader says Wong should call on the Israeli ambassador to ensure the safety and security of the six Australians who took part, and go so far as to expel the ambassador if action is not taken.
On the recent attack on a synagogue in Manchester, Waters says the Greens condemn the violence.
My heart goes out to the families of those people. No violence anywhere is acceptable.
Waters goes on to say that Australia should take further action against Israel, including ending the export of weapons and parts, as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and an end to the blockade.
Asked about where she stands on the government’s antisemitism envoy in light of the Manchester attack, Waters said many of the recommendations are “quite bizarre”.
What we need to see is an antiracist approach to antisemitism, to Islamophobia, to all of it. None of it is acceptable. But I think the reason why tensions are so inflamed is that we’ve seen a genocide for two years that our government has refused to condemn and, in fact, has been fuelling by sending those weapons – yes, I do keep mentioning them, because Australians are horrified that our government is entering fresh contracts over the last two years, to both sell weapons and buy weapons from that regime and likewise to fail to properly sanction that regime.
Updated
Palestinians must be in charge of future Gaza governance under Trump peace plan, Greens leader says
Palestinians must be involved in any ceasefire deal in Gaza for a “lasting and just peace”, the Greens say.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, is speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers where she was asked whether she supports the latest effort by US president Donald Trump to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
I think Palestinian people deserve to determine their own fate and their own future government and we want to see the genocide end as I’ve said, but it’s very important that Palestinians are in charge of the decision, not so much Donald Trump, the man who has renamed his defence ministry to a war ministry.
It’s just all so very bizarre that putting that man in charge of anything would lead to peace, but we remain hopeful for a self-determined just and lasting peace that ends that genocide.
Asked whether the Greens would support the creation of a transitional authority, potentially headed by Tony Blair, Waters says “it’s not up to us”.
It’s up to Palestinians to decide what future governance they want but right now they want a ceasefire and they want to stop being killed and massacred while they’re trying to access aid.
Updated
Greens leader Larissa Waters will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile Assistant minister for trade Tim Ayres and Shadow Communications Ministers Melissa McIntosh have spoken to Sky news this morning.
We will bring you the latest as it develops.
Updated
Hecs debt cuts to come into effect from mid-November
Higher education debt relief will start flowing from next month, the Albanese government has confirmed.
In November and December, Australians with student debt will begin to see their balances reduced as the ATO implements the new 20% student debt cut.
Labor says the ATO will begin applying the cut from mid-November and anticipates that half of people with a student debt will see the 20% cut by the end of November.
Almost everyone else will see the cut applied to their balance by mid-December.
The cut will be backdated to balances on 1 June before indexation happened.
Graduates will be notified by text message or email when the cut happens and will be able to check their accounts to see their new lower balance.
The education minister, Jason Clare, says someone with the average debt of $27,600, this will see $5,520 wiped from their outstanding loans.
We promised we would cut your student debt by 20% and we are delivering.
This is a big deal for 3 million Australians.
This cut is already locked in to people’s balances at 1 June but soon they will be able to see it and feel it.
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
The Albanese government has set a date for when it will slash Hecs debts for 3 million Australians. From mid-November the Australian Tax Office will begin processing the cuts that lower student debt by a fifth with half of those eligible to receive confirmation by the end of November, and the rest by mid-December.
Two women found by hikers in an alpine hut near Falls Creek froze to death when the region experienced blizzard-like conditions earlier in the week, police have confirmed. Police are working to identify the women in their 20s and 30s after retrieving their bodies from Mount Bogong on Saturday morning.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
