What we learned today – Monday 3 October
And that is the end of my labour on this day. Thanks everyone for being here – whether you had a public holiday or not. Here are some highlights:
The families of Australians held in Syrian detention camps have reacted to the news that the government plans on a rescue mission.
Optus has revealed more details of the data breach.
Our environment team is tracking Australia’s progress on reaching emissions reduction targets.
Australians are not all that keen on the stage three tax cuts that the federal government insists (for now) will go ahead. (The UK government has just crumbled on its version).
Heavy rain and flash flooding is set to hit much of Australia.
Lots of people want to talk about daylight saving, from First Dog to the Brisbane mayor. And Nick Evershed is performing wonders as our very own sundial.
Football Australia is taking disciplinary action against fans who sang fascist songs and performed fascist salutes.
We’ll be back in full swing in the morning!
Updated
50,000 Australians needed to donate lifesaving blood plasma
AAP reports about 5,000 Australians receive a plasma infusion or are treated with medicines made from plasma each day.
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s Stuart Chesneau said the early diagnosis of serious medical conditions like cancer and improved care was behind the growing need for plasma.
Early diagnosis has really driven up a lot of demand. It has gone up between seven and 10 per cent every year for the last decade. We’ve got the highest voluntary rate of plasma donation in the world per capita, but still the demand for those products continue to rise.
Chesneau said rules on who can donate plasma were not as strict as those for donating blood.
“If you got a tattoo today, you can donate plasma tomorrow. There is no delay at all,” he said.
Anyone unsure about whether they can give blood products can check their eligibility on the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood website.
Updated
“The shortages will be most severe in the aged and disabled care sectors,” Sarah Martin reports:
Depression-era coin fetches high price at auction
A rare penny has sold at auction for $60,000, raising further fears about inflation (that last bit was a joke).
The penny is, according to Lloyds Auctions, the “lowest mintage pre-decimal Australian coin in existence [and] in good condition featuring partial diamond and six pearls on King George V’s crown”.
The 1930s coin was a product of the Great Depression. The auction house’s chief operations officer, Lee Hames, said:
A once by-product of economic depression is now a symbol of prosperity, the ultimate cherry on top for any coin collector.
We have been seeing an influx of collectables come into Lloyds Auctions with people wanting to sell their old or valued treasures to make some extra cash, and we encourage people to bring in their collectables to be valued.
Updated
All this daylight saving stuff has got the Dog howling:
The latest in Queensland’s back and forth on daylight saving
Alongside jokes around confused cows and hungry dogs, proponents for and against a change make scientific claims to back to their arguments, citing impacts on circadian rhythms, skin cancer rates and even road tolls for native wildlife.
Updated
That’s 2.1 million people with existing or expired numbers exposed:
Optus says 1.2m customers had one form of ID number exposed, 900,000 had numbers for expired IDs exposed.
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) October 3, 2022
7.7m didn't have ID numbers exposed. pic.twitter.com/3bhywbYRz4
Updated
Heads up: We’re going to get back into daylight saving in a bit. But for now, here are some more details about the week’s weather across the country:
Australian treasurer says UK policy ‘out of whack’
On the weekend, treasurer Jim Chalmers said:
We’re reluctant to comment or weigh in on the domestic policy policies of countries like the UK, but what’s happening there, I think, is a cautionary tale about the costs and consequences of getting government policy and central bank policy out of whack, having fiscal and monetary policy working at cross purposes.
It is a cautionary tale about what it looks like when you risk getting that wrong. And so that’s not irrelevant to us as we put together our own budget to hand down this month.
Just thought I’d revisit in light of those big tax cuts coming our way and this:
Truss expected to abandon plan to abolish 45% top rate of income tax – live https://t.co/b4V1cJYeyI
— The Guardian (@guardian) October 3, 2022
Updated
First submariners pass inaugural Australian submarine command course
Amid ongoing debate about how to put Aukus into practice, the Albanese government says two Royal Australian Navy submariners have passed the first-ever Australian Submarine Command Course.
Before the launch of the new course, it says, Australian submarine commanding officers were trained in the UK with the Royal Navy and by the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The minister for defence personnel, Matt Keogh, said the new course “culminated in a rigorous sea-phase that tested participants in undersea and special warfare scenarios”. He said in a statement:
I congratulate the newly qualified submarine commanders for passing the demanding course. The men and women of the Australian Defence Force are our most important capability, so upskilling them to meet our current and future needs is critical.
Our Navy can’t wait until new capabilities are ready to train the next generation of leaders – these commanders must be fully equipped for when the submarines enter into service.
A quick reminder: The government expects to make an announcement early next year about how to put into practice the plan to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines in conjunction with the US and the UK.
Updated
Did you spot a shooting star over the weekend?
It might have been Australia’s first Binar spacecraft coming back down to Earth. Fergus Downey writes in The Conversation:
Binar is the word for “fireball” in the Noongar language spoken by the Aboriginal people of Perth. Binar-1 became a real “Binar” as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the weekend. Although the chance of it being seen over Australia was low, with the right amount of luck it would have appeared as a shooting star in the night sky.
Updated
The latest from the Bureau of Meteorology
Looks like the NT and WA are the places to be for the next week:
Significant rain and storms are expected to move over the eastern states from late Tuesday. Showers and thunderstorms will increase, particularly over southern South Australia (including Adelaide), and extend into north-west Victoria and the New South Wales South Coast.
By Wednesday morning, rain is expected to move further east into Queensland, central NSW, South Australia, and Victoria, with widespread showers and storms peaking in the afternoon and evening.
There will be moderate to major flooding in already flooded rivers in NSW, Victoria, and possibly Tasmania and southern Queensland.
From Thursday, storm activity will decrease with a slight easing of showers across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania by the evening.
There’s more, but that’s probably enough for now. Check here for the latest.
Updated
You might struggle to get this past your local council these days:
Playground equipment presented to Ainslie Primary School in Canberra by Prime Minister James Scullin, 1930 pic.twitter.com/B505hRVVvJ
— Canberra Insider (@CanberraInsider) October 3, 2022
Richard Marles meets Nauruan president
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has visited Nauru on his way from Hawaii (where he had met with Japan’s defence minister and the US defense secretary).
Marles, who is also defence minister, said he had met with Nauru’s newly elected president, Russ Kun.
In a statement, he said:
President Kun and I discussed emerging priorities, challenges, and our common goals for a stable, sovereign, and resilient Pacific.
I sincerely thank the government and people of Nauru for their generous hospitality.
It was an honour to meet newly elected president Kun and his ministerial team. These engagements really drive home how all countries have a role to play in the international system to support prosperity and security.
Updated
Josh Taylor has definitely not been dialling it in on the Optus hack. Here’s his latest:
Optus has started advising people directly what ID documents were exposed. Seems to be a varying amount of detail depending on whether you get a text or an email. https://t.co/83i03ypZLa
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) October 3, 2022
Updated
Coalition did not release care worker report findings
Some more on that care workforce story below – Sarah Martin was chasing down the report earlier this year:
Updated
Report finds severe shortage of care workers looming
Australia will be short of about 100,000 care workers by 2027, a new workforce study from the National Skills Commission found.
The report, which was finished a year ago but only released today, warned that urgent action was needed to avert the shortages.
According to AAP, the report was also written before the Omicron variant hit. The low unemployment rate could also exacerbate the situation.
Skills minister, Brendan O’Connor, said the previous government’s delay had “only compounded the problems the sector faces”. He said:
Australians deserve to know the truth. Locking a report in a drawer won’t trick Australians, who know there is a challenge that needs to be confronted.
O’Connor said the federal government was committed to improving attraction, retention and the sustainability of the care workforce:
I am also taking action to address the urgent skills crisis by establishing Jobs and Skills Australia.
This is a key priority for me that will fast-track improved workforce planning, including the care sector.
Updated
Ukrainian army tweets video of Australian Bushmaster vehicle in use
Ukraine has asked Australia for another 30 Bushmasters – here they are in action (with quite the soundtrack).
The “provided” BTR is a Russian armoured vehicle:
Lend lease x 2: A Ukrainian Bushmaster made in Australia is pulling a BTR provided by russia. This technology is in safe hands. pic.twitter.com/9uGTNHDtMb
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 2, 2022
Updated
Sorry, all:
Severe Weather Update: Widespread rain for eastern Australia with increased flood risk. Video current: 1:00pm AEDT 03 October 2022.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) October 3, 2022
Know your weather, know your risk. For the latest forecasts and warnings go to our website https://t.co/4W35o8zIoh or the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/1maiRuviZF
This is an extraordinary look at the work of the photojournalists across the ditch – check out Mark Dwyer’s 2006 picture, Surfin Bros:
Jeff Kennett on Hawthorn investigation: ‘we could have this wrapped up by Christmas’
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has continued doing the media rounds this morning (over the weekend he said the leaking of racism allegations at Hawthorn was “unfair” and the whole thing just a “bump along the highway”).
Now he wants the whole investigation done by Christmas. Kennett told radio station KIIS he wanted the AFL to call all parties together, according to AAP:
My own preference would be that the AFL, through their new process that they are setting up, call all parties together. All parties agree to sit down and talk it through. And therefore, through mediation, we could have this wrapped up by Christmas.
I don’t know if all parties, given the damage that has been done now and the pain that both parties are feeling, I don’t know if that will be possible or not.
That is my desire. And the AFL is setting up a different process now and we will just have to wait and see where that takes us.
Updated
Planned Syrian repatriation ‘incredibly exciting’
More from Ben Doherty on the news out this morning that Australia will launch a rescue mission for Australians held in Syria – the families react:
Updated
Thanks Natasha May – yep, here in SA, thinking a half-hour time difference was weird enough …
Updated
Thanks for your attention today and abiding by the daylight savings tangents. I now hand you over to the fantastic (SA based) Tory Shepherd!
Speaking of daylight saving …
Who knew there was a special quarter-hour based time zone in Western Australia?
Eucla, the eastern-most locality in Western Australia, population 53 people (according to the 2016 census) can boast of having its very own 45-minute time zone.
The location in the Goldfields-Esperance region, approximately 11 kilometres west of the South Australian border, is the only one in the country to use Australian Central Western Standard Time (ACWST) which is 8:45 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.
Its local time differs by 45 minutes instead of the normal whole hour, meaning that it’s currently 10.37am in Eucla and 9.53am elsewhere in the state.
Apparently coworkers from WA and SA at Eucla Telegraph Station used to get very confused, so the two states gave them their own time zone. The zone still exists although Eucla hasn’t had a telegraph station for many decades.
If you’re ever making the road trip across the Nullarbor Plain and want to know the roadhouses where you should change your watches according to Australian Central Western Standard Time, you can find out here.
Updated
Optus commissions independent external review of data breach
Optus has commissioned Deloitte to conduct an independent external review of the company’s massive data breach, with a focus on security systems and processes.
The Singtel-owned company announced on Monday the review put forward by CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to the Singapore parent company’s board was supported unanimously.
Bayer Rosmarin said Deloitte will undertake a forensic assessment of the breach:
This review will help ensure we understand how it occurred and how we can prevent it from occurring again. It will help inform the response to the incident for Optus. This may also help others in the private and public sector where sensitive data is held and risk of cyber-attack exists.
I am committed to rebuilding trust with our customers and this important process will assist those efforts.
Updated
Hay fever tablet changes cell memory, study finds
A daily pill can change immune cell memory and reduce allergic reactions like hay fever and thunderstorm asthma, new research shows, AAP reports.
A study led by Monash university found Victorians who took the prescribed medication Oralair for four months in the lead-up to allergy season for three consecutive years had retrained immune cells and had long-term protection against allergic reactions.
In 2019, researchers studied 27 Victorians allergic to ryegrass pollen; half of them took the daily tablet consisting of grass pollen under the tongue and the others received antihistamines.
Monash University’s Central Clinical School lead researcher Menno van Zelm said:
This is very good news ... we compared the samples before and after for any changes in immune memory and what we found is [in] the bases treated with the tablet – their immune cells that responded to ryegrass pollen had changed.
The cells in the patients that were not treated with the medication had not changed.
He added the early markers in the sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) will ensure the right patients get the right treatment.
More than 4.6m Australians suffer from hay fever, which is often triggered by an allergic reaction to outdoor or indoor allergens like pollen and dust mites, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
In 2016, Melbourne had the world’s largest epidemic thunderstorm asthma event, with thousands of people developing breathing difficulties and at least nine deaths.
Updated
Australian camera operator drops camera to help people fleeing Hurricane Ian
In journalism the moral responsibility to bear witness can rub uncomfortably against the competing reflex to take action. It’s a rife tension in the profession, with the spectre of voyeurism especially prominent amid natural disasters.
In the midst of Hurricane Ian devastating Florida, the balance for the Australian camera man for Sunrise Glen Ellis fell to stepping out from behind the camera in order to help.
You can watch that moment here:
Updated
Submarine commanders to be Australian made
The navy is preparing to train the next generation of submarine commanders at home as Australia seeks to bolster its military prowess ahead of the arrival of the nuclear vessels, AAP reports.
Australia is set to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines from either the US or UK under the trilateral AUKUS security arrangement.
The subs are expected to arrive in the late 2030s, with reports Washington could expedite some for the middle of that decade.
The federal government is working to train up sovereign domestic nuclear and naval industries so Australia is ready to handle the coveted nuclear secrets of our allies.
Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said the inaugural submarine command course met international standards after vigorous undersea and special warfare tests. He said:
Our navy can’t wait until new capabilities are ready to train the next generation of leaders.
These commanders must be fully equipped for when the submarines enter into service.
Australian submarine commanders have been training with the UK and Dutch navies.
Defence minister Richard Marles recently announced that Australian personnel would train on British nuclear submarines as part of an effort to upskill the nation’s defence force.
Marles is set to make the decision about which submarine Australia will go with by March 2023.
Standing alongside his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Hawaii on Sunday, he told reporters the timeline for the first submarine was pertinent in the decision.
Marles said the pair also discussed closer defence industry cooperation to make sharing information “seamless” between the two nations.
Should we abolish daylight saving time – or apply it across Australia?
It’s that time of year again when people who have very strong opinions about daylights savings express them. Among them, my colleague Elias Visontay who penned this passionate plea for an extra hour last year:
Whether you’re in a state that’s just lost an hour on Sunday and feeling a little out of sync, or are dedicating your entire political platform to wanting to see it introduced to your state, you can use Guardian’s dedicated data blog to back up your stance.
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS WHAT EVEN IS IT? SHOULD IT BE KILLED OR CONTROLLED FROM A GIANT SUNDIAL ON PARLIAMENT HOUSE https://t.co/7SkhY2elhb pic.twitter.com/FAMCEVNwXu
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) October 2, 2022
The interactive graphics use sun position calculations to show how daylight saving affects daylight hours, and the effect of any changes – check it out.
Updated
Two men killed in Western Australian helicopter crash
Two men have been killed in a helicopter crash in the Western Australian wheatbelt, AAP reports.
The two-seat Robinson R22 helicopter went down near the Cowcowing Lakes at Booralaming on Sunday.
It had left Koorda earlier in the day along with 10 planes taking part in a club event.
When the two men failed to arrive at Jandakot Airport, police were alerted about 3.45pm by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s joint rescue coordination centre.
An AMSA search jet then found the wreck.
Police went to the scene and confirmed there were no survivors. A man in his 70s and another in his 50s died.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is sending investigators to the scene on Monday and WA Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a statement:
Over coming days ATSB investigators will survey and map the accident site and collect any relevant components for further examination and analysis at the ATSB’s technical facilities tin Canberra.
They will also obtain and review any recorded data, weather information, witness reports, and aircraft operator procedures and maintenance records.
Anyone who may have seen or heard the aircraft in any phase of its flight, or who may have footage of any kind is asked to contact witness@atsb.gov.au.
A preliminary report is expected in six to eight weeks.
Flood warning for the Snowy River
⚠️ #Flood Warning issued for #Snowy River. Levels at #McKillopsBridge remain around #Minor. #Minor flooding may redevelop from overnight Tuesday. See https://t.co/zQk6fgvnx0 for details and updates; follow advice from @vicemergency #VicFloods @vicsesnews pic.twitter.com/It0HcRGA9k
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) October 3, 2022
Reactions to Syrian rescue mission stress children’s safety is paramount
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek this morning spoke to the Seven Network about the government’s decision to launch a rescue mission for women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps.
Plibersek said the government will be following the advice of national security agencies, and stressed the families will require counselling.
We’ve got about 40 Australian kids living in one of the most dangerous places on earth in a refugee camp.
Some of the women, some of the mothers, were taken there as little more than children themselves and married off to IS fighters. Some of them tricked. Some of them forced to go there.
When they come back to Australia, I think it’s going to be very important that the children, in particular, receive counselling, but I think for everybody involved there will be an ongoing expectation that our security and intelligence agencies will stay in contact with them and monitor them.
While the shadow home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, has said the government’s decision is concerning, the opposition immigration spokesman, Dan Tehan, said it appeared the security situation had changed to allow for the repatriation after the reported mission.
Mat Tinkler, the CEO of Save the Children, a humanitarian organisation that has been calling on the government to support the children in these camps, said the repatriation “can’t come soon enough”.
Children have died in these camps.
Australian children are poorly nourished, suffering from untreated shrapnel wounds, and the situation is impacting their mental health.
He told the ABC that when he travelled to the Syrian detention camps, the women guaranteed that they would cooperate with the authorities upon their arrival in Australia.
When I went to the camps in June, I asked the women individually, ‘Are you willing to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities on your arrival?’
They said yes. And they also offered – and this is unprecedented – to have a terrorism control order applied on them by consent. That means every aspect of their life can be monitored by an ankle bracelet, communications monitor, under house arrest effectively.
So there’s no risk that we can’t mitigate with our robust security architecture here in Australia. The biggest risk right now is that one of the Australian children will die if they’re not repatriated from the camps quite urgently.
– with AAP
Updated
Perrottet joins calls for lifetime bans for Sydney football fans who made Nazi salute
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, wants to see lifetime bans imposed on fans who sang fascist songs and made Hitler salutes at Saturday night’s Australia Cup final in Sydney.
Speaking on Monday morning in Greenacre, he condemned the behaviour and said it had no place in NSW.
What we saw the other day was terrible. It was absolutely horrendous.
It has no place, not just at sporting games, but anywhere in our state.
If they are caught, there should be life bans in place.
Once they are caught, they are not going back to a game in this state.
He said anyone caught doing similar things in the future should also be immediately barred.
Updated
Brazil election getting closer to a final result
We love our blogs at the Guardian, if you haven’t noticed, and you might want to check out what’s happening with our Brazil election live blog as the final result is getting closer.
The frontrunner is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, who became the country’s first working-class president in 2002. He stepped down after two terms in 2010 with approval ratings close to 90%, bolstered by the prosperity off the back of the continent’s commodity boom.
His opponent is the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, who, since 2019, has led an administration marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticised handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.
It looks like Lula is ahead, but he will struggle to get the 50% required to prevent a runoff vote.
Updated
Brunswick scooter riders on notice from this morning
Victorian police are ramping up their focus on e-scooters riders in the Brunswick area, as they say the mode of transport is increasing in popularity among locals but so too are the frequency of incidents.
The operation led by Fawkner Highway Patrol starts this morning and will see police engage with early morning commuters to ensure compliance with legislation around e-scooters.
This escooter will be impounded for 30 days days under the Road Safety Act as part of a police crackdown on illegal escooter use in Brunswick this morning. @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/MiNK8fre8E
— Elisabeth Moss (@Elisabeth_Moss9) October 2, 2022
In a statement, police said:
The concerted focus comes following several incidents in the surrounding areas involving e-scooters, including one that left a man with life threatening injuries in Pascoe Vale on 22 September.
Investigators were told a man was riding an e-scooter along Cornwall Road when it appeared he lost control of the scooter while travelling over a speed-hump at around 8.20am. The rider was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and the investigation into the collision is ongoing.
Brunswick is not an area included in the Department of Transport’s trial across the City of Melbourne, the City of Yarra, and the City of Port Phillip.
Current legislation deems any non-trial e-scooter that can travel over 10km/h or emits over 200 watts is illegal and cannot be ridden on public roads, bike lanes or footpaths.
High-powered e-scooters are considered motor vehicles and riders can attract a $925 fine for using an unregistered vehicle, with e-scooters currently unable to be registered and ridden legally on roads.
Updated
Rain, rain go away – please
We’ve all heard about a “threepeat” La Niña and many of us have got used to Indian Ocean dipoles* lifting the odds of above-average rainfall for most of Australia.
In the next week and more, we’ll see those odds being realised in the form of another bout of rain in the east.
Swollen rivers across the eastern states are going to swell a bit more – with flooding likely in some areas.
No wonder @BOM_au and emergency services are concerned about the likelihood of fresh flooding in the country's east over the next week or so. Many of those regions are already saturated and another 100mm or more won't help. pic.twitter.com/hh9frqWhP8
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
Near Sydney, Warragamba Dam, easily the biggest in the city’s system, has started to spill again, as will most of the other dams.
Whether that triggers flooding again in the benighted Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley seems a little unlikely on current forecasts.
Still, Richmond on the Hawkesbury section of the river has a BoM prediction of 30mm or so for both Saturday and Sunday, so there will be some damp spells ahead.
As we noted the other day, September itself was another relatively wet month.
September was another unusually wet month for Australia, according to @BOM_au pic.twitter.com/Dm74GWidRN
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) September 30, 2022
The average rainfall of 33.62mm across the country was less than September in 2010 and 2016, but before that you have to go back to 1917 to find a wetter September.
All that moisture in the soil and the cloud cover tends to moderate temperatures, as we saw last month:
All that rain in September kept mean temperatures at least relatively moderate (compared with recent Septembers), although the tropical north was notable (and in some places record) hot. (Source: @BOM_au ) pic.twitter.com/tVWkTlXYA6
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
But there was quite a difference between days and nights, with maximums relatively cool (even cold) in parts of the country. Minimums, though, were typically warmer than average.
All that cloud cover kept a lid on daytime temperatures in September (left), while minimums were mostly above- to well-above average, @BOM_au data shows. pic.twitter.com/NRqhWrzfKi
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
Global heating, of course, nudges the background temperatures higher so the chances of unusual warmth, versus historical levels, continue to climb.
*The Indian Ocean dipole measures how sea-surface temperatures on the west and eastern parts of the ocean basin compare with each other. The current spell is in its “negative phase”, with the east relatively warm, increasing the odds of more convection and north-west cloud bands forming, channeling more rain toward the nation’s south-east.
Updated
Victorian government pledges new Gippsland hospital if re-elected
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has this morning announced his government will build a new West Gippsland hospital, based in Drouin East, if re-elected in November.
The Andrews government has pledged between $610-675m for more beds, a bigger emergency department and more operating theatres.
Premier Daniel Andrews announces he will build a new West Gippsland hospital, based in Drouin East, if elected in November. He’s pledged between $610-675m. #springst @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/lMG2RNFfVM
— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) October 2, 2022
Updated
Regulators want banks to explain refusals
Australia’s banks could be forced to explain to customers their reasons for refusing services under proposed reforms by the nation’s financial regulatory agencies body, AAP reports.
The Council of Financial Regulators has recommended four main policy responses to address the problem of de-banking, where a bank declines to offer or withdraws banking services to a customer.
In a joint statement, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and financial services minister, Stephen Jones, welcomed the paper, saying the issue mainly affected the financial technology, digital currency exchange and remittance sectors. The statement reads:
De-banking can increase the risks for affected businesses by forcing them to conduct transactions exclusively in cash.
The government is committed to promoting innovation and competition in the financial services sector and will continue to work with affected customers.
Collecting de-banking data, new transparency and fairness measures, published guidance on risk tolerance to affected sectors by the major four banks and funding targeted education are the key reforms.
Banks would be required to document their reason for refusing a customer and provide those reasons to the individual or business.
Those customers would then be pointed to the bank’s dispute resolution process and given at least 30 days’ notice before services were closed off to them.
The research calls for the “lack of systemic data on the extent and nature of de-banking practices” to be addressed through voluntary data collection by the big four.
The government said it would formally respond to the recommendations at a later date.
Updated
Sydney’s main dam starting to spill again
Warragamba, Sydney's main dam (80% of the total capacity) is already starting to spill - again. And most of the other dams in the system are also full. (Source: WaterNSW.) pic.twitter.com/A4kysttqhK
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
Nationals embark on ‘Listening Tour’ to win back regional women and youth
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has spoken to Sky News this morning about this “Listening Tour” the Nationals tour are embarking on, starting in Mildura tomorrow before moving to the NSW north coast and getting to Queensland by the end of the year.
Women and youth are set to be the focus of this tour, because Littleproud says despite investing money there has been a lack of connection between the party and these stakeholders.
He says the Coalition lost the trust of women not just in metropolitan areas, but also rural areas. Littleproud admits:
We didn’t handle Brittany Higgins all that well. In fact, we handed it poorly.
While the Nationals didn’t lose the heartland seats the Liberals did at the last election, their safe margins came under major threat.
Guardian Australia’s rural editor Gabrielle Chan wrote this very insightful piece after the May election on how community-based independents and regional migration saw huge margins slim down in many electorates like Nicholls and Cowper.
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‘If Labor doesn’t perform … there will be community efforts against them’: Simon Holmes à Court
Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 organisation backed nine independent candidates at the last federal election who all won their seats, in one of the most notable features of the May election.
Holmes à Court has published a book about his experience, The Big Teal, and was interviewed about it on ABC Radio this morning. Why did he decide to write the book?
There was a lot of misinformation during the campaign about the movement, so I wanted to correct some of that, but I also wanted to situate Climate 200 and myself as part of the much greater movement … which started over a decade ago when Cathy McGowan took on Sophie Mirabella in the seat of Indi.
Asked about the impact Climate 200 might have at the upcoming Victorian state election, he said the state’s donation laws make it harder for independent candidates.
The Victorian laws have done a great job in removing the nexus between big business and politics, and removing the opportunity for quid pro quo. While that’s good, they’ve made it much harder for new entrants to come in. In a way we’ve entrenched a two party system. It is more difficult, but there are four very good candidates Climate 200 is supporting.
Will Climate 200 be targeting Labor safe seats at the next federal election?
We don’t target seats. The question is: will the community stand up and which seats will they stand up in?
If Labor doesn’t perform on these issues, if they frustrate the electorate on these issues, then they can be assured there will be community efforts against them.
We’ll see this movement grow.
Updated
Fracking in Lake Eyre the ‘height of folly’, report suggests
The expansion of fracking in the Lake Eyre basin would be the “absolute height of folly” and its high-cost, high-emissions unconventional gas could rapidly create stranded assets, a report has found.
The basin – home to one of the world’s last major free-flowing desert river systems – sprawls over nearly one-sixth of the Australian continent, covering parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
Updated
Further RBA rate rises likely to accelerate property price declines
Real estate prices are falling in most of Australia (Darwin is a holdout!), according to CoreLogic. We have this version of its monthly report here:
The rate of declines eased slightly in September from August but CoreLogic reckons that downward tilt will steepen again if the RBA keeps raising rates.
How the major Australian city housing prices are changing. (Source: @corelogicau ) pic.twitter.com/yu9aJKDxnM
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
There’s always a lot of focus on home values rather than rents because about a third of the population has paid off their mortgages and another third are paying them off.
But for renters – who make up an increasing share of the population – the arrow is still pointed upwards.
Australia's rents are continuing to rise, although the monthly rise in September was the slowest since December 2021, @Corelogicau says. pic.twitter.com/xVSbSTh0Jz
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) October 2, 2022
Compared with a year ago, rents are about 10%. Interestingly, for units average rents are up 11.8% and for houses 9.4%, according to Tim Lawless, research director for CoreLogic.
For September alone, the rise was 1.1% for units and 0.5% for houses, indicating there’s a switch towards higher-density residences.
Lawless says average rents are about $50 a week higher than a year ago, which suggests a “ceiling” might be reached in terms of what many people can afford.
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Tracking Australia’s progress on the climate crisis and the consequences of global heating
Guardian Australia’s data magicians, Nick Evershed and Josh Nicholas, together with climate and environment editor Adam Morton, have put together this fantastic interactive which tracks Australia’s progress on the climate crisis.
While terms like carbon budget and emissions targets tend to evaporate in the ether of political discussion, this data blog visualises Australia’s contribution to the climate emergency, and tracks our country’s efforts to address it in a really concrete way.
Have a look and play around with the settings to understand things like how excluding emissions from land use and forestry can change the picture of Australia’s emissions.
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Victorian schools get $7.8m for disability needs
More than 40 Victorian schools will be upgraded and made more inclusive for students with disabilities as part of a $7.89m funding boost by the state government, AAP reports.
Indoor and outdoor learning spaces will be improved to enable better teaching practices and provide opportunities for sensory experiences and peer socialisation.
Play areas will also be transformed with new facilities and stimulating and accessible equipment.
Education minister Natalie Hutchins said:
We’re ensuring every child and young person in Victoria can meet their potential and access great education – regardless of their background, abilities or differences.
Among the schools to receive funding are Briagolong primary school, which has been allocated $200,000 for a new inclusive playground.
Ripponlea primary school will also receive $177,834 for a dedicated outdoor inclusive learning space and Stawell West primary school will use $67,519 in funding to upgrade a new indoor area.
The Victorian government launched the inclusive schools fund in 2015 and, since then, more than 340 creative projects to build inclusive learning spaces and inclusive playgrounds have been announced.
The government has invested $12.8bn to building new schools and more than 1,850 school upgrades over the past eight years.
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Optus not forthcoming on breach, Tanya Plibersek says
A federal minister has slammed Optus for not being forthcoming with either customers or the government more than a week on from the cyber attack, AAP reports.
Tanya Plibersek said while people had been receiving their bills on time, the telco had not told customers whether their personal details had been stolen.
She told the Seven Network:
One of the real problems is the lack of communication by Optus, both with its customers and the government.
I don’t think the company is doing a particularly good job with its customers or providing the government with the information we need to keep people safe.
It’s extraordinary we don’t have any Medicare numbers or Centrelink numbers that may have been compromised.
Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Optus had “compromised their capacity to do their job”.
Joyce told Seven Network:
Those in the know say it wasn’t a very sophisticated way to get into the Optus information.
He questioned why the telco had “been so lax” about the data breach.
Why can’t they protect your privacy and get back to people and say we have a real problem here and be careful?
Optus was also slammed by Albanese government ministers for not responding to its requests for information to help protect almost 10 million Australians from fraud at a press conference yesterday.
Services Australia wrote to Optus on Tuesday asking for the full details of all customers who had their Medicare cards or Centrelink Concession Cards compromised to boost security measures. The government said Optus was yet to respond to the request.
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‘I’m not going to be happy about any seat we lose’
Karen Andrews was also asked about comments that came out of the Conservative Political Action Conference Australia yesterday, where federal vice-president Teena McQueen welcomed the defeat of “lefties” within the party.
If you want to read more on that, my colleague Josh Butler was in attendance:
Andrews said in response to McQueen’s comments:
I’m not going to be happy about any seat we lose. We need to look at the principles of the Liberal party … we need to regroup, which we are doing under Peter Dutton and revisit the policies we took to the last election.
We need to be much better at selling to Australians why we are the best party.
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‘Biggest wake-up call’ from the Optus breach is to government, shadow home affairs minister says
Karen Andrews continues her criticism of the government in its response to the massive Optus data breach. She says Optus has serious questions it needs to answer but that the government’s response has also been lacking.
She said they were late in their responses and didn’t set out what customers could be doing to protect themselves.
I’m not going to absolve Optus of its corporate responsibility but there is a role for government.
She said there was “no evidence to support Australia being five years behind” in cybersecurity protections, as home affairs minister Clare O’Neil has claimed, criticising the former government.
Does Andrews support immediate move to stop companies retaining data for long periods of time?
She says she would be “happy to look at legislation” and that there are “a range of issues what data is kept and how it’s kept” but largely doesn’t answer the question of whether she will support the government’s plans for immediate action on data retention.
She says the “biggest wake-up call” from the Optus breach is to the Labor government.
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Shadow home affairs minister calls government rescue mission ‘very concerning’
Karen Andrews, the shadow home affairs minister, is speaking to ABC radio about the decision that has been taken by government to launch a rescue mission for Australian women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps.
It’s a move she decided against when she was the minister responsible in government.
She tells ABC Radio she believes the decision is “very concerning” and that she wasn’t prepare to bring them home for three reasons.
She wasn’t prepared to risk Australian officials going into Syria to extract these people from the camps. She was also concerned about the radicalisation of the women and children, and the risk of them back to Australia. She said it posed an unnecessary risk and an enormous cost to be supervised in the community.
Does she accept it’s accept it’s Australia’s responsibility to bring its citizens back home?
Andrews emphasises the “women went there by choice and made their own decisions to be in Syria”.
They were complicit in the role they were expected to play … to support Isis and the foreign fighters there. That was the view at the time and I’ve seen nothing to alter my view.
Andrews believes they “absolutely should be” subject to significant surveillance and control upon their return to Australia.
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Home values fall for fifth straight month
Australian home values have fallen for a fifth consecutive month, with prices dropping in all capitals except Darwin, AAP reports.
Home values across the country dropped 1.4% in September after a 1.6% fall in August, according to CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index.
In the capital cities, Sydney values were down 1.8% in the month, while Melbourne values fell 1.1% and in Brisbane they dropped 1.7%.
Adelaide and Perth saw small monthly reductions of 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, while in Darwin values remained flat.
The September decline marks the fifth fall in a row in the national index as the impact of consecutive interest rate hikes plays out in the property market.
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Anti-corruption commission hearings should be held in public, Lambie says
Jacqui Lambie was also asked about the details of the government’s national anti-corruption commission, revealed in parliament last week. One of the major points of contention is the fact that most hearings will be held in private.
Lambie is asked why it would be important for the commission to hold hearings in public, given that it will report the outcome of its work?
If people are doing the wrong things … anybody else in a normal court system has to go through that system and if that means being out in the public arena, that’s what happens.
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Lambie criticises government going public with revelation of Syrian rescue mission
But Jacqui Lambie has questioned the fact the government is revealing details of this mission so early:
Nobody seems to be talking about these interpreters and their families that helped our men and women in Afghanistan who are stuck there … and this seems to have gone wayside.
Lambie says she would like the Labor party to be honest about the safety of the interpreters:
It’s absurd they’re prepared to put this detail out … when they’re saying it’s going to be dangerous. I’m surprised they’re letting that out there and they’re not just doing it at the cover of darkness.
From the briefing I’ve had over the last three years, it is a great risk to try and bring these people home, not just getting them out of there … but whether or not they’ve been radicalised.
They’ve obviously done their homework, they believe it’s the right time, so we just have to trust the decisions of Asio.
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Lambie supports mission to bring home Australian women and children from Syria
Senator Jacqui Lambie is speaking to ABC Radio about this news that the government is planning a mission to rescue Australian women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps.
She supports the government bringing them home but says there is a great risk in terms of the possibility of radicalisation and emphasises there is the need for great support for those Australians upon their repatriation:
With their children, they’re going to need a lot of help when they return home, a lot of that will be psychological … this will be an ongoing saga for the rest of their lives, no doubt.
Lambie has visited the detention camps where the women and children have been living.
They are god damn bloody awful … they are crowded in those tents there. There is rape and an awful lot of abuse. You want to do the right humanitarian thing and bring them home.
Is Lambie’s support conditional upon ensuring the repatriation is safe?
I think they’re Australia’s responsibility – we don’t have any choice.
After revealing this story exclusively yesterday, Guardian Australia’s immigration correspondent Ben Doherty has more on the support these women and children will need today:
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Gas industry expect to receive bigger tax bill
Australia’s gas exporters predict they will pay billions of dollars more next year – mostly through income tax.
This year the Australia Institute reported that five of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s top members had paid no income tax for at least seven years. Others had paid minimal amounts, despite billions of dollars in revenue.
The institute’s analysis of tax data found most of those were foreign-owned, “resulting in all profits heading straight offshore”.
Appea now says its forecasts show liquefied natural gas exporters will pay almost about $14bn next financial year, more than twice as much as the $4.8bn forecast for last financial year. Of the extra $9bn, corporate income tax makes up almost $7bn. The rest comes from the petroleum resource rent tax, state royalties and excises.
There have been calls for a windfall, or super profits tax for fossil fuel exporters as their revenues soar in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly ruled that out as an option.
Appea chief executive Samantha McCulloch said the forecasts demonstrated the value of the industry for the Australian economy, and that tax payments were being brought forward as the industry made up for losses in previous years:
These forecasts demonstrate some of the direct financial value to the economy and the Australian public of long-term taxation settings that underpin these large, capital-intensive and complex projects.
But focussing solely on revenue for determining the industry’s economic contribution ignores our far wider role – employing 165,000 people along the supply chain, building infrastructure, powering homes and businesses and facilitating growth – which has been estimated at enabling almost $500bn of economic activity annually.
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Good morning!
Jim Chalmers fears a global recession is probable, telling the Financial Review this morning that the recession risk in many major economies had tipped from “possible to probable”.
The treasurer’s grim global outlook comes as rapidly rising interest rates at home make a downturn more likely, with markets tipping the central bank to raise interests rates for a sixth time in as many months at its meeting tomorrow.
Experts are leaning towards another 50 basis point hike, which would lift the cash rate from the target of 2.35% to 2.85%.
In more economic news, house prices have fallen for a fifth consecutive month, with values across the country dropping by 1.4% in September after a 1.6% fall in August. The new data out from CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index showed prices dropped in all capitals except Darwin.
Meanwhile, shadow home affairs minister Karen Andrews has raised concerns about the government’s mission to rescue dozens of Australian women and children trapped in Syrian detention camps, which Guardian Australia exclusively revealed yesterday.
Andrews told the ABC:
Labor needs to assure Australians that individuals who may have been radicalised pose no threat upon their return to Australia — and explain the efforts they’re going to undertake to monitor and rehabilitate these individuals.
Save the Children Australia chief executive Matt Tinkler, who has been campaigning for the women and children to be repatriated, told the ABC it would be “welcome news” if the repatriation was successful.
Let’s kick off!
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