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.
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