What we learned today, Thursday 4 December
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the day’s main stories:
The Victorian government will slash 1,000 public service jobs – including more than 300 executive positions – and merge several entities, as part of its response to an independent review which it claims will save $4bn.
Alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown has been charged with 83 new offences, after being accused of sexually abusing babies and toddlers while working in Melbourne childcare centres.
Communities across large parts of Australia have been urged to take precautions as temperatures begin to soar ahead of severe and extreme heatwave conditions, with parts of western Sydney expected to reach the low 40s by Saturday.
Bushfires were raging in Tasmania, with the fire service warning lives and homes were at risk.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has rejected the Reserve Bank’s suggestions the Australian economy may not be able to grow any faster, and says GDP growth figures are “very positive and very promising”.
The Australian Border Force has detained six foreign nationals who arrived in Australia by boat after police find them in remote Western Australia.
The federal government has received the Trump administration’s review of the Aukus submarine deal and is “working through” its findings, the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has confirmed.
The high court will hear a challenge to an appeals court ruling that overturned the approval of the largest coalmine expansion in New South Wales.
We will see you here again for more news tomorrow.
Updated
Australia receives Aukus review from Trump administration
The federal government has received the Trump administration’s review of the Aukus submarine deal and is “working through” its findings, the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has confirmed.
But the government does not intend to release the long-awaited report, with a spokesperson confirming to Guardian Australia that its publication was a matter for the US.
The future of the deal to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines was uncertain for months after the Pentagon ordered a review to examine if it aligned with Donald Trump’s “America-first” agenda.
Any fears inside the Australian government were eased after Trump publicly endorsed Aukus when he hosted the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at the White House in late September.
Trump’s navy secretary signalled at the meeting that the US wanted changes to address unspecified “ambiguity” in the deal. Albanese confirmed he was aware of what changes the US wanted but would not publicly disclose them.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Marles confirmed the government had been provided with the review. He said:
We are in receipt of the Aukus review now. We’re working through the Aukus review, and we very much thank the United States for providing it to us.
What’s really important here is the United States is completely supportive of Aukus, as the president of the United States made clear, and all of us moving ahead in his words, full steam ahead. And so this is a program that we are doing, meeting all of our milestones. It’s fundamentally important in terms of Australia’s national interest, but this really is very central to the United States’ national interest as well.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed in Senate estimates that it had received a copy of the review.
The department’s secretary, Jan Adams, and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, told the hearing they would not answer questions on the report’s contents.
Updated
