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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly and Natasha May (earlier)

Crowds gather for national Cassius Turvey vigils – as it happened

Australia Amanda Rishworth Kate Jenkins Natasha May Philip Lowe
Cassius Turvey vigil
People gather and hold signs during a rally for Cassius Turvey at Forrest Place in Perth. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAP

What we learned, Wednesday 2 November

And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big stories:

Updated

The rush for minerals to supply the global effort to ditch fossil fuels will place added stress on the environment and could worsen corruption, but offers the mining sector the chance to recast its image, a major industry event has heard.

Even with the prospect of rapid expansion, the industry faces big challenges in attracting and keeping talent.

Castlereagh Highway closed by floods with Walgett, Collarenebri and Lightning Ridge isolated

SES update 2/2:

The Murrumbidgee River is swollen and is now affecting Wagga Wagga and surrounding areas. Emergency warnings have been issued for parts of North and East Wagga Wagga and Wilks Park.

The Castlereagh Highway is now closed, with the communities of Walgett, Collarenebri and Lightning Ridge now isolated. The NSW SES will be working with these isolated communities to ensure they have regular resupply drops and support.

The SES assistant commissioner Nicole Hogan appreciates the fatigue and hard work in these affected communities, but says it is more important than ever to be aware of the conditions.

“Avoiding flood water, staying up to date with what’s happening in your area and listening to our warnings are ways to keep you and your family safe,” Hogan says.

“NSW SES members have been working tirelessly throughout this event, responding to ongoing floods for extended months. We encourage communities to extend their thanks to our volunteers and partner agencies for their efforts as we head into more flooding.”

Updated

SES prepares for possible record-breaking floods in Forbes

We have a flood update from the SES here. 1/2:

As the NSW State Emergency Service surpasses 10,000 requests for assistance in a seven-week period, volunteers are preparing for possible record-breaking floods in the Forbes area.

Despite a brief pause in rainfall, water is still moving quickly in riverine and catchments, particularly in western and southern NSW.

In the last 24 hours (to 3pm Wednesday 2 November), NSW SES has responded to 547 requests for assistance and 27 flood rescues. Areas of these flood rescues include Cowra, Tamworth, Albury, Gundagai, Forbes and Gunnedah. More than 10,000 requests for assistance have been made since this flood event commenced in September.

The Lachlan River in flood at Forbes in October
The Lachlan River in flood at Forbes in October. Photograph: Murray Mccloskey/AAP

Along the Lachlan River, the NSW SES is keeping a close eye on Forbes, which is predicted to reach record flood levels later this week. NSW SES volunteers and partner agencies are preparing to doorknock the community, issuing a reminder to residents to be prepared and have a plan.

The NSW SES assistant commissioner, Nicole Hogan, said people in the Forbes area have seen flooding before, but not to this extent in recent times.

“What we’re seeing in areas like Forbes is referred to as ‘blue-sky floods’,” Hogan said.

“Even when the rain has stopped falling, water is continuing to move downstream through various catchments, creating issues with river rises and renewed flood peaks.”

Updated

Crowds gather for Cassius Turvey vigils across the country

I’ve got some more pictures from vigils for the 15-year-old Noongar boy Cassius Turvey being held across the country.

From Sarah Collard in Sydney:

The Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi, also in Sydney, shared this:

The journalist Sophie McNeill, from Midland, Perth:

Thousands more in Perth’s CBD:

Updated

Josh Taylor is at the Melbourne vigil for the 15-year-old Noongar boy Cassius Turvey. He just put up this picture on Twitter – a big crowd is gathering.

Updated

The mother of schoolboy Cassius Turvey, allegedly murdered in Perth, has called for calm ahead of nationwide vigils to honour her son who she says was the “heart and soul” of the local community.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the Indigenous teenager’s murder after the alleged attack on 13 October when Cassius and several of his friends were walking home from school in Middle Swan.

Updated

Two generators offline at Queensland coal power station after tower partially collapses

A major Queensland coal power station connected to the national grid will have two of its four generators offline at once for three weeks after a cooling tower partially collapsed at the facility, AAP reports.

State-owned electricity generator CS Energy says none of the 226 workers at the complex were hurt when part of a cooling tower collapsed at the Callide C power station near Biloela, in central Queensland, on Monday.

The incident is the second industrial accident at the complex.

It comes 16 months after an explosion in a turbine hall knocked out the C4 generation unit back in May 2021.

CS Energy, which operates the Callide C plant as a joint venture with InterGen, says the damage and repairs are still being assessed.

Updated

Taronga zoo provides new details on lion escape

We have an update from Taronga zoo on this morning’s lion escape. In a statement the zoo said the lions are back in their enclosure:

An initial review of this morning’s incident has confirmed that an integrity issue with a containment fence enabled five lions to temporarily exit their main exhibit.

The lions are now in a back-of-house holding area while a full review continues.

A full report will now be prepared for the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Keepers and vets report all lions are doing well.

Taronga Zoo remains open and is extremely grateful to its staff and the community for their support today.

Police and zookeepers check fence lines inside the lion enclosure at Taronga zoo
Police and zookeepers check fence lines inside the lion enclosure at Taronga zoo earlier today. Photograph: Nine News

Updated

Top law firm warned department robodebt was unlawful in 2018, inquiry hears

The Department of Social Services received “catastrophic” draft legal advice warning the robodebt scheme was unlawful from a top private law firm in 2018, a royal commission has heard.

The botched Centrelink debt scheme, established in 2015, ran until November 2019 and was vigorously defended by government departments and ministers until that point.

But an inquiry heard on Wednesday that Clayton Utz provided legal advice drafted by a partner and senior counsel after an administrative appeals tribunal matter raised the issue of income averaging to raise Centrelink debts.

It suggested that the use of income averaging in this way – the central tenet of the scheme – was unlawful.

The advice was sent to a legal team at the Department of Social Services that included Anne Pulford, who had warned the scheme was likely unlawful before it was established but subsequently suggested it was legally justifiable in separate advice when it was up and running in 2017.

Internal emails aired at the inquiry suggested that a Department of Social Services official viewed the advice as “somewhat unhelpful” if the department wanted to continue with the scheme.

The inquiry heard the email said Clayton Utz indicated it may be able to rework the legal advice subtly if this “causes catastrophic issues” for DSS but that there was “not a lot of room” to do so.

The counsel assisting the commission, Justin Greggery, put to Pulford: “Surely you appreciated that whatever view you expressed in 2017 through the ombudsman’s process … the department had in its possessions external legal advice which said that the robodebt scheme was not lawfully sustainable?”

Pulford said: “I don’t recall the details of this advice but I presume I did.”

Greggery said: “It must have dawned on you at this time this was one of the more significant legal advices in respect of an issue that you had been dealing with since November 2014, a period of almost four years.”

Pulford replied: “I’m not saying it didn’t but I don’t recall.”

The inquiry heard that Pulford then wrote an email to other DSS officials asking “how you’d like to progress this given the conclusion and a limited room to adjust the outcome”.

Pulford said she did not know what happened to the draft legal advice after that point.

She repeatedly told the inquiry she had little awareness of the media attention and political attention around the robodebt scheme around this period.

Greggery said: “Surely there was a discussion in 2018 after you forwarded the email ... where you said, what are we going to do with this advice?”

Pulford replied: “I presume there was but I have no recollection as to whether that was a discussion that took place and whether it was with me or not.”

The royal commission before Catherine Holmes continues.

Updated

Victorian Liberals’ ‘Ditch Dan’ ambulance prompts legal questions

As the Victorian political press pack piled on to premier Daniel Andrews’ Labor bus on Tuesday morning – the first official day of the state’s election campaign – the opposition unveiled its own set of wheels.

With the Coalition ditching the campaign bus in the lead up to the 26 November election, it will instead rely on a “Ditch Dan” restored circa 1970s ambulance travelling around the state to remind voters of the state’s burdened healthcare system.

Updated

Home loan refinancing set to rocket as fixed loans at rock bottom rates start moving to variable

The impact of the first five Reserve Bank cash rate rises this year was felt in the property market in September with subdued new borrowing and refinancing activity for owner-occupiers and investors, according to the latest ABS Lending Indicators data released today.

Commenting on the fall in new lending and refinancing activity, the Canstar Group executive Steve Mickenbecker said: “Spring has not sprung this year in the housing market, as high interest rates continued to gnaw into new housing lending during September.”

The banks have been competing hard in the relatively low risk refinance segment to supplement declining volumes of new lending, but even refinance declined, albeit from an all-time record in August.

The retreat of borrowers from the refinance market defies logic when a shift from the average package rate from the majors to the lowest in the market could save them almost 2.31 percentage points. This is effectively protection from another nine 0.25 percentage point Reserve Bank rate increases.

We can expect refinance to rocket up in coming months, as fixed rate loans written in the boom of two years ago at rock bottom rates start moving to variable. A move to the average variable rate will see a doubling of many borrowers’ interest rates in one hit, surely enough to get them to sit up and take notice.

Updated

Australian share market edges higher after day of choppy trading

The local share market has edged higher after a day of choppy trading, with gains for the commodity players outweighing losses by the property and tech sectors, AAP reports.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday finished up 9.8 points, or 0.14%, to 6,986.7, with the index crossing above the 7,000 level no fewer than seven times during the course of the day.

The broader All Ordinaries closed up 8.2 points, or 0.11%, to 7,177.8.

It was the third straight day of gains for the market, and its seventh winning session out of the past eight.

The Australian dollar was buying 64.20 US cents, unchanged from Tuesday’s close.

Updated

Who’s eligible for energy bill relief? Our state-by-state guide

Hundreds of thousands of Australians eligible for concessions on their energy bills may not be receiving them, new research has shown, partly because the concessions system varies between states.

The following state-by-state guide aims to help you figure out whether you might be eligible for a discount on utility bills.

Updated

‘Take a deep breath’ over nuclear-capable US B-52s, Richard Marles says

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has urged people to “take a deep breath” over the plans to accommodate up to six US B-52 aircraft in the Northern Territory at a time.

Marles was asked at a press conference in Townsville today about the planned US-funded construction of an aircraft parking site at RAAF Base Tindal, 320km south-east of Darwin.

A journalist asked the deputy prime minister whether he was worried about having nuclear-capable bombers in the NT and whether this could be seen as a provocative move in a fragile region.

Marles replied:

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath here. What we’re talking about is a US investment in the infrastructure at Tindal, which will help make that infrastructure more capable for Australia as well.

In terms of US bombers, they’ve been coming to Australia since the 1980s. They’ve been training in Australia since 2005. All of this is part of an initiative which was established in 2017. We do defence exercises with the United States, and we do them with their bombers …

And this is an important investment in the Tindal Air Base for which Australia will be a significant beneficiary.

China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the plan by the US and Australia “escalates regional tensions, gravely undermines regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region”.

Updated

Online gambling companies should work together to limit damage, Wilkie says

Wilkie says there are other areas for gambling reform:

I think the most obvious reform and probably the easiest reform to be implemented is for the online gambling companies to be talking to each other in real time so when an online gambler reaches their daily limit with one of the companies, then they are blocked from gambling on all their other apps. In other words they are prevented from just swiping to a new app and starting gambling again and running up another hefty title with another Australian company.

I have spoken to insiders from within the online gambling industry and they are upfront.

They say it is technically very straightforward, it wouldn’t cost them anything significant at all so it could be done, it could be done and rolled out very, very quickly if either the gambling companies themselves do the right thing or if the federal government was to legislate it.

Updated

Gambling ad reforms good but ‘only the start’ of tackling addiction, Wilkie says

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie is currently on Afternoon Briefing talking about the gambling advertising reform announced this morning.

He says he is happy with the announcement:

That simple message gamble responsibly with a voiceover so quick you can’t make it out, it has really been a bit of theatre by the gambling companies. They got to say something so they do that and they don’t really care whether it amounts to much. So these reforms today that have been announced are good but I would like to point though that they are only a start.

There are other ways that we can make online gambling much safer and we really need the government to consider other reforms because the rate of gambling addiction with an online gambling is significant, it is going up.

We don’t know the exact amount of money that is lost each year, was looking at some figures this morning a few years old and it was over $1 bn a year was being lost by Australian online gamblers back then.

Updated

Fiona Patten releases ad warning abortion rights could be under threat in Victoria

The Victorian crossbench MP Fiona Patten has released a new ad ahead of the state election warning women’s reproductive rights could be under threat.

The Reason party leader, who has helped introduce safe access zones around abortion clinics during her eight years in parliament, has said she fears a new religious bloc in the Liberal party, combined with a larger group of Labor MPs from the traditionally conservative retail workers’ union and a crossbench possibly dominated by right-wing micro-parties, could seek to undermine the state’s abortion laws.

“They will come from Labor, from the Liberals and also from the cross bench, forming a cartel that could wind back the gains we have seen on abortion since the 1960s,” she said.

Patten and East Melbourne clinical psychologist Dr Susie Allanson feature in the ad, both of them stripping off their tops to say most politicians are not open and don’t bare their real feelings about the issue.

You can watch it here:

Updated

Robodebt went ahead despite legal doubts, inquiry told

The Department of Human Services progressed its proposal for the robodebt scheme, despite serious legal doubts within another department, after it earned the backing of Scott Morrison, a royal commission has heard.

The royal commission is investigating the failed debt recovery scheme, which ran from July 2015 until November 2019 and culminated in a $1.8bn settlement between the government and hundreds of thousands of people issued unlawful Centrelink debts.

Updated

University of Melbourne to back pay $22m to staff who weren't paid properly

The University of Melbourne will back pay $22 million to about 15,000 current and former casual staff after many were incorrectly paid for minimum engagements or weekend work.

It works out to an average of $1,476 per worker, including interest and superannuation.

Impacted workers were employed under 2013 and 2018 enterprise agreements, with about 60% of cases involving the incorrect payment during casual minimum engagements.

Almost 30% of cases related to pay for weekend or public holiday overtime, with the discrepancies picked up during a Deloitte review of more than 3.2 million payslips.

Prof Duncan Maskell, vice-chancellor, said the university was determined to resolve the issue.

“We apologise to any past or present employees who have not been paid correctly for work they performed,” Maskell said in a statement.

“We remain committed to strengthening the University’s governance structures, systems and processes and this continues to be an area of focus for our institution.”

– via AAP

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell apologised to staff who weren’t paid properly.
University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell apologised to staff who weren’t paid properly. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Australia and Thailand ink strategic pact

Australia has signed a new strategic partnership agreement with Thailand after talks with the Asian nation’s deputy prime minister.

The agreement comes as Australia and Thailand commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations.

The agreement signed by foreign minister Penny Wong on Tuesday includes cooperation on net-zero emissions, health, trade and security.

Wong met with Thai deputy prime minister Don Pramudwinai during a visit to Bangkok.

She said Australia would continue to work closely with Bangkok on areas like defence and regional security.

“Some 19 Australian agencies have made commitments to work with Thailand under this partnership on many areas of practical cooperation,” she said.

“As middle-sized countries, what I would say is we share many of the same aspirations for the region in which we live. Ultimately, Australia seeks, and I believe Thailand also seeks, a region that is peaceful and predictable.”

– via AAP

Penny Wong with Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai in Bangkok.
Penny Wong with Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai in Bangkok. Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

Updated

Partner of former Hawthorn player won’t take part in ‘culturally unsafe’ AFL racism review

The partner of a former Hawthorn player who says the football club demanded that she terminate a pregnancy says she will not take part in an AFL investigation into the claims.

The Gunditjmara and Bunitj woman, known as Amy, released a statement on Wednesday morning saying that the investigation announced into claims made by First Nations players and their partners was founded on an “unsafe process”.

Updated

Prosecutors decline to comment on whether ATO whistleblower charges will be dropped

Commonwealth prosecutors have declined to say whether they will drop some of the 24 charges laid against tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle.

Boyle, who worked in the Australian Taxation Office’s Adelaide office, blew the whistle in 2018 on its aggressive use of extraordinary powers to pursue debts, which he said was destroying the lives of small business owners and families. He is now facing 24 charges in the South Australian district court, including for allegedly recording private phone calls and making records of protected information.

Boyle is attempting to use whistleblower protections to shield himself from prosecution, invoking the Public Interest Disclosure Act in a way that is largely unprecedented. At a hearing last month, prosecutors argued that Boyle was not entitled to PID act protection.

But the prosecution’s arguments during last month’s hearing may have undermined some of the charges it will seek to bring against Boyle at trial. The court heard it may reconsider whether to proceed with some of the charges.

The CDPP declined to comment on whether it planned to drop any charges against Boyle when approached by the Guardian.

The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions will not be making public comment on this matter as it is still currently before the Court.

Prosecutors have already reduced the number of charges Boyle is facing by a substantial number. When he was first charged in 2019, prosecutors brought 66 charges. That was reduced to 24 in 2021.

Updated

Queensland’s system for screening people who work with children is “re-traumatising” for Indigenous people

Queensland’s blue card system is a “modern-day injustice” for Indigenous people living in remote communities that should be reformed, a parliamentary report says.

A parliamentary committee rejected a Katter’s Australian party bill to overhaul the system to apply to work with children but has backed trials of some of the proposals.

The committee chair, Peter Russo, said applying for blue cards can be “exhausting and re-traumatising” for Indigenous people due to intergenerational trauma, language barriers and complex ID requirements.

Some face significant disadvantages in making online applications due to a lack of facilities or internet access, which contributes to inequity and delays.

Updated

As world decarbonises mining industry must put and end to corruption, conference hears

The mining industry has been urged to do more to stamp out corruption, and respect land and water rights as it expands to meet global demand for critical minerals, AAP reports.

Limiting global warming to below 2C is estimated to require a four-fold increase in the supply of minerals for clean energy technologies in coming decades.

The chair of the global Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, has used her keynote address at a prestigious mining summit to call for more accountability.

Amid the latest mining boom, she told the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney the key risk is around the awarding of mining licences, particularly when they are fast-tracked.

Not to put too fine a point on it, bribes may be used to influence decision-making or preferential treatment can be given to politically connected companies.

The more ambitious the world is in its decarbonisation efforts, the more mining it’s going to need.

Updated

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This week we have launched our Afternoon Update – where Issa will get you up to speed with the day’s big headlines in just 90 seconds.

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Updated

Victoria has 74 flood warnings in place as above-average rainfall continues

From AAP:

Heavy rainfall is set to ease briefly in the coming days as emergency services and volunteers around Victoria fight to contain flood damage and assist people in need.

There are 74 flood warnings in place across the state, revised down from more than 90 yesterday, and an evacuation order remains in place at Echuca.

Despite the temporary relief in weather conditions, above average rainfall is expected to continue for the next six to eight weeks.

The Murray Darling Basin Authority increased its daily water release at Hume Dam from 50GL to 75GL a day to free-up space at the dam on Tuesday.

Emergency Victoria has warned residents in flood-affected areas are at risk of mosquito-borne diseases, water-borne diseases and illness relating to mould exposure.

The environmental health coordinator for the City of greater Bendigo, Jason Barnes, said residents should remove stagnant water around the house, wear loose-fitting clothing and use insect repellents containing Deet or picaridin.

A man wades through flood water in Echuca with a pile of sand bags in the foreground
Major flooding continues along the Murray River. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Uncertainty around AFLW grand final venue

Hello everyone, this is Cait! A big thank you to Natasha for taking us through the morning.

First up I have news about the AFWL grand final – at this point, no one seems sure where it will be held.

Brisbane’s minor premiership has created a potential grand final fixture dilemma for the AFLW, AAP has reported.

The AFLW have been left with a possible headache should Brisbane reach the grand final, as the highest-ranked AFLW team has grand-final hosting rights.

Metricon is already booked for non-football events on the 26-27 November grand final weekend, while the Lions’ new Springfield facility appears unlikely to be ready in time.

A Sheffield Shield game is scheduled for the Gabba from 1 December.

Speaking at Monday’s finals launch, the AFLW boss, Nicole Livingstone, said the grand final hosting rights “does mean there’s a bit of last-minute planning”.

We won’t make any announcements around [the] grand final right now. Because we still need to wait to see who’s going to make the grand final.

We’ll continue to work with all stakeholders. We have a great relationship with cricket, so we’ll continue to talk to cricket and also talk to the Queensland government [about the Gabba].

But I don’t want to put the cart before the horse – we need to make sure that Brisbane are going to be the hosts.

Ikon Park and Marvel Stadium are the two options if a Melbourne team qualifies to host the grand final.

A woman holding a large silver trophy is flanked by four women on each side wearing different football jerseys
The 2022 AFLW finals series was launched on Wednesday by Nicole Livingstone with the captains of the eight teams. Photograph: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Updated

Thanks for your attention on what has certainly been a day of surprises with lions on the loose and snow in November. That’s it from me as the wonderful Cait Kelly will take you through the rest of this afternoon!

10 emergency warnings across New South Wales

Please check the latest updates through the links below:

Updated

$100m for emergency housing will help victims of domestic violence – PM

A reporter asks: “How about people who are in crisis accommodation? We talk about domestic violence, but there are people currently sleeping in their cars.”

Albanese:

That’s why we’re putting $100m into additional emergency housing. That is why we are responding to this. Tonight, like every other night that’s occurred over a number of years, there’ll be women and children turned away from shelters because there’s simply nowhere for them to go.

We need that emergency housing, but we also need the uplift in social and affordable housing so that people can have some permanency. The government is acting on that.

Updated

The PM said he visited public housing residents in SA last year and saw their homes were in a “state of disrepair”.

I’m very pleased that now you have in Peter Malinauskas a state Labor government that also understands the importance of housing including the right of people to live with some dignity in their lives. This is something I’m very passionate about. We have made some significant announcements and there’ll be more to come.

Updated

‘We have a comprehensive plan for housing’ – PM

The PM has now been asked about the lack of public housing:

What we did in last week’s budget was have a Housing Australia Future Fund, that will provide 30,000 additional social and affordable housing units over a five-year period in addition to that we announced our Housing Accord.

This will encourage institutional investors to invest in affordable housing and is expected to deliver a million additional homes being constructed over a four-year period. That is federal government working with state government ministers, working with local government, and working with the private sector.

In addition to that, we’ll have our housing supply and affordability council established looking at ways in which planning laws can encourage investment in housing. In addition to that, we have allocated $100m for additional emergency housing so that women and children escaping domestic violence can have somewhere to go. We have a comprehensive plan for housing.

Anthony Albanese viewed over the shoulders of two people
Anthony Albanese speaks to media during a doorstop in Adelaide. Photograph: Matt Turner/AAP

Updated

Albanese on skipping Cop27: 'I can’t be in all places at once'

The PM is now defending his decision not to attend the major global climate conference COP, which starts this weekend:

I can’t be in all places at once. It’s as simple as that. If we could - if we could do that, then I’d achieve it and I’m sure, therefore, if I was going, people would say why aren’t I attending budget. We had Parliament last week. This COP is one of implementation. It’s not one of a new policy and program.

Australia will be represented by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and assistant minister Jenny McAllister. Albanese:

My criticism of the former Government was that they went to a conference, gave an empty speech to an empty room that didn’t commit to anything new. The Glasgow Conference was about an increased contribution for 2030.

The former government failed to do that and it probably would have been better off if they hadn’t had gone at all because it just exposed to the world that Australia wasn’t stepping up at a time when other global leaders were.

Parliament is sitting at the same time that is scheduled with the leaders meeting and I’ll be meeting all the leaders of the 20 largest economies in the world at the G20 in Bali.

Anthony Albanese stands at a microphone and Louise Miller-Frost stands behind him in a playground, with a group of reporters and camera operators around them
Anthony Albanese talks at a press conference at an early childhood education centre in South Australia. Photograph: Matt Turner/AAP

Updated

Albanese says voice will lead to better outcomes for Indigenous people

What the voice to parliament does is just do two things. One – recognise Indigenous people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in our constitution. And, secondly, ensure that they’ll be consulted and be able to put forward a view on policies that impact them. That’s not only good manners, it will lead to better outcomes.

Updated

Albanese is now talking about the voice:

I would – I’d encourage people to spend half an hour logging on to ABC iview, to listen to and watch Noel Pearson’s powerful advocacy for a voice to parliament in the Boyer Lectures or read the Boyer Lectures online. I watched it the other night, and it was such a strong advocacy.

I’m very confident that Australians, when they have the opportunity to unite the nation, to do something that clearly identifies our confidence as a nation, our pride in the fact that we share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, that they will want that represented in the nation’s birth certificate which is what the constitution represents.

And secondly – that we know that you’ll get better practical outcomes, like any other endeavour, when you actually consult people who are directly affected.

Updated

PM says government examining all options on tax

The PM, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to the media. He was asked about former ACCC chair Rob Sims calling for an extra windfall profits tax and if he was willing to do more if regulation change isn’t enough:

We have said we’re prepared to examine further action which is exactly what we’re doing between departments, talking to people in the energy sector as well. We understand that there are a range of proposals out there. We want to make sure that we get it right.

We confronted when we came to office a circumstance where some were saying the lights wouldn’t stay on over June, July. We fixed that. We then confronted a supply issue in gas.

We fixed that as well with the heads of agreement that were agreed to cooperatively by the suppliers. What we need to do now is to make sure that we address the issue of price.

The government has said we’re examining all of the options, and we’ll continue to do so over the next little period because we want to make sure that not just households, but that also businesses are able to access power without placing pressure on – on their ability to operate in a reasonable way.

Updated

Taylor says opposition supports voluntary code of conduct

Karp:

I heard your point about the importance of supporting domestic gas supply but I didn’t hear an answer on supporting a mandatory code of conduct.

Taylor:

We supported the voluntary code of conduct that is ready in place and at this point I don’t know what is being proposed, it is just too hard to speculate that we will see what comes forward, but there is no question that the government needs to work closely with the gas producers, stop demonising them, work with them and find solutions with them.

Is taking the code of conduct to the next step part of that? We will wait and see but at this stage we haven’t seen anything tangible to comment.

Updated

Angus Taylor defends push for more domestic gas supplies to bring down prices

Guardian Australia’s Paul Karp questions Angus Taylor’s claims that gas prices are all about supply at the National Press Club where he has finished his address and is now taking questions from journalists.

Karp:

Increasing production does very little to decrease the price when it’s mostly exported and Labor’s heads of agreement have increased domestic supply and prices are still too high. So my question is would the Coalition support a mandatory code of conduct including regulation of price and secondly, if you want to pay down debt and deficit, would you support an increase in the PRRT [petroleum rent resource tax]?

Taylor:

On your point about supply, we did see what happens when you get more supply on the gas network, we saw the gas price drop to $5 a gigajoule stopping the key to this is very simple.

It is only so much gas that can be exported from Australia, so much gas that can be exported from Australia, same in the United States. We are one of the biggest exporters alongside Qatar in the world so there is only so much you can export so if you can produce more than that and more than the domestic market needs you drive down the price of.

That is what we have seen in the United States. The US government, Democrat administration, obviously, has supported making sure more supply out from under the ground, and we saw the results of that.

The proof is in the pudding and you can see this by just looking at what Rod Sims says who has watched this market for a long time, reported on this market, reviewed this in the past and he has made exactly the same point so I think it is very clear.

You ask a question about more tax. Our focus is to get the price down, not to tax more. The primary goal here right now has to be to get the price down in the key to that, it’s economics 101. Get more supply in, that’s how markets work.

Angus Taylor stands at a podium speaking with the National Press Club of Australia written on a blue background behind him
The opposition treasurer Angus Taylor delivers his budget reply speech at the National Press Club. Photograph: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Updated

Albanese focusing on budget polices rather than climate summit

The prime minister has defended his decision not to attend a major global climate conference which starts this weekend.

Anthony Albanese said he would focus on passing his government’s policies during the final three parliament sitting weeks.

Preparations are also underway for an upcoming trip to G20, Apec and the East Asia Summit.

He will travel to Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia for nine days after the sitting week before returning for the last sitting fortnight of the year.

He said:

So I have a very busy schedule of parliament, international conferences and then back to parliament, making sure our agenda gets through.

I can’t be in all places at once. I’m sure if I was going people would be saying why wasn’t I attending parliament.

The government will instead be represented by the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, and the assistant minister, Jenny McAllister.

The environment minister Tanya Plibersek will then travel to the COP biodiversity conference in Montreal in December after parliament wraps up for the year.

Albanese said the COP27 summit in Egypt would be focused on the implementation of current commitments, not the establishment of new ones. He told reporters today:

We’ve already advanced our changed policy.

Albanese said this stood in stark contrast to the former Morrison government, which was represented at the previous COP summit in Glasgow and didn’t offer anything new. He said:

The Glasgow conference was about increased contributions for 2030.

The former government failed to do that and it probably would’ve been better off if they didn’t go at all.

– from AAP

Updated

Department drew up brief for robodebt scheme in 2015 despite legal advice

Former prime minister Scott Morrison wanted the Department of Human Services (DHS) to bring forward proposals to “strengthen the integrity” of the welfare system, including a plan for what became the robodebt scheme, a royal commission has heard.

Despite damning legal and policy’ advice from within the Department of Social Services (DSS) in late 2014, the Department of Human Services drew up a brief for what became the scheme, as well as other compliance measures, in early 2015.

The inquiry was told on Wednesday that DHS had indicated Morrison, who was then the social services minister, wanted the proposals worked up for the 2015 budget process.

Senior counsel assisting, Justin Greggery, said that by late 2014 the compliance proposal had “become part of the budget”. Referring to documents seen by the commission, Greggery said that was because the DHS had said “minister Morrison indicated he wants a number of the potential proposals” brought forward for the budget process.

The royal commission has not heard any evidence the legal or policy advice warning against the scheme reached Morrison, who has been granted leave to appear at the royal commission if he wishes.

Under questioning, Anne Pulford, a lawyer at the DSS who had warned against the plan in late 2014, agreed Morrison’s support for the proposal had limited the opportunity for “considered legal advice”.

That was because it had been swept up in the budget process and there was a tight timeline for the plans to be sent to the Department of Finance, the inquiry was told.

Greggery asked:

It appeared that the very tight timeframe and the pressure was coming from a clearance by minister Morrison to have a new policy proposal developed to the point that it might be submitted to the Department of Finance?

Pulford replied:

Correct.

The inquiry heard that while an initial draft proposal noted that what became the robodebt scheme needed “legislative change” to be administered, a later version said this was not needed.

Officials within the department of social services raised internal concerns about this significant change in position.

The inquiry heard that DSS officials noted “urgent advice” was needed as to the “strategies ... cleared by minister Morrison for DHS to take forward as a [new policy proposal]”.

Greggery said:

And what we know now from the benefit of hindsight is that this particular proposal did become including in the 2015-16 budget ... as the strengthening welfare integrity system.

While the DSS officials noted some of the assumptions used to form Pulford’s advice had “changed”, the royal commission heard that officials only two days to review their advice.

The overall strengthening welfare integrity system plan was expected to save $1.2bn. The inquiry heard that one of the measures was “broadly consistent” with the proposal that Pulford provided damning legal advice only a few months earlier.

Pulford’s evidence continues.

Updated

World Ballet Day gives behind the scene look at Australian Ballet

If you’ve ever wondered how the Australian Ballet manage their gravity defying feats of athleticism, you can get a sneak peak at what goes on behind the curtain today.

To mark World Ballet Day, the Australian Ballet is live-streaming rehearsals as well as other behind the scenes content from Melbourne.

This year’s celebration is particularly special for the Australian Ballet because it marks 60 years ago to the day that the company gave their first ever performance.

If you’re still hungry for more ballet content, you can also check out this fascinating interview with one of the ballet’s newest principal artists Callum Linnane.

Linane opens up about not only the technical demands of being a dancer, but also his conception of himself as an artists and the importance of being open to the influence of other art forms on his dancing.

Updated

Labor budget not addressing the source of inflation: Angus Taylor

The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is giving the national press club address today. It is all about the cost of living.

The former energy minister has been working on laying the ground work to blame the Labor government (which has only been in power since May) for economic struggles people are feeling at the moment.

His speech is another brick in that wall:

The economy is, at a macro level, in a very strong position. The Australian economy is fundamentally resilient. Just two years ago, we were staring down the prospect of permanent business closures, tens of thousands of deaths and an unemployment rate of 15%.

Today, we have more businesses, strong terms of trade, record commodity prices, economic growth over 3% and record low unemployment.

Not every decision during Covid was perfect. But Australia’s economic recovery is a testament to the Coalition’s economic management. The Coalition left Labor with a strong economy – a rapidly improving budget position in far better shape than most thought possible, even a short time ago.

Taylor says the budget Labor handed down is not addressing the source of inflation, which he says is now eating away at Australia’s gains.

Updated

‘Ditch Danmobile’ aims to highlight 4,000 ICU beds not delivered: Victorian Coalition

Speaking of the Victorian Liberals’ “Ditch Danmobile” as they call it, this is what the opposition have to say about the vehicle’s purpose:

The Liberal party’s Ditch Danmobile has today embarked on a month-long mission in search of the missing 4,000 ICU beds.

On 1 April 2020, Daniel Andrews promised an extra 4,000 ICU beds for Victoria.

Over two years later, not a single one of these promised new beds has been delivered.

The statement from the Victorian campaign headquarters went on to outline broader problems with the state’s health system including ballooning surgery waiting lists, an overloaded triple-zero service and tents being set up outside major hospitals for patients.

The Liberals say that by contrast they have prioritised health over infrastructure in their election promises.

The statement also pointed readers to follow “the adventures of the Ditch Danmobile” via a dedicated twitter page.

Updated

Victorian Coalition says it will not be lectured by Labor on political advertising

Victoria’s opposition have used the first day of the state’s election campaign to announce a water bill.

Cost of living will be a major issue at this month’s election.

The opposition said the five-year freeze on water bill service charges would save Victorian households $100 a year.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the measure was “modest” but “realistic”:

It can be achieved and we can help average Victorian families.

Guy was also questioned about the opposition’s “Ditch Dan” vintage ambulance to be driven around the state during the campaign to highlight pressures in the health sector.

During a heated press conference, Guy said he would not be lectured by Labor or the union movement on political advertising.

But Guy would not reveal if the opposition had sought permission from the Department of Health to use the fake vehicle – as required under the state’s ambulance legislation.

Updated

Victorian Coalition opposes families of Islamic State fighters being repatriated to state

Victoria’s opposition leader, Matthew Guy, says he would not support the families of Islamic State fighters being repatriated to Victoria if he was elected premier next month.

On Saturday, four women and their 13 children – relatives of IS fighters – arrived in Sydney under a commonwealth scheme. They are expected to be among 60 women and children repatriated from northern Syria. Nine newspapers have reported a separate contingent is expected to arrive in Victoria, but not until after the state election on 26 November.

The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, has sought to distance himself from the federal program while Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has stressed that only those of the lowest risk category are brought to Australia.

Speaking to reporters on day one of the Victorian election campaign, Guy said he did not support similar cohorts travelling to the state:

I probably wouldn’t now that we’ve seen a little bit more detail of what’s coming into Victoria.

Anthony Albanese has denied that sending families to NSW before Victoria – where the state will head to the polls later this month – is politically motivated.

Updated

Opposition calls on defence to remove bureaucratic hurdles to reach recruitment targets

Andrew Hastie, the opposition’s defence spokesperson, has called on the Australian defence force to remove bureaucratic hurdles “imposed by risk-averse gatekeepers” in order to meet ambitious recruitment targets.

There is a bipartisan goal of increasing the size of the ADF by 18,500 people by 2040, or net growth of 1,000 people a year. But Hastie said the job market was “tough” at present and Defence in recent years had only managed net growth of 300 people.

Hastie said the ADF needed a message that appealed to “young hearts and minds searching for purpose, emphasising the service ethos” including “duty, honour and country”. He said the government must also speed up the process of entering the ADF:

Last year, as assistant minister for Defence, I discovered that it took 292 days* from first contact to recruit training. The Australian Public Service was achieving the same milestone in less than half the time, at around 140 days – which is still a long time. Far too much time is wasted; we need to accelerate the process or good people will be lost to other sectors of the economy.

Hastie said it was important to “remove barriers to service – often bureaucratic ones imposed by risk-averse gatekeepers”:

I’ve met and heard from too many kids who get turned away because they’ve had a shoulder injury from footy, a food allergy or were medicated for ADHD in their childhood. All talented kids, motivated and open to grow – yet turned away because of risk culture. Not every job of the future requires the fitness of a fighter pilot or the endurance of an infantry soldier.

We need to move beyond the one-size-fits-all model and select kids who might not tick all the boxes but who can get the job done, and then some.

*Figure corrected from 300 days in final version of speech.

Updated

‘The spectre of nuclear attack looms over Europe like a dark cloud’: Hastie

Here’s what the Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, said today about the strategic circumstances – including some very pointed language about the security pact between Solomon Islands and China that was reached prior to the Australian election:

Abroad, the war in Ukraine burns away, no closer to the end than when it started, and now the spectre of nuclear attack looms over Europe like a dark cloud.

Closer to home, the People’s Republic of China concluded its 20th Communist party congress last month, with President Xi consolidating his absolute power and control over the party and the people.

It caps a turbulent year thus far – if not a successful one, for authoritarian regimes – where Xi and Putin remain committed to their no-limits partnership; Russia brutally seized parts of Ukraine; Chinese rockets streaked across the skies of Taiwan; and Chinese influence has projected deep into the Pacific Island chain, ensnaring the heart of at least one national leader.

The Sogavare-Beijing security pact is a startling reminder that there is a growing geopolitical contest taking place on our front doorstep.

And, if you’re an observer of Western democracies, we don’t seem to be faring all that well—with the United Kingdom now onto their third prime minister in four months. You’d be right to wonder about the resilience of our democratic institutions in these times.

Updated

Australia must build strike capabilities before nuclear subs are ready: Hastie

The Australian government must prepare for the risk that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force sooner than the nuclear-powered submarines are ready, the Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, has said.

The Aukus partnership with the US and the UK was reached under the former Coalition government and heavily promoted by Scott Morrison in the lead up to the election - but Hastie said in a speech today that Australia needed to boost its military capability sooner.

Hastie, one of the Coalition’s more hawkish members, said the former US Commander of the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Phil Davidson, had “sounded the ship’s klaxon 18 months ago when he warned that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force within six years, by 2027”. Hastie also pointed to recent comments by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that “Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.”

Hastie told a Business News politics and policy breakfast in Perth:

Only in the last fortnight, Chief of US Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday said China could move on Taiwan as early as this year, or next.

The window is closing fast. These are considered words. We must take them seriously. We won’t have nuclear submarines in the water by 2027. So how are we hedging against the risk of conflict arriving sooner rather than later? That’s what Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston are now considering in the Defence Strategic Review.

I don’t want to discuss particulars here today except to make clear that we need to build strike capabilities that can hold an adversary at risk beyond the archipelago to our north. Strike bombers; precision guided missiles; and, unmanned autonomous vehicles—in the skies and in the seas below.

Hastie said the final report would be completed in March, but he understood an interim version would be provided to the government this week. He said he was “hopeful for good outcomes” but argued that last week’s budget “does not inspire confidence” because inflation was depleting Defence’s purchasing power. While Labor has committed to annual defence spending of 2% of economic output, Hastie said it “must be well above” that benchmark.

Hastie said the Australian government had “a moral obligation to the Australian people to build and maintain a strong deterrent to any regional aggressor, to show that there is a great cost for any unilateral military adventurism”.

You can slide into my DMs any time, Fatman: Albanese

So four years after Fatman Scoop became an Auspol meme, he was back. Invitations were once again thrown around. Surely that’s the end of it?

No. Because this morning, on Melbourne radio station Fox FM, Fatman was back. For … reasons.

Scoop:

Hello? Hello? Hello, sir.

PM:

Yes?

Scoop:

How you doing? This is Fatman Scoop.

PM:

Ah, Fatman again.

Scoop:

Yes, sir. I was walking around and I can hear the speakers in here. And I hear you on the radio. I’m here working, doing interviews. I’ve been calling your people for three weeks, what’s going on here, sir?

PM:

Mate, I’m in. I’ve done a little video for your gigs that are coming up.

Scoop:

Sir, I love you. I respect you. But I need you to come down and DJ with me, sir. Be with me with the people. Here’s the thing, and then I find out just now that you’re going to be in Melbourne. What’s the address? I need to come down and see you, sir.

Having won the love and respect of a man who had people throwing their hands up in clubs 19 years ago – meaning children conceived to that song are now able to legally enter clubs and put their own hands up – the prime minister invited him to a Melbourne University economic conference.

Isaac Freeman III has bigger things on his mind though. One being whether or not he could get an Uber there. The other, when was he going to get the prime minister’s private phone number. Fatman Scoop no longer wants to go through the prime minister’s “people”.

Scoop:

I need like – do you have an Instagram? Can I slide in your DMs? You’ve got to give me an option here, sir, because this is not working.

PM:

You can slide into my DMs any time, Fatman.

Scoop:

Here’s the thing. But this is not a threat sir. Listen, I’m supposed to be sleeping because I’m on American time. But if I have to come down there to get this done, sir, I’ll be down there.

Host:

Can I just give you some context, you’ve been asking our prime minister for months, since August, to DJ with you at Fridayz Live this Friday at Rod Laver.

Scoop:

Fridayz Live, yes! I’ve been asking the man, and here’s the thing. This is not a threat, sir ... if you do not do this, I’m getting my Australian citizenship and I’m running against you. I’m out of here. I’ll talk to you later.

PM:

I hate to give you the big tip, but I think I can possibly stop that happening.

So there you have it. Please welcome our next prime minister, DJ Fatman Scoop. “Be Faithful” is now the national anthem. Faith Evans will be the new head of state. Parliament will be a Sunday sesh, with important sessions to be held on RnB Fridays.

Updated

‘I have a pattern of dealing with Prime Ministers in this country’: Fatman Scoop

For completely inexplicable reasons, US DJ Fatman Scoop continues to have input into Australian politics.

It all started when Scott Morrison used one of his tracks in a 2018 parliament stunt, getting his backbench to put their hands up to questions he asked. His social media team then cut that footage up and put it to Scoop’s 2003 club banger, Be Faithful, which asks people to “put their hands up”. What the social media team missed were the lyrics about “chickenheads” – a reference to fellatio and the more explicit lines “who’s fucking tonight”.

Morrison had to apologise for using the track, Scoop was all, “what are you talking about, it’s a fun banger”, there were invitations thrown around and then, thankfully, the world moved on.

But Australian FM radio stations did not.

And in August, Brisbane FM radio station B105 had Anthony Albanese on the line, and for reasons known only to the galaxy-brained among us, brought Fatman Scoop into the conversation.

Here’s a section of that transcript:

Host:

Can we please bring into the studio: Fatman Scoop?

Fatman Scoop:

Hey, what’s up everybody? How you guys feeling?

Albanese:

Hey, good.

Scoop: [singing]

Albanese …

Albanese:

Fatman Scoop does the Eagles.

Scoop:

How are you, sir?

Albanese:

I am very well.

Scoop:

Listen, I have a pattern of dealing with prime ministers in this country. So you’re now the second prime minister that I’m on the phone with.

Albanese:

Who was the first?

Scoop:

Scomo, not working out so well. I don’t think he’s gonna answer my phone calls right now. Doesn’t feel like the right time.

Updated

Melbourne Cup viewing numbers less than half of what they were nine years ago

TV Tonight reports that the Melbourne Cup race still came in as the most viewed program yesterday, but viewing numbers showed a steep decline in interest.

The 1.02 million metro viewers (of which 528,000 were in Melbourne) represents less than half the 2.17 million viewers who tuned in in 2013.

The figure just above 1 million continues the declines from 1.21 million viewers in 2021, and 1.41 million in 2020.

The last time viewers topped 2 million was in 2015.

Updated

Andrew Wilkie welcomes changes to gambling ads but calls for government to 'go much further'

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie is speaking in Hobart following the government’s changes to gambling ads. He says he fully supports the changes, but urges them to go even further.

That the federal government is going to crack down on online gambling advertising is good news.

The fact that the online gambling companies will be required to ditch that, frankly, pretty useless ‘Gamble Responsibly’ message and substitute that with a number of more effective messages that will change and cycle … through the year, that’s good.

That the warnings have to be more obvious at the end with bigger text, that the voiceovers need to be slower and more deliberate and that also people will be steered towards help services if they have a gambling addiction.

I think this is good news. It’s unexpected news and it will go some small way to making sports betting, online gambling, just that little bit safer. So I fully support them.

This is how he thinks the government needs to go further:

… It is technically feasible and at little cost for all of the Australian online gambling companies to be linked in real-time so when an online gambler reaches their daily limit, it prevents them swiping to another app and running up another hefty total.

Talking more broadly, too, there’s the issue of gambling generally. I have been confronted by countless members of the community over the years who, frankly, are sick and tired of being bombarded by gambling advertisements.

Updated

Victorian Labor promises lower regional public transport in line with city fares

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced that if re-elected, the Labor government will bring the cost of regional public transport in line with metropolitan fares.

The commitment would see a daily V/Line ticket capped at $9.20 for a full fare or $4.60 for a concession.

Currently, regional fares are calculated based on the distance travelled. A daily return fare from Bendigo to Melbourne costs up to $68.80, Shepparton to Melbourne up to $53.60, Ballarat to Melbourne up to $45.69 and Geelong to Melbourne up to $27.60.

Speaking at train manufacturer Alstom’s factory in Ballarat East, the premier said:

It’s about equity and fairness. It’s about a fair go. It’s about doing something meaningful about the cost of living, but it’s also about adding extra services on brand new trains made by Victorians.

The government will also spend $600m on 23 new three-car VLocity trains and $207m to increase the frequency of weekend services on major train lines in regional Victoria.

The announcement comes after the Coalition opposition announced half-price regional fares and a $2 cap on a daily metropolitan fare.

Updated

Victorian opposition promises to freeze service charges on water bills

If elected this month, the Victorian Coalition will freeze service charges on water bills, saving households $100 a year, the opposition leader has announced.

Matthew Guy said:

We’re not promising the world, we’re promising solutions that are real.

Updated

‘Gay panic defence’ in Crimes Act only removed eight years ago, inquiry hears

More on the opening statement from senior counsel assisting Peter Gray at the inquiry into the unsolved deaths of LGBTQ+ people in NSW.

Gray goes on to say those 2018 reports (Acon and Parrabell) came as the result “of a long-term building up of concern in many parts of the community about the violence, including homicides, committed against LGBTQ+ people, especially in the 1970s, 80s and 90s”.

The second half of the 20th century was a period of rapid social change on many fronts. In particular context of which this inquiry is concerned, some of the well-documented reports are the following.

As late as 1958, the then NSW police commissioner Colin Delaney described homosexuality as, quote, ‘the greatest social mania in Australia’.

A year earlier in 1957, a report in the UK had recommended the decriminalisation of homosexual conduct between consenting adult males in private.

In 1967, 10 years after that report, such decriminalisation was implemented initially in Wales and then later in all of the UK.

In 1969, the Stonewall riots in New York attracted worldwide publicity and attention. In 1970, the campaign against moral prosecution was formed in Australia.

In 1975, homosexual conduct was decriminalised in South Australia. The first Australian state to take that step.

In 1978, the first Mardi Gras was held in Sydney. In 1984, homosexual conduct was decriminalised in New South Wales. And later still in WA, 1989, Queensland, 1991 and Tasmania, 1997.

By 1984, HIV/Aids had begun to have its devastating effects in Australia and around the world. In 1987, the Grim Reaper media campaign was given saturation coverage.

And it was not until 2014, eight years ago, that amendments to the Crimes Act in this state effectively abolished a defence known colloquially as the ‘gay panic defence,’ or ‘homosexual advance defence’ whereby an accused might assert that although he had killed or injured victim, he could only have done so because the victim had made a so-called homosexual advance.

Updated

NSW gay hate crimes inquiry ‘first of its kind anywhere in the world’

We mentioned on the blog earlier that the first sitting of a landmark inquiry into the unsolved deaths of LGBTQ+ people in NSW was taking place today.

The special commission of inquiry into hate crimes, led by Justice John Sackar, was established in April after it was recommended by a 2019 parliamentary inquiry.

The opening statements are now being presented, with senior counsel assisting Peter Gray first up outlining the scope of the inquiry:

The special commission is the first of its kind anywhere in the world.

The inquiry carried out by the parliamentary committee had followed on from the publication of two important reports in 2018.

Firstly a report by the Aids Council of New South Wales entitled ‘In pursuit of truth and justice’, published in May of 2018. I will refer to that as the Acon report.

And a report concerning initial police Strike Force Parrabell report, published a month later in June 2010. I will refer to that as the Parrabell report.

Both those reports in different ways have looked at 88 deaths in New South Wales between 1976 and 2000 where gay hate or anti-gay bias or sexuality or gender bias had been relevant factors.

Less than half of those 88 deaths were regarded as unsolved. However, the Acon report and the Parrabell report … express different views as to what that proportion of unsolved cases actually was. Acon considered about 30 of the 88 unsolved while Parrabell regarded 23 as unsolved.

The inquiry is being livestreamed, and you can watch it here.

Updated

Lions breached containment fence but zoo does not know how

The Taronga spokesperson faces questions from the media and is pressed for further details on how the lions got out:

They did breach the containment fence. We don’t have the exact details of how and why that occurred. That is very much a focus of our incident response and the review that will be conducted now.

The spokesperson goes on to say the zoo has multiple levels of security with more than one containment fence:

The second containment fence is a containment fence for people, to have that safe barrier between them and the lion exhibit. But I would remind everyone that Taronga Zoo itself has its own safety perimeter fence. So at no time did the lions exit that area or exit Taronga Zoo.

Updated

Lion cub tranquillised as Taronga reviews how lions exited enclosure

We’re hearing from Taronga Zoo for the first time since we learned five lions escaped their exhibit this morning.

The spokesperson said the situation was brought “under control within minutes,” but that a “full review” is under way to confirm exactly how the lions were able to exhibit their main exhibit.

The spokesperson says:

An emergency situation occurred this morning at Taronga Zoo, Sydney. Five lions – one adult and four cubs – were located outside of their main enclosure at 6.30am.

The lions were observed in a small area adjacent to the main lion exhibit where a six-foot fence separated them from the rest of the zoo. The zoo has very strict safety protocols in place for such an incident and immediate action was taken. All persons on site were moved to safe zones.

Four of the lions calmly made their way back into their main exhibit and dens and one lion cub was safely tranquillised.

All animals are now safe in their back-of-house exhibit and are being closely monitored. All zoo staff responded and acted swiftly and procedures and processes were followed as they should have been.

As a result, the situation was under control within minutes. We have received video footage and confirmed that it was less than 10 minutes between the lions exiting their main exhibit and the full emergency response being enacted.

This is a significant incident and a full review is now under way to confirm exactly how the lions were able to exit their main exhibit.

Updated

Victorian Coalition‘s 'Ditch Dan' ambulance could be falling foul of the law

The Victorian Coalition‘s “Ditch Dan” ambulance, unveiled just an hour ago, could be falling foul of the law, according to the head of the state’s ambulance union.

The secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, Danny Hill, has shared the law on Twitter, which states you cannot “use the words ‘ambulance service’ or any name, title or description to imply an association with an ambulance service” without permission. The 1970s-style ambulance clearly is labelled as such in images shared on social media.

My colleague, Victorian reporter Adeshola Ore, will put some questions to the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, shortly.

Updated

November snow!

Unseasonal November snow has fallen in the Central Tablelands region west of the Blue Mountains, as a cold front sweeps Australia’s south-east.

The NSW Rural Fire Service has shown just how thick the snow is falling with an image of one their vehicles covered in a fresh layer this morning.

Updated

NSW agent general to UK rejects his appointment as example of ‘jobs for mates scenario’, inquiry hears

The New South Wales agent general to the UK, Stephen Cartwright, is appearing before an inquiry into the appointment of John Barilaro as senior trade and investment commissioner to the Americas.

Cartwright has strongly rejected the notion that his appointment to the senior UK trade role was a “classic example” of a “jobs for mates scenario” after he was asked to apply for the role late by then deputy premier John Barilaro.

He said:

My qualifications for this role are unable to be challenged. I’m crystal-clear that three highly impressive senior independent panel members decided that I was the most suitable person for this role based on merit, and given my background I don’t think there’s any way that my appointment can be categorised as ‘jobs for mates’ because I don’t have any politicians that are mates, I’ve never been part of any political party.

He rejected the assertion and said he was “offended by it”.

Updated

Welfare advocates pan NDIS pilot for failing to listen to participants

Welfare advocates have panned a pilot to be introduced by the Albanese government that will connect national disability insurance scheme participants with a disability employment services provider.

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, will today announce a pilot that will start next year in five locations.

But the Antipoverty Centre panned the announcement, accusing the government of failing to listen to criticism of the disability employment services scheme from within the disability community.

Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Kristin O’Connell said:

The NDIS is far from perfect but increasing the involvement of disability employment services (Des) providers can only make things worse.

Des has been failing disabled people for as long as it’s existed.

Pushing a failed industry on people discriminated against and excluded from the labour market because of our disabilities won’t get us jobs, but it will expose us to harm.

Jay Coonan of the Antipoverty Centre, who also co-authored a submission into Des for the peak body People With Disability Australia, said:

The answer to employment barriers is not funnelling money to these failed services, but to tackle the discrimination in the labour market – inflexible employers, unsuitable conditions and a society hostile to disabled people.

Updated

So tight was security, in fact, that your roving reporter was subsequently pulled aside by two plain-clothed NSW policemen who explained the unusual intrusion by saying, “you were seen talking to protesters”.

Seems not all the media get such attention …

Updated

Tight security at international mining meet in Sydney

Perhaps it’s a sign of the sensitivity around mining’s social licence that the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney has attracted lots of security this morning:

There are multiple screenings of attenders and even sniffer dogs.

A handful of protesters staged a small gathering but say the main protest won’t be until Friday. (Presumably the security won’t be relaxed in the meantime.)

Much of the conference will be about the importance of mining in the transition away from fossil fuels (though not quite in those terms).

Strategic and sustainable. An asset more relevant than ever before.

That’s the slogan greeting a long line of attenders.

Sustainable seems to be oxymoronic when it comes to digging up finite resources … so perhaps there’s a session on recycling. (Or maybe not.)

Updated

A bit more info on the story we’ve been following about the five lions which escaped from their enclosure at Taronga Zoo this morning, but have since been returned without any injury to staff or guests.

Taronga Zoo have told us that they will be open as per usual today. Schoolchildren have already arrived for their excursion today, ABC News have shown.

A press conference is expected within the hour with more details on how the escape occurred, which remains unknown.

In the interests of full journalistic disclosure, I was a year 10 work experience student at Taronga Zoo (but the primates and ungulates division rather than the carnivores division, so no conflict of interest).

Updated

No campaign bus for Victorian Coalition

Meanwhile, the Victorian Coalition’s campaign HQ has confirmed it will not have a bus this year, though it would not provide details about why the decision had been taken.

Instead, it appears they’ve fitted out an old ambulance:

Updated

Victorian Labor campaign bus hits the road

The Victorian election campaign is kicking off in earnest today, with the Labor government debuting their bus, which will cart journalists across the state for the next few weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the bus features the party’s campaign slogan, “Doing What Matters” and images of the premier, Daniel Andrews, with nurses and tradies.

Today, Andrews is joined on the bus with his wife, Catherine, the deputy premier, Jacinta Allan, and the transport minister, Ben Carroll. We’ll be heading to Ballarat East for what I assume will be a transport-related announcement.

Ballarat East falls within the seat of Eureka, which is held by Labor MP, Michaela Settle, on a very comfortable 9.6% margin.

I’ll keep you updated throughout the day.

Updated

NSW agent general to the UK had ‘open and frank’ discussion about pay with John Barilaro, inquiry hears

Much of the questioning at the inquiry this morning has focused on the shift from the frontrunning candidate Paul Webster to the eventual appointment of Cartwright into the position.

Earlier in the week, Webster gave evidence that he “wasn’t shocked” about missing out on the prestigious position, despite emails showing he was the best candidate for the job.

Cartwright insisted he was never told that another suitable candidate had been found for the position by the time he said he was asked to enter the recruitment process in February 2021 by then deputy premier John Barilaro.

Cartwright said he had always been upfront about how much he expected and wanted to be paid:

When the deputy premier first asked me to consider the role back in early February, he and I had a very open and frank discussion about my circumstances. I have been on a package over $800,000 for some years and I’ve made financial commitments accordingly.

Updated

NSW agent general to the UK describes negotiations over pay with Investment NSW chief

The New South Wales agent general to the UK, Stephen Cartwright, has completed his 20-minute opening statement.

Appearing before the parliamentary committee from London, the statement detailed how he was first approached for the role, by then deputy premier John Barilaro in early February 2021.

He said:

The deputy premier asked me if I might be interested in the UK agent general role. I was taken by complete surprise by his question because I had not heard much about the role since it was announced.

Cartwright explained that he then interviewed for the role in late February and his application progressed to a panel interview at the end of March.

He said he was initially told he could expect a salary package of $600,000 as well as money to rent a well-located three bedroom home for him and his family, travel between London and Sydney and contributions to UK school fees.

In subsequent weeks, Cartwright and officials went back and forth over the package leading to a meeting with the then Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown over what he believed to be a $56,000 shortfall in his expected remuneration.

He said:

[Brown] admonished me for requesting in my email the previous day that we take the matter to her boss or higher, suggesting that by requesting this, I was acting in bad faith. I denied that I was acting in bad faith ...

In the end, Ms Brown refused to escalate the matter and I simply had to accept the loss. I did not take it any further with her boss or any minister.

Cartwright also detailed issues he said he faced setting up the London office including issues procuring desks.

At the close of his statement, Cartwright said that once he was in London he texted the then minister Stuart Ayres explaining the differences between what other people in similar positions were being paid in the UK.

He was later offered extra money for rent and then “signed the variation to my employment contract on the 16th of June, 2022, and moved into a small two-bedroom flat immediately”.

Updated

Taronga Zoo says lions returned to their enclosure with no one injured

Five lions escaped their enclosure this morning, but have now been returned, with no staff or guests injured, Taronga Zoo have confirmed.

In a statement, Taronga Zoo said:

An emergency situation occurred this morning at Taronga Zoo Sydney when five lions were located outside their enclosure.

The Zoo has strict safety protocols in place for such an incident.

All persons on site were moved to safe zones and there are no injuries to guests or staff.

All animals are now in their exhibit where they are being closely monitored.

The Zoo will be open as normal today. Further details will be provided when possible.

Taronga Zoo staff at the main entrance this morning.
Taronga Zoo staff at the main entrance this morning. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

Reports Taronga Zoo lions have been contained

ABC journalist Lara Hyams reports that the lions have been contained:

An alarm was set off just after 7am this morning.

Some of the details are quite scant at the moment, but what we believe to have happened is that the lions have escaped their enclosure. We’re still unsure how that managed to happen or if any staff were present at the time. But that has triggered an emergency response.

What we know now, based on some of the vision that we have been seeing from the helicopter above, is that that’s triggered an entire police operation. Emergency services have been sent there to assist in trying to make sure those lions are contained.

We do believe now that the lions – they’re actually contained in their enclosure and they have been accounted for.

Police and zookeepers checking fence lines inside the lion enclosure at Taronga Zoo this morning.
Police and zookeepers checking fence lines inside the lion enclosure at Taronga Zoo this morning. Photograph: Nine News

Updated

Police operation under way at Taronga Zoo with reports lions are on the loose

The Today Show are reporting that four lions escaped their enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, but acknowledge the reports are unconfirmed.

NSW police confirmed to Guardian Australia they are in attendance.

Taronga Zoo has been approached for comment.

Updated

'Australian first': Respect at work website launches with 'cutting edge' resources

As of last week, all legislative changes recommended by Kate Jenkins’ landmark Respect at Work report are now before the parliament.

One of those recommendations (the positive duty recommendation) puts responsibility on workplaces and bosses to create an environment that prevents sexual harassment and discrimination. To create this change, the bill proposes a 12-month education process before the compliance arm starts.

Jenkins, Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, told ABC Radio the launch of the Respect at Work website today marks the start of a “proactive education for employers” over the next year:

In practice, employers have been taking action on sexual harassment, but most of that attention has been towards what you do after it happened. The change in the law really is to reorient the attention … to stop the sexual harassment.

For the next 12 months, the commission is funded to do education to ensure that workplaces, and particularly recognising small workplaces and small business, are informed about what that would look like, what they can do, and they’re really up and running. And the website that we’re launching today, which is www.respectatwork.gov.au/, has a whole lot of resources, training information for organisations as well as for workers.

We’re really leading the way, I think, globally, but certainly in an Australian first to have one place that everyone can go to get some really great cutting-edge and up-to-date resources, so that we’re setting workplaces and workers up for success.

Updated

Energy price rises dwarfed by other cost-of-living impacts

If you read only headlines and listened only to political sound bites, you’d think rising energy costs were the most pressing and alarming assaults on household finances.

While not insignificant, it might surprise you to know that more expensive gas and electricity are not biting into budgets as much as, say, rising debt costs.

Keeping these things in perspective is not easy. Similarly, it’s fair to say that the Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, is pretty careful in the language that he uses.

So, while he did say yesterday in Hobart that the RBA was prepared to hike its cash rate by another 50 basis points at a time if necessary to quash inflation, he was also prepared to sit tight if necessary.

“If the situation requires us to hold steady for a while, we will do that,” Lowe said ... in apparently the first outing of such a phrase.

Updated

NSW agent general to the UK appears before Barilaro inquiry

The New South Wales agent general to the UK, Stephen Cartwright, is appearing before an inquiry into the appointment of John Barilaro as senior trade and investment commissioner to the Americas.

While the inquiry began as a specific probe into the former deputy premier’s appointment, it has since expanded to look at the appointments of other senior trade and investment commissioners, including Cartwright.

Cartwright is starting his appearance with an extensive statement, outlining his working experience and how he believes he was selected for the role.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a member or affiliated with or associated with any political party, other than indirectly when I was a member of the miners’ union when I worked in underground coal mines for five years during the 1980s.

He said he had been successful in the private sector prior to his appointment to the public service.

I would estimate that my personal and business contributions to the NSW government have been in excess of $30 million in terms of payroll tax and stamp duties.

Cartwright said while he was the head of the NSW business chamber he “regularly engaged with public servants, as well as with premiers, treasurers, ministers, shadow ministers”.

Previous reporting:

Updated

Government ‘remains open to sensible discussions’ on respect at work bill: Gallagher

Katy Gallagher is also the minister for women.

On the topic of the respect at work recommendations poised to pass for parliament, ABC Radio asks Gallagher for her response to concerns raised by lawyers. They say that a provision forcing both parties to pay their own costs, regardless of who wins, will actually discourage victims from pursuing justice through the court. Is the government considering the amendment that is proposed by Monique Ryan?

Gallagher:

I haven’t been involved in the negotiations around that … my understanding is we are implementing all recommendations of that report, but we remain open to sensible discussions.

Updated

Campaign against IR changes less important than ‘the right thing to do’: Gallagher

ABC Radio asks Gallagher if the government is concerned about a funded campaign against the government on the IR bill, considering the published warnings from business that they are prepared to do so.

Gallagher:

I don’t think it’s surprising that there are people who aren’t supportive of this legislation.

For the government, it’s really about what is the right thing to do. How … we make sure that we’re finding that balance and that we’re getting the bargaining system working for working people, which is the problem that we are trying to deal with here, particularly with my minister for women’s hat on – some of the issues that we’ve seen in those industries that are dominated by women [are] about where bargaining has failed, and industrial relations protections haven’t provided the environment that those workforces need to have a secure, well paid job.

I think that the impact of the campaign against the changes is less important than trying to focus on what the right thing to do is and we know that in this area, bargaining is not working and something needs to happen.

Updated

Engagement with crossbench and business necessary on industrial relations bill amid concerns: Gallagher

The senate crossbench has been calling for more time to scrutinise the government’s omnibus industrial relations bill.

ABC Radio asks Gallagher why the crossbench shouldn’t get more time to look at the bill. Gallagher says:

There’s a committee process under way and that’s important. I have no doubt the minister continues to talk with the Senate crossbench on how to navigate this bill through, but I think what the government is saying is this is a priority for us.

I don’t think it’s any surprise that the government would want to see these sensible amendments passed by the end of the year.

Karvelas:

Business is telling us that the provisions in your bill go well beyond low-paid sectors, and due to the common interest test, could apply to any business, and only those with fewer than 50 employees can opt out. Are you willing to look at that provision in the bill given businesses is saying that this is going to drag a lot of businesses into potentially multi employer negotiations?

Gallagher:

My understanding is there are some safeguards in the bill, so that tests would have to be met so I understand they are the more controversial parts of the bill, I have no doubt they will be looked at through the senate inquiry, as they should be.

Engagement with the crossbench, engagement with business which is what we’ve been doing, since the election is the right path, and I know the minister’s aiming that.

Updated

Budget forecast doesn’t predict wage price spiral: finance minister

The Reserve Bank says it wants to avoid a wage price spiral. Does Gallagher think the government’s policies are risking that?

The bank obviously will keep looking at that … we’re not seeing that, the budget in its forecast doesn’t predict that.

Updated

‘Work is under way’ on regulatory intervention to lower energy prices: Gallagher

Karvelas asks Gallagher if regulatory intervention to lower energy prices is the only option the government has to ease the cost of living without pushing up inflation.

Gallagher says:

Looking at the regulatory arrangements is our first inclination. That work is under way, I can’t give you a timeframe on the completion of that.

Updated

Cost-of-living relief ‘always on the agenda’: finance minister

Karvelas:

Is there a threshold – where rates and inflation hit a certain point – that the government will provide some immediate relief for people?

Gallagher:

The government will always be looking at what’s the right thing to do by households. Absolutely. It’s on our agenda every time the government meets.

You saw that in the budget where we made the deliberate decision where we could to invest in a cost of living budget.

In the budget there was a substantial increase into payments for people on pensions, job seeker, aged pension, family assistance ... it’s built in the budget that way so that when costs go up, the indexation realises that.

Updated

Returning inflation closer to normal ‘biggest assistance we can provide’: finance minister

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is speaking with ABC Radio following that decision by the Reserve Bank yesterday to raise interest rates for a seventh consecutive time in as many months.

The Reserve Bank is now forecasting inflation to reach 8% by the end of the year, which has been exacerbated by floods and the energy crisis on Ukraine.

RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas asks Gallagher how much worse can this economic situation get for households, to which Gallagher replies the government understands “it’s a really challenging set of circumstances” households are facing and that:

Getting inflation back to more normal ranges is the absolute priority, because in the longer term that is going to be the biggest assistance we can provide to households.

Updated

First sitting of NSW gay hate murder probe

Cold case murders of gay men and LGBTQ+ community members will be investigated in a landmark NSW inquiry.

The special commission of inquiry into hate crimes, led by Justice John Sackar, was established in April after it was recommended by a 2019 parliamentary inquiry.

Sydney’s wave of anti-gay hate crime peaked during the Aids epidemic of the 1980s, with an estimated 88 gay men killed between 1976 and 2000.

Acon, Australia’s largest sexuality community health organisation, said the brutal killings included everything from stabbings and strangulation to bludgeoning and shootings.

For the last five months a team of independent barristers, solicitors and investigators has been combing through more than 100,000 documents drawn from 40 years of police and coronial files as well as other sources on LGBTQ+ hate-related deaths.

In 2018, NSW police acknowledged “without qualification both its and society’s acceptance of gay bashings and shocking violence directed towards gay men, and the LGBTIQ community” with release of the landmark Strike Force Parrabell report.

Senior counsel assisting Peter Gray will outline the scope of the inquiry in its first sitting on Wednesday.

The special commission, which has investigative powers, is due to deliver its report to the NSW governor in June 2023.

- from AAP

Updated

Severe weather warning for damaging winds for southern Queensland

Queensland Fire and Emergency have released this (very adorable) warning for damaging winds for parts of the Maranoa and Warrego, Southeast Coast and Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts.

Updated

Failure to tackle climate change will put more pressure on health system, peak medical bodies say

Pressures on hospitals and other health services are being exacerbated by a failure to tackle climate change, a coalition of peak medical bodies have warned.

The warning comes with the release of the latest MJA-Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, an annual assessment of Australia’s progress in tackling climate change and its health impacts.

This year’s review confirmed health harms from life-threatening heat, severe drought, fires, and other disasters are contributing to deteriorating health system capacity.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians president, Dr Jacqueline Small, said the flood devastation across Australia “forewarns increased frequency and intensity of all extreme weather events as a consequence of climate change”.

She said:

This is both an immediate and long-term reality.

We urge the federal government to move with urgency and ambition on plans for a national climate change, health and wellbeing strategy.

The Australian Medical Association president, Prof Steve Robson, said politicians must “read this report and to act urgently on its recommendations”.

The federal budget included funding to establish a National Health Sustainability and Climate Unit and a National Health and Climate Strategy, which Robson welcomed.

Updated

Natasha May now on deck with you!

We’ll be hearing from the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, on ABC radio soon who will be unveiling a new measure out of her report a year after it was delivered.

Jenkins and her team investigated the culture in Parliament House, and other commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, handing down a landmark report that found one in three staffers interviewed had been sexually harassed.

The report made a number of recommendations, such as the establishment of a new Office of Parliamentarian Staffing and Culture to provide centralised human resources support, including policy development, training, advice, support and education.

Stay tuned for the new announcement.

Updated

'Gamble responsibly' to be replaced with 'chances are, you're about to lose' warning

Online gambling companies will be forced to tell their customers “chances are you’re about to lose” under a new set of rules in the National Consumer Protection Framework, writes my colleague Josh Butler.

The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, will announce the changes today, with the federal government mandating what it says is the first set of nationally consistent messages around the potential harms of online gambling.

Sportsbet is one of the online gambling outlets in Australia.
Sportsbet is one of the online gambling outlets in Australia. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

Currently, online gambling companies tell users to “gamble responsibly” in their advertisements. From early next year, online wagering companies will be required to run a set of new messages in ads they share via TV, radio, apps, digital or print advertising, social media, and websites, with new taglines including:

  • Chances are you’re about to lose.

  • Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?

  • What’s gambling really costing you?

  • What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.

  • Imagine what you could be buying instead.

  • You win some. You lose more.

  • What are you really gambling with?

The ads, in most cases, must be accompanied by the advisory “For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au”.

An updated version of the consumer protection framework also requires gambling companies to ensure a full rotation of the taglines over a 12-month period to mitigate “message fatigue” for users.

“Online wagering is fast becoming an increasing source of gambling and an increasing source of loss for people,” Rishworth said.

“We have consulted widely and, importantly, we have used evidence to inform these taglines.”

The new taglines have come after expensive behavioural research. The government recently opened a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and gambling harm, which will examine existing consumer protections, counselling and support services, education programs, regulation and licensing schemes, and whether laws should be extended to “gambling-like activities” in video games like loot boxes or social casino games.

The government said Australia has the highest gambling losses of any country, at $1,276 per year, with problem gambling rates more than doubling from 0.6% of the adult population in 2011 to 1.23% in 2019.

The rates of problem gambling in online users is even higher, at 3.9%. The government said the size of the “interactive wagering market” is estimated at $6.3bn, compared to electronic gaming at $9bn.

Updated

Good morning

Welcome to our live news blog. Natasha May will be with you shortly, but first: a look at the main lines this morning.

Cost of living concerns look likely to dominate much of the political agenda again today after the Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, warned that he would keep raising interest rates while inflation continued to rise. It was a rather bleak follow-up to the bank’s monetary policy committee decision to raise the cash rate by another 0.25% on Tuesday, taking it to 2.85% and increasing pressure on mortgage holders.

We’ve got a full story on Lowe’s comments, plus analysis by our economics editor Peter Hannam on how, despite the focus on higher energy bills, the real driver of inflation is mortgage, food and transport. In fact, he writes, average mortgage costs are rising 13 times more quickly than energy bills thanks to the RBA’s series of rate hikes.

But there’s also research today that hundreds of thousands of Australians eligible for concessions on their energy bills may not be receiving them, with more than 35% of potential recipients missing out on critical cost-of-living relief in some states.

Stick with us for all the day’s news.

Updated

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