What we learned, Friday 16 August
This is where we’ll close the blog for this evening but first a summary of the main events:
RBA faced a grilling over interest rates and the cost of living.
Labor doesn’t have the “political will” to pursue makarrata, a Greens senator said.
Australia and UK export controls are comparable, US said, in a boost for Aukus.
Melbourne lord mayor sparked a green plan to slash city power bills.
Shorten said Dutton risked “implying all Gazans are terrorists”.
Public demand “is not the main game” in inflation fight, RBA governor said.
Annastacia Palaszczuk was appointed to the board of Australia Post.
Google claimed in a Senate hearing it doesn’t dominate search.
First Nations communities should lead response to missing and murdered report, the human rights commissioner said.
CFMEU law delay prompted building costs warning.
Australian mpox cases are on the rise amid global emergency.
Marriage numbers rose while divorces fell, the ABS said.
A Sydney teacher was charged with more sexual offences.
Australian shares rallied for the best week of the year.
The NSW health minister said “we’re not out of the woods” on IV fluid shortage.
Have a lovely weekend.
Updated
Continuing on from that last post, AAP reports:
An application to demolish the burned home was rejected in February.
The owner denied any role in the fire and the court was not asked to rule on whether they were involved.
The home was uninsured and no claim has been made over the damage.
Judge Brady was ultimately unable to determine a motive for either of the men jailed over the fire on Friday.
He said they abandoned an earlier attempt to burn the home, but rather than reflecting and taking a different path, later returned to complete the planned arson.
Both men regretted it, had no previous criminal history and good prospects of rehabilitation, as well as compelling individual subjective circumstances, he said.
Bett suffered a traumatic upbringing, witnessing a man publicly burned alive during his childhood in Kenya.
He is eligible for release, with his non-parole period of one year, eight months and seven days expiring on Monday.
His sentence expires in March 2025.
Nassif faces an onerous time in custody due to his age and health issues.
Judge Brady said it was a tragedy to send an older man who likely has a dementing illness to prison, but the objective seriousness of the case provided no alternative.
Nassif was jailed for two years and seven months with a non-parole period of one year and four months.
He will be eligible for parole at the end of 2025 before his sentence expires in March 2027.
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