What we learned – Sunday 1 September
That’s a wrap of the live blog this first day of spring, but first a quick recap of the main events:
The shadow assistant minister for home ownership, Andrew Bragg, said the states and councils must do the “heavy lifting” on housing affordability.
Flood evacuations warnings were issued as severe winds and heavy rainfall batter the state.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, said a WA nuclear reactor would have a tenth of renewables’ output.
The SES warned Victoria’s south-west coast to prepare to take shelter from destructive winds.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned gusts of up to 100km/h were possible in central areas of the state including Melbourne this afternoon.
Midwives can now provide medical abortions after changes introduced by the Victorian government.
Wherever you are on this wild day of weather, hot or windy or rainy, I hope you are staying safe.
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Circling back to that press conference on the situation in Tasmania, TasNetworks says the 30,000 people in the state without power might not have the situation resolved until tomorrow.
The spokesperson said:
It’s likely that people will remain out for a period of time and possibly greater than 24 hours. I’d ask any vulnerable customers who have not to please try and seek alternative location. For a number of those customers we have supplied generators and batteries to keep them going, but if anybody can seek alternative accommodation, I think it might be best at this stage.
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Latest figures on home prices, job ads and international trade ahead
An update on housing prices, scheduled from CoreLogic on Monday, will also be closely watched, AAP reports.
National prices have been moving higher of late, supported by strong growth in mid-size capitals.
Also on Monday, ANZ and Indeed will release new job ad data for the month, and Melbourne Institute will drop its inflation gauge.
The national statistics bureau will release international goods trade data for July on Thursday and lending indicators for the same month on Friday.
RBA governor Michele Bullock is also lined up for a couple of speaking engagements on Thursday, at the Anika Foundation and the Women in Banking and Finance awards.
There has been no shortage of communication from the central bank of late but Bullock’s read on inflation data and other releases may be valuable.
The local share market will react to gains on Wall Street as US investors digested data from a key inflation report.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.01% to end at 5,648.40 points, the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.13% to 17,713.62 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.55% to 41,563.08 points.
Australian share futures fell 18 points to 8031.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index on Friday rose 46.8 points, or 0.58%, to 8,091.9, its highest finish since its all-time closing high on 1 August.
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Weak growth likely in coming economic data
A long stretch of elevated interest rates has likely produced another tepid three months of growth, experts predict ahead of the quarterly economic check-up, AAP reports.
A slower economy is by design, with the Reserve Bank of Australia trying to weigh on inflation by encouraging more saving and less spending, lowering demand for goods and services and therefore making them cheaper.
Wednesday’s June quarter national accounts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is expected to show continued weakness.
Monday’s business indicators and Tuesday’s balance of payments and government finance statistics will help economists firm up their forecasts for national accounts, though preliminary predictions were grim.
National Australia Bank had a 0.1% quarterly lift pencilled in, the same as in the three months to March.
That would take annual growth to 0.8%. With the exception of the pandemic lockdowns, it would be the weakest annual growth since the early 1990s.
NAB senior economist Tony Kelly said another quarter of soft consumption growth and further declines in underlying business and dwelling investment were expected.
Such an outcome would have few implications for the Reserve Bank of Australia, Kelly said, as it would be only marginally weaker than they had expected.
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Tasmania’s north and west at biggest risk of storm damage – BoM
A spokesperson from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) in Tasmania is speaking at a press conference in Hobart about the extreme weather the state is experiencing from a cold front bringing severe winds, rain and flooding.
The spokesperson says more wind and storm damage could be on the way tonight for the north and west coast as a new cold front moves through:
Luckily, parts of the south east, including Hobart, are out of the warning area for tonight. So really the main risk is into the north and the west, and we will see the winds ease tomorrow.
And then we are looking at a few days of much lighter winds from Monday night. And throughout Tuesday with that significant cold front.
Tonight we are seeing some more rain move across the state and we will see some high rainfall return to parts of the west and the north east. So overnight tonight we could see rainfall amounts of around 30 to 40 or 50mm across parts of the western elevated areas into some saturated catchments.
The heaviest rainfall is expected from around early this evening until just after midnight tonight.
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Midwives can provide medical abortions under Victorian changes
Victorian midwives will be able to provide women with access to medical abortions as part of an expanded range of medications they can prescribe.
The changes, which are now in effect, mean midwives with at least three years of clinical practice will be able to prescribe pain relief, anaesthetics and medical abortions to maternity patients.
The Victoria government had repealed an existing restricted list of medications midwives can prescribe. The government says the new ministerial approval will allow midwives to prescribe within their full scope of their practice.
The state’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, says the changes will recognise the skill and professionalism of midwives:
These reforms are all about making it easier and safer for women to get the care they need – including access to medical abortion, particularly for women in regional and rural Victoria.
The Australian College of Midwives had previously called for the reform, saying women’s access to reproductive healthcare was hindered by “abortion deserts”.
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All-Australian showdown possible after De Minaur win at US Open
And following on from that tennis news we mentioned, an all-Australian clash could be on the cards if Alex de Minaur won his third round to join Jordan Thompson in the next.
De Minaur has just won his match so the pair of Aussies will indeed joust for a US Open quarter-final spot as Australia’s extraordinary assault on the season’s last grand slam continues, AAP reports.
De Minaur wore down veteran British marathon man Dan Evans 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-0 6-0 to clinch a last-16 berth for a fifth consecutive slam after the seed-slaying Thompson claimed yet another big scalp on day six in New York.
Thompson took out 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to storm into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for a second time.
With Alexei Popyrin basking in the glory of his stunning defeat of defending champion Novak Djokovic, Australia has converted its biggest US Open contingent in 43 years into three players in the men’s last 16 for the first time this century.
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Warren Entsch’s departure sets up rare contest for LNP seat
The interesting thing about both the Queensland candidate announcements this weekend is that both Leichardt and Moreton are marginal seats which have been held by the personal popularity of their members – not necessarily the party they represent.
Graham Perrett has held Moreton despite its long-term marginal status, and held on after the 2013 drubbing Labor experienced in most of Queensland – including in seats with much safer margins – because of his local popularity. In much the same way, Warren Entsch has held on to the far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt when it isn’t necessarily a fit for the LNP. Entsch had been enticed to stay on at both the 2019 and 2022 elections because the LNP had been concerned that without him, the seat wouldn’t hold.
The seat’s proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the local economy’s reliance on eco-tourism has meant the Greens have been making inroads in the electorate for years. Labor announced former Cairns Taipan player Matt Smith as their pre-selected candidate in July, but given the anger at Labor throughout Queensland, the party isn’t confident it will triumph come the next federal election.
Next month’s state election should help dispense some of that anger (at least that’s how the federal thinking goes) with Queensland Labor on track for a sound defeat. Still, with Entsch’s departure, both the Greens and Labor are eyeing off the seat – much like both the Greens and the LNP are eyeing off Moreton.
But given the LNP’s federal dominance in Queensland, Entsch’s departure sets up a rare contest for a LNP seat. Expect to see some brutal campaigns in both electorates.
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Melbourne gusts up to 130km/h possible today – BoM
We have some more information around the wild weather in Victoria from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). Community information officer Brooke Pagel said a “vigorous west to north-westerly airstream” was responsible for bringing those damaging winds.
While conditions have currently eased in some places at the moment, the winds are still gusty in the south-west around the Bellarine Peninsula around Geelong, where winds are still up to 57km/h at the moment, Pagel said.
Winds are expected to strengthen again later this afternoon and early evening.
Pagel said:
Damaging winds continuing with destructive winds developing about those coastal and alpine areas later on tonight into early Monday, as the cold front makes its way eastwards.
So for central Victoria, including Melbourne, we’re looking at damaging west and north-westerly winds averaging about 50 to 65km per hour. We may be possibly looking at peak gusts of 100km per hour from later on this afternoon as we move towards coastal areas of Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland.
Those destructive winds in the warning, we’re looking at peak gusts of up to about 130km per hour this evening at coastal locations from that South Australia border all the way to the Bellarine Peninsula and those south-eastern Melbourne suburbs, and then towards Mornington Peninsula towards Wilson’s promontory. It’s a real hit and miss with these north-westerlies, but it’s mainly the coastal areas that we will be bearing the brunt of these really high, destructive winds.
We’re expecting those winds to ease off throughout the state on going through tomorrow.
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Victoria severe weather warning issued amid destructive winds
The Victorian SES is warning people on the south-west coast to prepare to take shelter from destructive winds.
The severe weather warning also instructs people in the area to stay well away from the surf and surf-exposed area, and stay away from cliffs.
The severe weather may include destructive winds from Sunday evening averaging 55-65 km per hour and gusts of up to 100-130 km per hour possible at coastal locations from the South Australian border to the Bellarine Peninsula.
Damaging surf conditions are occurring over southwest and central coastal parts of the state between the South Australian border and Cape Otway.
The SES said conditions may temporarily ease slightly for a period during Sunday afternoon before the largest waves arrive from late Sunday evening, peaking during Monday morning.
Beach conditions in these areas will be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf, surf-exposed areas and cliffs.
Locations which may be affected by damaging surf include Warrnambool, Portland and Nelson.
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Australian tennis player Jordan Thompson has claimed another scalp in the US Open to set up a possible all-Australian fourth-round showdown with Alex de Minaur – you can read more about the tennis here:
WA nuclear reactor would have a tenth of renewables' output – Bowen
Speaking about election planning, both the Labor government and the Coalition are trying to win the energy debate, something that seemed settled in 2022, but has once again become grist for the populist politics mill.
The Coalition have turned to nuclear as their answer, but are yet to shape any actual policy detail around it, including how much it would cost and how it would work (pretty important questions to answer, one would think).
Energy minister Chris Bowen, attempting to bring the energy debate back on track has been taking every opportunity to undermine the coalition ‘plan’ and today’s lesson is on Western Australia.
Bowen says the results for the WA Capacity Investment Scheme are in and it’s oversubscribed six times over.
Coincidentally, Bowen also has analysis on how much power a nuclear in Collie (one of the Coalition’s identified sites) would produce. Bowen says that based on the water constraints in the area, a nuclear reactor would have about a 10th of the output of renewables, given the results of the capacity investment scheme auction.
Bowen is making those calculations based on how much renewables would be available, given the bidding in the latest auction.
“The Albanese Government is unlocking renewable energy investment in WA now, which will deliver more power this decade than Dutton’s Collie nuclear reactor ever could,” Bowen said.
It’s up to Peter Dutton to explain where the water is going to come from and why he would risk significant investment in WA’s energy industry to chase an expensive pipe dream that can’t keep the lights on.
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Party leaders work on shoring up states ahead of next election
Hello from Canberra, where it is blowing an absolute gale.
The leaders are focused elsewhere this weekend. Anthony Albanese was in Queensland yesterday and is in the air on his way to Western Australia now, while Peter Dutton spent some time in Tasmania.
Both major parties are focused on shoring up the states where the election is usually won or made and all three are going to be seeing a lot of politicians as we slide towards the next election.
Given that there is less than a year until that election has to be held, the major parties are also starting to put in place their candidates.
In Queensland yesterday, Anthony Albanese announced one of the worst kept Labor secrets – former Queensland state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell has been announced as the candidate for Moreton, where Graham Perrett is retiring.
Long-term LNP MP Warren Entsch has also confirmed he is leaving federal politics (he has thought about retiring at the last two elections, so this is no surprise) and paramedic and former local councillor Jeremy Neal has been pre-selected to run in his place.
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Shorten spruiks Services Australia’s online bookings system
Government services Bill Shorten is urging Australians to skip the queues in Services Australia service centres as the online online booking system is running nationwide.
In a statement released this morning, Shorten said:
At last, you can book appointments to see Services Australia online, not just turn up and be kept waiting.
After a successful pilot in Hobart earlier this year, Australians can now use the new online booking capability to make appointments in more than 300 service centres nationally.
The online appointment booking option will be particularly helpful to older and younger Australians, people with disability, parents with young children and carers, who are part of the cohort this new system was designed to assist now.
Since launching nationally two months ago, more than 81,700 appointments have been booked online, including by 1,500 people over 80 years of age, according to the minister’s office.
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Evacuations warning as severe weather pounds Tasmania
AAP has more details on the extreme weather in Tasmania:
Tasmanian residents are being urged to get ready to evacuate their homes and businesses as severe winds and heavy rainfall continue to batter the state.
Emergency services responded to 330 incidents in the 24 hours to 8am on Sunday, with a stack of warnings issued for extreme weather expected for the next few days.
People in south-east Tasmanian towns including Meadowbank, Glenora, Bushy Park, Gretna and Macquarie Plains are being told to prepare for flooding, with authorities suggesting they could become isolated for a number of days.
Warning properties might become inundated and some major roads may need to be closed, the Tasmanian SES encouraged those residents to leave the area. Executive director Mick Lowe said:
Tasmania SES has issued a flood watch and act for communities along the Derwent River … please prepare now to go to a safer place if conditions become more dangerous.
There is potential for properties to be inundated, and roads may not be accessible … if flooding in your area occurs, remember, never drive or enter flood waters.
An evacuation centre has been opened in New Norfolk.
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Bragg defends NSW Liberal chief’s position after council elections debacle
Finally, Bragg has also defended Liberal party’s NSW president, Don Harwin, staying in his role after the “catastrophic failure” of the division to nominate candidates for local government elections.
Asked whether he was open to administrators being sent in, Bragg said:
I’m more interested in looking at the core competency of the division rather than getting into personality debates.
Asked about calls for Harwin to go, Bragg says:
I don’t see any case for Don to go. I think he’s done a good job as president. I don’t think that having an election for president now inside the New South Wales division would be in the interests of the party, and at the end of the day, people love talking about these things, but the core competencies are on display – you’ve got candidates in the field and you’re raising money.
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Bragg says gender identity a reasonable question for census
Bragg says a question on gender identity – not just sexual preference – would be appropriate to ask in the census.
After a week in which the government was heavily criticised for excluding proposed new questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the prime minister reneged and said the 2026 census would include “one question about sexuality, sexual preference”.
Asked whether he thinks there should also be a question on gender identity as well, Bragg said:
It’s been my view for a long time that gender identity and sexual orientation are reasonable questions to ask in a modern society. I think the fact the PM has tied himself in knots on this issue shows a great weakness in his own leadership.
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Bragg says Labor ‘mean’ for not letting first-home buyers access super
Bragg is defending the Coalition’s plan to let first-home buyers access up to $50,000 of their superannuation to put down a deposit as “one of the best ideas in the policy marketplace”.
The key determinant for your success in retirement is not your superannuation balance, it’s your housing status.
… I think that it is a particularly mean and nasty policy for the Labor party to be denying people access to their own money.
David Speers asks Bragg about the ramifications when New Zealand implemented the policy and “house prices took off like a rocket”. He says house prices have stabilised in Auckland after a number of changes, including to planning controls.
It’s an $11 trillion market. Allowing people in their 30s, for example, to use their money to get a first home will set them up for a much better lifestyle in retirement, because if you are a retired renter on the pension, your life is going to be much more difficult than it otherwise would be, and this is your own money.
So I think that the idea that we’re now the only country effectively that doesn’t allow people to use their own money for housing is crazy.
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Bragg says states and councils must do ‘heavy lifting’ on housing affordability
Andrew Bragg has accused the federal government’s housing future fund of having “completely failed”. He says the Coalition will announce its own housing supply policy that he says has to “find a way to get local councils and states to actually do the heavy lifting here”.
The shadow assistant minister for home ownership says:
This current federal government has tried to pay the states to build house, which has completely failed. So we would have to look at stronger measures to ensure that we could get lower councils and states to build houses. I want to make an point point here – Nimby-ism is poison for young people. And when you see councils and states block developments, particularly apartment buildings, that is a disaster for young people. So we have to hit the states and the councils in whichever way we can to make sure that we build the supply that’s needed.
Bragg says Australia could look to New Zealand’s new policy to tie payments to councils with housing completions, he says “there are a range of things that you could do.”
In case you missed it, Bragg has talked to our political editor Karen Middleton on last week’s Australian politics podcast:
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Bragg says building ‘a lot more houses’ is key to improving affordability
Talking about the opposition’s plan to improve housing affordability, Andrew Bragg says lowering migration would make housing more affordable but emphasises “the key here is to build the houses so that first-home buyers can actually get into them”.
How do you build more houses, according to Bragg?
If the CFMEU hadn’t been allowed to run the migration program, then we would have had more builders and construction workers which would have helped us build the houses we need.
… If you really want to solve the problem, you have to build a lot more houses, and then you’ve got to find a way to tilt the scales in favour of first-home buyers that don’t destroy the market and make it worse.
Bragg says he believes the Greens’ focus on changing AirBnb setting is “tinkering” and proposed changes to tax policy would make a “minuscule difference”.
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Bragg says Coalition’s foreign student caps will be detailed ‘in due course’
The shadow assistant minister for home ownership, Andrew Bragg, is speaking to ABC Insiders this morning discussing the government’s announcement this week they plan to cap international student enrolments at 270,000. His party’s leader Peter Dutton has been linking high migration numbers to housing affordability.
Bragg is backing that line from Dutton, but being shy of details what their own policy capping foreign students:
There is a link between the amount of people who are coming into the country and housing accessibility, so that’s why we announced in budget in reply that there would be caps on foreign students – and the detailed caps will be announced in due course.
Asked whether what the government announced is enough, or the Coalition would go further, Bragg said “that’s under consideration”.
It is very important that we put homeownership at the primacy of our policy offering – that’s something that we’ve done as a party back since the Menzies era.
…we make no apology for putting the Australian dream before the interests of any export industry.
…we are consulting with the sector and ours will be announced well and truly before the election.
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Labor says prescription reforms saved $525m while more medicines added today
The government says Australians have saved over half a billion dollars ($525m) on the cost of their medicines thanks to their reforms, as more are added to the 60-day prescriptions.
A year after Labor’s 60-day dispensing changes were introduced, the health minister, Mark Butler, released cost saving estimates this morning broken down by state:
ACT – $11m saved on more than 1.2m cheaper scripts
NSW – $140m saved on more than 15m cheaper scripts
NT – $2.9m saved on more than 300,000 cheaper scripts
Queensland – $88m saved on more than 9m cheaper scripts
SA – $29m saved on more than 3m cheaper scripts
Tasmania – $9m saved on more than 1m cheaper scripts
Victoria – $118m saved on more than 12m cheaper scripts
WA – $51m saved on more than 5m cheaper scripts
From today, about 300 more medicines will now be available as 60-day prescriptions including medicines that treat:
acne
anxiety disorders
asthma
constipation
depression
gastro-oesophageal reflux disease
glaucoma
dry eyes
obstructive pulmonary disease, and
Parkinson’s disease
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More on the extreme heats in other parts of the country this morning.
The Bureau of Neteorology says the forecast temperatures in southern and western Queensland are up to 15 degrees above average again today, as maximum temperatures could approach 40C again in the west and 36C in the south-east.
Brisbane and Darwin are both predicted to reach up to 33C while 27C is forecast for Sydney.
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Spirit of Tasmania departure called off amid rough weather
Last night’s Spirit of Tasmania was cancelled due to the extreme weather.
The company said in a statement adverse weather conditions meant the ship would not be sailing from Devonport to Geelong as planned Saturday night but would leave instead this morning:
Passengers booked on tonight’s sailing are welcome to board the vessel as normal today and stay overnight. The vessel is expected to depart Devonport for Geelong tomorrow morning, 1 September, at approximately 7.30am.
A series of cold fronts have brought widespread wind gusts to South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania over the weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology said the 165km/h gust recorded at Maatsuyker Island yesterday would be the equivalent strength of a category-three tropical cyclone:
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Good morning!
This first weekend of spring has brought extreme weather as parts of the country are being hit with sweltering heat – weather warnings are in place across Victoria and Tasmania.
Multiple flood warnings are current in Tasmania, including a major warning in place for the River Derwent, as residents near New Norfolk have been warned by the SES to prepare to leave.
The extreme weather has left about 30,000 Tasmanians without power across the state this morning. TasNetworks say they have 117 outages reported in the north and north-west and 20 in the south.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds affecting most regions in Victoria except the very north-most part of the state.
The bureau says damaging winds will develop into destructive winds about coastal and alpine areas late on Sunday into early Monday, affecting people in Central, East Gippsland, South West, North Central, West and South Gippsland, Wimmera and parts of Northern Country, North East and Mallee Forecast districts.
Let’s get going, plenty more news coming your way this Sunday.
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