What we learned today, Saturday 15 July
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
The New South Wales government says it will hold off any decision about the future of the country’s largest power station until at least next month, after it receives a “health check” on the state’s energy security.
Qantas and Virgin now account for 95% of Australia’s domestic aviation market, a dominance that dwarfs industries such as banking and supermarkets and has allowed the airlines to jack up profit margins, the national airport body has warned.
A woman found injured outside a leisure centre in Kununurra has died, prompting police to open a homicide probe.
The former Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has given the opposition leader, John Pesutto, seven more days to respond to a legal ultimatum or face defamation action in court.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says Labor has “realistic expectations” about the Fadden byelection, considering it is a strongly held Coalition seat. He says Labor’s key message for the electorate is that it intends to focus on cost-of-living pressures.
The NSW government has pledged $1.7m to expand the Singleton Roosters clubhouse and facilities following the wedding bus tragedy that rocked the community in June.
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‘Glimmer of hope’ for community after wedding bus crash
Local AFL club players rocked by the deadly Hunter Valley bus crash have made a difficult return to the field as a new memorial for those who lost their lives was announced, AAP reports.
Attending the Singleton Roosters’ first games back on Saturday afternoon, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, acknowledged the grief felt by the community and promised funding to expand the club’s facilities.
Many of the 10 people killed in the Greta crash in June were members of the close-knit club.
Minns said:
There’s no consolations after a terrible tragedy like this but if there’s a glimmer of hope it’s that the community’s been able to lean on one another to get through the last few weeks.
The state government has pledged $1.7m to upgrade the club, used by more than 22,000 people, an amount that is hoped to go some way to helping them heal.
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Homicide detectives investigate woman's death in Kununurra
A woman found injured outside a leisure centre in a rural town has died, prompting police to open a homicide probe, AAP reports.
Officers were called to the centre in Kununurra, a small town in far north Western Australia, about 9.45am on Saturday.
The seriously injured woman in her 30s was found on the corner of Coolibah and Ron Hodnett drives.
Police gave emergency first aid but were unable to save the woman, who died at the scene. Another woman is assisting with the investigation.
Homicide detectives will travel to Kununurra to investigate the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death, a police spokeswoman said.
The leisure centre car park has been cordoned off with forensic officers at the scene.
The surrounding post office, recreation centre, water splash park and visitors centre are also closed.
Members of the public have been asked to stay away from the area.
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Moira Deeming gives John Pesutto legal ultimatum
Former Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has given opposition leader John Pesutto seven more days to respond to a legal ultimatum or face defamation action in court, AAP reports.
A third letter of concern claims Pesutto hasn’t offered to resolve her complaint, which stems from the fallout after an anti-trans rally outside the Victorian parliament in March. The event was attended by neo-Nazis – who anti-trans activists say were gatecrashing – and who performed the Sieg Heil salute on the front steps of parliament.
Pesutto’s office declined to comment when approached by AAP on Saturday afternoon.
The legal letter alleges Pesutto made “baseless and false” imputations about Deeming at a press conference in March, including accusing her of being a Nazi sympathiser and associate.
Pesutto has previously denied he accused the now-independent MP of being a Nazi or having Nazi sympathies.
Deeming was initially suspended from the Liberal party for nine months after taking part in the rally and was eventually expelled in May.
AAP has seen a copy of the third letter of concern sent by Deeming’s lawyers on 14 July.
The letter claims Pesutto has not offered to make amends since a first letter of concern was sent several months ago.
It includes an offer to resolve the dispute if he agrees, within a week, to never repeat statements made about Deeming and several other demands.
The requests also include paying her legal costs, handing over compensation and signing a letter of apology to be displayed prominently on his website and social media platforms for 14 days.
The letter comes six weeks out from the upcoming byelection in the state seat of Warrandyte, triggered by the resignation of veteran Liberal MP Ryan Smith.
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Blaze extinguished at south-west Sydney scrap metal yard
Fire Rescue NSW has said it as finally extinguished the fire in the scrap metal yard in the Sydney suburb of Greenacre.
The fire in the Claremont St scrap metal yard was contained at around 2pm, though salvage efforts are continuing, according to a series of updates through the Fire Rescue NSW social media channels.
Roads are being reopened and the smoke has dissipated, with firefighters placing booms over drains to filter water runoff.
Forty firefighters and 10 vehicles attended the incident.
No injuries were reported.
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Can the Matildas actually win the World Cup?
After defeating France 1-0 on Friday, the next time the Matildas take the field will be in front of 80,000 people at Stadium Australia for the first game of their 2023 Women’s World Cup against the Republic of Ireland. With another win over a European powerhouse under their belt, the question now is: can the Matildas actually win the tournament?
More on this story here:
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Fans gather in red to enjoy the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever
Today, also, is the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever – the day when people around Australia dress up in red and dance to Kate Bush’s 1978 hit, Wuthering Heights.
The red is in homage to the original film clip for the song, which sees Bush dancing about the countryside in a gauzy, floaty bright red gown.
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Triple J counts down Hottest 100 Like A Version
The national broadcaster’s youth radio station, Triple J, has been counting down the top 100 cover songs recorded over the past 19 years in its weekly Like A Version segment.
Like its major annual poll, the Hottest 100, the songs are voted by listeners.
They’re currently into the 70s, with Julia Jacklin’s version of Someday, originally by the Strokes, coming in at 79.
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Is it possible to keep jet lag at bay?
Know someone heading off to – sigh – Europe this winter? Send them this handy guide to keeping jet lag at bay. (Or don’t, if you’ve muted them on Instagram and can’t bring yourself to acknowledge their overseas jaunt.)
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No decision on Australia’s largest power station until after NSW energy review
The New South Wales government says it will hold off any decision about the future of the country’s largest power station until at least next month, after it receives a “health check” on the state’s energy security.
Origin Energy, owner of the 2,880MW Eraring plant near Lake Macquarie, also said on Friday that “nothing had changed” on the plan to shut the coal-fired power station no sooner than August 2025.
Both dismissed a News Corp report on Friday that the government had already decided to operate Eraring beyond 2025 because of delays in the construction of new generation capacity such as Snowy Hydro’s 2.0 project and transmission lines.
A spokesperson for the NSW energy minister, Penny Sharpe, said all options remained on the table, as stated previously. The “arms-length” health check survey of the state’s power sector was still being worked on, the spokesperson said:
Our report is due in early August and the government will consider its response in due course.
More about this issue, from me and Tamsin Rose, here:
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Minns to announce memorial for victims of Singleton bus tragedy
More on the New South Wales government committing $1.7m to expand the Singleton Roosters clubhouse and facilities following the bus tragedy that rocked the community in June.
AAP reports the upgrades will include new change rooms, a first-aid room, toilets and internal renovations.
It’s hoped the improvements will support the development of AFL in the Hunter region by providing a venue that can host future regional tournaments.
The expansion will be jointly funded with $250,000 from the AFL and a separate cash commitment by Singleton council.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, was to attend the first games of the women’s and men’s teams on Saturday afternoon when he will announce plans to build a memorial for those who lost their lives, ensuring their legacy in the community.
This investment recognises the emotional toll of the recent bus tragedy, providing a space for healing and unity within the Singleton community.
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Nick McKim condemns imprisonment of environmental activist
The Greens senator Nick McKim has said the imprisonment of an environmental activist in Tasmania on Friday is “manifestly unjust”.
Colette Joan Harmsen, a 47-year-old veterinarian and seasoned “peaceful forest protester” with the Bob Brown Foundation, was sentenced to three months in prison for breaching a suspended sentence for protesting against a mine on the west coast of Tasmania.
Harmsen appeared in Hobart magistrates court on Friday after pleading guilty to four counts of trespassing, as well as other related offences.
Harmsen is the first person to be imprisoned in Tasmania for environmental protesting in more than a decade.
Mckim said on Twitter:
Governments will eventually realise they can’t arrest their way out of the climate and biodiversity crises.
More on the news of Harmsen’s sentence here:
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Lizzo pulls out all the stops in Perth as Australia tour kicks off
It’s a sea of sequins and glitter among the audience. The lights go down, and neon red letters fill the screen: “THIS IS A SHOW ABOUT LOVE.”
Lizzo fans, of course, already know what they’re in for: deft lyricism, boundless warmth and pure joy. The US pop star’s last tour, Cuz I Love You Too at the start of 2020, didn’t make it to Perth; for Australia’s west coast, it’s been a long wait.
Friday night at the RAC Arena marks the first Australian show on her Special tour, and her voice fills the room almost instantly, opening with Cuz I Love You. In black leather, under a spectacle of bright red lights, she’s soulful and she’s a force: flanked on either side by her dancers, but undoubtedly the centrepiece.
Read the full review of the first show of Lizzo’s Australian tour here:
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‘Birthplace of the nation’ museum set to close its doors
The first museum included on the National Trust register will close its doors at the end of the month, leaving its century-old artefacts of federation locked behind glass until further notice.
The Sir Henry Parkes memorial school of arts is the site of the five-time premier’s famous Tenterfield oration in 1889, regarded as the first direct appeal to the public for an Australian nation-state to unite the colonies.
The National Trust refers to the building as the “birthplace of the nation”, in honour of Parkes’ seminal address.
But the Tenterfield mayor, Bronwyn Petrie, said the council had little choice but to cut nice-to-have services like the museum, given its parlous financial state after years of natural disasters.
Read the full exclusive story here:
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Inside Cadia, the goldmine at the centre of an environmental dust-up
Deep in the heart of the Cadia Hill goldmine, 1.4km below the surface, heavy machines dump loads of ore into a crusher. On the wall next to the crusher is a ventilation grate, which draws the dust in to a filtration plant and out of the mine’s main vent, “vent rise outlet 8”.
Until May this year, the emissions were vented straight from the ore crusher into the atmosphere. Newcrest, which owns Cadia Valley Operations, has since installed two “bag houses” that catch up to 1 tonne of dust an hour each when operational. The second bag house only came online last month.
The grey dust found in those bags is valuable and may still contain gold. The general manager, Mick Dewar, says they are still trying to decide if that dust will be sent offshore for processing to remove valuable metals, or if it will be dumped in the tailings dam.
Dewar, who led Guardian Australia on the underground tour of the Cadia east mine along with two other senior members of the mine’s staff, says the vent, known as VR8, is “high velocity and it’s coming from a high dust source”.
He says:
It’s got the worst combination, if you like, for the things to be a compliance problem. And this is why we got called out.
Read the full story, with incredible pics from Mike Bowers, here:
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Why Michele Bullock was picked as the new Reserve Bank governor
When the Albanese government announced Michele Bullock as the next Reserve Bank governor on Friday, few were particularly surprised – and that was the plan.
Sure, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, got on the front foot the previous day, prematurely warning against choosing a public servant. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, had shared his shortlist with his shadow, Angus Taylor, but held back Bullock as his pick.
Treasury had been content for pundits to ponder over a handful of likely choices for weeks. Chalmers told Friday’s media briefing he had singled out Bullock, the deputy RBA governor of just 15 months, “for a while now” as the “best person”.
It’s not entirely clear why the incumbent, Philip Lowe, was ruled out for an extension. A narrative set in that Lowe had to go because he had failed to foresee the global inflation rate spiking in 2022.
On that score, no central bank boss would retain his or her job. Nor would private economists who forecast inflation at 4% or less for last year and saw it instead sail past 8% by December. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just wasn’t among risk parameters.
Chalmers’ choice ultimately hinged on the need for a reformer to implement the many recommendations of the RBA review.
Read the full analysis here:
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Firefighters battle south-west Sydney blaze
Six fire trucks and 22 firefighters are working to contain a blaze in a scrap metal yard in the Sydney suburb of Greenacre, Fire Rescue NSW have said.
Firefighters have water on the fire in the scrap metal yard at Claremont Ave, the agency said, and on-site personnel are using an excavator to help firefighters.
In a tweet this morning, Fire Rescue advised people to steer clear and keep windows closed:
The fire is causing large volumes of smoke in the area. Avoid the area and if close by close doors, windows and vents.
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Chalmers says consultancy scandal a ‘disgraceful episode’
Chalmers is asked about the PwC and consultancy scandal. He says:
This has been a deplorable, disgraceful episode that compromises our ability to do the kinds of consultations that we need to do to get policies right. … We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, because it’s a direct threat to good government, to consultation that we want to see.
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Treasurer says he has ‘high regard’ for outgoing RBA chief Philip Lowe
On the replacement of Reserve bank governor Phillip Lowe with Michele Bullock, announced yesterday, Chalmers stands by the work of the former, who has come under fire thanks to the brutal series of interest rate rises under his watch over the past year:
We are professionals. I have a high regard for him and he’s highly regarded internationally. We chose Michele Bullock to take the bank forward but that in no way diminishes the dedication of Philip Lowe.
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Jim Chalmers says Labor has 'realistic expectations' about Fadden
Jim Chalmers is speaking to ABC TV about the Fadden byelection. The key message is that Labor intends to focus on cost-of-living pressures, but they have “realistic expectations” about a strongly held Coalition seat.
He says:
It’s a super safe blue ribbon LNP seat. This hasn’t exactly been Labor heartland for us federally on the northern Gold Coast, but we put forward this quite magnificent local champion in Letitia Del Fabbro, a nurse educator. A wonderful candidate.
We’re focused on what matters most for people on the northern Gold Coast, these cost-of-living pressures we are providing assistance with. We’re also trying to clean up the mess left behind by Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison and the LNP.
We’re focused on the right issues. We have a wonderful candidate but have realistic expectations about a double-digit LNP seat in a blue ribbon area.
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LNP candidate says cost of living main issue for Fadden voters
The LNP candidate for the federal seat of Fadden vying to replace former Coalition minister Stuart Robert says voters are focused on cost of living issues, AAP reports.
Cameron Caldwell, who is the favourite to win the by-election in the northern Gold Coast electorate, cast his vote with his wife, Lauren, at a polling booth on Saturday morning.
Asked if Robert’s involvement in the robodebt scandal that engulfed the previous Liberal-Nationals federal government was impacting voters, he said they have other things on their minds, such as cost of living and crime.
Caldwell told Sky News:
Those are issues that are really starting to bite in their households and it’s whether people can put food on the table and keep the lights switched on.
That’s really what’s on their mind as they walk into the polling booth today.
The LNP held the seat with a margin of 10.6% under Robert, whose resignation from parliament in May triggered the by-election.
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Singleton Roosters to play their first game since tragic bus accident
NSW premier Chris Minns is in Cessnock today, where he will attend the first games of the women’s and men’s Singleton Roosters Australian rules football teams since the bus tragedy that rocked the community in June.
Minns is expected to announce a $1.7m grant towards the expansion of the Roosters’ clubhouse and facilities that will include a permanent memorial element to acknowledge those who died in the crash.
We expect to hear from him at some point this afternoon.
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Sydneysiders can ditch their winter woolies
A weather update for the weekend: Sydney is expected to hit 23C on Saturday, with the unseasonably warm weather forecast to continue for the rest of the winter.
Hugh McDowell, a meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the bureau’s long-range forecast showed Sydney could expect more unseasonable temperatures:
For the rest of winter and into spring, there’s a very high chance of above average temperatures, and actually quite a high chance of unusually warm temperatures as well.
Last week, the United Nations’ weather agency declared the world was in the grip of another El Niño event, which it said would likely see a rise in global temperatures and disruptive weather and climate patterns.
On Friday, Sydneysiders would have been forgiven for walking outside and forgetting it is winter. Temperatures hit 22C and are likely to hit 23C on Saturday, reaching five to six degrees above average for July.
Melburnians also experienced slightly above average temperatures on Friday and Saturday, McDowell said. But not enough to ditch the winter woollies – it reached 13C on Friday and is expected to reach 15C on Saturday.
There’s more weekend weather here:
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Domestic air fares now above pre-pandemic levels
Qantas and Virgin now account for 95% of Australia’s domestic aviation market, a dominance that dwarfs industries such as banking and supermarkets and has allowed the airlines to jack up profit margins, the national airport body has warned.
The continued duopoly of Qantas Group – which includes budget carrier Jetstar – and Virgin Australia in the domestic aviation sector has also allowed air fares to rise above pre-pandemic levels even when adjusting for inflation, the Australian Airports Association (AAA) said in its submission to a parliamentary inquiry.
Domestic air fares in Australia have increased by 22.6% between 2019 and 2022, the AAA said, with an increase of 19.3% between the first quarters of 2020 and 2023.
Read more about this issue here:
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Childcare crisis
When Sami Giri found out a few weeks ago that the fees at her daughters’ childcare centre were going up in three weeks, she had a “physiological response”.
She tells Guardian Australia:
I remember it was a Friday afternoon, at a primary school event. I was reading emails during the break when it came through. I could feel my blood boiling. I was shaking, getting really stressed, anxious, emotional.
Giri and her husband’s two daughters, aged seven and four, have been in full-time care since the family moved from Sydney to Brisbane for affordability reasons six years ago. At the time, they lived near the city, and childcare fees were $100 a day.
Now, the family live further away from the city, in Brisbane’s north-west suburbs, and are expecting their third child. They pay $165 a day to send their four-year-old to daycare – “and that is the cheapest we can get”. Since joining their childcare centre 18 months ago, the fees have increased by 26% – an extra $100 out of pocket a week.
Giri says:
The increase in cost hasn’t matched an increase in quality, yet we are in a position where we have to pay it.
She’s not the only parent to report that the cost of early childhood education is going up, even as government rebates increase this month.
Read the full story from me and Rafqa Toumi:
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Coming to a local council meeting near you – YIMBYS
They are fed up with a lack of new housing, they’ve read up on the technicalities of zoning and heritage protections – and they’re coming to a local council meeting near you.
Historically low building approval rates as Australia stares down a worsening housing crisis have led to a chorus of housing activists and economists rebelling against the traditional opposition to any proposals to increase density from nimby (not in my back yard) residents.
Groups have sprung up in Melbourne and Sydney in the past six months with the goal of encouraging communities to say yes to sensible increases in housing density, and converting nimbys into yimbys.
Priorities vary slightly across Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra (where an earlier yimby iteration, Greater Canberra, has existed since 2021), but their shared strategy is to encourage local activism to support infill development in inner urban areas which are well serviced by infrastructure but have restrictive planning rules.
“Housing abundance” is their common aim, which they say will bring about affordability, sustainability and liveability.
Read the full story here:
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Four teenagers charged over Melbourne robberies
Four teenagers have been charged over armed robberies on fast food outlets and three others are on the run, AAP reports.
A group of seven people armed with a knife targeted two venues in Melbourne’s south-east early on Friday morning and stole cash, Victoria police said.
One worker was assaulted during the first robbery at Skye but no one was injured during the second robbery at Clyde North.
A 13-year-old boy from Doveton and three 15-year-old boys from Springvale South, Cranbourne East and Carrum Downs have been charged with offences including armed robbery and theft of a motor vehicle.
Police have not yet released details about the three other people wanted over the crimes.
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I mentioned earlier that federal treasurer Jim Chalmers would be handing out how to vote cards for Labor candidate Letitia Del Fabbro in Fadden. We are likely to hear from him in an hour or so.
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Labor talks down chances as voting in Fadden byelection begins
Labor says it will be extraordinarily difficult to wrest the Queensland seat of Fadden from the Coalition.
Voting has already begun in the Gold Coast seat with LNP candidate Cameron Caldwell the strong favourite to win.
The byelection was triggered by the resignation of former minister Stuart Robert, who held the seat at the 2022 election with a 10.6% margin.
Despite Labor’s targeting of Robert in advertising highlighting his role in the robodebt scandal, the party is talking down the prospects of a win.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who also hails from Queensland, will be handing out how-to-vote cards for candidate Letitia Del Fabbro.
“It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult,” he told The Conversation.
“Despite the fact that we’ve got a wonderful candidate in Letitia Del Fabbro, I don’t think anybody expects that seat to change hands and that’s because by-elections are good for oppositions rather than for governments.”
Labor pulled off a shock byelection win in the Victorian Liberal seat of Aston in April.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese was less confident his party could pull off a similar victory.
“I don’t expect anything like the Aston by-election result,” he told reporters in Jordan Springs, New South Wales, yesterday.
“That was an extraordinary result, the first time in 100 years that the government have won a seat off the opposition.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has urged voters to “look forward, not back”, pointing to government inaction on the cost of living and crime as key issues.
The Greens, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the Australian Democrats are also contesting the seat, with 13 candidates on the ballot paper.
Robert served as the veterans’ affairs, national disability insurance scheme and government services minister under the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
– AAP
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BHP accused of 'environmental racism' by Brazil dam victims
Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster have written to the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, accusing the mining company BHP of “environmental racism” and urging the UK government to act on unethical practices by British companies.
About 720,000 Brazilians are suing BHP, an Anglo-Australian company that until recently had its headquarters in London, over its role in the 2015 Mariana dam disaster. The company denies liability. It is facing claims for compensation amounting to £36bn in the world’s largest group claim in English legal history.
In November 2015, the Fundão tailings dam, which BHP co-owned with the Brazilian iron ore producer Vale, burst. It unleashed 60m cubic metres of toxic waste, which obliterated land below and polluted everything in its path for more than 600km.
Here’s the full story:
Welcome
Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s news, which will be dominated by the Fadden byelection. I’ll be bringing you some of the main overnight news lines before Stephanie Convery settles into the hot seat for the rest of the day.
Voters go to the polls today in the Fadden byelection in Queensland. The consensus seems to be that this contest in a Liberal seat sparked by the resignation of Stuart Robert won’t see the kind of upset that saw Labor win Aston in outer Melbourne earlier this year. In fact, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was talking down Labor’s chances. But Paul Karp, our chief political correspondent, writes today that it will nevertheless tells us quite a lot – chiefly whether voters are ready to start blaming Labor for the cost of living crisis or whether they’re still happy to stick it to the Coalition.
The subtext to the changing of the guard at the Reserve Bank is the punishing interest rate hikes presided over by the outgoing governor, Philip Lowe, and the resulting cost of living crisis. People are doing it tough all over Australia and our reporters have been out in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to test the mood among people struggling to make ends meet. Food banks have never been busier and, as one hard-hit person tells us, “without them I’d be starving”.
China has no hope of being accepted into a major regional trade pact in the near term, the Australian government has signalled, as members prepare to welcome the UK into the fold today. The assistant trade minister, Tim Ayres, is visiting New Zealand for a meeting with fellow members of the CPTPP with the UK due to be formally accepted as the 12th member as it “tilts” towards the Pacific.
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