What we learned today, Monday 10 August
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for today.
Before we go, let’s take a look at what made the top headlines:
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Peter Malinauskas, the South Australian premier, has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence.
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Prue Car, the NSW deputy premier, has asked the NSW Education Standards Authority to impose a ban on unsupervised take-home assessments during a broad review of AI’s impact on student learning.
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Catherine King, the federal transport minister, met with Air Services Australia to about a “pathway forward” after two aircraft were involved in a near-miss at Sydney airport on Sunday.
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Anthony Albanese has confirmed Labor will agree to amend its gambling legislation, promising action on inducements, as well as the targeting of advertising and how children may be exposed to ads.
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The federal government is trumpeting “big benefits” from its Medicare investments, announcing bulk billing rates across the country are up nearly five percentage points since last year.
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Police said what appeared to be a body found in a suitcase near Goulburn was not human – and was in fact a lifelike doll with markings resembling bruises and grazes.
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Australia’s blind faith in the Aukus submarine deal is “stark staring bonkers”, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told a public inquiry, arguing the asymmetric deal with the US and UK will likely result in no submarines at all for Australia.
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The Department of Defence has confirmed it is aware of reports that multiple drones were operating near RAAF Base Williamtown and Newcastle airport.
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Sad news for music fans: Laneway festival is taking a “break” from Adelaide and Perth.
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The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has defended Anthony Albanese’s comments on a podcast after the former Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami described them as “appalling” and “insulting”.
Thanks for joining us, see you bright and early tomorrow morning!
Updated
News Corp loses paid subscribers
News Corp’s stable of Australian newspapers has suffered a difficult 12 months, with four out of its five main mastheads losing paid subscribers, according to new company accounts.
Total paid subscribers for print and digital fell from 151,335 to 140,808 at the Daily Telegraph and 153,983 to 148,753 at the Herald Sun, according to analysis of annual figures.
Paid subscriber numbers also fell at the Courier Mail and the Advertiser.
The Rupert Murdoch-backed company did record an increase in paid subscribers at The Australian, rising from 335,903 to 341,975.
Last week, News Corp reported a slide across digital subscriptions at its Australian mastheads, erasing momentum gained in recent years.
The news division had been growing digital subscriptions in recent years amid a transition away from its reliance on a traditional newspaper base.
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Andrew Hastie calls for federal parliamentary committee into AI instead of SA’s royal commission
The shadow industry minister, Andrew Hastie, has called for a federal parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence, rather than the South Australian royal commission announced today.
Hastie said he welcomed the SA premier Peter Malinauskas’ decision but believed the issue “sits within the realm of the national parliament”. Hastie said:
I do think artificial intelligence has strategic, moral and economic implications for the Australian people. And it’s really important that we look at this from a national perspective.
I think it should be a tripartisan committee that should examine the issues. Take as long as they need to ask the hard questions, take as many public submissions as possible, and see what comes of that.
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‘Every tradie in Sydney has their wife as the director’: Icac witness questioned over fake invoices
Icac’s Operation Rosny has concluded hearings for today. Questioning of Jeremy Greenwood, who has been named in two of Icac’s allegations, focused on registered lobbying company Beckington, set up by Greenwood and Reformer Christian Ellis.
Beckington is alleged to have issued fake invoices for consulting advice for payments which in fact went to factional Liberal work.
Greenwood was asked about an arrangement under which Reformer Robert Assaf was paid a 10% finders fee for any new clients he brought to Beckington. The inquiry has previously heard that rather than being invoiced under Assaf’s name these were invoiced under Assaf’s wife name as being for education consultancy services.
Asked why Assaf had sought this arrangement, Greenwood said:
I just remember having a conversation and someone used the line, ‘Every tradie in Sydney has their wife as the director.’
Greenwood earlier told the commission that his wife was having contractions during the hearing today. There was no further update on this, and it is not known if it will have any impact on Greenwood’s expected appearance tomorrow.
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‘Effectively double capacity soon’: Minns hopes second airport eases travel demand
New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he is cautiously optimistic about the opening of the state’s second airport, after days of chaos at Sydney airport.
Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Minns said Western Sydney international airport would increase the city’s aviation capacity when it opens to passengers in October.
We’ve got another airport opening soon, Western Sydney international airport, which will massively increase capacity in Sydney. I have to say, we are a little concerned if we are already stretched in our single airport or our major airport, because we are about to effectively double capacity soon.
The disruption has been attributed to air traffic controller staff shortages. Minns said the situation had highlighted the need to recruit and train more controllers at the new airport.
I didn’t realise it was a particular concern until this weekend when so many flights were cancelled and there were revelations about these two aircraft nearly colliding.
Obviously we will need to skill up and recruit a whole bunch of air traffic controllers to increase capacity in Sydney, which is going to be a huge boom for our economy and make life a lot easier for Sydney-based travellers.
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Victorian education minister puts forward revised teachers pay offer
The Victorian education minister, Gabrielle Williams, held a press conference this afternoon after putting a revised pay offer on the table to resolve the ongoing pay dispute with public school teachers.
The new offer builds on the previous offer of a 28.3% pay increase over four years by adding a $2,000 good faith payment for all teachers, enshrining workload management protections in the EBA and expanding a 1% increase for top of the range teachers to also cover education support staff.
She says its an “incredibly attractive offer” and would make the state’s teachers the “best paid” in the nation. Williams went on:
We of course hope that our teachers and education support staff will have a close look at this offer and understand that we come to this in a good place and wanting to genuinely ensure that we respect the incredibly important work they do in setting our children up for career pathways that are fulfilling and that ultimately also bolster our economy and our community. I just want to thank all of those teachers and education support staff for being along with us on this journey as we work together to try and get a fair deal. I know there is still a process to run, and we don’t want to preempt that process. It’s important that as a government we respect the process that now has to take place.
Members will vote on the new offer early next week. They had planned to strike on 19 August.
Updated
No imminent Labor conscience vote on telehealth for voluntary assisted dying
Labor MPs won’t get a conscience vote when the Greens and independent MP Kate Chaney introduce a bill to allow Australians to access voluntary assisted dying through telehealth services.
It’s despite Labor’s national conference in July deciding its members would get a conscience vote on the issue.
One MP used Monday’s meeting of the Labor caucus at Parliament House to ask the health minister, Mark Butler, how MPs would be able to vote on private member’s bills on the issue.
Butler told the caucus that procedural votes – for example, on whether a non-government bill should be progressed and brought forward for a vote – would be a binding party position.
Only when Labor introduces its own bill will the caucus be allowed to vote with their conscience. Butler said that move will not be imminent.
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‘We have waited four years for this’: clashes over Icac witness’s memory of invoice
Returning to the Icac’s Operation Rosny, questioning of Jeremy Greenwood has focused on Catholic Schools NSW, which is under investigation for prohibited donations allegedly arranged and approved by CEO, Dallas McInerney, including through lobbying firm Beckington, set up by Reformer Christian Ellis and Greenwood in 2019.
Asked about proposals and a $16,000 invoice for work sent by Beckington to the schools governing body for work for July 2019, before the lobbying company was formally established, Greenwood repeatedly said he could not recall what work was done.
At one point, Dwyer asked: “Who can brief this commission, given your absence of memory, as to what work was actually done … ?”
Greenwood suggested asking Ellis, or former Catholic Schools NSW communications manager, James Tudehope, who is not named in Icac’s allegations but has declined a request to give evidence after moving to New Zealand this year. Ellis has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence.
After Greenwood said it was “inconvenient” for him that both men were overseas, Dwyer suggested it was “inconvenient for the commission … and inconvenient for the public trying to work out why this money was being committed on a monthly basis”.
Greenwood responds: “We have waited four years for this.”
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‘Fork in the road’: SA royal commission to examine how AI is used in schools and government
Following our previous post on the announcement of a royal commission into AI in South Australia, the premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the inquiry would examine “how the technology is used and deployed in our society”.
The commission will look into how AI is implemented and deployed in workplaces, government services and other sectors. Malinauskas said:
I genuinely believe we are at a really important fork in the road where we can choose to allow this industry to come to our country and evolve in a way that is unregulated and unchecked, and we will be subject to the determinations it makes, rather than the other way around, or we can choose to set the agenda.
The commission will also focus on how young people use AI at school and across all levels of education. Malinauskas said:
Clearly we cannot afford a situation where a child comes out of school not knowing how to use AI. That would render them potentially redundant in a new modern labour market.
But simultaneously we can’t have children leaving school not knowing how to do calculations for themselves without AI and getting the balance right about how AI is used in schools and how it isn’t allowed to be used in schools.
Updated
SA premier announces royal commission into AI
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence (AI).
Malinauskas has just come back from a trip to the US, where he met AI leaders and signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI.
At a press conference on Monday, Malinauskas said the commission would examine the future impacts of AI and place South Australia at the forefront of the global debate about its use. He said the royal commission would start in October, report no later than 1 July 2027, and would look at the impacts, risks and opportunities of AI across education, industry, public health, arts and culture. He said AI’s rapid development could not occur “unchecked”.
The Labor government I lead has a record of stepping up and protecting young people when it comes to social media, and this is no different.
We are looking to embrace the opportunity of AI, but not in a way that leaves us with regrets.
He said the discussion should focus on “how it will be deployed in our society, which is far more consequential than where a datacentre gets built”. He said:
Never before in human history have we contended with a world where there is something that’s smarter than us. Now we have it, and its intelligence is only going to increase at warp speed over the course of the next two years alone. That will change everything, and we need to make sure that what it changes is done on our terms for the interests of people.
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Albanese confirms amendments to gambling laws, including inducements and ads
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed Labor will agree to amend its gambling legislation, promising action on inducements, as well as the targeting of advertising and how children may be exposed to ads.
We’re still chasing the particular details of what the government is onboard with, after a meeting between Albanese and Angus Taylor which the Liberals described as “very positive”.
Albanese told his caucus that “further work and amendments” would be coming on gambling inducements, including “making sure that those issues are dealt with in a constructive way, making sure that we get the balance right between people who want to go along and have a punt on a Saturday at the races, but also that problem gambling is actually dealt with.”
Albanese didn’t provide specifics, but he said the legislation would be amended in the House of Representatives this week to include “some really practical amendments dealing with the targeting of advertising, dealing with reducing children’s exposure”.
More to come soon.
Updated
That’s all from me! Achol Arok will take things from here, and I’ll see you in a couple days when parliament takes a breather. Take care.
Icac witness says his wife is having contractions
Returning to the NSW Icac’s Operation Rosny, the commission has resumed hearings a little late after the lunch break today.
The timing of breaks was an issue at an earlier hearing, with Reformers witness Robert Assaf, drawing the ire of presiding commissioner, Fabian Gleeson SC, after describing being “hangry” and asking for an early lunch break.
But today is more momentous. After Gleeson apologises for the late start to Jeremy Greenwood, who has been named in two of the allegations being investigated by the corruption watchdog, he proposes that today’s hearings finish a little later. Greenwood says he does not object, but adds that his wife is having contractions.
Gleeson says “If things change, you get your solicitor to let me know” and Greenwood thanks him. Counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, resumes her questioning.
Updated
Australian teenager claims high jumping world U20 title
Australia’s golden age of women’s high jump is well set to continue for another decade, after teenager Izobelle Louison-Roe won gold at the world under-20s championships in the United States.
Louison-Roe, 19, improved on the silver medal she won at the world juniors in Peru two years to claim gold in Eugene, exclaiming afterwards she was “absolutely over the moon” and it was “one of the best moments of my life”. She cleared 1.92m on her first attempt to beat Hungary’s Lilianna Bátori by 2cm.
“It was incredible, I heard the crowd cheer and I looked over at my mum and then I realised, like, it actually happened, I’ve just won,” she said. “I was crying so much that I couldn’t keep it together but it was amazing.”
Read more:
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Transport minister ‘confident’ after meeting with Airservices Australia following near miss in Sydney
Catherine King, the federal transport minister, said she is “confident” that Airservices Australia is doing “everything that they can to get on top of this” after a near miss at Sydney airport on Sunday.
She said that included better rostering, saying there was unplanned leave due to illness in Sydney over the weekend.
King just spoke to reporters, adding:
I’m confident on speaking to Airservices Australia that they doing everything that they can to get on top of this.
I do want to give a shout out to the air traffic controllers, who are dealing with a really stressful and difficult job. They did a very good job over the weekend to try to manage the disruptions as best they could.
We want to make sure that they’ve got as much support as possible to do that really complex job and that meeting today with Airservices Australia was an important step for me, assuring myself that what they are doing is the right thing by both the air traffic controllers but also the travelling public.
King said two workers were stood down temporarily after the incident, part of protocols for mandatory alcohol and drug testing. But it was only for a “short period of time”.
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‘Run your name down as a failed lawyer’: Icac hears of alleged strategy following Reformers leak
The NSW Icac’s Operation Rosny has been hearing evidence today from Jeremy Greenwood, who is named in two of the watchdog’s allegations of corruption in the NSW Liberal party.
This morning, counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, has been asking him about his involvement in conservative factional group the Reformers, who are accused of taking on illegal political donations, but he has downplayed his involvement in the group.
He has been read one message sent by him to members of the group in 2019, following a leak which led to the Reformers being covered in The Sydney Morning Herald.
In the message, Greenwood wrote that a branch member they believed was close to the leak should be told the following:
These guys have had articles written about them. They have it on pretty good authority that it came from your circle of friends. This has much more serious ramifications than your silly Young Liberals game-playing. I wanted to back you as an MP, but now you’ve fucked up, and this is your moment of redemption. I want you to tell me everything you know. Otherwise, I’m going to sack you. I’m going to run your name down as a failed lawyer all around town, and I’ll make sure you never get a staffing job again.
Asked about the message today, Greenwood says:
It doesn’t doesn’t look like that’s my strategy. It looks like I’m relaying something I was told.
Victoria government puts revised offer to teachers’ union
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, had said one of his priorities as the state’s new leader was to resolve the ongoing pay dispute with public school teachers. That now appears closer to happening, with the union confirming a revised offer has been put to teachers.
The Australian Education Union this afternoon said the offer builds on the previous offer of at least 28.3% over four years by adding:
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A $2,000 lump sum payment at the commencement of the agreement
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A 1% annual lump sum payment for classroom teachers, leading teachers, learning specialists, assistant principals, and education support employees at the top pay sub-division in each classification range
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A maximum face to face teaching hours secured in the agreement not in a separate deed
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A maintenance of the reduction in one hour of meetings
It also follows Carroll’s comments in an ABC interview on Sunday where he committed to boosting school funding to meet federal Gonski standards earlier than planned. Delaying the deal is estimated to have short-changed Victorian schools by $2.4bn over three years and has become a key sticking point during the teachers’ dispute.
AEU Victorian branch president, Justin Mullaly, said:
Victoria needs full funding for public schools and pay and conditions that reflect the value of the important work public school staff do for Victorian families and communities.
The revised offer will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of the union’s Joint Primary and Secondary Sector Council late this afternoon.
Teachers had been planning another strike for 19 August prior to receiving this offer.
Updated
Albanese and Taylor meet on gambling bill, with inducements change expected
Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor are meeting today to discuss passing Labor’s gambling bill through parliament, with the opposition leader calling for action on “predatory inducements” to be added to the government’s proposal.
Even the gambling industry is now resigned to some paring back of inducements, but wagering sources are warning MPs that restricting inducements could send gamblers to offshore operators.
The bill currently doesn’t have any parliamentary support outside Labor – and even some government MPs have reservations that it doesn’t go far enough. Albanese, freshly back from a week’s leave, has joined negotiations in hopes of getting the bill over the line.
Labor sources said the government was willing to deal with either the Coalition or Greens on the bill. But the Greens want even further-reaching changes, meaning the more likely pathway to passing the bill is with Taylor.
Government sources said they were open to acting on inducements, but were waiting on the Coalition to come forward with specifics, which haven’t yet been aired publicly. While a full ban on gambling ads is still off the table, it’s understood that the major parties are discussing the ad settings which apply to broadcast TV versus streaming services – with different rules in the government’s proposal potentially allowing more gambling ads on services like Stan, Kayo or Netflix.
Wagering sources said they expected there would be changes to inducements, but said they would not support changing the ad rules.
There is not unanimous support for more action in the Coalition though, with support for ordinary Australians to have freedom to wager, and Taylor was cautious in what he said this morning.
“We want to see a balance in this. We want to get it right, we want to make sure that predatory inducements are not there, that they are being dealt with appropriately and we’re getting the balance right on this, and we’ll work closely with the Government to do that,” he said.
Predatory inducements are a focus for us in making sure we get that balance right… We want to get the right outcome for younger, vulnerable Australians. We want to get the right outcomes for those who have gambling addictions and are trying to deal with them.
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NSW police confirm item in suitcase a ‘life like doll’ with ‘hair and a nose piercing’
NSW police just released more information about the item found in a suitcase in Oallen, near Goulburn, they initially feared was a human body.
Initial investigations were undertaken by forensic officers at the scene, they said.
The item was retained in the bag and sent for forensic examination at the forensic medicine laboratory.
The object, they said, was actually a “life like doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing”, adding it had markings “that resembled bruises and grazes”.
Investigations into the matter have now concluded.
Updated
Sydney airport chaos ‘unacceptable’, transport minister says
Catherine King, the transport minister, says new rostering practices will be in place at Sydney airport from next month, describing operational problems and delays for passengers in recent days as unacceptable.
King called in Airservices Australia boss Rob Sharp on Monday, after a near miss between a Qatar plane and a Jetstar plane on the runway on Sunday and rounds of delays for passengers trying to fly out of Australia’s biggest airport.
“The delays and disruptions we have seen at Sydney airport over the last three days have been unacceptable and have caused significant disruption to passengers, staff and airlines,” King said after her meeting at Parliament House.
Airservices have committed to implementing improved rostering practices for Sydney’s air traffic controllers that will be implemented from early September.
She said the situation would be “carefully” managed for the rest of August. A new Sydney Tower simulator has also been installed to increase training capacity and enable more air traffic controllers to be trained.
King and Sharp also discussed the work of air traffic controllers.
This is a highly technical role, with a high level of responsibility. They do important work to keep the travelling public moving safely and efficiently, and I thank them for their dedication and professionalism.
It has been a big focus of ours to encourage more people to enter the profession, and 95 people are expected to be endorsed as air traffic controllers by the end of the year. Six controllers are currently training in Sydney Tower, with another 15 expected to commence before the end of 2027.
Updated
Taylor demands PM apologise over Japanese melon comments
Anthony Albanese’s infamous interview with the Bush Deep podcast – of “shag marry date” gate – is again making headlines, after The Australian newspaper ran a comment piece from the former Japanese ambassador to Australia who claimed the prime minister insulted Sanae Takaichi with a comment about “melons”.
Opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has demanded Albanese apologise, while Jane Hume claimed the PM’s comments were “grubby”.
“The comments were beneath the office of the prime minister. They were insulting and the prime minister should make a personal apology … the hypocrisy of Labor and the prime minister on this topic knows no bounds,” Taylor said today.
This goes back to comments from the podcast, which didn’t get as much air as the Kylie Minogue issue, where Albanese said Takaichi had given him a gift of Japanese melons, and appeared to make hand gestures in front of his chest.
“She brought two, as you do,” Albanese said, as host Nikki Osborne joked: “She came in looking like Pamela Anderson.”
Shiro Armstrong, director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University, told Radio National last week there had been “no mention of [Albanese’s comments] in Japan until weeks later”, calling it a “non-issue” in the country.
In an op-ed today titled “Sexist melon joke was not only ungracious, it betrayed the close bond of our two nations”, former Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami – who left his post in 2023 and has previously had a less-than-warm relationship with some in Labor – called out “crude jokes”.
In a comment, the PM’s office said: “This assertion is wrong.” It came after Albanese apologised “unequivocally” for his comments for the “shag, marry, date” game.
But the Coalition has picked up Yamagami’s comments to criticise the PM.
Hume claimed Albanese’s comments “have been roundly condemned and they were grubby, they were inappropriate, and if you offend a woman, you should apologise to that woman.”
You should apologise personally, not in a statement, and I think the prime minister owes the prime minister of Japan a personal apology.
Updated
What’s the status of bin collection in Victoria?
Thirty-three Victorian councils currently collect general waste every fortnight, with most concentrated in the regions. Those in Melbourne are Banyule, Bayside, Boroondara, Glen Eira, Knox, Manningham, Monash, Nillumbik and the Yarra Ranges.
The main reason Bayside, Boroondara, Knox, Monash and Yarra Ranges councils gave for the transition was the introduction of the weekly food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin collection. They have said the shift encourages residents to place food in the green bin, which is better for the environment as it’s then converted into compost rather than rotting in landfills and releasing methane.
The Liberals’ policy is noticeably similar to that of One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen for the Secret Harbour byelection in Western Australia later this month, which has been dubbed the “great bin debate”.
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Victorian Liberals promise weekly bin collection
They say all politics is local – and few issues are more local than what happens to your rubbish bin. The Victorian Liberals have announced that, if elected in November, they would require councils to collect general rubbish every week.
More than 30 councils across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria have cut back their general rubbish collection to fortnightly. Some councils blame this on the government’s landfill levy, which has increased dramatically in recent years, while others say it is part of their transition to the four-bin system, which will become mandatory in 2027.
The Liberals, however, say it’s “another example of how Victorians are paying more, but getting less”.
Opposition leader, Jess Wilson, says:
Under a government I lead, your red bin will be collected every single week. This is a commonsense change that makes life easier for families.
Households shouldn’t have to wait a fortnight for their overflowing bin to be collected. Weekly rubbish collection is an essential service that shouldn’t depend on your postcode.
She announced that if elected, a Liberal and Nationals government would also review the landfill levy rate and apply the rates cap – currently set to 2.75% – to council waste charges.
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Tanya Plibersek defends PM’s comments during podcast appearance
The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has defended Anthony Albanese’s comments on a podcast after the former Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami described them as “appalling” and “insulting”.
The comments were made during Albanese’s appearance on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast. The prime minister had previously faced criticism for taking part in a “shag, marry, date” game on the podcast, in which he nominated Kylie Minogue for all three categories.
During another section of the episode, Albanese said Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, had brought with her “a couple of melons”, referring to a gift that the PM brought from Japan.
Yamagami criticised the remarks in comments to The Australian.
Asked whether she agreed the comments were disrespectful while speaking on Sunrise, Plibersek said:
No, I completely disagree with that interpretation of what the prime minister was saying.
I completely disagree that he was in any way making the suggestion that you’re proposing or that the former ambassador is proposing now.
Updated
Drones breach restricted airspace above RAAF base near Newcastle
The Department of Defence has confirmed it is aware of reports that multiple drones were operating near RAAF Base Williamtown and Newcastle airport.
The unidentified drones were reportedly flown in restricted airspace above the Williamtown base between 11 and 13 July, with personnel instructed to close blinds to protect sensitive information.
In a statement, a defence spokesperson said:
Defence employs robust, layered security measures to protect its personnel, establishments and capability.
For operational security reasons, Defence does not comment on specific arrangements or measures in place at its establishments.
Updated
The Odyssey becomes Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing film
The Odyssey has become the highest grossing film of Christopher Nolan’s career, having made more than US$1bn at the global box office less than a month after its release.
The blockbuster, which was released on 17 July, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic and follows Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his perilous 10-year journey home after the Trojan war.
Jim Orr, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Universal Pictures, said:
Christopher Nolan has earned audiences’ trust by consistently delivering must-see theatrical events, and The Odyssey is him operating at the peak of his powers.
Read more:
Laneway festival to skip Adelaide and Perth next year
Sad news for music fans: Laneway festival is taking a “break” from Adelaide and Perth.
The festival wrote on Instagram this morning that while the festival had spent two decades touring around Australia and New Zealand, logistics had always been difficult.
Running so many shows, so close together, across so much ground is a logistical feat we are proud of, but it also asks a lot of our lineup and crew.
Taking a pause allows us to focus on making the festival the best it can be, while freeing up time for more artists to bring headline shows to cities beyond our festival stops.
Laneway said the festival “loves” the two cities, and is “incredibly grateful to every single person who has shown up for us over the years”.
This isn’t goodbye, just see you soon.
Updated
Australia has a unique love affair with house auctions. Is it starting to come to an end?
It’s almost a national pastime. Every weekend on streets and in cul-de-sacs, there’s an agent enacting a familiar ritual.
“I have $900,000, can I get $910,000? Nine ten, now twenty. Twenty, can I say thirty? Give me thirty, thirty …” the (mostly) men in blue suits cry, traditionally amid a throng of people about to make one of the most important decisions in their lives.
Experts have long warned that Australia’s penchant for auctions – we are among the few countries that regularly use them – has helped push prices up.
But now the agents’ imploring cries are getting shorter, and the gathered crowds are shrinking.
Read more here:
Turnbull says Aukus has diminished Australian sovereignty
Turnbull went on:
The prospect of the US doubling its rate of Virginia production in the next six years is highly unlikely. So there is a very real risk Australia gets no Virginias at all.
This risk is acknowledged everywhere but in Canberra. There is apparently a view that if anyone were to openly contemplate a Plan B (what to do if no submarines arrive) this might discourage the Americans from selling us any.
Emphasising he remained a supporter of Australia’s security alliance with the US, Turnbull argued Aukus had diminished Australian sovereignty.
We have effectively ceded control of a Western Australian naval base to the US Navy. Whether we get any nuclear powered submarines will depend on political decisions in Washington and industrial developments in the US and the UK.
It is naive to imagine that the submarines, if ever acquired, could be used other than in accordance with American wishes.
Will Aukus enhance our security or will it simply draw Australia into a conflict with China whether we like it or not?
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Australian faith in Aukus ‘stark staring bonkers’: Turnbull
Australia’s blind faith in the Aukus submarine deal is “stark staring bonkers,” the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has told a public inquiry, arguing the asymmetric deal with the US and UK will likely result in no submarines at all for Australia:
There is a cargo-cult mentality in Canberra about these Virginia-class submarines where people clearly feel that if they acknowledge that there is a real risk that they won’t arrive, that will prevent them arriving: so you have to keep on believing.
Turnbull – the prime minister whose deal to buy submarines from the French group Naval was torn up by Scott Morrison in favour of Aukus – has long argued the Aukus agreement has always been irretrievably lopsided in the US’s favour.
Giving evidence to a public inquiry into Aukus in Sydney, Turnbull focused on the three second-hand Virginia Class submarines the US is proposing to sell to Australia from 2031 (the first tranche of Aukus’ Pillar One).
Turnbull said the US’s capacity for building submarines has remained stubbornly laggard and that its navy would not have enough boats to sell to Australia.
The US is prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would “degrade” its own fleet. It currently needs to nearly double its submarine production rate, from 1.2 to 2.3 a year.
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Police investigating suitcase ‘remains’ do not believe a crime has been committed ‘at this stage’
Bradbury wouldn’t provide details about what was inside the suitcase, aside from describing them as “the remains or the object”, saying she only received the information that they were not human about 15 minutes before the press conference.
We’ll still continue our inquiries to see how this came about, of course, and see what we can find out from the remains or the object there. And we’ll continue and probably update then.
She said she had “no regrets” in police officers’ actions, saying they undertook the necessary processes to maintain the integrity of a reported crime scene.
We don’t necessarily like to disturb any crime scenes because that’s our link to make sure that offenders are brought before the court.
So we followed our processes to that T to a high level, and I think that it is no regrets at all. I couldn’t be actually more proud of them, of my team, than I am.
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Remains found in suitcase not human, police say
Police say the remains found in a suitcase near Goulburn are not human.
Supt Linda Bradbury with NSW police said:
Some good news here that we don’t have a suspicious death of a human on our hands. … We are still undertaking more forensic work to identify what they are. But we can identify that they’re not human.
She said the idea is to not disturb crime scenes when they are discovered, which is why it took some time to determine the remains were not human. Bradbury did describe them as “very realistic in the terms of looking like human remains”.
But we’ve confirmed by other means that they are not.
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Mortgage applications fall 20% at Westpac since budget
Westpac has delivered a $1.8bn quarterly net profit even after mortgage applications fell due to a combination of higher interest rates and Labor’s property tax changes.
The bank said in an update this morning that mortgage applications were down 20% between mid-May and the end of July, representing the immediate period after Labor announced changes to negative gearing and the treatment of capital gains.
The tax changes have largely dented demand from investors, to the benefit of owner-occupiers.
Mortgage applications were already falling ahead of the May budget due to the Reserve Bank’s string of interest rate hikes, designed to subdue inflation.
Anthony Miller, Westpac’s chief executive, said ongoing housing undersupply would support prices.
The undersupply of housing combined with population growth is expected to partially offset the impact of higher interest rates and recent federal government policy changes on the housing market.
Overall, the bank recorded a 2% lift in lending during the June quarter, helping it increase its net profit result.
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NSW premier says government is examining minimum age of 12 for ebikes
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the government is examining introducing a minimum age of 12 to ride ebikes in the state, the strongest indication yet of where the government will land following an independent expert review.
Minns appeared this morning to cut a gold ribbon on the debut of Kyle Sandilands Live, the new digital radio show hosted by the former Kiis FM host after the cancellation of the Kyle and Jackie O Show in March.
The premier told Sandilands “I was worried for you” following the show’s cancellation, while the pair joked about running into each other recently at an ice-cream shop in the Blue Mountains. Sandilands said:
I thought you were a meth head because you had had the beanie on, you were you all rugged up.
But the conversation did turn towards policy, after Sandilands said he had bought his 11-year-old godson an ebike. The premier said the government is “examining an … age limit of 12” for ebikes.
“We haven’t finalised the details yet,” he said.
After a surge in injuries and an incident in which 40 or so e-bikes swarmed the Sydney Harbour Bridge in February, an expert review was asked to recommend an age limit of between 12 and 16, and was due to report back to the government in June.
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Safety bureau chief says near-miss at Sydney airport ‘unacceptable’
Angus Mitchell, the chief commissioner at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), told ABC Radio Sydney this morning the near-miss at Sydney airport was “a serious incident” that warranted investigation.
Mitchell said while the two aircraft were moving at very low speeds, “separation of aircraft, whether it be in the air or on the ground is of vital importance, and there are systems in place to ensure that they are always separated”.
“So what happened yesterday morning … it is unacceptable,” Mitchell said.
So planes should not be getting that close and we should never have to rely on, as has happened in both these instances, pilots at the last minute, making an emergency decision to prevent them coming together.
ATSB, Mitchell said, is gathering information about what happened surrounding the incident. He added that could include looking at the complexity of a new airport opening in western Sydney and new airspace design in that area.
We have a lot of controllers that have come in very recently that are gaining their qualifications. So, look, I certainly don’t want to say that that’s what sits behind these two incidents because we don’t have all the facts.
But we do know that that is a system that has had some significant challenges, as have airlines as well.
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NSW begins roll out of smart rental bonds, allowing transfer of bond from one rental to the next
The NSW government is rolling out a new scheme of smart rental bonds, which will allow some renters to transfer their bonds from one rental to the next when they move house.
The scheme will end the need to save up thousands of dollars for a new bond before the old one is returned, and will begin with a phased rollout for renters in Parramatta, the Central Coast or Penrith local government areas.
The scheme will ultimately be rolled out across the state by the end of the year.
Renters will be notified when a new landlord or agent lodges a bond request online. They can then choose to pay their new bond upfront or use a smart rental bond to move it to the new rental for a $25 fee.
Any difference in bond is either paid by the renter, or refunded if it is cheaper and there is no agreed claim on the bond. If the landlord at an original property makes a claim, the NSW government will pay the landlord directly and the renter will then pay the government.
The premier, Chris Minns, said in a statement:
Over two million people in New South Wales are renters – one of the highest proportions of the population ever living in rental accommodation.
For a lot of renters, moving home can mean finding another $3,000 or $4,000 before you’ve even had your old bond returned. That’s a huge financial hurdle for families already doing it tough.
Smart Rental Bonds removes that barrier by letting renters transfer their bond instead of paying for two at once.
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Butler confident about ‘constructive discussions’ on gambling during upcoming session of parliament
Mark Butler said evidence given before a parliamentary inquiry on gambling was shocking and the government remains set on getting legislation through parliament when it returns this week.
Butler spoke to RN Breakfast, saying the legislation proposed by the government is ambitious, but he understands concerns from the Greens and Coalition, which have both warned it does not go far enough. Labor said this weekend it was open to “sensible amendments”.
Butler added this morning:
I’m confident again over the course of this sitting fortnight there will be constructive discussions between the government and the opposition about that. Obviously, they need to tell us what it is that they want us to consider, but once they do that, I’m sure we’ll give that good consideration.
We are convinced we need to get this legislation through. I mean, it involves a very serious set of major reforms put in place by this government or proposed by this government, the likes of which the federal parliament has never seen before. We’re determined to get these reforms through.
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Health minister says bulk billing rate has increased to 84%
The federal government is trumpeting “big benefits” from its Medicare investments, announcing bulk billing rates across the country are up nearly five percentage points since last year.
The health minister, Mark Butler, said the national bulk billing rate for the June quarter had increased to 84.1%, announcing increases in every state and territory.
Bulk billing was up 5.7% in Victoria (to 85.7%), up 6% in South Australia (82.5%), up 4.1% in NSW (87.5%) and up 13% in the Northern Territory to 90.8%.
Other states saw smaller increases, with the ACT coming in last, with bulk billing still lagging at 59.3% – by far the lowest rate nationally.
Butler said the Labor government’s Medicare investments had helped raise that rate.
“Across the country more and more GP practices are becoming fully bulk billing clinics meaning all patients need is their Medicare card, not their credit card,” he said.
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Federal transport minister ‘not happy’ after near-miss between two planes at Sydney airport
Catherine King, the federal transport minister, has asked Air Services Australia to speak with her today about a “pathway forward” after two aircraft were involved in a near-miss at Sydney airport on Sunday.
The two planes, owned by Jetstar and Qatar Airways, almost collided at Sydney airport, the nation’s busiest, on Sunday morning. A Jetstar spokesperson said its plane was following instructions from air traffic control when the pilots were forced to break “firmly” when another aircraft came within “close proximity”.
Inquiries suggest a tug vehicle pulling the Qatar jet may not have followed instructions.
The incident came after delays to more than 150 flights passing through Sydney on Saturday as the airport struggled with staffing shortages.
Airservices Australia, which oversees air traffic control, was managing reduced air traffic movements and had been unable to roster enough staff for three consecutive days, the Airlines for Australia and New Zealand chief executive, Stephen Beckett, told the ABC this weekend.
King told 7 News yesterday:
We’re not happy. No one wants to see passengers disrupted in the way they have been.
That meeting is expected to happen in Canberra today, the ABC reports.
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NSW deputy premier asks for moratorium on take-home assessments for students amid AI review
Prue Car, the NSW deputy premier, has asked the NSW Education Standards Authority (Nesa) to impose a ban on unsupervised take-home assessments during a broad review of AI’s impact on student learning.
Car said she has asked Nesa to “urgently” examine artificial intelligence and move to protect student learning amid growing evidence the technology is affecting student’s cognitive development. Half of students’ HSC result is based on school-based assessments, some of which is finished outside the classroom.
She said in a statement:
Artificial intelligence has enormous potential to support teaching and learning, but it should never replace the thinking, creativity, and hard work that education is designed to develop.
The purpose of schooling extends beyond producing an assessment task. It is to build knowledge, judgment, resilience, and critical thinking over time. If students rely on AI to bypass that learning process, we risk undermining both their education and the integrity of the HSC.
Subject to Nesa’s advice, any interim changes would be applied from the beginning of term 4.
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Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Here’s what’s on deck:
Catherine King, the federal minister for transport, said she has asked Air Services Australia to come and talk to her today about a “pathway forward” after two aircraft were involved in a near-miss at Sydney airport on Sunday.
And the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former foreign minister Bob Carr will speak before a public inquiry into the Aukus submarine deal today. Stick with us.
