Thank you and goodbye
And that’s a wrap. Thank you for joining us for another Sunday.
We’re closing the blog for now, but will be back first thing Monday morning.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Updated
New RBA governor takes over
Australia’s central bank will get a new leader this week as Michele Bullock steps into the Reserve Bank’s top job.
The first woman to head the RBA will take the reins from outgoing governor Dr Philip Lowe as his seven-year tenure wraps up.
The RBA has fired off 12 interest rate hikes and price growth has started to decelerate, though finishing the job while keeping the economic wheels turning will be Bullock’s most pressing task.
RMIT associate professor of economics, Ashton de Silva, said Bullock was taking on the role at a time when the RBA’s job was only getting harder.
It’s actually having to oversee what is something that’s becoming more and more complex, not just by region but also by cohort.
The difference between “who’s doing it tough and who might not be doing it as tough” was becoming more pronounced.
He also said he did not think Australians should expect a dramatic change in how the central bank manages interest rates to bring down high inflation.
It’s not just up to the governor to make interest rate decisions but the whole board, and Bullock has been in each meeting since interest rates started going up as deputy governor.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Bullock brought exceptional experience and leadership to the role.
We have a particularly busy period ahead as we work to implement the recommendations of the RBA review and agree to a new statement on the conduct of monetary policy by year’s end.
Bullock’s first week on the job will include the release of the minutes from the September cash rate meeting on Tuesday.
The RBA board kept interest rates steady at 4.1 per cent for the third time in a row when they met at the start of the month.
- AAP
Police estimate Melbourne yes rally attendance at 30,000
Victoria police believe 30,000 people have turned out for the walk for yes rally in Melbourne, though there is some disagreement from organisers, who say the figure is double that at 60,000.
Victoria Police believes 30,000 attended the walk for yes rally in Melbourne. Organisers had it at around 60,000. Not easy to count these things… no doubt Swanston Street was packed. pic.twitter.com/0b5EGToRU4
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) September 17, 2023
Updated
Auction activity has risen slightly this weekend with 2,334 auctions held.
This is higher than the 2,275 auctions held last week and above the 2,203 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 70.1% across the combined capitals, which is lower the 71.7% preliminary clearance rate recorded last weekend but higher than the 65.8% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 748 auctions with a clearance rate of 72.8%
Melbourne: 789 auctions with a clearance rate of 69.6%
Brisbane: 133 auctions with a clearance rate of 64.7%
Adelaide: 68 auctions with a clearance rate of 83.8%
Canberra: 79 auctions with a clearance rate of 50.6%
Tasmania: No auctions held.
Perth: Four of 13 auctions have been held.
Updated
NSW fire service holding events on preparing for bushfire season
After two years of wet weather and flooding, vegetation has regrown across New South Wales, raising the risk factor ahead of the 2023 fire season.
NSW Regional Fire Service volunteers are out in force across the state to raise awareness about the potential risks and help people get ready in time.
The locations of 500 gatherings across the state can be found on the RFS website.
It's #GetReadyWeekend! More than 550 #RFS Brigades across NSW are ready to have a chat and give you advice on how you can prepare your property for this bush fire season. Have a chat with our volunteers about your bush fire survival plan. Find events at https://t.co/PLmb7WbtaI pic.twitter.com/KKqqFOe4d4
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) September 17, 2023
Memories of the devastating black summer bushfires are still fresh in the minds of many regional communities – for more, read this feature story by Guardian Australia’s Catie McLeod.
Updated
Thousands to become Australian citizens at ceremonies nationwide
More than 5,000 people will become Australian citizens at more than 50 ceremonies nationwide.
The minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs, Andrew Giles MP, will attend a citizenship ceremony to mark Citizenship Day in Melbourne’s south-east, alongside the member for Aston, Mary Doyle. They will meet some of the 63 New Zealanders who will become citizens today.
Since Australian citizenship was introduced almost 75 years ago, we have welcomed more than 5.9 million new citizens from over 200 countries to our shores, working together to build a strong, united and prosperous Australia.
As we approach a major milestone, we look forward to discovering some of these amazing stories and sharing them with all of Australia in 2024.
New citizens who have come from more than 140 nations will participate in ceremonies across Australia throughout the week following Citizenship Day.
More than 25,000 New Zealanders have now applied to become citizens under the Albanese Labor government’s new direct pathway.
Updated
Interview with a murderer
Murderers might plunge into a state of high anxiety immediately after killing someone.
They might be overwhelmed and flooded by swirling, irrational thoughts, or they might detach and become emotionally numb.
But how soon do they recover? What drives them to switch to relatively rational decision making about where and how they hide a body? And how do they get it to a chosen location?
Those are the questions criminologist Nathan Ryan wants to answer.
There’s a lot we don’t know about their emotional state in that moment.
[Concealing remains] can be a gruesome process, but we’d like to know whether they’re rational or if they act out of panic.
The Australian Catholic University researcher and lecturer has been awarded a $350,000 National Intelligence Postdoctoral Research Grant to spend two years delving into what goes through murderers’ minds when they hide bodies.
Over the course of the project he intends to interview as many convicted murderers in Australia as possible – ideally, 30 – in a bid to create psychological or personality profiles along with associated patterns of decision making.
If the project goes to plan, police will be able to apply those personality profiles to killers and determine whether they are more inclined to have acted rationally or irrationally after their crime.
Ryan hopes his research will ultimately help police narrow down their searches for murder victims’ bodies.
The project will also look at murderers’ knowledge of disposal sites, previous connections with those locations, knowledge of police procedures and the time taken to dump a body.
- AAP
Updated
Those gathered in Brisbane for the pro-Voice rallies have an interesting selection of signs.
Among them are those saying:
“If you don’t know, find out.”
“Maintain the love.”
“Stop the Trumps, vote yes.”
Some of the signs at today’s pro-voice rally in Brisbane;
— Eden Gillespie (@edengillespie) September 17, 2023
“If you don’t know, find out.”
“Maintain the love.”
“Stop the Trumps, vote yes.”
Updated
NSW finds $3.6bn to fund public sector pay
Increases to frontline worker wages in NSW will be made possible by a $3.6bn fund as the Minns government reveals how it will pay for its signature policy of removing the public sector wage cap.
The four-year funding commitment will support long-term pay growth for workers such as nurses, paramedics, health workers, police, firefighters, prison officers, teachers and child protection workers, treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, says.
Hard-working public servants keep our hospitals, schools, parks and services running.
The people that keep our state going deserve real wages growth.
The Essential Services Fund will give them certainty and help bolster their ranks to ensure essential services workers are supported to deliver the best outcome for the people of NSW.
The cash injection is aimed at retaining and recruiting new staff in areas of the public sector experiencing staff shortages.
Removing the Coalition’s 2.5% public sector wages cap was a central policy Labor took to the state election in March.
The government has since agreed to a 4% pay increase for more than 400,000 public sector employees, including nurses, educators and prison officers, as well as a 0.5% bump to superannuation.
The extra $3.6bn allocation is a result of spending reprioritisation, with the government unwilling to further add to a budget deficit forecast to blow out to $12bn for 2022/23.
While the fund promises to cover wage increases over four years, pay deals for teachers and nurses have only been locked in for one year, meaning uncertainty remains about future costs.
The government has also announced a two-year salary freeze for senior executives and parliamentarians which will save around $250m over four years.
-AAP
Updated
Peter Garrett urges crowd to campaign to undecided friends and family
Midnight Oil frontman and former Labor environment minister, Peter Garrett, has told the crowd at Federation Square to campaign directly to their friends and family who may be undecided about the referendum vote and urge them to vote yes.
Peter Garrett: “Countries only get to make decisions like this once in a lifetime… I think all of us know that this cannot be wasted. It must be understood as one of the most important things that we, as a fair nation, can ever do.” pic.twitter.com/tSNQ1Bgsuz
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) September 17, 2023
Here’s what Garrett told the crowd between songs:
Countries only get to make decisions like this once in a lifetime. And it’s your decision. I think all of us know that this cannot be wasted. It must be understood as one of the most important things that we, as a fair nation, can ever do.
Updated
Australian wheelchair racing superstar Madison de Rozario has powered to victory in her debut outing at the Sydney marathon.
The multiple Paralympic and Commonwealth champion dominated her race on an unseasonably hot day in Sydney, crossing the line in 1:59:41.
Japan’s Tsubasa Kina was a distant second in 2:11:41.
For more on this story, read the full report here:
Updated
'A beloved figure': St Kilda great Kevin 'Cowboy' Neale dies aged 78
St Kilda champion Kevin “Cowboy” Neale has died aged 78 after a lengthy health battle.
A hero from the Saints’ 1966 VFL premiership, Neale ranks 11th on the club’s all-time games list after a 256-match career, which was at the time a St Kilda record.
Hailed by his former club as a “larger-than-life character”, Neale returned to St Kilda after his retirement and worked in its marketing department and was president of the Past Players Association.
A club statement released on Sunday morning read:
Cowboy was truly a beloved figure at the Saints, not only among his teammates and fans, but by those who worked alongside him at the club long after his playing days.
Renowned for his great physical strength as a footballer, he was also blessed with exceptional skills for a big man which enabled him to play as either a key defender or forward.
Truly a larger-than-life character in every way, Cowboy was always able to engage with people across various generations.
His health struggles in recent times were well-publicised, and his teammates regularly visited him in Albury as a group … his wife, Georgina, was always a constant pillar of strength and the club extends its deepest sympathies.
Named in a back pocket in St Kilda’s team of the century, Neale will always hold a special place in the hearts of Saints’ fans, having booted five goals in their only grand final win to lead the side to a one-point victory against Collingwood.
Originally recruited from South Warrnambool, Neale headed to Canberra after his VFL career and helped Ainslie secure four premierships as captain-coach.
He also led the ACT to a famous win against a Victorian side in a pre-cursor to State of Origin football, before trekking over to the SANFL and was involved with Central District in the 1980s.
Neale’s death comes as Australia’s biggest football code mourns the loss of Ron Barassi, an icon of the game who, like his St Kilda contemporary, became a household name in the 1960s.
- AAP
Updated
The entire crowd at the Sydney Walk For Yes has just sung happy birthday to the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns.
at the Sydney #walkforyes and the entire crowd just sang Happy Birthday to Chris Minns as he took the stage
— steph harmon (@stephharmon) September 17, 2023
Updated
No campaign 'has no solutions', Mark Dreyfus tells Melbourne crowd
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has declared that the no campaign “has no solutions” as he joined thousands of voice supporters in Melbourne today.
Dreyfus told reporters it was “a hugely important rally” that backed the Uluru statement from the heart’s invitation “to walk together to a better future”.
Asked about the uphill battle to turn around the opinion polls, Dreyfus pointed to no campaigner Warren Mundine’s comments earlier today.
Dreyfus said:
It’s still four weeks to this referendum and we are going to show that Australians support yes when we get to the counting of the vote on 14 October.
We had the no campaign on full display today, with Warren Mundine on Insiders showing that the no campaign has no solutions. The no campaign has no answers.
The no campaign talks about wanting to get practical improvement. The no campaign should be voting yes if they want practical improvement in the lives of Aboriginal people because that’s what this referendum is about. It’s about getting practical outcomes.
Updated
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, is continuing to address a huge crowd at Federation Square in Melbourne. People are still finding a spot in the packed square to listen to this speech.
Here’s a section of what Burney said:
Each and every one of you can help answer the call from generations of Indigenous people, seeking to be recognised and seeking to be heard.
For 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been speaking 363 languages, but no voice.
In 27 days, you have the power to do something about it. You have the power to use your voice to allow Indigenous Australians to have a bigger say in the future.
History is truly calling us.
Burney has continued to read the Uluru statement from the heart, before receiving a huge applause.
Updated
Linda Burney addresses Melbourne crowds at Walk for Yes rally
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, has addressed a very large crowd in the Melbourne sunshine at Federation Square:
I am a little speechless, but from the bottom of my heart can I say thank you, as I look at the sea of people still coming in. It is truly something for Melbourne and Victoria to be absolutely proud of.
I am almost crying. It is truly overwhelming to look out over this crowd and see you. To know where your hearts are, to know where your spirit lives. And that you, like us, want to embrace this opportunity to move this country forward together.
https://t.co/JTF6pCPqlc pic.twitter.com/XRqiFZ4G09
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) September 17, 2023
Updated
Marcus Stewart, a Nira illim bulluk man of the Taungurung Nation, is addressing the crowd at Federation Square in Melbourne:
Take a moment and look behind you at the sea of people who are here in solidarity.
Let’s make some noise for those of you who walked with us today, who will walk for us in October.
The simple ask is to listen. We have an opportunity to unify this country. To wake up a better country on October 15.
Updated
Meanwhile, crowds are growing over in Perth …
Big crowd building up @OptusStadium for #Yes23 #Perth pic.twitter.com/DeJWYGTsrI
— Simon Bloke Collins (@SimonCollins74) September 17, 2023
A great day for #Yes #Perth @yes23au pic.twitter.com/ll0cFQojP6
— Phillip Kemp (@phil_kemp) September 17, 2023
Updated
Residents in a rural town in central Queensland have been told to immediately leave their homes as a fast-moving bushfire approaches.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services issued the warning to residents of Emerald about 1.15pm on Sunday, saying the warning area covered homes along Selma Rd between Emerald and Fairbairn Dam Rd.
The warning area included the Fairbairn State Forest and residents had to leave immediately, the service said.
A fast-moving fire is burning near (Fairbairn) State Forest. It is expected to impact Selma Road within the coming hours.
Your life could be at risk. It will soon be too dangerous to drive.
LEAVE IMMEDIATELY - Emerald - fire as at 1:15pm Sunday, 17 September 2023.
— Qld Fire & Emergency (@QldFES) September 17, 2023
For all current warnings, updates and mapping go to https://t.co/vqyJTUPBhe. pic.twitter.com/uznvRIJlad
Firefighting aircraft were being used to help crews on the ground contain the fire.
The service warned people in Emerald to call triple zero if their lives were in danger, and to not expect a firefighter at their door.
Power, water and mobile phone services could soon stop working, smoke would make it hard to see and breathe, and it would be hot and loud with potential explosions nearby, the service said.
It warned people to check for road closures before they left via the QLD Traffic website and said if they didn’t leave, they could be isolated.
Those who could not leave safely were advised to find a safe place to shelter, preferably in a brick building, and to seal vents.
- AAP
Updated
Crowds stretch from Swanston to Bourke streets in Melbourne as yes rally turnout bigger than expected
Massive crowds have amassed on Melbourne’s Swanston Street for the Walk for Yes event.
People are still being held back at the State Library as the front of the walk progresses to Federation Square.
Massive crowds in Melbourne for the walk for yes. Swanston Street is packed. The back of the walk at State Library is being held back with the front now past Bourke Street. pic.twitter.com/qhVHjq6Gc0
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) September 17, 2023
There’s applause as the back of the walk is told the front has reached Bourke St. Organisers are telling the crowd there’s more people than expected, urging them to remain hydrated and patient.
There’s a lot of signs in the crowd including: “open your hearts Australia, vote yes!” and “One chance, one love, one step”.
Very big crowds. This is the back of the line which is still at State Library. Good atmosphere despite people standing for longer than they may have expected in the sun. pic.twitter.com/AVOi70hEWz
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) September 17, 2023
Updated
Mundine calls for Australia Day date change and backs treaties despite opposing voice
Leading no vote spokesperson Warren Mundine has called for the date of Australia Day to be changed, and for multiple treaties with Australia’s First Nations, despite his own campaign raising these as potential “radical” consequences of voting for an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Mundine, who founded the Recognise a Better Way group opposing the voice, also hinted on Sunday that fellow no vote advocate Gary Johns had been told to keep quiet, after a backlash over Johns’ comments suggesting blood tests for access to welfare, and that some people in Indigenous communities lived in a “stupor”.
Australians will vote in a referendum on 14 October on whether to recognise the First Peoples of Australia in the constitution by establishing an advisory body called an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice.The official voice no pamphlet tells voters that one reason for voting against the proposed amendment to the constitution is because “it opens the door for activists” and asks “what comes next?”
The Uluru Statement from the Heart says a Voice is a first step, before a treaty and truth telling.
Already, many activists are campaigning to abolish Australia Day, change our flag and other institutions and symbols important to Australians. If there is a constitutionally enshrined Voice, these calls would grow louder.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Daniel Hurst:
A few photos from the rally in New York yesterday that saw 300 people march across the Brooklyn Bridge in Support of the Yes campaign on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
”Over 80% of Aboriginal people support the Voice. And it is my hope that a majority of all Australians do too,” she said. Photograph: New York for Yes Campaign
Thousands gather for yes rally outside Parliament House
Thousands of people have gathered on the lawns in front of Parliament House in Canberra to support an Indigenous voice to parliament, after marching from the National Library.
Speakers at the event stress the importance of a “fair go” and say we have 27 days “to define who we are as a nation”.
Supporters are holding yes signs that read “if you don’t know, find out” – an implicit rebuttal to the no camp slogan “if you don’t know, vote no”. Another supporter holds a sign saying “Ditch the fear” – a play on the controversial “ditch the witch” sign in the same location from more than a decade ago.
One man, well outnumbered, is walking around with a “vote no to the voice of division” sign.
Updated
Woman taken to hospital, dog shot following attack
A 31-year-old woman has been taken to hospital after Western Australian police shot a dog as it attacked her.
Police officers responding to reports of a dog attack at 4.35pm on Saturday arrived at the scene to find two rottweilers attacking a woman inside her home at Success, a suburb south of Perth.
To stop the attack, the officers shot one of the dogs and locked the other in a garage until rangers from the City of Cockburn arrived.
The woman was taken to hospital with serious bite wounds to her arms and legs.
Both dogs were owned by the victim and have now been seized by the rangers as an investigation is under way.
Updated
Diver, Robinson win Australian marathon titles
Moroccan Othmane El Goumri has dominated at the Sydney Marathon, crossing the finish line as temperatures reached the high 20s on Sunday morning.
El Goumri won the elite men’s race with a time of 2:08:20, while American Betsy Saina won the women’s category in 2:26:47.
Meanwhile, Sinead Diver and Brett Robinson have won the Australian titles.
Diver, 46, was the first Australian across the line in the women’s race in eighth spot in 2:31:27 ahead of fellow Victorian Kate Mason.
Robinson, 32, was the first non-African finisher in eighth spot in 2:23:05 – more than 15 minutes slower than the national record he set late last year in Japan.
The Sydney marathon doubles as the Australian marathon championship.
– AAP
Updated
A few photos from the 2023 Sydney Marathon this morning.
Toll cap for NSW drivers
The NSW government has announced a $60 toll cap it says will benefit nearly three-quarters of a million motorists from January 1.
The upcoming state budget will allocate $561 million over two years to the toll cap, Roads Minister John Graham said on Sunday.
He said it was an election promise delivered, with motorists able to claim back toll costs above $60 a week through a quarterly refund from Service NSW.
More motorists are going to access the $60 toll cap scheme than originally anticipated and I am very pleased to say more than 700,000 motorway users are now going to benefit.
Motorists, particularly in western Sydney where access to public transport alternatives have been more limited than in other parts of the city, have been crying out for relief from the ever-rising burden of tolls on the family budget.
Depending on where they live motorists can expect to claim back several hundred dollars a year through the scheme, from an estimated $199 in Gosford to $540 in Glendenning, according to Transport for NSW forecasts.
The NSW government will also proceed with toll rebates for heavy vehicles using the M5 East and M8 tunnels, with implementation on track for January 1.
Trucks will receive a rebate for a third of their trip travelled on the M5 East and M8, costing $54 million over the two-year trial.
The state government is undertaking an independent review of toll roads, led by Professor Allan Fels and Dr David Cousins who will report back with recommendations to make the system safer, fairer and more efficient.
The Minns Labor government’s $60 toll cap is part of ending an era in which government placed more emphasis on growing toll revenue than on helping people get around Sydney without breaking the bank.
-AAP
The Australian government may be liable for tens of millions of dollars in compensation to asylum seekers after it posted their personal details online while they were in immigration detention, our top story reveals.
The mass data breach, discovered by Guardian Australia in 2014, resulted in information being used, in some cases, to allegedly threaten asylum seekers, or persecute and even jail their family members.
Of the nearly 10,000 asylum seekers whose privacy was breached nearly a decade ago, those who suffered “extreme loss and damage” will each be eligible for more than $20,000 in compensation after a decision from the administrative appeals tribunal.
For more, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Ben Doherty here:
Shorten confident on limiting NDIS spend without means test
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, is confident the government can rein in billions of dollars worth of spending to make the scheme sustainable without means testing participants.
The national disability insurance scheme is expected to cost the public purse almost $42bn this financial year – a more than 14% increase – and could cost as much as $90bn by 2031/32.
Shorten is optimistic the government will be able to reduce the growth rate to 8% by 2026, saving the budget tens of billions of dollars.
Yes, absolutely, I think we’re seeing some green shoots already.
Shorten also rejected suggestions the scheme should be means tested, where payments would be tapered in line with a person’s financial assets.
He said Medicare and education spending were not means tested, and branded the idea “a lazy reform that doesn’t affect very many people”.
First of all, there is not a lot of people at the very top end who require assistance, but beyond that, disability is also a set of conditions which actually makes you poorer than average to begin with.
Any of us could need this scheme at any time – from the birth of a beautiful little child on a non-standard developmental journey through to the blink of an eye on a country road.
This is for the most fundamentally impacted people and I think we can improve the scheme without going down the means-testing path.
- AAP
Updated
Many Australians ‘just starting to switch on’ and pay attention to referendum: Bandt
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, says he has found from his campaigning for a yes vote that many Australians are only starting to pay attention to the looming referendum question.
He told Sky News:
I think that at the moment people are just starting to turn on to the referendum, perhaps for the first time.
My sense from campaigning … is that a lot of people are just starting to switch on and to gather information about what’s happening and I think that’s fine.
Bandt avoided wading into comments by the opposition’s spokesperson for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and academic and yes campaigner Marcia Langton.
The Greens leader said the referendum was about a “pretty straightforward” question, including recognising who was in Australia first and to given them a voice to be able to advise government to get better outcomes in order to close the gap.
Bandt said he wanted to see the yes campaign succeed, so he would remain focused on what the referendum was “actually about”.
Updated
Status quo not working: Shorten
The voice to parliament proposal is “far less dramatic and far less worrisome to the rest of Australia” than its opponents have claimed, Bill Shorten says.
The minister for government services told Sky News this morning that the proposed change to the constitution was “pretty modest”.
He said the first part was to give “our First Australians with 65,000 years of connection to country” recognition in “modern Australia’s birth certificate”. The second part was to set up an advisory committee. Shorten said governments relied on advisory committees in a range of different policy areas.
Pressed on why the proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice should be enshrined in the constitution, Shorten said successive governments had previously scrapped Indigenous advisory bodies.
Shorten said he did not believe most Australians were racist. He said everyone was entitled to their opinion, but the reality was that Closing the Gap results showed the status quo wasn’t working:
I think the no case is running some clever lines. Where they say this is a Canberra voice, it’s not. This voice was the result of talking to many Indigenous leaders – they don’t all agree but I think a lot of them do.
It’s far less dramatic and far less worrisome to the rest of Australia than some of the no case are making out.
Shorten, a former Labor leader, was asked by Sky News whether he was happy with how Anthony Albanese had handed this issue and whether it would have any impact on his prime ministership if goes down. Shorten replied:
Yes I think he’s been doing a great job as prime minister and no it has no impact on the structure of the government.
Updated
Sydney Marathon under way amid expectations of warm temps
The Sydney Marathon is under way today with 17,000 runners registered to tackle the gruelling 42km course.
The figure is more than double the number who took part in Australia’s previous biggest marathon, held in Melbourne in 2019 with 8,100 runners.
The event is vying for inclusion as an Abbott World Marathon Major, alongside iconic races in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Berlin.
Last year, Sydney became the first marathon in the southern hemisphere to achieve platinum label status, and is now in its second year of a three-year candidacy period to become a major marathon.
Many of Sunday’s participants are expected to make for a fast field, including 2022 men’s world champion, Tamirat Tola, 2023 Boston marathon men’s runner-up, Gabriel Geay and 2022 Paris marathon women’s champion, Judith Jeptum Korir.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Cahill Expressway and Western Distributor will all be closed from 4am to 10am Sunday.
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel will remain open but extensive delays are expected.
Participants have also been advised to take precautions as the temperature is expected to rise above average. For more on that story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Mostafa Rachwani:
Updated
On speculation about whether Warren Mundine might replace Marise Payne in the Senate, Mundine says he is too focused on trying to defeat the voice and ‘“not focused on things that are irrelevant”.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
‘I’ve never seen so much racism’: Mundine
Mundine says he has “never seen so much racism” during the push for the Indigenous voice to parliament but he was not surprised.
In the last 12 months, I’ve never seen so much racism and comments and attacks as I have seen since I was a kid. This is – it’s dreadful and the reason I raised about the prime minister is that if the prime minister was going to bring this referendum forward and he is talking about uniting the people, he shouldn’t have used derogatory terms against people who didn’t agree with them.
Mundine, however, conceded he has had to kick people from the no campaign over racist comments.
The problem we have is once you start talking about race, it never ends well. And we’ve seen that on both sides of the aisle and it has been pretty dreadful. We have to stop talking about race and actually get back to the referendum and start talking about those issues.
Updated
Mundine calls for symbolic recognition of migrants and refugees in constitution but says ‘we need practical stuff’
Mundine says he would like to see a symbolic clause inserted in the constitution that also recognises the contribution migrants and refugees make “to this country and made it the great liberal democracy and economic powerhouse that we are today”.
I wouldn’t underestimate symbolism. When I sat in the parliament that day, the Sorry Day, the prime minister got up and led it and the leader of the opposition seconded it. To me that was a very powerful day because, for the first time, we really recognised what happened to the stolen generation and a government of Australia apologised for that, and so I had – I will be honest, I had a tear in my eye. I thought about all of those people who had suffered in the past and some people who are still suffering today and I thought that was a very good healing process. The issue now is we need practical stuff, real stuff that is going to make the difference.
Updated
Asked about the Indigenous Advisory Council, Mundine says the body was “just a committee” that advised the Prime Minister and Cabinet “in ways that we could improve things”. He says this body was different to the proposal for the voice which will create unnecessary bureaucracy.
Well, the difference between us and the voice, as I said, we weren’t a representative body, we were made up of all different races. And we were experts in these areas of what needed to be done … and also we weren’t in the constitution. We were totally outside that.
This is one of the problems I had, and this is one of the [reasons] why I stepped away from the Uphold & Recognise movement, was because I didn’t see – why did we have to have it in the [constitution]? Because that creates a position that [Indigenous Australians] are always going to need help and are always victims, and I didn’t agree with that.
Updated
Mundine says win for no vote more likely to lead to treaties
Despite the no campaign raising fears over the treaty process, Mundine also says he supports the creation of multiple treaties with First Nations people.
I say treaties in the plural sense because we have to recognise Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal culture is our First Nations, and the first thing we learn about life is that one nation cannot talk about another nation’s country, only those traditional owners of those countries can talk about those countries, and therefore when you talk about like a state treaty or a national-type treaty, it doesn’t make sense in our culture.
Mundine says he believes these treaties are more likely to happen if a no vote succeeds, saying that a yes vote will lead to the creation of “another body of bureaucracy”.
If it is a “no” vote, that’s when the real work starts. As Jacinta said, the senator, she said we have to have accountability. We are spending billions of dollars every year and according to Closing the Gap we are still not going places. We have to deal with that.
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Warren Mundine calls for date of Australia Day to be changed
Mundine – a leader of the no campaign – says he supports changing the date of Australia day from 26 January despite claims by the No campaign that the yes campaign wants to change the date.
Only if we let it be. January 26 will always be an important day because of the fact that European countries came to Australia and set up the colonies here. We can’t get away from that, but we can’t become captive of it. We have to face the facts and move on.
Yes, recognise history. Yes, recognise the invasion, recognise the good and bad that is in our history, but we still have to move on.
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Mundine says it is important to recognise the past but “at the same time we have to move forward” and that if Indigenous Australians “do not move forward, then we are stuck in history.”
We’ve got to move and improve our lives and get things done, and if we don’t do that, then we are just in a trap, a cycle, a Groundhog Day.
Mundine says that according to research by the Centre for Independent Studies the “biggest gap is not between black and white, but biggest gap is between Aboriginals in cities and large provincial towns and people living in remote and regional Australia.”
We need to be focusing on the ones who are struggling and in need of support.
The Centre For Independent Studies is a right wing, free market think tank.
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‘You cannot go on forever saying colonisation’: Mundine
Warren Mundine has compared the colonisation of Australia to the colonisation of England by the Anglo-Saxons.
Speaking to ABC Insiders on Sunday, the leader of the no campaign said:
The question isn’t about the ongoing trauma or neglect like that, but the question is how do we move forward? You cannot go on forever saying colonisation, because it’s just fact: it has happened, is going to stop us from doing things, is going to stop us from improving our lives and keep us in … poverty. If that’s the statement, then I think we are heading up the wrong track.
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Search resumes for ‘distressed’ missing swimmer
A search for a man who looked distressed before he disappeared off a Byron Bay beach has entered its second day.
The man, who police described as aged in his 50s and of Caucasian appearance, was swimming at Tallow Beach about 3pm on Saturday when he looked “in distress”, NSW police said.
The man went under the water and failed to resurface, prompting calls to police.
Tweed and Byron officers, surf lifesavers, Marine Rescue NSW and a Queensland rescue helicopter began searching for the man but failed to find him on Saturday night.
The search resumed about 8am on Sunday, with police yet to receive a missing persons report about the man.
Officers urged anyone who saw him about 3pm on Saturday to come forward.
The man was last seen wearing light coloured board shorts, police said.
– AAP
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Thousands rally across Australia in support of Indigenous voice to parliament
As campaigning for and against an Indigenous voice to parliament intensifies before the upcoming referendum, Anthony Albanese remains confident Australians will vote “yes”.
Australians have taken to the streets this weekend to join official Walk for Yes walks, backed by musicians including Paul Kelly, Peter Garrett, Dan Sultan, Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning, Spiderbait and John Butler.
Voters will head to the ballot box on 14 October, when they will be asked whether they want to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by enshrining an Indigenous consultative body in the constitution.
Speaking at an event on Saturday, the prime minister said:
It’s like the apology, it’s like marriage equality – when it’s all done, people will wonder why we didn’t do it before.
We will get this done.
Australians will vote yes, and we will be a better country for it.
It was a bruising final week in federal parliament, which Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney admitted had taken a personal toll, as prominent no vote campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price addressed the National Press Club.
In a provocative speech, Price claimed the voice was unnecessary as British colonisation had not had lasting negative impacts on Aboriginal people.
Burney labelled the comments “simply wrong” and a “betrayal” to the stolen generations’ families.
The tail end of the week was dominated by accusations of racism levelled at the yes and no camps as both blamed the other for trying to divide the nation.
The PM said:
What we need to do to secure a vote for ‘yes’ is to continue to run a positive campaign.
We will continue to present this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lift up this and future generations and to close the gap.
Walks for the yes campaign were scheduled for 40 cities and regional centres.
– AAP
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Football legend Ron Barassi offered state funeral
Ron Barassi’s family will be offered a state funeral to honour the Australian sporting icon.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews,confirmed the gesture would be made after Barassi died on Saturday, aged 87.
Andrews joined the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the AFL community in paying tribute to Barassi, with league chairman Richard Goyder calling him the game’s most important figure since the second world war.
The premier also noted that Barassi died the day after a hard-fought semi-final between Carlton and Melbourne, two of the four clubs where the player and coach is revered for his contribution.
In a social media post, Andrews said:
The word legend is used a lot. But nobody deserves it quite like Ron Barassi.
He didn’t just play the game - he reshaped it.
And how fitting that [Friday] night’s game was a cliffhanger between the Dees and the Blues.
The government will offer Ron’s family a state funeral to remember him - and I hope they accept.”
Players and fans gave Barassi a standing ovation at Adelaide Oval and there was a short period of silence before Saturday night’s Port Adelaide-GWS semi-final.
– AAP
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Warren Mundine to appear on Insiders
No campaigner Warren Mundine will appear on the ABC’s Insiders program after a bruising week of debate over the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.
Meanwhile, the minister for government services, Bill Shorten, has appeared on Sky News this morning.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
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Welcome
Good morning.
Ron Barassi’s family will be offered a state funeral to honour the Australian sporting great. The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, confirmed the gesture would be made after Barassi died yesterday aged 87, saying he hoped Barassi’s family would accept the offer.
Australians will continue to take to the streets today to join official Indigenous voice to parliament “yes” campaign walks, backed by musicians including Paul Kelly, Peter Garrett, Dan Sultan, Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning, Spiderbait and John Butler. Walk for Yes events will be held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Alice Springs, Darwin and Canberra.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking you through the day.
Let’s get into it.
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