What we learned, Thursday 11 December
Thanks for staying with us this afternoon. We’ll leave the live blog there for today. These were the day’s top stories:
Perth residents were urged to evacuate amid bushfires in the city’s outer suburbs.
Four French nationals faced court over what police described as a “movie-like” alleged burglary of $10m in luxury goods.
A Senate inquiry in university governance handed down its report, with senator David Pocock criticising the sector’s “corporatised, broken model”.
The number of recalls involving coloured sand products due to asbestos fearsrose to 11.
The Queensland government said its bill to overturn ban on developer donations would “level the playing field” with trade unions. The state also repealed its renewables targets.
Westpac’s shareholders voted against new rules on fossil fuel lending.
The Bureau of Meteorology rolled out updates to its website after community feedback.
The head of the national anti-corruption commission has told an inquiry he has acted appropriately in defence matters.
Australia’s jobless rate remained steady despite a surprise drop in employment.
The Coalition’s shadow home affairs minister questioned Donald Trump’s new tourist visa rules.
Households would need an income of $112,000 a year to afford the median rental house, a report has found.
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Labor ‘not good enough’ if it fails to act on deaths in custody, Patrick Dodson says
The former Labor senator Patrick Dodson has called on the Albanese government to act after a damning report revealed that more Indigenous people died in custody last year than any year since 1980.
Dodson, a former commissioner of the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, urged the federal government to hold state and territory governments to account for their “disgraceful performance”. He told the ABC:
There’s been no one keeping the states accountable for their activities. … The states and the commonwealth have got to get their heads together, get on the fast train and move this from where we are all disgraced.
Dodson served as Labor senator for Western Austalia for 2016 to 2024. Asked whether he felt he had been able to impact Labor policy, Dodson said:
I’d put my proposals up and the end result you can judge for yourself. They never got taken up but, you know, that’s how politics works.
But this is beyond politics. This is a national disgrace. This is about the nation. These are human beings. And that includes the whitefellas as well as the Aboriginal people that die in custody.
He said the responsibility fell on the entire Labor cabinet, who he urged to read the report by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
They’re very genuine people and they’re very good people. But this is not good enough if there’s no courage and if there’s no commitment. And that’s what the opportunity is here … take the step to make the transformation.
Read more about the report here:
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Bushfire warnings to leave immediately in Perth outer suburbs
Bushfires in Perth’s outer suburbs have prompted warnings for residents to leave immediately.
People in Bullsbrook and Upper Swan, in the city’s outer north, have been warned to leave now. Lives and homes are in danger, Western Australia’s department of fire and emergency services (Dfes) has warned.
Dfes has warned people to leave immediately and head to the south if possible from parts of Kenwick, Wattle Grove, Maddington and Beckenham in the city’s south-east. Homes in Bickley Road, Brook Road and Boundary Road in Kenwick were being threatened by fire.
The state’s alert read:
You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. There is a threat to lives and homes.
Do not wait and see, leaving at the last minute could put your life in danger.
People in nearby Forrestfield and Orange Grove have been urged to monitor conditions.
A watch and act warning is also in place in Quellington, Throssell and Wilberforce, 100km east of Perth. WA also has total fire bans in six local government districts to Perth’s north.
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Tropfest opens for short film submissions after seven-year hiatus
The world’s largest short film festival, Tropfest, has opened for submissions as it prepares to return from a seven-year hiatus.
The festival is accepting original films no longer than seven minutes incorporating the “hourglass”, Tropfest 2026’s signature item.
The first, second and third prizes will be valued at $50,000, $30,000, and $20,000 respectively. Sydney’s Centennial Park will host the event on 22 February 2026, after submissions close on 8 January.
Margot Robbie, the Australian actor and producer, will lead the jury at the festival, which is being held 10 days after the release of her new film, Wuthering Heights. Read Guardian writer Hollie Richardson’s take on the Brontë adaptation here:
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Bupa ‘deeply sorry’ after $35m fine
Following on from previous post:
The healthcare giant struck a remorseful tone on Thursday saying it had accepted the breaches, AAP reports.
“We remain deeply sorry for these errors and have apologised to our affected customers for the impact this has had on them and their families,” the company said in a statement.
Bupa said $14.3m in compensation had been paid to affected customers for more than 4,100 claims.
“The amount paid in remediation provides one numerical yardstick by which the court may be satisfied that the penalties totalling $35m ... will have the necessary deterrent effect,” Justice David O’Callaghan said.
The “unconscionable conduct”, affecting 388 people, occurred after Bupa removed a safeguard in mid-2020. That safeguard – a weekly report – told staff when its automatic claim assessment system had wholly rejected certain hospital claims.
Medical providers and hospitals were also affected by Bupa’s conduct, including by being fleeced out of payments they were entitled to for claims. The value of the benefits denied or delayed averaged $900 and in one case amounted to about $103,000, the court found.
The second biggest health insurer in Australia controls more than a quarter of the market with about 4.5 million customers.
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Bupa fined $35m for duping patients, hospitals
Private health insurance giant Bupa has been fined $35m after wrongly rejecting thousands of members’ hospital claims, AAP reports.
The federal court on Thursday found Bupa misled thousands of consumers about benefits they were entitled between May 2018 and August 2023.
In most cases, claims were for hospital treatment in which two or more procedures were performed at the same time. Where part of the treatment was covered by a member’s policy and another part was not, Bupa rejected the claim in whole.
Justice David O’Callaghan found the health insurer had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” between June 2020 and February 2021 for rejecting mixed coverage claims of two or more procedures at hospitals.
The contravening conduct was allowed to continue even after Bupa’s senior managers became aware that system changes were necessary to avoid incorrectly rejecting claims, the court found.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which took the case to court, said Bupa’s conduct forced many patients to cancel, delay or forgo necessary treatment. The ACCC deputy chair, Catriona Lowe, said:
We heard from Bupa members who suffered significant harm, including financial harm as well as pain, suffering and emotional distress as a result of Bupa’s conduct.
Private health insurance can be a significant expense for consumers and people rightly expect to receive the level of coverage they pay for.
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Canberra police shocked by ‘movie-like’ alleged theft of $10m in luxury goods
Police have described the alleged targeted burglary of $10m in luxury goods as “something like a movie,” revealing new details of the incident in the Australian Capital Territory.
Det Acting Insp Mark Battye from ACT police shared his surprise at the event with reporters this afternoon:
I’ve never seen a burglary of this magnitude occur here in Canberra and the manner in which it occurred with people [allegedly] flying over from the other side of the world to do this targeted burglary is something like a movie.
The French nationals alleged to be involved went to “so many lengths” to conceal their identities and avoid apprehension, Battye said, adding that it was common for offenders using hire cars to steal or swap number plates.
Detectives “really enjoyed investigating” the case and brought the alleged offenders back to Canberra from Sydney just four days after residents of a house in South Canberra first reported the burglary, Battye said.
Police had been surprised too by the high value of the allegedly stolen goods, Battye said.
We’ve got all walks of life here in Canberra and clearly we’ve got people with really wealthy lifestyles and assets and it’s the case here …
There’s some things I’ve never heard of before, and I wasn’t aware that we even had watches worth over $5m, but there’s a Richard Mille RM88 smiley watch that I believe is valued over $5m.
French police had recovered some of the allegedly stolen items, which had been sent to France via a freight forwarding company, Battye said.
Numerous allegedly stolen items were still yet to be recovered and Battye encouraged the public to alert police if they were aware of sales since October of high value jewellery, fashion apparel and handbags.
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Interest rate rise by June more likely after unemployment holds, says UBS
Interest rates are on track to rise by June after unemployment came in lower than expected, according to economists at investment bank UBS.
As we reported earlier, data today showed the jobless rate held steady in November even though the number of employed Australians fell a surprise 21,300.
Markets had expected unemployment to rise to 4.4% but job numbers to rise by about 20,000. George Tharenou, a UBS economist, noted employment growth has now slowed to average just 10,000 new net jobs a month over the last three months, less than half the monthly average recorded over the previous year.
However, Tharenou said the data showed the jobs market was still pretty tight and could be adding to inflation, supporting UBS’s prediction of a rate hike by the June quarter, followed by a second in 2026:
The labour market likely needs to ease further ahead – ie the unemployment rate needs to increase – to reduce pressure on inflation.
NAB, ANZ and CBA each expect interest rates to stay where they are through 2026 while warning there’s a real chance the RBA could lift rates in February if inflations is proven to persist and broaden. CBA analysts said today’s data suggest the jobs market is “too tight for comfort for the RBA”.
Westpac, the outlier, thinks the RBA will still cut rates twice in the second half of next year.
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Myer pumps up sales ahead of Topshop Australia return
Department store and clothing brand owner Myer has told shareholders it’s had a good start to the financial year with its biggest Black Friday sales on record and plans for big brands to return, AAP reports.
Total sales for the first 19 weeks of fiscal 2026 rose 3% to $1.52bn, led by the main Myer retail business. Homewares, womenswear and others brands’ mini-shops within Myer stores were among the strongest performers.
The group, which is more than 125 years old, is banking on a similar performance in the lead-up to the Christmas and Boxing Day sales.
Myer shares jumped over 11% to 46 cents on the news, but the price is still a long way from where it was a year ago, when it traded around $1.20.
The retailer elected not to pay shareholders a final dividend in September when it reported a 30% fall in underlying full-year net profit to $36.8m linked to still-unresolved issues at its national distribution centre.
Myer is also ramping up its local and international brand offerings, with 20 more set to come online in the second half of fiscal 2026, including the return to Australia of UK fast fashion stalwart Topshop. The brand closed its last stand-alone store in Australia in 2020.
Meanwhile, retail supremo Solomon Lew, who is Myer’s biggest shareholder, will join the board in April 2026. Lew is also chair of the listed apparel group Premier Investments, which off-loaded the Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E brands to Myer under a cash and scrip deal.
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National Tertiary Education Union labels proposed university reforms a ‘watershed moment’ for sector
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has strongly backed the final report into university governance, with its national president, Dr Alison Barnes, labelling it a “watershed moment” for Australia’s public universities:
We now have a clear blueprint to fix burning crises like corporatisation, casualisation and wage theft.
Barnes particularly backed the recommendation for academic governing bodies to have enhanced powers to set staffing levels for courses, and proper consultation with staff and students before major changes were announced as a strong measure to prevent unnecessary job cuts.
She said another recommendation, mandatory reporting of casual teaching rates, would also expose the “dirty secret” of over reliance on temporary staff to deliver core teaching.
The reforms recommended in this report have the potential to refocus universities on serving the public good rather than being run like corporate fiefdoms. NTEU members have campaigned tirelessly over many years to bring these issues to prominence. This report justifies their efforts. It marks a new dawn for higher education.
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Greens call for ‘systemic overhaul’ of university governance
The Greens say the university governance report “falls short” of providing recommendations that match the “systemic overhaul needed” to address issues facing the sector, including corporatisation and governance concerns.
They made a series of additional recommendations, including immediately reversing the Coalition’s job-ready graduates package fee hikes and funding cuts, making all university council and governing body meetings public and drastically overhauling the composition of university governing bodies to be democratically elected individuals with higher education experience.
They also recommended a federal government agency develop principles to limit the use of consultants and outsourcing at universities. The report noted widespread critique of JRG but made no recommendations to change it.
Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, said the final report “exposes the depth and breadth of failed leadership, corporate rot and consultant capture decaying our public universities”:
While the report is a scathing indictment on the corporatisation of universities and the severity of the crisis at hand, it falls short of providing remedies that match the systemic overhaul needed to end the era of managerial bloat and unaccountable opaque governance.
The failures of governance in universities go hand in hand with decades of underfunding by governments, most viciously exemplified by the fee hikes and funding cuts of the JRG scheme, which have been widely condemned and yet still not been reversed by the Labor government.
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Senate inquiry hands down university governance report as Pocock criticises 'corporatised, broken model'
Universities in Australia have become too corporatised, and must increase transparency about the number of their casual staff, says a Senate report into university governance.
The Senate inquiry, which ran for almost a year, handed down its final report this afternoon, making eight recommendations – including that states and territories should review the acts governing universities in their jurisdictions to ensure institutions focus their work on public research and education, and to strengthen the powers of the higher education regulator.
It also recommended academic boards monitor courses and their staffing resources to ensure they are focused on education over profits, and that universities must report the proportion of teaching done by casual staff.
The inquiry’s interim report in September made several other recommendations including to cap vice-chancellors’ salaries and disclose how much universities are spending on consultants.
Independent senator David Pocock, who sat on the inquiry, made several other recommendations, including that the new Australian tertiary education commission should develop new models to “sustainably” fund universities and reform the “failed job ready graduates” scheme as a matter of urgency. He said:
My hope is that the work of the Committee, and all those who have contributed to it, can help chart a path back from a corporatised, broken model to rebuilding the kind of higher education system Australians need, want and deserve.
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Thanks Nick Visser and good afternoon – I’ll take you through the rest of today’s breaking news.
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That’s all from me, thanks for sticking with us so far today. Luca Ittimani will take things from here. Enjoy your arvo!
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Four French nationals due before courts after alleged theft of $10m in luxury goods from Canberra home
Four French nationals are due to face court today after the alleged theft of nearly $10m in luxury items from a home in Canberra in October.
ACT police said they were called to the scene of a burglary on 15 October, where a review of CCTV footage showed two men allegedly breaking into the home before stealing more than 70 items, including luxury handbags, watches and jewellery.
Four men were arrested at a fast food restaurant four days later and police later executed a search warrant at a property and allegedly recovered some of the missing items, which included several Hermès handbags.
Each of the men have been charged with aggravated burglary, intent to commit theft and joint commission theft.
The allegedly stolen items included a Richard Mille RM 88 (Smiley) watch, a Van Cleef Seoul necklace and a Patek Philippe 5711 Tiffany watch.
Police allege the theft was a targeted operation by the alleged offenders, who travelled to Australia specifically to commit the robberies.
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Tourist zip line failure left man dead and woman injured after falling up to 25 metres, Queensland inquest hears
A man died and his wife was badly injured after a tourist zip line system they were riding on failed because it wasn’t anchored tightly enough, a coronial inquest has heard.
Coroner Wayne Pennell held a pre-inquest hearing on Thursday into the death of Dean Sanderson at Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours at Cape Tribulation, in north Queensland, on 22 October 2019.
Counsel assisting April Freeman cited two expert reports into the incident. Both of them blamed a technique used to anchor the wire, which she called a “wire rope grip” or “bulldog clip”. The wire passes through a thimble which clamps it in place.
The wire unspooled from the anchor point, dropping both Sanderson and his wife, Shannon, about 20 to 25 metres to the ground. She suffered broken ribs and a fractured scapula, while he died from head and chest injuries at the scene.
Read more here:
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Number of recalls involving coloured sand products due to asbestos fears rises to 11
The consumer regulator is now monitoring 11 recalls of coloured children’s sand products which have been pulled from shelves due to concerns they could contain asbestos.
The latest recall, issued just yesterday, is for a range of sand products imported from China and sold by Australian business SilverStarCrafts between 2 December 2020 and 26 November this year.
The regulator said tremolite and chrysotile asbestos had been detected in some samples after laboratory testing.
The affected products come in various size pouches, including Sand Art Party Packs, Sand Art Single Packs, Sand Art Bottles, Sand and Funny Face Sand Art Bottles, the ACCC said.
Last month, the discovery of asbestos in a range of products manufactured in China and sold at retailers including Kmart and Officeworks prompted the closure of some schools and an investigation by the Australian Border Force and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
That investigation continues: the ACCC said yesterday afternoon that it was still engaging with suppliers of decorative and play sand products and product testing was ongoing.
SilverStarCrafts has been contacted for comment.
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Queensland government says bill to overturn ban on developer donations would ‘level the playing field’ with trade unions
Queensland’s LNP government has tabled a bill to overturn the state’s ban on developer donations to political parties.
The ban was passed under Labor after the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission’s Operation Belcarra found widespread noncompliance with legislative obligations regarding the donations in local government elections.
On Thursday – the last sitting day of the year – the attorney general, Deb Freckington, tabled the restoring electoral fairness amendment bill 2025.
If passed the bill would permit property developers to donate in state elections, and would refine and target the ban for donations to councillors, according to Frecklington.
She said the bill would “level the playing field” with trade unions, which are still permitted to donate and would “promote freedom of expression by allowing donations to be used for state electoral purposes, including campaigning”.
The bill will also prevent prisoners serving sentences longer than one year from voting in state and local government elections, down from the current three years.
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Watch as a skydiver hangs from a plane tail, snared by his own parachute
A skydiving adventure in late September nearly ended in disaster after a terrifying incident where a man was left dangling from the tail of a light aircraft, AAP reports.
Video released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau showed the parachutist preparing to exit a Cessna Caravan over Tully in far north Queensland on 20 September.
He was part of a 16-way formation jump from about 4,500 metres with 17 other parachutists onboard, including a camera operator who was to film the jump.
But as the man clung to the side of the aircraft’s roller door, the handle of his reserve parachute caught on the wing flap, causing it to deploy prematurely.
He was able to land safely after his main parachute deployed, despite being entangled in the remaining lines and canopy of the reserve chute. He suffered minor injuries to his legs.
In the meantime, the pilot of the Cessna was left fighting for control of the damaged aircraft, with part of the reserve parachute still wrapped around the tail.
The pilot, who was also wearing an emergency parachute, briefly contemplated bailing out of the aircraft before regaining enough control to return to Tully, landing safely.
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Household spending surges on Ashes, Oasis, AC/DC
Consumers splashed out on sports, concerts and Black Friday sales in November, setting up 2025 to show a strong recover in household spending.
Commonwealth Bank data showed almost half of the net increase in consumer spending was from recreation, including the start of the Ashes, concerts from Oasis, Metallica and AC/DC, and the release of the film Wicked: For Good.
Australian bought plenty of household goods, lifting their spend on electronics, clothing and furniture by about a third each in November as businesses offered sales in the lead-up to Black Friday.
Whereas spending has historically clumped around the sale weekend, more businesses are offering longer sales periods, sustaining spend momentum through the month, according to Belinda Allen, CBA’s head of Australian economics.
One of the only categories to see a fall was food and drinks: Australians spent less on weight-loss services, food box subscriptions, and stores specialising in liquor, seafood, and tea and coffee.
Talk of an interest rate hike has grown stronger after the Reserve Bank warned inflation had grown more persistent on Tuesday. Allen noted strong spending would only encourage a rate hike but households would be able to withstand it if it came:
For now, households appear well-positioned, with incomes and savings supporting confidence.
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Shareholders vote against new rules for Westpac on fossil fuel lending
Westpac shareholders have rejected a push to improve transparency on Westpac’s willingness to lend to fossil fuel projects.
Market Forces, an environmental advocacy group, had led the resolution to amend the bank’s constitution, which it said would increase requirements to demonstrate lending to fossil fuel businesses aligned with global climate goals.
The resolution was publicly backed by more than 100 shareholders, including Australian Ethical and foreign funds such as Norway’s KLP and Storebrand and the US’ CalPERS and the New York City Pension Fund.
Australian Ethical’s Amanda Richman said Westpac had fallen behind NAB and Commonwealth Bank on climate action.
Shareholders at the bank’s AGM in Sydney rejected the motion, voting 93% against and just over 6% for. Morgan Pickett, from Market Forces, said the vote would mean oil and gas companies could keep borrowing from Westpac:
While some of the world’s biggest investors have called out Westpac’s backsliding, far too many have let the bank off the hook for watering down its climate commitments.
The Westpac chair, Steven Gregg, told shareholders the bank considered the emissions from fossil fuel use when evaluating loans and was Australia’s largest lender to renewables.
We aim to become a net-zero, climate-resilient bank by reducing our emissions and supporting customers with their decarbonisation plans.
We appreciate our shareholders hold diverse views on this matter.
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BoM rolls out updates to new website after community feedback
The Bureau of Meteorology released a new round of updates to its website today after a controversial $96.5m redesign that went live in October to the consternation of many.
The BoM says the new website has seen nearly 75m visits, 67% of which came from mobile devices, since it launched and received more than 400,000 pieces of “feedback”. In response, the agency has:
Added shortcuts to the rain radar and weather maps page to the homepage.
Made it easier to customise the map.
Refined warning icons, displaying them as yellow for active warnings and grey for cancelled ones.
Updated fire danger ratings tables on state and territory pages.
There are several other changes, which you can find here.
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SA courts closed and prisons in 96-hour lockdown during strike
Major courts have shut their doors and South Australia’s publicly run prisons remain in lockdown as an ongoing pay dispute escalates into widespread strike action, AAP reports.
More than 1,000 corrections officers across the state voted to strike on Monday, and on Thursday they voted to extend it to 96 hours, calling on the government to increase pay rates, lift staff numbers and improve safety.
The corrections officers’ strike has plunged the prison system into a four-day lockdown, with more than 2,000 prisoners confined to their cells since 7.30am on Monday.
All striking staff will reconvene on Friday morning to decide whether to take further action.
Corrections officers are striking over what they say is an inadequate pay offer, a surge in violence in prisons and a crisis in staffing levels caused by low wages.
Australian Olympic Committee announces motherhood payments
Female Olympians will be paid $10,000 if they have a baby and pledge to return to top-level sport, as part of a suite of new funding initiatives from the Australian Olympic Committee designed to ease financial suffering for elite athletes.
The new measures also include a $32,000 “retirement grant” for Australians who appear at the next two summer and winter Olympics, to be paid in the 2040s and 2050s, and a new team selection payment of $5,000 for those selected at a summer or winter Games.
Alyce Wood, the AOC Athletes’ Commission deputy chair, and a canoeist and mother, said the baby payment is a “gamechanger” that “actually acknowledges what athletes are dealing with and gives them the support they need to build long, sustainable careers, in sport and in whatever comes next”.
The AOC president, Ian Chesterman, said Thursday’s announcement was his organisation’s “most significant funding announcement” since the establishment in the 1990s of the Australian Olympic Foundation. That entity has grown an initial $90m in seed investment to a fund of around $200m, allowing support for Olympians separate to government funding.
The payments are set to cost the AOC more than $50m over the next two Olympic cycles, and are in addition to the government’s support of sport through high-performance funding and medal payments.
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Nacc boss says tells inquiry he has acted appropriately in defence matters
The head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc), Paul Brereton, has told a parliamentary committee he has acted appropriately in dealing with defence matters, despite concerns about his role at the watchdog.
Brereton clarified his role in assisting the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF), including on matters related to the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry, which Brereton previously led.
His involvement in defence matters has caused controversy for the Nacc, and raised a series of conflict-of-interest complaints.
Brereton told the committee he has been approached for assistance about 22 times, and estimates he has spent about 24 hours in total over more than two years on the matter.
“I have unique knowledge of the Afghanistan inquiry, which cannot be sourced elsewhere. Since it was completed in 2020, and before my appointment as commissioner, that required ongoing consultation with me from time to time, and when my appointment as commissioner was under consideration, I anticipated it would continue to do so,” he said, adding:
It would be a waste of time and resources, and utterly unreasonable if the IGADF could not, in furtherance of implementing my recommendations, seek and obtain information from me.
The only persons who would benefit if I did not do that are those who don’t want the recommendations to be implemented, or don’t want the office of the special investigator, who is responsible for the criminal investigations that I recommended be instituted, to be able to do their job.
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Darwin students celebrating the VCE
The only school offering the VCE outside of Victoria has received its best ever results this year. At Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin, 40% of students received an Atar of 90 or above, placing them in the top 10% of students nationwide.
Its median Atar was 86.5, marking the school’s highest performance in its eighth year of operation. Ten of the year 12 students to complete their certificate were Indigenous and travelled from remote parts of the Northern Territory to attend the school.
Its principal, Andrew McGregor, said the “best-ever” results were a testimony to brilliant teaching, a positive school learning culture and hard-working students:
Our students have absolutely smashed it this year and shown what young people in the Territory can achieve with the right support and high expectations.
Haileybury was founded in Melbourne in 1892 and now has four campuses in Victoria, one in China and a virtual campus, Pangea, in addition to its Darwin outpost.
Some 14% of students at its Darwin campus are Indigenous and 31% have a language background other than English.
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Albanese says he’s not focused on entitlements
The prime minister has said he’s not focused on entitlements rules and is more interested in the social media ban.
After a series of questions on ministerial expenses and his unwillingness to intervene and change the regulations, Anthony Albanese said:
My focus is not on entitlements and the finance minister’s rules, to be frank. My focus has been on this [social media ban].
Reporters continued to press him on entitlements rules. Asked whether he was happy for the expenses rules to stay as they are now, Albanese instead discussed the issue he’s focused on “today”:
What I’m focused on today, today, is an issue, which is a revolution. This issue is you will talk about for a lot longer than you talk about the issues which you are raising, which I accept are legitimate to be raised. I’ve answered multiple questions on it today. …
When you look back, and you will be able to write a book, maybe, on the period of the Labor government when you look back and you look at what are the five biggest things that we did, I tell you what, this will be one of them, and that’s what makes me proud.
The prime minister then ended the press conference.
Albanese won’t tighten MP expenses rules to avoid top-down influence
The prime minister has said he won’t tighten the rules on MPs’ travel, both to avoid influencing the rules “from the top” and because he is “not the finance minister”.
Anthony Albanese was repeatedly asked about his refusal to tighten ministerial expenses rules in the wake of revelations over Anika Wells’ and other ministers spending
Asked why he wouldn’t intervene to tighten the rules, Albanese said;
I think it’s important just like on the [remuneration] tribunal, setting our wages, that I don’t influence that from the top …
We haven’t changed the rules. We haven’t added to any entitlements. The rules have been there since they were put in place by the former government
The finance minister, with the prime minister’s support, can change the regulations without legislation. Albanese said, when asked whether he believed it was appropriate for ministers to unlimited travel expenses for spouses:
I’m not the finance minister. I haven’t changed the rule.
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US has the right to screen tourists’ social media, says Albanese
Albanese said the Trump administration has the right to pursue its plans to require tourists to reveal their social media activity for the past five years, revealed today.
Asked whether he was concerned by the announcement, Albanese said:
The United States, like Australia, is a sovereign nation. They have a right to set the rules which are there. And we give advice on Smart Traveller to Australians travelling to destinations overseas about what are the expectations of particular countries, be it the United States or other nations as well.
The Coalition’s shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, earlier said the move was “beyond what a freedom-loving” western democracy would do.
World leaders contacting Albanese on social media ban
Anthony Albanese has said world leaders have reached out to discuss the social media ban.
Speaking to reporters at a Canberra school, the prime minister pointed to his interviews with international media, before revealing foreign politicians were interested too:
World leaders have been in contact as well. They’re all engaged as well. We know that Malaysia will introduce reforms on January 1. Indonesia is introducing reforms. The European Union is engaged in this is a well. There’s actions in some of the US states in North America. So this is a big deal. This is Australia leading the world as we have in so many other areas. And that’s why I see it as a source of national pride.
Anika Wells, the communications minister, said she welcomed the international support for regulation of “one of the defining issues of our time”:
There’s been a huge amount of global interest and we welcome it, and I welcome all the allies joining Australia to take action in this space to draw a line and say enough’s enough.
Jobless rate steady despite surprise drop in employment
Unemployment was steady at 4.3% in November, despite a weaker than expected month for the jobs market that saw a 21,300 drop in the number of employed Australians.
Full-time employment dropped by a substantial 56,500 people, offset by a 35,200 rise in part-time workers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
Economists had expected employment to rise.
There was also a sharp lift in the rate of underemployment – which adds in those with jobs but who are trying to get more hours – from 5.7% to 6.2%, leaving it at the highest in more than a year.
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Albanese and Wells talk social media ban with school students
Anthony Albanese and the communications minister, Anika Wells, are visiting a school in Canberra to discuss the under-16s social media ban. We’ll get a press conference shortly.
Albanese and Wells are speaking to a few school students about the change. Most of them said that many of their friends had not yet been kicked off all online platforms, and that many remained online.
Wells responded that it might take “weeks, a few months” for all of the people under-16s to lose their access, but said that whether it was “in four weeks or four days” the laws would filter through.
All the students said there were mixed opinions among their friends, but that they themselves didn’t use social media much anyway. One student said their friends said “I really don’t like this, I want my social media back”.
Another student said some friends aren’t getting locked out, and some had said “It’s a bad idea we’ll find alternates anyway”.
Albanese replied: “They’ll get found out too”.
A third student said some of their friends said they’ll feel disconnected from the world - but added “I think it’ll bring friends together easier”.
Wells and Albanese said they believed the under-16s ban would have benefits including improved mental health, addressing online bullying, and increased communication between friends in real life.
Updated
Judgment in Greg Lynn appeal published
In the appeal judgment, the court of appeal justices said:
Unhappily, we have concluded that the conduct of prosecuting counsel so compromised the fairness of the applicant’s trial that a substantial miscarriage of justice resulted.
In those circumstances, the applicant’s conviction for murdering Mrs Clay cannot be permitted to stand. We would grant the applicant leave to appeal against his conviction; allow the appeal; set aside the conviction; and order a new trial.
Given our conclusions with respect to conviction it is unnecessary to consider the application with respect to sentence.
Read more:
Queensland Conservation Council slams government’s renewables target repeal as ‘ideological’
The Queensland Conservation Council has slammed the government’s repeal of renewables targets as “ideological”.
Campaigner Stephanie Gray pointed to a report by Reliability Watch showing an average of 26% of Queensland’s coal-fired power station capacity was offline this winter, compared to 22% in NSW and 16% in Victoria. She labelled the Queensland generators as the nation’s least reliable.
“Queensland’s failing coal-fired power stations went offline a staggering 131 times over the last year, and most of these were unplanned breakdowns,” she said, adding:
Repealing our renewable energy targets sends the signal that Queensland is closed for clean business and investors should take their money and jobs elsewhere. It demonstrates that the Queensland LNP is putting ideology over affordable clean energy for Queenslanders.
The ideological commitment to expensive fossil fuels is also behind the Queensland Government planning to build more new gas fired power stations, despite the fact that yesterday’s plan from the market operator demonstrates that storage is the cheapest option to back renewable energy, not gas.
Updated
Marles ‘very excited’ about Aukus progress
Circling back to the meeting of defence ministers from the Aukus nations in Washington, Richard Marles said he was “very excited” about the progress being made on the security pact.
At a press conference with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, and UK counterpart, John Healy, Marles said:
And we are very excited about the progress that we’re making in relation to Aukus and what we will be talking about today. It’s only six weeks since the president and prime minister of Australia met, where the president invoked us all to move ahead on Aukus full steam ahead. And that really has been something of a motto for the way in which we have been going about our work.
Updated
Severe thunderstorms possible for much of NSW today, including Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and Dubbo
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) just released a forecast showing the possibility of severe thunderstorms across most of the state today.
The forecast extends from the upper-western corner of NSW across to the greater Hunter and down to the Illawarra. Almost the entirety of the state faces the possibility of non-severe thunderstorms.
The hazards of a severe storm include damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall.
We’ll keep you up-to-date as things shift this afternoon.
⛈️Thunderstorm FORECAST for TODAY (11/12):
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 10, 2025
🟡 Severe storms possible: central-west inland, central-east and far northern inland
Hazards: Damaging winds, large hail, and heavy rainfall
🟢 Non-severe storms possible across much of the state
Warnings: https://t.co/odjQDmg8Wq pic.twitter.com/Qdk1gTbSSL
Updated
More on the compromise in NSW over workers’ compensation reforms
Workers suffering psychological injury in the workplace will have their entitlements cut back under a deal that has been reached between the NSW Coalition and Labor.
The new leader of the opposition, Kellie Sloan, has struck a deal with the NSW Labor treasurer to increase the level of whole-of-person impairment from 15% to 25%. But this is less than Labor’s original plan for a figure of 31%.
The Liberals justified their change of heart by saying business needed certainty before Christmas and that the scheme needed to be sustainable.
They have negotiated some changes that they saw will improve the scheme:
iCare premiums frozen at the current rate for 18 months
Improved protections for the most injured workers with an additional 12 months of medical benefits and income support
Increased funding for return-to-work programs, including retraining, mentoring and specialist case workers
Sloane said:
Our consistent position has been that reform should focus on the front end of the scheme, targeting rorts, inefficiencies, and poor return-to-work outcomes that drive premium increases and productivity losses. That remains our position today.
Updated
Australian dollar rises towards 2025 high
The Australian dollar has lifted towards its highest level this year against its American counterpart, after a rate cut in the US.
The value of one Australian dollar traded just below US67c earlier today, just short of its 2025 price high struck in September.
Commonwealth Bank’s currency analysts attributed the overnight rise to the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates.
When a country’s central bank raises interest rates, its currency tends to increase in value.
The US decision to cut rates contrasts with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s recent shift, whereby it has effectively ruled out further rate cuts, and flagged that hikes may be needed in 2026 if recent inflationary pressures prove persistent.
A rising Australian dollar is generally positive for travellers and local shoppers making overseas purchases, but bad for exporters.
By mid morning, the Australian dollar was trading at US66.7c. Its highest point this year was US67.07c.
Updated
Shadow home affairs minister questions Trump’s tourist visa rules
The Trump administration’s plans to require tourists to reveal their social media activity for the past five years is “beyond what a freedom-loving” western democracy would do, the shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, has said.
As reported earlier, the mandatory disclosures would apply to tourists from 42 countries whose nationals are allowed to enter the US without a visa, including Australia.
Speaking on Sky News, Duniam said:
If the US want to impose such a requirement on people who want to go and have a holiday, or a visa in their country, then that, of course, is a matter for them. But it is sort of, I think, going a little beyond what you’d think (a) freedom loving and tolerant western nations would do. But again, just like we don’t accept when they dictate to us what we do under our immigration and border control systems, they can do their own thing too.
Updated
Walter Sofronoff’s legal challenge to finding of ‘serious corrupt conduct’ dismissed
Walter Sofronoff’s case against the ACT integrity commission’s finding that he engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” by leaking his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann to two journalists before it was made public has been dismissed.
In the federal court just now, the judge ruled Sofronoff’s application be dismissed and the costs to be determined on the papers, or in other words, without another court appearance being necessary.
The judgment will be published shortly so we’ll summarise the judge’s reasons in a tick.
Read more here:
Updated
MP says increase in complaints against Nacc commissioner concerning
The chair of parliament’s joint committee for oversight of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Labor MP Kate Thwaites, said during the parliamentary hearing the increase in complaints about possible conflicts of interest related to commission Paul Brereton is concerning.
“It suggests that there is a public perception that the Nacc is not being independent when it does its role,” she said.
Inspector, Gail Furness, said there’s a range of commentary received by her office, covering personal insults to systemic and policy matters:
But generally speaking, the approach of those to me is that their sense of trust and faith, if you like, in the corruption agency, dealing appropriately with defence matters, is diminished by what they see and read about defence connections.
Updated
Nacc commissioner expected to give evidence during parliamentary hearing
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) is facing scrutiny in a parliamentary hearing this morning, with the commissioner, Paul Brereton, expected to give evidence later in the day.
The Nacc’s inspector, Gail Furness, has told MPs that there has been a “significantly greater number” of complaints about perceived conflicts of interest related to Brereton’s role this financial year.
Before 30 June, Furness said about 30 complaints had been made about Brereton. Since 1 July, about 90 more have been received, covering his connections with the defence force, his consulting work for the Inspector-General of the Australian defence force, and about procurement of lawyers assisting the corruption watchdog.
Brereton has faced criticism for his continued involvement in the army reserves, including for assistance for the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry, and over disclosures of his role through the Nacc.
Brereton has previously argued he has appropriately managed any potential conflicts of interest in his role.
Furness said the increase in complaints was not surprising given media reporting about Brereton.
“So now it is a significant component of the complaints I have,” she said.
Furness said about 40 other complaints have been received, including on matters the Nacc chose not to investigate and timeframes for ongoing investigations.
Updated
Greg Lynn’s legal team, including barristers Dermot Dann KC and Michael McGrath, left court without commenting on the possibility that Lynn may apply for bail.
Lynn’s son did not comment to the media.
Det Sgt Brett Florence, the police informant in the case, did not speak about the verdict outside court, but asked media to respect the Clay and Hill families.
“If everyone can please leave the families alone, they’re devastated,” he said.
Victorian students wake to Atar results
Pawan Cooray “didn’t get much sleep last night” as he anxiously awaited receiving his Atar score. On Thursday morning, the 18-year-old Nossal High school student woke to find there was nothing to worry about: he had received a near-perfect score of 99.9, and was dux of his class.
I was hoping for an Atar of around 99.7 so I’m very happy. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do my best, and my tip for other students is to have a clear, realistic goal that you will do anything to achieve.
Pawan said his highlights for the year was spending time with friends and competing in basketball and soccer. He’s already looking forward to the 2026 Fifa World Cup and is hoping Argentina can win back-to-back trophies with his favourite player Lionel Messi at the helm.
Principal, Tracey Mackin, attributed the south-east Melbourne school’s highest median Atar since 2015 to the dedication of teachers and tremendous support from wellbeing staff. The school’s median Atar was 94.4, and 73.5% of year 12 students achieved an ATAR above 95.
Macklin said the combination of wellbeing and learning was “absolutely core”, while the students also needed to take credit.
They were very driven and when you put a group of students like this together, they encourage each other to do well.
Updated
The reasons for the verdict are yet to be published.
Justice Emerton said that without prejudicing any possible further applications for bail, Greg Lynn would be remanded in custody until an appearance before the supreme court on 28 January.
Shortly after Emerton delivered the appeal verdict, Lynn stood in the dock and turned to smile at one of his sons, who was in court.
His son was sitting immediately behind Emma Davies, Clay’s daughter, who was inconsolable after the verdict was delivered.
Updated
Greg Lynn appeal: high country murder conviction overturned
Former pilot Greg Lynn has had his conviction for murdering an elderly camper in the Victorian high country overturned in a stunning decision made by the state’s highest court.
Read more here:
Updated
Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan, including Australians
Tourists to the United States would have to reveal their social media activity from the last five years, under new Trump administration plans.
The mandatory new disclosures would apply to the 42 countries whose nationals are now permitted to enter the US without a visa, including longtime US allies Britain, France, Australia, Germany and Japan.
In a notice published on Tuesday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said it would also require any telephone numbers used by visitors over the same period, and any email addresses used in the last decade, as well as face, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometrics.
It would also ask for the names, addresses, birthdates and birthplaces of family members, including children.
Read more here:
Updated
Households need $112,000 a year to afford median rental house, report finds
AAP reports that, to afford the median rental house, a household must earn more than $112,000 a year – a 51% increase compared to 2019 – according to a report released by property listings marketplace Domain on Thursday.
Before the pandemic, the income required to fall below the standard benchmark of rental stress – spending more than 30% of income on rent – for a median house was $74,533.
Rents have since outpaced growth in incomes, making large swathes of the nation unaffordable for many renters.
The data demonstrated a particular challenge for people on a sole income, with individual earnings sitting about $80,200 on average.
Unsurprisingly, Sydney’s rental market is the most challenging, with $135,200 a year required to afford a median house and $130,000 for a typical unit.
Updated
Labor MP criticises death of homeless mother revealed by Guardian
MP Joan Pease has criticised the tragic death of a homeless woman revealed by the Guardian as a “failure of empathy”.
Tammie Thrower was one of 21 Brisbane residents known to have died in palliative care while homeless, according to homeless service Micah Projects. She was one of Pease’s constituents.
The Labor MP told parliament last night that her office and a string of housing and homeless agencies had done everything they could to find her somewhere to die in peace.
“Despite the compassion of our frontline workers, no home was secured,” Pease said. “No stability, no dignity and instead of resting Tammie spent her final months searching for a place to die. This is not an isolated failure.”
Pease said there were about 56,000 people on the social housing waiting list in Queensland, a record.
“In my decade as a member of parliament and in the prior 10 years as electorate officer, I have never ever seen the crisis this dire,” she said.
“Tammie’s story is not about bureaucracy; it is about humility and humanity. She did not need another referral, Tammie needed a home. This is a moral failure – not just a policy failure but of empathy”.
Updated
High country killer Greg Lynn appeal verdict to be handed down
A former pilot convicted of murdering an elderly camper in the Victorian high country will find out on Thursday morning if his bid to overturn his conviction or have his sentence reduced will be successful.
Greg Lynn, 59, was found guilty in June last year of murdering grandmother Carol Clay but acquitted of murdering her fellow camper and lover Russell Hill.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for murdering the 73-year-old.
The pair were killed while they were camping in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.
The Victorian court of appeal is expected to hand down its verdict in Lynn’s appeal at 9.15am.
You can read more about Lynn’s grounds for appeal here:
Updated
Queensland repeals renewables targets, despite last-ditch tactic
Queensland parliament has voted to kill its legislated renewables targets, despite a last-minute attempt to rename it the “Propping Up Coal and Delaying Renewables Amendment Act 2025”.
The bill also repeals a development approval for a windfarm near Gympie, the Forest windfarm. It replaces Labor’s targets with the LNP’s energy policy, which would extend the operation of the state’s government-owned coal generators past their planned closure dates.
Maiwar MP Michael Berkman moved amendments to rename the bill, saying the government was “pouring literally billions of dollars into propping up ageing coal-fired power stations, keeping them on life support potentially beyond 2050”:
The LNP is pitching their roadmap as pragmatism but I am pretty sure pouring billions more taxpayer dollars into keeping ageing coal-fired power stations open for longer while delaying the transition to renewable energy is not pragmatism, it is plain stupidity.
During debate, assistant minister Bryson Head told the parliament that he loved coal and accused Labor and the Greens of “propping up renewables”.
“The beauty about our plan is that the cheapest form of power will ultimately win … the beauty about a free market is that the cheapest and best value good always wins,” he said.
Berkman’s amendment was shot down and the bill passed just before 9.30pm, both on party lines.
Updated
Sloane says she needed to make ‘pragmatic decisions’ on workers’ compensation
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she needed to make “pragmatic decisions” on a compromise agreement on workers’ compensation with the Minns government.
As shadow health minister, Sloane described Labor’s proposed changes to the threshold for psychological injuries, or whole person impairment (WPI), as “nasty”. Today, she tells 2GB the change of Liberal leadership provided “an opportunity to roll up my sleeves and have a reset on that relationship” with the government.
A parliamentary inquiry heard that most workers who are assessed as having a WPI of 21% or higher were “not fit to work in any capacity”. The final report claimed the government’s proposal to raise the threshold from 15% to 31% left workers at serious risk of self-harm or suicide.
Sloane pays tribute to the “really principled, ethical and evidence-based campaign” the Coalition fought against Labor’s proposed changes under former leader Mark Speakman but says, six months after Labor first sought to pass their legislation, “it has come to a point where we need to make pragmatic decisions”. She does not provide any detail on the compromise but says:
It will secure much-needed certainty for businesses across New South Wales, for charities who’ve been concerned about increasing premiums. It will secure additional rights for injured workers.
Updated
NSW opposition reaches compromise with government on controversial workers’ compensation reforms
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she has negotiated a compromise agreement with the Minns government on controversial changes to workers’ compensation reforms, amid concerns about spiralling insurance costs for businesses before the summer break.
The Coalition previously had rejected a change to raise the threshold at which workers could claim compensation for psychological injury, known as “whole of person impairment”, or WPI, from 15% to 30%, which could have excluded hundreds of workers from the scheme.
Speaking to 2GB just now, Sloane said she had been negotiating with the NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, since she became leader last month, and they had now reached a deal which would “secure much needed certainty for businesses across NSW”.
We’ve reached a position that is not going to please everyone. The government didn’t get what they want. I didn’t get what I wanted. But we’ll have a [compromise].
It’s been clear to me this has gone on for way too long, that we cannot have a situation where businesses are heading into Christmas wondering if they need to lay off staff. We also can’t have a situation where injured workers are put on the scrapheap.
The premier’s office has confirmed to Guardian Australia that a deal has been reached. Sloane is holding a press conference at 10am this morning to provide details on the agreement, while Mookhey is also expected to speak later today.
We’ll bring you more detail later.
Updated
Lidia Thorpe says government needs to take Indigenous deaths in custody more seriously
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has said the federal government needs to do more to address Indigenous deaths in custody and stop “handballing” to states and territories after a damning report found more Indigenous people died in custody last year than any year since 1980.
Thorpe spoke to ABC News this morning, saying the recommendations from a royal commission completed in 1991 have still not been implemented. She said:
There’s no appetite at the federal level to do anything about it. They continue to handball to states and territories but we need national oversight, we need a whole unit … to look at these recommendations and start implementing them.
States and territories are using us to score political points coming up to elections and scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to so-called ‘being tough on crime’.
We need action, we need the prime minister to come out and take this seriously.
The AIC’s real-time dashboard shows the current number of deaths since the royal commission, as of today, is 617.
Updated
Record number of Victorian students to get Atar results today
From 7am on Thursday, a record 49,310 Victorian students will receive their tertiary admission scores, an increase of 1,849 on the previous year, AAP reports.
Christmas will come early for the 42 newly graduated students who achieved the perfect score of 99.95. The average Atar for this year’s students is 69.48, slightly lower than the 69.52 average of the 2024 cohort.
Boys scored an average of 68.60, girls achieved 70.20, and the average Atar for gender-neutral students is 72.40.
More Victorians are also pursuing tertiary study with a 3% increase in total applications for courses starting in 2025, compared to the same time last year.
Graduates will receive their first round of offers on 23 December, followed by further offers in January and February.
Students in South Australia and the Northern Territory will receive their Atar results on 15 December, followed by Tasmania on 17 December, NSW and the ACT on 18 December and WA on 19 December.
Updated
Remains found in search for missing Melbourne toddler
Detectives have uncovered suspected human remains as they investigate the disappearance of a toddler more than a decade ago, Victoria police say.
According to a statement released by police on Wednesday night, the child disappeared in 2014 but was not reported missing at the time.
The child was from Brookfield, in Melbourne’s outer west, where a property was searched on Monday. The Victoria police statement said:
A preliminary excavation of the area uncovered the yet to be formally identified human remains around 1.30pm.
The coroner has been advised and a postmortem will occur in due course.
Police said the missing persons squad would now assume control of the investigation.
The force also said that the current residents of the property, which was searched on Monday, had no knowledge or connection to the investigation, or to the people who lived at the property at the time.
Updated
Good morning, and happy Thursday. Nick Visser here to take the reins. Let’s jump in.
Aukus meetings begin in Washington
Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian defence counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as Aukus.
“Fantastic to be meeting today with Secretary Hegseth and with [British defence minister] John Healey,” the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, told reporters.
Our focus was very much on delivery. We’ve now seen reviews in each of our three countries, as our governments have come into power. They have been done and the absolute focus, in respect of all of our three countries, was to harness our systems to deliver Aukus pillar one to make sure that we’re doing everything at full speed ahead – full steam ahead, as President Donald Trump has given us this motto – in terms of delivering on submarines.
On pillar 2, we spoke about how we can make sure we have all the momentum that we need to see that cooperation around advanced technology. So, a really important meeting today. There’s a lot of energy and momentum around the delivery of Aukus but a very significant meeting, particularly in the context of it being Secretary Hegseth’s first.
The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the US national security interest.
It includes the sale of three US-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.
Read Ben Doherty’s analysis of where the agreement currently stands:
Updated
Treasury's optimistic forecast on business investment
The Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
National accounts figures showed a surge in companies’ spending in the three months to September, which the Australia Bureau of Statistics attributed to “major datacentre investment across NSW and Victoria”.
The updated Treasury forecasts show business investment is expected to grow by 3% in 2025-26, against the pre-election forecast of 1.5%, before returning to the anticipated pace of 1.5% in the next financial year.
“Construction of datacentres has accelerated and the accompanying fit-out with equipment has increased six-fold in the past five years,” the documents will say.
Non-mining investment growth has also been substantially upgraded, from a forecast 1% in this financial year to 4% in the latest estimates.
Jim Chalmers said the midyear economic and fiscal outlook would “show that the private sector recovery that we’ve been planning for and preparing for is really taking shape”.
Updated
Sarah Malick has also written about the anniversary of the riots. She was a young journalism student when she watched news footage of hundreds of young white men storming the beach.
Geographically, the Arab lads of Bankstown and Shire boys of Cronulla were neighbours, but culturally the consequences of infringing West Side Story-beach lines were clear. The 2005 beach riots made international headlines. Southern Cross-tattooed patriots marked their territory, scrawling “100% Aussie pride” in the sand and popularising the slogan: “You flew here, we grew here.”
For a young feminist Muslim woman from western Sydney who had just adopted hijab after moving out of home, it highlighted every political nerve I balanced on like a high-wire artist.
The myth of the riots, that the beach was not for people like her, is one she’s pushing back on. Read her reflections here:
Today, 11 December, marks 20 years since the Cronulla riots. Daisy Dumas recently looked at whether attitudes have changed in the decades since.
Some say Australia still has not tackled racism, and fear social media is a more powerful tool than text messages and talkback radio that stirred up Sydney rioters in 2005. Read more here:
Victorian students receive VCE results and Atar scores
Ethan Bundle-Bell is among more than 65,000 Victorian students who will graduate with their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) today.
At the same time, Victorian students will become the first in the country to receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings (Atar) scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Bundle-Bell, a Gunditjmara and Butchulla man, is the first in his family to complete year 12 after he undertook the vocational major program at Braybrook Secondary College in Melbourne’s west. The program is a practical and alternative pathway for students to secure a high school certificate.
While the cohort does not receive an Atar score, they do receive their VCE and a statement of results.
They account for 9,777 of the record 65,586 students graduating with their VCEs this year, according to the state government.
You can read more about Bundle-Bell’s alternative pathway to VCE here:
More than 15,300 students received at least one study score of 40 or higher, while 664 students have received at least one maximum study score of 50.
Additionally, more than 1,150 students received the Victorian Pathways Certificate, which prepared students for future studies or entry into the workforce.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
Victorian students’ Atar and study scores will be available online from 7am, marking the end of more than 13 years of schooling. They will be the first to receive their scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Police in Melbourne have uncovered suspected human remains as they investigate the disappearance of a toddler more than a decade ago. We’ll have more details in a moment and will bring any updates as we have them.
And the Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
We have more details, and there’s more economic news at 11.30am with the latest unemployment figures.
