What we learned: Wednesday, 29 October
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks for reading along; Krishani Dhanji will be back first thing tomorrow to wrap up the sitting week.
Until then, here are the major developments from today:
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has blamed the end of state energy subsidies for the rise in quarterly inflation. The data, released today, shows inflation jumped 3.2% in the year to September, compared to a rise of 2.1% in the year to the June quarter.
Young girls are being “hunted” and “stalked” by sadistic “crimefluencers” who are mostly young men, the new federal police chief has warned.
Queensland’s education minister has said the 140 high school students across the state who spent their final weeks in high school preparing for an exam on the wrong Caesar will not be asked for what they have not prepared.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a new legal challenge against the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, over his approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects.
Convicted rapist Gareth Ward was due to be sentenced a short time ago, with media gathering inside the courtroom for the 2pm judgment and his two victims reportedly joining via video link.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, says the opposition leader had a “strong point to make” when taking aim at Anthony Albanese over wearing a Joy Division T-shirt.
And Anthony Albanese has touched down in Seoul, South Korea for the APEC summit.
Updated
Queensland treasurer says credit rating downgrade ‘inevitable’ and lays blame on Labor predecessor
The Queensland treasurer, David Janetzki, has told parliament a downgrade of the state’s credit rating is “inevitable” due to poor budgetary performance.
Earlier this month, the rating agency S&P Global affirmed a negative outlook for Queensland’s state government, forecasting that the state would owe a debt to revenue ratio of 150% by 2028, up from 100% in 2023, due to a historically large infrastructure investment partly as a result of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Janetzki blamed his predecessor Cameron Dick for a $5.38bn deficit, but said the budget had since improved and the state would now run a deficit of just $4.43bn:
Those opposite [the Labor opposition] squandered revenue rivers of gold with community safety, health and housing outcomes going backwards on their watch.
Mr. Speaker, Labor’s fiscal vandalism has made a credit rating downgrade highly likely, even inevitable. Their debt, deficit and deception legacy will take time to fix this term and the next.
Updated
