Good morning. Property prices are falling at rates comparable to the onset of the global financial crisis or the 1980s downturn as interest rate rises bite. Australia faces an “alarming” gas shortfall. And the swimmer Emma KcKeon is celebrating her 11th Commonwealth Games gold medal – a tally no other athlete has managed before her.
Five of Australia’s eight capitals are reporting falls in property prices, with Sydney down 2.2% and Melbourne retreating 1.5%, and prices in Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart also starting to slide. “We’re definitely seeing housing prices falling quite rapidly at the national level, on par with the GFC,” said Tim Lawless, research director of the property data firm CoreLogic. In Sydney, values are down 5.2% from January’s peak, or deeper than the 3.9% drop at the start of the GFC in 2008. “Even going back to the early 1980s, it wasn’t going down as rapidly as this,” he said.
Australia is facing a gas shortfall next year unless the big three exporters keep some of their uncontracted liquefied natural gas for the domestic market, the competition watchdog has warned. In its gas inquiry 2017-25 interim report released today, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the east coast gas market was facing a gas shortfall of about 10% of annual domestic demand, “signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security”. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, called conditions in the east coast gas market “alarming”. And all future gas and coal projects would be assessed on whether they would make climate change worse under legislation the Greens will introduce into the Senate, as support for the “climate trigger” grows among those crucial to passing Labor’s climate bill.
Dominic Perrottet has dumped his small businesses and fair trading minister, Eleni Petinos, after allegations of bullying were levelled against her in the media last week. The NSW premier released a short statement late yesterday declaring that Petinos’ “service as a minister will cease with immediate effect, and I will write to the Governor in this regard tomorrow”. Petinos has denied the allegations but said yesterday she was sorry if she unintentionally offended anyone or made them uncomfortable.
Australia
Providers in the welfare-to-work system are making lucrative earnings by enrolling clients into their own taxpayer-funded programs. Insiders say agencies often compel jobseekers into poor quality or irrelevant courses.
Victoria’s public hospitals would not be allowed to stop doctors from providing abortions under a bill being introduced to state parliament this week by the crossbench MP Fiona Patten, who says “imposed religious faith has no place in the public health system”.
Advocates for blind and low-vision people will take the NSW Electoral Commission to Australia’s human rights watchdog, accusing it of unlawful discrimination after the removal of an accessible voting platform.
Teenagers are being taught about healthy relationships and respecting women. But what about the rest of the community?
The world
Video footage of a Nigerian street seller being attacked and killed in broad daylight in Italy has sparked a row over far-right parties’ xenophobic tactics in the country’s election campaign.
A section of silos damaged in the 2020 Beirut explosion has collapsed after a weeks-long fire triggered by grains that had fermented and ignited in the summer heat.
Some classic Alpine hiking routes have been put off-limits due to little snow cover and glaciers melting at an alarming rate in Europe’s heatwaves.
Wildfires in California and Montana have exploded in size amid windy, hot conditions, forcing evacuation orders.
Recommended reads
From the release of “docusoap” Sylvania Waters in 1992 to producing the most outrageous international edition of Married at First Sight, Australia has played a significant role in shaping reality television. But in between, there have been some less successful attempts. From the making of a Neighbours soap star’s debut album to a competition inspired by Princess Mary’s love story, here are the most ridiculous Australian reality shows cancelled over the past 20 years.
“If we allow Covid to overwhelm Australia’s health system, medical care will suffer,” writes Stephen Parnis. “After two years of severe restrictions, fear, uncertainty and trauma, many Australians desperately want to believe that the pandemic is over … I can see how seductive it is to adopt an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to the Covid nightmare. But wishing the pandemic to be over does not make it so, and while we observe the intersection of community fatigue and political hesitation to act on some aspects of the medical advice, we are now facing the consequences of a Covid wave that is the most severe in Australia to date.”
There are plenty of binge-worthy shows and movies hitting streaming services this month, including A League of Their Own, The Bear and Game Night. Here’s a rundown of the must-sees.
Listen
After the chaos of Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s appointment as US president was supposed to bring a return to normal: a safe, competent politician who knows how to get things done. But more than two years since he came to office, the US is moving from one crisis to the next. In this episode of Full Story, the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, tells Michael Safi that November’s midterm elections may be pivotal in deciding the president’s future.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Swimmer Emma McKeon has written her name into the history books as the most successful athlete in Commonwealth Games history after winning her 11th gold medal in the women’s 50 metre freestyle.
England’s women have been crowned European 2022 champions for the first time after Chloe Kelly’s goal in the second half of extra time seized a 2-1 win, enough to beat Germany in the final at Wembley.
English cyclist Matt Walls was involved in a terrifying accident at the Commonwealth Games yesterday when he was catapulted over the barriers and into the crowd. The Isle of Man rider Matthew Bostock and Canada’s Derek Gee were also taken to hospital, while two spectators were treated for minor injuries.
Media roundup
Senior NSW Liberals believe the trade minister, Stuart Ayres, should stand aside pending the outcome of two inquiries into John Barilaro’s appointment to a US trade job, as a new cache of previously secret documents relating to the decision is uncovered, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Ayres has insisted the appointment was a public service decision in which he could not intervene. The epidemiologist Prof Jodie McVernon has told the Age that if it were possible for people to work from home during the current Covid wave, it was a “sensible thing to do”.
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