What we learned, Tuesday 1 September
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for today.
Before we go, let’s look at the top headlines:
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The number of Australians missing in the Nepal-Tibet flash flooding disaster fell from 43 to 42 after one of the people unaccounted for made contact from Tibet.
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Members of Melbourne’s Nepali and Tibetan communities gathered in the city’s Federation Square last night to remember the victims of the flood disaster.
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The typical capital city home price has slipped back below $1m as buyers fail to show up in a “buyers’ market”, property data firm Cotality has reported.
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The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, has hit back at Pauline Hanson for her criticism of Anthony Albanese after he called One Nation “dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest”.
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Year 12 students in NSW will be limited to just one take-home assessment worth no more than 15% of the school-based assessment mark for each HSC course, under new rules to combat the use of AI announced this morning.
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China has promised “consequences” for Taiwan’s presence at the Pacific Islands Forum opening ceremony, which put the two rivals in the same room.
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South Australia has asked the federal government to amend the criminal code to remove legal uncertainty around the use of telehealth for voluntary assisted dying services.
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A Victorian police officer has been charged with assaulting a teenager following an investigation by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog into alleged force used during an arrest in Melbourne’s west in October 2025.
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SBS has secured the rights to the 2030 Fifa World Cup, ensuring the event will be broadcast in Australia for free once again after a hugely successful event this year.
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Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif has withdrawn from a scheduled video appearance at the NSW Icac later this week, just days after the corruption watchdog announced he would appear.
Thanks for joining us, see you tomorrow!
Updated
‘Justice is served’: Family relief over killer’s guilt
The family of a 16-year-old boy murdered in a shopping centre stabbing are relieved justice has been served, AAP reports.
Oscar Hamilton was killed in September 2024 at Woodgrove shopping centre in Melton, north-west of Melbourne.
His killer, now aged 17, had denied he was guilty of murder, claiming he only wanted to confront the other boy rather than seriously hurt him.
But a Victorian supreme court jury on Tuesday returned its guilty verdict after only two hours of deliberation.
The teen looked down as he learned his fate, while Oscar’s family and friends cried.
Outside court, they said they were deeply relieved at the jury’s decision. A relative told reporters:
Justice is being served.
While this verdict brings a sense of legal closure, it doesn’t lessen the profound grief and the emptiness we carry every day.
“[Oscar’s] life was tragically cut short and we will spend the rest of our lives honouring his memory.
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‘I have no recollection’: Ed Husic says memory affected after car crash
Labor MP Ed Husic has recalled the aftermath of a car crash involving a truck and another car travelling on Sydney’s M7 motorway in his first media interview since his return to work.
The incident on 4 August happened at Dean Park, as the Chifley MP was travelling home from his electorate office at about 6.20pm, according to a spokesperson.
Husic was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to Westmead hospital for assessment and treatment, and was discharged the following day.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Husic said he has no memory of the accident.
I have no recollection. I am completely blanked of my memory of midday, the day on which the accident occurred, until I regained consciousness in the emergency department. I’ve been trying to piece together parts of the day.
I have to literally go through toll receipts, messages, photos, all those types of things to try and work it out.
I’m really grateful, I am very, very lucky. I’m very fortunate that I’ve been able to walk away from that. I’m fortunate I’ve been able to recover as quickly as I can, and I put that down to the tremendous public health network we have in our state.
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Pauline Hanson holds fundraiser at Melbourne fine dining restaurant
One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has just wrapped up a fundraiser at Melbourne fine dining restaurant Vue de Monde.
As we reported over the weekend, One Nation charged a group of business leaders $2,000 to attend the event “deliberately small” gathering of 18 in Melbourne’s CBD ahead of the November state election. It’s understood some guests paid as much as $5,000 to be seated next to the Queensland senator.
Guests included former Liberal party donor and the state branch treasurer, Andrew Abercrombie; Kai Cantwell, the head of the gambling industry’s lobbying body, Responsible Wagering Australia; and former Liberal turned Libertarian and now One Nation member Peter Angelico.
One Nation’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, was the first to arrive, joined by the party’s state secretary, Bianca Colecchia.
If the fundraiser is for the Victorian party, as suggested by the authorisation recently added to the event’s invite, the party will have 21 days to declare the donations of those who attended.
But as we reported, it has only declared one donation this financial year:
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Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif withdraws from NSW Icac appearance
Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif has withdrawn from a scheduled video appearance at the NSW Icac later this week, just days after the corruption watchdog announced he would appear.
As evidence from witness Charles Perrottet concluded this afternoon, counsel assisting the commission, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, said:
Mr Nassif was scheduled to give evidence in this public inquiry via video link this Friday. However, he has provided the commission with a medical certificate, and his appearance has now been rescheduled to later in the public inquiry.
It comes less than a week after Icac announced that Nassif, who fled Australia for rural Lebanon in 2022 after a NSW parliamentary inquiry which preceded Icac’s investigation, would appear.
Icac is investigating the allegation that Liberal figures including Charles Perrottet anticipated receiving $2m in prohibited political donations from Nassif in exchange for political outcomes that would benefit his developments.
Perrottet, who has been asked this afternoon about a 2021 dinner meeting with Nassif at Nobu in Melbourne, has denied he ever asked Nassif for payments for political outcomes, but said he would lie and add a “political flavour” to updates to the developer to keep him on side.
Nassif has previously denied any wrongdoing.
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Australian missing in Himalayan flood disaster ‘safely located’ in Tibet
Authorities have located an Australian who had been unaccounted for after deadly flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border.
The department of foreign affairs and trade (Dfat) has been in contact with the Australian, who is in Tibet and is receiving consular support.
The news comes days after another Australian, Cara Severino, was safely located over the weekend.
At least 42 Australians remain unaccounted for in the region.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Australian officials are continuing to work with local authorities and partners to locate and assist those still missing. Wong said:
It’s hard to imagine the sense of relief their loved ones must be feeling after what will have been an incredibly harrowing few days.
Despite this second piece of welcome news in recent days, we must remain realistic about the days ahead.
Around 4,000 people remain missing across the affected areas, and the conditions facing search and recovery teams are extremely challenging. Communications remain difficult, infrastructure has been destroyed and many areas are still difficult to reach.
As each day passes, our grave concerns for those still unaccounted for inevitably grow.
Our thoughts remain firmly with all those waiting for news of family and friends, and with the search and rescue teams working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
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That’s all from me. Achol Arok will take the blog from here. Enjoy the first day of spring.
SBS secures broadcast rights to 2030 Fifa World Cup
SBS has secured the rights to the 2030 Fifa World Cup, ensuring the event will be broadcast in Australia for free once again after a hugely successful event this year.
The next men’s World Cup will celebrate the competition’s 100th anniversary and be hosted jointly by Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
“SBS is without question the home of ‘the World Game’ in Australia and we are so pleased to retain the exclusive rights for 2030,” the SBS managing director, Jane Palfreyman, said. “The FIFA World Cup is one of the few sporting events that truly brings Australians together across all cultures, languages and communities.”
In 2030 audiences will once again be able to experience every match live and free on SBS. Securing the FIFA World Cup 2030TM continues the important partnership between SBS and FIFA that spans more than four decades and reflects our longstanding commitment to making the world’s biggest sporting moments accessible to all Australians.
The 2026 World Cup reached more than 18 million Australians and became the most successful World Cup coverage in SBS’s history.
Next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil will be broadcast on Channel Ten and Paramount+.
Updated
Quest to protect rare parrot from deadly bird flu
Another bird story to follow on the good news below: A vaccination program to help protect a critically endangered parrot from deadly H5 bird flu has begun in earnest ahead of its summer breeding season.
AAP reports the migratory orange-bellied parrot, which has a wild population of 90-100, was considered a priority species by the federal government after the strain’s arrival in Australia.
Researchers have raised specific concerns about the risk of H5 to the parrot due to its loss of genetic diversity over the past century and its potentially weak immunity.
Its wild population is propped up by a captive breeding program housed at Five Mile beach outside Hobart. Veterinarians at the facility have started vaccinating 350 of the captive birds, including juveniles who will later go free in Tasmania to join the wild population as part of annual releases.
Orange-bellied parrots, which are about the size of a budgie, only breed in Tasmania in summer and spend the winter in coastal Victoria and South Australia.
Their population dropped to just 17 wild individuals in 2016.
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‘It’s fantastic’: 90 kākāpō chicks swell population of the world’s heaviest parrot
The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.
Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began.
“The last time the population is thought to have exceeded 300 birds may have been as long as 75 years ago,” said Deidre Vercoe, the conservation department’s kākāpō recovery operations manager.
We had a four-year gap between breeding seasons, so it’s fantastic to finally see the population increase after all that time.
Read more here:
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Sarah Hanson-Young urges parliament to take up VAD reform bill
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said calls from South Australia to reform the use of telehealth to access voluntary assisted dying (VAD) services amounted to a need for “crucial reform” that cannot wait.
As reported in the blog earlier, South Australia has asked the federal government to amend the criminal code to remove legal uncertainty around the use of telehealth for VAD services. Labor’s national conference recently voted to repeal a law that prevents telehealth for VAD consults, but the prime minister has not supported the idea.
Hanson-Young said access to VAD is a “right every Australian should have access to”, adding in a statement:
Voluntary assisted dying is legal in every state and territory, yet too many Australians living with terminal illness are denied access to VAD advice and care because they are blocked from speaking to their doctor on the phone.
The senator has introduced a bill to address telehealth access:
The Prime Minister must not let his personal opinion to compassionate end-of-life healthcare stand in the way of a conscience vote. We cannot afford to treat voluntary assisted dying as a luxury for the lucky few who live close to healthcare infrastructure.
Parliament could fix this by the end of the year. All it takes is the political will to work together and put patients and their families first.
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Hanson accuses Labor minister of ‘victim-blaming’ and demands apology over comments
Pauline Hanson has accused a senior Labor minister of “victim-blaming” and demanded an apology over suggesting One Nation is politically dangerous and divisive.
For the second day in a row, the Queensland senator has used social media to hit back at the Albanese government after the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said One Nation was dangerous and had platformed extremists.
Rowland, earlier this morning, told ABC radio:
I don’t wish ill on Ms Hanson in a physical way. I don’t wish any politician any ill will, irrespective of their political persuasion. But I think sometimes when comments like this are made, one needs to look at oneself and one’s behaviour and the kinds of standards that they accept into their own party and their own ideology.
Hanson demanded the federal first law officer retract the comments and apologise, claiming Rowland seemed to “excuse the violent threats directed against” the party.
Millions of Australians support One Nation. They are not extremists. They are not dangerous. And ministers should not use language that encourages others to treat them as if they are. No minister, especially the attorney general and first law officer of the country, should suggest there is any justification for threats against Australians because of the political party they support. Labor should be asking why Australians are abandoning them for One Nation, not demonising those Australians for how they vote and putting them in danger.
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Health and advocacy groups call for community pill testing in NSW
Peak health and harm reduction groups including the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, and Unharm have written to the NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the NSW health minister, Ryan Park, calling for pill-testing services at music festivals to resume, and to be made permanent.
The groups also want testing to be offered in the community, and within the next six months.
A statewide pill testing trial at 12 NSW festivals ended six months ago, and there is currently no government-funded pill testing service in the state.
CEO of Unharm, Dr Will Tregoning, said:
This is as the NSW Government’s own alerts increasingly show dangerous opioids like nitazenes are turning up in the community, in counterfeit pharmaceuticals, ecstasy, heroin, cocaine and vapes.
On multiple occasions in the past two years, people in NSW overdosed on an opioid they never meant to take. These happened in the community, not at a festival. While we know that festival drug checking works and should resume in NSW, festivals cover only a narrow slice of drug use.
The ACT and Victoria have both moved beyond festivals to fund community drug checking. The letter called on the NSW government to do the same.
“Drug checking at festivals reaches people who can get to a festival. It cannot reach the people dying at home,” the letter says.
We ask you to commit to a next phase of drug checking in NSW that includes community-based services, designed for the communities they serve and independently evaluated from the start.
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Victoria police officer charged with assaulting teenager after anti-corruption investigation
A Victorian police officer has been charged with assaulting a teenager following an investigation by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog into alleged force used during an arrest in Melbourne’s west in October 2025.
The probe investigated allegations that the leading senior constable unlawfully assaulted the teenager, who was under 18 at the time, during an arrest in Braybrook.
The officer is accused of unlawfully striking the teen with a baton multiple times and standing on the minor while they were being restrained on the ground.
The senior constable has been charged by the anti-corruption body with two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and two counts of unlawful assault.
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PM bats off questions about China’s influence at Pacific Islands forum
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has shut down questions about China’s “bullying” tactics against Palau on the eve of the meeting.
On Monday night the Chinese envoy threatened there would be “consequences” if Taiwan officials, who had been invited, attended the forum.
When asked if the tensions had been a distraction, Albanese repeatedly dodged questions.
I’m not distracted, I’m focused on members of the Pacific family and that is precisely the meetings that I have scheduled here … I’m Australia’s spokesperson and I speak on behalf of Australia.
When asked if there had been any “outside interference”, the PM said he was “concentrating on the Pacific Islands Forum here”.
– Piper Duffy
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Albanese dismisses concerns over no-shows at Pacific Islands Forum
Anthony Albanese remains positive despite several countries pulling out of this year’s Pacific Islands Forum in Palau.
Leaders from Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati all pulled out ahead of the meeting.
Speaking to journalists on the ground a little earlier alongside the energy minister, Chris Bowen, and the minister for Pacific Island affairs, Pat Conroy, the PM instead spruiked the bilateral agreements Labor has struck with Pacific nations.
From time to time, the Pacific Islands Forum has had issues with people not participating. Everyone’s participating at this forum … There is a presence here, and everyone is focused on outcomes at this forum.
Albanese says climate change, security and transnational crime are the big-ticket items at this year’s forum.
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Beetaloo gas set to flow in NT, despite environmental concerns
The first gas from the controversial Beetaloo Basin fracking projects in Australia’s north is set to flow to homes and businesses in a territory touting its vast energy supply potential, AAP reports.
The basin is a major onshore shale gas resource in the Northern Territory’s Sturt Plateau, about 500km south-east of Darwin.
On Tuesday, first gas is set to flow, with more than 40 terajoules a day going into the territory’s gas grid. The territory uses about 60 terajoules a day of gas at peak levels for power generation and mines.
The NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, said:
Every time Territorians flick on a light switch, or pull a cold beer from the fridge, they’ll see the benefits of the Beetaloo Basin at work.
Beetaloo fracking, construction of pipelines to get the gas to market, and using the gas to power AI datacentres have all been vigorously opposed by environmental groups. Fracking could see up to 6,000 wells drilled through underground water supplies, which supply 90% of the territory’s water needs, Environment Centre NT acting chief executive, Bree Ahrens, said:
Water is life in the territory and we are calling for a ban on fracking and AI datacentres before it’s too late.
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Police find parents of toddler found wandering Sydney street alone at 2am
NSW police have located the parents of a toddler found wandering the road alone just after 2am this morning.
Official initially issued a public appeal for information after the young child was found in Ramsgate, a suburb in southern Sydney, without his parents or carers. He was thought to be about two years old.
Police said just before 8am that his parents had been found. An official said:
Police would like to thank everyone who shared our appeal. Inquiries are continuing into the incident.
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Continuing on from the last post …
Dowling, who told estimates she first met Hutley when she came to the bar in 1997, said she knew “most of the senior members of the inner bar after 30 years in Sydney”. Asked if she and Hutley were friends, she said:
I know him professionally and socially and have utter respect for his professionalism, and if Mr Hutley considered that he had some kind of conflict that meant that he shouldn’t accept that from the attorney general, I have total confidence that he would have informed the attorney general of that.
She said her signing a statement of support for Hutley’s candidacy for the NSW bar council in 2015 did not give rise to a conflict, saying she was one of 26 other barristers who signed the letter “ten years ago”.
She said none of the names were interstate lawyers. Asked if it would have been more appropriate for someone from interstate to write the review, she said:
It’s a matter for the attorney general whom he seeks advice from.
On Monday morning, Daley told estimates he rejected the suggestion that Dowling and Hutley were friends. He said he had “full and absolute confidence” in Dowling and that Hutley’s review had provided “an objective and expert analysis of [the report’s] shortcomings”.
NSW state’s top prosecutor discussed barristers to review findings against her office
The NSW director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling, says she discussed a list of barristers to lead an independent review into controversial findings against her office with the NSW attorney general, before he appointed someone she had known “professionally and socially” for nearly 30 years.
Last month, a parliamentary committee voted 4-3 to find Dowling had given false evidence about the pitching of a story about an Indigenous child performing an acknowledgement of country at a sentencing hearing to radio station 2GB. Dowling admitted her office had pitched the story, but denied she had authorised it.
Daley and the DPP rejected the committee’s findings. At budget estimates on Monday, Dowling said that she and the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, had spoken before Noel Hutley SC was appointed to lead an independent review, which found there was “no positive basis” to find she had given false evidence. Dowling said:
The attorney [general] called me to tell me that he was appointing a senior counsel to review the evidence that was before the inquiry and its report of the majority. He raised quite a number of [senior counsel’s] names that he was considering, including Mr Hutley’s name, and some of those people did have a conflict, they had acted for the ODPP, for me, and that was about the extent of the discussion.
She said Daley had not asked for “advice”. “He mentioned some names, and I responded to those names,” she said. Dowling said of the list of eight to 12 people, she said two “would not be appropriate”, but she did not raise Hutley as inappropriate as she did not believe there was a conflict of interest. Under further questioning, Dowling said she had indicated to Daley that she knew Hutley, but had not given any further detail.
Updated
Here’s a dispatch from our reporter Cait Kelly in Nepal
Border area between Nepal and China where 33 Australians are missing still almost entirely cut off
Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly has another dispatch from Nepal. She writes:
It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from.
Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened. The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away.
News that phone connectivity to the area was back on spread quickly on Monday around the families of lost Australians who have come to Kathmandu to wait. In WhatsApp groups and over Facebook, they shared any updates they had.
Read more here:
South Australia asks federal government to remove telehealth barriers for voluntary assisted dying
South Australia has asked the federal government to amend the criminal code to remove legal uncertainty around the use of telehealth for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) services.
In a letter sent to the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, a slate of South Australian officials, VAD advocates and practitioners urged the changes were needed to make the service equitable. Australia currently prevents telehealth for voluntary assisted dying consults. Labor’s national conference recently voted to repeal the law, but the prime minister has thrown water on the idea.
The group wrote in a letter to Rowland:
As you are aware, the operation of the Criminal Code continues to create significant uncertainty regarding the provision of information about VAD via carriage services, including telehealth. This restriction is having a disproportionate impact on people living in regional and remote communities.
This restriction creates a barrier in equitable access to lawful healthcare and is becoming increasingly inconsistent with contemporary models of healthcare delivery. This is particularly true where telehealth plays an essential role in improving access for patients who are unable to attend appointments in person.
Read more here:
Updated
China pledges ‘consequences’ over Taiwan’s presence at Pacific Islands Forum
China has promised “consequences” for Taiwan’s presence at the Pacific Islands Forum opening ceremony, which put the two rivals in the same room, AAP reports.
Palau’s National Gymnasium in Koror was the unlikely venue for the geopolitical flashpoint on Monday night. On the stage were traditional dancers, Pacific leaders and speeches pleading for unity and climate action.
Palau is one of just 12 nations that recognise Taiwan and Taipei has used the Micronesian nation’s hosting rights to engage in diplomatic efforts. That outreach extended to the foreign affairs minister, Lin Chia-lung, attending the opening ceremony on Monday night, prompting a stern reaction from Chinese officials.
China’s Pacific envoy, Qian Bo, said he had lodged diplomatic objections at Taiwan’s presence at the summit.
We certainly have serious concern. We have made our position very clear to the government of Palau and the (Pacific Islands Forum) secretariat.
Asked if there would be consequences, Qian said “there will always be consequences”.
It should not have happened. We think it’s very inappropriate.
Updated
The Nationals criticise Albanese government’s ‘go-slow’ visa approach
The Nationals have criticised the Albanese government’s decision to hit the brakes on visa processing, warning it could drive up grocery prices if farmers can’t get enough workers to harvest crops.
In a press release this morning, the shadow agriculture minister, Darren Chester, said the quietly announced “go-slow” approach – which aims to address political pressure over higher immigration levels in recent years – was causing farmers “enormous uncertainty”.
Chester said:
Working holidaymakers are a critical part of the seasonal agricultural workforce, particularly during peak harvest periods, so the timing of Labor’s delays is critical. This is not just an inconvenience for farmers.
If growers cannot access the workers they need when crops are ready, it affects food supply, supermarket shelves and the prices Australian families pay at the checkout … we need practical migration settings that support agriculture, strengthen regional communities and help keep food on Australian tables.
The government is considering ways to bring down net overseas migration levels after it became a key political attacking point by One Nation and the Coalition. It’s understood a number of different levers are being considered, including tightening conditions for British backpackers exempt from regional working requirements and stopping those enrolled in higher education from making visa category.
Read more:
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AI will likely have ‘profound’ impact on jobs in Australia
Treasury officials believe the adoption of artificial intelligence will likely have a “profound” impact on Australian jobs.
Jim Chalmers requested a departmental briefing paper on what AI means for productivity, investment and employment, ahead of the release of the government’s latest intergenerational report later this month.
To what degree AI replaces or augments Australian jobs remains an open question, and the answer depends on how transformational you believe the general purpose technology (or GPT) will prove to be.
The Treasury briefing note says:
Because AI has the potential to automate a significant share of cognitive, non-routine tasks currently performed by high-skilled workers, and accelerate productivity and economic growth, labour market impacts could be materially different to past waves of technology.
In either case, the effects are likely to be profound.
Jobs and Skill Australia has found that most occupations in Australia have more potential to be augmented rather than simply replaced by AI automation.
Separate research from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations found no evidence that AI was having a big impact on jobs – so far.
It says:
Early uptake of AI in Australia is promising but task automation is still at an early stage and greater reorganisation within firms is needed to capture AI’s productivity benefits.
NSW police hold press conference after man shot and killed inside Sydney home
NSW police are holding a press conference after a man was shot and killed during a home invasion in Sydney’s south-west early this morning.
Acting Supt Gretchin Atkins said it was still very early stages and she couldn’t say much about the incident, which is being investigated as a homicide. She said:
We believe at this point in time it is a targeted attack, that is all the information that we’ve been able to gather at this time … Everything is certainly subject to our inquiries.
Atkins said police believe there were multiple offenders but there remains “a lot we don’t know”.
The victim was only known to police for a traffic offence but no other activity. There were family home at the time of the shooting and they are cooperating with police.
Atkins urged anyone in the community with information or footage to contact police.
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Victoria opposition says Labor has ‘twice promised and twice failed’ on transport upgrades
The former Labor premier Daniel Andrews first promised to electrify the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines, which still operate regional V/Line trains, in 2018. He made the same commitment at the 2022 election. In May, state and federal governments announced $152.7m for design and preparation works for the extension of the Metro rail network to Melton.
Wilson said Labor had “twice promised and twice failed to deliver” the services commuters in the growing western suburbs deserved. She said:
Labor says one thing before an election then does another afterwards. Our plan will deliver metro-quality train services to Melbourne’s west sooner – meaning more trains, more seats and greater capacity.
Guy said:
Our hybrid suburban trains will deliver metro-quality services now and are able to run seamlessly across both electrified and non-electrified train lines.
Victoria opposition touting more trains during peak hour in election pitch
Commuters in Melbourne’s west would be able to get more trains during peak hours under a proposal the Coalition opposition is taking to the November state election.
Under the plan to be announced today by the opposition leader, Jess Wilson, and the public transport spokesperson, Matthew Guy, a Liberals Nationals government would spend $1.7bn to buy 25 new hybrid trains for the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines.
The trains – which would run on the overhead electric suburban network and then switch to battery power on V/Line, non-electrified corridors – would run during peak hours and increase passenger capacity.
The opposition said the proposal would deliver electrified train services to the west quicker than the government’s plan, which requires waiting until the Sunshine station upgrades are complete.
Updated
NSW HSC students limited to one take-home assessment per subject
Year 12 students in New South Wales will be limited to just one take-home assessment worth no more than 15% of the school-based assessment mark for each HSC course, under new rules to combat the use of AI announced this morning.
School-based assessment is worth 50% of a student’s HSC result, meaning the sole take-home assessment would only be worth 7.5% of the total HSC mark under the changes. The plan comes after the state’s minister for education, Prue Car, asked the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to look at measures to protect student learning.
Right now, schools can determine how much of that 50% school assessment is given through take-home tasks. Schools will still be able to use a range of assessment types for each course, including exams, oral tasks and process diaries, but the take-home component will be dramatically reduced in value.
HSC major works are not included in the restrictions, but schools will still be required to authenticate the work.
The limit will apply to students in the class of 2027 beginning HSC studies in term 4 this year, and to students beginning year 11 in term 1, 2027.
Car said in a statement:
The message this sends to schools and communities more broadly is that we are committed to protecting the teaching and learning happening in schools.
When students outsource their learning – whether that is to tutors, classmates or artificial intelligence, they are missing out on the rigorous, high-quality education they need to set themselves up for the future.
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Rowland says One Nation needs to look at its own behaviour amid political extremism
Rowland also spoke about the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and her criticism of the Albanese government. After the Secret Harbour byelection, Anthony Albanese told Queensland Labor’s state conference that One Nation was “dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest”.
In a strongly worded riposte on social media, Hanson on Monday said Albanese’s comments “crossed a line” and that “words have consequences”.
“That is how political violence is incited,” she wrote.
Rowland yesterday backed the PM, saying:
I think some of One Nation’s elements, particularly where they have been recruiting or otherwise giving a platform to extremist views … that is dangerous … I think it is also dangerous, at a time when social cohesion has never been more important, to trade on the politics of division.
The attorney general said this morning being a high-profile woman in politics is dangerous, as is being a politician in general, and observed “extremism” currently confronting politicians across the spectrum. But Rowland suggested Hanson’s own rhetoric was also playing a role in this political landscape. She told RN:
When you admit that you have a party that has been infiltrated by extremists … this is exactly the kind of dangers to which politicians are being put in this country.
I don’t wish ill on Ms Hanson in a physical way. I don’t wish any politician any ill will, irrespective of their political persuasion. But I think sometimes when comments like this are made, one needs to look at oneself and one’s behaviour and the kinds of standards that they accept into their own party and their own ideology.
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Attorney general says any action on smartglasses needs to strike ‘balance’ without ‘stifling innovation’
Michelle Rowland, the attorney general, said the spread of smartglasses has become an important issue and concern to many Australians, but the government needs to fully understand the pros and cons to new technology before banning or limiting its use.
Rowland spoke to RN Breakfast this morning after Australia’s online safety regulator urged smartglasses companies to automatically blur people’s faces among other changes as the government faces pressure to ban the technology.
The attorney general told RN Breakfast this morning there were legitimate reasons to use the glasses, including for those with vision impairment, but there were legitimate concerns as well:
One of the key points here when we talk about addressing digital harms is that we identify the harms and we need to address those harms without stifling innovation … and we need to understand that Australians have always been early adopters. So it is about striking that balance.
I do want to stress that whilst I completely understand and there are very legitimate concerns that people have about nefarious use, the government doesn’t want to see that nefarious use. But we do want to make sure that we get this right.
43 Australians still missing, with concerns growing ‘every day, every hour’ that goes by, Wong says
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says there are still 43 Australian missing after the flooding in Nepal, saying the government holds grave concerns for their safety that only gets worse as the days go by.
This is such a distressing time and I know this is so difficult for the family and friends of those 43 Australians.
She said her thoughts are with the family of Michael Keats, a New South Wales man who was confirmed to be one of the victims of the catastrophe.
Every day, every hour, only increases our concern for those who have not been found and remain missing, and that is many Australians. … You can imagine how many families and friends are traumatised as a consequence.
Read more here:
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Man fatally shot during Sydney home invasion
NSW police are investigating after a man was fatally shot during a home invasion in Sydney’s south-west on Tuesday morning.
Officials said emergency services were called to a home in Glen Alpine around 3.40am. On arrival, officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound inside the house. The man, thought to be in his 20s, died at the scene. He has not yet been formally identified.
Police were told unknown offenders left the scene a short time before they arrived. A crime scene has been established, with the state crime command’s homicide squad assisting.
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AI will help boost productivity performance back up to average, Treasury says
Treasury says artificial intelligence will help drag Australia’s productivity performance back to its historical average over coming years, according to departmental briefing papers.
With the government set to release its latest intergenerational report this month, Jim Chalmers said “AI is shaping up to be the biggest economic transformation in our lifetime”.
This is a gamechanging technology which will impact every part of our economy and society, in every corner of our country. I’m confident we can maximise the economic upside and minimise the risks.
Australia’s productivity growth has stalled, with the nation no more productive now than it was at the beginning of the decade.
Amid a national and sometimes heated debate over the regulation of AI and its related technologies, such as datacentres, the Treasury briefing paper said “AI is the first substantive, credible global productivity growth accelerant in almost two decades”.
But Treasury officials advised that, for now, the adoption of AI across the economy was not expected to usher in a new era of turbocharged growth, even as they flagged the unusually wide range of forecasts.
Instead, the “baseline” forecast was that “AI will support the achievement of the long-term productivity assumption of 1.2%” – a forecast outlined in the lead up to this year’s budget.
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NSW workers to march for extra public holiday
The Shop and Warehouse Workers Union (SDA) say over 400 workers will march to NSW parliament on Tuesday with a petition signed by over 10,000 workers and their families to call for an additional public holiday for 1 September.
The union says NSW has the fewest public holidays in any state or territory in Australia, with 11 statewide public holidays, eight of which are in the first half of the year.
The ACT, Victoria, NT and WA have the most at 13.
The union and workers are calling for 1 September to be declared a new public holiday in the state as a “family and community day”.
The petition will be handed to the NSW industrial relations minister, Sophie Cotsis.
SDA NSW/ACT secretary Bernie Smith said:
NSW workers work just as hard as everyone else, and they deserve the same opportunities to spend time with their families and friends.
Spring is all about new beginnings and that is exactly what a 1 September public holiday would provide for NSW.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take the blog reins. Let’s giddy up.
Most capital city home prices fall below $1m in August
The typical capital city home price has slipped back below $1m as buyers fail to show up in a “buyers’ market”, property data firm Cotality has reported.
The median price in the capitals surpassed $1m for the first time back in October but has steadily fallen this year with demand suppressed by rising interest rates and weak confidence in the economy. By the end of August, it fell to $990,394, Cotality found.
The typical home price in Perth passed $1m in March, but slipped to $999,987 by the end of August.
Sydney and Brisbane are back to being the only capitals with median prices above $1m. Sydney’s is at $1.22m, $93,000 below its peak earlier this year, while Brisbane is at $1.08m, down $30,000 from its peak.
Cotality’s research director, Tim Lawless, said nearly every capital city suburb had now seen prices fall, yet far fewer homes were being sold compared with this time last year, meaning listings on the market were building up. He said:
Longer selling times, larger vendor discounting and persistently low auction clearance rates all point to a buyer’s market, yet buyers are lacking the confidence to transact at the moment.
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Nepali and Tibetan communities mourn in Melbourne
Members of Melbourne’s Nepali and Tibetan communities gathered in the city’s Federation Square last night to remember the victims of the Nepal-Tibet flood.
More than 40 Australians are among thousands of people who remain missing after the natural disaster last week. The overall death toll is at least 810 people.
At the vigil, volunteers unfurled a sign on the ground – encircled by candlelight – that read “Vic united for Nepal”.
The event, organised by the Non-Resident Nepali Association’s Victorian branch, was attended by the Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, and Labor and opposition MPs.
Speaking to the crowd of about 400 people, Carroll said:
I know so many of your hearts are breaking right now. Look around you, all of Victoria stands behind you and every candle in Federation Square is lit up for you. You are not alone.
Carroll said the Victoria government had pledged to donate $100,000 to Australia’s immediate efforts in Nepal.
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Key event
‘A lot of anger … but very few real solutions’, Wong says of Hanson
Penny Wong has said Labor accepts there’s a message from WA Labor’s loss to One Nation in the Secret Harbour byelection, but says the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has “very few real solutions”.
Wong told ABC’s 7.30 program the loss was “very disappointing”, but that Labor knows many Australians “believe the status quo is not delivering for them”.
She pointed to policies such a investment in Medicare, childcare and schools, as well as tax cuts and tax changes as the federal government’s response. Wong accepted that the public had not taken the changes on board in their vote in WA, but said Hanson was not offering solutions.
She said:
I accept there’s a message sent in this byelection for us. I accept that. And I think we understand that.
We understand the importance of delivering real change and as someone who sits in the Senate with Pauline Hanson, what I would say to you is that she is … there’s a lot of anger and a lot of complaints, but really very few solutions.
You can read political editor Tom McIlroy’s analysis on the byelection here:
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Aid on way to Nepal amid grave concerns for missing Australians, Wong says
An RAAF flight containing hygiene kits, shelter and solar lights will leave for Nepal this morning, as the foreign affairs minister and acting prime minister, Penny Wong, says grave concerns are held over the 43 missing Australians after the Nepal-Tibet flash flood.
More than 4,400 people are still missing on both sides of the border, with more than 930 people confirmed dead. Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 program last night that the federal government is urgently seeking to find the whereabouts of the 43 missing Australians.
She said the Australian government has provided $8m in aid so far and noted that Australian citizens had donated $2m to a public appeal – something that the federal government is matching.
More aid will leave today, she said:
We are deploying an RAAF aircraft to deliver these kits which are designed to support people in circumstances of natural disasters that destroy infrastructure and their shelter.
Whether it’s shelter kits, lights, hygiene kits, these are the things needed for those people who are facing the devastation of their homes and their communities.
On the 43 missing Australians, Wong said Australia has been engaging with the Nepali and Chinese governments but the recovery and search effort is “very difficult”.
Nine of the 43 missing were on the Chinese side of the border at the time of the floods, but no more information was available on the 43 missing, she said.
I first want to again express what I’ve been expressing to the families and friends of the 43 Australians who are not accounted for, that this is such a difficult time, it’s an incredibly distressing, traumatic time. I think all Australians are with you. And certainly we are with you. We are working to do whatever we can and to provide any information we obtain.
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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.
