This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
Live updates
That's all for The Loop this morning
By Tom Williams
Thanks for joining me today. If you're catching up, here's a bit of what was covered (click the link to jump straight to the post):
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Shadow treasurer says government must control spending to bring down inflation
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Neighbour praised for helping after two SA police officers stabbed and man shot dead
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Government to commit $11.3 billion to raise aged care worker wages
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Donald Trump won't call any witnesses to defend rape case
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Scientists just saw a star swallow up an entire planet for the first time
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The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced
You can keep up-to-date with other news on the ABC's website, by subscribing to our mobile alerts, and by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here.
States and territories guaranteed 1,200 affordable new homes
By Tom Williams
Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins says ensuring a minimum number of affordable houses per state will make the government's Housing Future Fund fairer.
A "floor" of 1,200 houses per state has been added to the bill, following negotiations with Jacqui Lambie Network senator Tammy Tyrell.
The Greens are still opposed to the bill, arguing it does not guarantee that funding will flow into housing.
Ms Collins tells RN Breakfast that legislating a minimum number of houses per state will provide certainty.
"It's also about allowing some of the community housing providers some surety of pipeline, particularly in smaller jurisdictions, so they can grow," she says.
"There will be certainty of funding for long-term projects for investors over the long term."
US regulator says Facebook misled parents over Messenger Kids app
By Tom Williams
A major US regulator says Facebook misled parents and failed to protect the privacy of children using its Messenger Kids app, including misrepresenting the access it provided to app developers to private user data.
As a result, the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) has proposed sweeping changes to a 2020 privacy order with Facebook — now under parent company Meta — that would prohibit it from profiting from data it collects on users under 18, including data collected through virtual-reality products.
Meta would also be subject to other limitations, including with its use of face-recognition technology and be required to provide additional privacy protections for its users.
Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection says Facebook has been reckless, while Meta says the whole thing is a "political stunt".
"Despite three years of continual engagement with the FTC around our agreement, they provided no opportunity to discuss this new, totally unprecedented theory," Meta says in a statement.
"Let's be clear about what the FTC is trying to do: usurp the authority of Congress to set industry-wide standards and instead single out one American company while allowing Chinese companies, like TikTok, to operate without constraint on American soil."
Meta says it will "vigorously fight" the FTC's action and expects to prevail.
Government to commit $11.3 billion to raise aged care worker wages
By Tom Williams
More than 250,000 aged care workers are in for a 15 per cent pay rise under a $11.3 billion boost in the federal budget next week.
The Albanese government is expected to announce the funding today, following a Fair Work Commission ruling that the substantial wage hike needs to come into effect in one hit from July.
As the AAP reports, the government has argued that due to fiscal challenges, it should be allowed to space out the 15 per cent wage increase over two years — 10 per cent in 2023 and then 5 per cent more in mid-2024.
The unions have criticised the government for its plan.
The pay rise for workers including registered nurses, head chefs and cooks, and home care workers is in response to recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says every worker deserves a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
"For too long, those working in aged care have been asked to work harder for longer without enough reward but with this budget, that changes," he says.
"This investment recognises the incredible contribution that aged care workers make to our economy and community and will help to create a bigger incentive for young Australians looking for a rewarding career to pick aged care in the future."
Some of your thoughts on what Tasmania's AFL team should be called
By Tom Williams
The Tassie Two-steps (after the popular local dance move)
- Nathan
It's got to be the Tassie Tigers! Second choice: The Granny Smiths.
- Michael
"Devils" is Tasmania's current team name, but what is the animal called in palawa kani? This might get round any potential copyright issued.
- Mgunama
Erling Haaland breaks Premier League record for most goals in a season
By Tom Williams
Manchester City's Erling Haaland has broken the record for the most goals in a season in English soccer's Premier League.
The Norwegian scored his 35th league goal of the campaign in City's 3-0 win over West Ham this morning, to move past Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole's previous best of 34.
Liverpool defeated Fulham 1-0 in this morning's other match.
Shadow treasurer says government must control spending to bring down inflation
By Tom Williams
In the wake of this week's surprise RBA interest rate rise, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says the government must control its spending in next week's federal budget if it is to bring down inflation.
"If the government can't manage its spending, households and businesses have to do it for them and that's very, very painful and we're seeing a lot of that at the moment," Taylor has told ABC News Breakfast.
"We need a budget that doesn't raise taxes on Australians. Hardworking Australians need to be able to get on and make an income at a tough time when they have to pay much higher mortgages — $20,000 a year additional for a typical mortgage. This is a huge number, a huge impost.
"Taking that pressure off inflation, making sure we're not adding to taxes and delivering on promises that Labor made — cheaper mortgages, lower electricity prices. These are the things Australians expected and deserve."
Taylor says the inflation Australians are facing isn't "coming out of Ukraine, coming out of Russia", but is coming out of Canberra.
Neighbour praised for helping after two SA police officers stabbed and man shot dead
By Tom Williams
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has spoken with ABC News Breakfast in the wake of yesterday's major incident which saw one man shot dead and two police officers stabbed in the town of Crystal Brook.
Ian Todd and his colleague Jordan Allely visited an address in the town to follow up reports of a minor disturbance at the local supermarket.
SA Police say a man at the address confronted the officers and stabbed them, before they shot and killed him.
Commissioner Stevens says a neighbour in the street helped police officers after the stabbings, providing "absolutely critical support".
"I can't convey my gratitude to that person enough," he says.
"The fact that they were prepared to step in, in very uncertain circumstances, potentially put their own life at risk to help the police, is a testament to the type of community we have in South Australia, particularly in regional South Australia where it is a very strong community."
Stevens says Jordan Allely is now "recovering well", and Ian Todd had surgery overnight.
"We're still waiting to see what the outcome of that procedure will be," he says.
"His family are with him and all obviously of our best wishes are with him and his family.
"As you can appreciate, this type of thing, it doesn't just rest with the two police officers directly involved, it affects all of their colleagues and the people who had to respond — and that includes the emergency service workers from SA ambulance as well."
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's home raided over COVID records
By Tom Williams
Brazilian police have raided former president Jair Bolsonaro's home and seized his phone as part of an investigation into his COVID-19 vaccination records.
The investigation may answer questions about how Bolsonaro, a strident coronavirus sceptic who vowed never to get a COVID vaccine, was registered as vaccinated in health records made public in February.
A person familiar with the probe said federal police found evidence of tampering with Bolsonaro's vaccine records in his last weeks as president in late December, before he flew to the United States, where most foreign visitors must be vaccinated.
Bolsonaro confirmed the raid on his home in Brasilia to journalists and reiterated that he had never taken a COVID vaccine. He denied any role in allegedly forging documents.
"For my part, there was nothing falsified. I didn't take the vaccine. Period," he said.
NRL fines South Sydney $15K over extra man bungle
By Tom Williams
The NRL has fined South Sydney $15,000 for last weekend's interchange bungle during its win over the Brisbane Broncos.
The Rabbitohs played with an extra man for 20 seconds during the second half, and also ran out with a different starting side to what they'd named on their final team sheet.
Souths have five days to respond to the breach notice.
Scientists just saw a star swallow up an entire planet for the first time
By Tom Williams
Here's something to make you feel like a tiny, defenceless speck in this enormous universe.
For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet — in one big gulp.
Astronomers report seeing what appears to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter being eaten by its star.
The Sun-like star had supposedly been expanding in its old age, and finally got so big that it ate up the close-orbiting planet.
It's a gloomy preview of what will happen to Earth when our Sun morphs into a red giant and gobbles the four inner planets — but don't worry, that's billions of years away.
Scientists say this newly recorded planetary snack happened between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago near the Aquila constellation, when the star was about 10 billion years old.
As the planet was swallowed, there was apparently a hot outburst of light, followed by a long-lasting stream of bright dust.
While there have been previous signs of other stars nibbling at planets, this was the first time the swallow itself was observed, according to the study appearing in the journal Nature.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Kishalay De is said to have spotted the luminous outburst in 2020 while reviewing sky scans taken by the California Institute of Technology's Palomar Observatory. But it took additional observations and data-crunching to unravel the mystery.
US fed raises interest rates to 16-year high
By Tom Williams
The US Federal Reserve has reinforced its fight against high inflation by raising its key interest rate to roughly 5.1 per cent — the highest level in 16 years.
But it has also signalled that it might now pause its streak of 10 rate hikes.
Still, the Fed has made it clear that it doesn't think its string of rate hikes have sufficiently cooled the US economy, the job market and inflation.
US inflation has dropped from a peak of 9.1 per cent in June to 5 per cent in March but remains well above the Fed's 2 per cent target rate.
US Fed Chair Jerome Powell says he believes the US has a greater chance to avoiding a recession than falling into one, in part because wages are moderating to a more sustainable level.
But he told a news conference he would not rule out a recession, adding: "It's possible that we will have what I hope would be a mild recession."
The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced
By Tom Williams
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2023 inductees have been named, and they include the likes of:
- Missy Elliott
- Willie Nelson
- Sheryl Crow
- Kate Bush
- Chaka Khan
- Don Cornelius
- George Michael
- The Spinners
- Rage Against the Machine
- DJ Kool Herc
- Link Wray
- Al Kooper
- Bernie Taupin
“When you can go from Link Wray, who was one of the early influencers, to Missy Elliott and Kate Bush and The Spinners and Rage Against the Machine and Willie Nelson, you have a very diverse body of work," says Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
"What we are always trying to show is that rock ‘n’ roll is a big tent and a lot of people belong."
Missy Elliott is now the first female hip-hop artist in the rock hall, which called her "a true pathbreaker in a male-dominated genre".
To be eligible for the rock hall, artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they're eligible for induction.
Rock legends Rage Against The Machine have released a statement about their long road to the rock hall, after being eligible for the past five years.
Donald Trump won't call any witnesses to defend rape case
By Tom Williams
Donald Trump's lawyers say they won't call any witnesses at the New York civil trial about writer E. Jean Carroll's claims that the former US president raped her in the mid-1990s.
Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said they decided not to put on a defence case after learning that health issues were preventing their expert witness, a psychiatrist, from testifying.
Tacopina had previously said that Trump would not testify at the trial himself.
Carroll's lawyers say they could finish presenting their case on Thursday.
They listed five remaining witnesses, including a former People magazine writer who says Trump pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida in 2005 — an allegation he denies.
They also plan on playing excerpts of a sworn deposition that Trump gave in connection with Carroll's lawsuit, as well as a the 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which Trump boasted about grabbing women's genitals.
Trump denies ever touching women against their will and has said that Carroll's claims are politically motivated attempts to smear his reputation and deny him a return to the White House.
His lawyers have attacked Carroll's credibility through cross-examination, questioning why she didn't scream out for help during the alleged attack and why she never went to police.
Reporting by AP
News Australia is searching for: Tasmania AFL
By Tom Williams
Yesterday the AFL confirmed its 19th team licence had been awarded to Tasmania — so now the search for a team name begins.
Names already suggested include the Devils (although Warner Brothers holds the copyright for that one), the Apples, the Spirit, the Turbo Chooks and the Penguins.
Have you got a name idea for the team? Hit me up in the comments — and be nice to Tassie!
You can read more about the search for a name at the link below:
One more thing: May the 4th be with you!
By Tom Williams
It's May 4, which means it's also Star Wars Day — so I just wanted to say:
