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From 21m ago Unemployment holds at 4.7% in September Patrick Commins Unemployment held at 4.7% in September, after the economy shed 39,300 jobs in the month and amid fears the Reserve Bank could hike interest rates for a fifth time when it next meets. The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures would have shown the jobless rate ticking higher last month had it not revised up the August figure from 4.6% to 4.7%. Full-time employment increased by 34,400 in September, but this was more than offset by a sharp drop in part-time employment of 73,700.
Underemployment, which includes those with jobs but trying to find more work, lifted to 6.3%, from 6.2% in September. Economists had identified this week’s labour force statistics as a key bit of information for the RBA ahead of its next interest rate decision on 3 November. Financial markets this morning, and before the latest data, put a 40% chance of a hike on Melbourne Cup day, which would be the fifth for the year as the central bank attempts to bring inflation back towards its 2.5% target over the coming 12 months.
Key events 21m ago Unemployment holds at 4.7% in September 1h ago Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled 3h ago Lambie ‘not surprised’ by video recording device found on naval vessel 4h ago ‘They want to blow the place up’: King accuses Coalition of hypocrisy over private health insurance rebates 5h ago People getting voting info from AI an ‘emerging concern’, AEC says 5h ago Nationals leader disputes trade minister’s claim he walked out of meeting on EU trade deal 5h ago Anika Wells to introduce digital duty of care bill today 5h ago Victorian Labor pledges to offer free abortion care 5h ago Albanese to attack Hanson over 'monoculture' remarks Josh Butler Conservative campaign against DDOC ‘absolute rubbish’, Hanson-Young says The Greens want Labor’s digital duty of care bill to go much further, confirming they will send the legislation off to an inquiry but that they support the bill in principle. Sarah Hanson-Young said Australians were “sick and tired of being manipulated, dictated and addicted by big tech”, saying the Greens would back the bill if the government added the ability for Australians to directly sue tech companies. The inquiry, which will be formally locked in later today, will report back in late November.
She also said that rightwing campaigns against the legislation were “running cover for big tech”. “To suggest this is about censorship or about shutting down anything is absolute rubbish. It is a fake debate, it’s got nothing to do with it, and it is purely the radical right running the speaking points of big tech,” Hanson-Young told a press conference.
She went on to say that the Greens would introduce a bill in the November sitting period to “ban the broadcast of live executions”, after a debate earlier in the week about whether Australian regulators could block the looming US military execution which is expected to be livestreamed. Sarah Hanson-Young. Photograph: James Ross/AAP Unemployment holds at 4.7% in September Patrick Commins Unemployment held at 4.7% in September, after the economy shed 39,300 jobs in the month and amid fears the Reserve Bank could hike interest rates for a fifth time when it next meets.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures would have shown the jobless rate ticking higher last month had it not revised up the August figure from 4.6% to 4.7%. Full-time employment increased by 34,400 in September, but this was more than offset by a sharp drop in part-time employment of 73,700. Underemployment, which includes those with jobs but trying to find more work, lifted to 6.3%, from 6.2% in September.
Economists had identified this week’s labour force statistics as a key bit of information for the RBA ahead of its next interest rate decision on 3 November. Financial markets this morning, and before the latest data, put a 40% chance of a hike on Melbourne Cup day, which would be the fifth for the year as the central bank attempts to bring inflation back towards its 2.5% target over the coming 12 months. Patrick Commins NSW will waive stamp duty for restructuring trusts Daniel Mookhey , the NSW treasurer, says his state will waive stamp duty for small businesses and others who restructure their trusts to avoid paying the federal government’s proposed 30% minimum tax.
Jim Chalmers , the treasurer, yesterday introduced the new trust minimum tax legislation into parliament, including an option for discretionary trusts to opt to become a new “excluded election trust” that would not be subject to the new and potentially higher tax rate on trust income. The decision by NSW will be a boost to Chalmers, who has faced trenchant opposition from business groups over his tax reforms. The question now is whether other states and territories will follow suit.
Mookhey in a statement this morning said: double quotation mark NSW needs small businesses to thrive. We want them to grow. We want them to hire more people.
We don’t want them to worry that their state is trying to make a windfall gain at their expense. While the federal government’s proposed tax changes are still some way off, we want businesses to have as much certainty as possible, as early as possible, so they can carry on with more confidence. Liberal senator urges action to ban shackling of incarcerated pregnant women Liberal senator Paul Scarr has spoken out in the Senate against Labor and the Coalition who will reject a bill by independent Lidia Thorpe to ban the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women.
He says he’s “deeply concerned” having recently learned of the practice that has occurred across the country. He says he will be raising it directly with the state Queensland attorney general. He suggests that it’s a bit of a cop-out for the major parties to argue that these issues occur under state and territory jurisdiction, and says the government should consider convening a national cabinet meeting. double quotation mark I have considerable sympathy in relation to this legislation and the issues it’s seeking to address ...
What I’ve heard deeply concerns me and I do hope, that this vote shouldn’t be an end to this matter, we’ve got to do better than this and we’ve got to look at ways this issue can be addressed. He says Australia and all of the members of the UN general assembly unanimously adopted the Bangkok rules in late 2010, which says that shackling “a pregnant women during transfers to hospitals, gynaecological examinations and birth ... violates international standards”. Liberal senator Paul Scarr.
Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Labor and Coalition set to reject bill to stop incarcerated women being shackled Lidia Thorpe’s bills to prevent incarcerated women being shackled while giving birth, and stop children being strip-searched will fail in the Senate. Thorpe tells the horrific stories of women who gave evidence to a committee examining the bill: double quotation mark In 2026 people can be shackled while giving birth, and children can can also have their clothes removed by adults to examine their bodies legally ... the people sitting in this room have the power to end these barbaric, inhumane traumatic and totally unnecessary practices. Independent senator Lidia Thorpe.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP The government says “the responsibility of criminal justice system predominantly sits with state and territory government”, and that’s why they’ll reject the bill, while the Coalition says it “understands the intent” of the bill but also won’t support it. The Greens leader, David Shoebridge says the practice of shackling is a disgrace: double quotation mark To have the Labor party and Coalition come in here and say no, no we’re not going to stop this practice ... the Labor party and the Coalition come in here and say it’s a matter for states and territories if they want to shackle women to a bed while they’re giving birth we’ll just let them do that ... don’t torture women giving birth and don’t strip-search children. Black market hiding illegal cigarettes in plain sight Black market tobacco trade continues to thrive as sellers turn to counterfeit packaging to skirt bans, prompting calls for the urgent passing of tougher laws, AAP reports .
Intelligence provided to the federal government shows cigarettes in plain, Australian-style packaging are being produced illegally at an industrial scale in south-east Asian warehouses. Factories owned and operated by criminal syndicates, primarily based in Cambodia, are pumping out increasingly sophisticated fake products that replicate common brands, some even branded with Australian health warnings. Cigarettes in plain, Australian-style packaging are being produced illegally in south-east Asia.
Photograph: NSW Health The customs minister, Julian Hill, has urge his parliamentary counterparts to pass tough laws as soon as possible, with a new bill on tobacco trade expected to be debated in the Senate today. It would give law enforcement stronger powers to detect and disrupt illegal tobacco trade lines, including choking off criminal profits. Hill says sophisticated overseas production is becoming harder to notice and stop. double quotation mark Serious and organised criminal syndicates have weaponised the cheap oversupply of tobacco globally and will do anything to make a buck ... the crooks will continue to adapt their tactics.
Mark Butler introduces private health insurance rebate ... again The health minister, Mark Butler , has reintroduced his bill to reduce private health insurance rebates for over-65s after it was thrown out by the Senate yesterday by the Coalition and crossbench. He has made no changes to the bill, and the Coalition and Greens have said they will not support it in its current form – so it could just go to die in the Senate again. Butler says the bill is important “in order to re-establish intergenerational equity and to better target and simplify the rebate”.
He maintains Australians over 65 will pay about $250 per year more due to the changes (though it will be more for those with higher-level cover) and that private health insurance uptake is still expected to increase among that cohort. Minister for health, Mark Butler (centre). Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Wells introduces digital duty of care bill to House Anika Wells has introduced her bill to force tech companies to prevent harmful and illegal content from appearing on their platforms in Australia.
She’ll continue trying to sell the legislation to the public when she appears at the National Press Club later today. The Coalition are dead against the bill, while the Greens want bigger fines and the ability for Australians to sue the platforms directly. It means the legislation can go through the House as soon as the government wants, but it needs the Greens on side to get it through the Senate.
Wells tells the House: double quotation mark The core of the digital duty of care bill is to provide a safe online environment where all Australians are protected from seriously harmful and illegal conduct. It moves the safety net upstream to the people who design the product to stop the harm before it ever reaches an Australian. She also pushes back on claims from the Coalition that the government is using the bill to censor individuals. double quotation mark It is not about controlling adults online; it is about getting illegal and seriously harmful material offline, and giving adults choice.
One Nation a ‘risk’ to abortion access, says Plibersek The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek , has backed in the Victorian health minister’s claims that One Nation pose a risk to abortion access, as the state party promises free abortion care if re-elected. Plibersek tells News24 there are still significant cost barriers nationally to accessing care around the country – particularly in regional areas. Asked about criticisms that the Victorian policy will make abortion access easier, and claims more women will access abortion unnecessarily, Plibersek hits back: double quotation mark One Nation’s made it clear that they support winding back access to safe and medically available abortion ...
When I was the health minister, we managed to make medical termination more easily available, that dealt with part of the problem for women in regional communities, but certainly, there’s still real restrictions on the cost of getting a surgical termination in many parts of Australia. Abortion is not easy, and I don’t think that anyone who has had an abortion would say that it was easy. I think the only people who think it’s easy are people who’ve never had to make that difficult decision, and guess what, a lot of them are blokes who never will have to.
The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Benita Kolovos Victorian Labor promises free abortion care if re-elected Victorian Labor has today announced it will make Victoria the first state to offer free abortion care if re-elected in November. Currently, women in Victoria can obtain a termination during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, and later if they obtain the agreement of two doctors.
But more than two-thirds of Victorian women pay out-of-pocket costs in the private system to access an abortion. One provider, MSI Australia, says cost is a big barrier to abortion access in Victoria and falls hardest on the women least able to carry it. Its chief executive, Adurty Rao, called on every party to match the commitment: double quotation mark Every week, women ring us and ask if they can book in after their next pay.
While they wait, the weeks go by, and care that could have been simple gets harder. This commitment means no woman in Victoria should have to wait to get the urgent care she needs. Danielle Mazza , a GP and the head of Monash University’s Department of General Practice and the Sphere Centre for Research Excellence in women’s sexual and reproductive health, said only the ACT had a similar policy: double quotation mark I applaud this policy announcement, and if it’s implemented, it will make Victoria the leading state in abortion access and reproductive rights.
Victorian health minister, Ingrid Stitt , is speaking to the media now: double quotation mark These are really important changes. They mean that women will no longer have to worry about the cost of accessing abortion in Victoria. And we’re very serious about women having the right to choose, and this takes away a major barrier.
Greens not supporting unchanged private health insurance bill The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, says his party has made its position known from the get go, that they support changes to reduce private health insurance rebates for some over-65s, but not pensioners. Yesterday the Greens, Coalition and crossbench threw out the government’s legislation in the Senate, but the health minister, Mark Butler , promised to bring it back – unchanged. There’s about $3bn in budget savings on the line, which it has promised to spend on aged care beds.
Shoebridge tells News24 no one’s budging for the government without some pretty big carve-outs for pensioners. double quotation mark We’ve been saying to the government very clearly, there is a pathway through on this legislation, but we insist on not taking about $1bn from 1.2 million pensioners in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. You carve them out, protect the pensioners, and we will pass this legislation in a heartbeat. It particularly frustrates us when the government refuses to do things like tax, export, gas, and instead is looking for its budget savings from pensioners.
I don’t know what Senate he’s looking at. It’s the same Senate as there was yesterday. Greens leader David Shoebridge.
Photograph: Con Chronis/AAP ‘If you show contempt for the Senate, contempt is returned’: Paterson The Coalition says the government’s “cruel” cuts to private health insurance rebates for over-65s will fail again unless “the Greens buckle”. Frontbencher James Paterson tells News24 “good luck” to Mark Butler if he wants to try introducing that legislation again with no changes. The Greens want pensioners carved out of the changes – which would significantly diminish the budget savings from the policy. double quotation mark Well good luck with that, Mark Butler.
In my experience, if you show contempt for the Senate, that contempt is returned, and so it should be in this case, because this is a particularly cruel cut, a cut of $3bn to older Australians who are taking out private health insurance, and in doing so, taking pressure off the public system. We are not for moving. The extra rebate for over-65s is a Howard-era policy, which the government says was implemented when the budget was in a cushier position and had plenty of extra cash.
Coalition MP James Paterson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Lambie ‘not surprised’ by video recording device found on naval vessel Independent senator and veteran Jacqui Lambie says Defence has not been able to clean up the culture inside its forces, after she yesterday alleged in parliament that a camera had been found concealed in a women’s shower on a naval vessel. The defence department then confirmed a “video recording device” was found in the cabin of a Royal Australian Navy ship in Cairns.
Lambie is speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, and says there should be an independent body investigating all allegations in the defence force. double quotation mark I should tell you that I’m surprised, but I’m not which is really unfortunate. It does bother me a lot, though, with what’s going on ... since that occurred yesterday we have also had more people come forward, which we are obviously having dialogue with this morning, with other incidents that have occurred over the last six to eight months over very similar situations. So it’s extremely very worrying out there.
This is a culture that defence force hasn’t been able to clean up and it hasn’t come close ... The only other way to fix this problem is to take the legal system outside of Defence’s hands ... so people – especially those who have been abused – feel confident that their matter is not going to be thrown under the carpet and the perpetrator is going to be held to account. ‘Don’t carry on like a two-year-old’: Lambie blasts Butler over private health insurance rebate bill Don’t cross Jacqui Lambie when she’s not happy.
The independent senator, who with the Coalition and other members of the crossbench voted down the government’s bill to reduce rebates for over-65s with private health insurance, has lambasted the health minister for vowing to bring it back without any changes. She says half of the revenue raised will come from pensioners which makes her “sick to the gut”. Enough is enough, she tells ABC News Breakfast: go find the money elsewhere: double quotation mark First of all, don’t carry on like a two-year-old.
If you think that you’re going to bring the same bill up here and you haven’t changed it, mate, then probably you’re going to get another slap around the face today. How about you be smart, be a smart government. Go away.
We have another two weeks of sittings and come up with another plan of attack. We’ve known for years how much aged care is going to cost every year and this is the best way you can find savings? By taking it off those aged pensioners who have paid tax all their lives? ...
I think it’s really, really unfair. You can go after the multinationals, go and do something about your gas tax. Do something!
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP ‘It’s got hairs on it’: Coalition interested but wants changes to gas reservation scheme Nationals senator and shadow resources minister, Susan McDonald , is now in the RN Breakfast hot seat and says the Coalition wants more investment in gas, not less, among other changes to support the reservation scheme. She says the opposition supports legislation in the national interest, but this bill still has “hairs on it”.
McDonald also says she wants to see some modelling from the government to answer exactly how much they reckon prices will go down and when. double quotation mark If we start seeing prices reduced to a point that it is no longer economic to explore and to develop new projects, then we could have this sugar hit of cheaper gas prices for a year or two, but then the worst consequence, which is that we then become solely reliant on big LNG exporters and we stop developing our own resources, particularly in the places that are domestic-only supply. Shadow resources minister, Susan McDonald. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Still no confirmation of when and how much gas prices will drop We still don’t have any clarity on when gas prices will begin to drop and by how much – only that there will be “downward pressure” on prices.
Yesterday, Madeleine King told the press club there would be a transitional year for the policy – ie don’t expect immediate price drops. She’s asked again today to guarantee that prices will drop and provide a timeline, and we get another broad answer: double quotation mark What I will guarantee is this will be an enduring regulatory framework, and we expect fully that it will put down the pressure on prices. And that’s what happens when you get more gas into the market.
And that’s what we expect will happen. ‘This is a lot for early in the morning’: King explains gas reservation scheme I feel ya Madeleine King , it’s 7:50am on a sitting week Thursday and my brain is FRIED. Anyway, back to the interview, King is asked what the gas reservation scheme is and what over supply means.
She says that there will be “demand-calibrated” oversupply to help push down prices and make sure there’s enough gas for us in Australia. But the complicating factor is some producers like Santos have to buy gas from other domestic gas producers to meet their exporting demands. So how are they supposed to reserve extra domestic gas and add to the total pool of domestic gas if they’re already buying other domestic gas to fulfil their existing export contracts?
We don’t get a super-clear answer. King tells RN Breakfast: double quotation mark This oversupply will be demand-calibrated. So, this is a lot for early in the morning ...
The Australian energy market, AEMO, will do their normal studies through the gas statement of opportunities, which do very well thought out, well-researched forecasts that industry participates in. And that will then inform the demand calibration that the Australian Energy Regulator will set about in adjusting domestic supply obligations to each of the exporters. We will be respecting existing export contracts because that’s a really important principle.
So the ministerial discretion, and I know there’s a lot of discussion about that discretion, we will be able to moderate how those exporters are able to account for domestic gas. But everyone, every exporter will have to contribute to domestic supply in some fashion. ‘They want to blow the place up’: King accuses Coalition of hypocrisy over private health insurance rebates The resources minister, Madeleine King, has defended the government’s proposed changes to reduce the private health insurance rebate for over-65s, saying it’s fair for the rebates to be tied to income, not age.
She tells RN Breakfast pensioners will still get a higher rebate than other over-65s with a higher income. King accuses the Coalition of being hypocritical for calling on the government to reduce its spending and then block this cost-saving measure. It’s a tricky time for the government – this is a key revenue-saving measure that’s come out of the budget.
The other revenue-raising measure – a minimum 30% tax on trusts – is also facing an icy reception in the parliament, although it looks like the Greens are willing to sit at the negotiation table. double quotation mark What we have seen last night is the Coalition and the Greens teaming up again to really be quite destructive of budget and budget savings, important principles that they, well, certainly the Coalition say they want to follow around responsible fiscal management, yet they want to blow the place up. In one moment, they want to save money, and the next moment they just want to keep spending money. So, we will be reintroducing this bill.
It’s an important part of our budgetary process. Resources minister Madeleine King. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Josh Taylor More powers required but AEC reluctant to take on truth in political advertising The AEC chief also said the the organisation needs more powers to deal with the “contemporary information environment” around elections to be able to speed up takedowns of misinformation about the voting process.
Jeff Pope told the joint standing committee on AI on Wednesday night that one option for dealing with misinformation could be to label deepfakes online but a challenge will become the ubiquity of AI videos online. He said it was not far away: double quotation mark I think if you’re labelling everything with AI, then I think probably the next election or not too long thereafter, every bit of [election content] could have an AI label on it, and you’ve got to wonder about the effectiveness of that. Pope expressed reluctance that the AEC become the arbiter of truth over political advertising more broadly in the AI age. double quotation mark We feel that that would put our impartiality at significant risk .
Our impartiality is incredibly important. But in my opening comments about trust and confidence in the intellectual process and the elected process, and that flows through to the trust confidence in you in parliament and institution. And I think there is a risk that the more we asked to regulate and to make judgment, then there is a risk that around that impartiality being challenged.
And that is something that I would ask parliament to consider very deeply when it’s considering giving us further responsibilities or whether it sits with other agencies that don’t need to grapple with that very fine tuned impartiality. It’s a similar stance to Pope’s predecessor, Tom Rogers , who also warned putting the AEC in charge of truth in political advertising laws could ruin the “neutrality” of the agency. Australian Electoral Commission chief Jeff Pope.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Source: The Guardian
