Australia news LIVE: Religious sect given voter data, carbon neutral energy bills on trial

They say the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. In Australia, it seems the price of democracy is tonnes of plastic rubbish that is not eternal but may as well be, writes Caitlin Fitzsimmons.

I’m talking about corflutes, those ubiquitous signs featuring beaming politicians and wannabes that dominate our suburbs and towns during elections.

A rough and ready estimate suggests that a federal election generates at least a million of these signs – and this is becoming a problem.

My numbers are based on intel from a Sydney printer who worked for two candidates in the recent federal election and asked to remain anonymous. He shared that each campaign ordered 2000 corflutes.

Now, some candidates might use more, and others less. But if five candidates in 140 seats – which excludes the 10 South Australian seats where public election signage is now banned – order, say, 1500 corflutes each, that is more than a million.

The signs are fully recyclable, but that doesn’t mean they are fully recycled. In fact, they’re already turning up in landfill.

Read the full analysis here.

Joel Cauchi’s long-term psychiatrist has backflipped on her claim he was not psychotic during the Bondi Junction Westfield attack, and said her evidence about his “hatred of women” was merely “conjecture”.

The reversal came as a coronial inquest heard the psychiatrist did not pass on records about Cauchi’s deteriorating mental state, including “Satanic” notes and hallucinations, to his other doctors.

The Toowoomba private psychiatrist, who can only be known as Dr A for legal reasons, told the NSW Coroner she had weaned Cauchi off antipsychotics by 2019 because she was “listening to her patient” and was confident he was not slipping back into psychosis.

A panel of experts has unanimously concluded Cauchi’s mental state deteriorated quickly after he ended his medication, and he was “floridly” psychotic, unmedicated, homeless and obsessed with serial killers by the time of his attack on April 14, 2024.

Read more of Dr A’s exchange with barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, here.

Back to content creator Hannah Ferguson who, in her address to the National Press Club, said former opposition leader Peter Dutton’s decision to ignore new media platforms formed part of his undoing.

“Peter Dutton’s refusal to engage with new media platforms – particularly those run by women – was one small, yet huge decision in a series of reckless refusals to attempt to communicate with the voter base that would eventually end his political career,” she said during her speech.

In comparison, Ferguson said Albanese’s campaign ran a “clear strategy” that humanised him with a voter base that largely felt ignored.

“He told women that he was interested at least in speaking to us,” she said.

Chalmers was asked about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) initiating legal action against financial giant Macquarie Group over allegations it had engaged in misleading conduct over 15 years.

ASIC is alleging Macquarie failed to correctly report the volume of short sales by at least 73 million between December 2009 and February last year, affecting between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales.

The treasurer said he supports the work of the regulator in making sure everybody is “playing by the rules” in our economy.

“We always have an interest in ensuring that ASIC is appropriately resourced and appropriately funded,” he said.

“They’ve got a model now which, I think, does allow for that. The fact that ASIC is on the case here I think is an encouraging sign that they’re doing their important work.”

Read more on the legal action here.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking in Queensland now following today’s release of wages data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed real wages growth has lifted to its highest level since inflation was artificially made negative during the depths of the pandemic. Wages grew by 0.9 per cent during the first three months of the year.

“These are some very, very, encouraging numbers when it comes to real wages growth in our economy,” Chalmers said.

“Our predecessors had low wage growth as a deliberate design feature of their economic strategy.”

Chalmers said the data from today showed six consecutive quarters – or 18 months – of real wage growth in the economy.

“That’s a very good thing,” he said.

Cheek Media founder Hannah Ferguson spoke this afternoon at the National Press Club, where she revealed plans to run as an independent Senate candidate for NSW at the next federal election.

During her speech, Ferguson took aim at the use of the word “influencer” and said the label had been weaponised to cause “significant reputational damage”.

“Influencer has been the dirtiest word of this campaign, and I think it’s deeply sad that it’s been a focal point at all,” she said.

“While that word simply means to have influence over a group, we know that the Murdoch media has reserved this group for young women.

“The agenda is clear – to undermine our intelligence, to paint us as untrustworthy, and to conflate us with green juice and a discount code.”

Good afternoon, and thanks for following our live coverage. Here’s a quick recap of today’s key stories from Australia and abroad:

• The federal Liberal Party shared confidential voter data with the Exclusive Brethren, a secretive Christian sect which made nearly a million calls for the Coalition ahead of the election.
• Federal vice-president of the Liberal Party Fiona Scott joked that Sussan Ley’s stint as opposition leader might last just one day. Speaking on Nine’s Today program, Scott, an MP from 2013 until 2016, agreed her comments were cheeky as she gave a lacklustre endorsement of Ley’s future leadership.
• Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price surprised colleagues by declining to run for deputy leader after Angus Taylor lost the leadership vote, leaving Phillip Thompson to step in unexpectedly.
• Liberal senator Jane Hume defended her warnings about foreign interference but admitted a video referencing “Chinese spies” might have hurt the party’s election prospects.
• Caleb List, a 25-year-old Australian labourer who joined Ukraine’s foreign legion after being rejected by the Australian Defence Force, is feared dead in combat.

I’ll be taking over from colleague Ben Cubby to keep you updated through the afternoon.

The latest US inflation data shows a glimpse of what might have been: an inflation rate falling steadily towards the Federal Reserve Board’s target, lower interest rates and a growing economy, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.

Alas, the data doesn’t capture the impact of Donald Trump’s global trade war, which probably won’t start to surface until next month or be fully reflected until well into the second half of the year.

The consumer price index for April confirms that, when Joe Biden handed over stewardship of the world’s largest economy to Trump in January, the US was in good shape.

The headline inflation rate rose 2.3 per cent in April, the lowest rise since February 2021, when the supply chain shock from the pandemic was about to gather momentum and send prices soaring.

Core inflation – excluding volatile food and energy prices – rose at a 2.1 per cent annual rate over the three months to the end of April, marginally above the Fed’s 2 per cent target.

That is, of course, old news. Trump announced his main tariff plans – a 10 per cent universal baseline tariff, “reciprocal” tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the 90-odd countries with whom the US has a trade deficit and 145 per cent on China – on his so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, with the tariffs coming into effect a week or so later.

Read the full analysis here.