source : the age
Welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, August 26.
The world is coming to terms with the sad news that country music legend Dolly Parton has died, aged 80, as tributes to the Jolene and I Will Always Love You songwriter and 11-time Grammy winner pour in from around the world.
Here’s what else is making news today.
- National cabinet meets today in Sydney, with a national plan on AI and data centres set to be at the top of the agenda.
- Australia’s inflation came in stronger than expected in July, highlighting persistent price pressures in the economy and prompting traders to ratchet up bets on another interest-rate increase by the RBA.
- The lives of slain police officers Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart are being remembered in Victoria’s high country, in Bright.
- Today is the last day of the royal commission into antisemitism, which has heard from a total of 300 witnesses and has received more than 20,000 submissions. Commissioner Virginia Bell has requested an extension on the delivery of the report, from December 14 to 18, so as not to “distract” from the anniversary of the Bondi massacre.
- Some of the nation’s top international law experts have argued Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada should consider launching an MH17-style joint criminal investigation into the fatal Israeli drone strike that killed aid worker Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues in Gaza in 2024.
- And Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a US federal judge who said on Tuesday (US time) the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless”.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has accused the Albanese government of “bullying behaviour” over its insistence on renewable energy sources for data centres.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Bleijie said Queensland Premier David Crisafulli needed to be in Sydney “taking it up to the Albanese government” at National Cabinet.
Bleijie said the state would not buckle to “Bowen the bully from Canberra”.
“We have in Queensland an energy road map, and our energy road map means coal for longer, smaller, more manageable pumped hydro, and renewable energy,” he said.
Beijing: China has fired a warning shot at Washington, making clear it won’t cease cooperation with Iran and is prepared to retaliate if the Trump administration continues with fresh sanctions.
In a move setting up another potential collision with Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week declared an “economic D-Day” on Iran, seeking to sever its remaining financial lifelines by hitting business partners with sanctions.
Beijing responded on Tuesday by defending its ties with Tehran and warning it would not bow to US pressure.
“China’s cooperation with Iran has always been conducted within the international framework and should not be interfered with or undermined,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing.
“China is closely monitoring relevant developments and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own interests.”
Read the full story from our North Asia correspondent Lisa Visentin here.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the rapid development of AI technology was a key focus of his meeting today with Australia’s Five Eyes allies.
“We’re seeing a massive acceleration in the capacity to cause harm through artificial intelligence. But of course, anything able to be used as a weapon by those who want to cause us harm is a tool available to us as well,” Burke said at a Sydney press conference.
Burke said, without going into much detail, that he had also discussed counter-terrorism, countering drug smuggling, scam centres and organised crime during the meeting.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has fielded questions about a Morrison-era initiative that lifted visa requirements on British backpackers and allowed them to stay in the country longer, as Australia struggles to bring down its migration levels.
“We have a very good relationship with [British Home Secretary] Shabana Mahmood. We talked about the issues that we are managing in each of our countries,” Burke told reporters in Sydney following a meeting with his Five Eyes counterparts.
“As to any changes we would make to the migration program, those are decisions that will be made by the Australian cabinet, and they are decisions that, as soon as I’m in a position to announce, we will.”
Burke abruptly cancelled a policy announcement earlier this month amid pushback from cabinet and is yet to reschedule the speech, which could be delayed by up to a month.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has responded to criticism he and other senior government ministers had escaped scrutiny from the antisemitism royal commission.
The Coalition is calling for the inquiry to be extended beyond its December 14 deadline so it can call government ministers, universities and other institutions to appear.
The commissioner will push for a four-day extension, so that the report does not clash with the first anniversary of the Bondi Beach massacre.
“I think moments like this are clear that no one in Australian politics dodges interrogation, nor should they,” Burke said at a press conference in Sydney when asked whether his ministerial decisions had dodged examination.
Burke said it was not appropriate for members of the government to comment on the royal commission process when asked about concerns from 30 national security leaders that key ministerial decisions had not been examined, as reported in The Australian.
“We very deliberately set up an independent royal commission to make independent decisions with a timeline to be able to report, so we can start implementing,” he said.
A fox, a raven and a little penguin are the latest suspected bird flu cases in the state hardest hit by the disease, as a vaccination program ramps up to protect endangered species.
There were 195 confirmed H5 bird flu events in South Australia and 41 suspected cases, the state’s primary industries department reported on Wednesday. There have been 318 confirmed cases nationwide.
The five new suspected cases since Tuesday include a fox at Osborne in Adelaide’s west, a little penguin and a raven on the Limestone Coast, a Pacific gull on Kangaroo Island, and a greater crested tern at Coonalpyn.
Samples from the cases have been sent to the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), with results expected in coming days.
Just returning to Jim Chalmers’ press conference for a moment, where he was also asked about the WA Premier’s choice language for the Productivity Commission.
As mentioned below, Roger Cook labelled the independent advisory body as “east-coast clowns”, after it suggested in an interim report that the government scrap the GST deal with WA. The commission claimed this 2018 deal had so far cost federal taxpayers $23 billion in top-up payments to the western state.
“I don’t believe that’s appropriate,” Chalmers said. “You can disagree with their conclusions without denigrating them.”
Chalmers also said it was appropriate that the Prime Minister had already pledged not to touch the GST arrangement, even when the commission was still yet to release its final report.
“When the government has that view about the contribution of the WA economy to our national prosperity, of course it’s appropriate that the PM express that view on behalf of the government.”
The nation’s leader appears keen to show that he has cordial relations with his state and territory counterparts, tweeting out a photo of the nine leaders in Sydney.
The lead up to the meeting has been dominated by the GST: Earlier today, WA’s Premier Roger Cook described the Productivity Commission as “east-coast clowns”, after the body suggested scrapping a deal struck in 2018 giving WA a larger share of the tax take.
Other premiers and chief ministers have called for a more equitable GST deal, but Anthony Albanese has said he won’t touch it. He is also set to face challenges from several states about his plans to regulate data centres, which he detailed last night.
Cook was stationed to Albanese’s immediate left in the photo he tweeted out, while famously tall South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas stood behind the other leaders.
With AAP
Across America, Dolly Parton’s legions of fans have been showing their appreciation, after the country music legend passed away aged 80.
The floral tributes have also been growing at Parton’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, and outside her house in Brentwood, Tennessee.
In Australia, the annual Dolly Parton Festival in Narromine, NSW, is yet to post publicly, though its founder Susie Rae told ABC News the festival will return bigger and better than ever this coming October.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has welcomed the drop in inflation in July, while stressing the government was aware that many Australians are still finding times tough.
At a press conference in his electorate in Rankin, Chalmers said cost-of-living pressures remained.
“I think this community has been dealing with inflationary pressures in the economy playing out from decisions taken by the Reserve Bank,” he said.
“Inflation has been more persistent than anyone would have liked, fuelled by two major wars on the other side of the world. We are acting on that, cutting taxes and providing cost-of-living relief.”
