Source : the age
Thanks for joining us, we’ll be back tomorrow with all you need to know about federal politics and the ongoing UN General Assembly meeting in New York – including a speech from US President Donald Trump.
Here’s what made news today:
- Coalition senator Andrew Bragg proposed letting home buyers put up their retirement savings as collateral to access a home loan has received “qualified support” from a top-flight economist, as debate rages over how much power people should have over their superannuation.
- Angus Taylor, Bragg’s leader, was quick to say this was not Coalition policy, but suggested his party would unveil the official policy soon.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined a call for international safeguards on AI at the United Nations in New York. Australia is one of 22 signatories to the call for mandatory safety testing, independent evaluations and greater international oversight of so-called frontier AI models.
- Albanese also used an address to the UN to issue a warning that the world can no longer rely on adapting to escalating climate catastrophes as he cautioned Australia was heading into a summer of extreme heat, bushfires and floods.
- Major American television networks are refusing to cover daily press events with US President Donald Trump after he banned CNN and its reporters from the White House. Trump launched a “Trump TV” propaganda station in response.
- And the fallout from the ugly scenes at the MCG on Saturday continued, with the stadium’s management saying AFL fans who threw bottles will likely face lifetime bans if and when they are identified.
Beloved illustrator and author Terry Denton, famed for the 13-Storey Treehouse and Just… series co-written with Andy Griffiths, has died aged 76.
In a post to social media, his literary agency Curtis Brown and publishers Pan Macmillan shared the news: “Terry died surrounded by his family on Monday [September 21].”
Based in Victoria, Denton was best known for his Gasp! series, which was adapted for television, as well as the Treehouse books, co-written with Griffiths – the current Australian Children’s Laureate – over the course of three decades.
He also designed the puppets for Australian television series Lift Off, including the iconic EC doll.
The ABC’s flagship investigative program Four Corners had a culture that favoured limiting knowledge about anonymous sources, fell short on fact-checking and had inadequate upward referral processes, its independent ombudsman has found.
The ombudsman’s report into Cocaine Nation and Meth Highway, two episodes fronted by sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal, was released on Tuesday afternoon and found the programs failed to meet the ABC’s editorial standards for accuracy, fair and honest dealing and independence and integrity.
Authorities have detected two cases of H5 bird flu among fur seals in Victoria. One confirmed case was a dead long-nosed fur seal found on Gabo Island in eastern Victoria.
Specialist vets were sent to the island to collect samples and later confirmed the seal had the virus.
The other seal was found at Rye Back Beach on the Mornington Peninsula.
Victoria’s chief biodiversity officer James Todd said the detections were concerning and could be upsetting for communities, visitors and those who cared about marine and coastal environments.
Jetstar passengers will have their excess baggage charges, seat changes, late fees and other sales transactions waived for two days starting on Wednesday, as union-affiliated members ramp up industrial action amid an ongoing pay dispute.
The Australian Services Union announced the measure today, after members voted overwhelmingly in favour of action in late August.
The action falls during the first week of Victorian and Queensland school holidays, and in the lead-up to the AFL grand final with fans streaming into Melbourne from Queensland and Western Australia.
“Our members are still turning up to look after passengers, but they won’t be collecting extra fees on Jetstar’s behalf until Jetstar shows that it is serious about its workforce,” said ASU national assistant secretary Scott Cowen in a statement.
“The ball is now in Jetstar’s court. It’s time to improve their offer, it’s time to support the workforce that has supported Australians travelling at home and abroad.”
Staying with Barnaby Joyce on News24, and he was also asked about One Nation’s plan for net negative migration of 766,000 over three years.
Asked if he was aware that at no point in Australian history, including during COVID, had Australia engineered a reduction of that many people, Joyce replied: “We’ve got three million people on temporary visas, bigger than half the population of Sydney … it’s not like we don’t have people to find them from.”
“I’m standing on a roadside in Wagga, so don’t ask me to pull it out the back of my pocket, but we’ve nominated where they’re coming from. We’re targeting students and those family reunion aspects of it.”
Asked what level of unemployment he’d be comfortable with this policy causing, Joyce said: “In targeted areas we will still have demand-driven visas, 489s, 491, backpackers. These targeted demand-driven programs will still continue on, so I don’t see this as creating a massive employment issue in areas where there’s efficacy of bringing people in.
“If it means they run short of Uber drivers in Sydney, that might be a consequence.”
One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce was just on News24, where he was asked if his party wanted to ban immigration from “Islamic countries”.
“Certainly, from certain areas, that is a yes,” Joyce replied.
“If it’s fracturous (sic), if we’re coming in from areas where people decide they want to install in Australia what they left, from sections of the Middle East or North Africa, we don’t want that sort of cultural infusion to affect Australia. I think that’s fair enough.
“But if you said Islam from Albania, I’d say yes. I know them up in Mareeba too … no problems there because unless you ask them, most of the time you wouldn’t know they’re Islamic.”
That appears to be a reference to this masthead’s reporting at the weekend, which noted Albanian Muslims began settling in Shepparton in the 1920s. Shepparton’s One Nation vote is surging.
“We have a lot of members who are Asian, Assyrian, Lebanese heritage, we’ve got members from all across,” Joyce said earlier in the interview. “We do not differentiate on the colour of your skin. We’re very proud of our Aboriginal heritage, but we’re a conservative party.”
Police across Australia and New Zealand have charged 1203 people with 3309 offenders, as part of a five-day operation to reduce the availability of drugs in Australia.
The operations, co-ordinated by the Australia and New Zealand Illicit Drug Working Group (ANZIDWG), focused on disrupting organised crime networks involved in the importation, trafficking, production and distribution of illicit drugs.
Across 560 search warrants, more than a tonne of drugs were seized, as well as $2 million in cash, 17 vehicles and 71 firearms.
“The seizure of firearms alongside illicit drugs highlights the broader criminal activity linked to organised crime and the ongoing efforts of law enforcement agencies to disrupt these networks,” federal police said in a statement.
The results come as national wastewater data continues to indicate strong demand for illicit drugs across Australia, with methamphetamine, heroin, MDMA and cocaine consumption reaching record levels.
The Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces had carried out a massive strike on targets in Ukraine, hitting industrial and military facilities, fuel and energy sector installations as well as port infrastructure facilities and sea vessels operating for Ukrainian military.
The ministry said its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 297 drones over various Russian regions overnight.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit civilian targets, including private houses and cars, in Russia’s Samara region on the Volga River, which hosts critically important facilities such as oil refineries, the local governor said on Tuesday.
Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on the Telegram messaging app that dozens of drones had been downed overnight by air defences.
The City of Fremantle is bracing for 40,000 people to descend on the port town come Saturday’s AFL grand final, with central streets to be closed off to vehicles.
Fremantle Deputy Mayor Fedele Camarda, said the town was organising first aid and toilet facilities for those watching the Dockers versus Lions game on big screens in public areas.
“There will be [a screen] at The Esplanade and also one at Walyalup Koort [Fremantle’s Kings Square], I think The Esplanade one will certainly be one that will be a family-friendly venue,” he said.
“There are also ticketed events, so free venues will be on a first-come-first-serve basis.”
