source : the age
Thanks for joining our live coverage of national news this Friday, October 9. That’s where we’ll leave things.
Here’s the day that was:
- The Australian Taxation Office’s controversial banning of credit card payments will no longer come into effect at the end of next month, after the government negotiated with the independent agency to delay the change. Jim Chalmers spoke about the government’s role earlier this afternoon.
- US immigration agents shot and wounded a man in his car with a child present, in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of New York City, according to the mayor, city police and an eyewitnesses. The incident has sparked protests and prompted mayor Zohran Mamdani to call for ICE to be abolished.
- Tomorrow our time, a Mexican judge is set to hand down his verdict in the trial of three men accused of killing two Australians and their American friend in 2024.
- The AFP plans to expand its overseas operations into more countries to target offshore organised-crime figures orchestrating violence in Australia, its commissioner has revealed.
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And in entertainment news, iconic Australian rockers Powderfinger have announced they’ll return to the stage for a long-awaited reunion in 2027. The announcement follows days of cryptic billboards across Australia’s major cities.
Oil declined after President Donald Trump said the US would not attack Iran before November’s midterm elections, signalling a period of more than three weeks for no offensive military action against Tehran.
Brent sank below $US103 a barrel after surging more than 4 per cent on Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $US90.
In a social media post, the US leader cited “productive discussions” with the Islamic Republic, while adding that crude was flowing through the Strait of Hormuz in “record numbers”.
Trump’s decision to lay off on new strikes comes despite Tehran escalating attacks in the waterway, which has boosted risks for vessels that have been moving crude to global markets in increasing volumes. The president also said that a US naval blockade of Iran’s ports would remain in full effect.
Singapore’s Formula 1 race will go ahead this weekend despite haze from Indonesian wildfires that has choked the city for weeks, pushing it to the top of the global rankings for air pollution.
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula One Management, said the company’s health and safety department was monitoring the situation, but expected an “incredible weekend”.
The race, a flagship event for Singapore, is scheduled to include performances by Lana Del Rey, Mark Ronson and other international acts and is expected to attract crowds of at least 300,000.
“There’s no signal that this will be a problem at all during this weekend,” he said in an interview on Friday with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin.
The prominent Liberal MP who left the party’s frontbench to speak more freely on immigration says the party’s policy announced this week gets the balance right.
Appearing on ABC News, Andrew Hastie said he felt the Coalition was in a stronger place now than when he left shadow cabinet on October 3, 2025.
“The Australian people have made it very clear they want to see immigration numbers reduced, and we’ve taken the time to get the policy right,” he said.
“We’re not in a race with One Nation, we’re in a race to get this right before the next election. Angus Taylor led us though a very comprehensive policy process. The policy does reduce the numbers, but it also raises the standards.”
Australia’s assistant treasurer Daniel Mulino has sought to cast his government’s decision to subsidise the ATO to postpone a planned ban on tax payments by credit card as a good thing, as Labor continues to face criticism for its handling of the issue.
The tax office’s ban – a response to the Reserve Bank of Australia banning credit card surcharge fees from October 1 this year – will now come into effect in June instead of next month, after the government negotiated a funding deal with the independent agency to delay the change.
The Coalition is continuing its campaign to repeal the ban entirely.
Mulino appeared on ABC News this afternoon, and didn’t address directly when asked why it took so long for the government to respond to concerns. He said the new deal was “a really important reform”.
“I think it’s a positive that a government listens to feedback. I think it would be far worse if a government listened to feedback and dug in its heels,” he said.
“The reduction of interchange fees is going to be a huge positive for small business,” he said, adding that 85 per cent of small businesses did not apply the surcharge.
NSW Health has warned the public over the circulation of multiple high-dose MDMA (ecstasy) tablets after they were found to contain a higher amount of the drug than expected.
The tablets were detected by the government’s Drug Checking Service at a Sydney music festival on Saturday, October 3.
It is not the first time NSW Health has alerted the public to the circulation of high-dose MDMA tablets. However, their prolonged detection has caused heightened alarm.
Chief addiction medicine specialist at NSW Health Dr Hester Wilson said the tablets could be in circulation anywhere across the state.
Gerhard Schroeder helped celebrate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday at the leader’s home, the Kremlin said.
Pictures posted on Telegram showed Germany’s former chancellor and Putin smiling broadly and shaking hands, with an old-style stove and a Russian samovar used to boil water for tea in the background.
“Vladimir Putin found out from the morning news the day before that Gerhard Schroeder was in Moscow and had come on business for the company Globus,” the Kremlin said on Telegram.
“The president invited his old friend to his home. Gerhard Schroeder was with Vladimir Putin when the head of state celebrated his birthday yesterday.”
Australia is set to unveil the final version of a controversial plan to force liquefied natural gas producers to reserve as much as a fifth of their output for local buyers.
The government will introduce legislation underpinning the Domestic Gas Reservation Scheme next week, according to three people directly involved with the proposal, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
Australia – now the world’s second-biggest LNG exporter after Qatari supply was choked off due to the Iran-Israel-US war – exports about three-quarters of its gas, but is facing a domestic shortfall on its more populated east coast toward the end of the decade.
The plan has faced vocal opposition from producers, who say it could stymie investment and damage the nation’s reputation as a reliable supplier to global markets.
The OpenAI employee in charge of government engagement in Australia – among other nations – is departing after six months in the job, according to a person familiar with the matter, just as the ChatGPT maker is facing scrutiny from regulators.
The executive, Sanghyun Lee, is based in Singapore and joined OpenAI in April after six years at Google, according to his LinkedIn profile. The reasons for his exit weren’t immediately clear. The source asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.
OpenAI declined to comment. Lee didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The news comes just days after OpenAI apologised to Australians for its AI accessing Services Australia’s Medicare statistics portal. The breach, which occurred in June, was detected at the company in August and reported to Australian authorities only in September.
Malaysia has forced more than 2 million students to stay home, as toxic haze from wildfires in Indonesia blanketed the region and the two nations’ leaders discussed efforts to tackle the crisis.
Schools across Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor states, as well as Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and the Rompin district in Pahang will be closed, Malaysia’s Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said in a Facebook post. The move follows similar action taken in the southern state of Johor, one of the worst-affected areas.
Neighbouring Singapore ranked as the world’s most polluted city, according to IQAir, raising concerns over this weekend’s annual Formula One race in the city-state. The event, with scheduled performances by Lana Del Rey, Mark Ronson and other international acts, is expected to attract at least 300,000 local and foreign visitors.
Race organiser Singapore GP Pte Ltd didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has almost been drowned out by protesters while providing an update into the latest shooting involving ICE agents.
A federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officer shot and wounded a Dominican man while arresting him in New York City on Thursday (7am Friday AEDT), during what the Department of Homeland Security called a “targeted enforcement operation”. A boy believed to be the man’s son was with him at the time.
Speaking at a late night press conference on the streets of New York, Mamdani said he had just spent two hours on the phone with US President Donald Trump, seeking to secure the man’s release.
“Those negotiations were unsuccessful. Just moments ago, ICE put them in an unmarked vehicle and whisked them away,” Mamdani said.
