Coalition wants to scrutinise ‘national security risk’ of Chinese-made EVs
Paterson says the Albanese government deserves credit for ending China’s “economic coercion campaign” but has sought to cast the achievement as “a bipartisan achievement”.
“It started in the Morrison government, it is continuing under the Albanese government,” he said.
Of course, it happened on the Albanese government’s watch. They deserve some of credit for that, but it is a credit to Australia as a whole because the reason why the Chinese government has walked away from these sanctions is because they didn’t work.
Paterson says he wants to “look closely” about whether to ban Chinese-made electric vehicles in Australia because “internet connected vehicles are a national security and cybersecurity risk”.
So much so that the Biden administration is taking very tough action to eliminate them from their market. If our closest ally and friends think it is a concern, we should address it as well.
However, Paterson said there were other ways of mitigating the risks, which may not necessarily involve an outright ban.
For example, you can impose minimum cybersecurity standards that would lift the bar that all Internet devices like that have to meet, not just cars but other devices connected to the Internet.
Key events
What we learned, 13 October 2024
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Olympian posts first marathon win in Melbourne
Some more from today’s Melbourne marathon, where Genevieve Gregson scored her first marathon win, two months after running in the event at the Paris Olympics.
The Queenslander won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday in two hours, 28 minutes and 13 seconds, beating local Sarah Klein by nearly three minutes. Kate Mason, also from Melbourne, completed the women’s podium in 2:34:08.
Gregson’s husband, Ryan Gregson, finished second in the men’s race behind Jack Rayner, who clocked 2:11:49 after winning the Melbourne half-marathon for the past three years.
‘Steep’ rent hikes pricing more Australians out of homes, advocates fear
Renters in Australian capital cities are on average spending nearly $15,000 more a year to rent a house since the pandemic, analysis has revealed.
Research from the advocacy organisation Everybody’s Home showed on average renters in capitals were paying $14,700 more annually to rent a house and $9,600 more to rent a unit compared with 2020.
Sydney and Perth have endured the steepest rent rises, with annual increases well above capital city averages for units ($10,452 and $14,508 respectively) and houses ($18,512 and $18,304). Adelaide and Brisbane unit rents are also above average.
Everybody’s Home analysed rental data from SQM Research to build its report.
Maiy Azize, a spokesperson from Everybody’s Home, said “keeping a roof over their head” was the biggest cost-of-living expense for most people in Australia.
The steep rise in rents is pushing more people into severe housing stress and homelessness.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly:
Auction activity remains stable this weekend
There were 2,525 auctions expected to be held this weekend, well above the 1,955 held last week and a gain on the 2,275 auctions at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 66.9% across the country, which is slightly higher than the 63.9% preliminary rate recorded last week but only just above the 65.2% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
-
Sydney: 736 of 1004 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 69%
-
Melbourne: 785 of 1044 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 64.8%
-
Brisbane: 152 0f 216 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 62.5%
-
Adelaide: 83 of 164 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 67.5%
-
Canberra: 52 of 83 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.2%
-
Tasmania: One auction held
-
Perth: Nine of 13 auctions held
Jobs market on display as inflation picture brightens
Australia’s labour market is tipped to keep softening little-by-little as persistently high interest rates weigh on demand for workers.
Some economists predict another tick higher in the official jobless rate on Thursday when the Australian Bureau of Statistics unveils its monthly labour force report.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has jacked up interest rates and kept them high to slow the economy and tame inflation.
Yet in a promising sign for borrowers waiting for cuts, August consumer price data showed all-important underlying inflation heading in the right direction, falling to 3.4% in August from 3.8% in July.
The RBA maintains it wants to be sure inflation is moving sustainably back within the target band before reducing rates.
Further nuggets of insight into the central bank’s thinking may be revealed in a speech by assistant governor Sarah Hunter, who is due to speak on Wednesday at the Citi Australia and New Zealand Investment Conference in Sydney.
– AAP
Traffic fines should be income-based to avoid ‘criminalising poverty’, finds new Australia Institute report
Australia’s traffic fine systems are “criminalising poverty” finds a new report calling for fairer fines proportional to a driver’s income.
While it might be an annoyance for high income earners, amid cost-of-living pressures a traffic fine can mean lower income earners are forced to choose between essentials or paying it off, The Australia Institute says.
Fines are the same for every driver caught speeding based on their jurisdiction, with NSW sometimes offering a 50% discount for people on government benefits.
The think tank report is calling for a more equitable Finnish traffic fine model to be implemented in Australia.
Having a billionaire pay the same $200 speeding fine as a low income earner is unfair, the institute’s research manager and report co-author Alice Grundy said.
Australia’s regressive speeding fine system effectively criminalises poverty.
The plan proposes a flat fine based on the speeding range, with drivers accruing more based on their income and whether they have dependents.
NSW drivers currently pay $361 in fines if caught speeding between 10km/h to 19km/h but under the proposal, drivers could receive a fine ranging from $75 to $885 based on their income.
Accrued unpaid fines can trigger a vicious circle, where having the driver’s car registration or licence cancelled leads to a reduced ability to work and pay fines.
The report noted that income-based fines were aimed at fairness, rather than changing driver behaviour, suggesting warning signs and physical road modifications were more effective.
– AAP
Smoke and toxic fumes erupt on Nullarbor highway due to burning semi-trailer carrying household insecticides
A burning semi-trailer carrying household insecticides is causing smoke and toxic fumes to erupt after an incident on a highway along the Nullarbor, roughly 88km east of the Western Australian border.
South Australian Country Fire Service volunteers are on site with a bulk-water carrier and one truck. SA and WA police and WA fire services are supporting the effort.
An exclusion zone has been set up to protect the public from toxic smoke.
The truck is expected to burn for at least 10 to 24 hours, and sections of the Eyre Highway between Eucla and Yalata have been closed to traffic. It is unknown when the roads will reopen.
Emergency service workers have asked the public not to enter the area due to the injury risk firefighters as visibility is poor.
People in the area are advised to remain indoors and in vehicles, with windows and doors closed and any air conditioning set to recirculation to not draw any fumes or smoke into enclosed spaces.
Jeff Kennett apologises for derogatory comment at Young Liberals function
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has apologised for calling a woman a “bitch” for speaking during his speech at a Young Liberals function on Saturday night.
The Nine papers report that Kennett said he regretted making the comment during the Young Liberal Annual Gala held at the Melbourne Arts Centre.
Speaking to the Age, Kennett said the woman was “very, very distracting”. He said she was apart of a group who continued to talk through his speech, despite being asked to be “respectful”.
I was giving my speech, [the woman] was sitting at the table immediately in front of me, and speaking continually, and I could hear her, and it was distracting.
Kennett said he had been trying to calling the woman to apologise directly but hadn’t “been able to make contact”, saying he suspected they were not taking his calls.
I apologise for using the word.
Dutton’s focus on ‘dividing Australians’ isolating Libs from international community on Gaza/Lebanon ceasefire
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says the Coalition is “at odds” with the international community and Australia’s key allies over its opposition to calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Responding to an interview earlier on Sunday by the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, Wong suggested the concession showed Coalition Peter Dutton was “isolated” on this issue and was more concerned with “dividing Australians”.
A few days ago, Mr Dutton said the prime minister should be condemned for calling for a ceasefire.
Now the Liberals finally realise they’re at odds with the international community, including the United States, who are all pressing for peace – but he still can’t bring himself to do so.
He’s so focused on dividing Australians over this conflict that he doesn’t realise how isolated his position is.
We know Mr Dutton is negative about everything but it’s pretty extreme to be negative about a ceasefire that saves civilian lives and prevents further disastrous escalation of conflict.
They are relics of the Gondwana age but five years after Australia’s black summer these trees are dying a ‘long, slow death’
Thousands of years of accumulated leaf fall makes the ground bounce like a mattress underfoot and, high above, rainforest coachwood trees form a dense canopy that dresses the understory in permanent shade.
Some of the unique plants in this rainforest can trace their lineage back 40 or 50m years when the Gondwana supercontinent was breaking apart and Australia was detaching itself from what is now Antarctica.
Take only a few steps from the cool shade and you emerge to something altogether different. Still rainforest, but changing fast.
Soil and rocks are exposed and, above, the leafless branches of tall and dead trees let the sunlight strike the forest floor.
This is a place packed with threatened species, including the nightcap oak – a true Gondwanan relic that grows nowhere else.
On the ground and at the base of the thin-barked trees is charcoal. Five years ago, chunks of this in rainforest not evolved to burn, did burn, during what became known as Australia’s black summer bushfires.
“It can take a lot of these trees a long time to die. It is a long, slow death,” says Dr Robert Kooyman, an evolutionary ecologist who has spent more than 40 years working and studying the rainforests in and around Nightcap national park in northern New South Wales.
For more on this story, read the full feature from Guardian Australia’s Graham Readfern:
Anti-war protesters rally in Sydney CBD
Protesters have gathered in Sydney’s Hyde Park as part of anti-war protests, calling for an end to Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Large crowds gathered from 1pm to attend the rally, the latest in a year of consistent protests.
-
A march has been held in Melbourne for the 53rd straight week.
-
A crowd had also begun to grow in Brisbane for an anti-war rally.
-
The Australian Friends of Palestine Association in South Australia has held a Run Ride Walk 4 Palestine event at Glenelg.
-
Rallies were also held in Perth and Hobart on Saturday.
NZ Labour leader lays out economic plan on first anniversary of party’s election loss
New Zealand Labour’s Chris Hipkins has managed to stay on as leader of his party and is now looking forward to the next election, saying he intends to make Chris Luxon’s Nationals a one-term government.
Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of his party’s election loss, Hipkins, who has just visited the UK where Labour has returned to power, laid out his ideas for New Zealand’s future economy to AAP:
If we actually want to grow the economy, government does have a role.
Government investment on missions with a clear purpose can actually generate huge spin-off benefits.
And we shouldn’t be focused on growth for growth’s sake … we should be saying our goal is to ensure that everybody has a good well-paying job.
The economy has been growing – for the last 40 years – but the vast majority of the people who are generating the growth aren’t feeling the benefit.
To implement that economic strategy, Labour needs to win in 2026.
Its odds are poor – no Kiwi government has been turfed after a single term in half a century – and Hipkins concedes Labour was “out-campaigned”.
– with AAP
NZ government says coalition ‘working well’ one year in
A year on from the election that brought Chris Luxon’s National’s to power in a right-wing coalition, New Zealand’s prime minister has defied expectations of a dysfunctional government.
Luxon’s coalition partner, the ACT leader and transport minister David Seymour, says the experience so far has been “much less obstructive and keener to get along than I’d anticipated’”.
Chris Bishop, National’s campaign chair and the housing and infrastructure minister, insists the coalition is working well behind closed doors.
There’s a real willingness from everybody in the coalition to make it work. Differences are resolved amicably and congenially.
Many of the policies embraced by the coalition have drawn a mighty backlash, particularly those supported by ACT and NZ First, the minority parties which secured 8.6% and 6.1% of the vote respectively.
Public sector cuts – particularly in health – and the abolition of smoke-free strategies, fast-tracked consent for mining projects, gun law reform, and most controversially, Treaty of Waitangi reform, have angered many.
The future remains uncertain with New Zealand mired in recession and GDP per capita falling by 4.6% over the past seven quarters – a larger fall than it experienced during the global financial crisis.
The economic downturn is largely due to the Reserve Bank ratcheting up interest rates to contain high post-pandemic inflation – a challenge which appears contained given the centre bank is now easing rates.
The unemployment rate has grown by 1.4% in the last two years and is likely to keep growing.
– AAP
Man dead after allegedly being hit by car in Melbourne
Victorian police are investigating after two pedestrians were run down in a car park early on Sunday morning.
Officers were initially called to reports of an illegal rave in a park on Glenferrie Road where they witnessed two pedestrians being struck by a car at 1.10am, killing one.
The second person, who is yet to be identified, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police arrested the driver at the scene.
The investigation remains ongoing.
PM to give speech in Melbourne shortly on centenary of Australia’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
Prime minister Anthony Albanese will deliver a speech at 1.3opm during a visit to Melbourne to commemorate the centenary of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
We will bring you the latest as it happens.
Source link
[redirect url=’https://fastpowers.com/’ sec=’3′]