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Caitlin Cassidy
Universities’ early offers hit record high
Early offer applications to the University Admissions Centre (UAC) have reached a record high as Year 12 students increasingly bypass Atar entry admissions.
UAC processes tertiary education applications at around 30 universities, mostly in New South Wales and the ACT, and calculates Atar scores.
Nearly 28,000 students lodged an application for the Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS) when applications closed on Friday via UAC, the body revealed today, a 3.3% increase on last year’s record intake.
SRS allows universities to make early offers of admission based on criteria other than, or in addition to, the Atar, including Year 11 studies and school references. Around 15,000 SRS offers were made last year, up from 14,000 in 2023.
UAC spokesperson Peter Gangemi said the number of applications showed school leavers had a “significant appetite for university study”.
The first SRS offers will be released on 13 November.
Updated at 02.09 EDT
Auction activity holding steady into spring
The winter chill on home sales is lifting, with the first week of September seeing over 2,000 properties taken to auction across the capital cities – the third straight week with volumes that high.
More than 2,400 homes will go to auction this week and about 2,600 next week, according to data released today from property analytics firm Cotality.
Limited numbers of home sales in recent months have pushed up the rate of successful auctions. The preliminary clearance rate held at or above 75% for the fourth consecutive week last week, indicating buyers have grown more desperate to purchase available homes.
That preliminary rate has fallen since the last week of August, when it was 76.3%, in a sign the rising volume of homes could be easing buyers’ urgency. The hottest market, Sydney recorded a preliminary rate of over 80% two weeks ago but 78% last week.
Woolworths’ market value rises despite backpay cost surge
Investors aren’t too worried about the prospect of supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths facing a combined $1bn bill for underpaying their employees.
As we reported earlier, Woolworths announced it could have to pay out a further $250m to $470m in unpaid wages and up to $280m in extra costs, while Coles estimated a further $150m to $250m. Both chains have already paid large sums in back payment.
Traders seem to expect the payment will have little impact on the supermarket giants’ future profitability, with neither company seeing a significant move in its share price.
Woolworths’ market value has risen today after it released its new backpay estimates after barely moving when the federal court on Friday ruled against the two brands. Coles’ market value has slipped just 1% after making up some ground this afternoon.
The resilience of the companies’ market values sits alongside a broader fall on the consumer staples sector, which has slipped a little lower today. Retail payments data out today from the Reserve Bank showed Australians’ spending slipped in July, while Westpac’s card tracker suggested consumer purchasing hardly improved in August.
Updated at 01.32 EDT
Andrew Messenger
Queensland premier says ‘no place’ in the state for CFMEU
David Crisafulli says “there’s no place in a modern Queensland for the CFMEU”.
Asked about reports in the Nine newspapers that he believed the union was not able to be reformed and ought to be abolished, the Queensland premier told media that he believed in trade unionism “but the Cfmeu isn’t a regular union”, adding:
Their whole business model is different (to other unions). It’s about bullying, it’s about intimidation, it’s about misogyny. It’s about driving down productivity, being anarchist, and that, to me, is not that’s not a function of the union movement.
The CFMEU has come in for heavy criticism from the government and others, after a report commissioned by their administrator was released in July.
Asked how he planned to abolish the union, which is registered federally, Crisafulli said “let’s see what comes out of the commission inquiry”.
Read more here:
Updated at 01.24 EDT
Daisy Dumas
That’s all from me today – thanks for your company. I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Luca Ittimani.
ShareTagged great white shark detected off Manly
A tagged great white shark has been detected off Manly beach in Sydney, close to where a surfer was fatally mauled on Saturday.
Mercury Psillakis, a 57-year-old father of one, lost both legs after being bitten by what was suspected to be a great white shark while surfing at Long Reef with friends.
A NSW SharkSmart alert on social media said a shark was detected at 10.51am at North Steyne and was last detected near Coffs Harbour in June:
DPI Fisheries advise: tagged White Shark #2020 detected by North Steyne receiver at 10:51:23 AM (AEST) on 08-September-2025. Last detected at 10:02:52 AM (AEST) on 04-June-2025 by Soldiers Beach receiver. Tagged and released 17-September-2023(AEST) at Diggers Beach, Coffs Harbour.
A message on the Northern Beaches council website said Manly and Freshwater beaches were today closed due “to notification by NSW Government Shark Smart app that a tagged shark in the vicinity”.
Dee Why, close to Long Reef, has shark netting and drumlines. Both it and Long Reef were closed after the attack and will remain closed until further notice, according to the council.
Updated at 01.14 EDT
Tom McIlroy
Dan Tehan tours US nuclear energy infrastructure
Shadow energy and emissions reduction minister Dan Tehan is in the United States this week, part of a trip to look at nuclear energy infrastructure.
Tehan, who is leading the Liberal party’s internal review of net zero policies, told Sky he had paid for the international flights to America, while former Clean Energy Regulator board member and investor Charles Keifel is paying for domestic flights and accommodation.
Keifel is the chairman and co-founder of the Australian Advisory Board on Competitiveness.
The funding will be declared on Tehan’s register of members interests in coming weeks, he confirmed. Kiefel was appointed to the Clean Energy Regulator board when Liberal Angus Taylor was the energy minister.
During the trip, Tehan will look at nuclear fusion technology, as well as uranium export opportunities and potential for knowledge sharing between Australia and the US.
“We need to be across these developments,” he said. “If we’re not careful, the rest of the world is going to move and we are going to be left stranded.”
Tehan indicated the Coalition could stick with its nuclear policy, promoted by former opposition leader Peter Dutton before the election and considered significant in the Coalition’s defeat.
“Once again, if we’re not on top of this, then, as a country, and especially as a nation which needs energy abundance to keep up with the rest of the world, then we’re just not going to be in the picture,” he said.
Porepunkah shooting victim farewelled with full police honours
Tears and laughter have flowed for a larger-than-life veteran policeman gunned down just over a week before he was supposed to retire, AAP reports.
Detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson was farewelled with full police honours in a funeral at the Victoria Police Academy today.
The 59-year-old was one of two officers killed on 26 August while serving a warrant on Dezi Freeman at a property in Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne.
The funeral service for detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson at the Victoria Police Academy chapel in Melbourne. Photograph: Con Chronis/AAP
His partner, sergeant Lisa Thompson, broke down while leading the tributes for the man affectionately known as “Thommo”.
She met Thompson in 2016 after arriving at Wangaratta Police Station as a constable.
“We worked one shift together and it changed the course of my life,” she told mourners.
I had never laughed so much with someone and as I drove home that night reflecting on my day, I knew with absolute certainty that I wanted to be a detective.
I don’t want to live my life without you and I don’t want to finish our dreams on my own.
Updated at 00.20 EDT
Adam Bandt named CEO of Australian Conservation Foundation
Adam Morton
The former Greens leader Adam Bandt has been named as the head of one of the country’s biggest and oldest environmental organisations, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
Bandt, who unexpectedly lost the seat of Melbourne at the May election, will replace long-time ACF chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy, who announced earlier this year that she was resigning.
Bandt starts at ACF in January. The foundation said he would “not play any further role in the Greens”.
The ACF chair, Ros Harvey, said Bandt was the unanimous choice of the organisation’s board after a “rigorous search” that involved screening more than 300 candidates.
Adam Bandt. Photograph: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images
She said “hard times require bold leadership” and Bandt had the “vision, the bravery and the experience required” for the job.
In a statement, Bandt said it was a “true privilege to help lead Australia’s most respected voice for nature and climate at such a critical time”. He said:
Climate collapse is beginning, nature is in crisis and this is the parliament that can avoid extinction. This could be the best parliament ever for nature and climate. We’re setting politicians a test we hope they meet.
Updated at 00.06 EDT
‘I don’t think Jacinta has it in for Indians’ Barnaby Joyce says
The fallout continues from Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments suggesting the Labor party’s migration policies were attempts to garner votes from immigrants including those from India.
Barnaby Joyce appeared to defend Price on the Seven Network this morning, putting the comments down to a “mistake”.
Shadow minister for defence industry Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The Nationals MP said:
You make mistakes in politics all the time, and the best thing to do is apologise, move on … Get on to another topic. It’s just the nature of politics. You’re not going to be perfect on every statement you ever make, you’re gonna make mistakes.
I don’t think Jacinta has it in for Indians, by the way. I think that she’s trying to convey … migration is out of control. Why is it out of control? Not because of the people [but] because we just don’t have the resources. We don’t have the houses, the hospitals, the schools, the dams to absorb them.
He said Price should apologise “if that solves the problem”.
Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, also interviewed on Sunrise, said the Indian community was due an apology.
Jacinta Price should apologise and if she doesn’t, Sussan Ley should make her apologise … They’ve got all sorts of mess happening in the Coalition.
Updated at 23.53 EDT
The Wiggles deny former CEO was illegally fired
The Wiggles have told a court they will fight an unlawful dismissal lawsuit from their former chief executive, who claims the blue Wiggle undermined him, AAP reports.
Luke O’Neill says he was denied bonuses and excluded from meetings before being dismissed without a reasonable basis by the famous children’s entertainers.
He has launched legal action against the group, blue Wiggle Anthony Field and its general counsel Matthew Salgo in the federal court. No defence has been filed with the court but the band’s lawyer indicated on Monday the allegations were contested.
The Wiggles’ lawyer, Bianca Dearing, said on Monday:
“There are multiple complaints or inquiries pleaded during the course of the applicant’s employment … all of which are denied.”
Justice Michael Lee asked the parties to set out timetabling ahead of a potential hearing in April, noting he was “unclear about how long it will take”.
The Wiggles and its former chief executive will likely attend mediation before the end of the year to see if the issue can be resolved before a hearing, the court was told.
O’Neill was fired in May, a decision he says came without a reasonable basis and without any prior warning or earlier adverse feedback. He alleges his dismissal was unlawful.
You can read more about the case here:
Updated at 23.40 EDT
Coles and Woolworths underpayment bill could top $1bn
Jonathan Barrett
Coles and Woolworths are preparing to pay more than $1bn in the fallout from a major wages case that found the supermarket giants had underpaid thousands of workers.
The federal court found last week the big supermarkets hadn’t adequately tracked entitlements owed under the relevant retail award, resulting in years of missed overtime, penalties rates and other various payments.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleged Woolworths underpaid 19,000 workers and Coles underpaid more than 8,700 staff, including store managers.
Woolworths said in an ASX statement today it could owe workers a further $250m to $470m in pre tax payments, and up to $280m in additional costs including superannuation and payroll tax.
Coles estimates it might need to pay a further $150m to $250m to “reflect the findings of the court, including interest and on-costs”.
The estimates are in addition to significant sums Australia’s two biggest supermarket chains have already made in back payments. Proceedings are due back in court in late October.
The underpayment issue could become even more costly for the supermarkets, given the figures do not take into account potential payouts stemming from class actions.
Updated at 00.04 EDT