Key events
Show key events only
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
What we learned today, Wednesday 24 September
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. We’ll be back first thing tomorrow, but until then, here were today’s major developments:
Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump have met for the first time at a reception for world leaders hosted by the US president, ahead of a formal meeting at the White House on 20 October. The prime minister also posted a grinning selfie with Trump onto social media.
The Reserve Bank will delay its next interest rate cut until 2026, economists say, after figures released today showed inflation jumped to 3% and the highest in a year.
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford. Dr Kerry Schott has been appointed by the Optus board to conduct an independent review into last week’s triple zero outage.
The ABC has been ordered by the federal court to pay Antoinette Lattouf a total of $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act and the ABC’s enterprise agreement when it unlawfully terminated the casual presenter for holding a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
And a panel of experts has told the inquiry into SA’s harmful algal bloom that while Karenia mikimotoi was the species initially identified as the cause of the bloom, there are other species that may never have been studied before.
Updated at 04.28 EDT
Anthony Albanese posts grinning selfie with Donald Trump
The prime minister has posted a beaming selfie with president Donald Trump to Instagram ahead of their planned meeting this month.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Anthony Albanese, who is looking in the image like the cat who got the cream after securing his first face-to-face meeting with Trump in October, wrote in the caption:
Good to chat with President Donald Trump at US welcome reception for world leaders attending United Nations General Assembly.
We do not have confirmation as to who suggested the selfie, or whether it was taken with the front facing or back facing camera.
Updated at 04.28 EDT
Man drowns on NSW Central Coast
A man in his 50s has died after being pulled unconscious from the water at a beach on the Central Coast of New South Wales this afternoon.
NSW police said about 3pm, emergency services were called to Soldiers beach at Norah Head following reports a swimmer was in trouble.
The man, believed to be aged in his 50s, was pulled from the water unresponsive and treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics, however he died at the scene.
He is yet to be formally identified, police say, and inquiries into the incident are ongoing. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
A report released last month by Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia found 357 people drowned in the past financial year – the highest drowning death toll since records began in 1996.
The annual drowning report found there had been 34 more deaths than the previous year’s total of 323, and a 27% increase on the 10-year average.
Updated at 03.14 EDT
Australian shares suffer worst day in three weeks
The local share market has suffered its worst drop in three weeks after a domestic inflation readout and cautious commentary from the US Federal Reserve reduced expectations for interest rate cuts at home and abroad.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday fell 81.4 points, or 0.92%, to 8,764.5, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 80.2 points, or 0.88%, to 9,057.6.
The Australian dollar spiked to a five-day high after the inflation readout, buying 66.23 US cents, from 65.93 US cents at 5pm on Tuesday.
-Australian Associated Press.
ShareKim Beazley wary over Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Trump
The former Australian ambassador to the US and Labor opposition leader, Kim Beazley, says it would be a “good idea” for the prime minister to avoid meeting Donald Trump until the future of Aukus was decided.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, to discuss next month’s meeting in Washington, Beazley said:
I would rather think it’d be good idea for the prime minister not to be meeting Donald Trump until what we’re doing with Aukus is sorted.
Beazley said it would be a “hard meeting” because of the live review of Aukus, and “tendency on the part of the American president to try and finish negotiations”.
He said those negotiating the program’s future were doing “very well” and American counterparts were “responding very well”, however he doubted the issue would be resolved in the coming weeks.
It will still be pending when the prime minister goes and sees the president and hopefully it stays like that and the prime minister is able to talk to the president about one thing that we really have to offer, which is our critical minerals.
Updated at 03.08 EDT
Trade minister to push US administration to return Australian tariffs to zero
Farrell said he would meet with his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer, to discuss the Trump administration’s tariff policy with Australia in the coming days.
Asked whether the hardline stance the US had taken was pushing south-east Asian nations to deal more closely with China, he said we “have to accept the world as it is”.
America has changed its policies in recent times. I will be meeting with my counterpart over the next couple of day, and I’ll be talking to him about trying to reverse some of the policies that the United States have adopted in respect to their trading arrangements …
I think we should continue to execute the arguments with the Americans that we have a free trade agreement with America that was freely entered into 20 years ago and that agreement provides that trade between Australia and the United States should be tariff free.
All we’re asking Americans to do is to honour the terms of our trade agreement. The Americans may have issues with the way in which that agreement operates but the message I will be giving to Mr Greer is look … we believe it should return to where it ought to be based on our free trade agreement and that is zero tariff on all products going from Australia into the United States.
Updated at 02.34 EDT
Australia ‘could do more’ with trade relationship with China, Don Farrell says
The minister for trade and tourism, Don Farrell is appearing on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today to discuss his trip to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meetings with economic ministers.
Asked what outcomes were expected, Farrell said Australia could do more in the region, particularly in regards to selling food and wine, the digital space and with critical minerals.
Too often in the past, Australia has flown over South-east Asia … This will be an opportunity to meet with my counterparts and discuss ways in which we can build free and fair trade in a world that is increasingly difficult in the trading space.
Pointing to American tariffs and economic unpredictability and whether China was becoming a “more stable” trading partner, Farrell said Australia had a “very good trading partnership” with the Asian nation but we “could do more”.
China is now our largest trading partner. Over the last three and a half years we have managed to stabilise our relationship … The policy of this government is to try and diversify our trading relationships so we now have a new free trade agreement with the United Kingdom … with India … and on the 1 October, a new free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates comes into force.
Updated at 02.20 EDT
Inflation jump wipes out rate cuts until 2026, economists say
Patrick Commins
The Reserve Bank will delay its next interest rate cut until 2026, economists say, after figures released today showed inflation jumped to 3% and the highest in a year.
Sally Auld, NAB’s chief economist, had expected rate cuts in November and February, but now predicts the next move won’t come until May.
We think the signal in today’s data is too strong to ignore.
The RBA as recently as this week warned against reading too much into the monthly figures, saying they offered only a partial read on inflation.
And the consumer price report also showed the headline figure was pushed higher by a 25% jump in electricity prices over the year as power bill subsidies rolled off – something the central bank has been predicting.
But Auld said the price of various services were rising too quickly, and this would be reflected in the RBA’s preferred quarterly measure of underlying inflation.
Deutsche Bank’s chief economist, Phil O’Donaghoe, told clients inflation was proving “stickier” than expected, and that a forecast rate cut in November would now be delayed to February.
Other economists were more sanguine, although they cautioned that there was now a higher chance that inflation would come in hotter in the September quarterly consumer price report.
CBA’s Harry Ottley said his team was sticking with another – and final – rate cut in November. He said:
Today’s data, however, suggests this is not a done deal and tension is building in the economic data.
The RBA meets on Monday, and the very slim chance of a rate cut after that meeting has disappeared.
Updated at 02.13 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s premier says the BCA is ‘run by Liberals’ after they reject working from home
The premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked about the Business Council Australia submission at her press conference this morning. She rejected the “false claims” that companies would move interstate and said Black was a Liberal. (Black has worked as a staffer for several NSW Liberal leaders including as chief-of-staff to former premier Dominic Perrottet). She went on:
Well, it’s no surprise that an organisation run by Liberals is opposing working from home. Working from home is good for families. It’s good for the economy.
Indeed, many of Victoria and Australia’s major companies are proud of the fact that they have flexible working arrangements. That includes working from home. They advertise it when they look to attract the best and brightest to come and work for them. We need to protect working from home, because we know many Liberals oppose working from home.
We’ve seen, as I’ve just mentioned, an organisation that’s headed by a Liberal is opposing working from home. We’ve seen other Liberals as well, Tim Wilson, James Newbury, just to name a couple who’ve also come out and said they don’t support working from home. And the real question here for [opposition leader] Brad Battin is, will he pull those, pull those Liberals into line and back work from home, or will he back his Liberal colleagues?
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan. Photograph: James Ross/AAPShare
Updated at 01.54 EDT
Benita Kolovos
Business Council of Australia opposes right to work from home
Earlier today, the Business Council of Australia released its submission to the Victorian government’s consultation on a proposed right to work from home at least two days a week and – unsurprisingly – they aren’t supportive.
At a press conference in Melbourne, the lobby group’s chief executive Bran Black said working from home arrangements should be “agreed between employers and employees at a workplace level”. He told reporters:
We’ve opposed the Victorian government’s proposal to legislate, [to] mandate working from home arrangements, and I want to be crystal clear in this regard, we don’t oppose working from home … Hundreds of thousands of Australians already have flexible working arrangements in place. They embrace working from home opportunities … when you mandate a single one size fits all, heavy handed, top down ‘government knows best’ approach – that doesn’t do it.
Black also noted that it would lead to “multiple compliance processes” for employees who operate across multiple states, creating a “headache” that could lead them to shift jobs and investment interstate.
I hear frequently [from businesses that] they don’t regard Victoria as a good place to invest. I’ve heard the word un-investable. Let’s turn that around. Let’s not look at policies that deliver short term sugar hits like a work from home legislative arrangements. Let’s look at policies that genuinely seek to drive economic growth.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black. Photograph: Dominic Giannini/AAPShare
Updated at 01.38 EDT
ABC managing director says Lattouf saga has been ‘deeply felt’ at the broadcaster
ABC managing director Hugh Marks put out a statement earlier after a court ordered the broadcaster to pay Antoinette Lattouf $150,000 in pecuniary penalties for terminating her employment.
Marks said the ABC acknowledged the decision and would “continue to reflect on the court’s findings”, adding:
This matter has been deeply felt at the ABC. As I’ve said previously, it was not handled in line with our values and expectations and Ms Lattouf, our staff and the public were let down. We take the matter seriously and have reflected on the lessons learned and their implications. We must be better.
I would like to reiterate the ABC’s sincere apology to Ms Lattouf and wish her all the best in the future.
Updated at 01.22 EDT
Tory Shepherd
Algal bloom inquiry turns to ‘who knew what, and when’
This morning’s algal bloom inquiry in Canberra was very focused on the science – what we do know, and the many (many) things we don’t know about the South Australian disaster.
This afternoon the focus has moved to the more political: who knew what, and when?
There’s a sprawling ecosystem of department and agency chiefs being grilled about if and when things were “fed up the chain”, as Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young put it.
Surfers first raised the alarm that something was in the water in March, and the state government got involved later that month.
The environment minister, Murray Watt. Photograph: Matt Turner/EPA
But it’s fair to say that it wasn’t until the deadly bloom hit Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches that it got a wider audience. Things then snowballed, money and support packages started flowing. The fish kept dying.
Federal environment minister Murray Watt faced outrage for not acting faster both on the bloom and on the marine heatwave that preceded it.
In today’s Senate inquiry into the bloom, various people have said they first became aware of the bloom in March (which was then corrected to May), or April, or July, and that Watt was formally briefed in July.
“Why wasn’t this information flowing faster?” Hanson-Young asked.
Federal agencies were aware but nobody told the federal government.
Updated at 01.10 EDT
Nick Visser
That’s all from me! Caitlin Cassidy will be your blog captain for the rest of today’s news.
ShareOptus to pay $100m fine for ‘predatory’ sales practices targeting vulnerable Australians
Josh Taylor
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the action against Optus last year, and in a judgment on Wednesday, Justice John O’Sullivan, said Optus had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” in the practices affecting over 400 customers, and Optus senior management knew, or ought to have known about the systemic failures that allowed the conduct to occur.
He said Optus failed to act with any sense of urgency and abrogated any semblance of responsible corporate behaviour.
He said:
Of particular concern is the fact that Optus conduct predominantly affected vulnerable consumers, including people with mental disabilities, people suffering from financial hardship, those with low financial literacy and people with limited English proficiency and or learning difficulties. Again, many of the vulnerable consumers were also First Nations Australians from regional, remote and very remote communities.
An Optus store. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
In one example reported by Guardian Australia, a woman with an intellectual disability was signed up to 24 plans she could not afford.
He said the $100m penalty would have a deterrence factor for Optus and others who may think contravention would pay.
The court agreed to the orders proposed by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Optus of the fines and remedies suggested.
Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, said earlier today Optus would issue a statement following the judgment.
Rue has previously apologised for the conduct – which occurred before he became chief executive – and has made changes, including taking over franchises involved in the conduct.
Updated at 00.58 EDT
Laneway festival sells out Sydney and Melbourne dates
Chappell Roan is turning out to be a major drawcard for next year’s Laneway festival.
The event, featuring Alex G, Lucy Dacus, Wet Leg and Role Model, has completely sold out in Sydney and Melbourne. The festival wrote on Instagram:
It’s been a record couple of days, and we can’t thank you enough for the enthusiasm for the festival – we feel so honoured.
Tickets are still available for the Gold Coast, Auckland, Perth and Adelaide.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Penry Buckley
Teenager charged following alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney CBD
A teenager has been charged following an investigation into an alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney’s CBD this week.
In a statement, NSW police say a 16-year-old boy was arrested yesterday in relation to an alleged assault on a train travelling towards Town Hall station about 4.20pm on Monday.
Police allege a man, 66, was walking towards a train door exit when he was approached by two males. The pair allegedly made threats at knifepoint about the man’s religion before assaulting the 66-year-old and fleeing the scene.
Following investigations, police executed a search warrant at an address in Padstow yesterday, where they arrested the 16-year-old boy.
He was taken to Bankstown Police station where he was charged with being armed with the intent to commit an indictable offence, common assault, as well as publicly threatening violence on the grounds of religion.
He was refused bail to appear at children’s court today.
Updated at 00.33 EDT