Updated at\u00a002.01 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
Tess Ikonomou<\/p>\n
Australia investigating reports of detained activist<\/p>\n
Australian officials are making \u201curgent\u201d inquiries with Vietnamese authorities to confirm the detention of a democracy campaigner.<\/p>\n
Vietnamese Australian Tran Hiep, 50, has not been in contact with his family since 18 September, following a short trip to Cambodia to meet with human rights activists.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the foreign affairs department said it had made \u201curgent inquiries with Vietnamese authorities to confirm reports that an Australian citizen has been detained\u201d.<\/p>\n
double quotation markWe are providing consular assistance to the Australian\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Vietnamese government said it had arrested Hiep and two others entering the country from the Cambodian border.<\/p>\n
Australian Vietnamese democracy activist Tran Hiep, 50, who has been reported missing in Cambodia since 18 September. Photograph: Hiep familyShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.32 EDT<\/p>\n Greens need to grow, Faruqi and McKim say<\/p>\n Mehreen Faruqi and Nick McKim have issued a statement about their joint ticket for the Greens leadership. They said.<\/p>\n double quotation markTo meet the moment, the Greens need to grow.<\/p>\n We need to take the fight to Labor and a broken economic system that rips off young people, keeps working people drowning in bills and wreaks havoc on nature and climate.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the far-right gains strength, we think we are the right people to resist, and to grow our movement alongside our colleagues, members and supporters. Our politics are unapologetically bold and we want to lead with hope over hate and people over profit.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Mehreen Faruqi to run for Greens leadership NSW senator and current Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi will run for the party leadership this week, on a joint ticket with Tasmanian senator Nick McKim.<\/p>\n Faruqi is the second declared candidate, after Sarah Hanson-Young said on Tuesday she would contest the leadership.<\/p>\n The race has been sparked by Larissa Waters\u2019 shock resignation on Monday night due to health concerns.<\/p>\n A decision is expected in the next 48 hours, with Greens members set to congregate at a two-day party retreat in Sydney.<\/p>\n Faruqi has been in federal parliament since 2018 and holds portfolios including university education, international aid and animal welfare.<\/p>\n McKim, who would become deputy leader, holds the party\u2019s treasury portfolio.<\/p>\n Photograph: Bianca de Marchi\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.39 EDT<\/p>\n Bob Brown says Waters can \u2018feel very proud\u2019 as she steps down as Greens leader<\/p>\n The Greens party co-founder Bob Brown says Larissa Waters can \u201cfeel very proud\u201d of her time as party leader after stepping down due to ill health.<\/p>\n Waters quit the top job after 16 months as she manages a worsening chronic kidney condition. Speaking on ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing, Brown said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe last couple of months have shown the highest poll ratings for the Greens in history. Up there averaging 13%, 14%, [sometimes] hitting 16%. So \u2026 the Larissa team, and Larissa herself, can feel very proud about that as she leaves and hopefully gets very better, very much better from the health problems she\u2019s had.<\/p>\n Brown said he felt \u201cvery confident\u201d about whoever the party chose as its next leader.<\/p>\n double quotation markIt\u2019s a team that\u2019s going places.<\/p>\n The Greens party room will make the decision tomorrow. I\u2019ll leave that to them. What I can say is it now has a depth of talent for leadership. There are three or four people in there who would make excellent leaders.<\/p>\n They know each other\u2019s qualities, and the public can be sure they\u2019ll come up with the right answer.<\/p>\n Bob Brown. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.10 EDT<\/p>\n Man arrested after two men found dead at same home two weeks apart<\/p>\n A man has been arrested after two men were found dead at a home in Gurranang, about 25km north of Grafton, two weeks apart.<\/p>\n Police were called to the house on 13 September where they found the body of a 79-year-old man inside.<\/p>\n On 28 September, police went to the same location as part of their investigation, and while there they found the body of another man inside a shed. The second man is believed to be aged 59.<\/p>\n Today, police arrested a 32-year-old man at a hospital in Grafton. He was taken to the Grafton police station and the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.48 EDT<\/p>\n Max Chandler-Mather calls for direct election of new Greens leader The former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather has called for the party\u2019s membership to get a vote on its next parliamentary leader.<\/p>\n Defeated at last year\u2019s election, the former Griffith MP is now the head of the party thinktank The Green Institute.<\/p>\n In an open letter, he called a members\u2019 vote \u201ca radical idea\u201d. A plebiscite in 2020 saw 62% of Greens members support \u201cone-member, one-vote\u201d for the election of the leader, but the move fell short of a required two-thirds majority.<\/p>\n Chandler-Mather said:<\/p>\n double quotation markPeople often ask how to recreate the political success and energy of UK Greens leader, Zack Polanksi or New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n The recipe for their success doesn\u2019t just lie in their policies, rhetoric or even organising strategy. It lies in the process by which they won their elections. In both instances they were elected by direct member elections.<\/p>\n If we want to win real change, then the Greens should aspire to become a genuine mass membership party with well over 500,000 members, where its support and organisation reaches into the working class communities long abandoned by the Labor party.<\/p>\n Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/AAP<\/p>\n double quotation markDirect member election of the leader won\u2019t achieve [our aims] on its own. But I fundamentally believe it is a crucial step towards building the movement we need.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.52 EDT<\/p>\n Tess Ikonomou<\/p>\n More \u2018boots on the ground\u2019 for missing hiker in Peru<\/p>\n Loved ones of an Australian hiker missing in Peru have vowed the traveller will return home safely, as they ramp up a private rescue mission.<\/p>\n Jordan Yap, 30, last made contact with friends and family the day before a planned 10-day solo trek along the challenging Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range, starting on September 14.<\/p>\n The Melbourne man\u2019s best friend, Kevin Nguyen, said:<\/p>\n double quotation markJordan, in my opinion, is coming home.<\/p>\n (Jordan) is someone that is incredibly adventurous and takes life by its hands.<\/p>\n More than $74,000 has been donated to an online fundraiser for a private search team of specialised high-altitude mountain guides, alongside rescue efforts by local authorities.<\/p>\n In an update posted online, Yap\u2019s family said they need \u201cmore boots on the ground to cover as much territory as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n Photograph: AAP\/Kevin NguyenShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.38 EDT<\/p>\n Markets lift bets on higher interest rates after RBA warning<\/p>\n Markets are expecting interest rates will stay higher for longer after the Reserve Bank board lifted rates and said it was willing to move again.<\/p>\n Money markets were already expecting today\u2019s hike would be followed by another in February and potentially one more later in 2027, with no cuts in the near future.<\/p>\n Those predictions appear to have been bolstered by the RBA\u2019s harsh verdict on Australia\u2019s inflation problem. The Australian dollar is up from 70.11 US cents before the decision to 70.17 US cents.<\/p>\n Bond yields have nudged upwards, and the sharemarket benchmark, the S&P\/ASX200, slipped from 8,697 to 8,671 points.<\/p>\n Investment management companies were split on what comes next, with Vanguard predicting rates would stay on hold but VanEck tipping another hike as \u201chighly likely\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Australia a \u2018global outlier\u2019 on rate rises: Liberal MP<\/p>\n Liberal frontbencher Simon Kennedy has criticised the federal government over the Reserve Bank\u2019s rate rise decision today, calling on the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, to redo the federal budget. Kennedy said:<\/p>\n double quotation markPaul Keating gave us the recession Australia had to have. Jim Chalmers has given us the household recession Australia did not need to have.<\/p>\n We have had four interest rate rises this year.<\/p>\n Jim Chalmers needs to immediately redo his budget, cut government spending, and explain to the 3 million Australian households with mortgages what this will do to inflation and interest rates.<\/p>\n Kennedy says Australia is a \u201cglobal outlier\u201d with the most interest rate rises this year of any advanced economy.<\/p>\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790668569_589_Tom_McIlroy.png\")
Tom McIlroy<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\n![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790668570_190_Luca_Ittimani.png\")
Luca Ittimani<\/p>\nTom McIlroy<\/p>\n