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What we learned today, Thursday 3 September

That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for the day.

Before we go, let’s recap the top headlines:

Thanks for sticking around, we’ll see you tomorrow!

Updated

Woman arrested after 81-year-old man’s body found in creek in northern NSW

A woman has been arrested after police found the body of a man on a property in New South Wales’ Northern Rivers region on Thursday afternoon.

Authorities attended a home near Ballina after responding to reports of concern for a person’s welfare.

Police said they located the body of an 81-year-old man in a creek on the property during a search. The man, who is believed to have lived there, is yet to be formally identified.

A 51-year-old woman was arrested at the home and remains in police custody as investigations continue.

Updated

Barnaby Joyce on illicit tobacco: ‘The only way to deal with it is to bring the price of legal cigarettes back into orbit of the illegal ones.’

Continuing his ABC interview, Barnaby Joyce said the current tobacco excise rate was “a complete disaster of a policy” that had only fuelled the illicit market.

The Labor party is sticking to their position that somehow if they start trying to sell packets of cigarettes at $55, and you can go down the street and buy them for $15, magically people are going to start going back to buy their cigarettes. They’re not buying their cigarettes, they’re buying the illegal ones.

The only way to deal with it is to bring the price of legal cigarettes back into orbit of the illegal ones, and then people will pay a premium for a regulated product … both of them will kill you, but at least with the regulated ones you know what is killing you.

Discussing the illicit drug trade, Joyce was asked whether Australia should legalise marijuana and cocaine to combat those black markets. Joyce rejected the premise of the question, adding that tobacco is less dangerous.

If I’m going down the road … what would you rather me doing? Having a bunga in my mouth and smoking it, taking a big long line and sticking it up my nose, or maybe just pulling a whole heap of cones? Which one are you going to feel safer with?

No one has been caught over the limit on cigarettes … if you’re pulling bucket bongs and deciding to go for a drive down to the shops, it’s probably more dangerous.

Updated

‘Put out the welcome mat and bring more chairs’: Barnaby Joyce accuses Coalition of copying One Nation’s tobacco policy

Barnaby Joyce has accused the Coalition of “copying One Nation” with its tobacco policy, released days after the minor party announced its own proposal.

The Coalition’s central measure is an 80% cut to the tobacco excise, alongside a $200m law enforcement boost to shut down illegal shops and stop illicit shipments. One Nation has promised to cut tobacco excise by 75%.

Speaking to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Joyce said:

It wasn’t a policy before One Nation made it a policy … We should just put out the welcome mat and bring more chairs to the One Nation party room and let’s just get on with it. We can all sit there together.

Maybe we should just email them after we’ve made a decision, just take the dog lead out of this and get policy straight through to the Coalition.

Joyce added that he found the 5% difference between the policies “hilarious”.

I’m glad we didn’t say 90, then they would say 95. We say 100, they would say ‘We’ll pay you to buy cigarettes.’ I don’t want to bucket on the Coalition, but they’re really struggling, aren’t they?

Updated

Crisis averted but home developer Bathla still on life support

Administrators for a major housing developer have met a crucial funding deadline, but negotiations to keep the group afloat continue, AAP reports.

Insolvency advisory Teneo has been scrambling to secure $20m in short-term funding for the embattled Bathla Group since it entered voluntary administration in late August.

As administrator, Teneo set a deadline of Thursday to secure the cash injection, which is when payroll for Bathla’s staff fell due.

On Thursday afternoon, Teneo announced it was yet to secure the short-term funding it is seeking from lenders but enough cash had been found to pay wages accrued since August 25.

The partial payment covers the period since Teneo was appointed administrator, but will not meet all wages owed by Bathla, with some staff having not been paid for weeks.

Administrator Stephen Longley said Bathla’s employees had engaged with Teneo constructively, but stressed the payroll target was only the first hurdle.

“The situation is complex,” he said in a statement, adding the short-term funding administrators are still attempting to secure would only afford a few weeks of breathing room.

Teneo will now set its sights on the first formal creditors meeting slated for Friday, where those owed money would engage with administrators, he said.

Updated

Opposition claims Queensland government ‘fixed the figures’ after slight dip in crime rate

Queensland’s Labor opposition claims the LNP “fixed the figures” after a slight dip in the state’s reported crime rate in the party’s first year in government.

ABS data released today shows that the number of victims in crime in Queensland declined by about 4% in 2025. It’s broadly in line with the national average and with the rate of decline in Labor’s last year in office, 2024.

The number is politically significant because the premier, David Crisafulli, vowed to resign unless the number of crime victims declined during his first term in office.

The drop is driven by a decline in all assaults, which are down 4%. Burglary also declined about 12%, and motor vehicle theft and other theft victimisation rates have declined by 2%. The number of victims of sexual assault is down 2%, the first decline in the state since 2019. The Labor leader, Steven Miles, said on Thursday:

If you believe these statistics, then domestic violence is down 12% in just a year. I don’t think any of us believe that. What’s changed is how that’s reported.

The shadow minister for women, Shannon Fentiman, said:

This is a government that does not care about domestic and family violence victims, and we see that today in these figures, they have not fixed domestic and family violence. They’ve just fixed the figures.

The government has spent millions in public money claiming its adult crime, adult time laws have reduced crime by more than 9%.

The police minister, Dan Purdie, said the government would continue to increase sentences for some young offenders, in an effort to reduce crime. He said:

Today is a really important day for Queensland. It’s an important day for Queenslanders who have suffered for too long under Labor’s youth crime crisis, and it’s an important day for victims of crime.

Updated

‘Nightmare’: Melbourne child dies from infection after petting zoo visit

A three-year-old girl has died after a visit to a petting zoo triggered a bacterial infection, prompting health authorities to raise the alarm about the rare but potentially fatal syndrome, AAP reports.

Sassi died in a Melbourne hospital after developing Haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, known as HUS, seven weeks after a trip to a petting zoo where she held, rode and petted animals, the Salter family said in a GoFundMe post.

The family of four said they had “been living a nightmare” after the toddler spent six weeks in intensive care battling kidney failure and a brain injury. The family wrote:

We’ve lost our darling girl.

Sassi was strong. Surprising many at each corner. She was courageous and a fighter. She fought so hard. We all fought so hard.

The child contracted a strain of the E.Coli bacteria (STEC) which releases toxins into the body, inflaming blood vessels and causing clots which can cause gastro symptoms and damage the kidneys and other organs.

The bacteria is commonly found in the gut of several types of farm animals, including cattle.

The family called on the community to prioritise hand hygiene by carrying hand sanitiser and washing fruit and vegetables.

The STEC bacteria can be passed on to humans by eating undercooked beef, drinking unpasteurised milk, drinking or swimming in contaminated water and contact with farm animals.

About 1,000 STEC infections are reported in Australia each year, of which a very small number of these people develop HUS, the Australian Centre for Disease Control says.

Updated

Public health groups warn Coalition’s tobacco and vaping plan could reverse decades of progress in reducing smoking

Cancer Council Australia and Quit have warned that the Coalition’s plans to slash the tobacco excise and legalise vapes threaten to “undermine decades of progress in reducing smoking and preventing cancer”.

Speaking to Channel Nine’s Today program this morning, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, said the plan would “crush the organised crime gangs that are making billions from illegal cigarettes and vapes”. The plan’s central measure is an 80% cut to the tobacco excise, alongside a $200m law enforcement boost to shut down illegal shops and stop illicit shipments.

The anti-smoking organisations warned the proposal could undo “decades of world-leading public health policy” that has helped Australia achieve historically low smoking rates.

Cancer Council Australia’s director of cancer control policy, David Martin, said:

This is not the time to abandon the measures that have delivered those results. The overwhelming majority of cancers caused by smoking are preventable and every policy decision should be judged against one simple question: will it reduce nicotine addiction and smoking, or increase it?

We know that the illicit trade is a serious problem but making tobacco cheaper or creating a commercial vape market will not address it.

Quit medical lead, Dr Liam Egan, added:

Quitline receives calls from young people addicted to vaping and pouches, and struggling to quit. We don’t want to make these harmful, addictive nicotine products easier to access at the very moment we should be doing everything possible to prevent another generation becoming hooked. These proposals go against hard-fought public health wins.

Updated

That’s all from me! Achol Arok will take things from here.

CommBank officials say home loan applications have dropped by 15%

Officials from the Commonwealth Bank say home loan applications have dropped by around 15% since the May federal budget when the Albanese government announced a winding back of generous tax breaks for property investors.

Banking managers and economists from the top four banks are appearing at a Senate inquiry into generational housing inequality today.

Robert Parker, CBA’s executive general manager for retail, said there had been a “softening” of lending applications in recent months, with investor loans down about 28% since May, but didn’t have the figure for owner-occupier loans.

Westpac’s head economist, Dr Luci Ellis, said the bank – like other major banks – did not publicly report how much of its $6.9bn profit for 2024-25 was generated from interest on home loans. Ellis said the bank’s consumer division, which includes home mortgages, made $2.3bn in the year, or a third of the overall profit.

Earlier this morning, the Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary, Joseph Mitchell, took aim at the big four banks, describing them as a big factor in housing affordability and ownership in Australia.

There’s not enough competition in the big four banks. Their profitability rates are absolutely enormous. They’re able to charge basically whatever they want for a mortgage because they, [at] the end of the day, are some of the big arbiters about whether or not you get to own a home.

Read more:

Updated

Victoria premier commits almost $450m to road projects if re-elected

The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, held his fourth consecutive press conference regarding the state’s roads this week, announcing $448m to upgrade roads in the western suburbs if re-elected in November.

Carroll announced $195m would go to widening Point Cook Road between Central Avenue and Dunnings Road in Seabrook, $170m to widening Taylors Road in Delahey and Kings Park and $83m to double the capacity at the Ballan Road and Bolton Road intersection in Wyndham Vale.

He told reporters:

Roads, roads and roads are such an important component of what I will do as premier. You don’t need to be a Rhodes scholar to know we need to invest in more roads, fixing potholes, smoother ways home, and getting people home quicker and faster to be with their families.

It’s worth noting each project is in Labor-held electorates that pundits say the party has taken for granted: Kororit, Sydenham, Point Cook and Werribee.

Updated

Guardian Essential report: does One Nation have a fix for social isolation? – Australian Politics podcast

One Nation has had another electoral win, having flipped the Labor seat of Secret Harbour in a Western Australian byelection on Saturday. So what does this signal for the upcoming contest at the Victorian state election?

Guardian Australia political reporter and live blogger Krishani Dhanji speaks with Essential Media chair Peter Lewis about how Pauline Hanson’s party is tapping into low social engagement, and how Labor can better respond during this time of technological and global uncertainty.

Listen here:

Government releases draft law on 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts

Treasury has designed a workaround that would mean small businesses can avoid the costly exercise of becoming a company to avoid the planned 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts.

Discretionary trusts are a popular structure for small businesses, with more than 200,000 using this structure.

The changes announced in the May budget were aimed at closing what Labor – and many experts – considered a loophole to minimise tax.

The changes are not due to come into effect until mid-2028, but they created an outcry among the small business community, who faced paying tens of thousands of dollars in state stamp duties and administrative costs to restructure as a company to access the 25% tax rate for small firms.

The workaround revealed in draft legislation today will allow the companies to convert to a fixed rather than a discretionary trust.

Jim Chalmers, in a statement, said “the draft legislation builds on the consultation paper released in July and includes expanded options to limit or eliminate restructuring costs for small businesses and others using discretionary trusts”.

This includes a new option for discretionary trusts to be exempt from the minimum tax if they elect to make fixed distributions to pre-nominated beneficiaries, as an alternative to rollover relief.

The election would not require a restructure and is not expected to result in state and territory stamp duties.

The consultation period is open until 18 September.

Updated

KPMG sued by sacked chief operating officer

KPMG’s former chief operating officer is suing the company after a parliamentary inquiry heard it sacked her and accused her of repeatedly lying about sharing confidential client documents, part of the firm’s audit leaks scandal.

Eileen Hoggett filed a legal action against her former employer in the supreme court of New South Wales on Wednesday. The first directions hearing is scheduled for 23 September. Her statement of claim has not been made public.

Hoggett last month told a parliamentary inquiry that confidential Lendlease documents “were printed” and kept in her locker but she did not recall printing or sharing them herself, or using them to win other contracts. She had previously denied printing or circulating the documents when asked by KPMG, and said she had believed she was answering honestly.

The inquiry heard Hoggett had sent a 2023 email where she had suggested showing a colleague “the printed version in my locker … without letting too many people know [smiley emoji]”. KPMG expelled Hoggett after the email was uncovered in July.

Hoggett told the inquiry the new chief executive, John Sams, rang her while she was out walking one morning, giving her “no opportunity to be heard or to have any discussion”. She said she had lost her entitlements, including accrued annual leave, retirement contributions and her last month of pay. At the time, she said she did not understand why the firm had taken that action and was “looking at all of my possibilities”.

Hoggett has been the only person sacked over the scandal. Other KPMG partners have lost their bonus or resigned. KPMG declined to comment on the legal action.

Updated

Drone footage shows damage after fire rips through Tasmanian power station

Australian shares lift but downside risks remain

Australia’s share market is creeping higher, stabilising from a sharp sell-off in the previous session as banks and miners counterbalanced weakness elsewhere, AAP reports.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 22.6 points by midday on Friday, gaining 0.25% as the broader All Ordinaries lifted 24.2 points, or 0.26%.

The move followed a positive lead from Wall Street, after US indices recovered as recent worries around inflation and surging bond market yields eased.

Trading appeared more settled after days of selling as investors braced for higher inflation and higher interest rates ahead.

The Australian dollar was buying 71.66 US cents, up from 71.39 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm.

Most of NSW’s recent organised crimes ‘orchestrated from overseas’, police commissioner says

The NSW police commissioner says most of the state’s recent organised crime is believed to be orchestrated by overseas actors.

It comes after two fatal shootings in as many days in Sydney’s west, which are being investigated as possible cases of mistaken identity.

Speaking to reporters, the commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said:

We believe the large majority of these organised crime offences are being orchestrated from overseas, but we know that there are people onshore who are facilitating and putting together the groups that are doing it.

Lanyon said young people are increasingly being recruited to carry out deadly offences domestically, describing the trend as causing him “great concern”.

What we’ve seen over the last few days are people who have very little experience, people who have taken a job for very little money, and people who are going to face very lengthy consequences in jail when we arrest them.

We know that those organising it are recruiting young, inexperienced people and using encrypted communications. So, as an organisation, we are focusing on technology and making sure that we have every capability we need to target these people.

Updated

Seal and dolphin positive for H5 bird flu in South Australia

A long-nosed fur seal, a common dolphin and a black kite have tested positive for H5 bird flu in South Australia.

The long-nosed fur seal was found unwell at Beachport on the Limestone coast and was euthanised. It is the third confirmed case in a long-nosed fur seal.

The common dolphin was found recently deceased at Arno Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. It is the second confirmed case in the species after a common dolphin found on the Fleurieu Peninsula tested positive for the virus last week.

The black kite, a bird of prey, was found on a private property on the Yorke Peninsula.

The South Australian government said it had also confirmed new cases in metropolitan areas, including a peregrine falcon found at Novar Gardens in Adelaide and a silver gull at Leawood Gardens in the Adelaide hills.

Updated

Australia to deploy ‘disaster victim identification specialists’ to Nepal-Tibet border

Continuing on Wong’s press conference, the foreign affairs minister acknowledged that many Australians with loved ones missing after the disaster are anxiously waiting for more information.

I know how difficult this is, and I accept that families want more information than can be provided. What I will say is that we have done our best to engage as closely as possible with the Nepali authorities. We have engaged from a very early stage.

Wong added that “disaster victim identification specialists” are ready to be deployed to assist local authorities.

I can indicate to you that we have dedicated case officers assigned to next of kin, and we are also working closely with the Australian federal police to provide support to next of kin. This includes supporting families to understand formal identification processes should they become necessary.

Updated

Greenwich applauds local and arts efforts for ferry stop

Independent MP Alex Greenwich has commended advocacy efforts after the Minns government confirmed a new ferry stop in Sydney harbour.

The state government confirmed it will spend $5m to upgrade a pontoon to a ferry wharf over the next six months, to be running in time for summer.

It followed strong advocacy and petitioning efforts in parliament from locals and members of the arts community, Greenwich said.

The Walsh Bay ferry stop will be the third ‘ghost’ ferry stop reactivated by the NSW Labor government, following the successful reopening of stops in Balmain and Pyrmont last year.

This stop will allow residents, workers, tourists and performers to travel to and from Walsh Bay via our beautiful harbour, providing a much-needed public transport connection to this important arts and cultural precinct.

Interactive

Updated

Australians donate $4m for Nepal-Tibet floods

Australians have donated $4m to flood relief efforts in Nepal-Tibet, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong says, describing the show of generosity as “extraordinary”.

The donations have been received through the Emergency Action Alliance (EAA), a group of 15 leading humanitarian aid organisations in Australia who collaborate to centralise an appeal. Participating charities include Children Australia, Plan International Australia, Oxfam Australia among others.

Speaking in Adelaide, Wong said:

Australians have been extraordinary. You have donated $4m to the Emergency Action Alliance appeal and we thank you for it.

The alliance is providing critical support for recovery efforts, and the contributions being made by Australians personally and by the government are enabling the delivery of vital shelter, water, sanitation and healthcare.

Updated

What we learned from the national accounts, from EVs to European holidays

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest set of national accounts, which give us a snapshot of how the economy is performing in the quarter and what’s happening under the hood.

The economy is slowing, not collapsing. Growth is softening but is not disastrously slow, and there’s no sign of the collapse that many feared when the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran at the end of February, triggering a global oil shock.

Here’s what else you should know:

Updated

Vanuatu climate minister says Australia ‘not doing enough’

AAP reports Ralph Regenvanu, the Vanuatu climate change minister who led a successful case to the international court of justice finding high-emitting countries have a legal duty to stop climate harm, said Australia needs to do more to tackle the warming world.

“Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels. We all know fossil fuels are the primary driver of the climate crisis,” Regenvanu said at the Pacific Islands Forum. He went on, per AAP:

The very least a country like Australia should be doing is stopping future expansion, and it’s not doing that.

This means a rapid transitioning away from fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies. There’s no other way.

The Climate Council notes the Albanese government had approved 36 new, expanded or extended coal, oil and gas projects to March 2026.

Updated

Loved ones of Australians missing in Nepal-Tibet floods fear others are turning away

Akash Venkatraman’s parents wished him a happy 22nd birthday before they left for Nepal on a spiritual pilgrimage.

Three days later, a glacial collapse sent a torrent of mud, water and debris through the Nepal-Tibet border, bursting the banks of the Trishuli River, and sweeping away homes, bridges and roads.

He hasn’t heard from them since.

In the days since losing contact, Akash has cried – as a psychology student, he knows not to repress his emotions – but he has also tried to keep going.

Read more:

Fire causes widespread damage at Tasmania power station

A large fire broke out at Tasmania’s Tungatinah power station overnight, one of 10 major stations in the state’s hydroelectric network.

The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said the station was a “very important part of our hydro network, accounting for around 5% of Tasmania’s power”. He went on:

I want to assure Tasmanians that there is no risk to Tasmania’s power and energy supply.

No one was injured in the event.

Matt Lowe from Tasmania’s fire service said it was a “difficult fire” for the crews, but they did the best they could in the circumstance. Preliminary findings about the cause of the blaze could come this afternoons.

The site has a large footbridge and is in “varying stages of collapses”, he added, which complicate the matter.

Updated

Major Sydney arts precinct set to get new ferry stop

Sydney will open a new ferry stop at the city’s Walsh Bay arts precinct from next year, which is set to boost accessibility to an area featuring the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company and Bangarra Dance Company.

Interactive

Transport NSW will begin works including a power upgrade, lighting installations and other infrastructure over the next six months. The stop would primarily be served by the Parramatta River class ferries and first fleet class ferries.

The move comes after other stops were reactived, including one at Pirrama Park in Pyrmont and a new Sydney Fish Market service set to begin next year. A stop is also planned in Rozelle Bay.

The arts minister, John Graham, said in a statement:

It’s time to match Sydney’s most iconic transport mode with the world’s most picturesque performing arts precinct.

Riding the ferry to Manly and Taronga Zoo is a bucket list experience for tourists all around the world. Now they can add Walsh Bay to the list.

The Inner West council also praised the connection of the area to the Walsh Bay precinct “in a way that never existed”.

“Along with more light rail services on the L1, and new ferry stops at Pirrama Park, Balmain West, the Sydney Fish Market and Bays West, this Walsh Bay service will connect inner west residents with the city via our beautiful waterways,” Philippa Scott, an Inner West councillor, said in a statement.

Updated

Markets price in 80% chance of RBA hike this month

Financial markets are now pricing in an 80% chance that mortgage holders will get hit with a fourth RBA rate hike at the end of this month, as investors fret that soaring oil prices will reignite inflationary pressures.

Yesterday’s national accounts confirmed Australia’s economy is slowing, but suggested it may not be slowing fast enough to ease capacity constraints that are pushing up costs and prices.

Traders are even now pricing in a 25% chance of a second hike by the end of the year – what would be the fifth for 2026.

Gavin Friend, a senior markets strategist at NAB, said “overall, the annual growth rate in GDP is tracking close to its trend rate and although household consumption has slowed, it appears to have been relatively resilient despite very weak consumer confidence”.

“For the RBA, the data confirm that growth has slowed a little from [the second half of 2025] but also suggests that growth has tracked around its trend rate over the past year,” he said.

NAB expects the RBA to hike later this month.

Updated

Marles says US-Australia alliance as relevant as ever

Richard Marles just spoke to the ABC from Washington DC, saying Australia’s alliance with the US remains as relevant today “as it ever has” in a “very challenging” environment.

Marles has been meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth. He was asked if he believes president Donald Trump’s ongoing conflict with Iran and the US’s posturing towards other countries had affected Australian’s trust in the two country’s relationship. He said:

Our alliance with the United States is something that’s been built over decades. It really does transcend governments of the day.

Our collaboration as two defence forces is really central to providing deterrence and building peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, which is ultimately what underwrites every Australians’ safety.

The alliance is as relevant today in a very challenging and difficult world as it has ever been, and it’s profoundly important that we are making sure that it continues to evolve and to grow and to meet the circumstances of the moment. And that’s what we’re doing.

Updated

Taylor says degree of balance ‘always a good thing’ after Canavan’s comments on ‘feminisation’ of school curriculum

Angus Taylor was also asked on the ABC this morning about the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, who said yesterday the “feminisation” of school curriculum had led to the rise of “manosphere” content.

The opposition leader said he was “worried” about politicisation in schools, which he didn’t want to see in curriculums. When asked about Canavan’s suggestion that there should be more male teachers to give young boys more “role models” in school, Taylor said:

I think having a degree of balance is always a good thing. And that’s true, that’s true in everything.

Updated

Marles meets US counterpart Pete Hegseth in Washington

Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, met with his US counterpart, secretary of war Pete Hegseth, at the Pentagon in Washington DC overnight.

A readout of the meeting released by the US says the pair spoke about the 75th anniversary of the Anzus treaty and “how both nations will continue to advance the alliance and strengthen deterrence in the Pacific”.

The US said both leaders “agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster cooperation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises”.

They also discussed joint efforts to increase capacity for guided weapons and “next-generation capabilities”. They also spoke about advancements surrounding the Aukus submarine deal.

Updated

Taylor ‘very confident’ tobacco excise cut would destroy model enriching organised crime

Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, is also out stumping the new Coalition tobacco policies.

He said the opposition is “very confident” that a significant, 80% cut in the tobacco excise would “destroy the business model” of organised crime.

“I understand business and this is sadly a bad business that we have to destroy,” Taylor said.

He went on to say the “horse has bolted” already and Australia’s the “worst of all worlds right now” with rising smoking rates and rising crime.

Shadow treasurer says tobacco plans would bring in extra billions and stop people buying from the ‘black market’

Tim Wilson, the shadow treasurer, said the tobacco proposal would bring in an extra $2bn a year as it would stop people “buying products from the black market”.

When asked if the Coalition initially planned to use the same 75% tobacco excise cut figure as One Nation, Wilson said:

We’ve been looking at this policy for a long time, but what we’ve been looking at is how do you break it down for the different parts of the market so that we can actually break the illegal tobacco trade? …

We’ve got a government, we’ve got a One Nation position which is focused solely on tax cuts. What we’re looking at is how do we stop the black market, both with enforcement and with reduction in the excise, so that we actually get the outcome Australians want.

Updated

Teen charged after ‘near-complete amputation’ of boy’s hand

A teenage boy will face court today after a “near-complete amputation” of a boy’s hand during an alleged assault in Sydney on Wednesday night.

NSW police were called to Redfern about 6pm last night and found a 17-year-old with a partially severed hand.

Police allege the 17-year-old was assaulted by another boy with a knife in a car park on Morehead Road.

NSW paramedics attended to the injured boy – it is not clear yet whether the hand was reattached.

Early Thursday morning after inquiries, police stopped a car travelling on Redfern Street in Redfern.

A short time later, police arrested and charged a 15-year-old boy with wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and breach of bail.

He was refused bail to appear before a children’s court today.

Updated

Hume says Coalition’s plan isn’t a copy of One Nation and is ‘fully costed’ and ‘fully modelled’ to tackle organised crime

The deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, said a new Coalition plan to tackle the illegal tobacco market isn’t a copy of the one touted by One Nation.

Hume spoke to Channel Nine’s Today show this morning, where she spoke about the plan to “crush the organised crime gangs that are making billions from illegal cigarettes and vapes”. The plan has a central tenet of slashing the tobacco excise by 80%, as well as a $200m law enforcement surge to shut illegal shops and stop illegal shipments.

Pauline Hanson recently said One Nation would cut the excise by 75% if it were elected to government.

Hume said the policies were “not at all alike”, saying the Coalition’s was “fully costed, fully modelled” and would “genuinely disrupt the organised crime that has taken over the market”. She told Today:

This is not a slogan. This is not a headline. This is a solution to a policy problem, a failure of this government. … We have no time to waste. We have a solution. We’ve done the work. Now let’s see if we can get it adopted …

This is not a perfect solution, but it is the only solution because the alternative, maintaining the same thing, means that criminals take over.

Updated

AI to be greatest change ‘since electricity’, Paul Keating says

Artificial intelligence is set to be the “greatest agency for change” since the introduction of electricity, former prime minister Paul Keating said.

AAP reports Keating made the comments at a sold-out Sydney writers’ festival event on Wednesday evening. He said Australia needed to boldly take on the challenges posed by AI.

“[Artificial intelligence] I think is going to be … certainly since the discovery of electricity, the greatest agency for change,” he said.

He also commended the federal Labor government’s recent changes to the capital gains tax to make housing more affordable as an example of the kind of change needed in the future.

And if we’ve lost 10 or 15% [of] house values, so what?

Updated

Good morning, Nick Visser here, welcome to Thursday. Let’s see what the day holds.

Australia pledges $3m additional aid

Australia will deploy a team of specialist drone operators to help the search and rescue effort in the deadly Nepal-Tibet floods.

Operators, including those from Fire and Rescue New South Wales and the Queensland fire department, will head to the disaster-struck region in the coming days.

It comes as the Albanese government has announced a further $3m in aid, bringing its total figure pledged to $11m.

The number of Australians unaccounted for remains at 38.

It comes as a RAAF plane arrived yesterday with humanitaian aid.

As of Thursday, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Agency reported 1,204 confirmed deaths and 4,216 missing persons (including 583 foreigners).

Updated

$2m for Indigenous racism register

The federal government will invest up to $2 million in Call It Out—an online register where people can report incidents and experiences of racism and discrimination against First Nations peoples.

The funding comes as the parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, has so far received more than 700 submissions and held public hearings across the country.

Call it Out started in 2022 at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Working in partnership with the National Justice Project, Call It Out is Australia’s only Indigenous-led collection of data on racism against First Nations people.

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said the parliamentary inquiry had “heard confronting stories about the hurt and harm” of racism against “too many” First Nations people.

I encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to engage with Call It Out and report their experiences and call on all Australians to call out racism when they see it.

While we await the committee’s final report, we are not waiting to act.

This investment will strengthen the important work of Call It Out and support efforts by the Jumbunna Institute and the National Justice Project to collate rigorous data.

Professor Lindon Coombes, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at UTS:

Our aim in creating Call It Out is to generate evidence to inform anti-racism action and policy development, to support the response of First Nations communities, organisations and leaders, and educate the wider community.

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Chalmers weighs in on One Nation WA byelection win

Jim Chalmers says he has reflected on the key takeaways after One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen secured 57%of the vote after preferences at the Secret Harbour byelection.

Speaking on ABC’s 7.30, Chalmers said he acknowledged that concerns about inflation, the cost of living and real wages were on voters’ minds before the poll.

I have thought very deeply about the legitimate concerns and anxieties and frustrations that people have. About how the economy works, or doesn’t work for people. That’s the thing I’m most focused on. It’s the whole reason for our efforts to get inflation down, to make the economy more productive.

Chalmers added he believes the “faultline in our politics” is now changing.

It’s not necessarily between the centre left and the far right, it’s not necessarily the old distinctions. The distinction in our politics right now is a Labor government working to address the very real concerns that people have, versus the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation who just want to prey on that, and pick on that.

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Chalmers defends house prices forecast

Jim Chalmers has defended Treasury’s forecast on the impact of the government’s recent tax changes on housing, after the Commonwealth Bank predicted prices could fall by almost 10% across capital cities.

Treasury modelling said the changes would reduce house price growth by just 2% over the next couple of years.

Speaking on ABC’s 7.30, the treasurer said the new data did not fairly challenge the government’s forecast.

That Commonwealth Bank forecast that you reference in your question has house prices recovering next year, and so it’s a really important reminder that we need to compare ‘like with like’.

The assumptions in the budget are over the next couple of years, not the first couple of months since the budget … and the Commonwealth Bank says they expect house price growth as soon as next year.

Chalmers pointed to several factors unrelated to the recent tax changes that he said would contribute to the dip in prices.

There is softness in the housing market, prices have come off a bit, auction clearance rates have come off a bit, but that was beginning before the budget, and that’s because, as a number of experts have pointed out, one of the big influences is interest rates.

We have very substantial advantages in the face of some serious economic challenges. Productivity is one of them. Inflation is another. Extreme global volatility, turbocharged by a war on the other side of the world.

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Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.

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