Australia news live: November interest rate cut on the cards after unemployment hits four-year high

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Burke proposes new powers for anti-money laundering agency to target crypto ATMs

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has announced proposed new powers for Australia’s anti-money laundering security agency to target crypto ATMs.

The minister said the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) found 85% of the funds from top users of crypto ATMs were involved in scams or potential criminality.

Speaking at the Press Club this afternoon, Burke said:

I’m not pretending for a minute that everybody who goes in and uses a crypto ATM is a problem, but proportionately, what’s happening is a significant problem in an area which is much harder for us to trace ... I want Austrac to have the power to restrict, or if it decides to prohibit, high-risk products, and be in no doubt crypto ATMs are a high-risk product.

Tony Burke, the minister for home affairs and cybersecurity, is addressing the Press Club of Australia this lunchtime. He has described the way in which the threat environment has come to overlap:

Many areas of home affairs, we used to look at and think about back in 1997 as not being overlaying or converging in any way. We would have separate conversations about terrorism, child exploitation, cybercrime, money laundering; there may be occasional overlap, but you could have a sensible conversation on each one in isolation.

That’s no longer the threat environment in Australia. The Dural caravan investigation involved overlaying work between the Australian Federal Police, Asio, the New South Wales police and the New South Wales Crime Commission. The Adass Israel synagogue ultimately involved the intersection of a whole lot of principles that we had in general conversation not seen overlaying with each other before: characteristics we would previously associate with terrorism, with foreign interference, with community violence, with social cohesion and with organised crime. All of those converging and overlaying with each other.

Organisations, international threats [are] like [a] scattered spiderweb; [we] see a merging of cyber with artificial intelligence, with child exploitation, with money laundering.

Analysts revisit forecasts as latest unemployment figures jump to highest rate since 2021

As we have reported below, the rise in the unemployment rate to 4.5% in September takes it to its highest since November 2021.

The key jobless measure has been trending fairly steadily higher since its near 50-year low of 3.4% in October 2022, and the question now: is how much higher could it go?

Analysts may need to retool their forecasts, if they believe the figures are more than a one-off.

Krishna Bhimavarapu, an economist at State Street Investment Management, believes the data release “is no blip to brush off”.

While employment levels haven’t dropped yet, the labour market has clearly changed, and we can hear the creaks.

So why has the unemployment rate lifted despite the number of employed Australians climbing by 14,900 in the month? It’s because the increase in employment was not enough to offset a surge in jobseekers.

You could see that in the numbers: there were 34,000 more unemployed people in September than in August, the ABS said.

KPMG calls for cash rate cut after rise in unemployment figures

KPMG’s chief economist, Brendan Rynne, has called out “the likelihood of further job losses by Christmas”, after the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to a nearly four-year high of 4.5% in September.

Rynne said the anecdotal weakness in the labour market was now being reflected in the official statistics.

The Reserve Bank at its meeting next month “should bring the cash rate down to a more accommodating level to help businesses invest and encourage households to spend, which should collectively help underpin the labour market,” he said.

The RBA’s’s economists had expected unemployment to peak at 4.3% in the second half of this year and remain steady through next year.

The lift in the unemployment rate will add to the uncertainty around the path of interest rates.

The latest numbers clash with a recent resurgence in inflationary pressures and a lift in consumption that have suggested the RBA may not deliver another cut until next year, if at all.

Harry Murphy Cruise, the head of economic research at Oxford Economics, said the central bank was “increasingly caught between a rock and a hard place” in meeting its inflation and full employment goals.

But the weakness in the job market was enough to warrant a rate cut next month, he said.

Dee Jefferson

NGA to host First Nations exhibit after review clears artist collectives of accusations made in The Australian

The Gallery of Australia will open a major exhibition of art from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in 2026, three years after the original exhibition was postponed after allegations of improper interference by white art assistants.

Ngura Pulka - Epic Country, featuring paintings by senior First Nations artists and collectives from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Coober Pedy and Tarntanya/Adelaide, will open at NGA in April 2026.

The exhibition, which was originally scheduled to open in June 2023, was postponed after The Australian aired allegations that works attributed to APY artists had been substantially made by white studio assistants, including an edited video purporting to show a young white assistant painting on a large canvas by award-winning Pitjantjatjara artist Yaritji Young as she stood watching.

The artists and art centres at the centre of the allegations denied there had been improper interference.

As a result of the allegations, the NGA postponed the exhibition and commissioned an independent review into the provenance of 28 paintings by APY artists that were to have featured in it. The South Australian and federal governments subsequently launched a joint investigation into practices at the APY Arts Centre Collective (APYACC) more broadly.

Neither investigation found evidence to substantiate the allegations of improper interference by non-Indigenous workers.

In a joint statement responding to the NGA’s report, released in August 2023, artists from the APY Art Centre Collective said the investigation had “put things right”.

“The attack on our integrity and our art has been rejected and thrown into the rubbish bin where it belongs,” the statement said.

Don’t forget the announcement of bird of the year is imminent! Tune into the livestream ceremony to find out which bird will take out the title here:

Queensland government claims Cross River Rail project will cost $19bn

Queensland’s Cross River Rail project will cost more than $19bn, nearly $2bn per kilometre, according to the state government.

The figure makes the project among the most wasteful in the world, just shy of the infamous Second Avenue Subway in New York.

The state transport minister, Brent Mickelberg, told parliament the 10.2km project would cost “in the order of $19.041bn” and has an “expected” opening date in 2029.

“This includes the core tunnel infrastructure as well as the associated projects that are critical for the operation of the tunnel but had been hidden in other budget line items by the previous Labor government,” Mickelberg said.

Construction on the project started in 2017, meaning it will now take 12 years to complete. Similar projects in Europe have taken as little as one year to complete, costing as little as a $300m per kilometre.

“Cross River Rail is a critical project in our plan to deliver the rail network that we need both for the 2032 games, as well as for our population growth in coming years, and that’s why the Crisafulli government has been so committed to getting the project back on track, as well as giving Queenslanders an accurate understanding of how much it’s going to cost and when they’ll be able to use it”.

New York’s Second Avenue Subway cost about $2.5bn US dollars for 2.7km of underground track. It was finished in 2017 and still holds the record for the world’s most expensive kilometre of rail line ever built.

ADF soldier dies following training incident

The ADF soldier who suffered life-threatening injuries following a training incident near Townsville last night has died.

The Queensland ambulance service had earlier confirmed three people were injured after a single-vehicle crash, with one patient suffering life-threatening injuries.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, confirmed the person has died in a post on social media sending condolences to their family:

My thoughts are with the family, friends, loved ones and colleagues of the Australian Army soldier who has sadly passed away following a training incident near Townsville last night.

… This is a tragic loss and the sacrifice of our service personnel weighs heavily on us all.

Shadow communications minister says ‘work needs to be done’ to assure Australians about triple zero network

Melissa McIntosh, the shadow minister for communications, met with the CEO of Optus, Stephen Rue, this morning after a series of triple zero outages.

McIntosh said she still had “a lot more questions than answers”. She said during a news briefing:

I have questions about the relationship between Optus and the government and the failures of both. …

The CEO spoke a lot about waiting until the investigation has been done, but Australians deserve answers and I do not think they are getting enough out of Optus nor enough out of the government. There are too many questions around when the government actually knew about this outage.

McIntosh added a lot of work “needs to be done to reassure Australians as we approach disaster season with bushfires that the whole triple zero ecosystem will stand up”.

Unemployment jumps to four-year high of 4.5%

The unemployment rate has unexpectedly jumped to 4.5% in September, from 4.3% in August, likely reigniting prospects for an RBA rate cut.

The large rise in the key jobless measure to its highest rate in nearly four years was despite the number of employed Australians climbing by 14,900 in the month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Primary school students to get 90-minute screen limit in Victoria

Primary school students will be limited to 90 minutes of screen time in classrooms in a Victorian government attempt to reduce overexposure and keep children focused, AAP reports.

From 2027, Victorian public primary schools will be required to limit digital device use in the classroom to a maximum of 90 minutes for students in years 3 to 6, and minimal device time for those in prep to year 2.

The directive means parents will no longer be required to buy digital devices for their children, with schools to provide access to tablets and laptops in the classrooms, saving households more than $500 per child.

Any additional devices will be funded through each school’s budgets, with the state education minister, Ben Carroll, noting there is consistently a bank of laptops in schools. He told reporters earlier this morning:

This is a really important circuit breaker by focusing in the classroom on the teacher and less time on screens.

This will actually give young people more focus in the classroom, better concentration levels, better regulation in the classroom. But more than that, it will help provide and give them their childhoods back.

Large uptick in applications to use super to fund medical treatments, ATO data shows

ATO data published on Thursday shows a significant growth in applications for compassionate release of super to fund medical treatments. For dental services, the number of requests has more than doubled in two years.

It has prompted the ATO and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to jointly call out “… inappropriate practices that seek to use superannuation to pay for overly expensive or unnecessary medical treatments”.

To be approved, the medical services need to be certified by two practitioners as necessary to alleviate acute or chronic pain, to treat a life-threatening illness or injury or alleviate acute or chronic mental illness.

Guardian Australia previously reported that some businesses are offering patients “simple” access to their superannuation to pay for unnecessary medical treatments, with the ads described by the peak consumer health body as a “worrying trend” amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Ahpra and the Dental and Medical Boards of Australia today released new guidance for doctors and dentists in response to ongoing concerns of inappropriate conduct.

“I’m stunned to hear that some businesses and practitioners are taking advantage of this process to push overly expensive or unnecessary treatments,” Ahpra’s CEO, Justin Untersteiner, said.

NSW increases sentences for intimate partner homicide

Domestic violence murderers will face longer non-parole sentences after the NSW government announced it would increase the standard non-parole period which applies to murder to 25 years from 20 years.

The new measures follow the sentencing of Tyrone Thompson, 25, in May 2025 to 22 years and six months jail for murdering Mackenzie Anderson in 2022, with a non-parole period of 15 years and six months.

Thompson stabbed Anderson 78 times while he was released on parole for a previous domestic violence assault against her. Her child witnessed the attack.

The court of criminal appeal upheld the sentence, saying it was not “manifestly inadequate.”

The premier, Chris Minns, said the government had decided to act to send a clear message to domestic abusers that domestic violence would be dealt with harshly.

“This is one of the toughest sentences in the country,” he said in a statement.

The state attorney general, Michael Daley, said the standard parole period was not a mandatory sentence, but judges were obliged to explain why they were straying from it if they gave lighter sentences.

McKenzies’ mother, Tabitha Acret, said she welcomed the new laws, but urged the government to take further steps to curb intimate partner violence, including focusing on men’s behaviour and engagement with the community. She singled out the rise of rightwing groups as a particular problem.

Natasha May is going to pick up the blog from here.

CCC report into Troy Thompson can’t be expedited

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) said yesterday that prior to making any decision as to whether or not to publish a report, it must comply with relevant legal requirements. It is taking steps to do so.

Bruce Barbour, chairperson of the commission, said there are no levers available to the government to expedite release of the CCC report into Thompson in order to make it public before the Townsville mayoral byelection on 15 November.

“The very earliest date that we could envisage a report being tabled is early November, [on the] 7th of November,” he said.

Thompson is also entitled to ask for a 60-day extension to respond to the report, he said.