News live: Anika Wells says telcos ‘least trusted industry’ after Telstra outage; Australian woman in US arrested by ICE over alleged illegal voting

Key events

Shadow communications minister “not going to apologise for doing her job” after testing triple zero twice

Shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, says she is “not going to apologise for doing her job” after she tested the triple zero number herself twice today, amid Telstra outages.

Henderson said she called triple zero twice and when those calls didn’t connect, she notified Telstra.

… it is my job to hold the government and the telecommunications carriers to account on critical services such as the operation of the Triple Zero network.

After learning about the outage, my first concern was for the safety and wellbeing of Australians. I called Triple Zero twice initially, and when these calls did not connect, I immediately notified a senior Telstra representative.

After Optus’s failure to act when first advised of the Triple Zero outage last September, access to information about the operation of the emergency call network is critical.

On behalf of the Coalition, I initiated the Triple Zero Senate inquiry because, like many Australians, I have very little trust in our telecommunications companies and the Albanese government’s management of the emergency call network.

I am not going to apologise for doing my job and it is time Anika Wells focused on doing her job a lot better than she is right now.

Australia falls further behind housing supply target

Australia is more than 112,000 homes behind its target of 1.2m by mid-2029, new building data shows, AAP reports.

The nation’s builders have completed 307,635 homes since the commencement of the national housing accord in the third quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.

While the number of homes under construction has been trending steadily higher, the industry remains far below the required rate to meet the target.

Assuming a steady pace of dwelling completions, Australia should have already built 420,000 homes by now.

To catch up by the end date of 30 June 2029, Australia needs to build more than 274,000 homes each year, or about 69,000 each quarter.

A 0.4% fall in dwellings completed in the March quarter to 43,816 won’t help.

Diplomats assisting Australian woman charged over allegedly voting in US elections

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade say they are providing assistance to an Australian facing legal action in the US, coming after Australian-born Denise Nataly Migliore was arrested over allegedly voting illegally in US elections.

A Dfat spokesperson told Guardian Australia:

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian facing legal action in the United States of America. Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.

Originally from Sydney, Migliore is a resident of Franklinton, Louisiana. She allegedly voted in two elections, in 2022 and 2024, despite being ineligible.

In a statement, the acting assistant secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Lauren Bis, said the FBI had been involved in the case.

Bis said:

Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences, including criminal charges and deportation. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.

Australian woman arrested after allegedly voting in US elections

The US president, Donald Trump, has posted on social media about an Australian woman arrested after allegedly voting illegally in multiple American elections.

Denise Nataly Migliore, 51, was arrested after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation into allegations she made false statements to register to vote, before casting ballots in 2022 and 2024.

As a lawful permanent resident and not a US citizen, she is not eligible to vote.

“Australian alien arrested after investigation finds she illegally voted in two federal elections,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The ABC reported the Australian was arrested at a federal courthouse in New Orleans on 1 July. Originally from Sydney, Migliore is a resident of Franklinton, Louisiana.

Trump has railed against alleged illegal voting in US elections, despite data showing the practice is vanishingly rare.

Albanese announces $250m Pacific rugby league partnership, hails ‘one Pacific family’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke in Brisbane a short time ago where he announced a $250m diplomacy plan to boost rugby league in the Pacific.

Albanese has been meeting with the heads of Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, prior to heading along to the final match of the NRL’s State of Origin clash this evening (I will be interested to see what colours he is wearing).

He gave a shout-out to the NRL chair, Peter V’landys, describing him a “tyro” who is “absolutely determined that rugby league will make a difference, not just what happens on the field, but importantly, what happens off the field as well”.

Tonight, we’ll see an example of that. A game that is faster than it’s ever been, a game that brings people in and brings people together … I am delighted to join you as we launch the Pacific Rugby League Partnership. This has been years in the making. This has required hard work and diligence, a partnership between nations, leagues, clubs, and schools, but above all, it’s a partnership between peoples.

A partnership built on the Pacific’s deep shared passion for rugby league. For all of us, more than the sport, a language, a culture, a connection, that is both family and faith. Something that is so important …

This specific partnership will inspire the people of these fantastic nations, and together, of course, we’re all one Pacific family.

Continued from previous post:

The shadow attorney general, Susan Carter, a member of the committee, went on to defend its work.

She told the ABC:

We spent a lot of time reviewing the submissions that we received and we invited a number of those people to attend and give evidence, but of course, we’re a bit hamstrung at the moment because we can’t compel witnesses to attend, and the times that we had available were unsuitable for those witnesses to attend …

The big question that is unanswered, that Michael Daley glossed completely over is, why did the DPP or the office of the DPP, why was the decision made to leak information about a young Indigenous offender to a radio station?

As previously reported, Dowling has admitted her office pitched the story but denied under oath that she had authorised it.

NSW attorney general says inquiry into top prosecutor ‘won’t be happening’

The NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, says an inquiry into whether the state’s top prosecutor should be removed from office, the recommendation of a controversial inquiry report, “won’t be happening”.

As we reported yesterday, a NSW upper house inquiry voted 4-3 to find that the state’s director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling SC, authorised pitching a story to radio station 2GB about a sentencing hearing involving a young Indigenous person, and “falsely denied having done so in her evidence to the committee”.

It recommended Daley establish a formal inquiry to investigate if there are grounds to remove Dowling from office. Dowling has admitted her office pitched the story but denied under oath that she had authorised it.

Daley, who described the report yesterday as a “stitch-up”, told ABC Radio Sydney today the inquiry “won’t be happening”.

They [the committee] were not entitled to find that on the evidence before them. I don’t know what evidence they might have conjured up in their own minds, but if you have a look at the minutes and proceedings and transcripts, not only was there no evidence put before the committee to support a finding like that, they actually ignored the only sworn evidence coming out of the meeting where that media issue was discussed, and that was the evidence of sworn evidence of senior counsel Sally Dowling and of her senior media adviser.

Continued in next post:

Anti-Corruption Commission says there’s ‘work to get on with’ after watchdog drops two investigations into former chief’s conduct

The Anti-Corruption Commission vows to get on with the job after news this morning its watchdog is dropping two investigations into conduct by the former chief.

In a short statement this afternoon, the commission said it appreciated the Nacc inspector’s decision to cease the investigations and that she found no ongoing “systemic issues to address”.

The acting Nacc commissioner, Kylie Kilgour, said:

The commission respects the Inspector’s oversight role. As acting commissioner, I am committed to maintaining an open and constructive relationship with the Inspector. We have a range of prevention and education activities underway, as well as a number of important investigations. There’s lots of work to get on with.”

Read more:

Eighth case of H5 bird flu in Australia confirmed

South Australia has confirmed its second H5N1 bird flu case and two more suspected positive cases in migratory seabirds have been detected on the state’s coast.

The SA government said CSIRO testing had verified a giant petrel found at Hardwicke Bay on the state’s Yorke Peninsula was positive for the deadly disease.

Two more giant petrels, one found at Port Vincent on the Yorke Peninsula and the second from Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island, are suspected to have H5 bird flu and samples have been sent to the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong for further analysis.

Eight cases have now been confirmed nationally.

The SA government said it had also completed the largest aerial survey of SA’s coastline, islands and reefs in 40 years and found no widespread evidence of deadly H5 bird flu in wildlife.

Primary industries minister Clare Scriven said:

The results from the rapid surveillance operation are reassuring, across around 600 survey locations, including 86 islands, islets and reefs, no widespread evidence of sick or dead seabirds or seals were observed.

While this does not remove the risk of further detections, it gives us a strong and timely picture of what is happening across some of our most important coastal and island environments.

Anika Wells says telcos 'least trusted industry' after Telstra outage

Wells said “it is on telcos” to improve their systems, calling it “the least trusted industry in Australia”.

… Australians expect a baseline of service when it comes to their telcos, there is a reason that telcos are the least trusted industry in Australia, it’s days like today.

It is on all telcos to improve their systems to make sure that Australians can rely upon them when they need them most.

There are some improvements to the system. This is different [in] nature [to] the Optus outage in September …

I look forward to working with the triple-zero custodian and the chair of Acma, as they complete more fulsome and thorough investigations, but at the moment, the priority is getting everybody back online, getting to the bottom of all of those welfare checks that are still being carried out across seven jurisdictions.

'You shouldn't make stuff up': Wells dismisses speculation over foreign interference causing Telstra outage

Wells said you “shouldn’t make stuff up” in response to claims made earlier today by One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce, who suggested foreign interference could be a factor in the Telstra outage. The communications minister said:

As a general principle, I think when it comes to matters of national security, you shouldn’t make stuff up.

You’ve heard from the Telstra acting CEO, that there is currently no evidence to suggest that those things are the case, so I think it’s irresponsible.

McBain said she thinks it is “absolutely outrageous”, that the shadow communications minister has been making test calls to triple zero:

At a time where we need to make sure that we are doing as many welfare checks as possible and making sure that that network is open to people in emergency situations.

McBain: It will ‘take some time’ for network to safely resume

Emergency management minister, Kristy McBain, also addressed the media, acknowledging today’s outage disrupts local businesses and coincides with school holidays.

McBain said that once communications are restored it will “take some time” for the network to safely return to normal operations.

The outage has had significant impact on transport networks, particularly in Victoria, where V line regional services are currently unable to operate. Emergency communications on our national freight network are down.

So the Australian Rail Track Corporation has paused freight train operations.

In New South Wales, the Southern Highlands line and the Hunter line services, which operate on the ARTC network have also been impacted.

McBain also confirmed she has asked the Emergency Management Agency to convene another national coordination mechanism meeting this afternoon.

Wells said it is “very important that people do not make test calls to triple zero”.

Please only call triple zero if it is an emergency.

The communications minister said the key priority for today is to get “people and small businesses back online and to ensure any welfare checks are completed urgently”.

She confirmed the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) will conduct a full investigation, and Telstra will need to “account for how and why this outage has happened”.

Core triple-zero system operational but some welfare checks in progress, Anika Wells says

Communications minister, Anika Wells, has addressed the Telstra outage, confirming services have “largely returned to business as usual, with only a small number of devices now still experiencing issues.”

Speaking at a Canberra press conference, Wells returned from leave to address today’s Telstra outage. She said:

Importantly, the core triple zero system remains operational, with connected calls flowing as expected, from carrier networks to the emergency call person (ECP), and on to state and territory emergency services dispatchers.

However, the triple zero custodian has advised that some callers were unable to connect to the ECP and that these are being now investigated by Telstra and welfare checks are now in progress, as is required by the law.

The triple zero custodian is in regular communication with Telstra to receive updates on the progress and outcomes of these checks.

A reminder, if you do need to call 000 and you can’t get through, it is recommended that you use another device, a landline, or wifi calling.

Union movement accuses Bleijie of ‘tanking the Olympics’, ‘attack’ on union movement

Queensland Council of Unions’ general secretary, Jacqueline King, said Jarrod Bleijie’s latest announcement was one of a series of recent policy decisions that represented an “attack on workers’ rights”.

Bleijie sacked all workers’ representatives from the state’s WorkCover board last Friday, which insures employers for workplace accidents. They had been replaced by employer representatives, King said.

The deputy premier has also announced reviews into a series of industrial relations legislation, she said.

King said the new code would create confusion and delay in the state’s construction sector.

What do we actually need to do to get on and build the Olympics, and pretty much tell the deputy premier to grow up.

King said the government was “embarking on a blind agenda of ideology towards unions” and an “unacceptable … concerted attack on worker rights here in Queensland”.

The executive of the state’s council of unions joined King for the Wednesday press conference, including representatives of the Australian Workers’ Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, the nurses union, teacher’s union, and the maritime union.

“We are here to say that we will stand united with construction workers. We will stand united across the union movement to fight these changes,” King said.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union’s state secretary, Rohan Webb, said:

I say to Jarrod Bleijie, it’s time to take a Panadol, have a lay down, and reconsider this tanking of the Olympics. These ideological attacks on working men and women of the state is wrong.

AI not taking jobs from Australian graduates (so far)

Artificial intelligence is not making it harder for Australian university graduates to find work, according to a new government report that suggests the release of ChatGPT in 2022 is yet to seriously affect jobs.

There is a widespread community concern that AI will decimate a whole swathe of skilled, white-collar roles.

There is evidence in the US that firms are replacing graduate intakes with AI, but the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations in a recent report said “we do not see this in the Australian data”.

In fact, youth employment has increased more quickly than the broader population since 2022.

Further: “There is no evidence to date of broad labour market upheaval driven by artificial intelligence in Australia.”

That said, there was some evidence that AI – and in particular the introduction of ChatGPT nearly four years ago – was having an impact.

“Occupations more exposed to potential automation by generative AI have grown more slowly than other occupations,” the report said.

Between November 2022 and February 2026, employment in the most-exposed fifth of occupations grew by 5.6%, compared with 9.5% in the least-exposed fifth.

The evidence is an early indication of some modest slowing in employment growth in some highly exposed occupations, not proof of large AI-driven job loss.

The report notes that it’s not making any predictions about the future – separate government data shows only 38% of Australian businesses are using the technology.

“[Jobs] displacement is not an inevitable consequence of the ability of AI to perform productive tasks that have traditionally been undertaken by humans,” the report says.

Queensland deputy premier denies reports of a plan to ban CFMEU firms from Olympics

Queensland’s deputy premier has denied media reports the government plans to ban contractors with existing workplace agreements with the CFMEU from any Brisbane 2032 Olympics-related construction projects.

Jarrod Bleijie didn’t take questions from media today about the announcement.

In a statement he said:

There will be site specific agreements that do not involve BPICs [best practice industry conditions] and will likely involve multiple unions for 2032 and beyond venue sites.

Bleijie, who is also minister for industrial relations, state development and planning, eliminated the former government’s BPICs, a set of minimum safety and workplace standards for large state projects on taking government last year.

But the state’s productivity commission said that would have little effect because many of the rules would still be contained within agreements between unions and industry. It argued for a “broader industry reset” of workplace agreements industry wide.

On the weekend, Queensland’s CFMEU commission of inquiry proposed a new construction code – which would be legislated – banning a set of conditions, like fixed rostered days off, paying employees to take part in union activities, and prohibiting non-working union representatives from work sites, among others.

It also recommended creating a state industrial relations regulator.

“The Crisafulli Government will consider any recommendations made by the CFMEU Commission of Inquiry,” Bleijie said.