Australia news live: banks, telcos and social media companies face $50m fines under new anti-scam laws | Australia news

The Australian Banking Association has said it welcomes the release of the draft legislation to fight scams.

The association’s chief executive Anna Bligh said in a statement that banks had advocated for the industry codes because the issue required a systemic approach.

Bligh said:

Australia has made progress, with scam losses falling, however holding all parts of the scams chain to account is the only way to properly protect the community.

These codes must address the core problem of people being exposed to scams in the first place. That means ensuring telcos and the social media platforms have strong protections in place to stop scams reaching Australians.

The industry viewed the creation of a single complaints body as a positive step, and said the sector was ready to work with the Government to finalisation of the mandatory codes.

Bligh said:

I urge all members of Parliament to support this legislation and ensure its passage as soon as possible.

A tram has come off its tracks on Sydney’s route 1 on the corner of Hay and Pitt Streets in the city, after apparently being hit by another vehicle.

My colleague Peter Hannam is down there and says officials have told him it will be difficult to get the tram back into place, as it is difficult to lift it without damaging the track.

A wheel can be replaced, but fixing the track will take a lot of work and time.

We’re told the light rail on that route is still running up until the convention centre.

Karen Middleton

Anthony Albanese is rejecting demands from the Greens and some Senate crossbenchers to subject development projects to climate-impact assessments and remove forestry’s effective exemption from environmental protection law, as the government negotiates on stalled legislation with parties to the left and right.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is in talks with the Greens, crossbenchers and the Coalition over legislation to establish an environment protection authority.

But after she appeared to hint on Wednesday that the government could agree to include climate impact among considerations before projects are approved, the prime minister has made it clear from the sidelines that this is not on the table.

Although the Greens remain hopeful of further compromise, Albanese has indicated to various parties in the negotiations that he wants a deal struck with the Coalition. He appears prepared to wait, having prioritised other legislation such as changes to aged care.

Read the full story here:

Stephen Jones announces new scam prevention laws

Stephen Jones also announced proposed new laws today which are intended to place obligations on banks, telcos and social media companies “to prevent, to detect, to disrupt and to report and to respond to scam content within their businesses”.

There will also be penalties of up to $50m for businesses that don’t comply.

Jones said:

It’s taking an ecosystem approach, which expects individuals to take some responsibilities, but the banks, the telcos, the social media platforms – which are the ecosystems in which this scam content is distributed to Australians.

A significant uplift will be required to keep Australians, their information and their money safe and, if they don’t meet those obligations, then yes, compensation will flow, not just on the banks. If the telcos have done the wrong thing, they’ll be in the gun. If the social media platforms have done the wrong thing, they’re in the frame as well and that’s a fair and balanced system with avenues for Australians to take through external dispute resolution processes and a tribunal they can go to to enable them to recover losses if they’ve lost money because the failure of one of those businesses to meet their obligations under the new laws.

Sydney casino employee charged for allegedly rigging roulette games

A Sydney casino employee is one of two people charged by NSW Police for allegedly rigging multiple roulette games.

The state’s organised crime squad charged the 23-year-old male casino employee and another 22-year-old man after identifying that they had allegedly worked together to rig roulette bets between September and October 2023.

In a statement, NSW police said detectives will allege in court the men would move bets after the roulette result had occurred and that the men had done this on multiple occasions, earning more than $25,000.

They will appear before Downing Centre Local Court in November.

Assistant treasurer says Elon Musk post is ‘crackpot stuff’

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said Elon Musk labelling the Australian government as “fascists” is “crackpot stuff”.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Jones said the government’s new bill on misinformation and disinformation was about “sovereignty”:

And whether it’s the Australian government or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe – safe from scammers, safe from criminals.

And, for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean is this what he thinks free speech is all about?

All lanes of M4 motorway in Sydney closed

All lanes of the M4 motorway in Sydney have been closed this morning and drivers are urged to avoid the area near the Coleman Street off-ramp while a police operation is under way.

NSW police launched the operation in Merrylands about 5.30am in response to a mental health incident.

Police said in a post on X that there was no threat to the public.

Yesterday, the government outlined its overhaul of the aged care system, and with a deal struck with the Coalition, the long-awaited suite of measures are scheduled to start taking effect from mid 2025.

Find out what’s happening, and what it might mean for you and your loved ones, with this explainer from my colleague Josh Butler:

Good morning folks. Thanks so much to Martin Farrer for kicking us off this morning. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be taking you through the news until mid-afternoon.

The New South Wales government says it will try to stop family violence before it starts under a new $38m prevention strategy.

The strategy, announced today, has three priorities: progressing prevention in priority settings, supporting Aboriginal-led prevention, and providing centralised support to prevention efforts across the state.

In a statement, the Minns government said most government actions to date which attempted to address sexual, domestic and family violence focused on early intervention, crisis response and recovery.

It said that while this work was critically important it responded to existing violence or indicators of violence, rather than primary prevention which “is about stopping violence before it starts”.

The statement said:

It is about programs that, over the long-term, help to shift the dial on community attitudes and behaviours underlying these types of violence.

The “priority settings” identified in the strategy are local community organisations, schools and early childhood education centres, workplaces and sporting clubs.

A dedicated NSW Aboriginal domestic and family violence plan is also being developed, with a draft to be released in 2025.

The government will also establish a primary prevention advisory council to guide the implementation of the strategy.

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:

We have a long road ahead of us to catch up to where we should be in terms of a comprehensive statewide approach to primary prevention – but not doing this work is simply not an option, the stakes are far too high.

As mentioned in the intro, one of our top stories this morning is a report highlighting the explosion in medication taken by dementia sufferers.

The latest report on dementia from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that health services for managing dementia have increased to accommodate 411,100 people.

Almost 688,000 dementia medication prescriptions were dispensed in 2022–23 to about 72,400 Australians aged 30 and over, the report said. That represented a 46% increase from just over 472,000 scripts for about 50,800 people in 2013–14.

Read the full story and warnings about an impending “crisis” from neuroscientist Prof Matthew Kiernan.

Anthony Albanese will travel to the United States for the 2024 Quad leaders’ summit in Wilmington, Delaware, next Saturday.

The US president, Joe Biden, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the Japanese prime minister, Kishida Fumio, make up the Quad, which is a diplomatic partnership to shape an “open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific”.

At the summit, the prime minister will discuss regional issues and opportunities to further advance the Quad’s positive and practical agenda.

Albanese said:

I look forward to meeting with my Quad partners to discuss important challenges facing the Indo-Pacific and strengthening the Quad’s cooperation.

Australia is deeply invested in the future prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific.

Australia, the United States, India, and Japan share a vision for a region that is governed by accepted rules and norms, where all countries can cooperate, trade and thrive.

We will work together to shape the kind of region in which we want to live. We are always better off when we act together with our close friends and partners.

Elon Musk attacks disinformation bill

Elon Musk, owner of social media X, has responded to the Australian government’s new bill on misinformation and disinformation, which proposes to give the broadcasting watchdog Acma new powers over digital platforms.

Acma would get the power to register an enforceable industry code, though it doesn’t get “take down” powers.

Elon Musk’s view?

“Fascists.”

The federal government has approved the plan to construct a third runway at Melbourne airport.

The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said it would “cater for the demand of a growing city … driving economic growth for years to come”.

Some local communities put up fierce resistance to the plan, citing the impact of more plane noise on sleep, schools and childcare centres.

But the minister said the needs of the local community had been “front of mind” for her.

She imposed conditions on the airport including lengthening the east-west runway to maximise noise-sharing, designing an airspace plan that shared noise around affected areas, and a noise amelioration program for the communities most affected.

There will also be a long-term health study examining the impact of the new runway.

Good morning and welcome to our final blog of the working week. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ve got the best overnight news lines to get you started before your morning blogger Stephanie Convery takes the controls.

Australia is at the forefront of the dementia crisis, a neuroscientist warns today as new figures show that the number of people taking medication for the disease has increased by almost 50%. The number of dementia medication prescriptions has jumped in the past decade as more people seek out therapies that may slow progression of the disease – but the country is still “unprepared for the full impact” on society.

It’s been a busy sitting week and we report today that Anthony Albanese is fighting off demands from the Greens and some Senate crossbenchers to keep his government’s environmental agenda on track. The prime minister is thought to have ruled out proposed concessions and instead wants a deal struck with the Coalition.

And when the prime minister is finished with the business of federal politics here he will travel to the US next week for the latest Quad summit. Details coming up.

Much of south-east Australia will experience a blast of cold weather this weekend with the cold biting particularly hard on Sunday in NSW, where some parts could see the mercury 8C below the September average. It follows some more freakish weather yesterday when a hailstorm transformed the Victorian town of Castlemaine into a winter wonderland. That cold front is pushing through NSW now and another cold system will follow behind it later today.

The federal government has approved the controversial third runway for Melbourne airport – more on that soon.

And Elon Musk has responded to proposed new laws tackling disinformation and misinformation online with one word: “Fascists.”