Australia news live: Coalition call for around-the-clock police patrols of Jewish schools; stock market hits new high as traders anticipate interest rate cut | Australian politics

Natasha May

Data shows less young people vaping

Data shows vape use among young Australians has significantly reduced meaning new laws are working, the health minister says.

At a press conference in Adelaide, the federal health minister, Mark Butler, cited data from the independent South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute which have found 2024 vaping rates among 15 to 29-year-olds reduced by around a third when compared to 2023, going from above 15% to 10.8%.

Vaping rates among the 30 to 59 age group also dropped by about half, from 6.7% to 3.6%, while overall, vaping rates for people aged 15 and above were reduced by more than a third.

Butler said suspensions relating to vaping at South Australian schools has dropped by 50% with 388 suspensions in the first term of 2023, compared to 186 in 2024.

Butler said these South Australian figures were in line with the latest research from the Cancer Council’s Generation Vape study, which also showed the number of young people aged 14 to 17 who vape is in decline.

This data showed the largest proportion of “never-vapers” since the Generation Vape study began in 2022, with 85% of people aged 14 to 17 reporting they had never vaped.

Butler said:

These latest data shows the Albanese government’s vaping reforms are working to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine.

Following on from the last post: Economist Lenora Risse told the committee mandating gender equality targets would raise the salience of gender equality as an issue in the minds of employers and create a prompt for action and accountability.

“Requirements are a way to embed gender equality awareness and actions into an organisation’s internal processes and structures,” Risse said.

This contributes to gender equality policies and aspirations for progress becoming a normalised part of Australian workplaces, rather than an exceptional feature of only some organisations or a variable factor where effort and interest wavers with time.

The committee recommended the bill include full guidelines on what the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) would accept as a “reasonable excuse” for non-compliance.

But in a dissenting report, the coalition argued the proposed laws would place “onerous financial implications on businesses that we rely on”.

“This legislation will affect over 1650 of Australia’s largest companies by potentially precluding them from supplying goods or services to the Commonwealth government at or above $80,000 in critical areas including agriculture forestry and fishing, construction, education and training, manufacturing and mining,” the dissenting report said.

The provisions in this bill significantly undermine businesses and risk important procurement required for critical areas like national security.

The Coalition’s report also argued the laws provided “excessive ministerial powers” and were “government overreach”.

-–Australian Associated Press

Gender equality targets on horizon for employers

New laws requiring employers to commit to achieve or make progress on gender equality targets could be passed when federal parliament returns for its first sitting week of the year.

But the government will have to work with the Greens and crossbench to pass the laws after the coalition labelled the proposal “government overreach”.

Under the proposal, employers with 500 or more employees would be required to pick three targets which could include gender composition of the workforce, equal remuneration between women and men and consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace.

Employers would then have a three-year period to achieve or improve on those targets.

The failure to either set a target or make progress towards it could result in an employer being publicly named, and impact their eligibility for government procurement and ability to be considered for funding and grants.

A parliamentary committee has published its final report on the proposed laws, with five recommendations from committee members.

– Australian Associated Press

More to come in the next post.

Investigation into suspicious death on NSW south coast under way

An investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the death of a 50-year-old man found in his home yesterday.

Officers were called to the home in Quickmatch Street, Nowra, about 11am yesterday when the body was found in the house by a neighbour, NSW police said in a statement.

A crime scene was established and examined by specialist police, and a canvass of the area was conducted.

Strike Force Ballidu has been established and detectives are investigating the incident with assistance from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad.

Senator Sarah Henderson calls for around-the-clock police patrols of Jewish schools

Caitlin Cassidy

The shadow minister for education, Senator Sarah Henderson, has labelled an antisemitic graffiti attack on Mount Sinai College in Maroubra on Thursday “domestic terrorism” and urged for around-the-clock NSW police patrols of Jewish schools.

In a statement on Friday, Henderson condemned the attack, labelling it “part of an escalating campaign of violence targeting the Jewish community which can only be described as domestic terrorism”.

I reiterate that every child attending a childcare centre, school or university in this country deserves to be safe. I support the call by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies for around-the-clock NSW police patrols of Jewish pre-schools and schools in Sydney until the current threat to the community has subsided.

After speaking with a representative of Mt Sinai College, I have made representations to the secretary of the federal Department of Education seeking immediate counselling and other support for the school.”

Henderson also linked the incident to universities, accusing campuses of promoting “anti-Jewish hate and incitement”.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Thursday finished up 46.7 points, or 0.55%, to 8,493.7 – just 1.5 points from its best-ever finish set on 3 December.

In early afternoon trading the index climbed as high as 8,515.7, beating by 1.2 points its previous intraday high on 3 December.

At 8,553.3 as of 11am today, the index is now higher than it has ever been.

Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said the market was gaining because of the follow-through from Wednesday’s lower-than-expected inflation readout, a Federal Reserve rates decision and earnings from a trio of the “magnificent seven” tech companies.

Early Thursday morning the Fed kept interest rates in the US on hold, as widely expected, with chair Jerome Powell signalling the central bank might leave interest rates where they are for a while given the strength of the economy.

This led Comerica economists to revise their expectations for US rate cuts, forecasting one this year rather than two.

Closer to home, all of the big four banks predict the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates in February, after NAB on Thursday revised its call after the cooler-than-expected fourth-quarter inflation figures.

“We still expect the cutting phase to be gradual,” NAB’s economics team wrote.

– Australian Associated Press

Grampians national park fires rage

A total of 18,000 ha of the Grampians national park are on fire, with two fires burning at Victoria Valley and Wallaby Rock.

Forest Fire Management Victoria and Country Fire Authority firefighters “continue to work extremely hard” in an effort to contain the fires before high temperatures expected across the state over the weekend and into next week, the CFA said in a statement this morning.

About 700 personnel are “working tirelessly” on the Grampians fires, and aircraft and burning out operations are being used in an effort to contain them.

Smoke will be visible across large parts of western Victoria due to these fires, as well as the Little Desert national park fire, CFA said. They urge residents to monitor changing conditions.

The national park is partially closed but Halls Gap and a number of nearby walking tracks are open.

Yarram Gap Road fire is under control and has burnt over 76,00 ha.

Climate scientists mock NZ’s 1% emissions target

New Zealand’s climate credentials have taken a massive hit, with the release of a new emissions target of just 1% – within hours of a new mining strategy that grants coal a special status and aims to double exports.

Last night, NZ announced a fresh climate pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 51-55% of 2005 levels by 2035.

Parties to the Paris agreement – the landmark climate pact which aims to keep global warming to a livable 1.5% – are required to release their 2035 emissions goals this year.

Given NZ already had a goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030, the government’s 2030-2035 target effectively amounts to a single per cent.

“Wow! That sure is ambitious!,” Massey University Prof Emeritus Ralph Sims said.

Other climate scientists, modellers and academics labelled the goal “extremely weak”, “disappointing” and likely to damage NZ’s international relations.

“This will provoke anger from Pacific nations and frustration from trading partners who will argue we are not doing our fair share,” University of Canterbury’s Prof Bronwyn Hayward said.

The climate minister, Simon Watts, said the target was both “ambitious and achievable”.

Our climate strategy focuses on strengthening New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme, supporting innovative technologies to reduce agricultural emissions, and accelerating the transition to a cleaner, electrified economy – ensuring we meet our climate targets while driving economic growth.

NZ’s new goal falls well behind other countries’ ambitions.

As climate journalist Marc Daalder noted in NZ media outlet Newsroom, the UK promised to cut by 81%, Switzerland by 65% and Brazil by 59%.

– Australian Associated Press

PM says he wants perpetrators of antisemitism ‘locked up’

The prime minister was asked to respond to people in the Jewish community “still worried about a rise in antisemitism”. He responded:

I say that my heart goes out to you and we are doing all that we can. I just had a previous question about the increased security that is being offered. But I say this as well – and that’s why I won’t undermine investigations and play politics with it – I want perpetrators of antisemitism to be hunted down and to be locked up. That’s what I want.

Albanese sells housing policy in Melbourne

Anthony Albanese was speaking to media from Melbourne about the Housing Australia Future Fund a short while ago.

He said Clare O’Neil will later announce “contracts that have been issued for 800 social and affordable homes, that is right throughout the country”.

“We want more homeowners, we want more people to have access to affordable rentals, we want to make sure as well that there’s more social housing available in Australia, and we want to make sure that the workforce is there to build those homes,” he said.

We got a $32bn Homes for Australia Plan but we need to make sure we have the skilled workforce to be able to build the homes and the apartments for people. What we have with this scheme is just that – an incentive.

And … Clare O’Neil will be up later today, announcing the contracts that have been issued for 800 social and affordable homes, that is right throughout the country.

So we have incentive there, whether it be for home ownership to our Help To Buy scheme, whether it’s social housing, accelerated Housing Australia Future Fund for social or affordable homes to be built, or whether it be our Build To Rent Scheme, the legislation which was passed just in December by the Senate after a long delay of disruption from those on the Coalition and Greens party benches, we finally got that legislation through. That will lead to increased Build To Rent properties.

More on the ‘huge’ amount of rain to hit already-soaked northern Australia

A cyclone threat remains for north Queensland from the weather systems lying off Cairns and the Gulf of Carpentaria, which have brought torrential rain in recent days.

Another two tropical lows are lying off Western Australia’s north coast, one with the potential to form a cyclone by Sunday, as reported earlier in the blog.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Miriam Bradbury warned it will be a very wet end to the week for the north tropical coast stretching up to Cape York and over to the Gulf country.

The area between Mackay and Cairns is expected to be hit today by severe thunderstorms with locally heavy falls.

“These areas have already seen a huge amount of rain so far this week, and additional rainfall is likely to lead to further flash flooding, inundation of roads, leading to lengthy detours, as well as damage to some property and vegetation,” Bradbury said.

Rain is expected to ramp up between Cairns and Bowen from tonight with the risk of life-threatening flash flooding and damaging winds.

“This risk will continue into the weekend with high rainfall amounts of several 100mm, likely on a daily basis,” Bradbury said.

It follows up to 150mm of rain falling around Bowen, Mackay and the Daintree coast in the 24 hours to this morning, with some areas recording even heavier downpours.

“It was certainly a wet 24 hours, but not quite as wet as what we saw earlier in the week,” Bradbury said.

Upper Finch Hatton – inland from Mackay – received 181mm while Diwan on the Daintree coast received 179mm in the last 24 hours.

– Australian Associated Press

Historic gold rush towns added to tentative world heritage list

Towns transformed by Australia’s gold rush are a step closer to getting the coveted world heritage status.

The discovery of gold at Ballarat in 1851 sparked Victoria’s gold rush, enticing more than 6,000 miners from across the globe to make their way to the area every week.

From hard-rock open-cut mines at Castlemaine to the Victorian era buildings of Bendigo, the region is considered the most extensive and best surviving gold rush landscape in the world.

Those goldfields were added to Australia’s world heritage tentative list today. The region already welcomes millions of tourists each year and the World Heritage listing is expected to boost tourism even further.

Six key areas have been included in the tentative list submission, including: the Bendigo historic landscape, Castlemaine goldfields and historic townships, with the possibility more could be added.

If successful, it would join the Budj Bim cultural landscape, Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park and the Sydney Opera House.

– Australian Associated Press

Why is a union saying state governments should bail out Star casinos?

Following on from that last post: the casino operator Star has been on a downward financial trajectory ever since the fallout from a money-laundering scandal in 2021, steering high rollers away from the casino’s tables.

The share price of Star, which has casinos in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, hit an all-time low of 10.5c on 10 January, recovering marginally to 12c since.

It sold an events complex inside its Sydney casino to Foundation Theatre on Wednesday for $60m, with the group’s chief executive, Steve McCann, indicating the group would continue to “work on a number of other potential non-core asset transactions”.

While the Queensland and NSW governments have said they will look to support Star’s workers, both have said they will not bail the company out.

Jones urged those governments – along with their federal counterpart – to change their tune and prevent “an economic crisis in our major cities”.

“Casino workers should not bear the brunt of management’s failures, nor should the thousands of adjacent businesses and workers who depend on these venues remaining operational,” he said.

We are encouraged by the NSW government’s engagement in discussions to date and have written to the Queensland premier inviting him to join discussions to save the 5,000 jobs in Queensland.

– Australian Associated Press

Wider economy would be hurt from Star collapse: union

Calls continue for a cash-strapped casino to be handed a government lifeline, with fears its demise will cost thousands of jobs and hit the wider economy.

Fresh from an $8m loss in the three months to 31 December and with minimal cash in the bank, the future of the Star Entertainment Group hangs in the balance with 9,000 workers at risk.

A powerful union says the casino group’s collapse would have widespread economic consequences, with suppliers to also feel the pain.

“Over 300 food and beverage suppliers, including local farmers and producers, depend on Star’s operations … industrial laundry services processing tonnes of linen for hotels and restaurants would see their business vanish overnight,” United Workers Union’s casinos director, Andrew Jones, said.

The state governments need to consider the cost of inaction … supporting Star now could prevent the loss of thousands of jobs and the decimation of night-time economies that took decades to build.

– Australian Associated Press

More to come in the next post.

Man dies after boat capsizes in NSW

A man has died in a boating incident in the north of NSW.

Emergency services were called to Head Road, Urunga, following reports a boat had capsized around 4:30pm yesterday. Officers, water police, surf rescue and Ambulance NSW were involved in the response.

The body of a man believed to be in his 50s was found on sand just south of the Bellinger River boardwalk, NSW police said in a statement. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful, and the man died at the scene.

An aluminium boat has been recovered and seized for examination.

Ian Sample

Asteroid triggers global defence plan amid chance of collision with Earth in 2032

A 100 metre-wide asteroid has triggered global planetary defence procedures for the first time after telescope observations revealed it has a chance of colliding with Earth in 2032.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 was spotted by an automated telescope in Chile on 27 December last year but has since risen to the top of impact risk lists maintained by the US and European space agencies.

Based on measurements gathered so far, the asteroid has a 1.3% chance of smashing into Earth on 22 December 2032, or put another way, a nearly 99% probability of barrelling past without incident.

“Most likely this one will pass by harmlessly,” said Colin Snodgrass, a professor of planetary astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. “It just deserves a little more attention with telescopes until we can confirm that. The longer we follow its orbit, the more accurate our future predictions of its trajectory become.”

Read the full story:

Heavy rain activates flood watches across Queensland

The system is set to inflict more damage on the north with heavy rain likely between Cairns and Townsville through to the weekend.

“That could easily be 500mm for isolated locations on top of the rain that they’ve already received earlier this week,” Hines said. He predicted it would cause more flooding and road closures, potential power network stress and crop damage for an already saturated region.

Up to 939mm of rain over seven days was recorded at Mount Sophia and 905mm at Clyde Road, both near Cairns, with more than 600mm at other locations. Flood watches have been activated for rivers from Cairns to Townsville.

The low in the Gulf of Carpentaria has a chance of becoming a tropical cyclone from Sunday. It is forecast to cross the Queensland coast over the weekend, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding between Townsville and Cairns.

The low expected in the Coral Sea has a “moderate” chance of forming a cyclone by Sunday.

Only one of the two systems off WA’s north-west coast are expected to intensify by the weekend but it was not expected to directly affect coastal or island communities, the bureau said.

– Australian Associated Press