Australia news LIVE: RBA may consider rate rise after new inflation figures; MP Luke Gosling steps aside as special envoy; Tributes flow for Dolly Parton
Updated ,first published
Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, August 26. Many Australians will be waking to the sad news that country music legend Dolly Parton has died, aged 80, as tributes to the Jolene and I Will Always Love You songwriter and 11-time Grammy winner pour in from around the world.
Here’s what else is making news today.
- It was business’ night of nights at the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner last night, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the headline guest, alongside a slew of corporate bigwigs, executives and politicians. Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn also made an appearance, despite much speculation surrounding his attendance.
- The chair of the Sydney Swans Foundation apologised yesterday to those affected by allegations of sexual assault being investigated by Victoria Police, and the suspension of five Swans players for breaching club standards.
- Some of the nation’s top international law experts have argued Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada should consider launching an MH17-style joint criminal investigation into the fatal Israeli drone strike that killed aid worker Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues in Gaza in 2024.
- And Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a US federal judge who said on Tuesday (US time) the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless”.
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Commissioner Virginia Bell has requested a four-day extension from the date she is due to deliver the final report of the antisemitism royal commission, to avoid presenting the report on the one-year anniversary of the Bondi massacre.
Bell shared the proposed extension for the delivery of the report, from December 14 to 18, in opening remarks on the final day of hearings.
“The 14th of December is the anniversary of the massacre. It will be a solemn occasion marked by memorials,” Bell said.
“I am aware of concern within the Jewish community that delivery of the report on the anniversary would be a distraction. I fully understand that concern, and to avoid that distraction, I have asked for a short extension of the term with a view to the submission of my final report on Friday, the 18th of December.”
The lives of slain police officers Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart are being remembered in Victoria’s high country, in Bright.
It is exactly one year since the two experienced officers were killed while serving a warrant on Desmond Freeman, an alleged paedophile, in nearby town Porepunkah.
Hundreds have gathered outside the Bright Police station, under a warm sun and blue sky.
It comes a day after another memorial, twin stones and a garden, were unveiled at Wangaratta police station yesterday, where Thompson served for nearly 20 years.
The federal agency responsible for stopping criminal activity across the financial system has revealed scammers are impersonating its staff to steal money from unsuspecting Australians.
AUSTRAC boss Brendan Thomas this morning said his organisation, which is heavily involved in identifying and preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism, was itself the target of scammers who tried to pressure people into making urgent payments or release personal details.
In a recent case, a scammer claimed to have access to an “AUSTRAC investigator” and shared a real staff member’s name and LinkedIn-style profile. In another, a scammer claimed to be in contact with the organisation’s general counsel.
“AUSTRAC does not contact members of the public unexpectedly demanding payment,” Thomas said in a statement.
“We take payment from reporting businesses for things like levies and infringement notices but we are never going to ask you to pay in virtual or cryptocurrencies or through social media apps, like WhatsApp or Telegram.”
Readers can report scams on ScamWatch.
Travel giant Flight Centre says the conflict in the Middle East has knocked $60 million out of its leisure profits in the fourth quarter.
The company said it had been on track to deliver a $200 million underlying profit before tax through the third quarter.
A spate of cancellations and a disruption of travel as the US-Israel war with Iran kicked on, “offset
corporate’s full-year profit uplift”, the company said.
Underlying profit before tax fell to $278 million for the year, down 4 per cent from the $289 million the year before.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres has dismissed concerns that a constitutional dispute between the state and federal governments over clashing data centre legislation would turn off international investment in Australia.
“I don’t think that’s very likely,” he told Radio National. “These AI standards are all about making sure that Australia maximises the advantage, maximises the right kind of investment in the right places, and it delivers to support our ambitions to build a modern electricity system for Australia.”
The federal government wants to impose national AI standards that would include a mandate for tech giants to build new renewable projects to power the energy-hungry facilities.
Earlier this morning, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor backed the fierce objections to a renewables mandate from Queensland and the Northern Territory.
“It should be technology neutral. I mean, this idea that you pick one technology and that’s the answer to everything – if it’s not technology neutral, it will raise the cost of energy for all Australians, and that’s why the government is making a mistake in what it’s proposing here,” he told ABC News Breakfast.
The antisemitism royal commission will hold its final hearings today, less than four months before Commissioner Virginia Bell is to produce her final report proposing measures to improve social cohesion in Australia.
The commission, established in January following the Bondi Beach terror attack targeting Jewish Australians celebrating Hanukkah, will finish two days earlier than planned. Ten witness will be called today from a range of community and religious groups. Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of the Chabad of Bondi, whose son-in-law Rabbi Eli Schlanger was killed in the December attack, is the final witness due to appear.
Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said he would “wait with bated breath” for the outcomes from the commission. He urged Australians to take personal responsibility for social cohesion across the country.
“What’s critical is how we respond as a society, from governments down to the man and woman on the street,” Ryvchin told ABC TV today. “The royal commission has heard harrowing testimony that it can’t ignore.”
A car fire has caused the Sydney Harbour Tunnel to close in both directions, causing mass disruptions and threatening huge delays.
Firefighters have been called to the tunnel to extinguish the engine fire, which occurred just before 8am. The driver of the vehicle is believed to have not been injured.
Commuters have been urged to allow extra time for their morning journeys, as diversions towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Cahill Expressway are implemented.
State and territory leaders are gearing up for a fight over federal Labor’s plan to impose national standards on data centres, ahead of a national cabinet meeting today.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who alongside Queensland’s premier has objected to renewable energy requirements for data centres, said the territory would argue against a mandate at the Sydney meeting.
“The territory should be able to decide its energy policy and its energy mix,” she told Radio National.
“We understand that the federal government are pursuing a renewable agenda, and there’s no problem with that per se. But what they should not be doing is trying to impose rules on states and territories when they, under their own steam, are able to make these decisions for themselves for their people.”
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has previously threatened to steamroll the states and territories with federal legislation.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has remembered Dolly Parton as someone who made the world a better place.
“A singer and songwriter of rare power and talent, she also shone brightly as an actor, author and philanthropist,” Albanese wrote on X.
“There are a lot of broken hearts in Australia and across the world today. Wherever you are, turn your stereo or your phone to Dolly then turn the volume up. And may the great Dolly Parton rest in peace.”
Parton died overnight aged 80.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres said his colleague Luke Gosling should not be stood down from his special envoy role after allegedly breaching his bail conditions while awaiting a court date for an alleged assault.
“Nothing changes in relation to that question. Mr Gosling’s got an important job to do,” Ayres told Radio National.
“There’s a legal process there in Northern Territory that’ll take its course, and Mr Gosling is going to keep doing that work on behalf of the government.”
The frontbencher would not comment on claims made by Gosling’s lawyer that the Northern Territory Police had politicised the situation.
“All I know… in terms of the additional information, is what you’ve outlined, and Mr Gosling’s statement overnight. He’s got important work to do for the government.”
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