Key events 1h ago What we learned today, Wednesday 28 October 2h ago Federal police respond to bomb threat at Parliament House 3h ago Australia ‘deeply concerned’ after consular visit with imprisoned democracy campaigner 3h ago Payman apologises to Haines for comments after alleged attack 3h ago Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time 4h ago Marrickville golf club grant continues to haunt Labor 4h ago Coalition MP ejected from question time after swearing at PM 4h ago Taylor attacks Labor’s ‘out-of-control spending’ after inflation numbers revealed 4h ago Question time begins 5h ago Labor is Greens’ main target, not One Nation, Shoebridge says 5h ago ABC reiterates call for One Nation to remove Bluey cartoon 6h ago Australia not heading towards recession, RBA chief economist says 7h ago Inflation acceleration sharpens expectations for interest rate rise 10h ago Australia Post chief paid ‘mind-blowing’ $1.2m bonus 11h ago Australia pays biggest bill for global diesel crisis 11h ago eSafety commissioner and family subjected to ‘onslaught of online abuse and threats’ 11h ago Shoebridge to pitch increased welfare spending, hike in tax-free threshold 11h ago Inflation expected to rise to 4.2% Patrick Commins Treasury boss blames higher interest rates for property slump Jenny Wilkinson , the secretary of the Treasury, says the government’s tax reforms to capital gains and negative gearing have had “some effect” on property prices, but said the recent slump had more to do with “higher interest rates, heightened global uncertainty, and weak consumer sentiment”. Wilkinson, speaking at Senate estimates this morning, said it was “important to distinguish between the cyclical and structural drivers of the housing market”. “Interest rates have a particularly strong cyclical effect because Australia’s high share of variable rate mortgages means monetary policy passes relatively quickly to existing and new borrowers,” she said. double quotation mark The budget tax reforms are expected to have a more structural effect through their impact on the relative attractiveness of housing to investors, as outlined in the budget papers, the impacts of the tax measures on house prices and rent are expected to be modest over the medium term, while shifting the ownership of the housing stock towards owner-occupiers.” Home values were down 5.2% from their March peak, but they were still 6% higher than “a couple of years ago”, Wilkinson said. double quotation mark The price declines have been sharper than in the early stages of most other housing slowdowns over the past 20 years, but the run-up in house prices was also more significant.
Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Catie McLeod Woolworths claims demand for Ooshies assisting in 6.9% increase in revenue Woolworths , Australia’s largest supermarket, has had a strong start to the financial year, with almost $15bn in grocery sales amid cost-of-living pressures. The company posted its results for the first quarter of the financial year (July to September) to the ASX a short time ago, ahead of separate inflation data being released by the government later this morning.
Woolworths has attributed its strong results to growth in customer demand for groceries amid the ongoing success of its Ooshies collectable campaign rather than rising shelf prices. Across the Woolworths group, which includes stores in New Zealand, the company sold $19.4bn worth of products, an increase of 4.7% from the same three-month period last year. Most of the revenue came from Australian food sales, which amounted to $14.8bn, a 6.9% increase compared with the corresponding period.
Woolworths will hold two calls with journalists and investors this morning, and we’ll bring you more updates after that. Ooshies. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Man arrested after making false claims about Bondi terror attack injuries A man who allegedly made false claims about getting injured in the Bondi Beach terror attack has been charged.
The 46-year-old is accused of making a false statement about getting injured during the mass shooting and making fraudulent claims for compensation after the event. NSW police have charged the man with publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage and false representation resulting in police investigation after he was arrested on Tuesday morning. He has been granted conditional bail and is set to appear at Parramatta local court today.
Sarah Basford Canales Continued from the previous post ... At a brief appearance late last night, the Australian federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett , revealed the force had received 785 protective security reports regarding adverse content against federal parliamentarians in the first six months of this year. Barrett said women politicians were three times more likely to report receiving offensive or threatening contact that was sexualised or gender-based in nature while those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities were also more likely to experience “frequent and varied offensive contact”.
Sarah Basford Canales Death threat emails received during Senate estimates, WA senator reveals The Western Australian senator, Fatima Payman , revealed she had received yet another threatening email in a Senates estimates hearing last night, causing her to cancel a local event this weekend. Federal politicians are continuing to sound the alarm about safety fears after the brutal alleged attack against Helen Haines last week. Payman said her office had received an email yesterday evening, saying “watch your back, c***.
You’re going to die very, very soon. You dog c***.” double quotation mark Now, this is something we receive daily, but this weekend we were due to hold a community stall at a local market. We have had to cancel it because my staff told me they don’t feel safe after the AFP advised us, and I quote: “An assessment of all available information has been undertaken, and unfortunately, at this stage, the AFP won’t be in attendance to assist.” Can you please tell me how this assessment was made and with what rationale?
The AFP’s deputy commissioner, Scott Lee , responded he could not go into operational details but said: double quotation mark I know our team is certainly looking to talk to your office and your staff as a matter of priority on that assessment. Independent senator Fatima Payman. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Australia Post chief paid ‘mind-blowing’ $1.2m bonus Josh Taylor The outgoing chief executive of Australia Post, Paul Graham , was paid a $1.2m bonus on top of his $1.64m base salary in the last financial year, after the $139.4m sale of property owned by Australia Post pushed the organisation into a profit for the year.
Graham, who announced this month he will retire after five years at the helm in June next year, confirmed to Senate estimates on Tuesday night he had been paid the bonus based on two performance components, with one component related to the “property strategy we had to execute”. He said the strategy was critical to Australia Post’s transformation: double quotation mark We do have the great fortune of sitting on property that has been in the network for some time, and it was important for us to get an articulated, clear strategy ... releasing those non-core properties from our portfolio and ensuring that they provided the cashflow that not only got us back into a profitable position, but enabled us to make the substantial investments we’re making as part of our transformation. Liberal senator Sarah Henderson told Graham it was a “mind-blowing amount of money”.
Australia Post reported a profit before tax of $31.8m, but had the property sales been excluded, Australia Post would have reported a loss before tax of $107.6m, as the letter volumes fell a further 14.7% in the 2026 financial year. Australia Post CEO Paul Graham. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP Greens leader says people are disillusioned with Labor delivering for 1% During his address at the National Press Club today, the leader of the Greens, David Shoebridge , is set to propose a $21-a-week tax cut by increasing taxes on gas exports.
Shoebridge told ABC News Breakfast: double quotation mark We keep hearing that there’s nothing that the commonwealth government can do to deal with the urgent cost-of-living crisis that people are feeling. People need to have faith in politics, and people need to believe that if the current lot you’re voting for are not going to help you in your daily life, if the current lot you’re voting for seem to be delivering for the 1% rather than the people they’re meant to be representing – the millions of Australians who are having trouble paying their daily bills – you have a choice here. Ideas have a power, hope has a power, and we bloody well need that right now in politics.
One Nation must explain how Bluey cartoon is satire, Wells says The communications minister, Anika Wells , said Bluey is one of Australia’s most loved and well-known exports and the ABC is “well within its rights” to explore legal options over One Nation’s use of the dog in its own cartoon series. Australia’s national broadcaster indicated it would send a cease and desist letter to One Nation for using Bluey in a “shocking and disrespectful” cartoon. Asked whether One Nation’s depiction goes “over the line”, Wells told ABC Radio National: double quotation mark Satire is one thing, scrutiny is important ... the people that are making this cartoon should explain why this errs on the side of satire and not something more.
Coalition must ‘go back to the drawing board’ on latest social media bill Asked why the Coalition has not put forward amendments on the reforms, the opposition foreign affairs spokesperson, Ted O’Brien , said the government had to “go back to the drawing board”. He told ABC Radio National the opposition was concerned about the amount of power offered to the e-safety commissioner, “ill-defined” definitions and harms, and risks to small businesses. O’Brien said: double quotation mark The government will not budge on this, which is why we have come to the point where we’ve just said, they have to go back to the drawing board.
The Coalition will always stand ready to be constructive on these things. But when the governor of the day just refuses to engage, then unfortunately you end up with a bill, which is so untidy – in fact, I think it’s going to be counterproductive to the objects of the bill. Note: this post has been amended after it was mistakenly attributed to Tim Wilson.
Shadow minister for foreign affairs, Ted O’Brien. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Opposition accused of ‘refusing to participate’ on digital duty of care The communications minister, Anika Wells , has said she is discussing the government’s latest tranche of social media reforms and has kept her door open to all parliamentarians who want to find ways to improve the bill. But she told ABC Radio National: double quotation mark The oppositions say they care about kids’ safety online and I believe them – but parliament is where you prove it.
Where are their amendments? The test is simple here, they should bring an amendment, not a slogan to kill the bill. Communications minister Anika Wells.
Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Source: The Guardian
