Hastie ‘open minded’ on return of baby bonus to counter ageing population concerns – as it happened

That’s where we’ll leave things. Here were the key things we covered today: The government’s seventh intergenerational report was released, which found there will be more Australians dying than being born in 40 years’ time. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the report highlighted the challenges facing Australians in a “more fragmented and uncertain world”. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Australia’s telecommunications system is “failing”, after handing down the report from an inquiry into problems in the sector, which made 11 recommendations including that the government consider nationalising triple zero. The ACT government announced a reward of $500,000 for information that helps conclude a series of unsolved murder or missing person cases, including a possible Ivan Milat victim, Keren Rowland. Police alleged that a mother was behind a stabbing attack on three young children in the New South Wales Blue Mountains on Sunday that left one dead and two others fighting for their lives in hospital. A cool change swept across much of the east cost after an unseasonably warm weekend. Thanks for joining us – we’ll be back tomorrow to bring you the latest. Andrew Hastie has weighed in on the latest intergenerational report, saying he’s “open minded” on government financial incentives to encourage people to have children. The report, released earlier today, found there will be more Australians dying than being born in 40 years’ time, and examines the fundamental challenges of managing an ageing population at a time of rapid change and lower economic growth. It also outlines how Australia is at the cusp of a new and uncertain age of artificial intelligence that will shape the economy and society over the coming four decades. Hastie was interviewed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program a short time ago, where he said: “The real problem is of course that family formation is being delayed because people can’t get into home soon enough, and families are having less children. “It is a real concern that our fertility replacement rate is projected to drop further, to a historic low at the moment of about 1.39 I think it was, and we want Australians to have a better chance of getting into a home, forming a family and having children of their own.” Asked if he would support a Peter Costello-style baby bonus to incentivise Australians to have children, Hastie said he was “pretty open minded”. The Liberal MP noted there were mixed views on whether the baby bonus among economists but he said he would “support anything that allows young Australians to form families soon enough”. Hastie said: I have three kids myself, they are a great blessing, I love children. I’d love other Australians to have kids as well, and part of the challenge is getting them into homes sooner and making the economy work for them. The New South Wales Greens MP Abigail Boyd has urged the state government to invest more in frontline domestic and family violence services after a horror weekend of alleged domestic violence. Boyd has called for an immediate increase in funding of a minimum $200 million investment to address what she described as “chronic funding shortfalls … causing calls to go unanswered”. In a statement, Boyd, the Greens’ spokesperson for gendered violence and abuse, said: Services are operating at up to nine times their funded capacity and waitlists are at an average of two months with some stretching for months on end. Whenever we see cases like the ones we saw over the weekend, politicians wring their hands and express their sadness as though they have no power to prevent these tragedies from happening. These issues are not new, nor are the solutions to solve them. Reports, studies, testimony and evidence have all demonstrated for years where the shortfall is and how to address it. In a $135 billion annual state budget, even if funding was increased, it would still add up to less than half a percent of total annual expenditure. I think most people in NSW would think that’s a small price to pay to prevent these horrific crimes. Her call comes after police earlier today said they would allege a mother was responsible for Sunday’s stabbing attack on three young children that left one dead and two others fighting for their lives in hospital. Bystanders were first on the scene after finding the three children and the woman with stab wounds inside a vehicle at Valley Heights in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, yesterday afternoon. On Saturday, three women were allegedly murdered inside their homes within a 12-hour period, in three separate incidents across the state. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has said Australia’s telecommunications system is “failing”, after an inquiry into problems in the sector recommended the government consider nationalising triple zero. The Senate committee, which delivered its report earlier today, began the inquiry into the Optus triple zero service outage of 18 September 2025, which has been linked to multiple deaths. The inquiry, which was expanded to cover problems with other telcos including Telstra, which experienced its own outage in July this year, resulted in 11 recommendations to overhaul the system. Speaking after the report was delivered, Hanson-Young said: Australia’s telecommunications system is failing and it’s failing because for too long these big corporations have been able to regulate themselves and yet they are essential services. People should be able to know that they need to call triple zero, their mobile phone will work regardless of where in Australia they are. One of the key recommendations is urging the government to look at nationalising triple zero. At the moment it’s a service that is managed by Telstra with support from the other telcos. These companies are not putting the safety of Australians first. They’re putting their profits first and they can no longer be trusted with Australia’s vital triple zero service. Hello, I hope you’ve been having a nice day. I’ll take you through the rest of the news this afternoon. That’s all from me. Catie McLeod will take things from here. Take care. Asic begins proceedings against former CEO of company behind Supercheap Auto, Rebel and Macpac The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) has begun civil penalty proceedings against the former CEO and managing director of the Super Retail Group, alleging he breached his duties and provided misleading information to the board and the market. Asic alleges Anthony Heraghty failed to disclose conflicts of interest that arose from an alleged undisclosed relationship with a senior executive at the company. Those failures, Asic says, included continuing to supervise the person and making decisions affecting their employment, including remuneration, rewards and a redundancy package. Super Retail Group is an ASX-listed public company and the parent company of a group that has retail interest including Supercheap Auto, BCF, Rebel and Macpac. Heraghty was the CEO from March 2019 to September 2025. Sarah Court, the chair of Asic, said in a statement: The allegations in this matter raise important issues about governance, transparency and trust in the information provided to boards and the market. This case is not about private relationships, but whether a director properly disclosed and managed conflicts of interest and met their duties to the company and shareholders. Asic is seeking declarations of contravention, pecuniary penalties and disqualification orders. Heraghty has not yet filed a defence, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The ACT government will offer a reward of $500,000 for information that helps conclude a series of unsolved murder or missing person cases, including the death of Keren Rowland, a 20-year-old nurse killed in 1971 whose family believe she was the first victim of serial killer Ivan Milat. The government said the rewards will apply to five new cases in addition to three others that have had rewards attached to them since 2012. Officials said while some of the cases relate to long-term missing persons, they hope the rewards will encourage a witness or someone with information to come forward. The other cases include those of Elizabeth Herfort, who was last seen in 1980; Megan Louise Mulquiney, last seen in 1984; Troy Hugh Forsyth, who was fatally struck by a van in 1987; and David Abuoi, who was last seen in Canberra in 2012. The ACT minister for police, Marisa Paterson, said in a statement: The families of these five people have never given up hope of getting answers regarding what happened to their loved ones. Half a million dollars is a strong incentive for someone to tell police what they know. If you know anything about Keren, Troy, David, Elizabeth or Megan’s matters, we are urging you to come forward. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said artificial intelligence will play “a pivotal role” in driving Australia’s long-term productivity growth. The AI revolution is the most consequential new emphasis since the 2023 report and the biggest economic transformation of our lifetime. The productivity, investment and labour market impacts of AI will be dramatic. The IGR shows from 2030 onwards each extra 0.1% of productivity growth from AI could improve the bottom line by 0.7 percentage points and reduce gross debt by 0.3 percentage points within a decade. Chalmers said Australia needs to be focused and deliberate in adopting AI to realise its benefits. We are well positioned with Australians adopting AI at a higher rate than almost every G20 country, but the productivity boost from AI depends on translating that into better ways of working. More from the treasurer’s response to intergenerational report Jim Chalmers outlined the five major challenges identified in the intergenerational report: The impact of the “AI revolution” on the economy A “fragmenting world” shaped by growing geopolitical tensions The transition to clean energy A growing and ageing population, accelerated by falling fertility rates Changes to the industrial sector, driven by AI and the energy transition Chalmers said the challenges needed to be addressed through a holistic approach: There’s no separating these five accelerating shifts from each other or from their consequences for our budget or our economy. A smaller workforce means a proportionately smaller income tax base at a time when pressures on social services and tools of statecraft, including defence, will be growing, not easing, along with the fiscal risks of climate change and more frequent disasters. Chalmers said it was “remarkable” that the budget was strengthening despite those pressures, with government spending over the next 40 years expected to increase by significantly less than previously forecast. Tasmanian jumping castle tragedy wind gust ‘unprecedented’, inquest hears A jumping castle that became airborne due to a freak “dust devil”, killing six primary schoolchildren, was tethered at only four of eight anchorage points, an inquest has been told. The children died during end-of-year celebrations at Hillcrest primary school in Devonport on 16 December 2021. A long-awaited inquest began in Tasmania on Monday after years of delays due to criminal proceedings against the castle’s operator, Rosemary Gamble. Gamble operated Taz-Zorb, which set up inflatable equipment at the school. She was found not guilty of criminal workplace health and safety breaches in 2025. The events of the day and the tethering of the castle and other devices would be placed under “extensive examination”, counsel assisting the coroner Maree Norton said on Monday. Gamble was supervising on the day and had a policy of not operating the castle if winds were tipped to exceed 25km/h. The Bureau of Meteorology forecast for 16 December was light winds, reaching 15 to 20km/h by the evening, Norton said. Several witnesses, including teachers and nearby residents, said the morning was largely windless before a “mini-tornado” hit around 10am. In 2025, the magistrates court found Gamble could have taken further steps in relation to the castle’s anchorage, but even if she had, it would have made no difference to the outcome. The coroner can make different findings but cannot make rulings of criminal guilt. – AAP The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has delivered the Treasury’s latest intergenerational report, examining the potential impact of government policies over the next 40 years. Speaking in Canberra, Chalmers said the report highlighted the challenges facing Australians in a “more fragmented and uncertain world”. The world is becoming more dangerous, more unpredictable, more unequal, and more divided. And these aren’t just individual threads, they’re part of a bigger fraying of that intergenerational promise of better times. Accelerating change is putting more pressure on people. It’s eroding trust in the institutions of democracy. It exacerbates the strain felt by younger Australians and younger generations in particular. Chalmers said the report identified that Australia faces serious challenges but said the country is well prepared to manage them. This intergenerational report shows that we face very serious risks and pressures, but that we are better placed and better prepared for them … this report also shows that we have a better plan to maximise our opportunities and minimise our risks, to grow our economy and lift living standards, embrace new technologies and share the benefits. Queensland’s premier says bipartisan plans to reduce the number of foreign visa holders allowed into the country is “nuts” and could risk spiralling food prices and damage to regional communities. Labor, the Liberals and One Nation have all recently released plans to cap or slash migration. Last week the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, released a plan to slash net overseas migration from 292,000 this year to just 225,000 in 2027-28. “I think that’s nuts,” David Crisafulli said on Monday, referring to the idea of reducing visa numbers year on year. He said: Without it [migration], you go into a country town during a fruit picking season, for example, and without those short-term visas, you won’t get a beer at a pub, and a farmer won’t be able to pick his or her produce, and those towns grind to a halt. But if you don’t love those little towns as much as I do, see it through a self-interest point of view. The things you put in your trolley are going to be a hell of a lot more expensive if there’s not a sensible discussion around making sure that people can go into regional areas and do the kind of work that they have done for a long period of time. Crisafulli said the country needed a discussion as much about welcoming new Australians who wanted to build the country of the future as about how best to accommodate them. Four Australian sea lions test positive for H5 bird flu in South Australia Four more endangered Australian sea lions have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu at an important breeding site in South Australia. The animals, including one pup, were among several found dead on the Pages islands near Kangaroo Island, state authorities said on Monday. SA recorded the first H5 death of a sea lion eight days ago, with fears about how deadly virus will impact populations of the endangered pinniped. Experts estimate that about 12,000 Australian sea lions remain, most of which are found in SA. The Pages islands are one of three sites in the state with large breeding colonies, according to Parks SA. Authorities identified three positive sea lions on North Page Island and one on South Page Island via aerial wildlife surveillance operations. Several dead pups were also found, but tested negative for H5 bird flu. Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough said: We haven’t seen the mass deaths in pinnipeds that the experience in South America and Antarctica suggests may be coming but multiple deaths in a single location could indicate that devastation is just around the corner. We’re now about to see millions of migratory birds arriving in Australia as part of spring migration as well as breeding events around the country which could be a new phase in terms of the level of devastation. The WA government has called off the search for a shark that killed a Perth man on Friday, after a minister had ordered a catch-and-kill directive. WA police said a 63-year-old man was bitten by a shark while swimming at Sorrento beach. The swimmer’s body has not been found. In a statement, the Department of Primary Industries said it had concluded water and land based patrols around Sorrento beach. There was no evidence of white shark activity in the area yesterday and a significantly diminished chance of catching the individual shark involved in the fatal incident on Friday. Beaches in the City of Joondalup from Marmion to Iluka were set to reopen at 10am local time. On Saturday the WA fisheries minister, Jackie Jarvis, revealed she had greenlit the order. She said in a social media post: Given the shark had been positively identified, remained in the vicinity following a fatal attack and was considered to pose an ongoing threat, I authorised fisheries officers to destroy the shark if captured. More Australians forecast to live into their 90s Australian households are expected to shrink but more people can expect to live well into their 90s, according to the latest update to forecasts of the country’s long-term future. Treasury’s latest intergenerational report, to be published in full on Monday, will project the impact of government policies 40 years into the future. An extract released on Sunday showed life expectancy at birth was forecast to reach almost 90 for women by 2065-66, up from about 86 years at present. The report will also reveal that artificial intelligence (AI) will become the “defining influence” on the economy over the next four decades, as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warned it would come with “very substantial risks”. Read more: More than 800,000 bees stolen across far north Queensland An estimated 800,000 bees, worth tens of thousands of dollars, have been stolen from properties in far north Queensland. The industry is already reeling from the this month’s arrival of the varroa mite parasite. Tom Bidner, an apiarist from the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns, said 44 colonies had been stolen from three different beekeepers. Read more: Foreign minister Penny Wong has spoken with her Palestinian counterpart, Varsen Aghabekian. The pair agreed that senior officials from both governments should meet in coming months to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss key priorities. The pair spoke on Friday night, with Aghabekian briefing Wong on progress on the Palestinian Authority’s reform commitments. “Australia is committed to a two-state solution,” Wong wrote on social media on Monday. I spoke with Palestinian Foreign Minister, Dr Varsen Aghabekian, about the PA’s reform agenda and our joint efforts to strengthen Palestine’s institutional foundations. We also discussed the devastating situation in Gaza. “I reiterated that Hamas must play no role in the State of Palestine. The pair agreed that Israel must halt its illegal settlement activity and hold perpetrators of settler violence to account. Wong also told Aghabekian that Australia continues to press all parties to implement the Gaza peace plan in full and facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. ‘Things are getting worse,’ Kellie Sloane says after alleged DV incidents Kellie Sloane, the NSW opposition leader, also spoke about a series of alleged domestic violence incidents in the state in recent days. Sloane told ABC News Breakfast this morning: Something is broken and we’re failing women in our state and our country. It’s a national crisis … Every time this happens, we treat it as a wake-up call. People say we need action. We need to talk to men about respect. We need to talk to women about being respectful. We need more funding. We’re in a hopeless situation where things are getting worse. So, you know, this is not just the responsibility of government, although government has a responsibility to properly fund and manage this, but it needs to be a whole of community response. Our sporting clubs, dads in the homes respecting their wives, talking to their kids about what respect means, and then neighbours checking in on people as well. The Coalition’s education plan to reduce First Nations content from the curriculum would give Australian children a “broader perspective of history” according to Dan Tehan. Speaking to Radio National, the Liberal MP said: We won’t be becoming apologists for who we are. We’ll becoming proud of who we are, what we’ve created as a nation and what we can contribute to the rest of the world. It’s all about getting the balance right and that’s what we’ll be seeking to do in how we have the curriculum taught in schools. Those western civilisation values, in particular, are what is at the heart of who we are as a nation. We want to make sure that that is equally part of the curriculum as it’s taught to young Australians. The shadow education minister, Julian Leeser, revealed on Saturday that a Coalition government would remove cross-curriculum content about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture, Australia’s engagement with Asia, and sustainability. He said they should instead be delivered as discrete, planned topics within history, geography or science classes – rather than taught thematically across the curriculum. Read more: The NSW premier, Chris Minns, spoke earlier this morning after a spate of alleged domestic violence crimes this weekend. He said: We have numerous examples and allegations of individuals who [are] alleged to have committed horrifying acts against what are often defenceless family members. This is confronting and incredibly violent, but we can’t become numb to the pain or the violence that we see. We still need to take action and commit ourselves across government agencies, law reform, our prisons, New South Wales police, and education and other aspects of government agencies, as well as across civic society, to confront domestic violence when we see it. NSW police detail ‘horrific’ scenes after Blue Mountains stabbings Peter McKenna, deputy commissioner for NSW police, just spoke after an alleged stabbing attack by a mother against her three young children, which left one child dead and two others in critical condition. McKenna said the mother, aged in her 40s, is also in critical condition after the incident, which took place in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, on Sunday afternoon. He said police responded to “horrific” scenes and officer were confronted with a “barbaric” attack. “I can’t remember a weekend like this in my career,” the deputy commissioner told reporters. McKenna said the woman, if she recovers from what’s believed to be self-inflicted injuries, would probably be charged with murder and attempted murder. He said the family was not known to police. The woman’s husband is supporting his two children in hospital and has assisted police with their investigation. Read more here: Plibersek says polls ‘not great’ but Labor focused on cost of living Tanya Plibersek says the Labor party isn’t focused on polling, despite the results. She told Sunrise this morning: The polls are obviously not great, but we are not focused on the polling. What we’re focused on is making a real difference in people’s lives. We know that they’re doing it tough. We hear that. … In every part of our government, we are wholly focused on taking pressure off Australians. We know they’re feeling it because they tell us. Plibersek said the government needs to remain focused on cost of living and taking pressure off Australians while making sure wages grow. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn through lower taxes. … It’s those sorts of practical things that make a difference to people’s lives. That’s what we need to focus on as a government and that’s what we’ll keep doing. Albanese and Labor hit record low popularity in latest Newspoll Anthony Albanese is the most unpopular he has ever been since becoming prime minister in 2022, a new poll shows. AAP reports The Australian’s closely watched Newspoll tally has slugged the prime minister with a minus 27% net satisfaction rating, with only about a quarter of Australians now saying they would cast their vote for Labor – the lowest in nearly 15 years. The week before receiving a record-breaking belting in the 2025 election, former Liberal leader Peter Dutton scored minus 24% on the same metric. The major parties combined performed abysmally in the latest poll, with 54% of those surveyed now supporting someone other than Labor or the Coalition. One Nation is continuing to dine out on the mass exodus with a leading 30% of the primary vote share, but Australians still prefer Albanese to Pauline Hanson as prime minister. The rise of Way Dynamic, Australian folk-pop musician It’s been a huge couple of years for Way Dynamic, the Melbourne multi-instrumentalist whose real name is Dylan Young. His 2025 album Massive Shoe is about to be re-released internationally after Young signed with the indie giant Jagjaguwar. The likes of Elton John, Djo, Zane Lowe and Elijah Wood have sung his praises. Have a read about the musicians’s rise above, and take a listen to his music below on this fine Monday morning: Australians won’t be hit with card surcharges from 1 October Debit and credit card surcharges will be eliminated from 1 October, as part of Reserve Bank reforms that will do away with extra checkout fees on Visa, Mastercard, and Eftpos payments. The RBA estimates the changes will save consumers about $1.6bn a year in surcharges, but the big banks and credit companies are likely to recoup the costs of processing transactions in other ways, including through fewer perks for cardholders. What will happen now? Angus Taylor says the Coalition would cut the tobacco excise to fund halving the fuel excise, despite health experts sounding the alarm about the move. Speaking on Nine’s Today, the opposition leader said his party’s policy to slash the fuel excise in half when global prices hit US$100 over two weeks “won’t put pressure on inflation, despite what the treasurer is trying to say, he has it wrong”. When asked about previous criticisms from health experts about slashing the tobacco excise and what it would mean for anti-smoking efforts, Taylor said: I think the health experts need to explain why they’re OK with … organised crime in this country, criminal gangs in this country, controlling the tobacco trade. 80% of the trade is illegal. You can already buy a packet of cigarettes for 15 bucks a pack or less. So I mean, seriously, we can’t take those comments seriously. NSW domestic violence rental reforms in effect from today Rental reforms which make it easier for victim-survivors of domestic violence to leave a rental property in NSW are in effect from today, the state government says. Under the changes, victim-survivors no longer need to notify people they share a lease with they are leaving a rental property, cannot be held responsible for damage caused by domestic and family violence, and must be asked for permission to publish images of the property that show their belongings. The government says victim-survivors have now have broader rights to change locks without landlord consent. The NSW fair trading minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the reforms “deliver on the Minns Labor government’s promise to make renting fairer by replacing unsafe, outdated laws with practical, compassionate protections which put victim-survivors first”. During debate on the laws, which passed last year, the cross bench and domestic violence advocates raised concerns that last-minute changes to laws on pets in rentals, making it easier for landlords to prevent pets, would make it harder for DV victim-survivors who want to find a safe place to go with their animals. Domestic Violence NSW Deputy CEO, Pia Birac, has said today’s changes “remove some of the practical barriers that can make it harder for women to leave violence and rebuild their lives”. Now we need to build awareness and understanding of these new protections so women can confidently exercise their rights and the professionals around them can support them every step of the way. Dan Tehan says fuel excise cut when oil price high a ‘sensible’ plan Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy, said Gallagher’s criticism of the Coalition’s fuel plan wasn’t fair. Tehan said the call for a 50% cut to the fuel excise whenever barrels of oil top US$100 was a “good, sensible, practical measure” that would help Australians deal with a cost of living crisis. He told RN: [What] I would say to Anthony Albanese and the Labor party is get out amongst the people and see what’s happening in your electorates because people are hurting because of cost of living … We have the discipline to be able to do the policy work to make sure we can offset policies like this so it won’t be inflationary and it will provide much needed relief to people, and they need it now. Tehan maintained the plan would be funded by the promised cuts to the tobacco excise, which would allow the plan to “not be inflationary at all”. Katy Gallagher, the federal finance minister, said the government doesn’t think a Coalition plan to halve the fuel excise whenever oil prices skyrocket is a “good idea”, saying it is an “unfunded, uncounted promise” from Angus Taylor. The government halved the fuel excise for three months earlier this year amid the war in Iran and then discounted it at a small rate until August. Taylor has proposed to institute that plan whenever Brent crude oil averages US$100 a barrel over a two-week period. Gallagher told RN Breakfast the government was not considering the same: Obviously we’ve helped when the war started with some changes to the fuel excise but we’ve shifted, and [are] including in the budget, to providing more permanent cost of living arrangements, including through the tax system, to make sure that that ongoing cost-of-living help is there permanently, not just in these one-off arrangements, which, when we’ve got higher inflation, could be difficult in the economy. She said the government hasn’t been considering further cuts to the fuel excise. Our decisions have been built and baked into the budget to make sure that that cost-of-living help is permanent. You know, the sooner this war in the Middle East stops, the better. New diplomatic postings for Cairo, Port Moresby and Dili Foreign minister Penny Wong announced the appointments of three people to lead Australia’s diplomatic posts in Cairo, Port Moresby and Dili, as well as the consulate in New York as we reported earlier. Wong said Joel McGregor would serve as Australia’s next ambassador to Egypt; Jamie Isbister would be the next high commissioner in Papua New Guinea and Lucienne Manton would be the new ambassador to Timor-Leste. Wong said in a statement: Australia’s diplomatic network enables us to promote our interests in peace, security, trade, investment and other areas of cooperation. Australia takes the world as it is and seeks to shape it for the better – these diplomatic appointments will deepen Australia’s connections abroad and increase our ability to influence where it matters. NSW to lead Australia with solar panel recycling mandate New South Wales plans to introduce Australia’s first mandatory solar panel recycling scheme to ensure the materials are recovered rather than sent to landfill. The state launched consultation on the design of the stewardship scheme on Monday amid prolonged delays at the national level. Around 14,000 tonnes of solar panel waste was generated in NSW each year, which was expected to grow to 89,000 tonnes by 2045. The proposed scheme would require solar panel manufacturers to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their products, helping fund collection, recycling and resource recovery. NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said: NSW has embraced rooftop solar, and now we’re making sure those panels don’t become tomorrow’s landfill problem. Solar panels contain valuable materials that can be recovered and put back to work. “NSW is getting on with the job,” Gayle Sloan, the chief executive of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia. The state was implementing mandatory battery stewardship and intended to finalise solar panel regulation by the end of 2026. She said: The solar model can then be adopted by other jurisdictions or transition to a future Commonwealth scheme. That is tangible reform: establish the rules, set a deadline and create a pathway for national action. Read more on the delayed implementation of a national scheme here: The intergenerational report also said Australia was well positioned to benefit from AI but its impact on many industries - such as the labour market - were too early to forecast. The economic and social implications of AI are expected to be profound but the specific impacts will depend on the evolution of the technology, how deeply and broadly AI is adopted, and how it will be used. Australia is a leading destination globally for datacentre investment and has seen a near doubling of capital expenditure in this area since the 2023 IGR. It comes as Albanese will be face-to-face with Donald Trump at a gala reception hosted by the US president during the high-level week. Trump has called the fears surrounding AI a “hoax” and said a slowdown in the AI race by the United States could involve the country losing ground to China. Albanese said he would put concerns about AI to Trump. We have a view about artificial intelligence that there needs to be appropriate safeguards put in place, and I will advocate that privately, the same as I will publicly. I have a very positive and constructive relationship with the president, and I will engage respectfully and constructively with him. The prime minister will spend the week in New York City for a United Nations climate summit, where he will also hold talks on global conflicts and AI. Trump has said he would appoint an AI chief and create an “AI Force” to help monitor the technology, though he gave almost no details about either plan. - with AAP Australia faces a more “fragmented and uncertain world” in the coming decades but key policy decisions will set future generations up well for the “AI revolution”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says. Chalmers will present the seventh intergenerational report (IGR) on Monday, detailing forecasts for the impact of new technologies on society and the economy, along with more warnings about the country’s aging population and declining fertility rates. It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, meets with world leaders in the United States this week to discuss a “global framework” for the rollout of AI, urging the “big two giants” - the US and China - to work in the interest of humanity. In a speech to unveil the latest report, the treasurer will warn of the threats on the horizon in a more dangerous, unpredictable and divided world. The world is becoming more dangerous. More unpredictable. More unequal. And more divided. These are not just individual threads but part of a bigger fraying of that intergenerational promise of better times. Chalmers said an IGR has never been released at a time with “politics this fraught, or a future less certain”. Yet this IGR shows we are better placed than our peers in almost every regard. The global and generational risks are serious, but Australia’s opportunities are endless. The report’s forecasts show Australia’s population is projected to slow, with an estimated population of 39.3m by 2065-66, 1.8m fewer people than the previous report’s forecast. Much of the slowdown in population growth was tied to lower fertility rates as women continued to have fewer children. Anthony Albanese launched a formal bid for Australia to serve a two-year term on powerful UN body in 2029 and 2030. A vote for the spot won’t be held until mid 2028, but lobbying efforts will intensify during the prime minister’s visit to New York for the UN general assembly. The prime minister said Australia’s role on the council would be able to benefit ordinary citizens. “Engagement with the world matters. It matters because it makes a difference to the cost of living, to inflation, to Australians’ way of life,” he told reporters in New York on Monday, Australian time. That is why we can’t afford to not be engaged with the world, because it has a direct impact on the quality of life of Australians on a day-to-day basis. We have an opportunity through this potential seat on the UN Security Council to play a key role in shaping the global issues that really matter to Australians. Australia has served on the security council five times since the UN was established following the second world war – the most recent stint was in 2013 and 2014, where Australia was able to lead a response to the Russian downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Albanese said the role Australia played during that period was evidence of what a spot on the council could achieve. We do need to stand up to the Middle East conflict. I think there is a role for middle powers to engage, and Australia has done that as we’ve engaged with the war in Ukraine in the coalition of the willing. The trial of a former NSW police officer accused of murdering two men is set to begin in Sydney. Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter over the deaths of TV presenter Jesse Baird, 26, and his partner Luke Davies, 29, in February 2024. His case has faced ongoing delays since charges were laid, but today, the 31-year-old’s trial will finally get under way. On Monday, a jury will be selected at NSW supreme court on King Street. Depending on how long the empanelment process takes the court may hear the crown’s opening statement in the afternoon. Justice Natalie Adams will preside over the trial, which is slated to go for two to three months and include a brief of evidence with more than 200 witnesses. The case has received significant media attention and Lamarre-Condon’s trial is also expected to attract substantial public interest. Anthony Albanese has named former News Corp executive Siobhan McKenna as Australia’s next consul-general in New York. The prime minister announced her appointment while launching Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nation’s security council in New York on Sunday. She will replace Heather Ridout, formerly chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, following the expiry of her four-year term in December. McKenna, the chair of Australia Post, has also chaired the National Broadband Network in addition to her time as CEO of broadcasting at News Corp. The prime minister said McKenna would “bring a great deal of financial and economic capacity to the role”. When reporters asked about McKenna’s time at Murdoch press – describing her as “Lachlan Murdoch’s probably closest aide for a long, long time” – and whether the prime minister had sought assurances she wouldn’t “continue to lobby or deal with Mr Murdoch in advancing business interests”, he said: Siobhan McKenna is a professional, and she will do an outstanding job representing Australia and the Australian government here in New York. And the fact that she has experience in both the private sector and the public sector is a very good thing. I’m someone who supports people being appointed on merit. Siobhan McKenna has been appointed on merit. Good morning and welcome to Guardian Australia’s live news coverage for Monday. Jim Chalmers will release the latest intergenerational report, while overseas Anthony Albanese has appointed a former Murdoch executive to a top diplomatic post. Stay tuned.