One Nation senator pays back more than $3,300 in taxi expenses; Cleary tells fans ‘I’ll be back’ – as it happened

Thanks for joining us today. Here are the key headlines: Australians along the east coast are reporting sightings of endangered bogong moths as the insects continue their long migration towards the country’s alpine regions. Australia’s key interest rate is expected to hit its highest level since 2011, drag down house prices and add more than $100 to typical monthly mortgage repayments. The former NSW premier Mike Baird will step down as the chair of Cricket Australia at the body’s next annual general meeting in October. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the final budget outcome showed the deficit came in “$6bn better than expected”. Perth’s popular City Beach is closed after a whale carcass washed up this morning amid concerns it could attract sharks. Petrol prices increased by more than 10 cents a litre last week to reach a national average of 237.5c/L, as global oil supply disruptions intensify. The Penrith Panthers star Nathan Cleary is out of surgery and told fans on social media he’ll “be back” after he suffered an ankle fracture in a hip-drop tackle during Sunday’s match. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow with more news. The One Nation senator for Western Australia, Tyron Whitten, has paid taxpayers back $3,391.68 for taking dozens of taxi journeys across Perth, the area he represents, between July and November last year. Under the rules, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) said Whitten should have used the private-plated vehicle or vehicle allowance MPs and senators receive. The IPEA review says Whitten said he did not yet have his private-plated vehicle and was not “adequately briefed about the payment of the allowance”. But the IPEA then noted Whitten had “attended education sessions for new parliamentarians arranged by the Department of Finance … and by IPEA where the allowance had been covered.” Whitten has now paid back the taxi expenses plus a 25% loading – coming to a grand total of $3,391.68. Australia accused of being ‘in denial’ after failure of criminal case against King Charles An Indigenous elder attempting to charge King Charles III with genocide says Australia is in denial over its crimes and their ongoing impacts, AAP reports. Uncle Robbie Thorpe has been pursuing legal action against the king since 2023 over the alleged genocide committed against Aboriginal people. On Monday, an application to appeal a decision preventing the case from proceeding was denied. Despite the loss, the Krauatungalung elder and uncle of Senator Lidia Thorpe said the effort has been worth it. He vowed to take the fight to an international jurisdiction. He told AAP: Australia is just totally in denial. If it wasn’t for the acts of terror and the policies of genocide, Australia wouldn’t exist. That’s my reality, and a lot of other people’s. Thorpe filed a charge sheet with the magistrates court of Victoria in 2023, naming himself as the informant and the king as the accused. The offences alleged were continuing acts of genocide committed since 28 September 2022 against First Peoples, contrary to common law, federal law concerning genocide and First Peoples’ sovereign laws. But the filing was knocked back by a senior registrar of the magistrates court on the grounds that it did not reference any “proper source of law”. A judicial review by the supreme court upheld the registrar’s decision. The court of appeal dismissed an application by Thorpe to appeal the decision on the basis it had no real prospect of success. The appeal court said: While acknowledging the significance of the questions raised by Uncle Robbie, the primary judge stated (correctly and self-evidently) that the only jurisdiction she could exercise was the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The primary judge concluded that the senior registrar of the Magistrates’ Court acted lawfully ... as the charges alleged in the charge-sheet did not disclose an offence known to the law of Victoria. Panthers star Nathan Cleary is out of surgery and told fans on social media he’ll “be back” after he suffered an ankle fracture in a hip-drop tackle during Sunday’s match. Penrith lost to Newcastle 22-14 on Sunday, sending the Knights through to their first grand final in 25 years. Newcastle hooker Phoenix Crossland was sent off for a tackle that left Cleary with a compound fracture and dislocation of the ankle late in the first half. Cleary posted a picture to his social media earlier today from a hospital bed, with his thumbs up and his leg wrapped in a bandage. He wrote: Surgery done… Thank you so much to everyone that has reached out, the support has been unbelievable. Yesterday sucked but it’s all part of the journey [and] it’s made me even more grateful for the people I have around me. I’ll be back. ‘We need to fix the economy,’ Angus Taylor says ahead of expected rate rise Opposition leader Angus Taylor has accused the Albanese government of losing control of the economy ahead of an expected rate rise by the Reserve Bank tomorrow. He said: We need to restore hope, we need to fix the economy, and we need to protect our way of life. And that’s why we need a government that is going to take less, not more. Earlier today, treasurer Jim Chalmers announced an improvement of $6bn in the budget bottom line. Contact tracing under way in Adelaide after measles cluster spreads A woman has become the latest in a cluster of measles cases after she spent up to 24 hours in an emergency department while infectious, AAP reports. It brings South Australia’s total number of cases to nine, the highest it’s been in 10 years. SA Health was notified of the case on Sunday afternoon and confirmed it was linked to a cluster at Adelaide’s Brighton Secondary College, where three teenagers contracted the highly infectious disease. The health agency confirmed 24 exposure sites dating back a week, warning those who had come into contact with those areas and weren’t fully immunised to be ‘‘alert for symptoms’’ over the next few weeks. SA’s chief public health officer, Nicola Spurrier, said contact tracing was under way at the hospital to contain the spread: The area that concerns me the most is the Queen Elizabeth hospital because you’ve got other vulnerable patients there. Unfortunately she was there in an open space for a longer period of time. I think there could potentially be additional spread. Call for NSW to fund air-conditioning in major public housing estate The NSW government is being urged to provide funding for reverse cycle air-conditioning in a Sydney public housing estate undergoing a major redevelopment. Public housing advocacy group REDWatch said the developer of the Waterloo public housing estate, Stockland consortium, had not been required, in its contract with Homes NSW, to include air-conditioning in the redevelopment of Waterloo South. RedWatch said that Waterloo South Homes NSW, the team in charge of the redevelopment, had applied to Homes NSW requesting funding for air-conditioning. It comes after the City of Sydney voted unanimously in support of air-conditioning in Waterloo South. The motion, passed last week, said: Summer air temperatures are becoming increasingly hotter due to global warming. Energy efficient heating and cooling is especially important in social housing because of the medical needs of residents, many of whom are at higher risk of health impacts from extreme heat. RedWatch said tenants had also written to housing minister Rose Jackson urging the government to commit the funding. Hello, I’ll now be taking you through our rolling live news coverage for the next little while. That’s all from me! Jordyn Beazley will snag the blog from here. Take care! ‘Not all good news’ amid whale conservation anniversary Forty years on from an international moratorium on commercial whaling, the global community is meeting to consider new, unforeseen threats, AAP reports. The International Whaling Commission’s 70th meeting began on Monday at Hobart, with delegates from some 63 member nations in attendance. The commission was founded in 1946, at a time when whale populations had been decimated by decades of unregulated industrial whaling. While populations have in many cases rebounded – particularly since a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling – whales remain under threat globally. “It’s not all good news,” environment minister Murray Watt told delegates. Among the main issues to be debated at the week-long meeting is a quarter-century old push for a whale sanctuary in the southern Atlantic ocean. The proposal, which was first raised by Brazil in 1998, would extend an existing protected area in the Southern Ocean, protecting whales from West Africa to South America. But pro-whaling nations have refused to back the plan, with some walking out of previous meetings to scupper votes. Albanese says government still focused on cost of living ahead of interest rate decision tomorrow The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the government is continuing to take action on cost of living support amid tomorrow’s expected rate rise by the Reserve Bank. Albanese just held a press conference in Tasmania, where he was asked how mortgage holders should feel before tomorrow’s announcement. He said the government had supported a tax cut earlier this year, free Tafe and multiple health initiatives meant to lower costs. [That’s] all aimed at making a difference, because we know people are doing it tough. And will continue to, as well, take work, such as the $6bn reduction in the deficit compared with what was anticipated in our May budget. The prime minister also said the government continues to look into the OpenAI breach. Artificial intelligence can make an enormous difference. It can boost productivity, it can boost economic growth, it can give us health breakthroughs. But we need to make sure that human beings are in charge of this. Petrol prices increased by more than 10 cents a litre last week to reach a national average of 237.5c/L, as global oil supply disruptions intensify. The price of diesel, which is being squeezed by a shortage of refining capacity and high demand from commercial users, rose more than 13c to 286.7c/L, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. Economists have linked the recent price rises in crude oil, which affects petrol prices, to the enduring conflict between the US and Israel against Iran, and recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. Elevated fuel prices are a major household expense and inflation trigger given they drive up costs across goods and services in the economy, pushing central banks, including in Australia, to consider rate hikes to keep a lid on inflation. The Reserve Bank is expected to lift the cash rate from 4.25% to 4.6% after its meeting tomorrow in what would be the fourth rate increase this year. AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver has warned petrol prices could surpass $2.70/L. Rescue crews continue to search for Jordan Yap, 30, a Melbourne man who went missing during a hike on a remote trail in Peru. A widespread search is under way by private rescue teams, but they’ve so far failed to find any trace of Yap. He last made contact with friends and family on 14 September before setting out on the planned 10-day solo trek. He was last seen near the beginning of the hike across the Cordillera Huayhuash circuit, a challenging, high-altitude adventure. Yap is considered an experienced hiker and was meant to return from the trek last Wednesday. The Mountain Rescue Association in Peru said on Saturday a group of 12 rescuers had been deployed, the third group to look for signs of the Australian. A reconnaissance flight has also been carried out to look in difficult-to-reach areas and abysses. “The mission remains active and will resume when weather conditions permit the continuation of operations safely,” the group wrote overnight on Facebook. A GoFundMe to help fund the search has raised about $60,000. Perth’s popular City Beach is closed after a whale carcass washed up this morning amid concerns it could attract sharks. Surf Live Saving WA reported the carcass around 7.30am this morning Perth time. Officials said sharks may be present along the WA coast throughout the year, but people should exercise additional caution at this time. Officers from the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and other agencies are monitoring the situation. The Town of Cambridge is working to remove the carcass. SharkSmart, which monitors shark activity, has issued shark advice for the City Beach area due to the carcass. Tight New Zealand election campaign kicks off The starter’s gun has been fired on the closest New Zealand election campaign in decades, with both major parties staging campaign launches in a tightening race. AAP reports prime minister Chris Luxon’s ailing coalition faces a fight from Labour under Chris Hipkins to avoid being the first one-term government in half a century. The contest is close between both the major parties and the broader right and left blocs. On Sunday, both National and Labour held rallies in Auckland to fire up their bases for the poll push ahead. Based on those events, a month of mud-throwing awaits. Gallagher gives update on response to OpenAI incident Asked by Guardian Australia’s Tom McIlroy as to whether there was new information on the OpenAI incident last week, Katy Gallagher says she had a briefing from Services Australia this morning. They have all the technical information they need but there are some further information that is still being sought, and there will be follow-up meetings with OpenAI over the course of this week. I don’t think there is anything further I can update you on, other than that website will not be reactivated. It is the Medicare statistics reporting portal. The data that was on the Medicare portal had been moved to a public site, she says: The email that notification, that OpenAI came to, has been redirected to essentially be monitored 24-7, not once a day, so there has been some short-term responses that Services Australia put in. I expect the forensic investigation to be finished within a matter of weeks, no longer than that. I don’t have a specific date, and that will feed into the rapid review the PM&C are leading. In response to a question about the expected interest rate hike tomorrow from the Reserve Bank and whether the government is considering doing anything to take pressure off inflation, Chalmers says it is a “near universal expectation of economists and the market that rates will go up around the world, including in Australia”. Conflict in the Middle East in particular will put pressure on inflation, he says. On productivity, he adds: There is no quick and easy way to turn around two decades of underperforming on productivity but we are taking [the] challenge more seriously than our predecessors did. Gallagher details origins of lower spending The minister for finance, Katy Gallagher, says the $1.4bn lower spending had come from cutting back on spending on a few particular programs, including aged care, the PBS, across the childcare system and “a couple of national partnership payments”. Chalmers says improvement came from super and investor income, not commodities Chalmers says payments were down $1.4 bn, and receipts had increased $4.6 bn. He says the improvements in receipts did not come from commodities: It is also not from wage earners. It is overwhelmingly from higher super and investor income than what we anticipated in the Treasury’s forecasts in May. So to be really clear about that, this is not about wage and salary earners, it is not about commodity prices, it is about higher-than-expected super and investor income, higher than was anticipated in the May budget. Mining profits actually came in lower than was expected, so those are some important points of perspective. The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the minister for finance, Katy Gallagher, are speaking to the press about the final budget outcome for the 2025-2026 financial year. Chalmers says the final budget outcome showed the deficit came in “$6bn better than expected”. He says: We have made a lot of progress in the budget and we have made more progress since then, but we know that there is more work to do. The bottom line is better than we inherited, better than it was at the election and better than it was forecast to be in May. It is now around half the deficit for the year just finished, compared to when we came to office. Cafes and shoppers at a crossroads as surcharge ban looms A ban on card surcharges is supposed to deliver savings for Australian shoppers, but the reality could be quite different if retailers raise prices and the banks claw back losses by axing rewards. AAP reports that the reform, driven by the Reserve Bank of Australia, comes into effect from Thursday, when anyone paying with a debit or credit card will be spared the surprise of extra charges at the till. Under the new rules, retailers must either absorb the cost or build it into their prices. They could also offer a discount for cash or payment services such as PayID, which some experts think could lead to savings of up to 10% off the transaction price. However, dealing in cash means keeping a float and taking it to the bank at the end of the day, which can be difficult given the general decline in branches across the country, and does lay a burden on small business owners. For those sticking to tap and go, there’s a good chance some businesses will raise prices to offset the merchant fees they still pay to the banks and payment providers to process those payments, which they used to recoup under surcharges. You can read more on what the changes might mean for you here: Australia is run on legacy systems that AI agents can easily exploit, former UN cyber negotiator warns Ageing computer systems used throughout Australia’s government and large sections of the economy are easily exploited by AI agents, increasing the risk that sensitive information could be compromised, Australia’s former chief UN cyber negotiator has warned. As the government urgently undertakes a forensic investigation into a rogue OpenAI agent accessing Medicare data, the AI expert and Tech Policy Design Institute executive director, Johanna Weaver, said huge vulnerabilities existed across older IT systems. She said: It is old legacy systems that present the huge vulnerabilities, because large amounts of information and data is stored on these systems that have been around since the beginning of the internet Read more here: Here’s what the bogong moths looked like recently in Central Tilba, NSW More on Mike Baird’s resignation as Cricket Australia chair … Mike Baird has sensationally quit as Cricket Australia chair, after his own state association refused to back their representative in the fallout over the privatisation of Big Bash League clubs, AAP reports. The decision comes after Baird lost the support of Cricket NSW, with the country’s most powerful state unhappy with the decision to allow private investment. Baird had served as NSW’s representative on the board, and approached them recently to confirm they would not support him in the current circumstances. He did have the option of moving into an independent role, but AAP has been told Baird did not wish to continue without the support of all states. Baird’s exit comes after Cricket NSW slammed the decision to allow privatisation earlier this month. “This decision risks leaving cricket in NSW and Australia strategically and financially worse off, with direct consequences for our ability to invest in grassroots cricket,” a Cricket NSW statement read earlier this month. Paramedics to take the lead in Victoria mental health call outs Paramedics will take the lead in mental health emergency call outs – not police – under a new agreement announced by Victoria’s health minister, Ingrid Stitt, this morning. Under the new mental health crisis response protocols, signed by Ambulance Victoria, Victoria police and the health department, these call outs will be treated as a “health-led” response rather than a law-and-order matter. Victoria’s mental health royal commission recommended in 2021 that paramedics become first responders to Triple Zero calls for mental health crises. In May, the New South Wales government accepted a similar recomendation by both a parliamentary inquiry and an internal police review. Under the Victorian agreement, police and protective service officers will attend mental health call outs to support paramedics when needed rather than leading the initial response. People in mental health crisis will also be transferred to hospitals by family members, mental health services, non-emergency patient transport or ambulances, rather than in the back of a police car when it is safe to do so, under the new arrangements. Stitt said: When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, they deserve a response that puts their health and wellbeing first while keeping them and the community safe. Former NSW premier Mike Baird will step down as the chair of Cricket Australia at the body’s next annual general meeting in October. Baird has been chair since early 2023 and led Cricket Australia’s push to privatize the Big Bash Leagues clubs. Both NSW and Queensland have opposed the plan. In a statement, Baird said: I believe Australian cricket continues to be well led by the CA Board. Their mix of significant experience and passion for the game gives me great confidence for the future. … I have been incredibly proud to play a role in the oversight of cricket on the CNSW Board and, over the past six years, the CA Board, including almost four as chair. David Boon, a former Test batter, will take over as interim chair on 28 October as a process to find a new full-time chair begins. RBA expected to hike cash rate to 4.6%, its highest level since 2011 Australia’s key interest rate is expected to hit its highest level since 2011, drag down house prices and add more than $100 to typical monthly mortgage repayments. The Reserve Bank board is poised to hike the cash rate from 4.35% to 4.6% on Tuesday, which would be the fourth increase in 2026 and push typical home loan interest rates to 6.5%. For someone with an average-sized new mortgage of $731,000, now paying a rate of 6.2%, an increase would add about $119 to their $4,477 monthly repayments. That would take the total rise in repayments since January to nearly $480. Read more here: Double murder trial of Beau Lamarre-Condon to resume A police officer’s double-murder trial is set to resume with a close confidant continuing in the witness box, AAP reports. Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, suggesting the two men died after two separate struggles in Baird’s house. Close friend Georgia Cook will give evidence when the trial enters its second week on Monday. On Friday, Cook recounted a dinner the pair had in May 2023, when Lamarre-Condon propositioned her. “What would you do if I told you I killed somebody?” Cook told the jury he said to her. “Would you help me hide the body?” As well as contesting the two murder charges, Lamarre-Condon denies breaking into Baird’s home in August 2023 while disguised. Lamarre-Condon’s barrister has conceded his client did some “stupid things” but disputes he exhibited threatening behaviours before the fatal incident in the Paddington terrace. More than 100 witnesses are expected to be called during the 12-week trial, including dozens of police officers and friends and family of the three men. More than 20 were called in the trial’s opening week. Victoria government delays level crossing removals, promises to duplicate Upfield line The Victorian Labor government will delay the removal of eight level crossings in Brunswick, saving the budget $686m, while promising to duplicate the train line and increase services if re-elected in November. The premier, Ben Carroll, and treasurer, Colin Brooks, will today announce the plan to defer the eight level crossing removals on the Upfield line, to coincide with track duplication. Former premier Daniel Andrews had promised to remove the level crossings in 2022, with a completion date of 2027 that was later pushed back to 2030. Now, the government says they won’t be complete until 2033. If re-elected in November, Labor will use some of the savings to begin work on building a second track on the train line between Gowrie and Upfield stations. Currently, the 4km section of the line runs on a single track that the government says creates bottlenecks and delays for passengers. While commuters on most other metropolitan train lines wait less than 10 minutes, those of on the Upfield line can wait for up to 20 minutes even during the mornings and afternoons. Carroll said duplicating the line will allow for turn-up-and-go services: Fifty percent more capacity on the line, for turn-up-and-go services – that’s a huge change for the northern suburbs. Doing it in one go reduces costs and minimises disruption for passengers. It’s common sense. A dog needing a fence: Medicare breach reveals AI issue Nobody should be surprised when an artificial intelligence agent goes off the rails, because it was never really on them in the first place, an AI expert says. AAP reports an OpenAI breach of a Medicare statistics website made global headlines when the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, disclosed it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The incident has sent Canberra scrambling to fortify digital infrastructure, but something more fundamental needs to change in AI behaviour, Dr Chetan Arora, a cybersecurity expert, told AAP. He compared autonomous AI models to dogs being trained not to leave a yard. “…I can train my dog by means of punishment and reward for not crossing the boundary of my home [or the] the second way is actually putting the fence and deterring the dog,” Arora said. What was missing in these systems is this engineering approach of building the fence. OpenAI has stressed it did not direct its agent to infiltrate the website in order to perform the innocuous research task it had been set. The bot interacted normally with three Australian federal and state government sites, but broke into the Medicare statistics portal when offered resistance. Policing autonomous agents did not require a human watching a model’s every move, but there needed to be a clear framework with flesh-and-blood input and stringent reporting obligations, Arora said. A task force set up after the breach to examine AI reporting obligations and Australia’s cyber-safety and legal avenues for punishing OpenAI is expected to report in a matter of weeks. Australians along the east coast are reporting many sightings of endangered bogong moths as the insects continue their long migration towards the country’s alpine regions. Bogong moths, about the size of a bottle cap with a distinctive dark stripe that runs down each wing behind two white spots, used to be incredibly abundant. But populations collapsed by up to 99.5% in the two years before 2019. Zoos Victoria has a citizen science initiative called moth tracker where you can upload sightings and track the migration. Reports currently show the moths travelling from north of Newcastle all the way down the NSW south coast towards the Victorian border. They can be blown towards the coast by westerly winds and can be drawn inside homes by lights, the Australian Museum says. Wildflower Nursery in Erina, NSW along the Central Coast, said they’ve noticed bogong moths “everywhere”. “They’re endangered for a start, and they’re really essential nocturnal pollinators,” Natalie Sanderson, the owner of the nursery, said on social media, noting the moths have been blown off course towards the coastline en route to the Australian alps. “If we want to help them get back on track, and back to where they were headed, is turn off any non-essential nightlights around our properties and that will help them find their way back.” People are encouraged not to kill the moths to aid population recovery. “Noted ✍️ add ‘moth plague’ to warnings in future,” NSW SES wrote on social media. Katy Gallagher and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, are set to present the final budget outcome today, which she said will show about a $6bn improvement since the federal budget. The estimated deficit for 2025-26 in May was $28.3bn. She told RN: We do everything we can to make sure that the budget is in as good a shape as it can, acknowledging that we are having to find room to invest in all these areas that the Australian people care about deeply and want to see improved services in. OpenAI breach signals a ‘new world’: Katy Gallagher Katy Gallagher, who is also the minister for government services, is speaking this morning about the OpenAI breach of Medicare, saying we are essentially “in a new world” with the brisk advancement of technology. She told Radio National breakfast this morning: I think this incident really adds weight to the arguments that the PM that has been putting forward about needing to legislate, to provide some protections, some guardrails, and also, you know, have an escalation pathway. I mean, the idea that something happened in June 18th and we weren’t aware of it until the second week of September is just not acceptable. Gallagher said mandatory reporting requirements should be imposed “at a minimum”. She said there should be consequences while acknowledging that OpenAI had been helping in the investigation after the incident. I think we have to have a look at this incident and deal with it on its merits, but the broader question of how we deal with these in the future. Rising unemployment, stubbornly high inflation and a looming interest rate hike are piling misery onto Australian consumers, but Labor insists better days are on the horizon, Australian Associated Press reports. The pinch of optimism comes as mortgage holders brace for the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift the official interest rate to a near-15-year high of 4.6% on Tuesday, an outcome money markets are treating as largely a foregone conclusion. Central bankers in the US, Japan and Europe have all pushed interest rates up since the RBA’s board met in August, all crediting their decisions to rising oil and fuel prices resulting from the increasingly intractable US-Iran war. On Sunday the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the government knew households were “doing it tough” and was working to put downward pressure on inflation. Average fuel prices in Australia’s five largest cities had risen to $2.37 per litre for petrol and $2.69 for diesel as of Wednesday, but Labor has rejected calls for it to reinstate a previous cut to fuel taxes to help ease the burden on road-users. Inflation, which came in hotter than expected in August, could rise from 3.5 to 4% when the Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes its latest figures on Wednesday. Read more here: The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, will present the final budget outcome on Monday, the updated accounting measure for the 2025-26 financial year. Despite challenges facing the government, Chalmers is expected to say the figures show the budget deficit is smaller than originally forecast. He will argue the improvements are worth billions of dollars to the budget. Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. Nick Visser will join us shortly. We have budget news, interest rate hikes on the horizon and some expert views on autonomous AI and hacks.