Australia information reside: Penny Wong urges Australians to go away Lebanon; Chalmers says housing pipeline ‘not where we want it to be’

Monetary complaints surge as scams take maintain

Australians have lodged a document variety of complaints towards their monetary establishments, with scams and insurance coverage points driving a 9% improve to 105,000 disputes, based on the monetary ombudsman.

Fiscal yr information from the Australian Monetary Complaints Authority exhibits scam-related complaints elevated by greater than 80% in 2023-24, averaging 913 a month in contrast with 504 a month the earlier monetary yr.

That was mirrored in disputes associated to non-public transaction accounts, which had been essentially the most complained about monetary product general.

Shoppers sometimes lodge complaints with AFCA after receiving an unsatisfactory response from their financial institution or lender.

“Our view is that firms could be resolving more complaints themselves, or preventing them in the first place,” chief ombudsman David Locke mentioned.

We proceed to take steps to have the ability to sustain with the rising demand for our service, but it surely’s in everybody’s pursuits that rising complaints are tackled on the supply.

In 2023, Australians misplaced $2.74bn to scams, based on the competitors regulator, and there are fears the sophistication of such schemes will escalate by way of AI advances, reminiscent of voice cloning.

Shopper teams have described the federal authorities’s reforms to assist shoppers as “too vague” and “a mess”.

Indigenous Australians ‘frustrated’ at gradual progress

Indigenous Australians are “somewhere between disappointed and frustrated” at a scarcity of traction on socio-economic targets, after a scorecard discovered most aren’t being met.

Solely 5 out of 19 Closing the Hole targets are on monitor, the Productiveness fee’s annual information compilation report, launched at present, exhibits.

Catherine Liddle, the CEO of the Secretariat of Nationwide Aboriginal and Islander Youngster Care and co-convenor of the Coalition of Peaks (a consultant physique of greater than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teams), mentioned the federal authorities wanted to do higher as a result of “screaming from the rooftop for ages” wasn’t working.

“Somewhere between disappointed and frustrated and I always find that a very uncomfortable place to be, because I’m a person that likes to see light,” she advised ABC TV in response to the fee’s report.

You see these datasets that once more reinforce what we heard even in the beginning of the yr, and that’s governments usually are not transferring quick sufficient on this, it’s irritating.

A contemporary strategy was not wanted, although, as a result of the proof confirmed areas which can be succeeding had been those that gave communities management of decision-making processes, the Arrernte and Luritja lady from Central Australia mentioned.

It’s not about discovering a brand new pathway – actually that’s not what the productiveness fee is saying. It’s saying: share the decision-making – that is commonsense, governments speaking to the folks in regards to the points that influence them, and the options to unravel that.

Learn extra in regards to the report right here:

– Australian Related Press

Two Victorian males charged over alleged betting on the Australian of the 12 months awards utilizing inside data

Two Victorian males, charged with allegedly utilizing inside data to guess on the result of three Australian of the 12 months Awards, are anticipated to seem in Dandenong Magistrates’ Courtroom at present, based on an AFP media launch.

A Mount Martha man, 38, is alleged to have used data from a Commonwealth worker to put a sequence of bets on the awards between 2017 and 2019. A Mornington man, 39, is alleged to have offered the data to the Mount Martha man.

Operation Maridun started in February 2021, when ACIC offered a report back to the AFP about betting irregularities within the 2021 Australian of the 12 months Awards.

The Mornington man has been charged with three counts of abuse of public workplace. The utmost penalty is 5 years’ imprisonment.

The Mount Martha man has been charged with three counts of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring offences of abuse of public workplace, which additionally has a most penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment.

The AFP will allege the Mount Martha man obtained $13,302 from the bets.

Gallagher rejects criticism Labor spending an excessive amount of

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has rejected opposition criticism Labor was spending an excessive amount of, saying inflation was largely in keeping with the Reserve Financial institution forecast, AAP studies.

She advised ABC TV:

We consider the selections we now have taken have been very accountable, they’re being focused certainly to type of assist folks with these cost-of-living pressures however not add to the inflation problem.

You may see that a few of these insurance policies, whether or not it’s power [bill relief] or a few of our lease help, are literally placing downward strain on inflation.

Australia should be reimagined, incapacity advocate says

The federal authorities launched its response to the incapacity royal fee yesterday, 10 months after the ultimate report was launched – and advocacy teams have reacted with dismay after solely 13 of the 222 suggestions for which the commonwealth has full or joint duty had been accepted.

Folks with Incapacity Australia’s interim president, Marayke Jonkers, mentioned the plan was inadequate and lacked a concrete timeframe when change was so urgently wanted. She advised AAP:

Every single day we wait on this, somebody is struggling additional abuse, neglect, experiencing PTSD.

These folks may very well be a part of the neighborhood, they’re folks’s family members – you possibly can be one slip, fall or sickness away from this.

The federal government ought to settle for each suggestion to utterly reimagine Australia as an inclusive society slightly than attempt to match folks with incapacity into present methods, Jonkers mentioned.

What we wish to do is create a particular neighborhood for all of us – whether or not we now have a incapacity or not – the place we all know easy methods to perceive one another, easy methods to talk with one another and easy methods to embody one another so we will all reside as much as our full potential.

Over 4 years of public hearings, non-public periods and written submissions, greater than 10,000 tales had been heard. The fee discovered “transformational change” was wanted, and proposed reforms throughout human rights regulation, advocacy, guardianship, education, employment and the justice system.

– Australian Related Press

Rex may have to supply board seat for extra goverment funding

Any authorities bailout for embattled regional airline Rex would want strict circumstances and will require the federal government taking a seat on the board, an skilled says.

The airline has appointed directors and grounded the Boeing 737s on its intercity routes, whereas its regional companies stay operational.

The federal transport minister, Catherine King, mentioned the federal government was working carefully with directors to make sure the airline’s “absolutely vital” regional presence remained.

Additional authorities funding might require circumstances permitting some management within the boardroom, based on Helen Chook, a regulation and company governance specialist at Swinburne College:

Whoever is the brand new investor, be it authorities or in any other case, is actually taking on fixing an organization that received to the place it’s due to poor governance and poor administration.

Personal traders make the most of that chance on a regular basis, she mentioned. “But we’ve got to be very careful before we let taxpayers’ money go down that route, and certainly we need to put some pretty strict conditions on it,” Chook mentioned.

A failing firm wouldn’t entice unconditional funding. Chook mentioned:

Until you noticed it as a necessary service, which it’s in regional Australia, and also you mentioned, ‘Well, if we are going to give that kind of money as a government we’ll must have a shareholding stake’.

We haven’t performed that previously, actually with Qantas, and the federal government gave a lot of cash to Qantas throughout Covid. They didn’t require that however I be aware that quite a few airways abroad did … in return for funding.

– Australian Related Press

Chalmers says he understands ‘people under pressure’ within the present economic system

Requested whether or not he accepts that “people feel like we’re living in a recession,” treasurer Jim Chalmers mentioned:

I actually perceive that individuals’s expertise of the economic system proper now’s an economic system which is smooth and individuals are beneath strain. And people two issues are associated.

You realize, we’ve had these rate of interest rises within the system already placing folks beneath strain and slowing the economic system, and we’ve received different points as properly, a number of international financial uncertainty. And people issues mix to create an economic system which is fairly smooth.

We noticed within the first three months of the yr, the economic system barely grew in any respect. We’ve seen family financial savings come off. We received numbers yesterday exhibiting retail commerce is smooth. And none of these issues would come as a shock to Australians. They know that issues are troublesome proper now, and that’s the first motivation for all of this cost-of-living aid that we’re rolling out in essentially the most accountable means.

Chalmers agrees ‘housing pipeline is not where we want it to be’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the “housing pipeline is not what we want it to be” on ABC RN:

That is actually a defining difficulty within the economic system proper now. The housing pipeline is just not what we wish it to be. Rents are too excessive, even with the assistance being offered by our two will increase to Commonwealth lease help. And that’s why that $32bn of recent funding, together with an additional $6bn within the Could price range, is so vital as a result of we have to construct extra properties. We have to construct extra rental properties. We’d like extra properties for Australians.

That’s actually one of many massive options of that price range we handed down in Could. Numerous that’s nonetheless to roll out. It’s rolling out proper now. It’s a tribute to Julie Collins, the previous housing minister, and it’s an enormous job for the brand new housing minister, Clare O’Neil, and it’s a really, very excessive precedence for us.

We’re serving to out within the close to time period with these will increase to lease help, however constructing extra properties is absolutely the important thing right here, and that’s why we’ve received tens of billions of {dollars} invested in that job

Chalmers acknowledges inflation ‘more stubborn than any of us would like to see’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is talking on ABC RN this morning, getting straight into “persistent” inflation:

The technique that we now have deployed right here – which is to get the price range in significantly better nick and to roll out all of this value of residing assist in essentially the most accountable means that we will – has helped be sure that inflation, which had a six in entrance of it a few years in the past, now has a 3 in entrance of it.

We all know that individuals are nonetheless beneath strain. We all know that this inflation is extra persistent, stickier, extra cussed than any of us want to see.

The international minister, Penny Wong, has warned of “a real risk that the conflict in [the Middle east] escalates seriously” in a video message final evening after Israeli airstrikes killed the Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a prime Hezbollah commander in Beirut within the area of 12 hours, crushing hopes for an imminent Gaza ceasefire and elevating fears of a “dangerous escalation” within the area.

Wong mentioned:

My message to Australian residents and residents in Lebanon is: now’s the time to go away. In case you are in Australia and pondering of travelling to Lebanon – don’t.

Some industrial flights are nonetheless working. For those who can go away, it is best to.

Beirut Airport might shut utterly if the state of affairs worsens. And if that occurs, the federal government could not have the ability to assist Australians nonetheless in Lebanon to evacuate. It’s possible you’ll not have the ability to go away Lebanon for an prolonged interval.

I do know, Australians, particularly the Lebanese Australian neighborhood, are fearful. We share your considerations. We’re working with companions within the area to push for restraint and de-escalation. However now is just not the time for Australians within the area to attend and see what occurs. Now could be the time to go away.

Good morning, and welcome to a different day on the reside weblog.

The international minister, Penny Wong, urged Australian residents in Lebanon to go away on obtainable industrial flights in a video message final evening, warning “there is a real risk that the conflict in the region escalates seriously” and the safety state of affairs might deteriorate rapidly and with little discover.

A person and lady believed to be of their 50s and 60s had been discovered lifeless on a 47ft Sydney yacht in a single day, based on a NSW police media launch. Emergencies companies had been known as to a mooring at Tunks Park about 9pm yesterday. Sydney water police boarded the vessel to seek out the our bodies. Fireplace and Rescue NSW had been sought because of considerations of fumes detected on board.

The variety of Indigenous Australians imprisoned, taking their very own life and dropping kids to out-of-home care have all elevated within the first Closing the Hole report for the reason that voice referendum was defeated.

Dishonest at Australian universities has risen exponentially for the reason that rise of generative AI, however the old-school follow of merely paying somebody to do the work is way from lifeless, integrity analysts have mentioned – and websites providing dishonest companies to college students are arduous to hint, with some run by criminals keen to make threats of violence.

And Adelaide properties could quickly be dearer than Melbourne, with property costs falling within the Victorian capital for the fourth month in a row – Melbourne properties are actually value 4.4% lower than they had been at their peak in 2022 and fell 0.21% in July.

I’m Rafqa Touma, and I’ll be rolling at present’s reside information updates. If there may be something you don’t need the weblog to overlook, shoot it my means on Twitter @At_Raf_