announced anti-scam measures.
National home values rose by 1% in the September quarter, CoreLogic has said, the softest three-month rise since March 2023.
The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, said Australians fleeing Lebanon should pay their own way because they ignored “warning after warning”.
NSW Health has warned of a “significant rise” in gastroenteritis cases across the state in recent weeks.
A Sydney daycare worker was charged with the alleged sexual abuse of a child.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the advice of older generations is “not available” to parents regarding the social media use of their children.
The minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, said the “patient” approach to China has paid off with the lifting of a rock lobster trade ban.
A woman’s arm has been severed in a vicious dog attack.
Executives at Coles and Woolworths have told a Senate committee they’ll need to ask Tim Tam owner Arnott’s why their chocolate biscuits are cheaper in the UK than in Australia.
The Aurora Australis has lit up Australian skies overnight.
AI deepfake ads are set to be aired during the federal election – despite warnings.
Some patients at a Sydney GP clinic have been given less-effective vaccines due to storage issues.
The minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, said a concensus on the right age to be able to access to social media was “unlikely”.
The LNP leader, David Crisafulli, said the end of coal before the 2030s was “fanciful”.
Victoria has apologised to the state’s stolen generation victims in a quiet ceremony.
And finally, the ABC’s Richard Glover has announced his retirement from his radio show.
Enjoy your weekend.
scheme allows Australian employers to hire workers from the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste for seasonal roles for up to nine months, or longer-term roles for up to four years. Watt said:
We have seen unfortunately far too many abuses of the Palm scheme and it’s important for Australia and our reputation that when people come to work in Australia, they don’t get exploited and they get treated fairly.
Unfortunately, I’m aware of some examples of that not happening in this very region across Bundaberg and we have seen the Fair Work Ombudsman take action against particular employers and particular labour hire firms who have done the wrong thing and that’s exactly the way it should be.
We actually have made changes to the Palm scheme since coming to office a couple of years ago to try to reduce the exploitation that we have seen. We brought in, for example, minimum amounts of pay that need to be paid to people to make sure they do have money in their pockets. We have made changes around the housing requirements.
But what I can say is that wherever there is exploitation going on of Palm workers or local workers as a Labor government we will continue to take action and we’re open to further changes.
age assurance trial – to prevent children from accessing pornography – is evaluating technology that “could be effective to age limit access to social media platforms”.
Addressing the social media summit in South Australia, Rowland said:
Let me also take this opportunity to acknowledge the extensive work of former high court chief justice Robert French. Our age assurance trial is evaluating technologies that could be effective to age limit access to social media platforms from 13 up to 16 years and preventing people under 18 from accessing online pornography. The trial includes targeted stakeholder consultation and consumer-focused research looking into attitudes towards different technologies and important issues of privacy, security and accessibility.
Rowland said she anticipated the independent review of Australia’s Online Safety Act final report “in coming weeks”, and that it would be unlikely there would be a consensus on the right age to ban users from social media:
Let me be clear that no solution will be perfect, and the consensus on the right age is unlikely. Young people, of course, are digitally savvy and will find ways to circumvent controls, but we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
to consider locking in some immediate savings.
Penalties on platforms, not users, in approach to social media age ban legislation
Penalties will be faced by platforms, not users, in the federal government’s legislative design for a national minimum age for social media access, the minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, says.
She is addressing the social media summit in South Australia, and said:
A key design principle of the commonwealth’s legislative approach is to place the onus on the platforms, not on parents or young people. Penalties for users will not feature in our legislative design.
Instead, it will be incumbent on the platforms to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable steps to ensure fundamental protections are in place at the source. Our approach will ensure the eSafety regulator provides oversight and enforcement.
Rowland said the federal government is considering an exemption framework, “to accommodate access for social media services that demonstrate a low risk of harm to children”. She said the aim is to “create positive incentives” for platforms to develop “age-appropriate versions of their apps and embed safe and healthy experiences”.
By design, we are conscious of the harmful features in the design of platforms that drive addictive behaviours, and this is why we will set parameters to guide platforms in designing social media that allows connections but not harms to flourish.
The federal government will set a 12-month implementation timeframe, for the industry and regulator to implement necessary systems and processes, Rowland said.
Queensland premier forgets second candidates’ name in repeat gaffe
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, has again forgotten the name of a local Labor candidate.
The premier was campaigning in Kawana, on the Sunshine Coast, today, one of the LNP’s safest seats. But there was no sign of Jim Dawson, who is trying to take the electorate off the LNP’s deputy leader, Jarrod Bleijie.
When asked where his candidate was, Miles said:
I’ll be campaigning on Sunshine Coast seats from now all day. So stay tuned.
He was then asked a follow-up question: who were they?
“That’s a good question,” Miles said before a lengthy pause.
We’ll get that for you and I’ll be with them later.
It was an embarrassing repeat of a similar blunder in central Queensland last week, when the premier forgot the name of Mirani candidate Susan Teder.
The Sydney local health district says it is assisting the Holy Family medical centre in Dulwich Hill, in Sydney’s inner west, after patients were given less-effective vaccines due to storage issues.
Vaccines were incorrectly stored at the practice and patients who received a vaccine between 4 December 2019 and 30 July 2024, may have received a vaccination that was less effective.
The Sydney LDH will assist the medical centre to coordinate and run a revaccination clinic “in the coming weeks”, prioritising children under five and adults over 65.
In a statement, the LHD said patients who received the private travel vaccine and influenza vaccines are not at risk.
Holy Family medical centre is notifying all patients affected, including a number of children who were aged between 0 and 5 years at the time of their first vaccination.
Repeating a vaccination will not cause any harm, even if the first vaccine was effective.
Michelle Rowland addressing social media summit
The federal minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, is addressing the social media summit in South Australia.
She will be laying out the commonwealth’s approach to legislating a national minimum age for social media access. She labelled it a “significant reform” and said the government would work with “state and territory governments, regulators, experts, industry and the community”:
Today I’ll cover three things: the pragmatic approach we are taking to social media, age limits, the design principles that will underpin our reforms, and finally, how this aligns to our whole of government approach to improving online safety.
The Bureau of Meteorology has shared a weather update, as severe thunderstorms are forecast for parts of eastern NSW.
Source: theguardian.com
