Child detention changes described as state’s ‘darkest hours’ – as it happened (2023)

Australian Labor party president – and former deputy PM – Wayne Swan has attempted to set straight the debate around the electoral commission urging voice referendum voters to write “yes” or “no” on their voting ballot, as crosses may not be counted.

On the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, saying such a ruling shows favouritism for the yes campaign, Swan told the Today show:

That is complete rubbish. The ruling from the electoral commission is 30 years old; it is what applied in the last set of referendums in the late 80s … This is just the no case out there using the electoral system to try to discredit the voice. And in doing so, doing what many other right wing parties around the world are doing, discrediting basic electoral arrangements. It is appalling. I’m disgusted by their behaviour.

Labor to introduce bill preventing employers from discriminating against victims of family and domestic violence

The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, gave the Kingsley Laffer Memorial Lecture at the University of Sydney last night during which announced that Labor will introduce a bill next month to amend the Fair Work Act to protect victims and survivors against workplace discrimination.

The proposed changes will prohibit employers from taking adverse action against employees because they have been subjected to family and domestic violence by making it a “protected attribute” under the Act.

The Albanese government last year legislated providing 10 days paid family and domestic violence for all national system employees, including casuals.

Approximately 20% of the adult population have reported experiencing physical and/or sexual family and domestic violence since the age of 15. Around two-thirds of these victim-survivors are in paid work. Burke said:

Violence doesn’t discriminate and neither should the law.

That’s why these proposed changes are so important – ensuring that workers are not penalised in any way if they disclose that they have been subjected to family and domestic violence.

Because of the government’s reforms last year employees in Australia will also have access to ten days of paid family and domestic violence leave, a work entitlement that will save lives. This change too will save lives.

Good morning from Canberra – and happy Equal Pay Day!

And why is this random Friday in August Equal Pay Day you may ask? Well because today is the 56th day of the financial year – and for a woman to earn the same salary as a man in this country, she will have to work an extra 56 days (on average) a year. And this is the lowest it’s ever been. Which is cold comfort given there is a cost of living crisis.

The Greens senator Larissa Waters says there is an easy fix:

The easiest way to close the gender pay gap is to pay women more. The government could legislate for above average wage increases over 10 years in women-dominated industries, which would provide a much-needed boost to women’s economic security and ensure we can attract and retain staff in these critical sectors.

One of the reasons the government has pushed for higher minimum wages is because of how many women work in minimum wage jobs. It’s also passed legislation which will require Australia’s top companies to publish their gender pay gap data, with the aim transparency might shame some companies into addressing it.

Profit lifts at Wesfarmers as shoppers head to Kmart

Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers has recorded a 4.8% lift in full year net profit to $2.47bn, helped by strong sales at its budget department store chain Kmart.

Revenue at the Kmart division, which also includes the smaller Target chain, increased 16.5% during 2022-23 as shoppers searched for cheaper products amid rising living costs.

“Many customers are becoming more value conscious and trading down to lower-priced retailers and products,” Wesfarmers’s managing director, Rob Scott, said.

Revenue flowing from Officeworks increased by almost 6%, while Wesfarmers’ Bunnings hardware chain recorded a modest 4.4% revenue increase as shoppers hesitated to buy more home improvement items.

Wesfarmers recently expanded into lithium mining and processing to take advantage of the growing use of the metal in batteries. Earnings are expected to start flowing from the lithium division next year.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says Australia is exposed to concerning developments in the Chinese economy. He told ABC RN this morning:

I think a lot of economists around the world are concerned about the Chinese economy right now. And … I share that concern. What we’re seeing in China right now is a very different combination of challenges compared with the most of the rest of the world. Their economy is slowing quite considerably. They’ve actually got deflation. They’ve got a weak retail sector. There are particular concerns about the property sector. There’s some uncertainty around the way that their debt is set up, particularly their local government debt. And their exports have been a bit weaker. So all of those things together paint a pretty concerning picture about China.

We’re not quite hostage to developments in the Chinese economy, but we are very exposed to them.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has responded to the shadow finance minister Jane Hume’s push for the government to reign in spending on ABC Radio this morning. He said “of course” there has to be more heavy lifting:

The substantive point that I’m making is that we’ve already shown it.

Finding $40bn of savings … more than in the last coalition budget … we are serious about that, we are reining in spending where we can, we are reprioritising spending, we’re showing spending restraint.

We’ve got these meaningful tax changes and the consequence of that, or the benefit of our responsible economic management is, over the course of the intergenerational report we will save almost half a trillion dollars in interest on our debt and because of the welcome progress we’ve been able to make on the budget already.

Minister for defence industry says government serious about missile-making plans

The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, says the government is serious about the push to manufacture missiles in Australia. Speaking to a defence industry event last night, Conroy pushed back at doubters, telling the Hunter Defence conference gala dinner:

Long-range strike and other guided weapons are fundamental to the ADF’s ability to hold an adversary at risk in Australia’s northern approaches. With $4.1bn over the forward estimates, there is real money and certainty for business to invest.

We will be making missiles in two years’ time. That’s an incredibly ambitious goal, but we are confident we can get there.

We’re currently working with industry, including Defence’s strategic partners, Lockheed Martin Australia and Raytheon Australia, to develop detailed and costed plans for domestic manufacture of guided weapons and explosive ordnance.

Government will consider these plans early next year. Some have asked whether this is another review. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Next year, the government will deliver a fully costed and detailed plan on how we will build critical guided weapons in Australia. We have already committed to manufacturing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles (GMLRS) … Our intent is to manufacture a limited number of GMLRS missiles by 2025, moving to a higher rate of production from 2026.

Conroy also spoke about Aukus, saying it was “not just about building Australian submarines” but also about “providing maintenance to visiting and rotational US and UK submarines”.

Very minor quake in Victoria

Five people reported feeling an earthquake in Victoria at 6:20am this morning to Victoria’s SES. A magnitude 2.7 earthquake took place on the borders of Melbourne, near Bacchus Marsh – which, in the scheme of things, is tiny. (A magnitude 5.9 from 2021 is Victoria’s highest recorded; bearing in mind the magnitude scale is logarithmic, anything below a 3 on the scale is generally seen as non-remarkable.)

Rents set to rise further as vacancy rates shrink in most cities

Vacancy rates fell further in July by 0.04 percentage points to 1.43% on average across Australia, reports data group PropTrack. Capital cities posted a similar trend and level.

Both city and national markets now have about half as many vacant properties as a share of the market as prior to the Covid pandemic in March 2020.

Hobart posted the biggest narrowing for July at 0.13ppt among capitals, while Sydney and Perth’s markets both saw vacancy rates sink 0.9ppt. The Western Australian capital had the nation’s lowest vacancy rate, at 0.94%, slightly worse than Adelaide’s 0.96% – the only two centres reported to have fewer than one in 100 rental properties vacant.

Melbourne and Canberra, meanwhile, have seen markets shift the most in the past year among cities. The Victorian capital’s rental vacancies were unchanged at 1.41% compared with last month, though that’s 0.82pp worse than 12 months ago.

The national capital’s 2.12% vacancy rate was a nation-leading high, doubling in the past year. (Do rent controls play a role there?)

Anne Flaherty, an economist with PropTrack, said the wash-up from the latest numbers is that the cost of renting is set to increase further in the months ahead. “[P]ressure is unlikely to ease any time soon for tenants”, she said.

And welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Rafqa Touma and I’ll be with you on the blog for the next few hours. Let’s kick off this Friday with the morning’s headlines.

Vacancy rates fell even further in July to 1.43% on average across Australia, with capital cities posting a similar trend and level. Both city and national markets now have about half as many vacant properties as a share of the market as prior to the Covid pandemic in March 2020. There is more on this from our very own Peter Hannam to come.

And the minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, says the government is serious about the push to manufacture missiles in Australia. Speaking to a defence industry event last night, Conroy pushed back at doubters, saying Australia will be making missiles in two years’ time. Dan Hurst will brings us more detail.

If you see anything you don’t want the blog to miss, let me know @At_Raf on Twitter.

Let the day begin!