Australia news LIVE: Albanese advances efforts to end Gaza humanitarian crisis; Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in Epstein case

3 months ago 25

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6.54am

The $200 billion economy boost that could cost your job

By Shane Wright

A combination of artificial intelligence and better use of our personal information could deliver a $200 billion boost to the economy over the next decade, the Productivity Commission has found, while warning it may cost some Australians their jobs.

As the nation’s second-largest company slammed a proposal from the commission that would increase its annual tax bill, the agency urged Anthony Albanese to reject calls from within his government to impose binding regulation on AI, saying it could leave everyone worse off.

In its third report before this month’s economic roundtable, at which 23 hand-picked experts, business and union leaders will map out ways to lift the country’s productivity growth rate, the commission said data and digital technologies were the modern engines of economic growth.

6.51am

Labor considered work from home policy before Dutton backflip

By Olivia Ireland, Jessica Yun, Chris Zappone and David Swan

Labor considered a policy to protect working-from-home rights before the May federal election but abandoned the push to avoid taking attention from then-opposition leader Peter Dutton’s unpopular plan to call public servants back to the office.

Two federal sources confirmed to this masthead that the idea of protecting people who work remotely from career penalties was floated within Labor before the election, building on the government’s 2023 changes that gave employees a legal right to ask to work from home.

Then-opposition leader Peter Dutton was forced to backflip on his work from home policy.

The revelation that federal Labor saw the policy as a potential vote-winner comes after Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan pledged to give workers in her state the right to work from home at least two days a week in an attempt to reach frustrated voters before the state election next year.

6.48am

What’s making news today

By Daniel Lo Surdo

Hello and welcome to the national news live blog. My name is Daniel Lo Surdo, and I’ll be helming our live coverage this morning.

Here’s what is making news today:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discussed efforts to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with the head of the United Nations as the government sends increasingly strong signals it will join a coalition of nations recognising a Palestinian state in September. It comes as Albanese held a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, and spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss next month’s General Assembly in New York.
The Great Barrier Reef last year suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover in two of the three regions regularly surveyed since monitoring began 39 years ago due to climate change-induced heat stress causing mass bleaching. Coral cover in the northern region fell by a quarter last year, while the central region declined from 33.2 per cent to 28.6 per cent, a report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science has found.
US House Republicans have subpoenaed former president Bill Clinton and 2016 Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in addition to the Justice Department and nearly a dozen former federal officials for information about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. The development forms a potential confrontation with the Trump administration, which has come under fire for their handling of documents related to the Epstein case.
The Australian sharemarket is expected to rise again on Wednesday after closing at a record high yesterday. Consumer stocks helped the local bourse to a 1.3 per cent gain, with Bunnings owner Wesfarmers and JB Hi-Fi among the biggest lifters on the ASX. Financial and mining stock both rose, with the latter bolstered by a rise in iron ore prices.