Australia news LIVE: Albanese and Trump to meet next month at White House; Trump stuns UN with address on ‘disaster’ of immigration and ‘con job’ of climate change

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7.25am

Nation embarrassed by Trump-Albanese meeting delay, says O’Brien

By Nick Newling

Deputy Opposition Leader Ted O’Brien has said the country is embarrassed by how long it has taken for the prime minister to secure a meeting with US President Donald Trump, but that the Coalition supports the face-to-face between the leaders.

“I just can’t believe it’s taken this long, is the truth of it, and I’m almost embarrassed that the entire country is waiting to see if the prime minister might actually shake the hand of the President of the United States. I mean seriously, this is our most important ally,” O’Brien told Sky News this morning.

“It just goes to a complete breakdown in the relationship ... the prime minister has done nothing to foster that relationship, but the Coalition certainly supports the idea that this meeting now gets to take place,” he said.

A White House official confirmed a meeting between the two leaders would take place on October 20, ending long-running speculation about when the two men would hold their first face-to-face meeting.

O’Brien went on to say the government’s 2035 emissions targets — a reduction of between 62 and 70 per cent on 2005 levels — were going to damage the economy.

“It is only going to lead to our economy coming poorer, businesses closing. That’s what’s happened over the last three years, and there is no indication whatsoever that it’s not going to get worse, and we have to keep talking about this. It’s too important,” O’Brien said.

The Coalition has formally opposed the target announced by the government last week, with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley saying she was “dead against” it.

7.13am

Westpac to cut 200 teller jobs while hiring 200 bankers in digital push

By Clancy Yeates

Westpac will axe 200 teller jobs as part of changes affecting its branch network, prompting the finance union to demand all affected workers are re-deployed to other jobs being created in the bank.

On Tuesday, Westpac told staff that it would cut 200 teller jobs over the next year as part of a digital push in its branches, while at the same time saying it wanted to hire about 200 people as retail and small business bankers.

The Finance Sector Union is pushing for redeployment of affected staff, with national secretary Julia Angrisano saying the bank was asking its tellers to move customers to digital services. She criticised the move as “cost-cutting dressed up as innovation.”

“Westpac is asking loyal tellers to migrate customers to digital services that ultimately eliminate their own jobs. It’s callous and short-sighted,” she said.

“Our expectation is clear: no worker should lose their job. We will hold Westpac to account every step of the way.”

Westpac’s general manager of retail banking, Damien Macrae, noted the job cuts and the hiring plans in an email to staff that said the bank was rolling out “digital first” in every branch nationally.

The email said the bank would invest $200 million over the next three years in its ATMs and branches, as well as $5 million in “capability and training” for staff.

Angrisano said it was unclear how the $5 million development fund would work or whether it would “genuinely protect jobs.”

The changes come after a recent run of cost-cutting at banks. This month ANZ said it would cut 3500 jobs, NAB announced 410 job cuts, and the FSU said Bendigo and Adelaide was planning to cut 158 roles.

7.02am

PM responds to Trump’s climate comments, Australia’s bid to host COP31

By Emily Kaine

Speaking to reporters in New York this morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the climate comments made by Trump in his address to the UN in New York overnight.

“Australia has a challenge of climate change, but we also have an opportunity to benefit our economy, to grow jobs. We certainly are embarking on that, and we have a positive, constructive agenda,” Albanese said.

Asked whether climate would be on the agenda for the meeting between the two leaders confirmed to take place next month, the PM said: “We’ve had respectful calls. Australia and the United States are great partners. I expect it to be very constructive. What we are accepting, what we can do, is we have meetings and we have them respectfully, and that means not foreshadowing everything that happens in meetings, at press conferences.”

Anthony Albanese outside the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.

Australia is competing with Turkey in a bid to host COP31, the UN’s next annual climate summit to be held in 2026. Australia is bidding to co-host the summit in partnership with Pacific nations.

Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen said, “the situation remains the same. The support from international [partners] is overwhelming, actually overwhelming. Out of 28 members of our group at least 23 support our bid. As I’ve said before, the process does work in consensus. That’s why I’ve had good and positive conversations.”

Australia’s “two key objectives”, Bowen told reporters, were “hosting COP in Adelaide” and “hosting a very investment focused COP, investing in Australia’s renewable energy superpower, as well as lifting the agenda of the Pacific.”

6.43am

Albanese and Trump will meet next month at White House

By Matthew Knott and Michael Koziol

Anthony Albanese will meet Donald Trump on October 20 in Washington, a White House official has confirmed.

Speculation had been growing over when the first face-to-face meeting between the prime minister and the US president since Trump’s inauguration would take place, as both are in New York this week for the UN General Assembly.

The announcement will please supporters of the US-Australia alliance, who were growing alarmed by the length of time between Trump’s inauguration and a meeting with Albanese.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next month.

The leaders have spoken four times by phone since Trump was elected but are yet to hold a face-to-face meeting.

Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd said he was “utterly optimistic about how we navigate the future of the Australia-US relationship” and “delighted to have the White House confirm this morning that the PM will be back in the United States on the 20th of October to meet with the president of the United States in Washington, DC.”

Read more from Matthew Knott and Michael Koziol on the upcoming meeting here.

6.43am

Trump stuns UN with lecture on immigration, climate ‘con job’

By Michael Koziol

Trump used the global stage of the United Nations to lecture the world on the “disaster” of unchecked immigration and the “con job” of climate change in a defiant and at-times threatening address that asserted American dominance and put other leaders on notice.

He urged the nations present, particularly those in Europe, to control their borders and preserve their sovereignty, and argued that what made the world beautiful was not a mix of peoples and cultures but “that each country is unique”.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe. It’s not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct, they’re doing absolutely nothing about it,” he said.

In an equally strong diatribe on what he incorrectly called the “hoax” of climate change, Trump railed against renewable energy, windmills and solar panels.

“They said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler. So now they just call it climate change,” he said. “If it goes higher, lower, whatever the hell happens, there’s climate change. It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion.”

6.43am

What’s making news today

By Emily Kaine

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, September 24. I’m Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage through the first part of today. Here’s what is making headlines this morning.

US President Donald Trump has delivered a scathing speech to the United Nations, lecturing leaders on the “disaster” of unchecked immigration and the “con job” of climate change. Trump urged the nations present, particularly those in Europe, to control their borders and preserve their sovereignty. He also railed against renewable energy, windmills and solar panels, calling climate change a “hoax”.
Albanese and Trump will meet at the White House on October 20, a White House official has confirmed. Speculation had been growing over when a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders might take place, as both are in New York this week for the meeting of the UN General Assembly. The announcement will please supporters of the US-Australia alliance, who were growing alarmed by the length of time between Trump’s inauguration and a meeting with Albanese.
Westpac told staff yesterday that it would cut 200 teller jobs and hire 200 bankers as part of digital changes affecting its branch network, prompting the finance union to demand all affected workers be re-deployed to other jobs being created in the bank. The changes come after a recent run of cost-cutting by the sector.