Australia news live: One fight cancelled every three days due to staff shortages; ASX set for worst week since US-Iran war began

From 2h ago

One flight cancelled every three days across Australia due to staff shortages

Luca Ittimani

Worker shortages have cancelled one flight every three days on average in the last year, Airservices Australia has told a Senate hearing.

The government agency’s deputy CEO, Peter Curran, said Australia’s airports recorded 2,536 cancellations over the year to 31 August, of which 121 were attributed to Airservices. Sydney accounted for 103 of those.

Just this morning, the troubled airport recorded 14 inbound cancellations and more outbound cancellations, after some overnight staff were unavailable, Curran said. Airservices and airlines manage the shortage by delaying or cancelling flights.

Curran said Sydney had grown and now needed a team of 41 air traffic controllers, spread across the roster. It has 49 employed but eight are unavailable at the moment. Curran said:

double quotation markWhen we have a bit of short-term sickness or unavailability, like we had last night, it makes it very difficult to recover.

Curran said retired staff had been asked to come back to work but some of them were “simply not interested”. He said there were about 1,100 air traffic controllers working across Australia and 91 would join in the coming year.

With more recruitment, Curran said Airservices would be able to enough on-call staff to cover two absences a day by March 2027.

double quotation markIt’s not an ironclad model, but it certainly reduces the likelihood of the sorts of issues that we’re having today.

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Updated at 01.27 EDT

Key events

Major fire breaks out at building in Sydney’s north-west

Authorities are investigating the cause of a major building fire in Sydney’s north-west.

Emergency services responded to reports of the blaze on Loftus Street in Riverstone at around 1.35pm.

Fire and Rescue NSW said about 40 firefighters and 12 trucks remained at the scene. The fire has since been contained to the building where it started.

Four people were assessed at the scene, but none were taken to hospital.

Fire and Rescue NSW said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

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Updated at 01.36 EDT

Achol Arok

Hello! I’ll be here to guide you through the rest of afternoon’s news.

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Updated at 01.07 EDT

Nick Visser

That’s all for me. Achol Arok will take the blog from here. Take care!

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ATO employee charged after allegedly disclosing information to organised crime associates

An Australian Taxation Office employee has been charged with corruption-related offences by the AFP and other groups on allegations the man disclosed information obtained in his work to organised crime associates.

The AFP said today the Gold Coast man, 32, had been charged overnight with two counts of unlawfully disclosing information by a commonwealth officer. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

He is due in court later this month.

After a search warrant was carried out, the man was also charged with two counts of possession or control of child abuse material and 15 counts of using a carriage service for child abuse material. The maximum penalty for both offences is 15 years in prison.

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Queensland’s credit rating downgraded for the first time in 17 years

Queensland has been dealt the first downgrade to its credit rating in 17 years, heaping more borrowing costs on to the state’s budget, AAP reports.

Credit agency S&P Global slapped a stable outlook on Queensland’s downgraded AA rating.

The loss of Queensland’s AA+ rating came on the same day NSW received an upgrade to its credit outlook. Queensland’s budget performance would remain “very weak” over the next two to three years compared to peers with a similar rating, S&P said on Friday.

The state’s historically large infrastructure program ahead of the 2032 Olympics and forecast deficits contrasted with previous expectations for sound surpluses from 2028, it said in a report.

The state could also expect lower stamp duty revenues after property tax changes in the federal budget exacerbated a deepening housing downturn, S&P said.

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Updated at 01.01 EDT

One flight cancelled every three days across Australia due to staff shortages

Luca Ittimani

Worker shortages have cancelled one flight every three days on average in the last year, Airservices Australia has told a Senate hearing.

The government agency’s deputy CEO, Peter Curran, said Australia’s airports recorded 2,536 cancellations over the year to 31 August, of which 121 were attributed to Airservices. Sydney accounted for 103 of those.

Just this morning, the troubled airport recorded 14 inbound cancellations and more outbound cancellations, after some overnight staff were unavailable, Curran said. Airservices and airlines manage the shortage by delaying or cancelling flights.

Curran said Sydney had grown and now needed a team of 41 air traffic controllers, spread across the roster. It has 49 employed but eight are unavailable at the moment. Curran said:

double quotation markWhen we have a bit of short-term sickness or unavailability, like we had last night, it makes it very difficult to recover.

Curran said retired staff had been asked to come back to work but some of them were “simply not interested”. He said there were about 1,100 air traffic controllers working across Australia and 91 would join in the coming year.

With more recruitment, Curran said Airservices would be able to enough on-call staff to cover two absences a day by March 2027.

double quotation markIt’s not an ironclad model, but it certainly reduces the likelihood of the sorts of issues that we’re having today.

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Updated at 01.27 EDT

49ers rout Rams 27-7 in NFL clash at the MCG

Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel caught touchdown passes from quarterback Brock Purdy, and the San Francisco 49ers routed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 Friday in the first NFL regular-season game in Australia.

Purdy passed for 205 yards against the Rams’ ineffective defense at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 100,021 fans, the seventh-largest regular season crowd in NFL history.

Australia’s sporting capital reveled in its first real taste of American football – and in a dominant win by the 49ers, who had already won many Aussies’ affection by travelling to Melbourne a week earlier than the Rams, who only boomeranged in on Thursday morning.

Read more here:

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Updated at 00.16 EDT

NFL stars, cheerleaders and the Jonas Brothers as American football comes to Melbourne

About 100,000 fans filled the MCG for the historic NFL regular-season clash between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne.

Die-hard supporters and interested spectators came from all corners to see American football’s cultural exchange, which included cheerleaders before the match and a Jonas Brothers show at half-time.

Take a look at some below:

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Updated at 23.45 EDT

Australian share market veering towards worst week since US-Iran war began

The Australian share market is barreling toward its worst week since the US-Iran war began, as surging oil prices pressure bond yields and squeeze central banks to hike borrowing costs.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 112.2 points by midday on Friday, to be down 1.27% as the broader All Ordinaries tumbled 120 points, or 1.33%.

The top-200 is on track for a 3.2% slump since Monday and its worst week since early March’s 3.8% plunge, when US-led strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and triggered a broader regional conflict.

The Australian dollar was buying 71.56 US cents, down from 72.16 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

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Updated at 23.35 EDT

Sarah Hanson-Young on big tech’s ‘attack on democracy’ – Australian Politics podcast

This week, the Albanese government released its draft digital duty of care legislation and announced reforms to allow social media users to opt out of algorithms. The Coalition has ruled out their support, so the Greens will be crucial to the changes passing the Senate.

Political editor Tom McIlroy speaks to the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young about why she thinks this will be a “battle for our generation”.

Listen here:

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Molly Ticehurst’s killer Daniel Billings sentenced to 28 years in jail for murder

Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend will spend at least 20 years inhas been sentenced to 28 years in jail for her senseless and brutal murder, which was revenge for her reporting allegations of sexual assault to police.

Daniel Billings was sentenced in the Orange Supreme Court today by Justice Natalie Adams, who imposed a non-parole period of 20 years.

Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare worker, was found dead in her pyjamas at her home at Forbes, in the state’s central west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024.

Justice Natalie Adams found Billings’ offending was in the high range of seriousness, given he murdered her in the exact way he had long threatened to do.

double quotation markIt must have been absolutely terrifying for Ms Ticehurst to die knowing her worst fears were realised.

Read the full story:

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Updated at 23.36 EDT

Asio chief reveals 16 terror plots have been foiled since Bondi attack

Sarah Basford Canales

Australia’s domestic spy agency says it has disrupted 16 terrorist threats in the nine months since the Bondi attack, including an antisemitic attack, a plot to kill Muslims and a violent racist allegedly found with weapons and ammunition.

The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation’s director general, Mike Burgess, outlined the “evolving threat” in a speech today on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States.

The Asio chief revealed his organisation had disrupted 16 terror plans since December where the “threat was considered serious but not necessarily imminent”. In June the figure was 14. Since 2014, it has foiled 33 major terrorism plots.

Burgess said Sunni violent extremism represented the majority of Asio’s counter-terrorism caseload but that it was “too simplistic to assume there is a single terrorism threat or a most likely terrorist threat as we did in the aftermath of 9/11”.

He said the threats included an individual allegedly inspired by extreme right-wing ideology, others inspired by extreme left-wing ideologies and others inspired by “mixed and seemingly incompatible beliefs”, including one person who allegedly wanted to blow up a school who was allegedly inspired by ideological and extreme Christian beliefs.

Burgess said:

double quotation markThese dynamics make the contemporary terrorism environment different – and in some ways, more difficult – than a quarter of a century ago ... Spikes in grievance, intolerance and polarisation are degrading our security environment and making politically motivated violence more likely.

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Updated at 23.38 EDT

Matt Canavan ‘welcomes’ communication between Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie

Matt Canavan spoke to News24 earlier, saying he “welcomes” Barnaby Joyce reaching out to Andrew Hastie about the One Nation “traitor” cartoon.

Canavan began by condemning One Nation’s bids to “distance” themselves from the cartoon, noting the video was authorised and published by the party.

double quotation markI thought that was pretty weak.

The Nationals leader said he appreciated that Joyce had explained to Hastie that he didn’t know about the cartoon.

double quotation markI welcome Barnaby’s apology, it’s a matter for Andrew if he accepts it – but I think Pauline should do the same.

(In a statement, Hastie said he did accept it, but characterised it as an “explanation” rather than an apology.)

Canavan said he personally welcomed criticism but said that politicians did not need to “devolve” into this sort of language.

The interview took somewhat of an odd turn when Cavanan also referred to himself as someone with “communist sympathies” in his youth.

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Updated at 22.23 EDT

Luca Ittimani

Albanese is under fire over a grants program that benefited his local golf club. Were any rules broken?

Anthony Albanese is under fire after an invite-only grant program allocated millions to marginal Labor seats and his old local golf club.

The government claims it has broken no rules and delivered its election promises by the standard method but transparency advocates have said the system needs reform and have drawn comparisons to the notorious “sports rorts” affair.

What went wrong – and is this sports rorts all over again?

Read more here:

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Marles says Hanson should take Hastie cartoon down and apologise

Back to defence minister Richard Marles, who made some other comments this morning about the One Nation video.

Speaking on Nine, Marles said the Australia’s veteran community would have been affected by the One Nation video’s use of the word “traitor”.

double quotation markOne of the issues here is to use that word in respect of any veteran is taken on by the entire veterans community … it’s distasteful. It’s inappropriate. It should come down and Pauline Hanson should apologise.

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Updated at 21.16 EDT

Pauline Hanson not backing away from Hastie cartoon, suggesting a ‘chill pill’ for critics

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, is standing by the cartoon that labelled Andrew Hastie a “traitor” despite growing condemnation from Labor, the Greens, Liberals and the crossbench.

The video is currently pinned to the top of Hanson’s X feed, and she said on Wednesday she would not apologise and the uproar was “a storm in a teacup as far as I’m concerned”. She has denied ever calling Hastie a traitor.

Last night, Hanson posted a photo of Jacqui Lambie and herself in the Senate, alongside a post that read “I think everyone just needs to take a chill pill”.

A furious Lambie told ABC radio yesterday that Hanson was a “bloody coward”.

The One Nation leader posted again this morning on X to express her “thanks” to Hastie that the “cartoons make the news again”, sharing the “ten best episodes” of the animation Please Explain.

As we reported earlier, Hastie told Guardian Australia he accepted Barnaby Joyce’s explanation that he didn’t know about the cartoon. He said he now knows that Hanson “is the only lying coward”.

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Updated at 21.08 EDT

Carroll says NFL game in Victoria a moment in the state’s history

The Victoria premier, Ben Carroll, spruiked the NFL game at the MCG this morning, saying it was an exciting and historic day for the state.

double quotation markThe atmosphere, the weather for Melbourne, everything has just come on so perfectly. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this day.

This event helps cement Victoria as the major events capital, not only of Australia, but of the world.

It’s going to be one of those events that people look back in history and say, ‘Where were you?’ Or ‘I was there’.

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Updated at 23.26 EDT

The NFL is set to hold its first regular-season game in Australia today, a contest between the San Francisco 49ers and the LA Rams.

The showdown will take place at Melbourne’s MCG this morning.

Fans have been turning up in droves. The game starts at 10.35am and you can watch it on Netflix.

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Updated at 19.34 EDT

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