‘We’ve got a bipartisan approach to our PBS’, says Nationals senator
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie responded to US president Donald Trump’s proposed 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals, on Nine’s Today show.
She says Australia’s pharmaceutical benefits scheme underpins universal health care:
We’ve got a bipartisan approach to our PBS. It underpins our universal health care system. Makes sure no matter who you are in Australia, can access great world-class leading drugs for your family’s health.
But the US seems they’re asking questions about timelines for those clinical trials. So it’s about getting the right deal, not undermining our PBS, but also recognising we’re one of the world leaders in medical research. We’re really good at this stuff.
Key events
The prime minister is appearing alongside the special envoy to combat antisemitism, as she delivers recommendations in response to the arson attack at a Melbourne synagogue.
Anthony Albanese says:
There is no place in Australia for antisemitism. The kind of hatred and violence that we have seen on our streets recently is despicable and it won’t be tolerated and I want those responsible to face the full force of the law.
My government has taken a series of actions to crackdown on anti-Semitism and one of the things that we did last year, a year ago, it was to appoint Jillian Segal as a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism.
Segal says reported incidents of antisemitism increased “over 300%” in a year, including “threats, vandalism, harassment and physical violence”. She is outlining the plan – “an overarching one covering many areas where urgent action is needed”:
It brings structure, priorities and accountability to our national response and it is not a symbolic document. It is an action plan and it addresses anti-Semitism in many places in our laws, classrooms, universities, media, workplaces, online spaces and public institutions. It calls on government and society and leaders to support the initiatives. In addition to measures to counter antisemitism, there is also the positive side that it looks at and that is increasing the vibrancy of Jewish life.
Missing teen found safe following land and water search around Wooli Beach
A 19-year-old has been found safe on a small island off the northern NSW coast after going missing yesterday.
Darcy Deefholts’ family were “fearing for the worst”, his father, Terry, said in an urgent post to Facebook calling for rescue help last night.
The 19-year-old left his home in Wooli on a bike about 2.30pm yesterday, heading towards Wooli beach, NSW Police said. When he didn’t come home, family contacted police.
“Following a land and water search around Wooli Beach including local police, PolAir, Marine Area Command and Marine Rescue, the man was located safe today on a small island off Wooli,” NSW Police said.
In Terry’s post last night, the teenager’s father called on “anyone with a seaworthy vessel to please meet me at the main Wooli boat ramp and take me to sea to help with the search”. The post continued:
As far as we can tell, Darcy took a cream Malibu surfboard with him to One Tree at Wooli and went for a surf in very small swell some time around 4pm. We think he was wearing a dark rashy.
Of course we are fearing the worst … We are overwhelmed by the community efforts in the search so far. There is only one thing we want now – our beloved boy to be found safe.
In a comment on the post, Terry said it was “encouraging to know the water temp is 20 degrees and survivable”. A friend who worked in rescue advised Terry:
Boats need one to go straight to north-west Solitary island that’s where they found a person last year that got washed out.
Josh Taylor
Judgment in Epic Games’ case against Apple, Google coming this month
The long-awaited judgment for the creator of Fortnite, Epic Games’ case against Apple and Google seeking to allow third-party payment systems and alternative app stores on iOS and Android devices will be delivered in the federal court on 29 July.
The case was heard over four months, finishing almost one year ago.
It comes as Apple is fighting moves in the US and Europe forcing the company to open up its app stores in those regions, and is pushing against Australia adopting EU-style laws locally.
The judgment will probably set into motion where the federal government goes with the proposed regulatory framework, depending on the outcome.
Tom McIlroy
Labor’s aged care reforms risk squeezing out poorer people, industry boss warns
Labor’s changes to Australia’s aged care system risk squeezing out elderly people with limited financial means, an industry leader has warned, as advocates call for action to strengthen the reforms.
Tracey Burton, the chief executive of Uniting NSW.ACT, will use a speech on the future of care for elderly people today to argue that equitable access for poorer Australians remains an unmet promise of changes passed by parliament last year.
Following a royal commission and a taskforce report to the federal government, Labor introduced new rules requiring wealthier people to pay more for their care and boosting access to support services for people who choose to stay in their own home.
Residents who can afford to pay for their own care do so using a payment known as a refundable accommodation deposit (RAD). The average RAD is $470,000, with the lump sum refunded to family members when a resident dies.
Elderly people whose care is paid for by the government rely on a supported accommodation supplement, worth $70 per day.
Burton told Guardian Australia the significant difference in value acts as a strong disincentive for homes to accept supported residents.
“If you’ve got one bed left, it is going to be a difficult financial decision for them,” she said.
Read the full story:
More from Domain and Pepper Money’s latest rental market update
For units, Sydney remains the most expensive places to rent, with median asking prices sitting at $740 and a 2.1% increase recorded in the June quarter.
Brisbane and Perth are tied as the second-most pricey cities for apartment-dwellers, though the Queensland capital had experienced a slower quarter of growth compared with its counterpart in Western Australia.
Perth has also rocketed up the rankings of expensive places to rent a house, now equal with Canberra in second place – after Sydney – with a median asking rent of $700.
Even with tenants maxed out price wise and landlords no longer in a position to keep hiking, vacancies are still hovering below 2% across the board.
“It is still a landlords’ market,” Domain’s chief of research and economics, Nicola Powell said.
“Across all of our major capital cities, vacancy rates still remains high – they’re just moving away from the pressure-cooker dynamics.”
– Australian Associated Press
Read more from our business editor, Jonathan Barrett:
Affordability ‘tipping point’ nudges renters into units
Renters have been pressed against affordability limits for some time and with no more to give, market rents for capital city houses have held unchanged for a year.
The stabilisation in median asking rents follows years of fast growth that peaked in the early phases of the pandemic as borders reopened.
Since March 2020, house rents across combined capitals have climbed 47.7% and 44.4% for units.
The latest rental market update from online real estate platform Domain and lender Pepper Money reveals flatlining house rents across all capital cities except Darwin.
Market rents for units have been growing more quickly, in a development Domain’s chief of research and economics, Nicola Powell, said was indicative of tenants feeling the squeeze.
“They’re looking for more affordable locations and more affordable property types, or even going into house shares,” she told AAP.
Cost-of-living pressures have reached a tipping point.
Median asking rents for units, typically a more affordable property option, had increased 3.2% in the past year.
The stronger growth across units compared to houses was also probably a reflection of increasing demand for inner-city living, Powell explained, as more businesses now demand at least some in-office days.
“That shifts where that rental demand pressure is going, you know, it’s not now in regional and outer city suburbs”.
– Australian Associated Press
More in the next post.
‘We’ve got a bipartisan approach to our PBS’, says Nationals senator
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie responded to US president Donald Trump’s proposed 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals, on Nine’s Today show.
She says Australia’s pharmaceutical benefits scheme underpins universal health care:
We’ve got a bipartisan approach to our PBS. It underpins our universal health care system. Makes sure no matter who you are in Australia, can access great world-class leading drugs for your family’s health.
But the US seems they’re asking questions about timelines for those clinical trials. So it’s about getting the right deal, not undermining our PBS, but also recognising we’re one of the world leaders in medical research. We’re really good at this stuff.
Surprise rate hold another blow for consumer confidence
Fresh data shows soft consumer spending is taking longer than expected to recover and won’t be helped by the Reserve Bank’s surprise decision not to cut interest rates.
Household spending grew 0.3% in June, according to the Commonwealth Bank’s latest household spending insights index released on Thursday.
Spending in the communications and digital category rose 1% (likely supported by the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, which sold 3.5m units globally in its first four days, becoming the Japanese gaming giant’s fastest-selling piece of hardware). But spending growth across all categories was down from the 0.4% rise in May, despite more consumers benefiting from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 20 May interest rate cut.
“This recovery is taking longer than expected to occur but there are green shoots emerging,” the CBA senior economist, Belinda Allen, said.
Spending around sales events and new items show consumers are still deliberate on their spending decisions.
At the same time, there remains a clear preference to save and pay down debt.
Data released by the bank showed just one in 10 mortgage holders reduced their repayments after the May rate cut.
Published consumer sentiment surveys this year have shown households are taking time to regain confidence, with global uncertainty adding to scarring caused by the reduction in disposable incomes during the recent inflation spike.
CBA still expects the central bank to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in August, with another reduction tipped for November, but Tuesday’s surprise hold will do little to boost spirits.
“While we still anticipate a pick-up in household spending in 2025, a slower rate-cutting cycle could soften this recovery over the remainder of the year,” Allen said.
– Australian Associated Press
Telstra’s proposed cut of more than 500 jobs ‘not a result of our adoption of AI’
Yesterday the telco told employees “we are proposing a net reduction of around 550 roles from across the organisation,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
These changes are largely driven by the ongoing reset of our Telstra Enterprise business, as well as improvements to the structure and processes of other teams across our organisation, to reduce complexity, create efficiencies, and respond to changing customer needs.
If the reduction goes ahead, Telstra says it will “work with the people in the roles that are no longer required to seek to help them find another role at Telstra”.
If that’s not possible and they end up leaving Telstra, they’ll have access to our redundancy package and a range of support services.
The spokesperson says “the changes proposed to our team are not a result of our adoption of AI”.
Read more from our technology reporter, Josh Taylor, who reported in May that the telco is expecting to shrink its workforce by 2030, with “AI efficiencies” potentially coming through customer service, software development and the use of autonomous AI agents:
Special envoy to combat antisemitism to present recommendations this morning
Alex Ryvchin says the Executive Council of Australian Jewry “look forward to seeing” recommendations to the government from the special envoy to combat antisemitism, to be presented later this morning, in response to the arson attack at a Melbourne synagogue.
Jillian Segal is expected to appear alongside prime minister Anthony Albanese at an event today to present the recommendations.
Ryvchin, the co-CEO of the council, spoke to ABC TV:
Jillian Segal is someone who consulted widely, broadly with stakeholders and community groups, in formulating a strategy which she said she would do when she was first appointed as envoy. She’s previously spoken about the things that are important to her to get us back to where we need to be as a society and a country. Predominantly, better education, better enforcement and better engagement between Jewish and non-Jewish Australians.
More on landmark ruling finding Russia shot down MH17 with 38 Australians on board
Earlier in the blog we brought you news that judges at Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Russia was responsible for widespread violations of international law, from shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014 to the murder, torture, rape, destruction of civilian infrastructure and kidnapping of Ukrainian children after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of 2022.
Reading the decisions in a packed courtroom in Strasbourg, the court’s president, Mattias Guyomar, said Russian forces engaged in “manifestly unlawful” conduct in the July 2014 attack on the flight. The court said in a statement:
The court agreed that the evidence suggested that the missile had been intentionally fired at flight MH17 most likely in the mistaken belief that it had been a military aircraft.
It was not necessary for the court to decide exactly who had fired the missile, since Russia was responsible for the acts of the Russian armed forces and of the armed separatists.
The court accepted the evidence of the Dutch government that a Buk-Telar [missile system] acting alone could not distinguish between military and civilian aircraft.
The court found that no measures had been taken by Russia to accurately identify military targets, in breach of the principles of distinction and precautions.