Australia news as it happened: Joe Biden to host PM for official US visit; Coalition pushes nuclear energy plan

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Australia news as it happened: Joe Biden to host PM for official US visit; Coalition pushes nuclear energy plan

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Today’s headlines

By Angus Thomson

This is where we will leave our live coverage for today, thanks for following.

Here’s some of what was making headlines throughout Thursday:

  • The White House announced US President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an official visit, which will include a state dinner, on October 25.
  • Labor’s plan to introduce 60-day prescriptions for 320 common medicines will go ahead after the Coalition failed in its attempt to block its passage through the senate, with the first tranche of drugs to be available for longer scripts on September 1.
  • China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry lifted its ban on group tourism to Australia after a three-year hiatus and a $500 million-a-year hit to the Australian tourism industry, despite threats of a long-term boycott.
  • The official portrait of former prime minister Kevin Rudd was unveiled at Parliament House in Canberra, marking his time as the country’s leader. The painting, by renowned artist Ralph Heimans, shows Rudd working at his Sunshine Coast home, surrounded by books and his collection of Chinese crockery.
  • And the Australian government updated its advice for citizens travelling to Hawaii after fires fanned by winds of a distant hurricane scorched parts of Hawaii’s Big Island and devastated much of the resort city Lahaina on Maui. The fires have so far claimed at least 36 lives.

Thanks again for following along. Caroline Schelle will be back bright and early with all the morning’s news.

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Australian government updates travel advice for Hawaii

By Angus Thomson

The Australian government has updated its advice for citizens travelling to Hawaii after fires fanned by winds of a distant hurricane scorched parts of Hawaii’s Big Island and devastated much of the resort city Lahaina on Maui.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Smart Traveller website is asking travellers to consider changing their travel plans to avoid affected areas.

It also recommends travellers contact their travel operator or accommodation provider to check that it is not currently impacted, follow the advice of authorities and monitor local media for updates.

Acknowledging that it can be “frightening to see an emergency unfold in a place your family member or friend is travelling”, the Department asked family and friends back home in Australia not to panic if they are having trouble contacting a family member.

“If you can’t make contact at first, be patient and keep trying. Remember that phone networks may be overloaded.”

Markets wrap: Energy stocks power ASX after Wall Street slide

By Millie Muroi

The Australian sharemarket lifted on Thursday as energy and consumer companies bolstered the index following a negative lead from Wall Street overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 19.4 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7357.4 at the close even as information technology and utilities companies dropped.

The ASX was up at the close of trade today.

The ASX was up at the close of trade today. Credit: Wayne Taylor

Coal miners were among the biggest large-cap advancers as Whitehaven gained 4.3 per cent and Yancoal added 4.8 per cent. Heavyweights Woodside (up 1.9 per cent) and Santos (up 2.6 per cent) also advanced after Brent Crude oil prices lifted 1.6 per cent, with the broader energy sector lifting 2.3 per cent.

Information technology (down 1.8 per cent) was the weakest sector on the local bourse as Xero (down 3.7 per cent), WiseTech (down 1 per cent) and TechnologyOne (down 0.9 per cent) dropped.

Read the full wrap from Millie Muroi here.

Collared dingo bites woman on K’gari in latest island attack

By Felicity Caldwell

A dingo fitted with a tracking collar has bitten a woman on K’gari in the latest in a string of attacks on the Queensland island.

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is investigating two incidents on Thursday on K’gari, previously known as Fraser island, involving two collared dingoes.

A dingo has attacked a woman on K’gari. File image.

A dingo has attacked a woman on K’gari. File image.Credit: iStock

One dingo lunged at a woman and was scared off by another member of the group, but within minutes began stalking a second woman on the island’s eastern side, approaching her from behind.

The victim fell as she turned and was bitten on the thigh. Rangers rushed to her aid before the woman declined further treatment.

The attacks are the latest in a string of dangerous encounters on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island. A dingo was euthanised last month after separate attacks on a female jogger and a six-year-old girl.

Read more from Felicity Caldwell here.

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Alarm sounds on insurance as Australia’s natural disaster risk surges

By Clancy Yeates

Global insurer QBE has warned that Australia and New Zealand have become riskier countries in the eyes of reinsurers, which help insurance companies manage risk, after a recent run of costly natural disasters.

Reinsurers play a vital role in the market by allowing consumer-facing insurance companies to offload some of their risk, which limits the financial hit from a major event such as a natural disaster. Recently, however, the cost of reinsurance has increased significantly, and this is feeding into higher premiums.

Flooding in New Zealand  this year was one of the country’s worth catastrophes for insurers on record.

Flooding in New Zealand this year was one of the country’s worth catastrophes for insurers on record.Credit: AP

At QBE’s half-year results on Thursday, chief executive Andrew Horton said reinsurers had in recent times judged this part of the world be riskier – a trend that has also been raised by domestic-focused insurance companies.

Australia’s insurance sector has been recovering from a run of disasters, and the east-coast floods of early 2022 were the most expensive insurance event in the nation’s history, surpassing the previous record held by a 1999 Sydney hail storm.

Read the full story from Clancy Yeates here.

Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting calls on reclusive heiress to front court

By Jesinta Burton

In case you missed it, reclusive mining heiress Angela Bennett could be forced to explain her absence in a multibillion-dollar mining royalties battle with mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting in the West Australian Supreme Court.

Hancock Prospecting’s lawyer Noel Hutley, SC, requested an explanation for Bennett’s absence on Thursday after producing a flurry of documents he claimed rendered Wright Prospecting’s claim to a stake in the royalties flowing out of Hancock’s Hope Downs iron ore mine “hopeless”.

The descendants of mining pioneers Lang Hancock and Peter Wright have been pitted against each other for decades.

The descendants of mining pioneers Lang Hancock and Peter Wright have been pitted against each other for decades.Credit: Graphic: Stephen Kiprillis.

For 13 years, the descendants of Peter Wright have insisted that under a 1980s partnership deal, they gained an interest in the Hope Downs asset the mining pioneer discovered alongside school friend-turned-business partner Lang Hancock.

But Hutley said memorandums exchanged between several high-ranking Wright Prospecting senior executives, Peter’s son Michael Wright, and daughter Angela Bennett in 1989 indicated they knew they had no interest in it.

Read the full story from Jesinta Burton in the WA Supreme Court here.

China allows tour groups back into Australia

By Nick Ralston

China has lifted its ban on group tourism to Australia that was imposed during the pandemic in a move that is expected to give a major boost to local tourism.

China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry made the announcement on Thursday, also lifting the ban on group tours to Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany and Britain.

A guide points out the sights of Sydney to a group of Chinese tourists.

A guide points out the sights of Sydney to a group of Chinese tourists.Credit: Bloomberg

The news was welcomed by China’s outbound travel operators, which have struggled since 2020 with more than three years of pandemic-induced border closures before China finally dropped COVID-19 curbs late last year.

“It’s a milestone for the full resumption of the outbound travel, and will also strongly push the resumption of international flights,” said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager at Spring Tour, the travel arm of Shanghai-based Spring Group told Reuters.

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It is the third list released of destinations for outbound group tourism following approvals in January and March this year. The first batch included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina, while the second included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal, Brazil.

Tourism Minister Don Farrell said this was “another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China”.

He said before the pandemic, China was the largest and most valuable inbound traveller market.

“Australia remains a premium tourism destination for Chinese travellers, and we are looking forward to welcoming back group tours,” he said in a statement.

With Reuters

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Labor succeeds in senate motion about blocking its own policy

By Natassia Chrysanthos

Labor was successful in bringing a vote on the Coalition’s disallowance motion to block 60-day scripts.

It was settled in the government’s favour, 33 to 28, meaning the policy will take effect on September 1 before there can be further challenges.

As we explained below: yes, the government brought a motion to block its own policy.

It did so to stop the motion sitting on the senate agenda, where the Coalition could raise it again on the next sitting day.

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Opposition Senator Anne Ruston – who first raised the disallowance and has urged the government to delay the 60-day start date so it can negotiate more with pharmacies – said the government had pulled a stunt.

“What we have just seen is quite extraordinary. We’ve had the government move a disallowance motion on their own policy,” she said. “We’ve just seen the most breathtaking doubling down on their own arrogance.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the situation, which has gone back-and-forth since yesterday afternoon, as a “farce” in question time.

‘A preposterous situation’: Prescription chaos returns to the senate

By Natassia Chrysanthos

In a continuation of the chaos that has consumed parliament today over 60-day prescription reforms, the policy is now back in the senate.

This time, Labor is seeking to bring forward the Coalition’s disallowance motion (which would block the policy) itself.

This would force a vote on whether to block the policy, in which Labor has the numbers to succeed, and stop the Coalition from bringing the disallowance debate back when parliament resumes in September.

Coalition Senator Simon Birmingham asks whether this means that “a Labor senator is now moving a motion to disallow the government’s own policy?”

To which the answer is yes.

He says it is “quite an extraordinary and a preposterous situation”.

Albanese visit will bolster ‘deep and enduring’ alliance: US Embassy

The United States Embassy in Australia has issued a statement after the White House that President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an official visit in October.

“The visit will underscore the deep and enduring Alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations’ shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” the statement read.

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