As it happened: Unemployment rate holds steady; Pressure on RBA after US cuts interest rates

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• The world’s most important central bank, the US Federal Reserve, has cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point, jolting financial and commodity markets while putting pressure on Australia’s Reserve Bank to bring forward its own plans for rate relief.

• Foreign Minister Penny Wong has expressed regret that Australia was unable to vote for a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza within a year, saying the nation’s diplomats had tried and failed to redraft the motion to make it less contentious.

• The Australian unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent in August in line with consensus expectations, data released today showed.

• In NSW, the Minns government will make travel free on trains this weekend in a bid to pressure the rail union to drop work bans, which will disrupt transport services to sporting events and threatens to delay the conversion of a rail line to metro train standards.

• In Victoria, a driver who was in the grips of a hypoglycaemic episode when he careered into diners outside a Daylesford hotel, killing five people, will not face trial, a magistrate today ruled.

• In Queensland, Premier Steven Miles has doubled down on his controversial plan for a no-frills Olympic stadium, while accusing an “Olympic big wig” of bullying the LNP into opposing the proposal.

• In Western Australia, two teenage boys have been arrested over a series of homophobic attacks on men that had been lured to a meeting point via a dating app.

• In business news, the Australian sharemarket closed at a record high today as the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut showed an era of monetary easing has begun.

• In international news, 20 more people were killed and hundreds were wounded when walkie-talkies in Lebanon began mysteriously exploding overnight – a day after booby-trapped pagers detonated in a stunning suspected Israeli attack on Hezbollah operatives.

Thanks for your company. Have a good night.

A prominent economist has warned allowing first home buyers to use their super to purchase a home would be “one of the worst policy decisions of the last six decades”.

Independent economist Saul Eslake has said he fears policies from both sides of politics could make the housing crisis worse.

Saul Eslake addressing the National Press Club in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Eslake said the opposition’s Super Home Buyer scheme would be “a thoroughly bad idea”.

“We have 60 years of history that tells us unequivocally and unambiguously that anything that allows Australians to spend more on housing than they otherwise would results in more expensive housing, not in higher homeowner rates,” Eslake told Australian Associated Press.

In a report for the Super Members Council released today, Eslake says allowing Australians to raid their superannuation accounts to buy a home would also make it harder for low-income earners to own a home, reduce retirement incomes and lead to significant long-term budget costs.

Earlier this week, this masthead revealed a Coalition-commissioned Parliamentary Budget Office report found the policy would save $2.7 billion from the budget by 2034-35 by reducing the cost of Commonwealth Assistance.

But today, Eslake said this was misleading as the PBO was unable to consider that the policy would result in less tax gained from super and higher payments to the aged pension.

He put it up there with some of the “dumbest” policy decisions of his lifetime, including John Howard’s raising of the capital gains discount to 50 per cent in 1999.

Eslake also criticised Labor’s Help to Buy scheme, which allows first home buyers access to cheaper deposits through shared equity. He said it would also increase house prices by fuelling demand.

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

The Australian sharemarket soared to new heights on Thursday and finished at a record, despite a midday wobble that saw it lose its morning-session gains.

The S&P/ASX 200 breached 8200 points in afternoon trading before retreating slightly to close up 49.8 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 8191.9.

Six of the 11 industry sectors advanced. Utilities and mining posted the biggest gains, while industrials and healthcare stocks led declines.

The record close came after the US Federal Reserve delivered a whopper interest rate cut in an attempt to bolster the world’s largest economy, and local jobs data showed the Australian unemployment rate held steady.

Australia’s mining heavyweights pushed the sector to the top of the local bourse, with BHP climbing 2.6 per cent, Rio Tinto jumping 3.5 per cent and Fortescue up 1.2 per cent.

Laboratory testing company ALS plummeted 8.6 per cent after it issued a profit warning. Toll road operator Atlas Arteria lost 3.6 per cent after announcing its dividend distribution.

Read the full market wrap here.

Coles has rejected a shareholder push to abandon the sale of salmon from a remote harbour where an ancient species is at risk of extinction.

Earlier this month, ahead of its annual general meeting in November, more than 120 shareholders proposed a resolution in defence of the ancient Maugean skate, which has been hurt by the effects of salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

Coles will hold its AGM in November this year.Credit: Steven Siewert

The harbour is the only place on earth where the skate exists and recent estimates have suggested there could be just 40 to 120 adults left in the wild.

Shareholders warned Coles “faces material risks through association with a likely extinction event of the Maugean skate” and that the ongoing sale of salmon from the harbour threatens the animal’s existence.

But the retailer says the board will not be supporting a resolution to dump Macquarie Harbour salmon from Coles own-brand products by April.

In a notice about its AGM, published today, Coles says only a portion of its own-brand salmon comes from Macquarie Harbour.

It says it would be inappropriate to act while there is a federal government review underway into salmon farming in the harbour, and while other work is pending including a fresh look at population projections.

“Coles is monitoring these government processes closely. We will consider any recommendations and adapt to any regulatory changes as they arise as part of our regular reviews of our procurement policies,” it said.

AAP

Negotiations to resume Australia’s lobster trade with China are proceeding at a crawling pace as Beijing makes more demands of the industry.

China alleged Australian lobsters were contaminated – which Canberra denied – and the hurdle remains a point of contention within the trading relationship.

Rock lobster producers are hopeful a ban on exports to China could be lifted.Credit: Jessica Hromas

Beijing has flagged stifling restrictions on lobsters including strict monitoring, testing and auditing rules.

Australia’s agriculture department has submitted a response to Chinese counterparts about their technical concerns over lobster imports following discussions.

Lobster farmers are loathe to speak publicly about the restrictions because of the sensitivities of the negotiations.

Minister for Trade Don Farrell.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Australian officials are set to head to Beijing for talks in the coming week and the treasurer is visiting soon after.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said the Chinese have “their own way of processing all of these issues” and removing the embargo was taking longer than Australia would have liked.

“We’ve always responded to every request by the Chinese ... and we continue to do that,” he said.

The Chinese embassy in Australia was contacted for comment.

AAP

Senator Tim Ayres says the federal government “will make some judgments about the best approach” when parliament returns and Labor’s Help to Buy scheme faces a Senate blockade again.

Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing in the last hour, Ayers ultimately graded the Senate-only sitting week as a “C minus” but began by lamenting the government’s shared equity scheme being stalled.

Senator Tim Ayres in the Senate on Tuesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s a pretty disappointing week – disappointing particularly for young Australian families that want to buy a home,” Ayres said.

The assistant minister for trade said the Greens and Coalition had engaged in “self-indulgent bludging”.

“It’s just hyper-partisanship and student politics. People who want to do student politics should enrol in a course at university. It is always embarrassing, the mature age student who gets involved in student politics.”

Afternoon Briefing host Greg Jennett asked whether Labor could alter the Help to Buy bill to get it through the Senate, saying that during question time Penny Wong had referred to a reintroduction of a second version.

Ayres responded: “Well, we’ll make some judgments about the best approach. I haven’t been taken to those issues. We are on the sides of young people who want to buy a home.”

The prime minister is being urged to follow through on a push to ban gambling ads after appearing to soften his rhetoric on the issue.

Pressure is mounting on the federal government to carry on the legacy of Labor’s late anti-gambling advocate Peta Murphy and implement a total ban on gambling ads. But Anthony Albanese continues to rebuff those calls, insisting a blanket prohibition is not the “bold” move others claim it is.

“The problem isn’t advertising, the problem is gambling,” he told ABC radio today. “The easy option is just to [ban ads] and not worry about the consequences for sporting codes, junior sport, the media.”

Independent Senator David Pocock said the prime minister was missing the point.

“This is about banning advertising so gambling stops being normalised for children,” he told AAP. “Kevin Rudd had the guts as prime minister to take on Big Tobacco and legislate plain packaging. Anthony Albanese needs to show the same courage here and ban gambling advertising.”

In August, Mr Albanese said the status quo on gambling ads was “completely unacceptable” and vowed further reforms.

But Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has accused the prime minister of walking back his position further with his latest comments.

“He’s dead wrong, and it is extremely disappointing to see him backtracking,” she told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

The Greens plan to introduce legislation in the Senate to ban gambling advertising across the board.

“We can debate this bill, we can get the laws changed and we can make it happen,” Senator Hanson-Young said. “The prime minister doesn’t have the guts to act.”

AAP

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has again refused to explain when, where and who he apologised to after pointing to Lebanese Muslims as “mistakes” of Australian immigration policy, instead saying the issue was an obsession of “a couple of left-wing journalists”.

In August, this masthead reported five Lebanese Muslim community leaders couldn’t remember the opposition leader saying sorry – as he claimed to have done – for singling them out in parliament after declaring the Fraser government had made mistakes in immigration policy in the 1970s.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

“The advice that I have is that, out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 are from second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds,” Dutton said in November 2016.

Last year, in an episode of the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet, journalist Annabel Crabb put to Dutton that those remarks were racist. “They’re comments that I shouldn’t have made,” he replied.

“I have apologised for that.”

Earlier this week, this masthead reported Liberal councillor Hassan Awada, a Lebanese Muslim and former deputy mayor in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, said he couldn’t remember Dutton’s apology either. Mazhar Hadid, a Liberal serving on Liverpool Council in Sydney’s south, also said: “Mate, we never heard that.”

In a press conference in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove earlier today, Dutton was asked about this masthead’s story and when he made the apology he claims.

“Well, look, there are a couple of left-wing journalists who are obsessed on this issue,” Dutton said.

“So it’s not something I’m going to further comment on. I had a conversation. And I had that discussion. I’m not going to betray that conversation with a senior person, who it was in the community at the time. The Sydney Morning Herald can obsess about that all they like.”

A journalist pointed out Mazhar Hadid, a councillor from Dutton’s own party, wanted to know when the Liberal leader had apologised. But Dutton shut down the topic. “I’ve made the comment,” he said.

Early childhood education advocates back key recommendations aimed at improving childcare accessibility for low-income families, but the Coalition has warned it could lead to surging taxes.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A Productivity Commission report, released on Wednesday, urged fully funding childcare for families earning up to $80,000, as well as households with multiple children under five that earn less than $140,000. The report also called for an activity test for parents to receive the childcare subsidy to be dumped, with the commission forecasting early childhood attendance would increase by 10 per cent.

Speaking in Cairns earlier today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would take time to consider the report. “But I make it very clear that I want to see universal access to affordable childcare,” he said.

But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said support had to be given in a “structured way” that doesn’t drive up taxes or impact economic competitiveness.

“Ultimately activity testing is about ensuring that places and funding are going to people who are working, looking for work or studying, not people who don’t need those places,” he told reporters today.

Commenting on the proposal of free childcare, Dutton said at a press conference in Queensland this morning: “Well, I mean, everyone’s in favour of providing support, but we need to understand where the money is coming from. What taxes will increase?”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor was yet to commit to making universal childcare an election pledge.

AAP with Lachlan Abbott

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has claimed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and the Coalition “created the housing crisis” as the Senate skirmish over Labor’s housing schemes continued today.

Early in Senate question time this hour, Labor senator Nita Green asked Wong a Dorothy Dixer about the federal government’s housing proposals, which gave the foreign minister another chance to hammer the opposition and the Greens for blocking a vote on the federal government’s Help to Buy scheme this week.

Leader of the government in the Senate Penny Wong arrives for question time on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“They’ve offered no help, no plans for people struggling – just more negativity,” Wong said of the opposition.

“And then they cuddle up to the Greens to help push urgent housing reforms down the track. Remember, president, these delays were deliberately engineered by Mr Bandt’s Greens party and Mr Dutton’s Liberal Party.

“They were deliberately engineered because they don’t care that it means that Australians on low and middle incomes now have to wait longer to buy a house. It doesn’t affect them so it doesn’t matter to them.

“Mr Dutton and the Liberals created the housing crisis. The Albanese government is trying to fix it, and the Liberals and the Greens are deliberately getting in the way.”

The Greens are holding out for cuts to tax breaks on investment properties as a key condition for their support for the Help to Buy scheme, which would allow the government to contribute up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home, or 30 per cent for an existing home, for up to 10,000 selected applicants each financial year.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has said he still wants to negotiate with Labor to pass legislation, but said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was displaying “sheer arrogance” in refusing to budge. The minor party has also argued Labor’s Help to Buy plan doesn’t tackle the true causes of unaffordable housing and doesn’t help most people who don’t own a home.

In question time today, Senator Nick McKim reiterated the Greens’ criticism of Labor as having a “bulldozer approach” to the Senate.