Australia news as it happened: Indigenous leaders’ lash ‘shameful victory’ of No campaign; PM to meet Joe Biden in US

Thank you for joining me on the national news blog this afternoon. I’m Caitlin Fitzsimmons and I’m signing off now.

For those just catching up, here are the main headlines this afternoon:

• The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress has released a statement on the failed Voice referendum, saying No campaigners “permitted racism to run wild”.
• Former US president Donald Trump condemns ‘fake news’ about his meetings with
  “red-haired weirdo” Anthony Pratt.
• Snowy Hydro rejects cover-up accusation over $6 billion blow out.
• Eleven people from an intercepted boat are now in offshore detention in Nauru.
• Junior public servants at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts allegedly ranked their female colleagues on a “hotties list”.

Our websites will continue to be updated throughout the evening, and my colleague Caroline Schelle will be back with the blog bright and early tomorrow.

Staying with economic news, petrol prices have jumped more than 7 per cent in three months as volatility in oil markets and the weakening Australian dollar threatens to keep up prices.

Motorists have been commonly paying more than $2 a litre, though the average price as measured by the Australian Institute of Petroleum dipped just below last week.

The decision of oil-producing countries to slash supply, the war in Ukraine and the weaker Australian dollar have been keeping pressure on fuel prices.

Many motorists have been paying more than $2 a litre for petrol.Credit: James Davies

Fuel price pain is expected to add a quarter of a percentage point to the September quarter consumer price index.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East is also expected to keep pushing up global oil prices, though this won’t be captured in the September inflation data.

The inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be closely scrutinised ahead of the Reserve Bank’s November interest rate meeting.

A set of numbers that threaten the RBA’s expected timeline to bring inflation down to target by mid-2025 could tip the central bank towards further tightening.

AAP

The Australian sharemarket closed at a one-year low today, starting the week on the back foot as investors followed a poor lead from Wall Street, which on Friday ended its worst week in a month.

The Australian dollar was fetching US63.12¢ at 4.30pm.Credit: James Davies

The S&P/ASX200 was down 56.6 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 6844.1 at the close as all sectors except consumer stocks and healthcare traded in the red.

The Australian dollar was fetching US63.12¢ about 4.30pm AEDT.

Millie Muroi has the full report.

Former US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the story about his dealings with Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, calling it “fake news” and describing Pratt as “a red-haired weirdo from Australia”.

A joint investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes uncovered separate audio recordings of the billionaire talking about his relationship with “mafia”-like Donald Trump and his claim of a $1 million payment to Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Donald Trump and Anthony Pratt at Pratt Industries’ box factory in Ohio in 2019.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

After recent allegations Trump had leaked classified US submarine fleet details to Pratt, the covert recordings reveal the billionaire claimed the former president also disclosed non-public details about US military action in Iraq and a private conversation with Iraq’s leader.

Trump did not respond to an inquiry from this masthead for comment but took to his Truth social platform to attack The New York Times′ reporting of the tapes.

“The Failing New York Times story … about a red-haired weirdo from Australia, named Anthony Pratt, is Fake News,” he wrote.

“I never spoke to him about Submarines, but I did speak to him about creating jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, because that’s what I’m all about – jobs, a great economy, low taxes, no inflation, energy dominance, strong borders, no endless wars, low interest rates, and much more.”

Read the full story here.

The recriminations from the failed Voice referendum continue, with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress releasing a strongly worded statement this afternoon saying the No campaigners “gave permission for racism to run wild”.

The organisation notes the proposal to enshrine a First Nations Voice to parliament in the Constitution was initially well received, with two out of three Australians in favour of it a year ago.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress office in Alice Springs.Credit: Kate Geraghty

But, the statement says, “the deliberate strategy of deception and misinformation adopted by prominent No campaigners turned many previously good-willed people against us”.

In doing so, they gave permission for racism to run wild.

Given the result of the referendum and the conduct of the No campaign, there are now serious questions about whether reconciliation is still a viable strategy in Australia.

Nevertheless, one thing remains certain: sooner or later the nation state must deal with the enduring fact of Aboriginal sovereignty.

In the meantime, our struggle for equality, justice and self-determination will continue.

The congress is a support and advocacy organisation for Aboriginal justice and equity and the largest Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation in the Northern Territory.

The statement notes that Aboriginal people overwhelmingly supported the Voice. About 75 per cent of voters in remote areas of the Northern Territory voted Yes and some Aboriginal communities recorded Yes votes of over 90 per cent.

The statement says the Voice would have made Australia a fairer and more inclusive nation and the result was a setback for Aboriginal people and for the nation as a whole.

Our peoples have faced many setbacks before.

But we are still here.

Resilience in the face of adversity is part of who we are.

In the face of this result, Aboriginal people – with the support of our non-Indigenous brothers and sisters – will stand strong and support each other as we have always done.

The congress, on behalf of its board of directors, thanked everyone in Central Australia and across the country who voted Yes, and expressed appreciation and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates who drafted the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The statement follows an official response from Indigenous leaders who supported the Voice to parliament released yesterday after the end of the week of silence to grieve the outcome. This said the “majority of Australians have committed a shameful act whether knowingly or not”.

Returning to this afternoon’s senate estimates, Commonwealth-owned corporation Snowy Hydro stands accused of covering up delays to the $12 billion Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project.

In October 2022, giant tunnel-boring machine Florence halted when it hit soft ground, less than 100 metres into its work, and became stuck fast in a sinkhole underneath Kosciuszko National Park.

The Snowy 2.0 project is one of the largest renewable energy developments in the country.Credit: James Brickwood

Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes told a Senate hearing in May this year that he expected the machine to get moving again within weeks.

However, Florence the machine is still stuck. Today Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts asked why the Albanese government was allowing Snowy to mislead the Senate.

“It seems on the face of it that this is government misinformation covering up a massive failure,” Roberts said.

Assistant Climate Change and Energy Minister, Senator Jenny McAllister, asked Barnes to respond. Barnes told the Senate hearing that he did not intend to mislead but was overly optimistic.

“I said weeks, not months,” Barnes said, recalling the timeframe he gave in May for Florence to crank up again.

“I should have said months, not weeks. It wasn’t a mistake, it was my optimism at the time.

“What I underestimated was the process to go through given the sinkhole that formed in December is just outside our construction boundary.”

The cost of Snowy 2.0 was nearly doubled in August, going from $6 billion to $12 billion.

Barnes has said the project was rushed from inception, contributing to initial delays and cost increases because of overly optimistic plans. Costs also rose because of global inflation and COVID-19 raising the costs of labour and steel.

Back to senate estimates, where we’ve heard that junior public servants allegedly created a “hotties list” ranking their female co-workers.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts received an allegation that male members of the 36-strong graduate cohort had assembled the list earlier this year.

The rumour of the list began circulating on March 30, the department received further advice on it over the next few months, and on May 19 it received a written complaint.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie in a senate committee hearing last month.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked about the matter by Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, department secretary Jim Betts called it a “degrading list of women which assessed them by their so-called ‘hotness’, which is a disgusting phrase”.

“We were unable to substantiate the existence of such a list - which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means that we were unable to substantiate it,” he told the committee.

No one has been fired over the list, but Betts said the workplace had talked to the graduates about their expectations and requirements.

The new intake were brought on board in February and had received training on the Australian Public Service value system before a session on respect at work in April.

Betts said the cohort was two-thirds male and one-third female and the department had “learnt some lessons” and would ensure gender balance in its graduate program in future. The department overall is 60 per cent female and senior executive services is 52 per cent female, he said.

The department will disclose more information about harassment and bullying complaints as part of a whole-of-government process on November 29.

AAP

The stereotypical “Melbourne black” was relegated to the back row on the opening day of fashion week, where the clouds over the city were the only place that grey was trending.

Melbourne Fashion Week, a consumer event put on by the City of Melbourne, began on Monday with a resort runway on the pool deck of the new-ish Le Meridien hotel, and featured homegrown labels including Bul and Joslin, whose cobalt blue pieces offered the crowd a dose of wishful thinking.

Homegrown labels Bul (foreground) and Joslin (dress in background) showcase cobalt blue. The suit is by Dom Bagnato.Credit: Eddie Jim

More optimism came in the form of Yolngu woman Liandra Gaykamangu’s Liandra Swim, and unisex pieces by The Social Studio that included embroidery by Afghani refugees.

With actress and festival ambassador Ayesha Madon in attendance, the runway also scored high marks for diversity.

It follows a report last Friday that a group of more than 12 black models were using the platform of Melbourne Fashion Week to stage a runway boycott over multiple instances of racism they have experienced across the wider Australian fashion industry.

Indigenous brand Amber Days at Melbourne Fashion Week.Credit: Eddie Jim

In her opening remarks on Monday, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she was “proud of the diversity and representation” the event’s organisers had tried to maintain.

The event also began with Capp paying tribute to Melbourne fashion identity Shiva Singam, who died from a heart attack on October 7, aged 50.

Telecommunications companies have little incentive to expand mobile coverage in rural Australia, and their rapid sale of phone towers could limit better connectivity, the consumer watchdog has found.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been investigating access to mobile towers, and whether roaming can be provided during natural disasters and emergencies.

Telcos often sell their mobile phone towers to third parties.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Rural Australians told the long-running inquiry that mobile coverage was inadequate, and they were concerned it would worsen as regional populations grew.

The inquiry’s report found building more phone towers could improve coverage, but high costs, red tape and low returns meant mobile operators were not incentivised to invest, particularly in remote areas.

The report found that telecommunications companies rapidly sell off their infrastructure and this could limit deals for co-location of mobile services, in which two providers share a tower to improve coverage.

Telstra transferred more than 8000 towers to its part subsidiary, Amplitel. Optus’s parent company sold off many of its towers in several deals, with 4300 sites held under a new entity called Indara Digital Infrastructure. TPG also transferred its towers last year.

The inquiry found temporary mobile roaming was possible during natural disasters and other emergencies, but commercial arrangements would need to be agreed upon.

AAP

Back to Australian news, there are 11 new arrivals on the island of Nauru who are now in immigration detention as part of Australia’s offshore processing regime.

Home Affairs officials speaking at senate estimates this afternoon confirmed that a boat carrying the 11 people was intercepted in September, and those people were transferred to Nauru.

“They’re unauthorised maritime arrivals,” an official said.

Acting Home Affairs boss Stephanie Foster at a previous senate estimates hearing.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Home Affairs representatives said they could not give any more information about the 11 people, including their age, gender and country of origin. They did not reveal whether the 11 people had claimed asylum.

Before September, there were two people on Nauru, but officials said they are not in detention.

Acting Home Affairs boss Stephanie Foster said: “They are in different stages of arrangements with the Nauruan government that meant they were unable to leave Nauru earlier this year.”

In total there are 13 people on Nauru in relation to Australia’s offshore processing system.

There was $400 million allocated in the 2023-24 budget for maintaining Australia’s offshore management, an official said.