Australia news as it happened: Chalmers rules out negotiating PBS as pharma tariffs loom; Telstra confirms hundreds of jobs to be axed; two major childcare providers announce installation of CCTV

Thanks for following our live blog – that’s a wrap for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

Here’s a quick recap of today’s top stories:

• US President Donald Trump has proposed a 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceutical imports, giving companies a year to relocate their operations to the US. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out using the PBS in negotiations, while Deputy Opposition Leader Ted O’Brien criticised the government for “failing to act” in response to the proposed changes.
• Nearly 6 million Qantas frequent flyer accounts were compromised in a cyberattack, exposing personal details, including phone numbers, food preferences and membership tiers.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would not be changed.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

• Two major childcare providers, G8 Education and Affinity Education, have announced they will install CCTV at all centres and let parents choose who changes their child’s nappies, as the childcare sector scrambles to bolster safety protocols.
• Telstra confirmed it will cut hundreds of jobs this week under a new five-year plan focused on AI and cost-cutting.
• An Affinity Education childcare worker in NSW has pleaded not guilty to nine child sex abuse charges. Meanwhile, Victorian childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, who last week was charged with 70 sex offences against eight children in his care, including child rape, also worked at multiple childcare centres owned by Affinity Education.
• Environment Minister Murray Watt will travel to the UNESCO headquarters in France to lobby for the Murujuga rock art landscape in Western Australia to be listed as a World Heritage site.

A petroglyph of a spotted quoll, in Murujuga.Credit: Bianca Hall

• Australia’s health regulator is tightening rules for medicinal cannabis after reports of cannabis-induced psychosis cases, ultra-brief consultations and doctors issuing more than 10,000 scripts in six months.
• NSW teacher Joanne Cabban has been identified as the woman whose arm was torn off by a lioness at Queensland’s Darling Downs Zoo.
• The death toll has climbed after catastrophic flash floods in Texas. Over 100 are dead and more than 160 are still missing, with a hotline established for affected families.

Thanks again for joining us. We’ll see you tomorrow for more news from Australia and beyond.

A second major childcare provider that employed an accused child abuser has vowed to install CCTV across all its centres and allow parents to decide who changes their child’s nappies, as for-profit operators scramble to bolster their safety protocols.

On Wednesday, the private equity-owned Affinity Education said it would fast-track the installation of CCTV cameras across more than 250 centres it operates across Australia “to enhance supervision and safety”. Affinity operates more than 100 centres in NSW and 50 in Victoria.

Affinity Education has been owned by Quadrant Private Equity since 2021.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Affinity also announced it would be “seeking parental preference regarding who assists their child with toileting or nappy changes”.

The company’s announcement came less than a day after the embattled childcare provider G8 Education told investors it would roll out CCTV to all of its centres and allow parents to preference which educator changed their child’s nappies, as it responds to mounting pressure from investors since revelations about accused child sex abuser Joshua Dale Brown last Tuesday.

Both Affinity and G8 employed Brown – who was charged with more than 70 offences allegedly involving children he worked with across 20 childcare centres between 2017 and this May – across several of their childcare centres in Victoria.

Read the full story here.

It wasn’t quite the same drama Kiefer Sutherland’s fictional character, Jack Bauer, endures in the TV series 24, but Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson has just had her own little adventure tackling cybercriminals.

Ten days ago, while holidaying with her family in Greece, Hudson received the call from a senior executive holding down the fort in Australia. It was an early morning call for Hudson, and the news was grim.

Qantas’ system had been breached by cybercriminals. It was the first crisis under Hudson’s watch, and her holiday was over as around-the-clock management of the crisis kicked in.

Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson said the airline was treating the cyber hack “incredibly seriously”.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

The data breach was bad enough, but how Qantas would handle the situation was a key object of interest for customers, the media, the government and the airline’s board. To say nothing of the elites – from the likes of the prime minister to the chairman of BHP – given some members of the Chairman’s Lounge had their details stolen.

A response team was quickly assembled, with members from the IT, Frequent Flyers, communications and government relations divisions all pitching in. For the next 72 hours, Hudson held a series of meetings with the response team, the board and the government, including the federal Minister for Cybersecurity Tony Burke.

“As soon as I was contacted, I dropped everything, this was 100 per cent of my focus – responding to the team,” Hudson said.

Read more on this opinion piece from business columnist Elizabeth Knight here.

It’s a question that will puzzle economists and investors for months: how did they get the Reserve Bank’s decision not to cut interest rates so wrong?

Before this week’s monetary policy board meeting, markets and almost all economists expected the RBA to slice the official cash rate to 3.6 per cent.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock explains the decision not to cut interest rates on Tuesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

There were plenty of people with mortgages and business operators also expecting the RBA to deliver the third rate cut this year.

But at 2.30pm on Tuesday, when the board issued its post-meeting statement, there was surprise and more than a few expletives uttered around the country. The cash rate remained at 3.85 per cent.

Explaining the decision, governor Michele Bullock – the first head of the bank to regularly hold press conferences – pushed back at suggestions the RBA had miscommunicated its intentions.

“I think communication generally, actually, has been going pretty well,” she said. “[Is our] communication strategy failing? I don’t think it is.”

Read the full analysis from senior economics correspondent Shane Wright here.

Labor MP Ed Husic has voiced strong concerns about the proposed US tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, stating they are detrimental to both Australia and the United States.

“Because we provide pretty critical inputs to the production of US medicines, it would drive up the cost of their medicines. So it would be counterproductive on that front,” he said.

Labor MP Ed Husic.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Husic dismissed recent threats from US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly – which warned of cutting millions in funding for Australian clinical trials if government approval times for PBS-listed drugs aren’t accelerated – as “absolutely bonkers”.

“It sounds to me some of their executives have been squishing too many cans of Budweiser on the forehead and have lost perspective,” he said.

“I have lost count of the number of times that pharmaceutical executives have sung the praises of Australia as a place to conduct clinical trials … I think there would be a lot of other firms that will be looking at the threats that Eli Lilly have been making and wondering what is going on in their minds.”

Husic said the US-Australia relationship demands perspective, and requires the government to emphasise to the White House that these actions are against America’s own self-interest and “are no way to treat an ally”.

Telco giant Telstra has confirmed a report by this masthead that it is set to axe hundreds of jobs.

A spokeswoman said Telstra is planning to cull about 550 roles from across the company. Staff were informed of the proposed changes in a 3.30pm internal announcement seen by this masthead.

Telstra boss Vicki Brady at the company’s investor day in May.Credit: Telstra

“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,” the spokeswoman said.

“We are committed to consulting with our people first about the proposed changes. If the changes go ahead we’ll 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.”

Telstra employs about 31,000 full-time workers globally.

The telco will face pressure to maintain service levels for its premium-paying customers despite employing fewer staff.

Telstra last year slashed 2800 workers, a move chief executive Vicki Brady said at the time would save up to $350 million and help the telco stay competitive amid rising inflation and energy costs.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie says the Coalition is equally concerned about Donald Trump’s proposed 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceutical imports.

“There’s always been a bipartisan approach to protecting the PBS. That hasn’t changed,” she told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

“We are gifted with universal healthcare in this country, and it’s something the Coalition strongly supports. We back Medicare, we back our PBS, and that doesn’t change.”

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

McKenzie said she doesn’t believe Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has the same relationship with the White House as the Coalition once did.

“When we were in government, we were able to ensure there weren’t any changes to our PBS arrangements,” she said.

“We hope the government is successful, bearing in mind the difference is we had an ambassador that could push on an open door at the White House, I don’t believe ambassador Rudd has the same relationship with the White House.

“And indeed, our current prime minister doesn’t have the personal relationship with Trump that we would like him to have 240-odd days after the US election.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia has an opportunity to continue engaging with the US as the government seeks clarity on US President Donald Trump’s proposed 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceutical imports.

“These announcements were only made overnight. When it comes to pharmaceuticals, there’s an indication that Trump will take some time to think through these issues,” he told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

Chalmers doubled down on comments he made earlier today, ruling out any potential changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

“I want to make it clear … the PBS is not up for negotiation,” he said.

“It’s a very important part of our health architecture, it helps a lot of people. We’re making medicines cheaper and that’s not on the table when it comes to the negotiations that we’ve been having and will continue to have with our counterparts in Washington, DC.”

The school community at Red Bend College in NSW have thrown their support behind Joanne Cabban, a long-serving teacher whose arm was torn off by a lioness at Queensland’s Darling Downs Zoo.

Cabban, originally from the Gold Coast, pursued her higher education in NSW, earning qualifications in science, mathematics and teaching from the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Sydney.

Joanne Cabban lost an arm after she was mauled by a lion at Darling Downs Zoo, owned by her sister and brother-in-law.Credit: Facebook

Cabban has taught at the same school – Red Bend College in Forbes – teaching physics and mathematics for more than three decades.

On Wednesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for Red Bend College said the school community was behind Cabban as she recovered.

“Jo Cabban is a much-loved member, not only of our Red Bend College community, but also our broader Forbes and Parkes communities,” the spokeswoman said.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with her and her family.”

Readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died.

A community says it has “had enough” of police after a coronial inquest into the death of an Indigenous teenager renewed allegations of racism.

Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot by then-constable Zachary Rolfe in the community of Yuendumu in 2019.

In handing down her findings into the 19-year-old’s death, coroner Elisabeth Armitage said she found Rolfe to be racist and the Northern Territory Police Force to have “the hallmarks of institutionalised racism”.

Former police officer Zachary Rolfe, pictured in 2024 arriving at the Kumanjayi Walker inquest.Credit: Jack Latimore

Rolfe maintained in a statement issued by his lawyer on Tuesday that it “was never about race”.

Walker’s family welcomed the coroner’s findings.

“When we heard the coroner say there was structural and entrenched racism in the NT Police Force, we felt validated as a family,” Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown said in Yuendumu on Tuesday

Fernandez-Brown said she was grateful the coroner’s findings were handed down in the community, 300 kilometres from Alice Springs, on Monday.

But she said recommendations around police accountability in the NT were not strong enough.

“We heard countless evidence about how the police have been racist, how they have been violent and how they have used too much force when it comes to our people,” Fernandez-Brown said.

The coroner’s findings were postponed after the death of another Warlpiri man, Kumanjayi White, who died in police custody in Alice Springs in May.

NT Police acting Commissioner Martin Dole said it was clear racism existed in the force.

“It is a truth that we must face. What was tolerated in the past will no longer be acceptable,” he said in Alice Springs.

Samara Fernandez-Brown, the cousin of Kumanjayi Walker, outside court in Alice Springs last year.Credit: Jack Latimore

The force’s cultural reform executive director Leanne Liddle said NT Police were working to rebuild trust through an anti-racism strategy.

Fernandez-Brown said while she would like to remain optimistic about structural change, she wouldn’t “hold my breath” for that to come from within the NT Police Force.

“Asking the Northern Territory Police Force to become safe is unsustainable and a Band-Aid solution,” she said.

“I’d like to see a structure that replaces that altogether.”

AAP