As it happened: Optus outage affects millions of customers; RBA lifts interest rates to 4.35 per cent

Thanks for reading today’s live blog. To wrap up, here are the top news headlines of the day.

• Millions of Optus customers were unable to access the internet or make or receive calls from 4am AEDT this morning due to a nationwide network outage. Services started to return at around 1pm, with Optus confirming all services were restored just before 6pm.
• The High Court has ruled locking people in immigration detention indefinitely is illegal in a decision that overturns a 20-year-old precedent and could lead to the release of dozens of stateless detainees.
• PwC is cutting hundreds of staff after Westpac ended a 20-year relationship with the embattled firm.
• A meeting of over 200 ABC staff has heard complaints from across the newsroom about the way the public broadcaster has covered Israel’s war against Hamas.
• This year is “virtually certain” to be the hottest in 125,000 years, as October broke global monthly heat records for the fifth time this year.
• The top Matildas and Socceroos players will be able to earn up to $200,000 per year outside the World Cup cycle under a new collective bargaining agreement.

That’s all for now, the live blog will be back first thing tomorrow.

After a network outage that lasted well over 12 hours, Optus has confirmed that its services have been restored.

Millions of Optus customers were unable to make calls or use the internet from around 4am this morning due to a major nationwide outage.

Network services were gradually restored from around 1pm, with Optus confirming all services were back up and running just before 6pm. In total, the outage lasted nearly 14 hours.

In a statement posted to X, Optus “sincerely apologise(d)” for the outage and thanked customers for their patience.

ANZ and Westpac have increased interest rates for their home loans and some savings accounts following the Reserve Bank’s recent rate hike.

On Wednesday, ANZ and Westpac followed NAB’s move on variable home loans.

ANZ increased its interest rate on variable home loans by 0.25 per cent a year, effective from November 17. For owner-occupiers with a home loan of $450,000, their monthly repayments will increase by $70.

The bank also increased the rate available to customers on its digital offshoot Plus Save account by 0.25 per cent a year. The Plus Save account requires customers to meet certain requirements to receive the maximum interest rate on offer. Balances less than $250,000 will increase to 4.9 per cent a year, while balances $250,000 or over will increase to 3.75 per cent a year on November 16. The bank said it would continue to review other deposit rates.

Westpac also increased interest rates on its variable home loans by 0.25 per cent, effective November 21.

The bank also increased its Westpac Life total variable rate with bonus interest by 0.25 per cent a year to 5 per cent, and its eSaver total variable rate for the first five months by the same amount to 5 per cent, for new customers applying online, both effective November 17.

Westpac consumer chief executive Jason Yetton said while customers were cutting back in response to rising expenses, the bank’s overall hardship numbers remained low with more than seventy per cent of customers ahead on their mortgage repayments.

“Customers are proactively contacting us to discuss their options and we would encourage others feeling financial pressure to contact us sooner rather than later to speak to our team about what support is available,” he said.

The interest rate changes from the banks come after the Reserve Bank on Tuesday lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.35 per cent.

ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail, Maile Carnegie, said over the past 18 months, the bank had been proactively reaching out to thousands of home loan customers each month to check in with them about their circumstances and loan arrangements.

In state news, Melburnians have been warned to prepare now for a potential thunderstorm asthma event as dark clouds move across Victoria following a relatively warm day.

VicEmergency issued the alert for northern, central and eastern parts of the state at 5pm. A separate thunderstorm alert has been issued for Melbourne’s outer east near the Dandenong Ranges where the most intense storm activity is expected.

“People may experience asthma symptoms or difficulty breathing due to the combination of thunderstorm activity and high grass pollen levels,” the asthma alert said.

“If you’re experiencing wheezing, breathlessness, a feeling of tightness in the chest or a persistent cough, you may be having an asthma attack.”

A severe thunderstorm asthma event overwhelmed Melbourne hospitals in November 2016, leaving 10 people dead and triggering 1,900 calls to Ambulance Victoria.

Anthony Albanese has joined more than a dozen leaders for the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands.

The prime minister arrived in Rarotonga on Wednesday for three days of talks with leaders of a region he has described as family.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Albanese used similar language, calling the Pacific “our home”.

This year’s leaders meeting aims to put Pacific splintering in the past while tackling thorny issues of climate change, geopolitical challenges and nuclear issues.

In another post, Albanese alluded to past difficulties in Australia’s diplomatic relations with Pacific Islands nations, saying they are “working hard to rebuild” the relationships.

In recent years, the Pacific Islands Forum has been hampered by threatened walkouts and no-shows which jeopardise the blue continent’s biggest strength: unity.

Showing the heightened US interest in the region, the Biden administration is sending cabinet official Linda Thomas-Greenfield, its Ambassador to the United Nations, which has ramped up engagement from his predecessor Donald Trump.

Increased US interest comes at a time when China’s engagement is also deepening in the region; most notably through security ties with the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will be a noticeable absentee in the Cook Islands, with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Zealand leaders also not attending for differing reasons.

AAP with Josefine Ganko

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin is facing pressure to resign following criticism of her handling of two major crises at the telco.

A network outage that started at around 4am this morning is still impacting many Optus customers. The outage comes just over a year after Optus was the target of a cyberattack in October 2022. Bayer Rosmarin was also criticised during that incident for her handling of communication with customers who had personal data stolen.

In an interview with Deborah Knight on Sydney’s 2GB, Knight asked Bayer Rosmarin why she was “missing in action” for hours after the outage began at 4am this morning.

Bayer Rosmarin replied that Optus has “had messages out since the beginning” including “messages on our website”, to which Knight pointed out that many of those impacted did not have access to the internet to view the website because of the outage.

“We’ve been focused on restoring the services,” Bayer Rosmarin insisted.

“I wish that we could have reached all our customers, but obviously in an outage that is extremely difficult for us to do it.”

Bayer Rosmarin refused to be drawn on whether the latest crisis would force her to resign.

“I am only focused on restoring services for customers, and my whole team is focused on that now,” she said when asked if she would step down.

Torres Strait Islander elders are fighting for their lands, culture and existence in the first climate class action brought by Australia’s First Nations people.

With rising sea levels and other effects of climate change threatening their islands and way of life, elders Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai launched a Federal Court case against the federal government in October 2021.

The elders are arguing the Commonwealth owes a duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to take reasonable steps to protect them from the harms caused by climate change.

First Nations leaders from the Torres Strait Uncle Paul Kabai (left) and Uncle Pabai Pabai (right) have launched a climate case against the Australian government.Credit: Joe Armao

The court held on-country hearings on Badu, Boigu and Saibai islands in June, and Cairns in July and has moved to Melbourne from today.

Experts have started giving evidence on the impacts of climate change and sea level rise experienced in the Torres Strait.

Torres Strait Islander witnesses shared cultural and personal stories at the on-country hearings earlier this year, explaining how climate change was impacting the island way of life.

Mr Kabai told AAP that during his lifetime he had already seen the seasons change - and with them opportunities for hunting and fishing.

“We have these big inundations during monsoon season, which mean our water system, the island wells and everything is contaminated by salt,” he said.

AAP

This October was the hottest on record globally, 1.7 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month — and the fifth straight month with such a mark in what will now almost certainly be the warmest year ever recorded.

October was 0.4 degrees warmer than the previous record for the month in 2019.

“The amount that we’re smashing records by is shocking,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said.

October 2023 was the hottest October on record.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

After the cumulative warming of these past several months, it’s virtually guaranteed that 2023 will be the hottest year on record, according to Copernicus.

This year has been so exceptionally hot in part because oceans have been warming, which means they are doing less to counteract global warming than in the past.

Historically, the ocean has absorbed as much as 90% of the excess heat from climate change, Burgess said. And in the midst of an El Nino, a natural climate cycle that temporarily warms parts of the ocean and drives weather changes around the world, more warming can be expected in the coming months, she added.

AP

National Australia Bank will pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest interest rate rise to mortgage customers in full, while also lifting rates on a key savings product.

NAB has announced it will pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest interest rate rise.Credit: Bloomberg

NAB said on Wednesday it would increase its standard variable home loan interest rate and Reward Saver bonus interest rate by 0.25 per cent from November 17. Reward Saver accounts require customers to meet certain conditions to receive the maximum or “bonus” interest rate which, following the increase, will be 5 per cent a year.

It comes after the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points on Tuesday to 4.35 per cent — its first rate rise in five months.

NAB Group Executive for Personal Banking Rachel Slade encouraged anyone concerned about their finances to reach out to their bank as soon as possible.

“While most of our customers are in good shape, there may be some people who are more concerned about the first rate rise since mid-year which is why it’s crucial to reach out to your bank as soon as you can,” she said.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters has given a three-minute statement in the Senate over comments One Nation’s Pauline Hanson allegedly made towards Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi telling her to leave the country.

“On Monday evening in this chamber, in the course of debate on the counter-terrorism bill, Senator Hanson’s contribution was awash with racist language including despicable race-based personal remarks about Senator Faruqi that should be withdrawn and that Senator Hanson should apologise for,” Waters said to the chamber.

Senator Hanson said: “Senator Faruqi, I will tell you again, if you don’t see yourself as loving this country and abiding by the laws of this country … I will actually take you to the airport and put you on a plane and wave you away.”

Senator Mehreen Faruqi during question time in the Senate on Monday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Waters said the remarks were in breach of a standing order to not personally reflect on a senator and were also in breach of the behaviour code for Australian parliaments.

“Senators are meant to be complying with this behaviour code … I am calling on Senator Hanson to withdraw her comments, comments that I might add that she has made on a number of previous occasions as well,” Waters said.

In May,  Faruqi launched legal action against Hanson over an allegedly racist tweet calling on the senator to “piss off back to Pakistan”.

Hanson repeated her earlier comments before President of the Senate Sue Lines asked the One Nation leader to withdraw her comments because it was a personal reflection against Faruqi.

After much back and forth, Hanson refused to withdraw her comments.

Lines will assess the One Nation leader’s earlier comments to determine if further action needs to be taken on Hanson’s refusal to withdraw.