Clare O'Neil warns of ongoing disruptions linked to CrowdStrike software outage

Home Affairs Minister warns of ongoing disruptions associated with global IT outage, as Texas-based cybersecurity specialist readies to roll out automatic fix to a faulty software update.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil asked Australians to remain alert to unexpected texts, calls or emails claiming to be of assistance. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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4:05 pm July 21, 2024

'Terrible terrible' track tragedy: Minns sympathy

Staff writers

NSW Premier Chris Minns says the death of a two year-old girl and her father after a pram fell on tracks at a Sydney train station is a "terrible terrible tragedy".

Police were called to Carlton railway station in south Sydney just after midday on Sunday after witnesses saw a pram carrying two children roll on to the tracks in the path of an oncoming train.

One two-year-old girl was rescued unharmed by police from under the train and was reunited with her mother.
Her two-year-old twin sister and 40-year-old father, who attempted to save her, died.

"I can only imagine what the surviving family members are going through this afternoon," Mr Minns said.

"It's a reminder of what goes on every single day of the week with NSW police force members as well as members of Sydney Trains, who often have to, without any warning, face a confronting scene every single day of their working lives, and this is a reminder of how difficult and dangerous that job is."

Mr Minns said those who were on the train and had to be evacuated quickly may be going through turmoil and mental anguish, and said the NSW mental health line was available by calling 1800 011 511.

"Obviously this is a very confronting and sad day for the St George community, and obviously for that family from the Kogarah area."

– Lily McCaffrey

3:29 pm July 21, 2024

Birmingham urges travel caution amid Bangladesh unrest

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham says reports of deaths, injuries and disruption amid widespread student protests and unrest in Bangladesh are "deeply distressing, especially to many in our Australian Bangladeshi community".

"While Australia defends the right to peaceful protest and urges all parties to engage peacefully, it is important to follow travel advice," Senator Birmingham said in a post on his X account.

Australians are being advised to reconsider the need to travel to Bangladesh, according to the Australian government's Smarttraveller website.

"There's ongoing widespread student protests and demonstrations in Bangladesh, with violent clashes throughout Dhaka and other cities," Smarttraveller's website reads. "A number of deaths have been reported."

Authorities in Bangladesh have imposed a curfew, and the Smarttraveller website warns Australians that curfew times may change at short notice.

"There’s an increased police presence, with road blocks and checkpoints," it states.

"Communications have been severely disrupted, including mobile and internet services and local media.

"There’s traffic delays and public transport disruptions. Flights could be cancelled at short notice."
More information is available at smartraveller.

– Lily McCaffrey

3:17 pm July 21, 2024 Highlight

O’Neil warns of ongoing disruptions after IT outage

Jack Quail

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has warned disruptions associated with CrowdStrike’s global IT outage could last up to two weeks, as the Texas-based cybersecurity specialist readies to roll out an automatic fix to a faulty software update.

The comments came after Ms O”Neil convened the national coordination mechanism on Sunday morning to discuss the ongoing issues following Friday’s global outage, with relevant agencies and affected businesses attending the call.

“There has been a huge amount of work over this weekend to get the economy back up and running,” Ms O’Neil said in a statement following the meeting.

"However, it will take time until all affected sectors are completely back online. In some cases we may see teething issues for one or two weeks.

“There is no impact to critical infrastructure or government services. Triple 0 and emergency services are completely operational.”

According to the statement, CrowdStrike informed attendees that they were close to rolling out an automatic fix to their faulty software update, increasing the speed at which systems across the economy are back online.

Scams and phishing attempts were also continuing after the outage, Ms O’Neil warned, including examples where cyber criminals had posed as technical support to fix affected technology.

“It is very important that Australians are extremely cautious of any unexpected texts, calls or emails claiming to be of assistance with this issue,” she said, encouraging any suspicious communications to be reported to Scamwatch.

In light of the continued disruptions, Ms O’Neil also encouraged consumers to be patient with workers who were attempting to get IT systems operational again.

“I am personally thankful to every worker, both in IT and across the economy, who has worked through this weekend to get our economy moving again,” she said.

1:25 pm July 21, 2024

Students face brunt of rental crisis

Staff writers

Overcrowding could be on the rise again as experts warn international students may be particularly vulnerable to Australia’s “tough” rental market, Clareese Packer writes.

Renters remain in the deep end, particularly in Sydney, with the national median rent sitting at $600 per week, according to latest figures from PropTrack.

Rental prices have increased by 9 per cent over the past year, while the number of properties available for rent is down 4.4 per cent from last year and 25 per cent lower than the five-year June average.

PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said a lot of people were struggling under the current conditions, as questionable listings popped up.

A capsule “apartment” caused a stir recently, being offered as a long-term living solution in the heart of Sydney for $300 per week.

An enclosed Sydney balcony was also listed on Facebook marketplace just weeks ago, where it was advertised as a “sunny room”.

When it comes to unique listings such as these, Mr Kusher said people simply “don’t have a choice”, especially in Sydney.

“A lot of people just don’t have the capacity to pay the rent, and I guess that’s why you see people renting out tiny little pods and tiny little balcony rooms,” he said.

“It speaks to the desperation and the lack of rental affordability in Sydney that these are the lengths or solutions people are having to look for. I don't think anyone wants to live in those conditions, but some people just don’t have a choice.”

He added while Proptrack isn’t seeing many similar listings, “certainly there’s evidence of those popping up”.

International students may be particularly vulnerable to sub-par living conditions, as International Education Association CEO Phil Honeywood explained students often aren’t sure of their rights or the specifics of Australian rental standards, and can therefore be left open to exploitation.

“Often they can compare from a crowded city in China or India and think ‘Oh, it can’t be too bad’ when they first go into that rental situation, but then they discover, of course, compared to other Australian standards, they are likely being taken advantage of,” he said.

“There’s many cases of international students also being subjected to somebody from their same culture who purports to be a good landlord and absolutely rips them off,” he said.

Students from big family backgrounds may not have much parental support either, Mr Honeywood said, meaning students can be left “pretty much on their own” as they struggle to pay rent and make ends meet.

– NewsWire

10:18 am July 21, 2024 Highlight

Construction industry 'needs new watchdog'

Jack Quail

A new watchdog to oversee the construction industry should be instituted, Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel has said, however the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission would ultimately be ineffective, the Teal MP has warned.

Ms Daniel comments follow reports by Nine newspapers which uncovered widespread allegations of criminal conduct across the CFMEU, prompting the Albanese government to take steps towards the appointment of external administrators over the embattled union.

“I think there is an argument that there should be something, but I think that the [Australian Building and Construction Commission] specifically has been so politicised that it has been impossible for it to be effective,” Ms Daniel told the ABC.

“That said, I'm not convinced that an administrator will be enough … I actually think that it probably needs to be coupled with a police, maybe a state-federal taskforce, so to look at those criminal allegations.

“There needs to be representation for workers in the construction sector obviously, but the toxic elements of the CFMEU absolutely have to be cleaned out, and so maybe it is an administrator and a police investigation piece and then a form of watchdog as well.”

Citing the cost overruns on Victorian infrastructure projects, Ms Daniel accused Labor of ignoring the allegations of unlawful activity inside the CFMEU.

“Everyone has known to some degree that it has been going on and it does feel like it has been convenient to turn a blind eye and it is now Labor's problem,” she said.

“There's risk and they have to resolve this.”

10:15 am July 21, 2024

Teal independent blasts 'unambitious Labor'

Jack Quail

Goldstein Teal independent Zoe Daniel has committed to run on a similar platform to the last federal election, accusing Labor of being “pathologically unambitious on pretty much everything” since it won government in 2022.

Citing action on climate change, measures to address gender inequality and stem corruption, Ms Daniel said she would again campaign on those at the next federal election, scheduled for May 2025 at the latest.

“Has Labor really moved on a lot of those things? … Not enough action on climate, sort of giving with one hand, taking with the other, in terms of new fossil fuel developments and squibbing it on environmental reforms,” she told the ABC.

Ms Daniel also took aim at the Coalition, accusing the opposition of deepening its resolve on policies it took to the 2022 election which it lost.

“What's changed in their climate policy? If anything, they've walked it back. What's changed in regard to gender equality, safety of women, women's economic empowerment?” she said.

“The pitch is you need Independents to make the Government more ambitious and to make the Opposition more ambitious, to make them better, to keep them honest, to make them strive, to provide vision for the country.”

Asked if she would provide support to Labor or the Coalition in the event of a hung parliament, Ms Daniel said she was yet to make a decision.

“I'm not going to make a decision on that eight months before an election, and I would like to call it a balanced parliament rather than a hung parliament. Let's get away from the negative language,” she said.

“The crossbench is there to make that parliament function more effectively, and I think that's working, and let's see whether they can do better with the policies they put on the table between now and early next year.”

10:03 am July 21, 2024 Highlight

Trump will win the election: Independent MP

Jack Quail

Joe Biden will lose November’s presidential election and any move to replace him by the Democratic Party would likely render the same result, Goldstein independent Zoe Daniel has predicted.

Ms Daniel, who formerly worked as the national broadcaster’s Washington correspondent, also warned that the incumbent US President would result in Democrats losing control of the Senate and removing the “check and balance” on a future Trump administration.

“I think that anyone who is observing this would say he probably can't win. I think the chances of him winning are next to nil,” Ms Daniel told the ABC on Sunday.

“The thing is, though, and I've been thinking way before the debate, that Donald Trump will win the election, he is quite extraordinary as a human in his ability to persist.”

The Goldstein MP said that a second Trump administration would likely be very similar to his first, pointing to the former president’s isolationist stance when he occupied the White House.

“I think anyone who thinks Trump has changed as a result of the assassination attempt is living in a parallel universe,” Ms Daniel said.

“We saw, for example, his rhetoric about winding back NATO, we saw him wind back Barack Obama's initiatives on renewable energy.

"I think we will be back to Trump mark one.”

9:46 am July 21, 2024 Highlight

Dutton 'failed to act on CFMEU conduct'

Jack Quail

Labor assistant minister Jenny McAllister has slapped down accusations that Labor and union leaders knew of widespread allegations of criminal conduct in the CFMEU, after then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton warned of the infiltration of outlaw bikie gangs in the union in 2019.

Speaking on Sunday, Ms McAllister hit back at the now-opposition leader, accusing Mr Dutton of failing to act on the matter if he knew that the allegations of criminal conduct were true.

“It's pretty difficult to take lectures from Peter Dutton about this,” she told Sky News.

“Most of the alleged behaviour that's been reported over the last week occurred during the period when the Coalition was in office and the [Australian Building and Construction Commission] was in operation.

“There were plenty of opportunities for the government he was part of to deal with some of the issues that are now being addressed by a Labor government.”

On Wednesday, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke announced steps towards the appointment of external administrators to oversee the union’s east coast operations, with Ms McAllister declaring the government would take further steps to clampdown on the embattled union if needed.

“We have been as clear as we can be that not only will the minister intervene to support that application, if there is any impediment or problem, we will bring legislation to the parliament to deal with it,” she said.

9:07 am July 21, 2024

Labor faces call to go 'back to basics'

Jack Quail

Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has demanded the Albanese government get “back to basics” with its spending agenda, but provided little indication of where the Coalition plans to cut spending if it forms government at the next federal election.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Taylor accused Labor of fuelling persistent inflation pressures via additional spending measures.

“This is homegrown inflation and so we need homegrown solutions to it, and we're not seeing this from the Labor government,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.

“That means not spending money that doesn't need to be spent like $500 million … on a failed referendum, on grants to the CFMEU, on $45 billion of off-budget spending that this government is committed to that we've opposed in the parliament.”

But Mr Taylor did not detail if the Coalition would ultimately scrap the off-budget funds, including the Rewiring the Nation Fund and the Housing Australia Future Fund, if it formed government.

Pressed on what Labor spending commitments the Coalition wouldn’t proceed with, Mr Taylor signalled announcements would be made in the lead up to the election.

“We've been very clear on those issues, and we'll continue to highlight areas,” he claimed.

9:00 am July 21, 2024

Household budgets being smashed: Angus Taylor

Jack Quail

Australia’s resilient labour market is masking the challenges facing household budgets which are being “smashed” by the heightened cost of living, opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has claimed.

“We are seeing a strong labour market, there's no question about that, but Australians are having to work extra hours to be able to make ends meet,” Mr Taylor told Sky News on Sunday.

“Their real disposable incomes, their standard of living has been absolutely smashed in the last two years under this Labor government.”

Fresh jobs figures released last week showed the unemployment rate inched higher to 4.1 per cent in June, up from 4 per cent in May, however the labour market remains extremely tight by historical standards.

Despite Labor’s stage 3 tax cuts which took effect on July 1, Mr Taylor said households were still burdened with a “significant increase” in personal income taxes, forcing them to reduce their spending.

“They're having to cut back on much of the expenditure they'd like to be able to make and they are digging deep into their savings … savings have almost disappeared now in our economy because Australians are digging so deep in order to be able to make ends meet” he said.

“This is a disastrous situation for Australian household budgets. It is a disastrous situation for Australian households.”