Australia news live: Marape says NRL team ‘a deep national unity strategy’ as Albanese confirms PNG to enter league in 2028 | Australia news

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to reporters in Canberra alongside the Papua New Guinean prime minister, James Marape.

He has announced the Australian government is supporting a PNG team to join the national rugby league competition from 2028.

Rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea and PNG deserves a national team. The new team will belong to the people of Papua New Guinea, it will call Port Moresby home. I know it will have millions, literally, of proud fans barracking for it from day one.

Pesutto defamed Deeming, federal court finds

Benita Kolovos

Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, defamed fellow Liberal MP Moira Deeming in comments made after neo-Nazis gatecrashed a rally she helped organise, a federal court has found.

Deeming had sued Pesutto for comments made in a media release, a press conference and interviews in the days after the Let Women Speak rally on 18 March 2023, in which she argued the Liberal leader falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser.

Pesutto had rejected the allegation.

Justice David O’Callaghan handed down his judgment in the long-running case in the federal court just a moment ago.

He said all five publications made by Pesutto were defamatory and ordered him to pay Deeming $300,000 in damages.

Peter Hannam

Another big heatwave to bake Melbourne, strain power grid (again)

It is summer, of course, and we do expect heatwaves. The one building over the next few days over inland Australia, though, looks pretty big.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts much of the east will be in at least a low-intensity heatwave (calculated versus historical levels and recent conditions) from Friday onwards, and lasting a few days into next week for some regions (see map).

One difference is that the heatwave will take in Melbourne and parts of Sydney on Monday, bridging both a work day (for many, still) and two big population centres. Later, it will be Sydney and Brisbane sweating, while Melbourne will be getting some cool change relief.

They’ll need it. Parts of the Victorian capital are forecast to reach 42C on Monday – lucky it’s not Christmas Day or the Boxing Day match.

Anyway, the extent of the heat and its prolonged nature means the Australian Energy Market Operator is forecasting the possibility of “interrupted” supply (blackouts) for NSW on Monday.

Whether we get a repeat of last month’s call for NSW residents not to use washing machines or pool pumps for a while remains to be seen. The market (i.e. generators) is being asked to respond and it usually does.

Meanwhile, Victoria might have power strains on Monday as well. Aemo’s lack of reserve level 2 alerts aren’t as serious, but worth keeping an eye on.

Authorities will be among those watching the mercury levels closely early next week.

Caitlin Cassidy

More on Victorian year 12 students receiving Atar results today

To some, studying three mathematics subjects in year 12 would be a worst nightmare. But not Wheelers Hill secondary college student Xinle Huang who completed specialist mathematics, mathematical methods and general mathematics over Year 11 and 12.

In her words: “I like maths a lot.”

The love of maths helped her achieve an Atar of 99.35 this morning, bolstering her plans to study physiotherapy, optometry and pharmaceutical sciences.

Xinle, the school’s international student captain, said the support of her teachers got her through. The school has a long-established international student program and one in four students speak a language other than English at home.

The college’s principal, Fern Brisbane, said the school’s results were the best in several years, with several students achieving results in the 90s.

Our kids have shined and, as a principal, I can’t ask for anything more.

Peter Hannam

Will the jobs machine that is the Australian economy grind to a halt in November?

It’s a puzzle the strength of the labour market hasn’t got that much attention – but you can be sure they’ll be a few screaming headlines if there are some bad numbers out today when the ABS releases November labour market figures.

The Albanese government hasn’t really talked up the “1 million jobs” that have been added since they took office in May 2022, a figure well above any previous term (although the population is of course growing so the proportional gain might need a bit of stats checking).

Many of the jobs are in the non-market sector, as such commentators like to point out. Michele Bullock, the Reserve Bank governor, though, took umbrage this week at those views, pointing out that many were “very valuable” and “worthy jobs”. (Anyone with a child in school or a parent in an aged care home might well agree that staffing levels should be boosted.)

Anyway, economists are expecting last month’s unemployment rate to tick up to 4.2% (it’s been steady at 4.1% for three months) with employers adding a net 25,000 jobs.

As we note, these numbers need nuance. Are they full-time or part-time roles, were more or fewer people looking for work, and were there revisions to the previous month?

Weak numbers – taking into account the above – will add to the likelihood of an RBA interest rate cut in February, while strong one will make rate relief less of a chance.

Stay tuned for the 11.30am (AEDT) ABS release right here.

Caitlin Cassidy

Victorian year 12 students waking to check Atar results

Thousands of year 12 students in Victoria have been anxiously waking to check their Atar results this year, as the first state or territory in the nation to receive them.

But not everyone has been worried.

18-year-old Sajad Ramezani was already at work on a local building site when the results went live at 7am. The Tarneit senior college student was so busy on the job he hadn’t even had a chance to check his results.

I’m doing carpentry full-time now. I want to finish fourth year and then do my certificate and hopefully open my own business in the future.

Ramezani, who is completing a school-based apprenticeship and traineeship after successfully finishing his VCE vocational major, is following in the footsteps of his father, a carpenter who arrived in Australia with minimal english from Iran.

Tarneit senior college had around 100 students studying the vocational major this year, which was introduced in 2023 to promote entry to industries like health, community services, trades and early childhood education.

Australia has voted for a ceasefire in Gaza and to support a UN Palestinian aid agency that Israel is moving to dismantle.

As AAP reports, the United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly voted to support a permanent and unconditional ceasefire, the release of hostages, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians at an emergency session.

The motion passed with 158 members voting in support and nine against, with 13 abstaining.

The humanitarian crisis was a key factor in Australia’s vote, with more than 44,000 people killed in Gaza, including more than 13,000 children. Nearly all of the strip’s 2.1 million people have lost their homes and do not have enough food, water or medical supplies.

Australia also voted to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in a second motion that passed with 159 in support, nine against and 11 abstaining.

The motion called for the Israeli Knesset to reverse laws banning the agency from operating in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which include Gaza and the West Bank.

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has repeatedly stated the agency was the only one with the capability to distribute aid and assistance at the scale needed in Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN said the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas – something the UN denies – and accused the general assembly of ignoring the hostages taken by the terrorist organisation on 7 October.

Australia’s race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, spoke to ABC RN earlier this morning after the firebombing in a Melbourne synagogue last week and anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney.

He described the incidents as “shocking [and] deeply distressing, and it has no place in our country.” He said that there had been an increase in antisemitism and that “we often see the vial of racism pouring out when there’s ruptures in our society”.:

During Covid there was a huge increase in anti-Asian racism; during the referendum, a huge increase in First Nations racism; and now we’ve seen a definite increase in antisemitism, but also other forms of racism, like Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.

And what that points to is, I think we have a structural problem that is allowing racism to take place, and we really need a whole of government, whole of society approach to tackle racism.

Asked about criticism of the government’s response to antisemitism, Sivaraman said the way in which racism is tackled across the board is often “disjointed”, “ad hoc” and “not coordinated”.

I’ve been talking to Jewish communities and they feel vulnerable and they feel unsafe, and I acknowledge that that’s come through. But the reality is that we continuously have racism operating in our society, and it’s embedded in our systems and structures.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has launched a national anti-racism framework that sets out 63 recommendations for the government to implement, steps that it believes can eventually stamp out racism. You can read more on this below:

Caitlin Cassidy

University of Sydney to repay staff $23m through enforceable undertaking

The University of Sydney will repay more than $23m to staff as part of an enforceable undertaking agreed to with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).

The ombudsman, Anna Booth, said the secured commitments would help to drive cultural change across the University of Sydney and the wider university sector.

It comes the same week the University of Melbourne agreed to pay more than $70m to staff in the widest ranging undertaking agreement entered into by a tertiary institution. Booth said:

The University of Sydney has acknowledged its governance failures and breaches, and has responded by committing significant time and resources to put in place corrective measures that will ensure both full remediation of impacted staff and improved compliance for the future.

These measures will also enhance information sharing and consultation between University of Sydney employees and its governance bodies – boosting worker voice – to promote the finding and resolution of any future compliance issues within the workplace.

Booth said the university had also committed to a review into its casual academics and an independent audit.

The University of Sydney has so far calculated more than $19m in underpaid wages for 14,727 current and former employees – ranging up to $83,271.

Former NSW Liberal MP turned chair of the Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, has spent the past few days criticising those attempting to politicise the CSIRO’s work on the likely costs of nuclear reactors.

In case you missed it – Peter Dutton attacked the CSIRO after its latest GenCost report reaffirmed that electricity from nuclear energy in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than power from solar and wind, backed up with storage. The opposition leader claimed:

It just looks to me like there’s a heavy hand of Chris Bowen in all of this.

In a post to X earlier this morning, Kean wrote:

It is ridiculous to doubt our leading scientist’s energy modelling just because it clashes with your political ambitions.

This follows similar tweets he has made over the past few days taking aim at those who doubt the CSIRO, saying they would “no doubt use WiFi daily, protect themselves with aeroguard, and use plastic banknotes” – which were “all invented [and] pioneered by the CSIRO”.