Mark Butler says government ‘working through’ US pharmaceutical tariff announcement
Krishani Dhanji
Circling back to the press conference in Adelaide, and Mark Butler says the government is still trying to understand the scope and impact of the tariffs, promising to do “everything” it can to protect the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
The US administration announced this morning that it will impose 100% tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
Butler says the government is talking to companies who might be affected, and noted that there are some qualifications to the US administration’s announcement.
More than two thirds of Australia’s exports to the US are blood and plasma products, and Butler says the government is trying to determine if those exports will be hit with tariffs.
He says:
We’re still working through the latest announcement from the president this morning, Australian time. Obviously we have been aware of the administration’s intention to take action against pharmaceutical imports into America and we have been engaging with them, and making the case why we should continue with the tariff-free trade …
We buy more pharmaceutical products from the US by quite a distance than they buy from us … It is not in the American consumers’ interest to impose a higher price on the export from Australia to America.
Key events
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s local government minister says she has been gagged from releasing advice from the state’s corruption commission about former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson.
Ann Leahy issued Thompson a show cause notice last week, after a briefing from the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission. On Friday she said he did not respond to the notice until resigning on Friday morning:
Clearly, the people of Townsville would want to know that information before they go to the polls, and it is my view that they deserve that information.
So this morning, I have taken advice from the CCC. The CCC has specifically restricted me from releasing that information. The avenue for the release of the information sits with the CCC.
Leahy confirmed that he remains eligible to run again.
She was repeatedly asked if she could issue an additional show cause notice to Thompson if he was reelected. She said:
I don’t make decisions for Mr. Thompson, but I would encourage every candidate to be open and transparent with the voters of Townsville in the lead up to this election. So that’s potentially a question that’s better asked to Mr Thompson.
Luca Ittimani
Fortescue CEO says China’s reduction plan no ‘soft target’
The chief executive of Australian miner Fortescue has dismissed criticism of China’s emissions after inking deals with four Chinese companies to support the company’s carbon reduction plan.
Dino Otranto, Ceo of Fortescue’s mining arm, says China’s target of reducing its emissions by between 7% and 10% of their peak by 2035 will benefit Australia as both countries move to renewable energy. He told Guardian Australia:
[Reduction] is well within reach. There’s no excuses any more, and we want everybody to get on with it.
China accounts for nearly a third of the world’s total emissions. Its targets have attracted criticism from climate scientists for being well below an achievable and necessary 30% reduction.
Asked whether criticism of China’s target as too low was unfair, Otranto says it is.
You lot have responded that it’s a bit of a soft target, but … China is leading the way in renewable energy deployment. It has done so for the last few years, and it will continue to do so … [and] they will probably beat the target.
China added more than 300GW of solar and wind energy in each of the past two years and would only need to add 180GW a year to reach its new target of 3,600GW by 2035, announced on Wednesday by China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the UN general assembly.
As Guardian Australia’s Graham Readfearn writes, China’s target has made it harder for opponents of Australia cutting emissions to argue against smaller nations’ climate action.
Luca Ittimani
Fortescue announces Chinese partnerships to eliminate emissions
The Australian mining giant Fortescue will partner with four Chinese companies to wipe out its 3m tonnes of direct emissions by 2030, defying scepticism of its haul truck and hydrogen plans.
Heavy mining machinery including trucks were responsible for about 1.3m tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions under Fortescue’s direct control in 2024-25, out of a total 3m. It plans to move to a fully electric fleet and hit zero emissions by 2030.
The government’s Climate Change Authority last week warned supply constraints of electric mining equipment could hold up Australia’s emission reduction and competing iron miners BHP and Rio Tinto have avoided aggressive electric truck uptake.
Fortescue today announced it would source up to half of its electric fleet from China-based XCMG. Dino Otranto, chief executive of the company’s mining operations, dismissed industry hesitance to adopt electric heavy equipment, telling Guardian Australia:
I am the face of a lot of that criticism amongst my peers, certainly, in the mining industry [but] we’re deploying it … and we wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t profitable.
Fortescue will also use batteries from BYD, solar panels from Longi and wind turbines from Envision, under new agreements with the China-based companies, and buy out Spain’s Nabrawind to build wind energy capacity.
Fortescue has championed the use of green hydrogen despite shelving two projects this year. Otranto defied scepticism of the clean fuel’s role in decarbonisation, pointing to the forthcoming opening of Fortescue’s green iron plant at Christmas Creek:
Our aspirations have certainly not wavered whatsoever.
Australian shares on track for fourth week of losses
Australia’s share market is trading flat after a lacklustre start to the session, as the mining sector continues to counterbalance broader weakness. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was flat at 8,773, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 1.9 points, or 0.02%, to 9,061.5.
The move followed a lacklustre session on Wall Street overnight, and as US and Australian economic data prompt investors to rethink the outlook for the two nations’ interest rate cutting cycles.
While no monetary easing is expected at next week’s Reserve Bank meeting, ANZ and Westpac economists have held their expectations for a November rate cut but stressed the importance of incoming jobs figures in any upcoming decisions.
Six of the 11 local sectors were trading lower by midday, and again it was materials enjoying relatively lonely success with a 0.8% rise.
Large cap miners BHP (+1.5%) and Rio Tinto (+0.9%) continued to perform after a recent rally in copper prices.
Healthcare stocks tumbled 1.4% after the White House announced 100% tariffs on medicines entering the US, with exemptions for companies building manufacturing centres there.
The Australian dollar is buying 65.33 US cents, down from 65.93 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.
– Australian Associated Press
Mark Butler says government ‘working through’ US pharmaceutical tariff announcement
Krishani Dhanji
Circling back to the press conference in Adelaide, and Mark Butler says the government is still trying to understand the scope and impact of the tariffs, promising to do “everything” it can to protect the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
The US administration announced this morning that it will impose 100% tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
Butler says the government is talking to companies who might be affected, and noted that there are some qualifications to the US administration’s announcement.
More than two thirds of Australia’s exports to the US are blood and plasma products, and Butler says the government is trying to determine if those exports will be hit with tariffs.
He says:
We’re still working through the latest announcement from the president this morning, Australian time. Obviously we have been aware of the administration’s intention to take action against pharmaceutical imports into America and we have been engaging with them, and making the case why we should continue with the tariff-free trade …
We buy more pharmaceutical products from the US by quite a distance than they buy from us … It is not in the American consumers’ interest to impose a higher price on the export from Australia to America.
Rise in deaths in Australia due to ageing population, new data shows
Registered deaths rose by 2.3% in Australia last year, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows, but the increase is reflective of our ageing population.
The number of deaths registered grew to 187,268 in 2024, up by 4,137 deaths, the ABS found.
ABS head of demography, Beidar Cho, said 68% of all deaths occurred in people aged 75 years and over.
This is higher than it was 10 years ago. A similar trend can be seen in the proportion of deaths that occurred in people aged 90 and over. This age group accounted for 24% of all deaths in 2024 and 2023. This is up from 21% in 2014.
The median age at death was 79.6 years for males, the same as 2023, and 84.7 for females, up 0.1 years since 2023.
The standardised death rate was 5.078 deaths per 1,000 standard population in 2024, down from 5.471 in 2014.
Krishani Dhanji
Illicit tobacco has ‘exploded’ in Australia, health minister says
The tobacco black market is punching a “very serious hole” in Australia’s public health goals and the government’s revenue, says the health minister, Mark Butler.
At a press conference in Adelaide, Butler says the illicit tobacco market has exploded, but Australia isn’t alone, countries like the US are also trying to crack down on a significant black market.
Butler calls it the “biggest threat” the Australia’s tobacco control programs:
The explosion in illicit tobacco was a product of significant oversupply in the world, dumping of this product on every single country around the world by the gangs controlling this traffic, and essentially the stranglehold that some criminal gangs in Australia have got over the market to bank roll their other criminal activities …
We’ll track you down, we’ll start to prosecute you in much greater numbers, confiscate the profits you’re making from this illicit activity and you won’t get away with what you’re doing.
Butler says just less than 10% of adults in Australia now smoke – with the government aiming to get that down to zero.
More than $2m worth of illegal vape products allegedly seized in Sydney
A man will face court next week after around $2.1m worth of illegal vape products were allegedly seized in Sydney’s inner west on Thursday.
In September, officers in Penrith began an investigation into illegal vape products allegedly being supplied in the Petersham area.
Following inquiries, about 10.45am yesterday detectives executed a search warrant at a storage facility in Petersham, where they seized around 60,500 vapes from three storage units. Police allege the estimated street value of each vape was $35, amounting to $2.1m in total.
Following inquiries, police arrested a 24-year-old man at a home in Sydney Olympic Park. He was charged with possess more than 100 times to less than 1,000 times commercial quantity of vaping goods and possess 1,000 times of commercial quantity or more of vaping goods.
He was granted conditional bail to appear at Burwood local court next Tuesday.
Return of patrolling NSW lifesavers comes at ‘important time’ amid unseasonable warmth
Returning to the start of Surf Life Saving Patrol season in New South Wales, the premier, Chris Minns, has joined surf lifesavers to raise flags at a beach in Newcastle this morning.
Surf Life Saving NSW says more than 21,000 volunteer lifesavers are expected to return to the state’s beaches tomorrow.
The organisation says the return of patrolling lifesavers “comes at an important time”, after unseasonably warm weather over the past week. There have been seven coastal drownings in NSW since the start of the financial year in July, all at unpatrolled locations, including the death of a man on Wednesday on the Central Coast.
In an effort to curb similar incidents, the NSW government has invested in new jet skis, which will be rolled out at Surf Life Saving clubs across the state this month in the leadup to the season. Minns said:
Surf life savers and volunteers are everyday heroes and we’re proud to be supporting them as they continue to this essential mission.
Teens caught with knives and drugs in police crackdown
Teenagers have been caught with drugs, knives and scissors in a crackdown on street violence and antisocial behaviour during Queensland’s September school holidays, the Australian Associated Press reports.
Police have ramped up patrols on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast through Operation X-ray Sorcerer to stop and search young people aged 11-17 for weapons under Jack’s Law.
Four weapons were seized, along with drugs and utensils, during the high-visibility police patrols that intercepted teens in parks, shopping centres, and riding e-scooters. Teens as young as 14 were found armed with knives and carrying drugs during the crackdown.
Detective inspector Chris Toohey said when young people are found in possession of a weapon, police attempt to work with the family to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Legislation dubbed Jack’s Law, which allows police to search people for weapons using handheld metal detectors randomly, was made permanent in June. It was introduced after the fatal stabbing of NSW teenager Jack Beasley during a night out on the Gold Coast in 2019.
– Australian Associated Press
Coalition opposes ‘shocking but unsurprising’ tariffs on pharmaceuticals
Krishani Dhanji
The Trump administration’s move to impose 100% tariffs on pharmaceuticals is “shocking but unsurprising”, says the Coalition, opposing the decision.
In a statement, the opposition says it will help the government to protect Australia’s pharmaceutical sector and pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
The tariffs are due to take effect on 1 October, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, set to hold a face to face meeting with Donald Trump at the White House on 20 October.
Despite the meeting being now locked in, the Coalition takes a swipe at Albanese in its statement, and says that a direct relationship with the US president is “critical”.
It is deeply concerning that Australian pharmaceutical exporters will be subject to harmful tariff arrangements from 1 October. The 100% tariff announced today puts this critical trade at risk …
This is a shocking but unsurprising development and it is moments like this when a strong direct relationship with the president of the United States is critical to help save Aussie jobs. While other leaders are able to pick up the phone to the president, Anthony Albanese has not established such a relationship.
Josh Butler
Mixture of ‘trepidation’ and ‘relief’ among children over social media ban
Some Australian children have “trepidation” about the government’s under-16s social media ban, communications minister Anika Wells has admitted, saying there will be some support for them once their access is revoked.
The new laws, which will restrict children under 16 from platforms such as Facebook and TikTok, will come into effect in December, but there are still major questions looming about exactly which services will be affected and how age assurance technology will affect all Australian internet users. Wells has been in New York City this week, spruiking Australia’s reforms.
Speaking to CNN, Wells admitted the new laws wouldn’t be “perfect” but would be a start in reducing online harms for kids:
We think it was too important for us not to have a crack at this, even if we’re the first to do it, and even if it’s not perfect, it’s too important not to try and make a meaningful difference. We have statistics now that one child in every classroom has been the victim of a deepfake image or deepfake image abuse, and that’s too horrifying not to act.
Asked about reactions to the ban, she said there had been “a mix”, claiming she had heard from some children, saying “they’re relieved and they wish it had happened earlier for them”.
Some kids have said to me they’re relieved that they’re not on social media yet so this won’t be a problem for them, and some kids who are caught in that 13 to 16 gap who have a social media account that will be deactivated – look, there is some trepidation around that, I won’t lie – and we’re looking at ways that we can support them and their families when this happens.
Qantas flight from Sydney lands in Auckland after reports of fire onboard
Penry Buckley
A Qantas flight from Sydney to Auckland has landed with emergency services on standby this morning after reports of a fire onboard.
A spokesperson for Qantas said the pilots on flight QF141, which left Sydney about 7.00am, began to receive an intermittent indicator warning of a fire in the cargo hold around an hour out of Auckland.
The spokesperson said pilots issued a mayday call to authorities, landing at Auckland airport just before midday. The passengers have been disembarked and engineers are investigating whether there was a fire, or a fault with the indicator. Flight staff reported there were no signs of smoke in the cabin.
A spokesperson for Auckland airport confirmed emergency services were on standby earlier this morning for the aircraft. They said:
The aircraft has now landed safely. The airfield is now returning to normal but there may be some slight delays for departing and arriving flights.
AFL grand final parade in full swing
Thousands of footy fans have gathered in Melbourne for today’s AFL grand final parade, decked out in their Lions and Cats gear.
The event kicked off at 10.30am, beginning at Melbourne Park in the city’s sports precinct.
At around 11.30am, the utes carrying players and coaches are expected to arrive at the MCG where there will be a presentation followed by a light captain’s run.
A mild and cloudy afternoon is forecast for Saturday’s Grand Final, with the match expected to stay dry from the first bounce.
Sydney man charged with possessing child abuse material and firearm offences
The New South Wales sex crimes squad have charged an 18-year-old eastern Sydney man with possessing child abuse material and firearm related offences as part of an investigation into child internet exploitation.
About 7.45am yesterday, strike force detectives executed a search warrant at a home in Matraville, eastern Sydney, where they allegedly found a phone containing child abuse material.
Police said they also discovered two gel blasters, two imitation firearms, a slingshot, two rounds of ammunition and some cannabis.
The 18-year-old man was arrested and taken to Maroubra police station, where he was charged with two counts of possess child abuse material, three counts of possess unauthorised pistol, possess unauthorised firearm, possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit, possess ammunition without holding licence/permit/authority and possess prohibited drug.
He was refused bail to appear in bail division local court 6 today.
Penny Wong tells UN AI’s potential use in nuclear weapons ‘challenges the future of humanity’
The rise of artificial intelligence could potentially endanger the world if the technology were used to control nuclear weapons, the foreign minister has warned.
In a speech to the United Nations Security Council, Penny Wong said that while AI has extraordinary potential, it also presents significant dangers if it isn’t kept in check.
Of particular concern was the use of AI in wartime settings, which she said posed a real risk of catastrophic consequences due to a lack of human oversight. She told the council on Friday AI’s potential use in nuclear weapons and unmanned systems “challenges the future of humanity”.
Nuclear warfare has so far been constrained by human judgment, by leaders who bear responsibility and by human conscience. AI has no such concern, nor can it be held accountable.
These weapons threaten to change war itself, and they risk escalation without warning.
Wong also used her speech to call for tougher standards to ensure the use of AI was safe and ethical.
– Australian Associated Press
Surf Life Saving patrol season kicks off in New South Wales as volunteers hit the beaches
It’s official, New South Wales: swimming season is here. The Surf Life Saving patrol season will begin this weekend with the symbolic raising of the red and yellow flags at Dixon Park Beach in Newcastle.
From Saturday until late April next year, Surf Life Saving volunteers will be patrolling on weekends and public holidays, helping to keep swimmers safe during the warmer months.
Over the past year, the state’s volunteer membership has risen by 5% to a record 83,000, while Nipper numbers grew by 4.5% to almost 30,000.
In a joint statement, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said addressing coastal deaths in unpatrolled and isolated locations was a key priority.
There were 52 coastal drownings in 2024/25, slightly down from 61 fatalities the previous year.
Minns said there had been “too many tragedies” in remote beaches.
Every summer, the red and yellow flags become a symbol of safety and community across our state. The dedication of thousands of Surf Life Saving volunteers, alongside our professional lifeguards, gives families the confidence to enjoy our world-class beaches.
Andrew Messenger
Controversial Townsville mayor resigns
Controversial suspended Townsville mayor Troy Thompson has resigned.
Thompson has been under investigation from the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission since he was elected to the role last year, for a range of issues including allegedly misleading the electorate about his service in the defence force.
The local government minister, Ann Leahy, issued Thompson a two-week show cause notice last week.
Thompson announced the decision to stand down in a three-minute video posted on Facebook on Friday. He said he will run in the byelection.
“Let me be absolutely clear, this resignation is not an admission of wrongdoing,” he said.
It is a deliberate and principled stand to protect the democratic rights of the people of Townsville.
Read more here:
Investigation underway after woman dies in Melbourne CBD incident
Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman after an incident at an apartment in the Melbourne CBD earlier this week.
Emergency services were called to a property on Berkeley Street after it was alleged a woman, armed with a knife, gained entry to an apartment on Tuesday just before 2am.
The woman allegedly made demands for items before the two residents, a man, 28, and a woman, 24, restrained her and called police.
Officers arrived and found the woman unconscious before performing CPR. The 20-year-old Point Cook woman was transported to hospital in a critical condition.
She later died in hospital on Wednesday evening. Both residents of the apartment have been interviewed by police and released pending further enquiries.
