New drugs added to PBS; alleged e-scooter bandit arrested
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5.30am CET 05:30 What we learned, 16 March 2025
Updated at 5.38am CET
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Jobs market appears to hold strong in face of tariff threat
Australia's unemployment rate is expected to stay remarkably low when jobs data is released on Thursday, as the Reserve Bank considers more rate cuts.
As US tariffs on steel and aluminium threaten to put thousands of Australians out of work, they can at least be encouraged that jobs remain plentiful in a historically strong labour market.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.1%, well below pre-pandemic levels, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force statistics on Thursday.
Market consensus is for 30,000 new jobs to have been added to the economy in February, after an unexpectedly strong 44,000 gain in employment the month before.
The labour market's persistent strength, which has obliterated all expectations of the Reserve Bank, has been underpinned by growth in the non-market sector.
Health care, education and public administration dominated gains in employment in 2024, the ABS's labour account figures released earlier in March revealed, although the market sector did show some improvement, including a 3.9 per cent growth in mining jobs over the year.
Anthony Albanese has ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US, which will limit the immediate price impact on imported goods, while any boost to inflation from a weaker Australian dollar will be offset by weaker economic growth, analysts said.
Tariff announcements last week sparked a global stock market sell-off as traders contemplated the risk of a US recession.
– AAP
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Sydney close to record-breaking March weather
Just a note on the hot weather in Sydney to say that if the Sydney Observatory Hill mercury gets above 37.9C, it will be the hottest March day in five years, and if it gets above 38C, it will be Sydney's hottest March day ever.
This is looking unlikely at this stage, with the temperature only just tipping over 36C – and 2pm is usually the hottest part of the day.
Meanwhile, it is now 14.6C in Melbourne after a balmy maximum of 21.4C at 10am.
Human-caused climate breakdown will continue to drag up temperatures and break records into the future, unless a meaningful effort is made to address the issue.
Locals find reprieve from heatwave in Wollongong. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
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At least one home lost in bushfire at Melbourne's outer east
At least one home has been lost and another partially damaged after a bushfire on the outskirts of Melbourne.
The blaze swept through Montrose on Saturday night, sparking an emergency warning to scores of residents in its path after igniting about 9pm.
Police confirmed the loss of one home on Sunday morning.
Another suffered 'partial loss,' the state control centre told AAP.
The emergency warning was downgraded to watch and act alert about 3.30am as more than 100 firefighters, four helicopters and two bulldozers battled the blaze.
The fire, which started in a reserve about a kilometre west of the Mount Dandenong observatory, had burned through 33 hectares by sunrise.
Nearby residents were being warned on Sunday morning that firefighters had been able to slow the spread of fire 'but the situation can change at any time.'
A relief centre has been opened at Kilsyth sports centre.
Montrose is one of several suburbs in the foothills of the Dandenong Rangess, Melbourne's highest point.
– AAP
Updated at 4.20am CET
3.53am CET 03:53 Police arrest Hobart's alleged e-scooter bandit
A 31-year-old Tasmanian man who allegedly targeted e-scooters, e-bikes and bicycles across Hobart has been charged with 19 counts of theft.
The man was arrested by Taskforce Saturate, initially launched in 2018 as a temporary initiative to tackle rising crime rates, after a three-month investigation. He was also charged with multiple breaches of bail and failing to appear in court.
Police said the total value of the property stolen was just under $60,000.
A search carried out as part of the investigation turned up stolen property, and police were making inquiries regarding ownership of the items.
The man was detained and was due to appear in the Hobart magistrates court on Sunday.
Beam e-scooters. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
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Calls to ban steel-jaw traps after man convicted of animal abuse
Steel-jaw traps used to 'inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering' should be consigned to the scrap heap, animal advocates say.
The call comes after a man was convicted in an Adelaide court for using the trap in his back yard to catch his neighbour's four-year-old cat, Lunar.
The 71-year-old admitted to police he was aware the cat was in the trap for about two hours 'but left her meowing in pain', RSPCA South Australia said in a statement on Sunday. The cat's toe was crushed by the trap and required amputation.
After the injured cat was freed, an RSPCA inspector and police attended the man's property to find the steel-jaw trap had been reset. It had been set next to a hole in a fence and surrounded by brickwork to funnel cats entering through the hole directly into the trap.
RSPCA SA's chief inspector, Andrew Baker, said there was no good reason to own a steel-jaw trap and encouraged anyone who owned one to turn it in for scrap metal.
These are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering.
It's tragic to think that some animals could become trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony.
– AAP
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Five Coalition senators billed taxpayers total of $10,000 to attend conservative conference CPAC
Coalition senators who addressed last year's Australian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) billed taxpayers thousands of dollars in flights, accommodation and car expenses on the weekend of the event.
Guardian Australia can also reveal the former Labor senator Fatima Payman claimed more than $4,000 on a whirlwind Perth-to-Melbourne trip in which she appeared at a public meeting in solidarity with the embattled CFMEU construction union.
Politicians are permitted to charge taxpayers for travel expenses if the dominant purpose is parliamentary business, which covers a broad range of activities including electorate, party political and official duties.
Shadow ministers Bridget McKenzie and Barnaby Joyce and Coalition backbenchers Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and Keith Pitt were invited to speak at October's CPAC Australia conference, the annual showcase of rightwing political activism.
Parliamentary expenses figures show the five politicians claimed almost $10,000 between them on the weekend of the event, which was headlined by the former UK prime minister Liz Truss.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia's Dan Jervis-Bardy:
Updated at 2.44am CET
2.20am CET 02:20 New IVF, contraception and endometriosis drugs added to PBS
A new oral contraceptive, reproductive health and treatments for endometriosis will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May.
Slinda is currently available privately, with 80,000 women paying $80 for three months' supply, but the drug will receive wider availability with the subsidy that is expected to lower the price to $7.70 for concession card holders and $31.60 for general payments.
A new treatment option for endometriosis for patients who have experienced moderate to severe pain and cannot get adequate relief from other hormonal treatments and painkillers has also been added to the scheme.
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the addition of the treatments to the scheme will give 'Australian women more choice, lower costs and better health options'.
Women have asked government to take their health care seriously, and we have listened.
These listings could save women and their families thousands of dollars across their lifetimes.
The new subsidy is in addition to the federal government's $573m women's health funding announcement made in early February.
Minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said women often have more expensive and more complex health issues.
This announcement is all about making treatment cheaper and easier, so women can focus on getting the care they need.
Updated at 3.58am CET
2.03am CET 02:03 Trade minister 'still not clear' what US wants from tariff decision
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1.47am CET 01:47
Buster brings cool relief from fierce autumn heatwave
A change is bringing cooler conditions, with residents in three states glad to see the back of a short but sharp autumn heatwave.
A cool change has delivered relief to thousands of Australians forced to hit the beach or camp under air conditioners in two states, but the summer-like heatwave rippling across the nation's south-east persists in NSW.
The cool change is already on the way with showers, cold winds and thunderstorms to follow.
High and possibly damaging winds are likely in alpine areas of Victoria and NSW into Monday, as is snow across Tasmania's highlands.
The change will bring relief to fire crews in South Australia and Victoria.
A grassfire propelled by heatwave conditions destroyed one home and damaged another at Montrose on Melbourne's outskirts on Saturday night.
South Australian firefighters are also battling blazes near Katarapko Island, north-east of Adelaide, and in the state's lower south-east near Lucindale.
– AAP
Updated at 1.59am CET
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