Coal lobby spins electoral defeat to its advantage
As Australians for Prosperity's spokesperson, he was emailing voters daily to urge them to vote for 'economic freedom and common sense' by backing the Coalition.
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Mercury
35 minutes ago
- Mercury
Tasmanian Premier set to announce Greyhound Racing closure in 2029
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News. TASMANIAN Premier Jeremy Rockliff is set to announce the closure of greyhound racing in the state from 2029, three weeks after committing to the 'longevity and sustainability' of the industry. The move comes at a time of significant political upheaval in Tasmania where Rockliff's Liberal government needs to secure the support of crossbenchers after failing to win a majority at the recent state election. Faced with the realisation of a vote of no confidence motion when parliament resumes, obtaining the support of independents staves off the prospect of a political calamity for the under-siege Premier. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! And it appears greyhound racing will become collateral damage in the politically charged landscape, with the proposed 2029 timeline coinciding with the expiration of the code's current funding deal. The shock and devastation being felt by racing participants is heightened following the stern commitment Premier Rockliff delivered to greyhound officials – in writing – just three weeks ago. In a letter addressed to Northwest Greyhound Club President Ben Englund on July 17, Rockliff said his government would 'continue to back Tasmania's racing community'. 'I have pleasure in responding on behalf of all Tasmanian Liberal candidates,' Rockliff said. 'I know that the racing community and more broadly the Tasmanian racing community want a racing industry that is fair, humane, and sustainable across all three codes, including greyhound racing. 'The Government is committed to supporting the longevity and sustainability of the industry which generates close to $208m in economic activity in Tasmania and involves more than 6400 people. 'Work has already started on developing a new racing industry funding deed to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the industry. 'I understand this is the industry's number one priority and I recognise the industry needs certainty and we will deliver that.' Premier Jeremy Rockliff is set to withdraw his government's support for greyhound racing in Tasmania. Picture: Patrick Gee. But less than a month after those emphatic comments, the Premier is poised to withdraw the government's funding support by 2029, essentially winding up the industry. While the Premier's official line for the decision is yet to be made, it appears that safety and welfare concerns are unlikely, given the proposed 2029 closure date, four years from now. Tasracing issued the following statement in response to the Greyhound Recorder's story. 'Tasracing notes the announcement by the Tasmanian Government that it intends to phase out greyhound racing by 30 June 2029,' a Tasracing spokesperson said. 'We will engage with all industry code (greyhounds, harness and thoroughbred) stakeholders and other stakeholders about the decision. 'Tasracing also notes the government's intention to establish a Parliamentary committee to assist with any transition out of the industry for greyhounds and greyhound industry participants.'Greyhounds Australasia urged the Tasmanian Government to reconsider the decision in a statement issued on Sunday. 'Closing greyhound racing will have serious, real-life consequences for more than a thousand people involved in racing – decent, hardworking people who take good care of greyhounds,' it read. 'This is a disappointing move that does not reflect the continual progress being made by the industry to address animal welfare concerns and improve racing safety. Progress that presents a sustainable future for the greyhound industry in Tasmania 'We will continue to advocate for the future of racing in Tasmania and are committed in seeking engagement with the Tasmanian Government ahead of the proposed transition.' Originally published as Tassie Premier to shut down greyhound racing by 2029


Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
‘Dirty bomb': Huge warning on AI
Artificial intelligence developed outside the West could teach Australians 'how to make a dirty bomb' and let authoritarian regimes push alternate realities, the country's leading cybersecurity expert says. Big tech is promising AI will revolutionise every aspect of modern life, from how people find information to how they do their jobs. The promise has been heard in capitals across the world, with governments scrambling to figure out how to reap the economic benefits of early adoption while also not knowing what they are dealing with. Jobs are top-of-mind, but the challenges stretch far beyond which roles could be stamped out in the relentless march of technological progress. Alastair MacGibbon is the chief strategy officer at CyberCX – a Canberra-based cybersecurity firm that helps government and businesses thwart threats from hostile states to private hackers. Among the biggest challenges of AI, according to Mr MacGibbon, is hostile governments waging informational warfare. CyberCX chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon says authoritarian regimes could push alternate realities on Western users. CyberCX Credit: Supplied 'The concept of AI models developed outside of the West being used in the West is highly problematic,' he told NewsWire. 'This is why I was so concerned about DeepSeek because with AI models, one can distort truth.' China's DeepSeek model wiped a trillion dollars in value off US tech titans when it launched in January. Nvidia alone suffered a $600bn blow. The disruption was largely because DeepSeek is free and open source, unlike its American rivals, meaning anyone with an internet connection can use it. While DeepSeek is backed by Chinese hedgefund High-Flyer, the platform is riddled with code linking it to the government. NewsWire earlier this year also confirmed DeepSeek had a deeply embedded bias that persisted even when the model was downloaded and run offline. China's DeepSeek wiped hundreds of billions in value off tech stocks when it launched in January. Nadir Kinani / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia It repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Mr MacGibbon said Beijing could tweak history and make it seem as though the massacre did not 'even happen'. 'Why wouldn't you ideologically want to poison the knowledge base of the world?' he said. 'More broadly, AI models are increasingly being trained on data that was AI generated, and you're sort of getting this weird sort of beigeness of truth that is being reflected in AI results. 'So imagine what an AI model that's trained by or developed in a totalitarian, revisionist regime will do for truth. 'It should scare people considering the role we see AI playing this generation.' Even Western models can get things wrong. Elon Musk's Grok repeatedly misidentified a photo of a severely emaciated girl in Gaza, telling users on X it was taken in Yemen in 2018. The photo was taken by a photographer for Agence France-Presse in August this year. The news agency swiftly corrected Grok, which conceded it was mistaken. But Western models have guardrails that block users from using them for harm, such as bomb-making. Mr MacGibbon said AI developed by non-Western countries could drop those safeguards, either by shoddy work or by design. 'It's easy enough to get around the guardrails of the semi-responsible Western AI companies, who vary from marginally responsible to marginally irresponsible in terms of their guardrails about social harm and their responsibility,' Mr MacGibbon said. 'Imagine people who want to cause harm and dissent. 'So the combination of truth no longer being the truth, and the ability to give you access to how to … throw sand in the gears of the West. 'I don't think that's at all beyond the realms of the madness of these regimes.'


West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
Experts cast doubt on Australia's ‘aspirational' new 1.2 million housing target
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil is now emphasising the 1.2 million homes target is a 'national aspiration' in a softening of the government's language since the election. The shift comes as experts and Treasury cast doubt on whether building that many homes is achievable in the timeframe. Across Australia, about 178,700 new homes were built in 2024-25, the first year of the five-year national housing accord that set the target. That falls 61,300 short of the average number needed to be built each year to hit the goal by mid-2029. Ms O'Neil said on Friday she was doing all she could as minister 'to make sure that we meet the target or get as close to it as we can', while repeatedly calling it a 'national aspiration'. She made similar comments in June, but not during the election campaign. It echoes language in the National Housing Accord signed by Premiers and the Prime Minister in 2022. They agreed to 'an initial, aspirational national target of delivering a total of one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024'. It lifted to 1.2 million a year later. 'We've got a housing crisis that's been cooking in our country for 40 years, and whatever debates there may be about housing policy, one thing is for absolute certain, the real answer to the housing challenges facing our country is to build, build, build,' Ms O'Neil said. 'We've got to build more homes more quickly, because more housing means more affordable housing for Australians.' The federal view is that there needs to be a massive, collective push from all levels of government if Australia is to get close to meeting the 1.2 million home target, since it's more than has ever been built in any five-year period. The closest was in the five years to the end of 2019, when almost 1.05 million homes were built, analysis from property data firm Cotality found. However, its head of research Eliza Owen pointed out that in that period, interest rates were far lower, more units were being approved, and investors made up a bigger proportion of demand. Treasury advice has also cast doubt on whether the target will be met. Government data shows the number of homes built increased by 2 per cent in 2023-24 compared with the year prior. If that growth rate continues over the next five years, the nation will build just under 930,000 new homes — suggesting growth needs to speed up considerably to reach the 1.2 million stretch goal. The Commonwealth is directly funding the construction of 55,000 social and affordable homes (28,000 of which are currently in planning or construction) and 100,000 properties reserved for first-time buyers, to contribute to the 1.2 million target. Properties built by Defence Housing Australia, such as the hundreds under construction near Rockingham to accommodate an influx of families related to AUKUS, will also count towards it. '(The target) is bold, it's ambitious, but I can tell you that that's exactly what's needed,' Ms O'Neil told Radio National. 'We've got to get states, territories, local government and the private sector working together better on housing, and that's the reason why we've got this target in place. 'Having a big, difficult target is exactly the kind of thinking that is going to need to snap us out of what is a 40-year-old problem confronting our country.' The Federal government is acutely aware it doesn't hold the planning levers and is reliant on state and local governments. It also sees the need for a cultural shift to counter the NIMBYism, where neighbours in established suburbs can hold up developments – including the one Ms O'Neil used for a media appearance on Friday morning – by pursuing objections through local councils and courts. The minister met local governments on Wednesday as part of the pre-roundtable discussions and will also speak with her state and territory counterparts. Cotality's Eliza Owen said policies aimed at pre-fabricated construction and labour mobility sounded like they would be heading in the right direction, although could come with added costs. She pointed to the increase in dwelling approvals in June, particularly for units, as a sign things were speeding up. 'A combination of the right policy action and lower interest rates will help increase dwelling completions,' she told The Nightly. Approvals were up 11.9 per cent in June, and 27.4 per cent on the year earlier. Building starts were also up 17 per cent in the March quarter compared to 12 months earlier. Ms Owen argued that speeding up approvals was not necessarily the main game in fixing the problem, because it appeared to be adding to an already packed pipeline of projects. But she cautioned that history showed 'you can't just look at the supply side' without controlling demand. 'We allowed a lot of that new demand (leading up to 2019) to be investment, off-the-plan apartment sales,' she said. 'And while that's not inherently a bad thing in itself, it did see a decline in the rate of home ownership, corners cut on dwelling construction, and pretty poor return for those investors over the long term.' Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg accused Ms O'Neil of seeking to pre-emptively shift blame if the target wasn't met. 'The Labor Government promised to build 1.2 million homes by July 1, 2029. If they don't, they can't blame it on the States or the RBA. They will have lied to the Australian public,' he said.