Brisbane news live: Queensland's ‘rental squeeze' continues
Latest posts
7.15am
Queensland's 'rental squeeze' continues: REIQ
To start off our Thursday, let's take a look at the latest rental figures from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).
New data from the June Quarter 2025 Residential Vacancy Rate Report has shown the state's rental market remains tight, but stable, with vacancies remaining at or below 1 per cent in the majority of regions.
'This continued rental squeeze, while not worsening, is continuing to make a strong case for more investors and more rental accommodation to meet demand,' REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said.
Here are some quick-fire stats from this report:
Qld's vacancy rate sits at 1 per cent
Noosa has some of the highest vacancy rates at 2.4 per cent
North Queensland towns, Rockhampton and Townsville, had minor falls of -0.1 per cent
7.13am
While you were sleeping
Here's what's making news further afield this morning:
Fears of a devastating tsunami faded late yesterday for the US and Japan, after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off a sparsely populated Russian peninsula, but new alerts along South America's Pacific coast forced evacuations and closed beaches.
Legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne was farewelled in his native Birmingham overnight. The cortège of the Prince of Darkness was driven through his home city in central England before a private funeral, stopping at a bench dedicated to the band on the Broad Street canal bridge, along the city's major thoroughfare.
Prosecutors are moving to take control of the home where Erin Patterson poisoned her lunch guests with death cap-laced beef Wellingtons so it can be sold to compensate her victims' families.
Google has cancelled a parliamentary concert featuring rock band The Rubens after federal Labor announced YouTube, which the tech giant owns, would be added to Australia's social media ban for under 16s.
In other tech news, billionaire Scott Farquhar has defended widespread adoption of AI after the tech giant he co-founded slashed 150 jobs in roles exposed to the new technology.
A Sydney plumber facing the death penalty for his alleged role in the execution-style murder of Melbourne man Zivan 'Stipe' Radmanovic inside a luxury Balinese villa last month claims he was 'just helping a friend'.
The Australian Tax Office is set to review a decade-old decision to write off penalties and interest related to a tax dispute with an investment company owned by former prime minister Paul Keating.
And Australia was rocked by a food poisoning drama at the world swimming championships in Singapore on Wednesday night after Sam Short announced he would not line up in the 800m freestyle final.
7.08am
The top local stories this morning
Good morning, and welcome to Brisbane Times' live news coverage for Thursday, July 31. Today we can expect a mostly sunny day with a top temperature of 21 degrees.
In this morning's local headlines:
Brisbane 2032's independent infrastructure delivery body has walked back claims the proposed National Aquatic Centre at Spring Hill would cost taxpayers more than $1 billion to build.
The nuclear-powered USS Ohio has quietly slipped into Brisbane for the first time, and for its crew, silence is not only a motto, it's a way of life.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has announced that Queensland's powerful public inquiry into the CFMEU will be given wide scope to consider a new 'fit and proper person' test for officials, and to scrutinise workplace agreements.
In sport, Curtis Scott reached rugby league's greatest heights, suffered a fall, and rebuilt himself through combat sports. Now, the former Melbourne Storm premiership winner has declared he can launch an NRL comeback.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Unions push for AI protections
Rachel Mealey: As the Commonwealth Bank becomes the first in its industry to publicly attribute job cuts to AI, unions are urgently renewing their push for worker protections. That's prompted a sharp rebuke from industry, saying more regulations will restrict productivity and the goal of AI is efficiency, not job cuts. Isabel Moussalli reports. Isabel Moussalli: The Commonwealth Bank isn't the first company to cut jobs in favour of AI, but the Finance Sector Union says it's the first in its industry to acknowledge it. Joseph Mitchell: Well, it's frankly unjust. Commonwealth Bank has made billions of dollars of profit every year for however many years. Isabel Moussalli: Joseph Mitchell is with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. He's angry that 45 roles will be replaced by a customer service chatbot. Joseph Mitchell: And making them redundant by bringing in AI to replace their jobs is just not fair. Isabel Moussalli: A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson says its investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, and its priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees. But Joseph Mitchell says unions will fight mass redundancies from AI. Joseph Mitchell: So we know the most productive way to implement AI in a workplace is through the skilled application of workers. Workers are trained in how to use it. They can make decisions with employers about how it gets used. Isabel Moussalli: The ACTU will call for AI regulations at the Federal Government's Economic Reform Roundtable next month. Joseph Mitchell: We want to see employers required to enter into AI implementation agreements with their staff. That means that employers need to come to their staff with a plan, negotiate with employees and come to a joint agreement about how they're going to implement AI and what are the consequences going to be, with things like guarantees around job security, training and skills development. Isabel Moussalli: But the Australian Industry Group has hit back. Innes Willox: Well, it's kind of ironic because we go into a productivity summit that we have some proposals here that will restrict further productivity growth. Isabel Moussalli: That's Chief Executive Innes Willocks. Innes Willox: There are going to be times where there has to be significant consultation with the workforce and there's going to be other times when they just can't be in business, just has to get on with it. But all the information that we're getting, everything we're seeing and hearing from business is that they're not setting out to use it as a means to cut jobs on the whole. It's really about how to make their business better. Isabel Moussalli: RMIT's Dr. Emmanuelle Walkowiak is an innovation and labour economist specialising in generative AI. She explains the impact on the workforce can't be precisely forecast, but says right now we're in the middle of a massive disruption to the labour market. Emmanuelle Walkowiak: The major impact is through the transformation of jobs themselves. So what we need is really to upskill people. Isabel Moussalli: In a statement, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth acknowledged AI offers significant opportunities to drive economic growth, but also presents challenges, and says the government's been consulting on introducing safeguards for AI. Rachel Mealey: Isabel Moussalli reporting.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Did Donald Trump just give China a major advantage on AI?
Last month, the Trump administration quietly reversed one of its own policies by lifting a ban on US tech giant Nvidia's H20 microchip exports to China. For anyone who has followed Donald Trump's erratic record on trade, another U-turn might not sound like a notable development. But this time, the stakes are much higher because these microchips are critical to powering the next generation of artificial intelligence. Whichever country dominates microchip production will likely lead the global AI race, with massive implications for military strategy and economic output. For nearly three years, the US has tried to keep these powerful chips out of China's hands. Now, by reopening the door, has Mr Trump handed Beijing a major advantage on AI? We spoke to three experts to explain how we got here. Back in April, the Trump administration banned H20 microchip exports to China, toughening restrictions put in place by the Biden administration. It has since reversed that decision. According to Jason Van Der Schyff, a fellow at Australian Strategic Policy Institute's technology and security program, this backflip may be in response to the booming black market demand for high-powered US chips in China. "Over a billion dollars worth of restricted chips were smuggled into China in just a few months," he said. "The reversal may be a pivot by the administration, recognising if you don't offer a legal channel for the slightly degraded chips, buyers will simply go around you." Professor Shahriar Akter, who specialises in the study of advanced analytics and AI at the University of Wollongong said this move seems to follow "a philosophy in Silicon Valley that if you sell more" it will pour more back into "your research and development". Associate Professor in Information Systems at Curtin University, Mohammad Hossain, suggested the Trump administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone. The US is trying to maintain leverage in a broader geopolitical trade-off involving China's critical exports, rare earth elements, while "keeping China dependent on US technology", he said. Nvidia is the tech giant behind these highly sought after microchips and it is led by CEO Jensen Huang who is the ninth-richest man in the world. The H20 is a step-down from Nvidia's top-tier chips (H100 and B200) and was specifically designed to comply with US export restrictions while catering to the Chinese market. "Basically, [H100 and B200 chips] can do things much faster than the H20," Mr Van Der Schyff said. "If we consider how quickly AI is moving any impediment that could be brought to time more than anything is going to maintain that US strategic advantage." While the H20 is less powerful, Mr Van Der Schyff warns that "these aren't toys … even slightly downgraded chips still enable model training at scale". "If you're concerned about national security, letting an adversary access chips that are only one rung down the ladder still poses a strategic risk." While the US hopes to stall China's progress in artificial intelligence, experts warn this strategy may have the opposite effect. China's push to dominate AI is already underway and restricting exports to only H20 chips incentivises them to accelerate domestic developments. "At present in the world, 50 per cent of AI researchers are being produced by China alone," Dr Akter said. Chinese tech giants like Huawei and Biren Technology have been ramping up their own AI accelerators. "Huawei's chips are already being deployed in major training clusters," Mr Van Der Schyff said. Still, China's domestic developments trail behind industry leaders like Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung when it comes to cutting-edge manufacturing. "There isn't necessarily a danger that China catches up overnight but these restrictions do however give Beijing a clear incentive to sort of go all in on industrial policy for their own semiconductors to accelerate domestic progress," Mr Van Der Schyff said. "We've seen this play out previously with 5G and also with aviation." All three experts cautioned that it's difficult to gauge China's true AI capabilities. "Given the closed nature of China's systems and their propensity to not always tell us the truth", it's unclear how much China's artificial intelligence has developed, Mr Van Der Schyff said. Dr Akter used an analogy to explain the uncertainty: "There are two types of AI technologies", one is called glass box and the other is called black box. "Glass box technology is basically explainable AI, which is open source and we can explain where data is coming from and how it is being used to develop AI models and what would be the outcome." Whereas, black box technology is the opposite, we cannot trace back to the source of the data and we cannot tell what models have been used. That opacity makes it difficult for the rest of the world to assess whether Beijing is playing catch-up or quietly pulling ahead. The country that has the upper hand in microchip production will likely lead the global AI race and that has significant repercussions, experts said. "The country that dominates compute will dominate AI, and AI will shape everything from military planning to economic productivity."
The Advertiser
a day ago
- The Advertiser
India will continue to buy Russian oil, officials say
India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite US President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources say, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight." Trump indicated in a Truth Social post in July that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. The New York Times on Saturday quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy, with one official saying the government had "not given any direction to oil companies" to cut back imports from Russia. Reuters reported this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week after discounts narrowed in July. "On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a regular briefing on Friday. Jaiswal said India had a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia, and that New Delhi's relations with various countries stood on their merit and should not be viewed from the prism of a third country. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said earlier this week. The country's state refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd - have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners' purchase plans told Reuters. On July 14, Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies. Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up one per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft. In July, Reuters reported that Nayara's chief executive had resigned after the imposition of EU sanctions and company veteran Sergey Denisov had been appointed as CEO. Three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported in July. India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite US President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources say, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight." Trump indicated in a Truth Social post in July that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. The New York Times on Saturday quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy, with one official saying the government had "not given any direction to oil companies" to cut back imports from Russia. Reuters reported this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week after discounts narrowed in July. "On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a regular briefing on Friday. Jaiswal said India had a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia, and that New Delhi's relations with various countries stood on their merit and should not be viewed from the prism of a third country. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said earlier this week. The country's state refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd - have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners' purchase plans told Reuters. On July 14, Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies. Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up one per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft. In July, Reuters reported that Nayara's chief executive had resigned after the imposition of EU sanctions and company veteran Sergey Denisov had been appointed as CEO. Three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported in July. India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite US President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources say, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight." Trump indicated in a Truth Social post in July that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. The New York Times on Saturday quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy, with one official saying the government had "not given any direction to oil companies" to cut back imports from Russia. Reuters reported this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week after discounts narrowed in July. "On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a regular briefing on Friday. Jaiswal said India had a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia, and that New Delhi's relations with various countries stood on their merit and should not be viewed from the prism of a third country. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said earlier this week. The country's state refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd - have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners' purchase plans told Reuters. On July 14, Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies. Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up one per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft. In July, Reuters reported that Nayara's chief executive had resigned after the imposition of EU sanctions and company veteran Sergey Denisov had been appointed as CEO. Three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported in July. India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite US President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources say, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight." Trump indicated in a Truth Social post in July that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. The New York Times on Saturday quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy, with one official saying the government had "not given any direction to oil companies" to cut back imports from Russia. Reuters reported this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week after discounts narrowed in July. "On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during a regular briefing on Friday. Jaiswal said India had a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia, and that New Delhi's relations with various countries stood on their merit and should not be viewed from the prism of a third country. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said earlier this week. The country's state refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd - have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners' purchase plans told Reuters. On July 14, Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies. Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35 per cent of India's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up one per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft. In July, Reuters reported that Nayara's chief executive had resigned after the imposition of EU sanctions and company veteran Sergey Denisov had been appointed as CEO. Three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported in July.
