Australia news live: Chris Bowen travels to Pacific for Cop31 push; Coalition frontbencher calls for national cabinet after Melbourne attacks

The Guardian

6 days ago

Update:
Date: 2025-07-06T21:10:03.000Z
Title:
Content: ACOSS is calling on the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates again tomorrow after the latest inflation data show that price pressures are continuing to ease.
'With inflation well within the RBA's target and decreasing, there is no reason to keep interest rates high,' said ACOSS acting CEO Jacqueline Phillips.
People on low and modest incomes have borne the brunt of interest rate rises and desperately need relief. The economic conditions clearly support a rate cut.
Phillips said a series of rate cuts now would open the door to stronger growth in jobs and help restore people's incomes after a decade of stagnation.
Low unemployment should be celebrated, not feared. There is no evidence that our current unemployment rate is driving inflation. In fact, inflation continues to fall even with unemployment at these levels.
We should be supporting job creation, not deliberately trying to push people out of employment to meet an arbitrary unemployment target.
While welcome, rate cuts alone would not solve the living standards crisis for people who are hit the hardest, she added.
We need an urgent increase to JobSeeker and other social security payments to lift them to a liveable level.
We also need further investment in social housing and home energy upgrades for low-income renters to bring down energy bills.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-06T21:10:03.000Z
Title: Welcome
Content: Good morning and welcome to Monday's live news blog.
The Albanese government will continue its efforts to host the Cop31 climate summit against stiff competition from Turkey, with climate and energy minister Chris Bowen travelling to the Pacific.
And the opposition frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has called for the prime minister to convene an urgent meeting of national cabinet after a spate of alleged antisemitic attacks in Melbourne at the weekend.
I'm Jordyn Beazley and I'll be taking you through the morning's news.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-06T21:10:03.000Z
Title:
Content: While there's no confirmation of who will host COP31 next year, energy minister Chris Bowen will travel to the Pacific this week to discuss Australia's joint bid with the region to host the climate summit.
Australia is lobbying to host the summit against Turkiye, and prime minister Anthony Albanese promised during the federal election campaign to hold the summit – if we won – in Adelaide.
Bowen will visit Tuvalu, Palau, Samoa, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands and says the trip will help deepen ties with the region.
It makes sense that the world's biggest climate conference should be hosted by the region facing some of the world's biggest climate impacts.
Australia and the Pacific's joint bid for COP31 is about ensuring that the region's voice shapes global climate action for the benefit of the Australian and Pacific people.
South Australia's acting premier, Susan Close, says her state is a 'global leader' in decarbonisation, with 75% of its energy coming from renewables, and a target of net 100% renewables by 2027.