Landmark CSIRO ‘Variety’ facility opens, safeguarding 13 million specimens
Ima Caldwell
The CSIRO has formally opened a brand new “Variety” constructing in Canberra – which features a mixed 13 million specimens from the Australian Nationwide Wildlife Assortment and Australian Nationwide Insect Assortment.
Inside temperature-controlled vaults are 55,000 birds, 17,000 orchids preserved in ethanol and the world’s largest assortment of Australian bugs and associated invertebrates – together with 2.4 million moths and butterflies and greater than million beetles.
The ability makes the collections, procured over 150 years, accessible to researchers, governments and citizen scientists around the globe.
Relocating the specimens to their new residence took round a yr.
Dr Clare Holleley, the director of CSIRO’s Australian nationwide wildlife assortment, stated nature is declining at a charge unprecedented in human historical past and the collections function a library of life on Earth and a useful resource for caring for the surroundings:
Assortment specimens permit us to better-understand long run developments in environmental response and to assist put together species for the challenges of the long run.
On this new constructing, we’re fixing the issues that nature presents to us in actual time.
Key occasions
Ima Caldwell
20,000 residence battery installations registered in month after federal rebate launched
Family battery payback intervals can now be as little as 4 years in NSW and seven.3 years federally with authorities subsidies, in response to new evaluation by the Australian Vitality Market Fee (AEMC).
Robust market uptake is already evident, with round 20,000 battery installations registered within the month for the reason that federal rebate launched, which supplies a 30% subsidy on home batteries, reflecting improved affordability for Australian households.
Residents in NSW also can declare a whole bunch of {dollars} in opposition to a battery from a state-based scheme in the event that they join it to a digital energy plant supplier.
The AEMC stated the evaluation offers the proof base for contemplating how the broader vitality system would possibly have to adapt to maximise advantages for all Australians.
Watt confirms salmon farming to proceed in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour
Lisa Cox
The Albanese authorities confirmed it would allow salmon farming to proceed in Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania, regardless of issues from conservationists concerning the dangers to the endangered Maugean skate.
The surroundings minister, Murray Watt, wrote to a few surroundings teams on Wednesday notifying them of the extensively anticipated choice, which follows the passage of amendments to Australia’s nature legal guidelines to guard the salmon trade earlier this yr.
The teams, together with the Bob Brown Basis and the Australia Institute, had requested the federal government in 2023 to rethink a 2012 choice to permit salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour with out an evaluation underneath Australia’s environmental legal guidelines. Watt stated all related data had been fastidiously thought of earlier than reaching his choice:
The Albanese authorities stays dedicated to the safety of the Maugean skate, together with by means of our funding of oxygenation measures in Macquarie Harbour.
Eloise Carr, director of the Australia Institute Tasmania, stated:
Minister Watt is making an attempt to place an finish to this challenge by means of this choice, but it surely’s not going away. Whether or not the modifications to the EPBC (Surroundings Safety and Biodiversity Conservation) Act apply to Macquarie Harbour stays an open query.
Anne Davies
Labor faucets former journalist as decide for Kiama seat vacated by Gareth Ward
NSW Labor has nominated the previous journalist Katelin McInerney to run as its candidate in a state byelection in Kiama that will likely be held on Saturday, 13 September
The byelection follows the resignation of the seat’s former MP, Gareth Ward, who’s at present in jail awaiting sentence after being convicted of 1 depend of sexual activity with out consent and three indecent assault costs.
Ward had held the seat since 2011 – initially as a Liberal, however he gained the seat as an impartial in 2023 – regardless of the costs hanging over him. Labor is enjoying down expectations, with the NSW premier, Chris Minns, saying in an announcement:
We’ve to be sensible concerning the problem forward. This will likely be a troublesome seat for Labor to win – however Katelin is aware of her neighborhood, she understands their priorities, and she’s going to work tirelessly to ship for them.
The Liberals haven’t but introduced their candidate however opposition chief Mark Speakman stated Wednesday he thinks you will need to give individuals a selection.
Katelin McInerney stated of her choice:
If I’ve the honour of being elected because the member, I will likely be a robust native voice and ship extra for our neighborhood. I’ll ensure that we proceed to ship the crucial infrastructure and providers that our neighborhood wants and depends on.
Josh Taylor
Age assurance trial preliminary findings ‘robust on hype and rhetoric’, stakeholder says
One of many members of the stakeholder advisory board for the trial of expertise to maintain under 16s off social media from December has challenged the interim report findings that the expertise may be “non-public, sturdy and efficient”.
Digital Frontiers Australia’s chair, John Pane, stated in an announcement on Thursday the findings – released in June – had been “robust on hype and rhetoric and tough to reconcile with the proof.”
Pane, who was a member of the stakeholder advisory board, described the interim report as “political speaking factors”, and the evaluation of distributors’ privateness practices gave the impression to be a “tick-box compliance” of checking privateness insurance policies reasonably than a radical examination.
Pane stated there was regarding proof that private knowledge, together with biometric knowledge, might be held by the age assurance corporations for entry by regulation enforcement or regulators. He stated:
From a privateness and data safety perspective, that is an absolute nightmare!
The ultimate report was supplied to authorities firstly of August. It has not but been launch publicly, and EFA has not seen a duplicate of the ultimate report.
Landmark CSIRO ‘Variety’ facility opens, safeguarding 13 million specimens
Ima Caldwell
The CSIRO has formally opened a brand new “Variety” constructing in Canberra – which features a mixed 13 million specimens from the Australian Nationwide Wildlife Assortment and Australian Nationwide Insect Assortment.
Inside temperature-controlled vaults are 55,000 birds, 17,000 orchids preserved in ethanol and the world’s largest assortment of Australian bugs and associated invertebrates – together with 2.4 million moths and butterflies and greater than million beetles.
The ability makes the collections, procured over 150 years, accessible to researchers, governments and citizen scientists around the globe.
Relocating the specimens to their new residence took round a yr.
Dr Clare Holleley, the director of CSIRO’s Australian nationwide wildlife assortment, stated nature is declining at a charge unprecedented in human historical past and the collections function a library of life on Earth and a useful resource for caring for the surroundings:
Assortment specimens permit us to better-understand long run developments in environmental response and to assist put together species for the challenges of the long run.
On this new constructing, we’re fixing the issues that nature presents to us in actual time.
Mint honours fiftieth anniversary of The Rainbow Serpent with colored 20 cent piece
The Royal Australian Mint is releasing colored 20-cent uncirculated cash to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Australian kids’s ebook The Rainbow Serpent. There will likely be an coin obtainable in each a card, a particular version ebook, and a deluxe version ebook.
The Rainbow Serpent was written and illustrated by Indigenous Australian artist Dick Roughsey, a Lardil man from Mornington Island. His first work had been on bark utilizing conventional pigments from soil and black from charcoal.
The Rainbow Serpent celebrates rock artwork that first appeared in Arnhem Land a minimum of 6,000 years in the past. The Royal Australian Mint’s performing chief govt, Emily Martin, stated:
On the coronary heart of this program is a 20c coin, a small piece of metallic that ignites curiosity and surprise, particularly amongst kids.
The colorful art work on these cash displays the unique ebook art work and is beautiful in each silver and gold.
The coin in card is $17.50, with the coin in ebook promoting for $50 and the gold plated uncirculated coin promoting at $85, obtainable from in the present day.
Unemployment drops to 4.2%
Patrick Commins
The unemployment charge has dropped to 4.2% in July, partially reversing a shock bounce to 4.3% within the month earlier than.
The variety of employed Australians climbed by 24,500 within the month, together with an enormous 60,500 rise in full-time employment, offset by a 35,900 drop in part-time work.
The most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics affirm that the roles market has remained one of many few shiny spots by means of the post-pandemic economic system.
The jobless charge has shifted decrease from its pre-Covid stage of greater than 5%, and the RBA expects it to remain at about 4.3% for the foreseeable future.
Michele Bullock, the central financial institution’s governor, on Tuesday stated labour market circumstances remained “a bit of tight”, however stays hopeful that inflation may be held under 3% with none substantial rise in unemployment.
Wage value figures launched yesterday revealed pay charges climbed by 3.4% within the yr to June – nicely above the two.1% charge of inflation.
Australia-US relationship drifting, Ley says
The opposition chief, Sussan Ley, stated the shortage of conferences between the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and US president, Donald Trump, confirmed the connection between Australia and the US is “drifting”.
Many within the room in the present day are reflecting the crucial juncture right now in historical past and the significance of the alliance with respect to that with the strategic rise of China, with the conflicts within the Center East, with the geo-strategic circumstances the way in which they’re, this implies the alliance is extra essential than ever and it’s not proper for it to be drifting the way in which it’s and it’s a name to motion for our prime minister and our authorities to step in and do extra.
Ley met with members of the US congress in the present day, and stated she raised that US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is a “good buddy of Australia” however wouldn’t say whether or not any of the members of congress raised Australia’s place on recognition of Palestine as a trigger for concern.
Hamas ‘cheerleaders’ for PM, Ley says
The opposition chief, Sussan Ley, is holding a press convention in Adelaide
Ley claimed whereas the PM has stated he isn’t a “cheerleader for Hamas” in recognising a Palestinian state, “Hamas is a cheerleader for him”.
She advised reporters:
When you may have terrorists cheering in your international coverage, you recognize that you’ve got it unsuitable. Now, we all know that the prime minister stated he made this choice as a result of Hamas didn’t assist it.
Hamas didn’t assist his choice, however as an alternative we see Hamas popping out in full-throated reward of the prime minister. He should reverse this choice as a result of when terrorists are cheerleaders in your international coverage, it’s worthwhile to suppose once more and reverse that place.
For context, the prime minister has repeatedly stated Hamas can be excluded from any future Palestinian authorities, and stated the phobia group was “manipulating information for their very own propaganda”.
Australian weekly grocery spend jumps 11% from final yr, and is now $240 on common
An Australian family of 4 now spends $240 on groceries every week, on common, an 11% bounce from final yr, in response to knowledge from Canstar Blue.
That determine represents the most important annual enhance within the final 5 years, the group stated. The determine was $216 every week on common in 2024, $207 in 2023 and $203 in 2022.
Canstar stated that complete places the grocery finances for a small household at $12,480 a yr, on common.
The group surveyed 2,800 consumers, who rated completely different supermarkets throughout a collection of classes, together with value, clients service and worth for cash. Greater than 80% of respondents stated they’d modified their procuring habits over the past yr to attempt to hold grocery prices down.
Josh Taylor
Extra on Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar’s ideas on AI and Australian artwork
Australia ought to undertake US-style copyright regulation to permit synthetic intelligence to suck up all artistic content material or threat harming funding within the trade in Australia, in response to Atlassian co-founder, Scott Farquhar.
Farquhar, the Tech Council of Australia CEO, advised ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday: “all AI utilization of mining or looking or going throughout knowledge might be unlawful underneath Australian regulation and I believe that hurts a number of funding of those corporations in Australia”.
It is because, he stated, Australia doesn’t have honest use exemptions coded into copyright regulation just like the US does.
Farquhar’s declare overlooks that this isn’t a settled challenge within the US, and will have devastating results on artistic industries.
Learn extra right here:
Former Wiggles CEO information Truthful Work declare in federal court docket
Luke O’Neill, the previous CEO of the Wiggles Group, has filed a Fair Work claim in federal court docket. The complete particulars of the declare aren’t public, but it surely lists the appliance underneath the Truthful Work Act citing allegations of “dismissal in contravention of a common safety”.
O’Neill left the corporate not too long ago after being employed as its first CEO final yr.
The declare lists the blue Wiggle, Anthony Subject, as a respondent, in addition to Wiggles common counsel, Matthew Salgo, and The Wiggles Holding Pty Restricted.
Luca Ittimani
Origin Vitality’s underlying earnings bounce to just about $1.5b
Origin Vitality’s underlying earnings have jumped by $300m to just about $1.5bn for the yr as a result of it paid much less tax on its gasoline manufacturing arm, offsetting falling earnings from electrical energy and gasoline.
The vitality supplier, which operates the Eraring coal-fired energy station, reported sliding earnings in its annual report this morning.
Electrical energy pre-tax revenue slipped $224m as retail costs fell and coal prices rose, whereas decrease wholesale costs minimize pure gasoline earnings. That dragged underlying earnings all the way down to $3.4bn from $3.5bn throughout the enterprise.
Origin additionally offered much less gasoline for much less money by way of its pure gasoline manufacturing three way partnership, Australia Pacific LNG – the most important gasoline producer on Australia’s east coast. That enterprise phase paid Origin almost $800m in dividends within the yr to June, after paying $1.4bn the yr prior – however this time, the phase had already paid tax.
That minimize Origin’s annual tax invoice by almost $360m within the yr to June.
NSW SES warns of flash flooding for elements of Central Coast
NSW State Emergency Providers is warning of flash flooding on the Central Coast after heavy rainfall. The alert applies to residents of Corlette, Nelson Bay and Salamander Bay, with officers warning residents to by no means drive, stroll or play in flood waters.
The Hazard Watch app at present exhibits a extreme climate Watch and Act alert for Tomaree and its surrounds, with steerage that the scenario might change shortly.
Heavy rainfall is inflicting flash flooding in Nelson Bay⚠️
A warning is present for residents of Corlette, Nelson Bay & Salamander bay as a result of flash flooding on roads and water coming into properties.
NEVER drive, stroll or play in floodwaters. pic.twitter.com/u6pjhUm17x
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) August 13, 2025
Albanese says leaked Treasury recommendation doesn’t imply roundtable a ‘waste of everybody’s time’
The prime minister was requested concerning the leaked Treasury doc given to the ABC this morning that features advisable outcomes for the productiveness roundtable happening subsequent week. Albanese stated you’ll count on “Treasury to be giving recommendation a few discussion board that’s concerning the economic system” and defended in opposition to a query if the occasion was a “waste of everybody’s time”:
Concepts are popping up on a regular basis. You’re reporting on these concepts. These concepts are getting assessed as they’re being made. Authorities will make choices, to be very clear, governments make choices.
What subsequent week, although, is a chance for individuals to advance their concepts, to advance insurance policies and that’s a extremely constructive factor. My authorities is unashamedly an open authorities.
Albanese insisted he’s open to a “vary of reforms”.
Albanese says media needs to be ‘very cautious’ about repeating ‘Hamas propaganda’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was requested about Hamas’ assertion yesterday praising his choice to recognise a Palestinian state at subsequent month’s UN common meeting.
Albanese stated the media needs to be “very cautious about the truth that Hamas will interact in propaganda as a result of what is going on is the worldwide neighborhood are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceable approach ahead”.
He went on concerning the media:
They shouldn’t repeat Hamas’ propaganda as a result of it’s Hamas which is able to interact in propaganda as a result of they’re being remoted. As a result of the world was horrified by the occasions of October 7 and the world condemns and says, together with the Arab League, that Hamas should be remoted, it should be disarmed.
The hostages needs to be launched and [we] have condemned what occurred on October 7. So I gained’t be a cheer squad for Hamas and for its statements. What I’ll do is say that Hamas needs to be remoted.
Learn extra right here:
Benita Kolovos
Victorian Greens slam ‘backroom’ deal on ethics committee appointments: ‘Like letting the fox guard the henhouse’
The Victorian Greens chief, Ellen Sandell, criticised a “backroom deal” between Labor and the Liberals she says has prevented any crossbenchers from being appointed to the parliament’s new ethics committee.
The creation of the committee was a key part of the parliamentary workplace standards and integrity bill, which was developed in response to an investigation by state’s integrity our bodies into branch-stacking within the Labor occasion, in addition to a 2021 assessment of office requirements.
The committee is supposed to advertise integrity, oversee MPs’ codes of conduct and rebuild public belief however Sandell says that is undermined by its make-up:
This so-called ethics committee would be the solely joint committee in all the parliament with no crossbench representatives, managed by the 2 events with the longest monitor document of rorts.
It’s a calculated transfer so Labor and Liberal MPs can hold writing their very own guidelines round MP behaviour, and keep away from any scrutiny. It’s like letting the fox guard the henhouse. This Labor-Liberal backroom deal is nothing greater than a safety racket.
Westpac’s quarterly revenue hits $1.9bn, up 14% over first half of the yr
Westpac’s third-quarter web revenue hit $1.9bn for the three months to 30 June, a 14% climb over the primary half of 2025.
The financial institution stated it’s piloting new AI expertise to boost “real-time rip-off detection”.
Anthony Miller, Westpac’s CEO, stated in an announcement:
The resilience of each households and companies has been aided by the discount in rates of interest and the moderation of inflation …
Our robust monetary foundations present us with the steadiness and capability to assist our individuals, clients, shareholders and the broader economic system.
Telstra information $2.3bn web revenue, up 31% over final yr
Luca Ittimani
Telstra’s earnings have bounced again 31% after cell phone plan customers paid out a pair extra {dollars} every than they’d the yr prior.
Telstra raked in an additional $235m from its cellular enterprise within the yr to June, a 4.7% rise in earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
The corporate offered an additional 760,000 cellular providers and now operates 24.9m plans. A 3rd of these are postpaid customers, who paid up a median of $54.15 every a month, a greenback greater than they did in June 2024.
The corporate supplied 56,000 fewer post-paid plans than it had a yr earlier after closing 64,000 inactive accounts. Almost 60,000 clients give up their pay as you go plans and one other 17,000 noticed their providers disconnected when the 3G community closed, although the remaining pay as you go plan customers paid Telstra over 8% extra on common than they’d the earlier yr.
The corporate introduced web revenue of $2.3bn in its annual report this morning, a lot larger than the $1.8bn it reported final yr when it was having bother with one in all its consulting subsidiaries, Telstra Enterprise.
Telstra dedicated an extra $800m spend on bettering 5G efficiency and different cellular protection, and stated its Sydney-Canberra capital intercity fibre community will likely be prolonged to Melbourne by December.
It paid out a last dividend of 9.5 cents per share, because it did in its interim outcome earlier this yr, and introduced it would purchase again up one other $1bn value of shares, having purchased $750m already.
