Australia and Papua New Guinea lock in new defence treaty after delay
Tom McIlroy
Australia and Papua New Guinea have locked in a major new defence treaty, weeks after the deal was delayed due to domestic political concerns in PNG.
The cabinet of the PNG prime minister, James Marape, has signed off on the agreement and an announcement is imminent in Port Moresby.
The two countries will agree to defend each other in the event of a military attack, and increase cooperation between the Australian defence force and their PNG counterparts.
Designed to push back against China’s expansionist attitude to Pacific countries, the deal is the latest negotiated by the Albanese government with regional neighbours.
A similar agreement with Vanuatu was also delayed last month.
The treaty will allow PNG citizens to join the ADF, and for Australians to serve with PNG troops, promote interoperability between the two countries and integrate responses to a military attack.
Joint military training and defence exercises are planned, as well as new cooperation on cybersecurity preparedness.
The agreement was due to be signed when Anthony Albanese was in PNG for the 50th anniversary of independence from Australia in September.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Victoria premier says reported review of Suburban Rail Loop ‘commonplace’
Victoria premier Jacinta Allan was asked earlier about a report in the Age, which revealed a major contract for the Suburban Rail Loop is being reviewed by the Foreign Investment Review Board. Allan says it’s “commonplace” and forms part of the tender process.
[FIRB reviews] – they’ve been part of … projects here … for projects like Sydney Metro as well so this is a fairly standard part of the contract and the procurement processes that companies who are engaging on projects in Australia participate in. But let’s also remember that it’s a fantastic thing that we have global companies.
Allan says it’s had no impact on the timeline on the SRL.
Australia and Papua New Guinea lock in new defence treaty after delay
Tom McIlroy
Australia and Papua New Guinea have locked in a major new defence treaty, weeks after the deal was delayed due to domestic political concerns in PNG.
The cabinet of the PNG prime minister, James Marape, has signed off on the agreement and an announcement is imminent in Port Moresby.
The two countries will agree to defend each other in the event of a military attack, and increase cooperation between the Australian defence force and their PNG counterparts.
Designed to push back against China’s expansionist attitude to Pacific countries, the deal is the latest negotiated by the Albanese government with regional neighbours.
A similar agreement with Vanuatu was also delayed last month.
The treaty will allow PNG citizens to join the ADF, and for Australians to serve with PNG troops, promote interoperability between the two countries and integrate responses to a military attack.
Joint military training and defence exercises are planned, as well as new cooperation on cybersecurity preparedness.
The agreement was due to be signed when Anthony Albanese was in PNG for the 50th anniversary of independence from Australia in September.
Natasha May
‘People will be turned away from emergency departments’: Minns
Minns said a deal between the states and commonwealth on hospital funding was a “long way off” and in the meantime could result in people being turned away from emergency departments:
Ultimately, the way this will be managed is that people will be turned away from emergency departments. There’s only so many doctors and nurses. There’s only so many paramedics that we can employ in our public hospital system, particularly if it’s going to be starved of funds in the years ahead.
The feds have got deeper pockets. We appreciate they’re under pressure with the NDIS, but we need help to run some of the biggest public hospitals in the country, if not the world.
Natasha May
Commonwealth not stepping up to aged care responsibilities – contributing to hospital bed block, Minns says
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the net reduction in the money the commonwealth is contributing to state hospitals is responsible for the bed for bed block in NSW.
At a press conference this morning, Minns said “the offer that we’ve gotten from the commonwealth is lower than the agreed amount from our last national cabinet meeting. So we’re going backwards. We’re not going forwards.”
Minns explained the commonwealth has the responsibility for aged care which he said is the major source of bed block in hospitals:
We’ve got hundreds of patients in New South Wales public hospitals that would ordinarily be discharged, except they’ve got nowhere to go. They’re all aged, and they need a place to go.
Now the commonwealth’s responsibility is aged care in New South Wales and Australia across every jurisdiction, and they can’t have it both ways. We can’t have hundreds of patients who are in New South Wales public hospitals that should be discharged and at the same time, see a net reduction in the amount of money that the commonwealth is prepared to give the states.
Two bushwalkers rescued from Cradle Mountain national park less than a week after a tourist died
Two bushwalkers with mild hypothermia are being rescued from rugged wilderness, less than a week after a tourist died in the same area, AAP reports.
The pair activated an emergency beacon at 7.15pm on Wednesday in Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain national park, but an attempt to reach them by helicopter was called off in bad weather.
An on-foot search and rescue group reached the bushwalkers and were expected to walk with them to safety on Thursday morning.
They were given treatment for mild hypothermia.
Temperatures in the national park reached zero degrees on Thursday morning – snow has fallen in the area in the past week.
It comes less than a week after a female Chinese tourist died in the national park after being “overcome” by weather conditions while walking with a group.
Benita Kolovos
Allan says small businesses report boons from work from home offerings
About 2,000 respondents – or 6% – were employers, Allan said. Most were from smaller businesses of up to 20 employees. She added:
What was interesting about their responses is that they identified the benefits for them and their workers that came from working from home, but they ranked employee satisfaction as the top benefit as an employer …
They also then identified two key economic reasons, it provided them with a bigger talent pool from which they could hire, and they also saw that it increased the productivity amongst their workers as well.
The acting minister for industrial relations, Harriet Shing, said larger businesses have been involved in industry roundtables with government. She said a key concern relates to how businesses will be able to manage the “operational requirements of the products or services that they provide”. Shing went on:
These are the sorts of things that will be part of the way in which we develop the legislative response, including the essential requirements of positions that a business has that are required to be undertaken. Are they required as an essential component of that job to be undertaken in a physical face-to-face environment, frontline work, the sort of services that are provided that need to be delivered in situ? Or can they be delivered with a hybrid of remote work and work in a physical office environment?
Allan says 75% in survey described work from home as ‘extremely’ important to them
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference in Oak Park in Melbourne’s north to announce the results of a survey on the government’s plan to legislate a right to work from home two days a week.
She says the survey, conducted by the government’s consultation arm Engage Victoria, heard from 36,700 respondents, including 34,705 employees. It’s the “biggest survey that the Victorian government has ever undertaken”.
Of the employees about 75% said the right to work from home was “extremely” important to them. The main benefit was saving time, followed by saving money and “being able to focus without distractions”.
Some 3,200 respondents – about 10% – said they felt they couldn’t ask their current employer to work from home.
Allan says:
The survey results show us that it’s good for the economy, because 83% of survey respondents said that they were more productive, they got more done when they were working from home. 88% of respondents said that their ability to work from home was a reason why they might choose one particular job over another, and 88% also said that if they could work from home, they would stay in their job for longer.
Krishani Dhanji
Australians on flotilla continue towards Gaza
Australian film-maker Juliet Lamont, on board the flotilla to Gaza, says the group are about 50 nautical miles from the shores of Gaza.
On social media, Lamont described a military boat coming up close to the vessel she’s on, Wahoo, which she said tried to manoeuvre them towards Egypt.
She said Wahoo has managed to “outmanoeuvre” the military boat. In a following video, Lamont said there are still about 30 boats in the flotilla on course to Gaza, with approximately 30 military vessels surrounding and kettling the flotilla:
A lot of our comrades on the flotilla have been intercepted and boarded by zodiacs [boats], we’re still in formation … We’re feeling really positive, we’re feeling really steadfast in our resolve to get the much-needed aid there, [and] that we are on the right side of history.
We are feeling like we’re going to get there, when the sun rises we will be with the people of Gaza.
There are six Australians in the flotilla, across several boats. In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it’s “aware” that the flotilla has been intercepted and is “concerned about the safety of those on board”. Dfat said:
Our officials are liaising with Israeli authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance to any affected Australians.
William Summers
At least 29 Americans have sought asylum in Australia since the second Trump presidency began
Dozens of Americans are seeking asylum in Australia as their US homeland becomes increasingly fractured and politically volatile during Donald Trump’s second presidency.
At least 29 US citizens applied for humanitarian protection visas in the first six months since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, according to Department of Home Affairs figures obtained under freedom of information laws.
The deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Jana Favero, said the centre had also seen an increase in the number of people from the US calling its helplines for advice on how to claim protection:
We are deeply concerned about the increasing attacks on human rights in the United States, and in particular the targeting of the LGBTIQ+ community.
Read more here:
Arrest warrant issued for rapper after petrol station shooting in Sydney
NSW police issued a warrant for the arrest of a rapper after two men allegedly jumped out of a stolen Porsche and gunned down an underworld figure at a petrol station last year, AAP reports.
Police applied for a warrant this month for Harley Johan, 31, who goes by the rap name YC Ewzy. He is believed to be overseas.
The shooting of 31-year-old Niddal Acherkouk took place at a BP in the central Sydney suburb of Surry Hills after he’d finished having dinner at a nearby Turkish restaurant in November 2024.
Acherkouk had parked his car at the fuel station when police allege he was ambushed by two masked gunmen, who shot him after he tried to flee. He was treated by paramedics, but died at the scene.
The attack was captured on CCTV and released by NSW police on Thursday as they appeal for public help to identify the alleged perpetrators.
Erin Patterson confirms she will appeal
Nino Bucci
Lawyers for Erin Patterson have confirmed she will appeal her convictions.
Patterson’s barrister, Richard Edney, confirmed she would appeal during a hearing on Thursday morning.
The hearing continues.
Nino Bucci
Erin Patterson case back in court
Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson’s case returns to Melbourne’s supreme court on Thursday.
Patterson is not expected to attend the brief hearing but will be monitoring via video link.
Lawyers for Patterson have applied to vary a suppression order in the case, extending the date of expiry to 3 November.
On 8 September, Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Patterson is yet to confirm if she will appeal against the conviction or sentence in her case.
Typically, such appeals must be lodged within 28 days, meaning it must be lodged before the end of next week.
But as of 1 October, the court is trialling an extension of the time allowed to appeal. An extension of no more than an extra 28 days can now be granted.
Defence force joins search for missing four-year-old in South Australia
The Australian defence force will join the ongoing search for a missing four-year-old boy named Gus in South Australia.
The boy was last seen at his family’s property about 40km from the town of Yunta on Saturday evening. He is described as having long blond curly hair and was last seen wearing a grey sun hat, a blue T-shirt with a yellow Minion on it and light grey pants and boots.
Forty-eight personnel from the ADF will join a large group of searchers, including aircraft, mounted operations and search dogs.
The boy’s family released a statement yesterday saying they were “devastated by the disappearance of our beloved Gus”:
This has come as a shock to our family and friends, and we are struggling to comprehend what has happened.
Gus’s absence is felt in all of us, and we miss him more than words can express. Our hearts are aching, and we are holding on to hope that he will be found and returned to us safely.
Fire bans stretch across south-east Queensland before long weekend
Queensland Fire Department has imposed a local fire ban for much of the state’s south-east going into the long weekend, with officials warning current conditions in many areas are “perfect for bushfires to ignite and spread quickly”.
Current bans apply from just south of Rockhampton to the NSW border, covering Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and in towards Toowoomba and the Western Downs region. Separate bans apply inland from Townsville. The bans note:
Under a local fire ban all open fires are prohibited and all Permits to Light Fire which have been issued in the designated areas have been suspended for the duration of the ban.
Many of the bans are expected to remain until at least Sunday night, with some extending beyond.
Q: Can you have a campfire during a fire ban?
A: NoIf you plan on pitching a tent for the long weekend, please check fire restrictions for your destination.
Fire bans are in place for many regions across Queensland for the final days of the school holidays.
Campfires are… pic.twitter.com/dzQS8917xs
— Queensland Fire Department (@QldFireDept) October 1, 2025
Patrick Commins
Tech and streaming giants paid just $254m in tax despite earning a collective $15bn
Amazon, Google, Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), Netflix and Disney together paid just $254m in tax in Australia last year, despite earning a collective $15bn in revenue, according to the Australian Financial Review.
“We are paying close attention and focused on tax paid in the tech industry,” Sams said.
Australia has implemented country-by-country rules that from this financial year will require international firms operating in Australia to publicly disclose a breakdown of their activities by jurisdiction – including profits, tax paid, the number of employees, and related party revenue.
The ATO report also showed the number of companies paying the petroleum resources rent tax (PRRT) jumped from 11 to 16 in 2023-24, versus the prior year, as new rules capping deductions came into effect.
Despite more firms paying the tax, total PRRT collections dropped by a fifth, from $1.9bn last year to $1.5bn this year, which the ATO said was “largely due to decreased production and lower oil prices”.
Despite the recent tweak, many economists and experts have criticised the PRRT scheme, saying it does not capture nearly enough tax from massively profitable gas companies.
