22:54
The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, has confirmed that the budget position will benefit from an increase in iron ore prices.
Birmingham told Sky News:”We have always prudently budgeted when it comes to commodities like iron ore, and that’s an approach that we will continue. In the budget handed down just 72 days ago, we projected that the iron ore price, although it was running over a hundred dollars, and over the last month it’s been averaging I think around USD$132, we projected that that would taper down to some $55. So, we’ve taken that conservative approach consistently, it’s served us well to date, and we will maintain that type of prudent careful approach.”
22:50
Gladys Berejiklian urges more northern beaches residents to get tested for Covid
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has just spoken about the two new mystery cases of Covid-19 diagnosed yesterday in Sydney.
She says that there has been an increase in testing overnight on the northern beaches as a result.
“We are encouraging anybody who lives on the northern beaches with the mildest symptoms to come forward for testing,” she said.
She adds that the last detected case was in the Sydney suburb of Frenchs Forest.
“We have seen an increase in testing overnight. We really want to get on top of this. We don’t want this to concern us leading into the last few days before Christmas.”
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22:41
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22:36
Queensland police shoot armed man on Logan Motorway
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22:19
Late this morning the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will release the mid-year economic and fiscal update which is expected to show that the budget deficit will be less than $200bn due to a $11bn saving on jobkeeper and rising iron ore prices boosting revenue.
Asked about the $11bn jobkeeper saving, the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, told Channel Nine:
Look, it is really encouraging to see the strength of the recovery in the Australian economy. Now, there is still a long way to go but we’ve seen more than 650,000 jobs created across Australia in recent months. More Australians back in work, fewer Australians on jobkeeper – this is a trend that we want to see continue but we know that there are always threats present.
But we are delighted to see that the measures put in place to help the Australian economy through the depths of Covid-19 and drive it into recovery are working, and we’ll have to continue to show that type of determination to keep them working in the months and years ahead.
Labor is less impressed, with its industrial relations spokesman, Tony Burke, arguing that savings are built off the back of workers who were excluded from the wage subsidy scheme:
Tony Burke
(@Tony_Burke)Govt claims it is spending so much less than announced on JobKeeper because of the economy. No. It’s because it chose to exclude so many casuals, local Govt workers, arts workers, aviation workers, workers at unis…
The delivery didn’t match the announcement.
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22:14
Melbourne’s public housing Covid lockdown violated human rights, Victoria’s ombudsman has found
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21:56
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21:28
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21:11
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20:58
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20:53
Flash flooding in the Queensland town of Killarney has killed a man after the water swept him and his car downstream.
Queensland police say preliminary investigations indicate the 69-year-old was moving cattle to higher ground at a property on Condamine River Road when rapidly rising waters rushed in, engulfing him and his car about 8.30pm:
Emergency services were called to the scene and immediately commenced a search and rescue operation.
Police say the man’s body was discovered inside his vehicle about 100 metres downstream just after midnight. Officers will prepare a report for the coroner.
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20:40
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