Australia news live: Richard Marles insists Tony Burke’s speech on Labor’s new restrictive immigration policy ‘hasn’t been called off’ | Australia news

Federal parliament is returning from winter break next week.

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Can Australia make housing affordable while avoiding a major market crash?

The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates and the property market is in retreat. So far, so normal.

Or is it?

There is a sense that this year’s fall in home prices feels different from previous episodes. The data tells another story.

Over the past four decades there have been seven property market downturns of varying length and depth, according to analysis put together by Shane Oliver, AMP’s chief economist.

They are often triggered by interest rate hikes, which make home loans more expensive, but they also occur during crises and policy changes.

Read more here:

Police investigating after 23-year-old found dead at rural property with injuries consistent with animal attack

Police are investigating after the body of a man was found with significant injuries in Sydney yesterday, with initial inquiries indicating he may have been attacked by animals prior to his death.

NSW police said emergency services were called to a rural property in the suburb of Eschol Park in south-west Sydney on Wednesday around noon. On arrival, officers found the body of a 23-year-old man.

A crime scene was established and detectives have begun an investigation into the death.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

EV imports more than doubled in June quarter

Electric vehicle imports have also surged as the US-Iran conflict drove up petrol prices and sent motorists flocking to Chinese manufacturers such as BYD, AAP reports.

Battery electric vehicle sales more than doubled in the June quarter to 69,414, data from the Australian Automobile Association showed.

On the other hand, imports of automated data processing (ADP) equipment – including equipment used to fit out AI datacentres – fell by more than a quarter in the three months to June after a surge at the start of 2026.

Fuel diplomacy tanks Australia’s trade surplus

Australia has recorded its lowest quarterly trade surplus in almost a decade as the federal government raced to secure fuel cargoes during the Middle East oil crisis, AAP reports.

The jump in imports narrowed Australia’s goods trade surplus to $1.1bn in the June quarter, the lowest figure since 2017, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed on Thursday.

The Albanese government’s deal-making blitz to secure supplies from Australia’s fuel trading partners was evident in country-specific data.

Despite the decline in the quarterly trade surplus, the trade balance increased $4.3bn in the month of June, above forecasts. That was largely driven by a 60% jump in non-monetary gold exports, reversing a 35% decline in May.

Former ABC executive says Race Around the World clip about Rinehart not a breach, but worthy of apology

Alan Sunderland, a former editorial director at the ABC, has said he was not surprised the broadcaster’s ombudsman found an episode of its Race Around the World program did not breach its editorial standards related to harm and offence.

The program included a four-minute documentary that ended with crude and offensive comments about mining magnate Gina Rinehart, including a line about “mixing her guts up nice and smooth, to make one big sausage roll”. The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, later apologised for the episode amid Rinehart’s threats of legal action, and the broadcaster edited the footage to remove the offending lines.

Sunderland said there was a “long history of latitude” at the ABC for content, “particularly with satirical entertainment programs where people ascertain that the depiction of violence, whatever it is, was clearly meant to be humorous”:

It is not per se a breach of standards to depict violence where nobody would reasonably in good faith think that it was an actual direct threat of violence.

Still, Sunderland said he believes it was probably right for Marks to apologise:

I think the ABC needs to take account of public tastes on this. Public tastes move and shift over questions of what is and isn’t offensive, but I think there was a pretty common acceptance, even from the film-maker herself, that it was inappropriate. And I think they did the right thing to make that call, regardless of whether it breached editorial standards or not.

Marles was asked about home affairs minister Tony Burke’s delayed speech before the National Press Club about migration policies.

The deputy prime minister said the decision was merely a move of date, not a cancellation. Marles said:

It’s not unusual for dates to be moved around in people’s diaries and in terms of presenting speeches of that kind. I think what’s important here in terms of migration policy is complex. It’s one that we’ve been working on since we’ve come to government.

Tony Burke will be talking about that and he’ll be talking about that at the National Press Club at the earliest opportunity.

He went on:

Moving around dates in a diary for senior members of government is very routine. It happens literally all the time. The speech hasn’t been called off. A date has been changed. That literally happens every week. And there’s nothing more to it than that.

Marles maintains gambling reforms about striking a ‘balance’ over ‘complex’ issue

Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister, said the government still intends to get its gambling reforms past parliament despite opposition from the Greens and the Coalition, who both argue that they do not go far enough.

Marles spoke to RN Breakfast, echoing the government line that they are the “strongest reforms in respect of gambling advertising that have ever been put forward”. He went on:

I mean, we are doing more in terms of breaking the link between gambling advertising and sport, more in terms of protecting our kids from being exposed to gambling advertising on TV and radio at the times when they would be watching and listening. We’re doing more in terms of supporting BetStop, which helps people who identify to restrict their own gambling habits.

So this is really important legislation and we’ll work with the parties across the parliament to get it passed.

When asked about criticism of the legislation, Marles said gambling was a “complex” issue with differing views.

It’s also an area where you need to strike a balance and we believe we’ve done that … We’re not saying that people should not be able to engage in betting but there needs to be a balance. And it’s important.

Penny Wong says Australia has ‘more work to do’ forging relationships in the Pacific

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is in Fiji today amid a meeting with her counterparts from across the Pacific.

Wong said Australia has been working to rebuild trust and Australia’s reputation in the region, as well as its “strategic position in the Pacific”.

We’ve got work more work to do. We’ve announced that we do want to engage with and negotiate with both Tonga and Solomon Islands. Obviously, there’ll be a lot of work there that we want to do with them in partnership.

Wong also said she hopes China “takes note” of the region-wide opposition to a ballistic missile test Beijing undertook in July.

It was a test which was destabilising and in a region where leaders have said we want an ocean of peace. It’s really important that partners respect that, and we would continue to encourage that respect.

Welcome

Good morning, and welcome to Friday. It’s Nick Visser here to get us started. Here’s what’s on deck.

Australia has recorded its lowest quarterly trade surplus in nearly a decade amid a long push to secure fuel cargoes during the oil crisis in the Middle East.

Electric vehicle imports have surged, with battery EV sales more than doubling in the June quarter to nearly 70,000.

Stick with us.