Patrick Commins

AI will help boost productivity performance back up to average, Treasury says

Treasury says artificial intelligence will help drag Australia’s productivity performance back to its historical average over coming years, according to departmental briefing papers.

With the government set to release its latest intergenerational report this month, Jim Chalmers said “AI is shaping up to be the biggest economic transformation in our lifetime”.

This is a gamechanging technology which will impact every part of our economy and society, in every corner of our country. I’m confident we can maximise the economic upside and minimise the risks.

Australia’s productivity growth has stalled, with the nation no more productive now than it was at the beginning of the decade.

Amid a national and sometimes heated debate over the regulation of AI and its related technologies, such as datacentres, the Treasury briefing paper said “AI is the first substantive, credible global productivity growth accelerant in almost two decades”.

But Treasury officials advised that, for now, the adoption of AI across the economy was not expected to usher in a new era of turbocharged growth, even as they flagged the unusually wide range of forecasts.

Instead, the “baseline” forecast was that “AI will support the achievement of the long-term productivity assumption of 1.2%” – a forecast outlined in the lead up to this year’s budget.

Josh Taylor

NSW workers to march for extra public holiday

The Shop and Warehouse Workers Union (SDA) say over 400 workers will march to NSW parliament on Tuesday with a petition signed by over 10,000 workers and their families to call for an additional public holiday for 1 September.

The union says NSW has the fewest public holidays in any state or territory in Australia, with 11 statewide public holidays, eight of which are in the first half of the year.

The ACT, Victoria, NT and WA have the most at 13.

The union and workers are calling for 1 September to be declared a new public holiday in the state as a “family and community day”.

The petition will be handed to the NSW industrial relations minister, Sophie Cotsis.

SDA NSW/ACT secretary Bernie Smith said:

NSW workers work just as hard as everyone else, and they deserve the same opportunities to spend time with their families and friends.

Spring is all about new beginnings and that is exactly what a 1 September public holiday would provide for NSW.

Most capital city home prices fall below $1m in August

Luca Ittimani

The typical capital city home price has slipped back below $1m as buyers fail to show up in a “buyers’ market”, property data firm Cotality has reported.

The median price in the capitals surpassed $1m for the first time back in October but has steadily fallen this year with demand suppressed by rising interest rates and weak confidence in the economy. By the end of August, it fell to $990,394, Cotality found.

The typical home price in Perth passed $1m in March, but slipped to $999,987 by the end of August.

Sydney and Brisbane are back to being the only capitals with median prices above $1m. Sydney’s is at $1.22m, $93,000 below its peak earlier this year, while Brisbane is at $1.08m, down $30,000 from its peak.

Cotality’s research director, Tim Lawless, said nearly every capital city suburb had now seen prices fall, yet far fewer homes were being sold compared with this time last year, meaning listings on the market were building up. He said:

Longer selling times, larger vendor discounting and persistently low auction clearance rates all point to a buyer’s market, yet buyers are lacking the confidence to transact at the moment.

Adeshola Ore

Nepali and Tibetan communities mourn in Melbourne

Members of Melbourne’s Nepali and Tibetan communities gathered in the city’s Federation Square last night to remember the victims of the Nepal-Tibet flood.

More than 40 Australians are among thousands of people who remain missing after the natural disaster last week. The overall death toll is at least 810 people.

At the vigil, volunteers unfurled a sign on the ground – encircled by candlelight – that read “Vic united for Nepal”.

The event, organised by the Non-Resident Nepali Association’s Victorian branch, was attended by the Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, and Labor and opposition MPs.

Speaking to the crowd of about 400 people, Carroll said:

I know so many of your hearts are breaking right now. Look around you, all of Victoria stands behind you and every candle in Federation Square is lit up for you. You are not alone.

Carroll said the Victoria government had pledged to donate $100,000 to Australia’s immediate efforts in Nepal.

Josh Taylor

‘A lot of anger … but very few real solutions’, Wong says of Hanson

Penny Wong has said Labor accepts there’s a message from WA Labor’s loss to One Nation in the Secret Harbour byelection, but says the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has “very few real solutions”.

Wong told ABC’s 7.30 program the loss was “very disappointing”, but that Labor knows many Australians “believe the status quo is not delivering for them”.

She pointed to policies such a investment in Medicare, childcare and schools, as well as tax cuts and tax changes as the federal government’s response. Wong accepted that the public had not taken the changes on board in their vote in WA, but said Hanson was not offering solutions.

She said:

I accept there’s a message sent in this byelection for us. I accept that. And I think we understand that.

We understand the importance of delivering real change and as someone who sits in the Senate with Pauline Hanson, what I would say to you is that she is … there’s a lot of anger and a lot of complaints, but really very few solutions.

You can read political editor Tom McIlroy’s analysis on the byelection here:

Aid on way to Nepal amid grave concerns for missing Australians, Wong says

Josh Taylor

An RAAF flight containing hygiene kits, shelter and solar lights will leave for Nepal this morning, as the foreign affairs minister and acting prime minister, Penny Wong, says grave concerns are held over the 43 missing Australians after the Nepal-Tibet flash flood.

More than 4,400 people are still missing on both sides of the border, with more than 930 people confirmed dead. Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 program last night that the federal government is urgently seeking to find the whereabouts of the 43 missing Australians.

She said the Australian government has provided $8m in aid so far and noted that Australian citizens had donated $2m to a public appeal – something that the federal government is matching.

More aid will leave today, she said:

We are deploying an RAAF aircraft to deliver these kits which are designed to support people in circumstances of natural disasters that destroy infrastructure and their shelter.

Whether it’s shelter kits, lights, hygiene kits, these are the things needed for those people who are facing the devastation of their homes and their communities.

On the 43 missing Australians, Wong said Australia has been engaging with the Nepali and Chinese governments but the recovery and search effort is “very difficult”.

Nine of the 43 missing were on the Chinese side of the border at the time of the floods, but no more information was available on the 43 missing, she said.

I first want to again express what I’ve been expressing to the families and friends of the 43 Australians who are not accounted for, that this is such a difficult time, it’s an incredibly distressing, traumatic time. I think all Australians are with you. And certainly we are with you. We are working to do whatever we can and to provide any information we obtain.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.