Key events
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Emily Wind takes the news baton.
In our top story this morning, the former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr tells us that Australia faces a “colossal surrender of sovereignty” if promised US nuclear-powered submarines do not arrive under Australian control. As a report by a group called Australians for War Powers Reform is released today, Carr argues that the US is “utterly not a reliable ally” to Australia. More details on the way.
There’s a lot of politics around this morning with another report saying a re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script in a major election pledge to be included in next week’s budget. At the same time, Peter Dutton faces internal pressure to match Labor’s budget giveaways as Coalition MPs hope to neutralise a potentially potent Labor attack during the campaign. And the Greens launch their housing policy in Brisbane today with a call for billions in extra funding for accommodation and supported tenancies. More coming up.
Dovetailing with this buildup of political stories today, we have a fascinating read today by the researcher Rebecca Huntley about social trends and how Australians have lost hope in the concept of the “fair go” and place more value in security and personal freedom. She finds that driving this change is the unaffordability of housing and declining engagement with politics, and has some suggestions about how to fix the problem.
And the Good Life music festival has joined the growing list of festivals to cancel their 2025 editions, as costs escalate. More on that soon.