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Australia's Trade Minister is expected to meet with a key farmer's group today, ahead of the nation's free trade deal with the E-U being ratified in parliament.
The ratification still depends on the support of the Coalition and crossbenchers in the Senate.
Don Farrell's meeting with the National Farmers Federation is aimed at easing concerns, after its president Hamish McIntyre said the deal offered no material improvement and instead could lock in decades of disadvantage for beef, dairy and sugar industries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese maintains the free trade agreement is good for everyone.
"This will make Australian exports of goods and services 98 percent tariff free to a market that is 450 million strong. This will boost our economy by $10 billion."
Industry and social services groups have formed an alliance that is calling on all levels of governments to put a 20-year national plan in place for affordable housing.
The newly-created National Affordable Housing Alliance's call to action comes as Australia battles a cost-of-living crisis largely driven by the accelerated growth in rent and purchase prices of homes across the nation in the past five years.
A Cotality report in August reveals rents have risen by 80 per cent in parts of Australia since 2021, while general inflation in property prices in Sydney has been 23.6 per cent.
Housing Industry Association managing director Jocelyn Martin says the housing shortage is a result of 30 years of inaction by respective Federal Governments.
"Our members are adjusting their businesses in order to deliver social housing. They need more longer-term commitment from the government to actually be able to stay in this business for a long time, to improve productivity and to improve the cost base."
Opposition MPs have kept up pressure on the government after the release of the latest inflation figures, pointing to Labor's spending and budgets as the reason for the increase.
Forecasters say the odds of a rate rise are now high, after Wednesday's (28 Oct) inflation figures came in higher than the Reserve Bank would like.
The Reserve Bank decision is widely expected to be a rise of 25 basis points to bring the rate to 4.6 per cent.
Liberal Senator Paul Scarr says that is clearly Labor's fault.
"The government is overseeing a budget which has just completely blown out. We have record levels of government spending - this is putting pressure on inflation, putting pressure on interest rates and now we have had a prolonged period where the inflation figure is outside the RBA's range."
The US judge overseeing the case against deposed Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, has died.
A United States District Court official says Alvin Hellerstein was 92.
Hellerstein's lengthy career included overseeing civil cases arising from Al-Qaeda's September 11 terrorist attacks, and rejecting a request by Donald Trump to have his New York hush money case moved to federal court.
As one of the oldest US federal judges, questions had previously been raised about whether he was the right justice to preside over what could be a prolonged trial for Maduro on drug trafficking charges.
A cruise ship has become stranded in Cambodia after its parent company ran out of money to pay for fuel.
The Villa Vie Odyssey had been sailing the world for over two years as one of a handful of ships offering passengers the opportunity to rent or buy long-term or permanent residences on board.
A number of the ship's long-term residents have now been forced off the vessel in the Cambodian port city of Sihanoukville.
Evicted ship resident, Russ Borman, says he is one of the many passengers who had sold their homes elsewhere to live aboard the ship.
"This was their home. They put all of their money, sold their home back in the US or Australia or wherever they're from, and now they have nowhere to go. So their challenge is what do they do after the next few days, which are going to involve getting all of their belongings off the ship, figuring out how to get to where they're going to go next."
Traditional owners in north Queensland have joined forces with a conservation organisation to reclaim access to a culturally significant parcel of rainforest.
Bush Heritage Australia and Jirrbal Traditional Owners hope to purchase the property known as Wooroora for around $24.7 million, but a final $5.3 million payment is needed before December 24.
The landscape of Wooroora is home to at least 12 threatened species and more than 30 of conservation significance, including the southern cassowary, northern greater glider, and magnificent broodfrog.
The plan is to remove the fence line with the neighbouring Yourka Reserve, creating a protected corridor of more than 400,000 hectares with Koombooloomba and Tully Falls national parks.
Kylian Mbappe's apology over podcast remarks about late Chinese leader Mao Zedong have been taken seriously by China's foreigh ministry.
Within 24 hours of a podcast clip surfacing in which the France captain referred to Mao as "some guy – I think he's a Chinese dictator", a number of sponsors ended cooperation.
State broadcaster CCTV has now removed Mbappe-related advertising and halted match coverage, while Chinese social media platforms have restricted access to his accounts.
