Aukus meetings begin in Washington
Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian defence counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as Aukus.
“Fantastic to be meeting today with Secretary Hegseth and with [British defence minister] John Healey,” the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, told reporters.
Our focus was very much on delivery. We’ve now seen reviews in each of our three countries, as our governments have come into power. They have been done and the absolute focus, in respect of all of our three countries, was to harness our systems to deliver Aukus pillar one to make sure that we’re doing everything at full speed ahead – full steam ahead, as President Donald Trump has given us this motto – in terms of delivering on submarines.
On pillar 2, we spoke about how we can make sure we have all the momentum that we need to see that cooperation around advanced technology. So, a really important meeting today. There’s a lot of energy and momentum around the delivery of Aukus but a very significant meeting, particularly in the context of it being Secretary Hegseth’s first.
The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the US national security interest.
It includes the sale of three US-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.
Read Ben Doherty’s analysis of where the agreement currently stands:
Key events
Penry Buckley
Sloane says she needed to make ‘pragmatic decisions’ on workers compensation
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she needed to make “pragmatic decisions” on a compromise agreement on workers’ compensation with the Minns government.
As shadow health minister, Sloane described Labor’s proposed changes to the threshold for psychological injuries, or whole person impairment (WPI), as “nasty”. Today, she tells 2GB the change of Liberal leadership provided “an opportunity to roll up my sleeves and have a reset on that relationship” with the government.
A parliamentary inquiry heard that most workers who are assessed as having a WPI of 21% or higher were “not fit to work in any capacity”. The final report claimed the government’s proposal to raise the threshold from 15% to 31% left workers at serious risk of self-harm or suicide.
Sloane pays tribute to the “really principled, ethical and evidence-based campaign” the Coalition fought against Labor’s proposed changes under former leader Mark Speakman but says, six months after Labor first sought to pass their legislation, “it has come to a point where we need to make pragmatic decisions”. She does not provide any detail on the compromise but says:
It will secure much-needed certainty for businesses across New South Wales, for charities who’ve been concerned about increasing premiums. It will secure additional rights for injured workers.
Penry Buckley
NSW opposition reaches compromise with government on controversial workers’ compensation reforms
The NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, says she has negotiated a compromise agreement with the Minns government on controversial changes to workers’ compensation reforms, amid concerns about spiralling insurance costs for businesses before the summer break.
The Coalition previously had rejected a change to raise the threshold at which workers could claim compensation for psychological injury, known as “whole of person impairment”, or WPI, from 15% to 30%, which could have excluded hundreds of workers from the scheme.
Speaking to 2GB just now, Sloane said she had been negotiating with the NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, since she became leader last month, and they had now reached a deal which would “secure much needed certainty for businesses across NSW”.
We’ve reached a position that is not going to please everyone. The government didn’t get what they want. I didn’t get what I wanted. But we’ll have a [compromise].
It’s been clear to me this has gone on for way too long, that we cannot have a situation where businesses are heading into Christmas wondering if they need to lay off staff. We also can’t have a situation where injured workers are put on the scrapheap.
The premier’s office has confirmed to Guardian Australia that a deal has been reached. Sloane is holding a press conference at 10am this morning to provide details on the agreement, while Mookhey is also expected to speak later today.
We’ll bring you more detail later.
Lidia Thorpe says government needs to take Indigenous deaths in custody more seriously
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has said the federal government needs to do more to address Indigenous deaths in custody and stop “handballing” to states and territories after a damning report found more Indigenous people died in custody last year than any year since 1980.
Thorpe spoke to ABC News this morning, saying the recommendations from a royal commission completed in 1991 have still not been implemented. She said:
There’s no appetite at the federal level to do anything about it. They continue to handball to states and territories but we need national oversight, we need a whole unit … to look at these recommendations and start implementing them.
States and territories are using us to score political points coming up to elections and scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to so-called ‘being tough on crime’.
We need action, we need the prime minister to come out and take this seriously.
The AIC’s real-time dashboard shows the current number of deaths since the royal commission, as of today, is 617.
Record number of Victorian students to get Atar results today
From 7am on Thursday, a record 49,310 Victorian students will receive their tertiary admission scores, an increase of 1,849 on the previous year, AAP reports.
Christmas will come early for the 42 newly graduated students who achieved the perfect score of 99.95. The average Atar for this year’s students is 69.48, slightly lower than the 69.52 average of the 2024 cohort.
Boys scored an average of 68.60, girls achieved 70.20, and the average Atar for gender-neutral students is 72.40.
More Victorians are also pursuing tertiary study with a 3% increase in total applications for courses starting in 2025, compared to the same time last year.
Graduates will receive their first round of offers on 23 December, followed by further offers in January and February.
Students in South Australia and the Northern Territory will receive their Atar results on 15 December, followed by Tasmania on 17 December, NSW and the ACT on 18 December and WA on 19 December.
Remains found in search for missing Melbourne toddler
Nino Bucci
Detectives have uncovered suspected human remains as they investigate the disappearance of a toddler more than a decade ago, Victoria police say.
According to a statement released by police on Wednesday night, the child disappeared in 2014 but was not reported missing at the time.
The child was from Brookfield, in Melbourne’s outer west, where a property was searched on Monday. The Victoria police statement said:
A preliminary excavation of the area uncovered the yet to be formally identified human remains around 1.30pm.
The coroner has been advised and a postmortem will occur in due course.
Police said the missing persons squad would now assume control of the investigation.
The force also said that the current residents of the property, which was searched on Monday, had no knowledge or connection to the investigation, or to the people who lived at the property at the time.
Good morning, and happy Thursday. Nick Visser here to take the reins. Let’s jump in.
Aukus meetings begin in Washington
Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian defence counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as Aukus.
“Fantastic to be meeting today with Secretary Hegseth and with [British defence minister] John Healey,” the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, told reporters.
Our focus was very much on delivery. We’ve now seen reviews in each of our three countries, as our governments have come into power. They have been done and the absolute focus, in respect of all of our three countries, was to harness our systems to deliver Aukus pillar one to make sure that we’re doing everything at full speed ahead – full steam ahead, as President Donald Trump has given us this motto – in terms of delivering on submarines.
On pillar 2, we spoke about how we can make sure we have all the momentum that we need to see that cooperation around advanced technology. So, a really important meeting today. There’s a lot of energy and momentum around the delivery of Aukus but a very significant meeting, particularly in the context of it being Secretary Hegseth’s first.
The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the US national security interest.
It includes the sale of three US-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.
Read Ben Doherty’s analysis of where the agreement currently stands:
Treasury’s optimistic forecast on business investment
Patrick Commins
The Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
National accounts figures showed a surge in companies’ spending in the three months to September, which the Australia Bureau of Statistics attributed to “major datacentre investment across NSW and Victoria”.
The updated Treasury forecasts show business investment is expected to grow by 3% in 2025-26, against the pre-election forecast of 1.5%, before returning to the anticipated pace of 1.5% in the next financial year.
“Construction of datacentres has accelerated and the accompanying fit-out with equipment has increased six-fold in the past five years,” the documents will say.
Non-mining investment growth has also been substantially upgraded, from a forecast 1% in this financial year to 4% in the latest estimates.
Jim Chalmers said the midyear economic and fiscal outlook would “show that the private sector recovery that we’ve been planning for and preparing for is really taking shape”.
Sarah Malick has also written about the anniversary of the riots. She was a young journalism student when she watched news footage of hundreds of young white men storming the beach.
Geographically, the Arab lads of Bankstown and Shire boys of Cronulla were neighbours, but culturally the consequences of infringing West Side Story-beach lines were clear. The 2005 beach riots made international headlines. Southern Cross-tattooed patriots marked their territory, scrawling “100% Aussie pride” in the sand and popularising the slogan: “You flew here, we grew here.”
For a young feminist Muslim woman from western Sydney who had just adopted hijab after moving out of home, it highlighted every political nerve I balanced on like a high-wire artist.
The myth of the riots, that the beach was not for people like her, is one she’s pushing back on. Read her reflections here:
Today, 11 December, marks 20 years since the Cronulla riots. Daisy Dumas recently looked at whether attitudes have changed in the decades since.
Some say Australia still has not tackled racism, and fear social media is a more powerful tool than text messages and talkback radio that stirred up Sydney rioters in 2005. Read more here:
Victorian students receive VCE results and Atar scores
Adeshola Ore
Ethan Bundle-Bell is among more than 65,000 Victorian students who will graduate with their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) today.
At the same time, Victorian students will become the first in the country to receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings (Atar) scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Bundle-Bell, a Gunditjmara and Butchulla man, is the first in his family to complete year 12 after he undertook the vocational major program at Braybrook Secondary College in Melbourne’s west. The program is a practical and alternative pathway for students to secure a high school certificate.
While the cohort does not receive an Atar score, they do receive their VCE and a statement of results.
They account for 9,777 of the record 65,586 students graduating with their VCEs this year, according to the state government.
You can read more about Bundle-Bell’s alternative pathway to VCE here:
More than 15,300 students received at least one study score of 40 or higher, while 664 students have received at least one maximum study score of 50.
Additionally, more than 1,150 students received the Victorian Pathways Certificate, which prepared students for future studies or entry into the workforce.
Welcome
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.
Victorian students’ Atar and study scores will be available online from 7am, marking the end of more than 13 years of schooling. They will be the first to receive their scores, with the remaining states and territories to follow next week.
Police in Melbourne have uncovered suspected human remains as they investigate the disappearance of a toddler more than a decade ago. We’ll have more details in a moment and will bring any updates as we have them.
And the Treasury believes business investment in this financial year will grow twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to extracts from next week’s midyear budget.
We have more details, and there’s more economic news at 11.30am with the latest unemployment figures.
