Yes marches to galvanise Voice support: Dreyfus
Trump hints at female running mate if nominated
NSW locks in $3.6b to fund public sector wage growth
‘We found it to be very unfair’: Qatar CEO breaks silence on flight blockage
Crucial 36 hours ahead for interest rates
NDIS should not be means tested: Shorten
Andrew Hobbs
That’s the end of our live blog coverage of everything you need to know for Sunday, September 17.
Many thanks for following along.
Here’s how the day unfolded:
– ‘We found it to be very unfair’: Qatar CEO breaks silence on flight blockage. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker says it was “very unfair” for the government to block further flights into Australia, arguing the airline had supported the country by continuing to fly through the pandemic.
– Decision on Goyder’s future is up to Qantas: Shorten. The decision on whether Qantas chairman Richard Goyder and other board members should resign over the ACCC inquiry into its cancellation of flights is up to Qantas, but it poses an interesting question for corporate Australia, Bill Shorten says.
– NSW locks in $3.6b to fund public sector wage growth. Increases to frontline worker wages in NSW will be made possible by a $3.6 billion fund as the Minns government reveals how it will pay for its signature policy of removing the public sector wage cap.
– Treaties will help solve Indigenous disadvantage: Mundine. Speaking on ABC TV’s Insiders, No campaigner Warren Mundine says fixing Indigenous disadvantage could be advanced by a series of treaties with local community groups.
– NDIS should not be means tested: Shorten. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says the National Disability Insurance Scheme can be improved without any need for means testing.
– Chinese police detain some Evergrande staff as property crackdown widens. Chinese authorities have detained some staff of China Evergrande Group’s money management business, a sign that the saga around the defaulted developer at the heart of the nation’s property crisis has entered a new phase involving the criminal justice system.
– Crucial 36 hours ahead for interest rates. A 36-hour rush of global monetary decisions may set the tone for the rest of the year as the world adjusts to a US push to keep interest rates high.
– Russia denies Ukraine has retaken Andriivka, Ukraine posts video of fighting. Russia on Saturday said its forces remained in control of villages near the shattered city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, dismissing a Ukrainian claim to have recaptured the locality of Andriivka, a stepping stone to the larger city.
Tom McIlroy
Tens of thousands of people are marching around Australia on Sunday in support of an Indigenous Voice to parliament.
Marches are taking place in capital cities and regional centres, after a huge crowd gathered in Adelaide to support the Yes campaign on Saturday.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has walked in Melbourne, calling the event hugely important ahead of the October 14 referendum.
A pedestrian wears a shirt supporting the Indigenous “Voice to Parliament” in Sydney before the march. Bloomberg
“This was the invitation from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, to walk together to a better future and Melbourne people are out here in their thousands walking, walking together to a better future.”
Asked about the poor state of public opinion polls, Dreyfus said the marches would help build wider support.
“We had the No campaign on full display today, with Warren Mundine on Insiders showing that the No campaign has no solutions. The No campaign has no answers.
“The No campaign talks about wanting to get practical improvement. The No campaign should be voting Yes if they want practical improvement in the lives of Aboriginal people because that’s what this referendum is about.
“It’s about getting practical outcomes. We know that we will get practical outcomes with a Voice.”
AAP
Moroccan Othmane El Goumri and Kenyan-born American Betsy Saina have won the men’s and women’s races at an unseasonably warm Sydney Marathon on Sunday.
The 31-year-old El Goumri finished the hilly 42-kilometre (26-mile) course around prominent Sydney landmarks in 2:08:20 to win his first marathon title since winning the Dublin Marathon in 2019.
Kenya’s Laban Kipngetich Korir was second in a time of 2:08:43, with Ethiopian Getaneh Molla Tamire a further minute and a half behind in third.
Men’s marathon winner Othmane El Goumri.
Saina, who attended Iowa State University and now represents the United States, finished in 2:26:47 and held off a late challenge from Ethiopian Rahma Tusa Chota to win the women’s race by six seconds. Gladys Chesir Kiptagelai of Kenya was third in a time of 2:28:41.
Canada’s Joshua Cassidy won the men’s wheelchair event, with Australia’s Madison de Rozario winning the women’s race.
The Sydney Marathon is in the second year of a three-year candidacy in its attempt to become the seventh World Marathon Major, alongside races in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Berlin.
This year saw more than an Australian record 17,000 participants register for the event which takes in some of the city’s most famous landmarks including crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and finishing at the Sydney Opera House.
Bloomberg
Former President Donald Trump signalled he might pick a woman as a running mate if he won the 2024 Republican nomination.
“I like the concept, but we’re going to pick the best person,” Trump said in an interview for NBC’s Meet the Press airing in full on Sunday. “But I do like the concept, yes.”
Trump, who polls suggest is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination by a wide margin, heaped praise on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who endorsed him last week at a Republican fundraiser in her state where some attendees held up Trump-Noem signs.
“And certainly she’d be one of the people I’d consider, or for something else maybe,” Trump said of Noem. He called her “fantastic” and “a great governor”.
Donald Trump greets South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem earlier this month. AP
“But we have a lot of people,” Trump added in an advance excerpt of the interview. “We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party.”
Early polling ahead of next year’s primary season shows Trump maintaining a firm grasp on Republican voters compared with 2024 rivals while contending a barrage of court cases that are likely to interfere with his campaign schedule.
Increases to frontline worker wages in NSW will be made possible by a $3.6 billion fund as the Minns government reveals how it will pay for its signature policy of removing the public sector wage cap.
The four-year funding commitment will support long-term pay growth for workers such as nurses, paramedics, health workers, police, firefighters, prison officers, teachers and child protection workers, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says.
The cash injection is aimed at retaining and recruiting new staff in areas of the public sector experiencing staff shortages.
Daniel Mookhey: “The people that keep our state going deserve real wages growth.” Brook Mitchell
“Hard-working public servants keep our hospitals, schools, parks and services running,” Mookhey said on Sunday.
“The people that keep our state going deserve real wages growth.
“The Essential Services Fund will give them certainty and help bolster their ranks to ensure essential services workers are supported to deliver the best outcome for the people of NSW.”
Removing the coalition’s 2.5 per cent public sector wages cap was a central policy Labor took to the state election in March.
The government has since agreed to a 4 per cent pay increase for more than 400,000 public sector employees, including nurses, educators and prison officers, as well as a 0.5 per cent bump to superannuation.
The extra $3.6 billion allocation is a result of spending reprioritisation, with the government unwilling to further add to a budget deficit forecast to blow out to $12 billion for 2022-23.
But the opposition, which has long criticised the move as unsustainable, accused Mookhey of breaking a promise to offset pay increases with productivity offsets.
“The treasurer’s claim that wage rises would be funded by redirecting and reallocating resources is code for cuts that will hit NSW households and businesses,” shadow treasurer Damien Tudehope said.
While the fund promises to cover wage increases over four years, pay deals for teachers and nurses have only been locked in for one year, meaning uncertainty remains about future costs.
The government has also announced a two-year salary freeze for senior executives and parliamentarians, which will save about $250 million over four years.
Andrew Hobbs
Ron Barassi wasn’t just famous as one of the most influential figures in the development of Australian Rules Football as a player and a coach.
He was also an extraordinary motivator and wasn’t afraid to show emotion in his quarter-time talks, as this clip from his time as North Melbourne coach shows:
Andrew Hobbs
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker says it was “very unfair” for the government to block further flights into Australia, arguing the airline had supported the country by continuing to fly through the pandemic.
Al Baker told CNN in an interview that Qatar Airlines was hopeful the decision would be reviewed but that Qatar would never seek to influence a government decision.
Qatar Airways was blocked from adding new flights. AFP
He says Qatar was “very surprised” by the decision to block the increase in flights.
“We found it to be very unfair. Our legitimate request to be not granted, especially at a time when we were so supportive of Australia repatriating the stranded citizens from around the world to and out of Australia – helping them receive medical supplies and spare parts etc etc during the COVID period when the national carrier and their partners completely stopped operating in Australia.
“We were there for the people of Australia.”
He says he is hopeful that the decision will be reviewed.
“I’m always hopeful for the government to listen to our case and make a decision.
“We have full confidence in the government, and in the parliament, and in the Senate.”
Andrew Hobbs
Australia should recognise that it began with an invasion but should move on to deal with practically helping the Indigenous people who are disadvantaged, No campaigner Warren Mundine says.
“Recognise history. Yes, recognise the invasion, recognise the good and bad that is in our history, but we still have to move on,” Mundine says on ABC’s Insiders.
He says Australia needs to have a mature debate about January 26.
Bloomberg
A 36-hour rush of global monetary decisions may set the tone for the rest of the year as the world adjusts to a US push to keep interest rates high.
Starting with the Federal Reserve on Wednesday and ending with the Bank of Japan two days later, monetary policy will be determined at key meetings across half of the Group of 20.
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. Bloomberg
Advanced-economy central banks, accounting for six of the 10 most-traded currencies, may draw particular focus as global policymakers adapt to the theme US officials set out at Jackson Hole in August: that rates are likely to stay higher for longer.
All evidence suggests inflation isn’t fully tamed across much of the world, and the ongoing rise in crude oil prices is stoking worries of yet more pressure.
So no one will dare to declare that their job is done, even amid the prospect that central banks in countries from the UK to Switzerland on Thursday could open the door to a pause, as happened last week in the eurozone.
Setting the tone for all of them will be new projections from the Paris-based OECD on Tuesday. With weak demand from China depressing global trade, and the outlines of a stagflationary scenario forming in Europe, the apparent resilience of the US economy could prove the only bright spot.
That backdrop may prompt the Fed itself to keep rates on hold, but maybe pencil in another increase for later this year.
The BoJ takes centre stage in Asia this week as investors look for more signals from Governor Kazuo Ueda on the policy direction.
While economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect no change at Friday’s meeting, they’ll closely scrutinise any comments on the future of negative rates after Ueda recently touched on the possibility of scrapping them.
In China, prime lending rates are expected to remain unchanged on Wednesday, while central banks in the Philippines and Indonesia are also expected to stand pat on Thursday – even as inflation starts to accelerate again in both economies.
A multitude of rate decisions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa will keep investors busy. Most come on Thursday in the wake of the Fed.
In England, forecasters almost unanimously anticipate a quarter-point hike but are less united on what happens next.
The same day, Swiss National Bank policymakers, led by President Thomas Jordan, may deliver another rate hike to contain inflation. If they do, that too could be the final move in the current tightening cycle.
The same applies to Norges Bank, which signalled a likely move this month but might then change tack to keep monetary policy at the tighter level it will then have reached.
Sweden’s Riksbank, also on Thursday, may be less relaxed. Despite a feeble economy, officials are too concerned about the state of inflation to risk a pause.
Looking south, Turkey’s central bank will probably hike by another roughly 500 basis points, taking its key rate to about 30 per cent, according to a Bloomberg survey. That would be a fresh signal that the government is intent on ending years of ultra-loose monetary policy.
Egypt surprised the market with a 100 basis-point hike last month, and traders will be watching for a similar move on Thursday. The central bank is under pressure to slow inflation that’s running at a record high of 37 per cent, and support the pound.
On the same day, policymakers in South Africa are likely to look beyond an expected quickening in consumer-price growth and maintain the benchmark interest rate at 8.25 per cent for a second straight meeting.
Also on Friday, Mozambique’s rate decision is likely to be a close call between a hold and a cut with inflation at a near three-year low and expected to slow further, while its neighbour Zimbabwe is forecast to keep borrowing costs unchanged.
Brazil’s central bank is widely expected to cut its key rate for a second straight meeting, by a half-point to 12.75 per cent, even though inflation has accelerated from a below-target 3.16 per cent in June to 4.61 per cent in August.
Tom McIlroy
Speaking on ABC TV’s Insiders, No campaigner Warren Mundine says fixing Indigenous disadvantage could be advanced by a series of treaties with local community groups.
He says work on issues such as accountability for decision-makers, education and jobs would be a step change in fixing problems.
Warren Mundine at the press club on Thursday. Alex Ellinghausen
“We are spending billions of dollars every year and according to Closing the Gap we are still not going places. We have to deal with that,” he said.
Mundine has made the case that Indigenous Australians should be recognised in the Australian Constitution, along with other groups, but tying the change to the Voice to parliament is not the right approach.
“I think this whole thing has been hijacked,” he said.
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