Australia news live: Jim Chalmers weighs in on One Nation WA byelection win; $۲m for Indigenous racism online register

AI to be greatest change ‘since electricity’, Paul Keating says

Artificial intelligence is set to be the “greatest agency for change” since the introduction of electricity, former prime minister Paul Keating said.

AAP reports Keating made the comments at a sold-out Sydney Writers’ Festival event on Wednesday evening. He said Australia needed to boldly take on the challenges posed by AI.

“(Artificial intelligence) I think is going to be … certainly since the discovery of electricity, the greatest agency for change,” he said.

He also commended the federal Labor government’s recent changes to the capital gains tax to make housing more affordable as an example of the kind of change needed in the future.

And if we’ve lost ۱۰ or ۱۵% [of] house values, so what?

Good morning, Nick Visser here, welcome to Thursday. Let’s see what the day holds.

Australia will deploy a team of specialist drone operators to help the search and rescue effort in the deadly Nepal-Tibet floods.

Operators, including those from Fire and Rescue New South Wales and the Queensland fire department, will head to the disaster-struck region in the coming days.

It comes as the Albanese government has announced a further $۳m in aid, bringing its total figure pledged to $۱۱m.

The number of Australians unaccounted for remains at ۳۸.

It comes as a RAAF plane arrived yesterday with humanitaian aid.

As of Thursday, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Agency reported ۱,۲۰۴ confirmed deaths and ۴,۲۱۶ missing persons (including ۵۸۳ foreigners).

An online register of racism and discrimination against First Nations people is receiving up to $۲m in Commonwealth funding to help inform anti-racism action, AAP reports.

The federal government has announced the funding before the final report by a parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said the parliamentary inquiry had heard confronting stories from Indigenous people about the hurt and harm they had experienced.

While we await the committee’s final report, we are not waiting to act.

This investment will strengthen the important work of Call It Out and support efforts to collate rigorous data.

Callitout.com.au is a culturally safe, trauma-informed website that collects data for analysis by the Jumbunna Institute to help raise awareness and drive systematic change.

Chalmers weighs in on One Nation WA byelection win

Achol Arok

Jim Chalmers says he has reflected on the key takeaways after One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen secured ۵۷%of the vote after preferences at the Secret Harbour byelection.

Speaking on ABC’s ۷.۳۰, Chalmers said he acknowledged that concerns about inflation, the cost of living and real wages were on voters’ minds before the poll.

I have thought very deeply about the legitimate concerns and anxieties and frustrations that people have. About how the economy works, or doesn’t work for people. That’s the thing I’m most focused on. It’s the whole reason for our efforts to get inflation down, to make the economy more productive.

Chalmers added he believes the “faultline in our politics” is now changing.

It’s not necessarily between the centre left and the far right, it’s not necessarily the old distinctions. The distinction in our politics right now is a Labor government working to address the very real concerns that people have, versus the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation who just want to prey on that, and pick on that.

Chalmers defends house prices forecast

Achol Arok

Jim Chalmers has defended Treasury’s forecast on the impact of the government’s recent tax changes on housing, after the Commonwealth Bank predicted prices could fall by almost ۱۰% across capital cities.

Treasury modelling said the changes would reduce house price growth by just ۲% over the next couple of years.

Speaking on ABC’s ۷.۳۰, the treasurer said the new data did not fairly challenge the government’s forecast.

That Commonwealth Bank forecast that you reference in your question has house prices recovering next year, and so it’s a really important reminder that we need to compare ‘like with like’.

The assumptions in the budget are over the next couple of years, not the first couple of months since the budget … and the Commonwealth Bank says they expect house price growth as soon as next year.

Chalmers pointed to several factors unrelated to the recent tax changes that he said would contribute to the dip in prices.

There is softness in the housing market, prices have come off a bit, auction clearance rates have come off a bit, but that was beginning before the budget, and that’s because, as a number of experts have pointed out, one of the big influences is interest rates.

We have very substantial advantages in the face of some serious economic challenges. Productivity is one of them. Inflation is another. Extreme global volatility, turbocharged by a war on the other side of the world.

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.

Let’s begin.