Albanese said AI breach information was released as soon as possible
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says it’s “nonsense” to suggest the government may have released details about the OpenAI breach when it did because it suited him politically.
He told Sky News earlier:
It’s just nonsense. We were informed of this late. That’s one of the issues that I raised with Sam Altman when I spoke with him yesterday. I was informed while I’ve been in New York.
When pressed if the details were released as soon as possible, the prime minister said: “Absolutely”.
This was a unique situation. … We had to ascertain the facts, and then we made the statements, as a matter of urgency.
Albanese said he briefed the opposition as appropriate, and said Angus Taylor’s criticism was uncalled for.
He needs to act more like a responsible leader of an alternative government if he’s going to be taken seriously.
This is a unique situation without precedence.
Key events
Achol Arok
Good afternoon!
Thanks for sticking around, I’ll be here to guide you through the rest of the day’s news.
Nick Visser
That’s all for me. Achol Arok will take things from here. Take care!
Who is James Ashby? Pauline Hanson’s ‘favourite son’
One Nation’s national director James Ashby wields as much – if not more – power over the party as Pauline Hanson herself.
Rafqa Touma speaks to Guardian Australia senior correspondent Sarah Martin about Ashby’s rise from PR flack to Hanson’s “favourite son” as One Nation’s popularity soars.
Australian shares on track for fourth straight losing week
The Australian share market has fallen to a three-month low and is headed for its fourth straight week of losses, as oil prices and bond yields both moved higher, AAP reports.
Near noon on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 0.43% to 8,664, its lowest level since mid-June, while the broader All Ordinaries had dropped 0.55%, to 8,848.2.
With a few hours of trading left, the ASX200 was on pace to finish the week down 0.8%, and was also 0.6% lower since the start of the year.
The Australian dollar was changing hands for 70.12 US cents, from 70.35 US cents at 5pm on Thursday.
Albanese said AI breach information was released as soon as possible
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says it’s “nonsense” to suggest the government may have released details about the OpenAI breach when it did because it suited him politically.
He told Sky News earlier:
It’s just nonsense. We were informed of this late. That’s one of the issues that I raised with Sam Altman when I spoke with him yesterday. I was informed while I’ve been in New York.
When pressed if the details were released as soon as possible, the prime minister said: “Absolutely”.
This was a unique situation. … We had to ascertain the facts, and then we made the statements, as a matter of urgency.
Albanese said he briefed the opposition as appropriate, and said Angus Taylor’s criticism was uncalled for.
He needs to act more like a responsible leader of an alternative government if he’s going to be taken seriously.
This is a unique situation without precedence.
Police have released a photo of Mia Lay, the officer who died in this morning’s crash
Read more:
Andrew Messenger
More Queensland social housing dwellings vacant for longer
More social housing dwellings in Queensland are sitting vacant for longer, according to new data released by the state government.
The average downtime for a social housing dwelling has increased from 25.1 days last June to 42.7 days in July. Vacancy rates are slightly up from about 0.56% to 0.6%.
The data was released yesterday in response to a parliamentary question.
The number of people in the state’s emergency homelessness assistance scheme – which pays hotels and motels to accommodate them – has declined from 3,623 to 2,707. The state made many homeless people ineligible for the system last year.
There has been a slight increase in the number of Queenslanders in the state’s public housing system, from 55,913 to 55,998, but a decline in the number on the social housing waiting list, from 53,874 last September to 46,037 in July.
Sarah Martin
One Nation admits using party funds to build $56,000 shed on James Ashby’s private property
One Nation has admitted using party funds to build a $56,000 shed on James Ashby’s private property.
Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that a company linked to One Nation – Small Batch Brewing Pty Ltd – was the purchaser of the shed on Ashby’s property despite having no revenue stream and not being licensed to make or sell alcohol.
Ashby is living in the shed on his Yeppoon property while he undertakes renovations.
In an email sent to members on Thursday night, the party’s general manager, Kelvin Morton, said party funds had been used to build the shed.
Read more here:
Achol Arok
Police say Lay died responding to reports of a stolen vehicle
Continuing the police press conference, Commissioner Lanyon said Lay was responding to reports of a stolen vehicle when the crash occurred.
The exact circumstances of the collision remain unknown and remain under investigation. Lanyon said:
We have formed a critical investigation. The experts in examining road crashes, our crash investigation unit, are at the scene at the moment.
We’re trying to examine every circumstance. Our officers were responding to an urgent duty, which is where they have lights and sirens on.
Police said the investigation would examine factors including the vehicle’s speed and road conditions, with the aim of improving officer safety.
When officers are actually travelling on urgent duty, when they have lights and sirens on they’re exempt under the Australian road rules. So they can exceed the speed limit.
But we need to understand the circumstances. As the commissioner, what I’m keen to do to make sure our officers are as safe as possible and the best and the only to do that is to examine these scenes thoroughly so we understand what happened.
Achol Arok
Police commissioner pays tribute to officer killed in Redfern crash
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has paid tribute to constable Mia Lay, who died after a police car crashed into a tree in Sydney’s inner south.
The police car was travelling along Gibbons Street in Redfern with its lights and sirens activated when it crashed at about 1.30am on Friday. Police said Lay died “instantly”.
Lay had served with the force for 16 months, based in the South Sydney Police Area Command.
She showed exceptional promise and was well loved. She would have been an outstanding police officer. And to lose her life both in its prime and just at the infancy of becoming a police officer is a terrible tragedy.
Today is a terribly difficult day. We are here, we will support each other as police officers. We understand the risk of what we do. We put our lives in the way for the safety of the community, to prevent crime and to make sure the community is safe. Terribly on of those days, some police officers pay the ultimate sacrifice.
To Mia, thank you for your courage.
Angus Taylor says Anthony Albanese is ‘swanning around New York’ for UN summit
Angus Taylor had some harsh words for the prime minister this morning, saying Anthony Albanese is “swanning around New York” at the UN general assembly rather than tackling fuel prices at home.
Taylor had this to say this morning:
Australians are suffering. And that’s why our fuel price shield will bring down the price of fuel when the price is high … What we see is a prime minister swanning around New York, getting his global citizen of the year award, hanging out with the United Nations, instead of looking at and seeing the pain that Australians are feeling at the bowser and struggling to make ends meet.
Get real, mate. Get back here and cut the price of fuel.
Albanese issued robust calls for an end to the Iranian war during his address to the UN general assembly today. Taylor and the Coalition have proposed a cut to the fuel excise tax whenever oil prices are sustained at more than US$100 a barrel.
NSW renter rights strengthened in latest tranche of Minns reforms
Renters in New South Wales will only need to provide their driver’s licences and passports if they are about to sign a lease, instead of including them in every rental application, under new laws.
Agents and landlords will also be required to use one standardised rental application form, which will not request details such as photos, social media accounts, details about children – or tattoos.
The new rules also require landlords and agents to say if photographs of the property have been digitally altered or AI-generated to hide faults – including “fake furniture that hides structural damage or misrepresents room proportions”.
In addition, it will become mandatory for agents to tell renters if a property is locked in to an embedded utility network – like a private electricity or gas system – which stops them from shopping around for the best price.
Potential breaches will be up to $11,000 for individuals and $49,500 for corporations for privacy violations, and up to $22,000 for failure to disclose digitally altered photographs.
Anoulack Chanthivong, the minster for better regulation and fair trading, said:
This is a strong step forward to protect renters from false information in the rental market and is an important part of the Minns Labor government’s commitment to supporting the ethical use of AI across the state.
These laws put an end to the practice of excessive and intrusive data collection in the rental process and make it fairer for renters and less stressful for landlords and agents. Whether you have a tattoo, or what school your kids go to, is not relevant to whether you’ll be a good tenant.
Australia has a new chicken factory, but will it improve animal welfare?
The sleek, rust-coloured saucer settles into the earth, mirroring the surrounding hills. It looks like an art gallery or a high-end conference centre – an architectural masterpiece designed to sit lightly on the land.
Until you see the shed behind it.
The sweeping lines are the gateway to a $600m poultry processing plant that will, at full capacity, process 3 million chickens a week. Jed Goodfellow, the director of policy and government relations at the Australian Alliance for Animals, said while the Baiada building may be state of the art, he believes “the welfare model behind it is anything but”.
Read more here:
Anthony Albanese posts a selfie with the Greek prime minister at the UN summit
Albanese is back on the selfie game: he’s just posted a photo alongside the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
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The post comes after another, much-talked about selfie with the US president, Donald Trump. You can read about that one here:
‘We can’t ignore AI or prevent it’, Albanese tells UN
Albanese again addressed the AI hack of Medicare during his address, saying the episode reflected the need for greater regulation of artificial intelligence.
He said:
AI can improve lives, boost growth and productivity, provide revolutionary breakthroughs in healthcare and other fields – but leaders of AI companies themselves have warned of the potential risks to allow frontier AI to develop too fast without guardrails.
Recently, an artificial intelligence agent infiltrated an Australian government website. This is unacceptable. And it is why Australia has been leading the way in establishing Australian standards for AI. Standards to ensure that AI will work and deliver for people, not for other way around.
We can’t ignore AI or prevent it. And it’s why we joined with other nations this week to call for action to shape artificial intelligence development, rather than be passively shaped by it.
Albanese pitches for Australia to join UN security council
Albanese is detailing Australia’s bid for a temporary seat on the UN security council for 2029 to 2030.
He said:
We understand that the UN mission cannot be entrusted solely to the great powers or the biggest countries or even the loudest voices alone. Nor can it be subcontracted to the world’s richest companies or dictated by the pace of technology.
The world faces tough times and Australia wants to respond, to partner, and to make a difference. Should our security council bid prove successful, our purpose and approach will be consistent with how we have always conducted ourselves at the UN. We will listen with respect, we will partner as equals, and we will protect what matters most.
Albanese addresses UN general assembly
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing the UN general assembly in New York City.
We’ll bring you some key moments from his address in a moment.
Watt says government will do what it needs to after AI breach
Murray Watt, the environment minister, also spoke about the AI hack this morning.
He told Sunrise the timeline behind OpenAI’s notification was “completely unacceptable”, and that the sending of an “email to a generic inbox that isn’t monitored all the time” wouldn’t stand going forward.
He added:
We have commissioned a task force to do an investigation of this event, and if it is possible to press criminal charges, that will happen. But what it also highlights is that we do need to ensure that Australian laws are keeping pace with this new and emerging technology.
But if we need to update our laws to improve the requirements for notification of these kind of events, then that’s what we’ll do. And of course, if there’s further safeguards that need to be put in place, that’s what we’ll do as well.