TRANSCRIPT
- New powers announced to combat terrorism financing and crime related to crypto ATMs
- Australia's unemployment rate rises to 4.5 per cent
- Tributes for Ariarne Titmus after she announces her immediate retirement from competitive swimming
Members of the Australian Defence Force are mourning the death of one of its soldiers who died during a training exercise near Townsville in North Queensland.
The soldier died when the vehicle rolled over at the Townsville Field Training Centre on Wednesday.
Two remaining soldiers have since been released from hospital.
Defence Minister Richard Marles says it is a tragic loss that weighs heavily on the Townsville community and the entire Australian Defence Force.
Brigadier Ben McLennan says a thorough investigation will be conducted by the relevant agencies.
"So we were conducting a crew commanders course. It is a routine training activity for the third battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, our armoured infantry battalion. And that is when the incident occurred. It is too early to tell what caused it - the circumstances around it. We need to let the relevant agencies, the relevant bodies conduct their full investigation."
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Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the federal government is introducing new powers for the regulator to respond to criminal activity linked to cryptocurrency.
Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulator, AUSTRAC, will be given the power to restrict or prohibit high-risk products or services, including crypto ATMs.
AUSTRAC estimates 85 per cent of the transactions sent by the top users of crypto ATMs come from the proceeds of scams - sometimes called money-mule activity.
Mr Burke says tracking that criminal activity is challenging - and authorities need more powers to deal with it.
"This woman an Australian citizen started turning up to different crypto ATMs, depositing cash. The first one, he was one the phone, telling her exactly what to do; exactly what account to put it in. She would go to different ATMs to withdraw the cash, to different ATMs in quantities that didn't alert anyone. Any at one point she was carrying $20,000 in cash. We did eventually get onto it. $430,000 later."
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Queensland's tropical rainforests are now emitting more carbon than they store.
That's the finding of a landmark study that raises questions about the modelling behind Australia's climate targets.
The study from four Australian universities and the CSIRO analysed carbon data collected from 11,000 trees in north-east Queensland over 49 years, between 1971 and 2019.
It found the forest started releasing more carbon than it stored around the year 2000, as climate change impacted trees, which are now dying faster than they can grow.
Professor David Karoly from the University of Melbourne - who specialises in climate change and variability - says the forest appears to have passed what scientists call a tipping point.
"This is critically important because it may be an indicator that first of all, other that tropical rainforests may switch later in the future. And also that the climate models that have been used to assess greenhouse gas losses or greenhouse gas extraction in tropical rainforests may actually be inaccurate."
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Australia's unemployment rate has increased to its highest level since November 2021, in seasonally adjusted terms.
The data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the rate rose to 4.5 per cent in September, up from 4.3 per cent in August.
More jobs were created in September - but not enough for those that wanted them - and the participation rate remained relatively steady, lifting 0.1 percentage point to 67 per cent.
Chief economist at IFM Investors, Alex Joiner, told SBS News the Reserve Bank will be watching the latest inflation data ahead of an interest rate decision next month.
"The unemployment rate is rising, but inflation is also starting to potentially accelerate. So it can't go into its November meeting saying the unemployment rate's risen, let's cut rates immediately, because it has to be concerned around the inflation outlook as well, and we look to those Q3 CPI numbers that are out later this month to really give us a key indication, or the indication, of where the RBA is going to go in November."
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To sport now, and the Australian Swimming community has paid tribute to Ariarne Titmus after she shocked the sport by announcing her retirement at the age of 25.
The champion swimmer says she expected to return to the pool after a break following the Olympics, but has decided now is the right time to leave.
Swimming Australia coach Damien Jones says despite her young age, Titmus has been in the sport for a long time, and done incredible things.
"One of the greatest female middle distance swimmers ever. (It's) very difficult to do what she's done in the sport over two Olympics, winning the 400 (metre). I think still holds currently the two hundred freestyle record, so is an absolute phenomenal athlete, a great person as well. And I think it is a bit of a loss, but also she then leaves a legacy to the next crop of younger athletes underneath. It gives an opportunity to them. And with 2032 coming along, se's left us in a really good position."
