TRANSCRIPT:
The federal government says it will provide whatever assistance the states ask for, as authorities battle natural disasters in multiple states.
Communities in eastern Victoria that spent days fighting early season bushfires are now bracing for floods which could isolate some areas, while in New South Wales, there are 73 bushfires burning, with homes lost on the state's south coast thanks to a major blaze.
Premier Chris Minns says forecasts of a "horrific" bushfire season is one of the things that kept him up at night.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says New South Wales and other states and territories can count on the government's support, and that planning on the best ways to work together was the point of the natural disaster preparedness summit in Canberra a week ago.
"Because we know that the summer that we're anticipating - and indeed it would appear we're in right now even though it's only October - is going to present some real challenges."
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Support for the yes vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum has edged higher for the first time in months.
The latest Guardian Essential poll has found 43 percent of respondents [[1125 people]] will vote in favour of the voice, up two percentage points from the previous fortnight.
But the no vote still leads, with 49 percent of respondents intending to vote no, and 8 percent still undecided.
The referendum will require support from both a majority of Australians and states to pass.
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Employers have spent tens of millions of dollars on a campaign against laws which unions say will save the lives of exploited gig economy workers.
Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine has described proposed federal measures to end labour hire agreements, criminalise wage theft and improve protection for gig workers as "life and death legislation".
But Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable says businesses across Australia are involved in the campaign because they believe the reforms will stifle productivity and add unnecessary complexity.
"Rather than building a new innovative society for the future, Australian businesses will be spending their days studying law books and appearing in court trying to work out whether we can even start."
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The federal government has confirmed it's setting up a new group to target education providers they say are exploiting students.
The new integrity unit will work with law enforcement agencies to conduct intense compliance checks on high-risk providers in a bid to improve protections for all students.
A confidential vocational education and training tip-off line will allow current and former students, staff, homestay hosts and employers of international students to report fraud.
But Skills and Training Minister, Brendan O'Connor, says that is only the beginning of their reforms, and that Labor is seeking to transform the vocational education sector and prevent a high dropout rate in apprenticeships.
"What's happened over time is there's been a view that it was not comparable to the university sector, or we need to disabuse people of that notion. If you ask industry they'll say they need university graduates but they're also in the same breath say that they need apprentices and technically trained people."
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In the United States, the House of Representatives has voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first time in the country's history that a speaker has been removed by the House following a motion to vacate.
The ousting was forced by far-right Republican representative Matt Gaetz and supported by Republican critics of Mr McCarthy as well as many Democrats who say he should be replaced.
Democratic representative Kevin Smith says Mr McCarthy deserved to go.
"Kevin McCarthy is an extremist and he has brought chaos to the House. And he say keeping him in that position is how we solve that problem. That's an argument that just isn't selling."
