Australia news live: Lions coach hails AFL grand final win as ‘better than last year’; Greens call for date to end old growth logging

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Fagan hails Lions’ premiership as ‘better than last year’

Brisbane’s coach, Chris Fagan, has described the Lions’ stunning grand final blitz of Geelong as even better than their drought-breaking 2024 premiership.

Fagan, who broke his own record from 12 months earlier as the oldest premiership coach in VFL/AFL history, addressed 6000 euphoric Lions supporters at the club’s spiritual Melbourne home of Brunswick Street Oval on Sunday.

I reckon it feels better than last year because it’s bloody hard to do it two times in a row.

All the obstacles we had to overcome this year to get to that point [of being in a grand final].

Even the fact that Geelong beat us three weeks ago [in the qualifying final], and we’re able to turn the tables around; it was just so exciting.

Fagan made sure to reference young superstar Will Ashcroft, who became the youngest player in history to win back-to-back Norm Smith medals.

After Ashcroft was named best-on-ground in last year’s crushing win over Sydney, the talented midfielder was sledged by opponents in a pre-season match, saying he didn’t deserve it.

Now he’s got one two years in a row so that’s fantastic.

After farewelling Melbourne fans, the premiership team will fly home to Brisbane for another fan event at Brighton Homes Arena on Sunday evening.

– AAP

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Updated at 00.28 EDT

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Interest rate decision to dominate economic agenda

Mortgage holders are unlikely to get a leg up from the Reserve Bank this week, with markets and analysts predicting the cash rate to remain on hold on Tuesday.

Borrowers and investors will turn their gaze to Chifley Square for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s upcoming cash rate call but those hoping for more rate relief are likely to be disappointed.

The central bank’s board is widely tipped to leave the cash rate on hold at 3.6 per cent on Tuesday, after inflation came in hotter than expected in two successive monthly reports.

Also on Tuesday, the ABS will release building approvals figures for the month of August.

New dwelling consents have been trending upwards since mid-2024 but tumbled 8.2 per cent in July due to volatility in apartment approvals.

Property analytics firm Cotality will release its monthly home value index on Wednesday, with property prices expected to set another fresh record as falling mortgage rates boost demand.

On Thursday, the ABS will issue international trade figures and its monthly household spending indicator, which has taken over from its retail series survey as the main signal for consumer spending.

- AAP

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Still roaring: day-after scenes from the Lions’ grand final triumph

The Brisbane Lions players and coaches paid a visit to their ancestral homeland of Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy North to greet fans this morning, the day after winning back-to-back AFL premierships:

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Updated at 00.40 EDT

Magnitude-2.9 quake felt in NSW town after ‘swarm’ of tremors last year

A 2.9-magnitude quake has been detected in Muswellbrook, in New South Wales’ Hunter region, on Sunday.

Geoscience Australia reports that the quake was detected at 12.07pm at a depth of 5km and was relatively small, despite residents in the area reporting they felt it.

It is not the first quake to strike in the area, with a 4.1-magnitude quake recorded in November last year – the fourth such event in four months then.

There has previously been speculation that the tremors in the area are associated with a nearby coalmine.

Hadi Ghasemi, a senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, said in November:

What we are observing in general is earthquake swarm activity – a series of moderate-sized events, happening close to each other, both in time and space … and they may continue for months to come.

For more background on that story, read Guardian Australia’s report here:

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Updated at 00.27 EDT

Brisbane Lions take home some valuable ‘Mc-luggage’

The AFL has posted a short clip of what appears to be Brisbane Lions players attempting to get the premiership cup through airport security as carry-on luggage with the caption “precious cargo”.

Sadly, the video is a little too blurry for us to be certain midfielder Hugh McCluggage is in the video, but we’re hoping it’s him!

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Updated at 00.05 EDT

Fagan hails Lions’ premiership as ‘better than last year’

Brisbane’s coach, Chris Fagan, has described the Lions’ stunning grand final blitz of Geelong as even better than their drought-breaking 2024 premiership.

Fagan, who broke his own record from 12 months earlier as the oldest premiership coach in VFL/AFL history, addressed 6000 euphoric Lions supporters at the club’s spiritual Melbourne home of Brunswick Street Oval on Sunday.

I reckon it feels better than last year because it’s bloody hard to do it two times in a row.

All the obstacles we had to overcome this year to get to that point [of being in a grand final].

Even the fact that Geelong beat us three weeks ago [in the qualifying final], and we’re able to turn the tables around; it was just so exciting.

Fagan made sure to reference young superstar Will Ashcroft, who became the youngest player in history to win back-to-back Norm Smith medals.

After Ashcroft was named best-on-ground in last year’s crushing win over Sydney, the talented midfielder was sledged by opponents in a pre-season match, saying he didn’t deserve it.

Now he’s got one two years in a row so that’s fantastic.

After farewelling Melbourne fans, the premiership team will fly home to Brisbane for another fan event at Brighton Homes Arena on Sunday evening.

– AAP

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Updated at 00.28 EDT

Greens say Labor’s climate plan little more than ‘thoughts and prayers’ without logging action

Labor’s climate policy amounts to “thoughts and prayers” if it takes no plan to end old growth logging, the Greens say.

In a statement released on Sunday, Greens Senator Nick McKim said ending old growth logging should be a central focus of the government after a Climate Change Authority report found it was necessary to achieve the bottom range of Labor’s climate targets.

“The government can’t simply pretend this advice wasn’t provided,” McKim said.

Labor needs to announce a date to end old growth logging, and if they’re not going to do that they need to explain where they are going to find the emissions reduction to make up the shortfall.

Minister Bowen’s characterisation of the Climate Change Authority advice as ‘possibilities’ or ‘commentary’ is deceitful. The advice made it clear that ending old growth logging was ‘required’ and no amount of dishonest spin from Minister Bowen can change that fact.

The fact is that the government doesn’t have a plan to meet its 2035 emissions reduction target, low as it is. We are not going to meet even a target so lacking in ambition as Labor’s with thoughts and prayers. We need a plan and the government doesn’t have one.

Ending native forest logging and reining in land clearing are essential to meeting Australia’s emissions reduction targets.

Protecting our forests is the cheapest, fastest, and most effective way to cut emissions and safeguard biodiversity. It would save money, protect biodiversity and massively reduce emissions.

Labor’s position is climate denial in practice.

The federal Labor government has previously dismissed unwelcome recommendations or directions as “commentary” or “suggestions”.

In response to the findings of the Robodebt royal commission, the government said it accepted “all 56” recommendations, but characterised the 57th, which called for reform to freedom of information laws to ensure greater access, as “commentary”.

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Updated at 00.28 EDT

Graham Readfearn

Whale and calf freed after becoming trapped in Queensland shark net

Two humpback whales, a mother and her calf, that became entangled in a shark net off Queensland’s Rainbow Beach yesterday morning have been freed, the Queensland government has confirmed.

Members of the public reported to a hotline that the whales were stuck in the nets at 6am yesterday. A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) spokesperson said the whale calf was released at 11.45am and the mother was freed “shortly after 3pm”.

The DPI deputy director-general, Pauline Jacob, said two scuba divers had slowed the rescue as it began when they made the entanglement worse. She said:

Our teams are the trained experts, and we urge members of the public to please stay away from the nets.

Campaigners at Envoy Foundation, who say the shark nets should be removed during the whales’ east coast migration, said the latest incident was the eighth and ninth whale entanglement in as many days in Queensland.

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Updated at 23.09 EDT

Calls for change after Qantas refuses to fly British woman with mobility scooter due to its battery

Dr Jurai Darongkamas has travelled all over the world with her mobility scooter and says she never had a problem until she booked a flight with Qantas earlier this year.

The 60-year-old clinical psychologist, who lives in the UK city of Birmingham, flew to Sydney on Thai Airways without a problem but was not allowed to board her connecting Qantas flight to her holiday destination in New Zealand.

At the heart of Darongkamas’s dispute with Qantas is whether her scooter is a mobility aid, as she argues, or a personal electronic device, as the airline insisted during a six-month-long complaints process.

Qantas claims it aims to be the “airline of choice for customers with specific needs”, but Darongkamas says Qantas is the only carrier that hasn’t let her fly with her Topmate ES33 scooter and its 281Wh lithium battery.

She said the experience on the day “hammered home the fact that I am no longer as able as I was … and people can do what they like” and that the complaint process “just compounded the feeling of powerlessness”.

For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Catie McLeod:

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Updated at 22.41 EDT

A few snaps from Anthony Albanese’s UK trip to meet King Charles at Balmoral in Scotland.

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Updated at 22.25 EDT

Lions in dreamland as staggering second half delivers grand final glory to Brisbane

Grand finals shouldn’t end like this: a party masquerading as a football match for at least half an hour. This was supposed to be a tight contest with the AFL’s two best teams, slugging it out in an arm wrestle for the title of the modern era’s best club, a fitting struggle for the final Saturday in September.

But as the Lions kept coming in a staggering second half, there was not just one defining grand final moment. Rather, they came thick and fast, too quickly to fully appreciate. A hallucination of glory, an incomprehensible haze.

There was Will Aschroft with a minute left, holding the ball up with a hand on the right wing, like a conductor with a baton triggering the maroon mass to roar. There was Logan Morris, who ambled with the ball over the boundary line in the forward pocket, before he became absorbed by the Brisbane fans on the fence. They hugged him, patted his head, and didn’t let him go for several seconds. With the lead more than 50, he could have lingered longer.

For more on the grand final result, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Jack Snape:

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Updated at 00.35 EDT

Clive Palmer to take $13m dispute to Swiss court after Hague tribunal rejects case

Billionaire Clive Palmer will take his legal fight with the Australian government over a $13m bill to Switzerland.

Palmer previously tried to bring the case before The Hague-based permanent court of arbitration, but the tribunal rejected it, ruling it had no jurisdiction over disputes between a national government and its citizens.

Palmer announced the decision on Sunday via social media, saying he would appeal to Switzerland’s supreme court. The post, titled as a “media release”, said:

Mr Palmer said that he and his legal team would challenge the tribunal’s judgment, ensuring the matter is tested in a forum in which the lawful arguments of his case are properly heard.

He said the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland would be the next step in the journey to achieve justice in the matter, hopeful of the final arbiter taking an opposite view to that of the tribunal.

For more on this story, read the previous reporting here:

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Updated at 21.59 EDT

Australian defence force says ‘no place’ for extremists despite member’s link to neo-Nazi group

The Australian defence force says it has “no place” for rightwing extremists, despite one of its members remaining in the service for more than eight months after police found he had been involved in a gathering of the National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi group.

Separately, the 25-year-old Sydney man was charged in August with possessing alleged violent extremist and child abuse material on his mobile phones after being arrested in Holsworthy. He will face court again next month.

The Australian federal police (AFP) charged the man after it received intelligence that he attended an NSN gathering in Marsfield, in Sydney’s north, in late 2024.

Footage of the gathering, seen by Guardian Australia, shows about a dozen men clad in black exercise clothing in a public park. It is believed they had been conducting a “training” session.

“Further inquiries indicated the man may be in possession of the illicit material,” the AFP said in a statement.

For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Nino Bucci:

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Updated at 21.30 EDT

Man dies in plane crash on NSW south coast

A man has died after a plane used by a skydiving business crashed at Moruya on the southern New South Wales coast.

NSW police confirmed the death on Saturday after emergency services were called to bushland 2km north of Moruya airport.

The pilot, a 54-year-old man, was the only person on board and died at the scene. Police have secured the area and specialist officers will examine it.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has been informed. A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Police and ATSB officials are expected to speak to the media at 1.45pm on Sunday.

We will keep you updated.

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Updated at 21.12 EDT

Cash accuses PM of ‘double standards’ over trip to UK Labour conference

Cash also reiterated criticisms from the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, that Albanese has spent too much time travelling internationally, including attending the UK Labour conference, saying that the prime minister criticised Scott Morrison for going to a US Republican party event.

You don’t get to have double standards, Mr Albanese. And double standards is what we are now seeing from this prime minister. You are there, in your own words when Scott Morrison was prime minister. You are there as head of the government, not as head of the Labor party, so why don’t you behave like the head of our country instead of turning this into a domestic political exercise.

Cash suggested that the previous Coalition government had a better relationship with the US government and would have been able to secure a more favourable deal on tariffs.

The Coalition senator also described a recent speech by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the United Nations as a “speech of great moral clarity”.

Cash did not respond to questions about whether the position of the Coalition was increasingly isolated as governments have recognised Palestine and put pressure on Israel to end its military operations.

Quoting Marco Rubio, Cash said the US was working directly to get a result for Israelis and Palestinians.

The substance I want to see is president Trump negotiating to get what we all want and that is an end to this war, a return of the hostages and a guarantee of Israel’s security going forward.

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Updated at 22.34 EDT

‘Albanese has failed Australia’ over ‘little’ relationship with Trump, Michaelia Cash says

Senator Michaelia Cash has continued the Coalition’s attack on Anthony Albanese, accusing the prime minister of not doing enough to engage with the Trump administration and spending too much time this year on international diplomacy.

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, Cash compared Albanese’s relationship with Trump to the US president’s one with the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, describing Australia’s current ties with Washington as “little”.

The relationship in Washington is not strong, and because it is not strong, Mr Albanese is not able to pick up the phone like other world leaders are able to do and speak directly to the US president about the impact of his announcements on Australia.

In response to the prime minister’s description of his conversations with the US president as “warm”, Cash said “he has achieved nothing”, saying that “the most he got out” of his interaction with Trump was a selfie.

Mr Albanese has failed Australia. He’s almost embarrassing us on the international stage.

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Updated at 22.29 EDT

Albanese closes door on republic referendum during his leadership

Krishani Dhanji

Anthony Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum while he’s still prime minister, putting to bed the prospect of a vote to make Australia a republic.

On the ABC’s Insiders program this morning, Albanese said he would hold only one referendum as leader.

I think I’ve made it clear that I wanted to hold one referendum while I was prime minister and we did that.

It’s a step up in language, with the PM having previously left the door open to another referendum in a future term, but without specifying a timeline.

On Friday, Albanese said:

I’ve said very clearly, I have no plans to have a referendum during this term.

Today, Albanese broadened that to the entirety of his leadership.

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Updated at 20.22 EDT

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