Australia news LIVE: Outgoing RBA governor warns of wild inflation swings in final speech; PM meets Chinese Premier in Jakarta

Miners and energy companies weighed down the Australian sharemarket on Thursday after a negative lead from Wall Street overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 86.1 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 7171.0 at the close as all sectors traded in the red.

The real estate investment trusts sector (REITS, down 0.1 per cent) was the strongest on the local bourse, led by Goodman Group which gained 0.5 per cent.

IG Australia market analyst Tony Sycamore said it was a “return to the days of mid-August” for the Australian sharemarket on Thursday with miners drowning in a sea of red.

The High Court will hand down its verdict next Wednesday following a long-running appeal lodged by Qantas Airways after the group was found to have unlawfully outsourced the jobs of 1700 ground handlers in 2020.

The 2021 Federal Court decisions found the airline had contravened the Fair Work Act when it stood down employees working at 10 airports during the pandemic in November 2020.

Qantas outsourced nearly 2000 ground handlers during the COVID-19 downturn to cut down on costs.Credit: James Davies

This masthead revealed that the airline had developed plans a decade beforehand to outsource all airport ground handling work by that year.

More whistleblowers and volunteers would be given the opportunity to divulge highly sensitive and personal stories to royal commissions in less traumatic settings under proposed changes to legislation flagged by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

A bill introduced to parliament earlier today expands the ability of royal commissions to hold private sessions, allowing individuals to voluntarily tell an assistant commissioner about their experiences in less formal, trauma-informed environment.

Anyone who appears at a private session would not be considered a witness, nor would the information they give be considered evidence because it is not divulged under oath, but they would be afforded similar protections to hearing witnesses.

Dreyfus said the legislation will “enable a royal commission to hold more private sessions over the duration of its inquiry”.

“[This would] therefore allow more people to engage with the royal commission and have their experience heard,” he said.

Private sessions were first used in the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, and received more than 8000 stories from survivors.

AAP

In February 2008, when then-prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised to Indigenous Australians, the iPhone was new, George W. Bush was in the White House and Low by Flo Rida and T-Pain was top of the charts. A lot has changed since, but First Nations people still live shorter, unhealthier and poorer lives.

We looked at six key measures of the Closing the Gap. Here’s one:

To close the life expectancy gap within a generation

The nominated deadline for this goal, both now and in 2008, is 2031. The current trajectory suggests a miss.

The life expectancy of Indigenous babies born between 2015 and 2017 is better than for those born a decade earlier. But the life expectancy of non-Indigenous babies has also improved, so the gap has not narrowed much.

Examine all the data here.

Taylor Swift fans have had a day of highs and lows today.

Their day started brimming with hope after screenshots from the website of Accor Live Limitless went viral this morning, promising fans access to Category A tickets (the expensive ones) for Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour shows in February – but only with a bucket of Accor reward points.

Taylor Swift performs during the opener of her Eras tour on Friday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.Credit: AP Photo/Ashley Landis

But within hours, the multinational hotel’s webpage advertising the tickets had mysteriously disappeared and tour company Frontier Touring said Accor “is not approved for this activity”.

The company said Accor had confirmed “they will be removing this offer immediately”.

And later, Accor – which hosted the page on its website – said: “We have not announced anything in relation to the release of new Taylor Swift tickets.”

So there are no new tickets today. But if you’re a diehard Swiftie and yet to get your place, Ticketek’s Marketplace reselling option will go live before Swift arrives (it was meant to go live on Monday, but was delayed indefinitely).

Police have found an alleged gunman on the run in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region and are attempting to negotiate a peaceful resolution with him.

Lachlan Bowles, 25, is alleged to have shot dead a man in his 30s at the Moylan Grain Silos on Mather Road, Kellerberrin – 200 kilometres east of Perth – about 8.40am today.

In an active shooter alert sent out, police said Bowles was believed to be on foot and dressed in camouflage and urged residents in the area to take shelter.

Lachlan Bowles, 25, is being sought by police after a shooting in Kellerberrin.Credit: Getty Images/WA Police

“Members of the public are advised to not approach Mr Bowles or the vehicle [he is driving], but contact police immediately on triple zero,” a police spokeswoman said.

An RAC rescue helicopter was despatched to Kellerberrin this afternoon and will remain on standby in case of further injuries.

“It has been confirmed that one man is now deceased, and Homicide Squad are investigating,” police said. “Residents in the area are advised to remain alert.”

Bowles is believed to have been an employee at Moylan Grain Silos on Mather Road, along with the victim. It is believed he attended the silo and fired a gun before fleeing the area in a vehicle.

Let’s return to the other airline being discussed today: Qantas.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors Louise Davidson says the shock departure of Alan Joyce does not pacify Qantas shareholders, who are concerned about the issues left in his wake.

Davidson’s comments follow a report by this masthead on Wednesday that revealed the airline group’s board is facing heat from governance experts, institutional investors and other proxy advisers who question their actions in the events leading up to Joyce’s surprise exit.

Australian Council of Superannuation Investors chief executive Louise Davidson earlier this year.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“The early departure of the Qantas CEO this week has not erased the issues that concern us, and we are interested in the terms of his exit,” she said.

“We still expect the board to carefully consider any executive bonuses in light of the issues the company is facing. The question investors will ask is, how does the board justify any bonus outcomes given the legacy issues Mr Joyce is leaving behind.”

Qantas shares have fallen about 15 per cent since the beginning of August, despite the business posting a record $2.47 billion underlying profit two weeks ago.

The airline group is due to deliver its annual report, with details of executive remuneration, this month. Shareholders will then be asked to vote on executive remuneration at the group’s annual general meeting in November.

Independent MP Kylea Tink says she was yelled at aggressively by a male opposition MP following a vote in parliament yesterday, prompting Speaker Milton Dick to say parliamentarians had fallen well short of expected standards of behaviour.

Tink stood in parliament immediately after question time to say the unnamed male MP “aggressively challenged” her voting decision, referring to a testimony she gave to an earlier committee hearing in which she expressed a desire to see questions in parliament answered more directly.

“His tone was hostile. And his body language was aggressive. And to the best of my recollection, his words were, ‘Well where were you today then? Hey, you say you want clear answers? Well, that was your chance. And where were you?'” she said.

Independent MP Kylea Tink speaks at the end of question time.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

She added he was looking at her in a way she found “to be aggressive and honestly quite confronting. Yesterday’s behaviour left me feeling like my senses had been assaulted by what I experienced as excessive and unconstructive noise and aggressive aggression being thrown around the room.”

She said the tone of the debate in parliament was “overly aggressive and personalised, with numerous examples of condescending and offensive language designed to … intimidate others within the chamber. In any other professional environment, this sort of behaviour would be completely unacceptable.”

Dick said it had been a combative week in parliament “by any measure”.

“Such behaviour does not reflect well on the house, or any of us. It’s expected that parliamentary debate will expose differences of opinion, but we have to find ways of engaging in debate that also contains respectful behaviour. We are simply not meeting the standards we should be meeting. This requires change,” he said.