Australian news and politics live: Littleproud presses Collins on US beef import standards

Michele Bullock has knocked back jitters about last month’s unemployment rise amid pressure on her Reserve Bank to drop interest rates.

All eyes will be on her signals ahead of the RBA’s August meeting as borrowers hope for a third interest rate cut.

The RBA board held the cash rate steady on July 8 despite a queue of analysts tipping relief. Those calls grew louder after a modest lift in the jobless rate from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent in data released just days later.

Yet Ms Bullock remains steadfast, telling an event in Sydney on Thursday that the jobs market had “eased only gradually” since 2022, and the unemployment rate remained low.

“Some of the coverage of the latest data suggested this was a shock, but the outcome for the June quarter was in line with the forecast we released in May,” Ms Bullock told an Anika Foundation lunch.

“That on its own suggests that the labour market moved a little further towards balance, as we were anticipating.

“While the June monthly data showed a noticeable pick-up in the unemployment rate, other measures such as the vacancy rate have been stable recently.”

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The US government has declared a “major trade breakthrough” after Australia lifted long-standing restrictions on American beef imports, despite Canberra’s repeated insistence that the decision was based solely on biosecurity science, not trade diplomacy.

“American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world,” said US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

“It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years.”

Ms Rollins framed the announcement as a win secured by President Trump’s hardline approach to global trade, adding, “Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines.”

While Australian ministers have denied the move was linked to stalled tariff talks, Washington is claiming credit and making clear it sees Australia’s change of heart as a sign the US is “entering a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way.”

National Australia Bank has become the latest lender to ignore some Higher Education Loan Program debt when assessing new home loans.

From July 31, NAB says if someone owes $20,000 or less in student debt, it won’t affect how much they can borrow should they take out a new loan with the big four banks.

This will help lift the borrowing capacity of a potential borrower, as banks consider income, liabilities and outstandings when calculating how much they will give a potential borrower.

NAB executive for home ownership Matt Dawson said the change would make a real difference for first-home buyers, especially.

“For too long, HELP debt has been a roadblock for many Australians looking to buy a home,” Mr Dawson said.

“NAB was pleased to advocate for this change last year, which will allow more people to turn their homeownership dreams into reality, faster.”

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The Government is making moves to shore up the nation’s drone and counter-drone capabilities with a $16.9 million investment in testing new technology, including threat detection.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said investing in cutting-edge drone and drone-defeating technologies was vital to protect Australia’s military assets and bases from attacks like Ukraine’s complex “Spider Web” drone operation last month that destroyed dozens of Russian fighter planes.

He said the Government was deploying counter drone technology “in a phased way” but also “at speed”.

“It is about deploying counter-drone technology in a phased way,” he said.

“We’ve got great Australian companies that have really current world-leading counter-drone technology, and we’re committing to rolling that out to defend our key military infrastructure.”

The new funding will be rolled out in contracts with 11 vendors, including five Australian companies, to rapidly deliver counter-drone capability and technologies.

Following testing, at least 120 of the world’s most capable threat detectors and drone-defeating technologies will rapidly be introduced into service by the ADF, although industry sources have urged the Government to pick up the pace with the rapidly evolving sector.

Barnaby Joyce says he wants to hear directly from the nation’s Chief Veterinary Officer before he’s satisfied that lifting restrictions on US beef imports won’t pose a biosecurity risk.

“The Trade Minister’s not the Chief Veterinary Officer,” Mr Joyce told Sky News.

“Let’s get the Chief Veterinary Officer out to say that. I want to hear from the person. I want to see their face and see if they grimace when they give the advice that this is the proper process.”

The former Nationals leader also rejected frontbencher Dan Tehan’s analogy comparing him and Michael McCormack to fighting steers over their net zero stance.

“Steers don’t fight, we castrate them so they don’t, right? Steers have their testicles removed... Bulls, woo!”

Mr Joyce said, miming horns. “We’re not in a neighbour’s paddock — we’re actually in our own paddock.”

A national register of early childhood educators is being developed to bolster safety in the childcare sector, but the timeline for its launch remains uncertain.

Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh told ABC Melbourne this morning that Victoria is already working on its own register, and all state and territory ministers will meet again in a few weeks to firm up a national plan.

“That register needs to be integrated with working with children check… and it needs to be integrated with other information that we have about substantiated complaints and conduct against individuals. And that’s what we’re working towards; that register will raise those flags,” she said.

Asked when the register would be operational, Ms Walsh admitted: “I don’t have an answer to that this morning. We’re (the ministers) meeting again in a couple of weeks and we’ll announce the plans for the register then.”

She said an urgent meeting of education ministers in late June placed the national register “right on our agenda”.

Trade Minister Don Farrell says he hasn’t contacted his Trump administration counterpart, Jamieson Greer, regarding the changes to beef import rules.

It comes as the Coalition accuses the Albanese Government of allowing US beef to attempt to catch up on Trump tariff talks, “at the expense of biosecurity”.

“We don’t link biosecurity issues with trade issues. The Americans can do what they like,” the Trade Minister told Sky News.

He said he would continue mounting an argument against the US imposing tariffs on Australia on the merits of the existing trading relationship, which is overwhelmingly in favour of the US.

Australia has been hit with 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium, the same as other countries except the UK, which faces 25 per cent, along with the 10 per cent baseline “reciprocal tariff”.

Senator Farrell said it took two-and-a-half years to get all of China’s trade impediments removed, saying it would take time to work on the US.

“I can’t read the minds of the Americans, particularly not President Trump,” he said.

Former NSW MP Jeremy Kinross has died suddenly in Thailand, with authorities suspecting a choking accident near a supermarket near Phuket.

Mr Kinross, 65, was found unconscious by a passerby and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

It is being reported that Mr Kinross choked on corn kernels, but it is yet to be confirmed.

He served as the Liberal Party member for Gordon in the NSW Legislative Assembly from 1992 until 1999.

Davidson MP Matt Cross has paid tribute saying, “on a personal note, when Jeremy learned I was the new Liberal Party candidate in 2023, he joined the campaign trail,” Mr Cross said.

“His advice to me was simple but powerful: ‘Make every day count’.

NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman said, “He was a very larger-than-life character, someone who was a bon vivant at the dining table, someone who was amusing company, and I think those who know him will miss him very much.”

Trade Minister Don Farrell insists the Government continues to be very focused on protecting Australia’s biosecurity, after the news Australia will now allow American beef imports.

The minister has told Sky News scientists had been looking at rigorous testing for a long time to see whether products should be brought in.

“It’s been a 10-year process. This is not a process that started since the election of President Trump, it goes back a very, very long period of time,” Mr Farrell said.

Asked how Australia can be satisfied that the beef coming in from America didn’t originate in Canada or Mexico, he said his understanding was “the scientists” were sure “that all of those things have been done”.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins says US supply chain systems are “equivalent” with Australia’s and vowed a comprehensive department review had been undertaken across the US.

“My department has done a proper assessment along the entire supply chain, and my department is confident that the systems in the United States are equivalent to Australian systems in terms of biosecurity assurances, and that this has been a science based assessment,” she said.

“They’ve gone along the entire supply chain, including in abattoirs and cutting houses in the US to ensure the safety and security of any beef along the supply chain that they prevent in Australia.

“Our biosecurity risk assessment process is very robust.”

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