Australia news live: surprise jump in unemployment; man fined for travelling under friend’s name on domestic flight

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Melbourne creek turns bright blue after construction chemicals wash into waterway

A creek in Melbourne’s north-east has turned a lurid blue after chemicals used in construction of a major road project washed into the waterway.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began investigating after a community member reported blue discoloration in the waters of Banyule creek, south of Lower Plenty Road in Rosanna, on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the EPA said.

The likely source had been traced to a dust suppressant used in the construction of the Victorian government’s North East Link project.

Banyule creek runs through an important wildlife corridor, particularly at Creek Bend Reserve, a 5.6ha linear park peppered with river red gums and native grassy woodlands.

Read more below:

Moesha Johnson wins Australia’s first 10km open-water swimming gold at world championships

Moesha Johnson has won Australia’s first 10km open water world title as compatriot Kyle Lee opened the team medal tally with bronze in the men’s race, AAP reports.

It is Australia’s fifth open water world title overall, with Johnson and Lee in the quartet that will defend the mixed-team title at the Singapore world aquatics championships.

The water temperature was 30C and conditions were described on social media as “human soup”. There were also two postponements for the 10km events because of water quality concerns.

Johnson, who claimed silver in the same event at the Paris Olympics, won in two hours, seven minutes, 51.30 seconds. It is also her first individual open water world championship.

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Check out the first-ever image of a glow-in-the-dark wild eastern quoll

This shot by Benjamin Alldridge, a finalist in the Beaker Street Science Photography prize, is one of several to be exhibited at Hobart’s Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery next month.

A caption accompanying the photo reads:

Where their fur is normally fawn or black, under certain wavelengths of light, they exhibit a process referred to as biofluorescence – like nature’s version of a white shirt glowing at a disco. All of the light and colour in this image is the subject’s natural glow in response to invisible UV light exploding from its natural sandy colouration. This is the first documentation of the species glowing in the wild and forms part of ongoing research into the impacts of light pollution.

You can check out some of the other prize finalists here:

NSW minister used ministerial car for 456km trip to alpine town during ski season

The New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, used a ministerial car and driver for a 456km journey from Sydney to Jindabyne in August last year.

The trip to the Snowy Mountains on Thursday, 29 August 2024, was made at the height of the ski season, during the final weeks of the interschool ski races, in which Park’s son was a competitor.

The trip between NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street and the alpine town was listed in ministerial car logs released under an order for papers earlier in April. The minister’s son attended a high school in the Snowy Mountains at the time of the trip.

An earlier release of travel logs in March, reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, revealed Park made two trips to Thredbo in November and December of the same year, using a ministerial driver to take him to the resort town to meet his family.

Ministerial cars could be used for private purposes under the rules in place until February this year.

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Man fined $1,700 for travelling under friend’s name on domestic flight

A Brisbane man has been convicted and fined after travelling under a friend’s name on a domestic flight, on which he allegedly referred to a bomb while speaking on his phone.

Authorities said the man, 45, was found to be using the fake name in January after he boarded a flight in Sydney before being escorted from the plane for allegedly speaking about a bomb.

Police said the man had travelled from Hobart to Sydney that day under the same false name. They searched the aircraft, which was headed to Brisbane, and found no bomb. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the allegation could not be substantiated. AFP detective, acting Insp Trevor Robinson said:

To ensure the safety of all passengers and crew on aircraft, it’s critical we know who is actually onboard.

The man pleaded guilty last month to one count of taking a flight with a ticket using false identity information and one count of using false identification information at an airport.

He was fined $1,700 on Tuesday.

ATO warns taxpayers to ‘stay one step ahead’ after 150% tax scam surge

As Australians turn their minds to tax time, the Australian Taxation Office is warning that scammers are actively seeking new ways to exploit personal information, with a 150% rise in scams targeting taxpayers over the past year.

About 90% of ATO impersonation scams target taxpayers via email, and scammers are adapting their methods to increasingly creative and fraudulent messages. A new ATO smartphone app has bolstered fraud controls in order to better detect unusual or out-of-pattern behaviour on taxpayers’ accounts. The assistant tax commissioner, Rob Thomson, said:

This is the time of year when people are awaiting their tax returns or expecting to hear from the ATO, and scammers know it. Downloading the ATO app is a simple and effective way to stay one step ahead.

If you receive a notification and something doesn’t feel right, lock your account immediately in our app, and verify and report the interaction on the ATO website or by calling 1800 467 033 during business hours to discuss any suspicious activity.

More on June’s shock employment slump

June’s surprise jump in unemployment is as much due to a slowdown in hiring as an increase in people looking for work.

In the first half of 2024, Australian employers hired an extra 210,000 people. Over the same period this year, the economy has added less than 60,000 jobs.

The number of employed people declined in June in New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, offset by rises in Victoria, which remains the state with the highest unemployment rate.

Job seekers also piled into the labour market, with the number of unemployed Australians rising to 659,600, the highest number since pandemic-era lockdowns in October 2021. The 33,600 monthly increase was the largest since April 2024.

All those extra job seekers helped the workforce participation rate bounce back to 67.1% after the rate fell in May.

Businesses endure the worst conditions since 2020

Australian businesses are facing their worst conditions since 2020, with sales sliding and profits narrowing, but are growing more confident about the future, new data shows.

Trading conditions and employment prospects have continued to worsen, with nearly one in two businesses reporting profit margin pressure as a drag on their confidence in NAB’s quarterly business survey.

Businesses reported a higher increase in labour costs in the three months to June compared to the previous period, and a rising share of employers are reporting wage costs as a top issue affecting their confidence.

However, firms are increasingly optimistic about the future, with confidence reaching its highest point since 2022. Plans to invest in new capital are also on the rise, and forward orders of goods and services are picking up from their low levels.

Fewer businesses said they were struggling to find workers, though the number remained higher than it had been pre-pandemic – which makes sense in light of this morning’s jobs data showing a rise in job seekers.

The mining and transport sectors saw the biggest improvements in business conditions, while finance and retail experienced the worst deterioration.

Unemployment rate jumps to 4.3%

Australia’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% in June, the highest it’s been since 2021, adding pressure on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates.

The rise surprised markets, which had been expecting unemployment to remain steady at 4.1% for the sixth consecutive month and for employers to hire an additional 21,000 people.

Instead, just 2,000 extra people found work, while the number of unemployed Australians rose by 33,600.

The jump in the unemployment rate has backed into market expectations that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates at its August meeting. Traders sent the Australian dollar plunging below 65 US cents after the data was released, in a sign of increased confidence the RBA will cut rates.

The RBA last week surprised economists by holding rates steady at 3.85% but traders had this morning almost fully priced in a cut at the next meeting.

Homebuyers flood back into market as auction clearance rate steadily rises

Homebuyer desperation is surging as auction activity holds steady halfway through July, Cotality data shows. The property analyst (formerly CoreLogic) found 1,553 homes scheduled for auction across the combined capital cities in the week to Sunday.

Melbourne is holding its title of most homes going under the hammer each week, with 628 up for sale. Meanwhile, Sydney has 609 homes scheduled for auction. Activity is expected to pick up, with more than 1,700 home auctions planned for next week.

While the number of homes going to market is lower than it was a year ago, Reserve Bank interest rate cuts have seen homebuyers flood back into housing markets in 2025.

That’s driven the auction clearance rate steadily upward over the year, towards the benchmark of 70%, which typically indicates that sellers are in control of the market.

Capital city clearance rates hit 68% last week, marking the most successful auction week since March 2024, also 68%. The second week of July in 2024 saw just 63.2% of capital city auctions succeed.

Further increases in auction clearances could follow additional interest rate cuts, with financial markets predicting a 90% chance the Reserve Bank will cut when its rate-setting board meets in August. We’ll get a better sense of how likely a rate cut is shortly, with the release of June’s jobs data.