Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news for Tuesday, September 8. Here’s what is making news today.
- Labor’s changes to social media algorithms and attempt to rein in big tech will go before the Senate today. The government’s Digital Duty of Care bill is designed to force platforms to prevent harm before it occurs. The bill is expected to include an opt-out model for social media algorithms which will allow users more control over their feeds.
- One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce’s latest interview on ABC’s 7.30 program devolved into chaos when he shouted that he was One Nation’s treasury spokesman – “not Jesus Christ” – when under pressure to model the superannuation policy his party revealed yesterday. The policy which would allow renters and mortgage holders access to a quarter of their future superannuation contributions over the next three years. Joyce announced the proposal alongside party leader Pauline Hanson in Canberra yesterday, but dismissed suggestions it would raise inflation and discourage pay rises.
- There are 36 Australians still unaccounted for in Nepal and Tibet after flash flooding battered the Nepal-Tibet border nearly two weeks ago. Australian personnel remain on the ground assisting with ongoing search and rescue operations.
- And Australian emergency services are bracing for a fire season supercharged not only by the intensifying “supersized” El Nino, but by the increasing threat of “flash droughts” which act “like hot hair dryers”, blasting moisture out of soil and scrub faster than the creeping droughts that have long been part of Australian life.
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