Australia news live: social media platforms to be bound by ‘duty of care’; jobs figures due

Key events Show key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature Sarah Basford Canales More from Sarah on the money-laundering bill.

Australia remains one of the few jurisdictions in the world not to force accountants, real estate agents and lawyers to report suspicious transactions – including unexplained wealth used to purchase property – to a financial intelligence agency.

In 2015, the global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, found that Australia had failed to comply with a number of critical standards and was at risk of being "greylisted" - a move that puts a country under increased scrutiny and monitoring.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, delivered a scorching rebuke of the Coalition's position, saying opposition to the bill would aid criminal networks.

Dreyfus said:

Opposing these reforms means aiding and abetting the criminal abuse of our financial system by drug traffickers, human trafficking, cybercriminals, terrorists and those who exploit and abuse children. Opposing these reforms enables criminals to continue to engage in and profit from those serious crimes. If the Liberal Party continues to oppose this bill it is aiding the criminal networks who engage in despicable acts that hurt our whole community.

Read more here:

Share Sarah Basford Canales A Labor-chaired committee has given its seal of approval on the federal government's proposal to toughen anti-money laundering and terrorism financing laws forcing lawyers, accountants, and real estate agents to report suspicious transactions.

But doubt has been cast over whether it will sail through Parliament into law after Liberal members of the committee said they couldn't support the bill in its current form, pointing to higher cost burdens for small businesses.

The changes would extend reporting obligations to those in "second tranche" roles that assist clients with services, such as lawyers, accountants, and real estate agents.

The government's preferred option is expected to cost $13.9bn over 10 years, according to a recent impact analysis, and would simplify the laws while including the new reporting obligations.

The Liberal senator, Paul Scarr, said the bill must be changed to "remove or substantially minimise" the cost burden for business, which he said would be passed onto consumers.

"During the Albanese government's cost of living crisis, this is something Australians can ill-afford," Scarr said in the committee report's additional comments.

Share Secure housing brings choice and control, says ministerHousing minister Clare O'Neil has declared that enabling Australians to buy a home is "an of faith" and that secure housing, whether for buyers or renters, is what gives people "choice and control" over their lives.

Ahead of Parliament's final fortnight of sittings next week when another showdown looms over blocked government legislation, O'Neil used a speech in Melbourne last night in memory of the late Victorian Labor premier John Cain to renew the government's attack on the federal Coalition and Greens for refusing to support its housing plans.

O'Neil said the government's Build to Rent and Help to Buy bills were being blocked by "an unholy, destructive, anti-housing coalition built of the conservatives and the Greens".

"Labor wants Australians to have choice and control so they can build a life that's meaningful for them. For those that are renting, we want you to have a secure and affordable home, not just a place to live - to have a family when it suits you. We want Australians to have choice about where they live and how they live, over where their kids grow up, on the jobs they have access to and how long they commute."

She particularly emphasised home ownership, which she said too many people now saw as "a luxury".

"After all, we are a home-owning nation. If you work hard, you should have the security of owning your own home."

She flagged more federal government measures on housing, between now and next year's federal election.

Share Josh Butler The federal government will require social media platforms to assume a "digital duty of care" for users, with plans to put the onus on digital giants to take proactive steps to safeguard mental health of its customers.

Communications minister Michelle Rowland made the announcement last night at a speech to the Sydney Institute. It will put the legal responsibility for keeping Australians safe onto the platforms themselves, including obligating social media platforms to identify and mitigate potential risks as the services and society changes.

She said:

To my mind, what's required is a shift away from reacting to harms by relying on content regulation alone, and moving towards systems-based prevention, accompanied by a broadening of our perspective of what online harms are.

The minister, a former lawyer, said a duty of care was "a common law concept and statutory obligation that places a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to protect others from harm."

Where platforms seriously and systemically breach their duty of care we will ensure the regulator can draw on strong penalty arrangements.

We don't have a lot of information about how it will work, with Rowland's office only releasing broad details about the proposal, but we'll expect to hear more in coming weeks. It's understood the digital duty of care was a key recommendation of an independent review of the Online Safety Act, which was handed to government weeks ago but which hasn't been released yet. It adds to the government's already-bulging set of proposed and looming reforms in the tech and social media space, including the ban on social media for under-16s, the mis and disinformation laws, and potential changes to the news media bargaining code. It potentially opens up another front in a conflict with the social media giants, some of whom are already unhappy with growing government regulation and new rules on how their systems operate.

Share Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live news coverage. I'm Martin Farrer, bringing you some of the best overnight stories before my colleague Mostafa Rachwani guides you through the main action of the day.

The commonwealth will argue in two high court challenges today that the constitution allows the government to detain non-citizens while their protection visa applications are processed, even if they will be released after a decision either way. It will urge the court to reject the cases that seek to extend the landmark NZYQ decision on indefinite detention to a new cohort of people in immigration detention. We will bring you the latest when it happens.

The federal government will require social media platforms to assume a "digital duty of care" for users, with plans to put the onus on digital companies to take proactive steps to safeguard the mental health of its customers. Speaking in Sydney last night, Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, said the changes were needed to put the legal responsibility for safeguarding on to the companies and away from just a regulatory approach. More coming up.

The October jobs figures out at 11.30am this morning will give the latest update on what we can expect from the economy and we might even get some more insight from the Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, when she appears at a panel discussion on the state of the economy at an Asic forum in Sydney at 10am this morning. More coming up.

Australia's push for high-speed rail is ignoring expert advice and parliamentary findings , according to a former MP who chaired the inquiries, warning planners are pursuing expensive station locations where recouping costs will be so difficult it could derail the project. In an interview with Guardian Australia, John Alexander pleads with the High Speed Rail Authority to place stations outside the Sydney and Gosford CBDs in order to maximise land value capture and therefore secure future funding of the scheme.

Share