News and politics live updates: One Nation reveals candidates for State election, takes aim at ‘toxic’ Labor

A property price downturn is spreading across the nation as the market records the largest single-month decline in home values in nearly four years.

Australia’s two largest housing markets led a nationwide drop in prices, with Sydney and Melbourne home prices falling by 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively in July.

Dips were also recorded in the previously booming state capitals of Brisbane and Adelaide, where prices were down 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, according to Cotality’s latest Home Value Index.

Values were down 0.7 per cent nationwide, the largest single-month drop since December 2022, the data released on Monday showed.

“For buyers who remain in the market, lower competition and elevated stock levels (when compared with the start of the year) mean greater choice and more negotiating power,” the property analytics firm said.

But first home buyers might benefit little from the downturn, which has been led by properties at the top end of the market.

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One Nation has revealed the first tranche of candidates for the Victorian election, with the party saying it’s Victorian president, Warren Pickering, will spearhead its campaign ahead of the November poll.

The 43-year-old Gippsland-based army veteran will also lead the party’s Legislative Council ticket for the Eastern Victoria region as One Nation seeks to expand its presence in State parliament.

Announcing Mr Pickering’s appointment, leader Pauline Hanson praised his leadership within the party.

“Warren has done a great job as state president of One Nation in Victoria,” she said.

“I have every confidence he will be an effective leader of the team we’re taking to the Victorian election.”

One Nation also unveiled a slate of upper house candidates, including MP Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Liberal defector Colleen Harkin, animator and company director Mark Nicholson, lawyer Aaron Sanford, office manager and volunteer Natalie Adams, Geelong councillor Chris Burson and human resources manager Fiona Lopez.

Senator Hanson said additional candidates would be announced in the coming weeks as the party prepares to contest every electorate across the State.

“We’ll be running candidates in every seat at this election,” Ms Hanson said.

“We’ll have a talented team of people intent on restoring Victoria and kicking out the tired and toxic Labor government which has run this state into the ground, getting away with it thanks to a weak Liberal opposition.”

Tech firms will pay a higher levy or strike more deals to avoid the charge under planned tweaks to an initiative to force them to hand over some of their revenue to media companies.

The proposed news bargaining incentive will push companies like Google, Meta and TikTok to strike commercial deals with news organisations to use the publishers’ content on their platforms.

If deals are struck, the companies will pay a smaller share of their Australian advertising revenues to the government than if they refuse to reach agreements.

The levy will apply to tech giants with domestic revenues of $250 million or more, with any funds raised to be redistributed to the media sector.

But after a consultation period on the changes, which Labor hopes to legislate when parliament returns in Spring, elements of the incentive have been tipped further in favour of news publishers.

The maximum levy that tech companies will pay on their revenue has been increased from 2.5 per cent from a previously proposed 2.25 per cent charge, the government revealed on Monday.

“We don’t want to discourage those large tech companies from having a growing footprint in Australia. What we do want though is that part of their business, which is using news, to be fairly compensating the producers of that news,” Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino told ABC radio.

“We’ve made the decision to continue to exclude AI from this decision, and that makes sense given that the government is leaning in on AI more broadly,” Mr Mulino said.

“The Prime Minister’s speech delivered a week and a half ago made very clear that he was going to implement a series of processes to look at things like copyright to make sure that creative producers are protected. So that has its own separate process and it’s appropriate that it’s separate from the NBI.”

with AAP

Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran asked him to delay further military strikes, with state-affiliated media describing the allegations as false.

Iran’s Mehr news agency on Sunday denied the US President’s claim. Citing military officials, the agency said the allegation was “nothing but a new lie” and that the Iranian armed forced were “on high alert and ready for any eventuality”.

Mr Trump made the comments on Saturday local time, saying the Unites States was “ready to go against the Islamic republic” but that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had requested he postpone new attacks.

He said he had agreed to do so, provided a deal could be reached with Iran.

“This would include the Immediate, Complete and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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Health Minister Mark Butler is the latest political figure to condemn the ABC over its Race Around the World segment featuring a violently graphic portrayal of mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

Speaking to News24 on Sunday night, Mr Butler described the widely criticised segment as “pretty revolting”, adding that it should never have been broadcast on Australian television.

“It’s pretty revolting and it’s not the sort of thing I think we should see on TV, whether it’s News24, a commercial television station or our public broadcaster, frankly,” Mr Butler told the program.

“I understand the ombudsman within the ABC is investigating it and that’s appropriate at an independent public broadcaster.

“But why do we have to see rubbish like this on our TVs – regardless of who it’s about?

“I have seen coverage of this episode, I understand the person responsible for it has apologised, but, at the end of the day, this sort of material shouldn’t be on our TVs.”

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