Government details how social media giants will be expected to handle under-16s ban
Josh Taylor
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is holding a press conference with the communications minister, Anika Wells, on the guidelines for the social media ban we reported earlier in the blog.
Inman Grant said that social media platforms from 10 December will be expected to take a “multilayered waterfall approach” for age checking, to ensure that government ID is never the sole or final choice for people to verify their ages.
The social media companies have been told their priority before 10 December is to focus on removing or deactivating accounts for those under 16.
Julie Inman Grant. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
The companies will also need to mitigate people potentially using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the ban. Inman Grant says companies are already making moves on age-checking, including Tinder announcing face checks, Roblox using age assurance technology and Apple announcing it can provide more information to platforms as to whether users are over 13, 16 or 18.
Inman Grant said:
We also note this is going to be a monumental event for a lot of children. A lot of children welcome this, as it certainly parents to, but we know this will be difficult for kids and so we have also released today our commitment to protecting and upholding children’s digital rights and recognising that they, their parents and educators, will continue to need education and resources to prepare them for this moment and that is precisely what we are prepared to do.
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Updated at 01.28 BST
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Parent company of Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto fires chief executive over workplace relationship
The parent company of Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto has fired its chief executive and managing director over a workplace relationship, AAP reports.
Super Retail Group said on Tuesday it had terminated the employment of Anthony Heraghty “with immediate effect” and had lapsed his unvested incentives and vested but unexercised stock rights. The group said:
The board made this decision after receiving new information from Mr Heraghty regarding his relationship with the company’s former chief human resources officer. In light of his new information, the board has concluded Mr Heraghty’s prior disclosures were not satisfactory.
Heraghty had been Super Retail Group’s managing director since April 2015, and was given the additional title of CEO in February 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Super Retail Group also owns Macpac and the chain of boating, camping and fishing stores known as BCF.
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One person dead and six taken to hospital after gas leak at Sydney restaurant
NSW police said one person has died and six others – including five police officers – have been taken to hospital after reports of a gas leak at a restaurant in the suburb of Riverstone today.
Emergency services responded to the restaurant around 9.15am this morning.
Those taken to hospital are in stable condition.
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Updated at 02.14 BST
Dan Jervis-Bardy
ACS did not personally brief PM on findings in national climate risk assessment
Australian Climate Service officials did not personally brief Anthony Albanese on the findings of its national climate risk assessment, the inquiry has heard.
Mason said her team briefed the prime minister’s office and the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) – but not the prime minister himself.
Climate change department official Jason Munday said it was typical for PM&C to act as the intermediary that would run the prime minister through such a report.
ShareDan Jervis-Bardy
Back to the parliamentary inquiry into the national climate risk assessment
The Greens and others repeatedly accused the government of delaying the report’s release to bury its findings earlier this morning.
Vicki Manson, the head of the Australian Climate Service, said suggestions that the work was completed as far back as December were incorrect. She said a “working draft” was prepared in December but it was clear “we needed to do a bit more work”.
The [draft] was not for sharing with decision-makers with any confidence.
Manson said the finished assessment, and the full suite of materials accompanying it including 20 technical reports and an interactive website, was only finalised on 5 September.
Vicki Manson, the head of the Australian Climate Service. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
She said a draft report was provided to the department and the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, in March 2025, which was used to gather feedback from across the government. Another draft was produced in July 2025.
The Greens’ leader, Larissa Waters, asked what changes were made from the July 2025 iteration to the final report two months later. Manson said:
It was quality assurance. There was no additional analysis from the July work. It was presenting the data in an appropriate way and ensuring that the information was presented in an understandable format. It was really our own quality assurance process.
Waters asks Mason if she advised Bowen to release the report immediately.
I provided the report and it was a decision of government when to release it.
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Updated at 01.53 BST
Josh Taylor
Claims every user will be age checked is a ‘scare tactic’, eSafety commissioner says
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, says it has been a “scare tactic” to claim that every Australian will need to have their age checked.
The guidance released on Tuesday states the government does not want every user to go through age checking, claiming the use of AI, and the data the platforms collect on users can be used to infer ages for a lot of existing accounts, either by their interests or the age of the account.
Inman Grant said:
Adults should not see huge changes to the platform … We think it would be unreasonable if platforms verified everyone’s age.
It is worth noting that any new account registration after the ban comes in will require that account holder to go through an age check and while some companies like Meta do collect significant amounts of information on their users, companies like BlueSky have previously said they do not collect this information on their users ± meaning they would have to look at other methods.
On enforcement, Inman Grant says she does not expect every under-16 account to be gone by 10 December but she will be looking at systemic failures to apply the ban on their platforms. The commissioner’s office will engage informally with platforms that may be non-compliant before moving to the stage of potentially launching court action and seeking fines of up to $50m.
Inman Grant will be meeting with Apple, Discord, Character AI, Open AI, Anthropic, Google and Meta in Silicon Valley next week.
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Updated at 01.49 BST
‘We can police the sharks’, communications minister says of looming ban
Anika Wells, the communications minister, is speaking about the upcoming social media ban for those under the age of 16. The country’s eSafety watchdog issued new guidance this morning recommending tech platforms undertake the “most minimally invasive techniques” to determine a users’ age from 10 December when the ban kicks in.
Wells said during a press conference:
There is no excuse for non-compliance. Platforms must take reasonable steps to detect and deactivate underage accounts to prevent reregistration and to provide an accessible complaint process for their users. Platforms must implement the laws in a way that is effective, private and fair. …
We cannot control the ocean, but we can police the sharks and today we’re making clear to the rest of the world, how we can do this.
Anika Wells. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Government details how social media giants will be expected to handle under-16s ban
Josh Taylor
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is holding a press conference with the communications minister, Anika Wells, on the guidelines for the social media ban we reported earlier in the blog.
Inman Grant said that social media platforms from 10 December will be expected to take a “multilayered waterfall approach” for age checking, to ensure that government ID is never the sole or final choice for people to verify their ages.
The social media companies have been told their priority before 10 December is to focus on removing or deactivating accounts for those under 16.
Julie Inman Grant. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
The companies will also need to mitigate people potentially using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the ban. Inman Grant says companies are already making moves on age-checking, including Tinder announcing face checks, Roblox using age assurance technology and Apple announcing it can provide more information to platforms as to whether users are over 13, 16 or 18.
Inman Grant said:
We also note this is going to be a monumental event for a lot of children. A lot of children welcome this, as it certainly parents to, but we know this will be difficult for kids and so we have also released today our commitment to protecting and upholding children’s digital rights and recognising that they, their parents and educators, will continue to need education and resources to prepare them for this moment and that is precisely what we are prepared to do.
Share
Updated at 01.28 BST
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Inquiry under way into ‘chilling’ climate risk report
A parliamentary inquiry into the national climate risk assessment is being held on Tuesday a day after the release of the landmark report.
To quickly recap, the first-of-its kind assessment modelled the threat of climate-related hazards, such as bushfires, floods and storms, on various parts of the community and economy under three global heating scenarios: above 1.5C, above 2C and above 3C.
Among the findings, the modelling shows that heat-related deaths could surge 444% in Sydney under a 3C scenario, almost 1.5 million people could be at risk from rising sea levels by 2050 and the annual economic cost of disasters could balloon to $40bn.
The report was published just days out from the anticipated release of the government’s 2035 emissions reduction target.
Larissa Waters. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The Greens’ leader, Larissa Waters, who described the report as “chilling”, opened Tuesday’s hearing with a question about a specific part in the report: the prospect that by 2030, some 597,000 people could be at direct risk of coastal hazards. Waters wants to know exactly where those locations are.
Judith Landsberg, from the Australian Climate Service, which produced the report, couldn’t immediately provide the information:
The analysis that was done for that was looking broadly at the whole coast. We are not intending to identify specific locations. Part of the reason for a national assessment was to identify locations with similar risks so they can collaborate to share adaptation strategies and to help the government to prioritise investment.
When pushed, Landsberg said the highest-risk communities “would not be a surprise to Australians”.
Broadly, southern Queensland, up the coast in Queensland, there’s areas at risk in Western Australia, there’s areas at risk in every region, but also South Australia and the south-east of Victoria.
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Updated at 01.16 BST
Petra Stock
Setback for offshore wind as Victoria delays auction
Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, told a wind summit in Melbourne the state’s planned offshore wind auction will not launch in September as planned, blaming the delay on the lack of a joint funding agreement with the federal government. D’Ambrosio said:
While our aspiration was to have those preconditions in place by the end of September, and great effort has gone into attempting to achieve this, it has not been possible.
As a result, today, I am disappointed to announce that Victoria will be delaying the formal procurement process for our first offshore wind auction. However, we will provide an update on the option timeline by the end of this year.”
We are absolutely committed, and I continue to be optimistic about the possibilities of a national partnership.
D’Ambrosio said Victoria remained committed to the development of offshore wind, but said factors including delays in the issuing feasibility licences, the rejection of the first Port of Hastings EPBC referral, as well as global uncertainty had contributed to the decision. An updated auction timeline would be made available by the end of the year.
Photograph: Phil Noble/ReutersShare
Updated at 01.00 BST
Small earthquake near Newcastle this morning
There was a small 3.1 magnitude earthquake near Newcastle this morning, centred in the town of Bulahdelah, NSW. The temblor hit just before 7.50am, Geoscience Australia says.
Region: Bulahdelah, NSW
Mag: 3.1
UTC: 2025-09-15 21:49:45
Lat: -32.42, Lon: 152.20
Dep: 9km
For more info and updates, or if you felt this earthquake, go to https://t.co/slCKPK0Gi5
— EarthquakesGA (@EarthquakesGA) September 15, 2025Share
Updated at 00.37 BST
Rising sea levels and soaring heat deaths: will climate action match the risks? – Full Story podcast
The national climate risk assessment has painted a challenging and confronting view of the future for Australia under global heating. Anthony Albanese says the landmark report is a “wake-up call” that reinforces the need for “serious” action on the climate emergency. But with the government’s soon-to-be released 2035 emissions target still unknown, will Labor’s action on the climate crisis match the risk?
Nour Haydar speaks with climate and environment editor Adam Morton about how the government will respond to its biggest climate challenge.
ShareSarah Basford Canales
PM says PNG independence celebrations prevented treaty from being signed overnight
Anthony Albanese says the defence treaty with Papua New Guinea wasn’t signed overnight because PNG’s national executive were spread around the island country celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, the prime minister confirmed the deal hadn’t yet been inked but said PNG prime minister, James Marape, was “very supportive” of the pact.
Albanese said:
[PNG’s national executive were] all off celebrating. That’s, that’s the thing, they all went to their respective homelands, and so they didn’t have quorum at the cabinet meeting. And that’s understandable …
This is about our mutual security. This is about our mutual sovereignty as well as showing respect for each other, and it’s a natural progression of how closely we work together.
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Updated at 00.05 BST
Albanese says PNG pact will take partnership between two countries ‘to the next level’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke to ABC News this morning as Australia and PNG work to finalise a defence pact saying the ultimate deal – once signed – would take the partnership between the two nations “to the next level” and be akin to a pact Australia has with the US.
Albanese said:
We, of course, cooperate greatly on a day-to-day basis. This formalises this. It strengthens Papua New Guinea and it also strengthens Australia, because a strong region is certainly in our interests.
The prime minister said the treaty is still being negotiated in PNG, but he expects it to have “overwhelming support” in Australia when it goes before parliament, adding he expects the deal will have overwhelming support in PNG, too.
Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.45 BST
Conroy ‘confident’ defence agreement with PNG will be signed tomorrow
Pat Conroy was asked about progress negotiating a major defence pact with Papua New Guinea, saying he remained hopeful Australia would sign the agreement in the coming days.
Conroy told RN:
I’m confident, but we’re respecting the processes of Papua New Guinea and letting them go through their processes. That’s really important that we respect their sovereignty.
We’re not like other countries. We don’t come in and try and impose our will on the Pacific family. We respect their processes, we listen to their priorities and we act on them, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
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Pat Conroy discounts Canavan’s remarks as ‘woefully’ out of touch
Pat Conroy, the minister of the defence industry, rejected Canavan’s claims, saying the report instead demonstrated an urgent need to take action “not just to protect our environment but also to seize the economic opportunities of the jobs of the future.
Conroy told RN Breakfast:
I think he’s condemning Australians to a very bleak future if he ever got into power. He’s symptomatic of an opposition that’s woefully out of place, out of touch with both the science and the views of the Australian people.
Pat Conroy. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.24 BST