Australia news LIVE: Pay rises, tax cuts for millions of workers as July 1 changes come into effect; house prices across capital cities suffer biggest fall in four years

An additional $34 million in shark-spotting drone technology will deliver year-round coverage across the state’s beaches, the NSW government announced this morning, but experts warn drones are not a failsafe.

The funding boost comes after Sydney local Leah Stewart was mauled by a shark at Coogee Beach last month.

The expanded monitoring will start today, with about 70 beaches set to benefit from the $120 million program, which will introduce drone monitoring 365 days of the year, including at all Sydney beaches and at least one beach in every coastal local government area across NSW.

“While no one can ever promise no shark interactions, this investment is about putting more eyes in the sky so we can spot sharks earlier and give people a clear heads-up when they’re in the water,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.

But UNSW Beach Safety expert Professor Rob Brander said there’s “no real evidence that drone surveillance actually reduces bites”.

“If you look at the broad scheme of fatalities in the ocean, [shark attacks] don’t compare with the number of people who drown in rip currents,” he said, and questioned why the same funding wasn’t being used to prevent drowning deaths.

Aid groups have warned Venezuela’s fragile healthcare system is being pushed to its limit nearly a week after two powerful earthquakes.

Damaged and understaffed hospitals have been overwhelmed as they struggle to treat the injured and also combat infectious diseases that have been flaring in the disaster zone.

Meanwhile, the number of official rescues has dropped dramatically in the last three days, the government said, from 5380 people saved in the first two days after the quakes to just four people found alive on Monday.

The prime window for finding earthquake survivors is typically 48 to 72 hours, but it is possible to survive longer depending on factors such as temperature and access to water or food.

Anti-immigrant protesters draped in flags and wielding wooden weapons marched across cities in South Africa on Tuesday to mark a deadline they had set for undocumented migrants to leave, with some marches hit by violence and looting.

Thousands of African foreign nationals had already fled South Africa ahead of Tuesday’s “deadline”, as shops closed and foreign workers stayed home in anticipation of further trouble after months of unrest brought international condemnation.

At least four people have been killed and thousands of foreigners have been driven from their homes and seen their businesses and property vandalised.

The leader of the anti-migrant movement said they would hold weekly marches until their objectives were met.

The federal government has proposed an “operational separation” of consulting giants such as PwC and KPMG in a move designed to restore trust after a series of public scandals.

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino told ABC Radio Sydney this morning the pattern of “opportunistic and unethical behaviour” from the firms was “just not good enough”.

Last month, KPMG admitted senior staff accessed confidential information from corporate clients to win business, prompting businesses and governments to consider dumping the firm. The saga had echoes of the PwC tax scandal, in which that firm misused confidential information about planned tax changes it had helped to draft.

The proposed break-up could prevent firms from offering both audit and non-audit functions to the same client, or could prevent them from offering both audit and non-audit functions at all.

Anthony Albanese has refused to weigh in after two Ernst and Young graduate employees were sacked for allegedly accessing the prime minister’s personal banking details.

“It’s before the courts and I’m not about to go into the detail of that. It’s appropriate that charges have been laid,” he said when asked about the incident on ABC television this morning.

“This is a serious issue. Well, accessing anyone’s privacy, any Australian’s privacy, is alarming, let alone [a] contractor who’s not an employee of Commonwealth Bank, being able to access that information.”

The two employees were on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank at the time of the incident, and are alleged to have accessed other account details.

Albanese said the government was continuing to examine the conduct of big consulting firms, saying firms needed to be held to account for any breaches of the law.

Health Minister Mark Butler has backed Australian security agencies after the Chinese ambassador to Australia launched a remarkable attack on ASIO, accusing the agency of fabricating spying claims against his nation.

Xiao Qian, who has represented China in Canberra since 2022, accused ASIO of smearing China in a video aired before director-general Mike Burgess’ annual threat assessment last week, suggesting it could undermine ongoing legal proceedings.

“China itself has long suffered from foreign interference and has no intention of, nor has it ever engaged in, so-called interference in Australia,” Xiao wrote in an opinion piece submitted to this masthead.

Speaking to journalists at Parliament House in Canberra, Butler said: “We fully support the work of the ASIO director, MikeBurgess, he’s a terrific public servant, and he and all of his staff at ASIO provide great work for Australian security.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi hit out at the Chinese ambassador, accusing him of “trying to undermine confidence in ASIO and turn Australians against the people whose job it is to keep them safe”.

“That is not a legitimate use of Australia’s freedom of speech and the ambassador should be called in by DFAT [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] or the government,” he said.

A roof collapse at a tutoring centre under construction in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore killed at least 14 schoolchildren on Tuesday, police and rescue officials said.

Eight other children were injured and being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring centre and another person have been arrested.

Kamran said rescuers were searching through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris. He said the tutoring centre was in an ageing building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor construction quality.

Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced and safety regulations are frequently ignored to reduce costs.

Serena Williams has lost her first singles match in nearly four years to Australian Maya Joint.

Joint triumphed with a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory over the former world No.1 on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

The 44-year-old Williams was given a standing ovation on Wednesday morning (AEST) as she walked onto the grass court where she won seven of her 23 grand slam singles titles.

Several supporters held up signs with messages like “Welcome Back” and one wore a T-shirt with the text “Unstoppable Queen”.

House prices have seen their biggest monthly decline in almost four years, as data compiled by Cotality showed national dwelling values dropped by 0.4 per cent in June. It was the largest single monthly fall since December 2022.

Labor frontbencher Mark Butler said the decline could not be attributed only to the government’s capital gains tax changes, and told ABC News Breakfast this morning there was “a lot happening in the housing market,” including RBA interest rate rises and the war in Iran.

“First home buyers are getting a fair crack for the first time in a long time, they’re bidding against each other for houses rather than bidding against investors that have the benefit of a tax break, and that’s exactly what we were seeking to achieve.”

Butler said the government had thought about the changes “very carefully,” and said more time was needed to assess their impact.

“The history of house prices in Australia is one of growth,” he said. “We’re very confident in Treasury’s forecasts. House prices [and] house values for existing owners will continue to grow. They’ll just grow a little bit more softly for a period than otherwise would have.”

Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have planned meetings with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran, following more crossfire in the Persian Gulf.

They won’t directly negotiate with Iranian diplomats and will instead use mediators as go-betweens, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Iran was also sending a delegation to Qatar, but has no plans to meet with the American side at any level, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. His statement left open the possibility of messages being passed through the Qataris.

It comes as Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told an interview with state TV that any meetings held by Iran are solely aimed at fulfilling MoU commitments. He said Iran will not enter further negotiations until conditions of the memorandum of understanding signed between Iran and the United States are met.

Iran has sovereignty in the Strait of Hormuz along with Oman and it will never compromise on its rights in the Strait of Hormuz, Qalbaf said, adding passage without cost in the strait is only for 60 days per the US agreement.

With AP