Australia news live: shark-spotting drones to patrol NSW beaches year-round; Chalmers grilled on ‘widow’s tax’

Premier Chris Minns says technology will be largest expansion of aerial shark surveillance in the world. Follow the day’s updates live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast ‘It’s a difficult time around the world to be an incumbent government,’ Chalmers says Finally, Chalmers was asked about the downfall of Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom, coinciding with a surge in support for Nigel Farage’s Reform party. The pace of change is accelerating, the global and generational pressures are intensifying, and people have got legitimate concerns about where they fit in that, and then we’ve got the anger industry, and parties of the populist right trying to make that worse rather than trying to make that better. It is a difficult time around the world to be an incumbent government, from our point of view. We are using the power of incumbency to take real action, to deliver cost-of-living help, to deliver real change. The best antidote to anger is action … The Albanese Labour government has chosen to address those concerns rather than dismiss them. We’re leading the world when it comes to protecting our kids online, and we’re making really important progress, but we will do more because the big tech companies aren’t doing enough. We will strengthen the penalties. We will strengthen the powers of the eSafety commissioner, and that’s because we recognise that the future of our kids, the safety of our kids, is too important to let the big tech companies wriggle off the hook or avoid their responsibilities. Continue reading...