Voters have been promised a cut to controversial land taxes as hordes of motorcyclists demand pothole fixes be placed at the centre of Victoria’s election campaign.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson addressed the crowd – which organisers estimated was thousands-strong – at the “Broken roads, Broken promises” rally on Sunday, while Premier Ben Carroll said he had spoken to campaigners a day earlier about their concerns.

One of the organisers, Michael White, told AAP that fixing the problem meant not just filling in potholes, but ripping up and redoing large sections of the state’s roads.

“We don’t care what party it is, we want the roads fixed,” he said.

“It’s killing Victorians.”

The rally followed the death of veteran motorcyclist Peter “Tiki” Mason, who was killed when he hit a pothole in mid-September.

The government previously promised to double the number of potholes fixed in 2026 to 500,000, while the coalition has pledged to plug one million extra potholes over four years.

The premier on Sunday revealed Labor’s latest pitch for re-election, saying he would raise the state’s land tax threshold, unwinding a post-COVID policy introduced by his party predecessor, Daniel Andrews.

Mr Carroll pledged to gradually remove the tax on land valued at more than $50,000 that did not house the owner’s primary residence.

Both Labor and the opposition have now pledged to cut land taxes if elected.

The land tax threshold was lowered in 2023 when Mr Andrews was premier to help tackle debt following COVID-19-era spending splurges.

He cut the point at which the tax kicked in from $300,000 to $50,000 in a change slated to last until 2033.

But if Labor wins the November election, the tax-free threshold would be raised by $25,000 a year before returning to the pre-Andrews figure of $300,000 in 2033.

The opposition announced a similar policy in May, but it pledged to raise the threshold by $50,000 a year to reach $300,000 by 2031/32.

The tax changes would apply to more than 250,000 Victorians, potentially saving them up to $975 a year, according to the government.

The levy operates on a sliding scale and is based on a site’s unimproved land value, which excludes the value of buildings.

The budget would take a hit of $230 million over five years, but the impact would be eased by delaying level crossing removals, consolidating the government car fleet and cutting public service executive roles, Labor said.

The coalition released its plan to slash hospital wait times by giving public patients the choice to undergo surgery at a private hospital at no cost.

The policy, dubbed SurgerySooner, is based on a similar program already operating in Queensland and aims to deliver an extra 25,000 surgeries a year.

Industry peak body the Australian Private Hospitals Association, which championed the move, called it a win-win for hospital operators and patients.

But Mr Carroll hit back at increasing private sector involvement in the public healthcare system.

Australia is set to fall further behind on its bid to build 1.2 million new homes in five years.

Less than two years in, the nation is already more than 100,000 homes short of schedule.

The deficit is unlikely to be narrowed when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases June quarter building data on Wednesday.

Seven quarters in, just over 308,000 new homes have been completed, at a rate of about 44,000 every three months.

Assuming a constant rate of progress, completions need to sit at 420,000 to meet the target by the end date of mid-2029 – a run rate of 60,000 per quarter.

Given the industry is already behind schedule, the required run rate is now almost 69,000 per quarter.

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn remains optimistic, given the National Housing Accord has three more years to run but says forecasts by the construction peak body show an Everest to climb.

“We’re going to fall about 260,000 odd homes short if we do not change policy settings,” she told AAP.

Tax changes in the federal budget had made it less attractive for investors in new housing developments and additional funding for enabling infrastructure was taking too long, Ms Wawn said.

“We’re still incredibly concerned about the time it takes for approval processes, which creates a lag and a cost impact.

“The other important factor is ensuring these changes promised around streamlining the National Construction Code occur as quickly as possible.

“The review process has now been going for nearly 12 months.”

Workforce shortages were also constraining the sector’s capacity.

Changes to migration settings to prioritise applicants with building skills were a positive but Ms Wawn called on the government to go further and allow international students to pursue apprenticeships in Australia.

Rising material costs exacerbated by the Middle East conflict and falling property prices were reducing feasibility for developers and challenging the supply picture.

Capital city dwelling prices fell 1.2 per cent in September, data firm Cotality revealed last week.

That extended the decline in the past three months to four per cent – the largest quarterly fall since the series began in 1980 – ANZ economists Sophia Angala and Jasmine Zheng said.

“Recent data suggests the slowdown is becoming increasingly broad-based across the capital cities,” they said. 

“Meanwhile, other indicators also point to softer momentum, as investor housing credit continues to moderate and building approvals recorded its second consecutive monthly decline.”

The softness in the housing market is likely to continue following the Reserve Bank’s fourth rate rise in 2026.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer confidence survey is likely to show a further fall in sentiment on Tuesday, with market pricing implying at least one more rate hike by mid-2027.

In August, the consumer sentiment index climbed six per cent but remained firmly in pessimistic territory at 88.9.

Weaker-than-expected jobs data has meanwhile dampened the expectations of Wall Street investors for a US rate hike. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49 per cent to close Friday at 51,176.96 points, the S&P 500 gained 0.73 per cent, to 7,722.72 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.19 per cent, to 27,190.86.

Australian share futures were up 26 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,816.

The S&P/ASX200 rebounded 67.7 points on Friday, up 0.79 per cent, to 8,682.1, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 60.3 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 8,854.7.

Australians have been told to expect little extra help with soaring living costs as the treasurer signals a tightening of the budget as he tries to rein in persistent inflation.

The mid-year budget update, to be released in December, would include more savings as the government faced billions of dollars in higher debt repayments due to rising borrowing costs, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

While Labor was yet to finalise the fiscal blueprint, he hosed down expectations of cost-of-living help for households. 

“I think people understand that the mid-year update will necessarily be a pretty tight ship and that’s because of pressures on our budget,” Dr Chalmers told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

“One of the primary influences will be the need to find more savings.”

The government has all but ruled out reinstating the fuel excise cut introduced in April to help motorists deal with high prices driven by war in the Middle East.

Tightening of disability and aged care spending were both significant features in the May budget, but Labor has also faced broad criticism for running consistent deficits at a time of high commodity prices and tax receipts.

Australia’s annual headline inflation rate climbed to four per cent on Wednesday as the impact of high oil prices continued to filter through the economy. 

A day earlier, the Reserve Bank hiked interest rates to 4.6 per cent, the fourth rise of the year.

The bank’s former governor Philip Lowe said the government should run large budget surpluses – not deficits – and cut spending to take pressure off inflation.

Australia’s final budget outcome for 2025/26, released on Monday, was a $22.3 billion deficit.

That was about $6 billion better than the figure projected in the May budget, but higher government borrowing costs as global bond yields spike have hit the bottom line.

Dr Chalmers maintained budget settings were not the primary driver of inflation, again pointing to the impacts of the Iran-US war as the primary cause.

“There is very, very substantial and intensifying pressure, not just on our budget, but on budgets right around the world,” he said.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock recently said Australia’s unemployment rate, which was at 4.6 per cent in August, needed to rise to help bring inflation under control.

The nation’s jobless rate is below the OECD average and that of several comparable countries, such as Canada and New Zealand.

But assistant minister Andrew Charlton said touting higher unemployment as a solution was fundamentally against Labor values.

“As a Labor government, it is a big priority for us to make sure that we don’t go into a recession that drives a lot of people into unemployment,” he told News24’s Sunday Agenda. 

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said Labor’s economic management had been a disaster for household budgets.

“This government continues to spend with abandon,” he said.

“They have little concern for the impact that they’re having on the Australian taxpayer.”

Mr Wilson did not disclose how a coalition government would bring the budget back into surplus, saying the opposition would announce clear policies before the next election.

David Shoebridge is willing to admit he is angry.

Since the new Greens leader entered federal parliament four years ago, the cost of living has soared, Australia has been rocked by wars on foreign shores and far-right politics have gained a foothold.

The 55-year-old, who won the progressive party’s first contested leadership ballot on Wednesday, would prefer to be labelled as passionate – but he’s clear he’s got work to do.

High on his shared agenda with deputy Steph Hodgins-May is reforming the tax system.

He’s buoyed by recently released government data that showed more than 1000 companies, including tech giants and mining behemoths, paid no tax in 2025.

“I get told that taking the fight up to the government on taxing corporate wealth is somehow radical,” he told AAP.

“Pointing that out isn’t what makes people angry. What makes people angry is that more than a quarter of the biggest corporations in this country pay not one cent in corporate tax.

“That’s what makes someone who spends 60 hours a week working in a retail job and unable to afford their rent, but who pays their fair share in tax, angry.

“I’m angry on their behalf.”

The former Sydney barrister spent more than a decade in state politics, almost by accident, before taking on a national role.

He said federal governments were able to “spin the wheels” because many of the immediate things people needed – hospitals, roads and schools – are managed primarily at a state level.

“The failure at a national level to be working on practical solutions to make people’s lives better is, for me, a really stark contrast,” he said.

Senator Shoebridge is known as a sharp operator, but he will need to reshape the party’s reputation quickly if he wants to sweep everyday Australians into the movement.

The Greens have been stalled at a 12 per cent vote share since between the last two elections.

He and Senator Hodgins-May have used social media to win over voters and push their anti-AUKUS and pro-gas tax policy campaigns.

Their party is the first preference for about 30 per cent of Gen Zs and is favoured by an even higher percentage of young women.

But the Greens voter base starts to wane past the age of about 45, with many former major-party supporters now favouring One Nation.

Both minor parties have thrived on government complacency, Senator Shoebridge said.

“I haven’t heard people say the problem with politics is that we’re not getting enough happy, smiling faces and incremental change,” he said.

“They want us to take the fight up to a nothing government and press for material change.”

It’s hard to miss nods to the UK Greens party, which in recent times has enjoyed great success under leader Zack Polanski’s mandate to replace, not reform, government.

It’s exactly what Senator Shoebridge wants to do to Labor in Australia.

While the ambition is lofty, it’s not new. Greens founder Bob Brown has been articulating it for decades.

“I’ve always believed it,” Senator Shoebridge said.

“As we look around the world at countries facing very similar challenges like the US and UK, people like Zohran Mamdani in New York and a whole lot of political players that we’ve never before heard about are winning the support of their local community.”

Before he wins Australian hearts, though, he has a more immediate plan.

“I’m going to have congee with the family tonight,” he said.

“That will be good. It’s very soothing.”

The international release of 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease supply worries has been welcomed locally.

However, the Group of Seven (G7) countries’ agreement, along with a pledge not to impose export restrictions, would probably not impact Australia, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

With the United States stepping up pressure on Europe to release strategic reserves and threatening a diesel export ban, G7 leaders held a video conference.

The overnight talks, chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, agreed to a co-ordinated release over four months via the International Energy Agency.

“I do welcome the actions of G7, particularly the confirmation by the United States that they are not intending to put any restrictions on diesel supply,” Mr Bowen told reporters on Saturday.

“Australia hasn’t been getting much diesel or fuel from the United States, about two per cent but … any restrictions on exports are a blow to international fuel movements.”

Mr Bowen said Australia had achieved something similar at home by reducing its minimum stock obligation requirements by 20 per cent.

The arrangement, which will remain in place until January, means Australia’s fuel suppliers have the flexibility they need to meet domestic needs.

Asked whether the G7 release would help ease Australian bowser prices at all, Mr Bowen said the more fuel allowed to flow, the better it was for everyone but he declined to quantify the possibility.

While the international situation remained volatile, he said Australia’s supply was secure.

The nation has 41 days’ worth of petrol on hand – a day less than last week.

There are 32 days of diesel in reserve and 28 days of jet fuel.

Fifty ships carrying supplies are on their way to Australian ports – five more than a week ago – and 3.6 billion litres of fuel are contracted to be delivered in the next four weeks.

According to Petrol Pulse, the national capital city average price for unleaded 91 as of early October was $2.38 per litre, while diesel averaged $2.85 per litre.

Higher prices and lower economic growth lie in store as farmers prepare for drier conditions from a strengthening El Nino.

Australia’s economy could suffer a hit of about $13.4 billion over the next two years – leaving gross domestic product about 0.45 percentage points lower than it otherwise would be – according to Commonwealth Bank analysis.

Alongside forecasts for elevated oil and fertiliser prices, rising interest rates and worker shortages, it’s another setback to the agricultural sector.

East coast farmers had so far been spared the worst impacts of the strengthening El Nino, CBA agricultural economist Dennis Voznesenski said.

The crucial winter cropping period started before the climate phenomenon set in, meaning most regions have not been exposed to particularly dry conditions, with the exception of northern NSW and Queensland.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences forecasts farmers would reap a 61 million tonne crop this harvest, which would place 2026 as the fourth-best season on record, Mr Voznesenski said.

But if the El Nino strengthened over the coming summer and into spring, as the Bureau of Meteorology had forecast, and moisture reserves dry up, the impact on the 2027 crop could be far more severe, he said.

Farmers were reducing their planting area and changing their cropping mix to less water-intensive grains such as wheat and barley, in place of more lucrative crops such as canola and chickpeas, Rabobank senior grains analyst Vitor Pistoia said.

“That limits their upside (income) potential because … in a blue-sky scenario, usually chickpeas and canola deliver better financial results than wheat and barley,” he told AAP.

“And by consequence, they are more reliant on the wheat market instead of having more diversified income streams.”

It’s the same for beef and sheep farmers, who increase their exposure to wheat as they thin their herds.

Drier conditions lead to more livestock sent to slaughter, pushing down livestock prices.

But for consumers, meat prices – particularly beef – were likely to remain elevated because of record export demand from the US, Mr Voznesenski said.

Like many pastoralists across Australia, National Farmers Federation president Hamish McIntyre has been selling off older animals on his southwest Queensland-based operation and building up stores of livestock feed in preparation.

As irrigation costs rose in drier times, production of water-intensive fruits and cotton crops also fell, alongside meat and grains, he said.

“Which drives up the costs in our metropolitan areas, which is inflationary, which is a worry,” Mr McIntyre said.

Using the 2002/03 Millennial drought as a guide, Mr Voznesenski and CBA colleague Harry Ottley estimated a similar production shortfall in 2026/27 would add 0.25 percentage points to inflation.

Reserve Bank of Australia chief economist Sarah Hunter has previously voiced concerns El Nino could further hamper the central bank’s mission to get inflation – which was four per cent in August – back to 2.5 per cent.

If the recent outbreak of H5 bird flu spread to commercial producers, egg prices could jump 60 per cent and poultry by 20 per cent, adding another 0.12 percentage points to inflation in the first year, they predicted.

But that was only in the case of a severe scenario, and the base case forecast for both El Nino and bird flu were more modest.

After two solid seasons, most east coast farmers had built up buffers to protect from a bad harvest, Mr Pistoia said.

And improvements in technology and agricultural science meant the sector was better prepared than previous El Ninos, such as the Millennial drought, Mr McIntyre said.

“As Australian farmers, we’re always hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst,” Mr McIntyre said.

One of the largest Dutch eyewear retail chains has suspended sales of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in ‌the Netherlands and Belgium amid growing privacy concerns, in one of the first such moves by a ‌retailer.

“This decision follows the ongoing public and political debate surrounding smart glasses and the questions ‌being raised about the conditions under which this technology can be used,” a spokesperson for the Hans Anders chain said on Friday.

A growing Dutch outcry over the glasses mirrors a broader backlash against smart glasses equipped with cameras.

In Britain, pub chain Wetherspoons has restricted use of Meta’s ‌glasses over concerns ‌about covert ⁠recording, while Meta and Luxottica face a US suit alleging ​videos captured by the glasses were viewed by human annotators without the knowledge of people filmed.

A Meta spokesperson said the company is continuing to develop the popular glasses. 

“Every pair with a camera has a bright light on the front that blinks when you take a photo or video – ⁠it can’t be turned off, and the ‌camera ​is disabled if someone covers or tampers with it,” they said.

In the Netherlands, privacy regulator ​AP last month ‌warned that videos made with smart glasses showing identifiable people cannot generally be shared ​or published without their permission, which would be difficult to obtain in a public place.

Consumer rights group Consumentenbond this week said it would take Meta to court unless ​the ​company changes the glasses to comply ​with privacy law.

Global shares have risen as wild volatility in bond and currency markets eased ahead of key US ‌jobs data that could shape expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.

In Europe, longer-dated sovereign bond prices rose on Friday, although those in more indebted countries, such as France and Italy, lagged ‌the gains in Germany, reflecting growing investor demand for protection against rising fiscal risks.

The German 10-year yield, the euro zone benchmark, was down 6.5 basis points on Friday as investors preferred the relative safety ‌of German bonds compared with their euro zone counterparts. 

In France, the 10-year yield was down 4 bps at 4.892 per cent, pushing the gap between the German and French 10-year yields as wide as 149 bps, the widest level since the euro zone debt crisis in 2012.

“I wouldn’t call it a crisis yet, but it looks like it has the potential to be one,” said George Lagarias, chief economist at Forvis Mazars.

“If it goes on for a couple more weeks then we’ll be talking about a crisis in the bond market.”

Global bond markets ‌have been under a ‌relentless sell-off in recent weeks ⁠as the US-Israeli war with Iran pushed up energy prices again, complicating the inflation outlook and further straining already stretched public ​finances.

Japan’s long-term bond yields hit multi-decade highs on Friday, while the US benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to its highest level in 24 years on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s labour market report.

Forecasts are centred on a gain of 90,000 non-farm payrolls in September, while the unemployment rate is expected to be steady at 4.1 per cent.

A hot print could revive bets on a second rate rise from the Federal Reserve in October, priced at just 25 per cent after two top policymakers said this week they wanted more data before deciding what to do next with interest rates. 

A move in December is still ⁠fully priced in.

European shares rose in early trade, with the pan-regional STOXX 600 index up 0.8 per cent, although it is still heading for a weekly drop ​of about one per cent. 

Nasdaq futures were up 0.7 per cent and S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 per cent.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed and was on track for a weekly decline of 1.2 per cent. 

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.9 per cent but gained almost three per cent for the week.

Mainland Chinese markets are closed through next Wednesday for a public holiday. 

​Hong ​Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 2.7 per cent on Friday after returning from a holiday.

The rout in European bonds may have also helped drive safe-haven flows back to US ‌Treasuries, the dollar and the Swiss franc.

The euro was nursing losses at $US1.1257, having weakened 0.8 per cent on Thursday to hit the lowest level since May 2025.

The US dollar index, which gauges the currency against six peers including the euro and franc, was at 101.89, slightly softer on the day, having rallied 0.6 per cent the day before to hit the highest level since April 2025. 

It is set for a third straight week of gains, up 0.9 per cent.

The yen firmed 0.3 per cent to 157.61 per dollar after data showed underlying inflation in Japan’s capital accelerated to an annual rate of 2.7 per cent in September, ​bolstering the case for further interest rate hikes.

Oil prices fell on Friday as the market refocused on signs of recovering supplies from the Middle East and as EU countries discussed a ​proposal to release additional diesel stockpiles.

US West Texas ⁠Intermediate crude futures slipped 3.4 per cent to $US89.69 a barrel. 

Brent crude futures were down 2.3 per cent to about $US100 a barrel.

Australian shares have scraped through to end a four-week losing streak, but investor confidence remains shaky due to inflation, interest rates and a challenging earnings environment.

The S&P/ASX200 rebounded by 67.7 points on Friday, up 0.79 per cent, to 8,682.1, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 60.3 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 8,854.7.

The final session took the leading index 0.2 per cent higher for the week, swinging high and low as traders digested a cash rate hike to 4.6 per cent, better-than-feared inflation numbers and a raft of unresolved market risks.

“The market has caught a gust of wind, but it’s too early to say the sails have changed direction,” Global X senior ETF strategist Marc Jocum said.

“It may get worse before it gets better.”

Nine of 11 local sectors ended the day higher, led by IT stocks and energy, while real estate and health care lost ground.

The top-200 remains under pressure, shrinking 6.7 per cent since early August’s all-time high after housing market fears sparked a banking sell off.

Miners followed in September as oil prices continued to soar as hopes for a timely end to the US-Iran war faded while the conflict broadened to new fronts.

The financials and raw materials sectors, which together account for almost three-fifths of the Australian stock market’s value, are both in technical corrections — down more than 10 per cent from recent highs.

High interest rates will continue to cap the outlook for earnings and household spending, despite market bets on a back-to-back November rate hike easing during the week after dovish comments from Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

However, some analysts were careful about taking forward guidance at face value.

“The RBA’s communications over the past couple of years, and indeed during the pandemic hiking cycle, was always guiding the latest interest rate hike as being the last interest rate hike in the cycle, even though it never was,” Moomoo market strategist Tapas Strickland told AAP.

Pressure on the banking sector was likely to continue, while segments carrying heavy debt loads such as infrastructure, real estate trusts and private credit also faced a tough third quarter.

“I think the Australian share market is going to struggle, especially for the next three months,” Mr Strickland said.

“Those big global headwinds of oil and of high global yields, but also the domestic inflation backdrop as well.”

The Australian dollar is buying 69.37 US cents, down from 69.53 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

ON THE ASX:

* The S&P/ASX200 rose 67.7 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 8,682.1.

* The broader All Ordinaries gained 60.3 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 8,854.7.

One Australian dollar trades for:

* 69.37 US cents, from 69.53 US cents at 5pm AEST on Thursday

* 109.48 Japanese yen, from 109.95 Japanese yen

* 61.61 euro cents, from 61.43 euro cents

* 52.50 British pence, from 52.43 pence

* 123.60 NZ cents, from 123.69 NZ cents

A hacker moved undetected through Medibank’s network for weeks despite multiple warning flags being raised, a court has been told.

The health insurer is facing both a class action by impacted customers and civil penalties brought by the privacy watchdog over the 2022 hack.

After Medibank declined to pay a ransom, personal data was leaked on the dark web under malicious file names including boozy, STD and psycho.

Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach heard evidence on Friday to help decide whether the cases will be held jointly or as separate trials.

A lawyer for the class action argued it was in the interests of justice to hear the cases together.

“The technical issues here overlap and intersect at multiple stages … in terms of the architecture of Medibank’s cybersecurity systems (and) the control deficiencies in them,” Wendy Harris KC said.

Outside access was originally gained to Medibank’s network in August 2022, via the personal computer of a third-party contractor.

“What follows is not simply someone entering a network and downloading a database – it’s a progression through the network over a period of weeks,” Ms Harris told the court.

Throughout the breach, several alerts were raised which were not dealt with by Medibank, she said.

“Medibank’s systems, as deficient as they were, were throwing up the canary warnings, but those were effectively ignored,” she said.

“Some weren’t even triaged. Others were reviewed and just closed as false positives or benign activity.”

Once within the system, the hacker gained increasingly higher-level access and moved laterally through Medibank’s network, ultimately extracting 529 gigabytes of customer data.

Data was released under file names including a good list and naughty list, as well as abortions, boozy, psycho, HIV, STD and hepatitis.

“The nature of those publications gives some indication why this proceeding matters to the people whose information Medibank held,” Ms Harris said.

The class action alleges four core failures by Medibank to protect its customers’ data, any of which it says could have prevented the breach had they been in place at the time.

The four failures regarded not having multi-factor authentication in place, as well as failures to document changes to IT assets and lapses in security testing and monitoring.

In response, Neil Young KC called the class action a “total mess”, saying it went well beyond the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s case in its allegations of cybersecurity failures.

“Their case has dramatically altered in the last four weeks,” said Mr Young, who is representing Medibank in both matters.

“There are many new allegations of breach.

“In order for us to address those new allegations, that’s going to require time.”

Justice Beach adjourned the matter until October 16, in part to allow the class action party to consolidate its statement of claim.