Australia news LIVE: Skyrocketing premiums push government to broaden insurance probe; Debate over housing bill continues

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Key posts

  • Soaring insurance premiums, claim delays under microscope
  • Record numbers take on second job as inflation nears 10 per cent for many
  • Ukrainians forced to become Russian citizens, US research finds
  • This morning’s headlines at a glance

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Soaring insurance premiums, claim delays under microscope

Skyrocketing insurance premiums and lengthy delays in processing claims have forced the federal government to broaden its inquiry into the sector over fears cash-strapped households could drop their coverage altogether.

Insurance complaints have surged by as much as 76 per cent over the past year as premiums have jumped more than 20 per cent for car, house or contents insurance.

Insurance prices jumped 14.2 per cent in the year to June, up from 8.8 per cent in the year to May.Credit: Nick Moir

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones is worried the increase in premiums, combined with a rise in complaints, will result in people opting out of insurance.

“We’ve got a huge amount of pressures building up in what is a grudge purchase for many people, but an essential thing they’ve got to have, so I’m concerned about where it goes,” he said.

“There’s a perfect storm of things brewing here.”

More on the probe into insurance here. 

Record numbers take on second job as inflation nears 10 per cent for many

Record numbers of Australians are taking on multiple jobs to survive the cost-of-living crunch, with new figures revealing the Reserve Bank’s interest rate rises have lifted inflation for working families to almost 10 per cent.

The number of Australians holding down more than one job has reached 950,000 – an increase of 89,000 people over the past 12 months – with large jumps in the hospitality, community, education and administration sectors.

Natasha Piccolo is one of almost 950,000 Australians working multiple jobs to try to make ends meet.Credit: Kate Geraghty

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one-in-six multiple job holders or more than 155,000 are working in the health and social assistance area, with the total number of people almost doubling since 2011.

Read more here about the growing number of Australians getting second jobs.

Ukrainians forced to become Russian citizens, US research finds

And in overseas news, Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territory are being forced to assume Russian citizenship or face harsh retaliation, including possible deportation or detention.

That is according to Yale University researchers who said that as part of a plan by Moscow to assert authority over Ukrainians, residents of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are being targeted by a systematic effort to strip them of Ukrainian identity.

A series of decrees signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin compel Ukrainians to get Russian passports, in violation of international humanitarian law, the report said.

People take part in a ceremony for Ukrainian prisoners of war who defended the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol and were killed in a prison in Olenivka, outside Donetsk, one year ago, Ukraine.Credit: Reuters

The Kremlin has consistently denied allegations of war crimes in Ukraine by forces taking part in a “special military operation” it says was launched to “de-Nazify” its neighbour and protect Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in May that Moscow has given passports to almost 1.5 million people living in the annexed parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions since last October.

Ukrainians in occupied territory who do not seek Russian citizenship “are subjected to threats, intimidation, restrictions on humanitarian aid and basic necessities, and possible detention or deportation – all designed to force them to become Russian citizens,” the report said.

“What is concerning here is that it represents, basically, a violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions,” said Executive Director Nathaniel Raymond of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health.

“It is very widespread and very ongoing.”

Ukrainians in areas under Russian control have no choice but to accept a Russian passport if they want to survive, or they face potential detention and, as the team has documented, deportation into Russia if they fail to comply,” Raymond said.

The report was released as part of the Conflict Observatory program, with the support of the U.S. State Department and conducted by research partner the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab.

Reuters

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning, and thanks for your company.

It’s Thursday, August 3. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

  • The federal government will broaden its inquiry into the insurance sector over fears cash-strapped households could drop their coverage altogether.
  • The federal spending watchdog opened an investigation into the government’s mobile black spot program, which the Coalition claims targeted Labor electorates.
  • Muslim groups, religious leaders and experts voiced alarm at the push to ban a flag associated with Islamic State, saying it risks criminalising legitimate displays of Islamic imagery.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in question time. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

  • An Australian consulting firm has secretly claimed having unfettered access to high-ranking defence and national security agencies gave it privileged insights.
  • Record numbers of Australians are taking on multiple jobs to survive the cost-of-living crunch.
  • In state news, NSW Premier Chris Minns is facing calls to explain why the City of Sydney council will be exempt from his government’s development reforms.
  • Meanwhile, Victorian preschoolers from some of state’s most disadvantaged postcodes may miss out on new state-owned affordable childcare centres.
  • And overseas, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie will separate after “many meaningful and difficult conversations”.

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