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Meanwhile, oil prices rose 3 per cent as Donald Trump considered a US attack on Iran "within the next two weeks".
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ABC News
9 minutes ago
- ABC News
Queensland police officers involved in weekend fatal shooting weren't equipped with latest taser model
Police officers involved in a fatal shooting in Townsville were not equipped with the latest model of taser, the Queensland premier has confirmed. Police were called to a North Ward street on Saturday morning to reports a man was armed with a machete and a knife. It's alleged the man advanced towards officers while armed. After what the union has described as a "failed taser deployment", three officers fired multiple shots into the man's chest and legs. Authorities said he was provided immediate medical assistance but died at the scene. More than $47 million in funding was allocated in the state government's most recent budget for the purchase of 6,500 new taser models, known as Taser 10s. But Premier David Crisafulli said the officers in Townsville did not yet have the new equipment. "The first thing we did in our first budget was to fund the rollout of the Taser 10s that police have been crying (out) for, for a few years," Mr Crisafulli said. "It gives the officers the protection they need, but it also helps save the life of individuals as well, it works both ways. The former Labor government committed funding for 1,000 of the updated tasers last year after a trial in 2023. The Queensland Police Service (QPS) did not give an update on the progress of the rollout when contacted for comment. Instead, a police spokesperson said officers were trained to use "ongoing threat assessment and communication strategies aimed at reducing the risk of harm to the community". "Officer and community safety is paramount when police are responding to dangerous situations, with officers trained to conduct threat assessments to use the minimum force necessary to resolve an incident, with the focus on de-escalation of the situation," they said. Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior said he understood the new tasers would be available across the state from 2026, and would be safer for officers. "We're going to have the ability to stand at greater lengths, we're going to have more shots and better accuracy,' Mr Prior said. "The Queensland Police Union advocated and has continued to advocate heavily for the complete rollout of Taser 10s, that's why at the last election we lobbied both Liberal and Labor party to commit to a full rollout." 'We are very appreciative of that ... but we have to acknowledge that the delay has and may very well cost lives in Queensland.' Mr Prior said a taser was an essential piece of equipment for officers and he was looking forward to every single officer being equipped with one. He said it was particularly important given the "increasing violence" police officers were facing on the frontline. 'Never has it been as dangerous as it is right now for police in Queensland," Mr Prior said. QPS said the shooting would be investigated by the Ethical Standards Command, with oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission. That would include examination of the officers' body-cam footage as well as CCTV.
ABC News
9 minutes ago
- ABC News
Interstate investors swarm NT homes, shutting out local buyers and raising rent prices
Interstate investors are targeting properties across the Northern Territory and buying them up hours before they hit the market, as Darwin's rental market firms as the tightest in the country. Local doctor Nicolas Darmanthe moved to Darwin at the beginning of the year with his partner, and thinking they would be able to afford to rent a "fairly nice" three-bedroom home. But, after a few months of looking in a city where the vacancy rate is just 0.3 per cent, they realised that wouldn't be the case. "Even though Darwin is very far away and [like] a small country town, it turns out the rentals are just as expensive — if not more expensive — than down south in Canberra and Sydney," he said. Over the past year, interstate investors have increasingly turned their focus to the NT, where houses and units remain among the most affordable to buy in the country and rental yields are among the highest. Real estate agents have told the ABC they can sell homes to interstate investors "within hours", often before they are publicly advertised, with some saying the fierce competition to sell properties fast has left them no choice but to play along. Nick Mousellis, an independent real estate agent in Darwin, first started getting calls from interstate investors about a year ago and now fields numerous requests a week. "Almost every two to three days, we have an inquiry or an e-mail from a buyer agent," he said. Over the past year he's seen an increase between 3 and 10 per cent in Darwin property prices, and soaring competition for local homes. Mr Mousellis said interstate investors were targeting homes priced between $500,000 and $650,000, spending a small amount on renovations, and then leasing them at a higher price. Nicola Powell, chief of research and economics at Domain, said the sudden flood of interstate buyers had positioned the NT as an investment hotspot — second only to New South Wales. "[Rental] house yields are sitting at around 6 per cent, and [rental] unit yields are anywhere between 7 and 8 per cent," she said. "Compare that to a market like Sydney — where rental yields are sitting at 3 per cent — you can understand why investors are looking towards those cash positive locations like Darwin." Darwin's 0.3 per cent vacancy rate compares with a national rate of between 2 and 3 per cent, according to Domain's June Quarter Rent Report. Unit rents are at record highs across all capital cities including Darwin and, while house rents remain at record highs in all capitals, prices in Darwin dropped $20 in June. Dr Powell said interstate investors had the ability to revitalise stagnant markets but, in this case, they were likely "nudging first home buyers" out of the market and making it harder for people to secure an affordable rental. "We do have a rental crisis," she said. "When you've got a vacancy rate that is very tight at 0.3 per cent … it means it is very competitive for tenants — to have a balanced rental market, you need that vacancy rate to be between 2 and 3 per cent. "You tend to find that investors and first-time buyers go for similar priced properties. Ruth Palmer has been the executive director of the Property Council of Australia's NT division for over a decade and said she hadn't seen a "shift" quite like this before. She said Alice Springs had seen a "significant jump" in median house prices and improvement in the volume of sales. Ms Palmer said, with both sales and building approvals up, many NT real estate agents now had "a bunch of investors on their books who are chasing properties". "Sometimes the properties don't even get to market before they're snapped up by an investor, and this can occur within about 24 to 48 hours," she said. "What this can do is put a bit of an imbalance into the market, so while our volume sales are up and while we're seeing a lot of transaction, it doesn't exactly mean that it's growing the population. Ms Palmer said, as the NT continued to face high construction costs and a shortage of tradies, more needed to be done to "stimulate new builds". "Without more supply, affordability will remain a challenge," she said. In the March 2025 quarter, building approvals rose over 50 per cent compared with the previous quarter, according to the Property Council's latest report.
Perth Now
9 minutes ago
- Perth Now
S&P, Nasdaq end subdued after Trump tariff rumbling
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended little changed on Friday, overcoming a brief dip triggered by a Financial Times report indicating US President Donald Trump was pushing for steep new tariffs on European Union products. The FT report, which said the Trump administration was eyeing a minimum tariff of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent in any deal with the European bloc, sent markets lower before they partly recovered. The S&P 500 lost 0.57 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,296.79, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 10.01 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 20,895.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142.30 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 44,342.19. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have been pushed to repeated record highs in recent weeks, as investors showed increased ambivalence to Trump's tariff threats, and confidence these policies may not damage the US economy as severely as once feared. Still, this week was seen as a proving ground for how Trump's economic policies are filtering into the wider economy. "People are a little tired of trying to trade tariff headlines or deadlines, and people are more concerned with seeing the proof of this come to fruition through numbers," said Greg Boutle, head of US equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas. A raft of economic data offered mixed signals, including robust retail sales, a rise in consumer inflation, and flat producer prices for June. The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index increased this month, although consumers were still worried about future price pressures. Earnings season kicked off this week, giving an opportunity to US corporations to showcase how tariffs were, or were not, affecting their businesses. Industrial giant 3M fell 3.7 per cent after the company said the impact of tariffs will mostly be felt in the second half of the year. Of the 59 S&P 500 companies to first report second-quarter earnings this season, 81.4 per cent have topped Wall Street's earnings expectations, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data. Charles Schwab was among the latest on Friday, advancing 2.9 per cent after posting higher profits. Regions Financial jumped 6.1 per cent after raising its forecasts for 2025 interest income. The week has shown, though, that beating estimates is not a recipe for trading higher. American Express outpaced second-quarter profit estimates, but its shares dropped 2.3 per cent. Netflix fell 5.1 per cent despite the success of Squid Game helping the company surpass earnings forecasts. The streaming company also lifted its annual revenue outlook. BNP's Boutle said while not all individual stocks popped from earnings, the broader market has continued to grind higher. More meaningful market gains could come, he added, should some major companies deliver blowout numbers. Cryptocurrency stocks rose after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Robinhood Markets and Coinbase Global were up 4.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. Of the S&P sectors in positive territory, utilities was the biggest gainer. Its 1.7 per cent advance pushed the index to a record close. Energy led those in the red, falling 1.0 per cent. It was weighed down by SLB, which dropped 3.9 per cent after reporting lower quarterly profit and a downbeat outlook, and Exxon Mobil , which slumped 3.5 per cent after losing a landmark legal battle over Chevron's acquisition of Hess. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.59 per cent, the Nasdaq rose 1.5 per cent, and the Dow slipped 0.07 per cent.
