Australia news LIVE: Biden welcomes PM to White House for state visit; Australian households taking on more financial risk

American spacecraft will be launched from Australian bases under an agreement that will allow the United States government to share technical secrets that underpin the country’s space industry.

While NASA has launched rockets from the Northern Territory in the past, the agreement has been a key barrier to more launches in what could be a substantial industry for Australia, although it could require both governments to pass laws to put the deal into effect.

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed on the plan in their talks at the White House. The “technical safeguards agreement” is expected to be signed before Albanese flies home in the next 24 hours.

While the leaders did not talk about the outcome in their press conference, a formal statement says the agreement will create the framework for US commercial space launch vehicles to use Australian sites in a way that protects sensitive US technology and data.

NASA launched a trio of rockets from the Northern Territory last year, in a first for Australia this century, but the future of the space industry in Australia remains a controversial subject because the government axed funding for spaceports in the May budget.

Another contentious aspect of the space deal is a concern in the US about China’s plans to put more spacecraft into orbit and questions about whether they will have a military function.

“We don’t believe that the space domain should be militarised,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Australian reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.

“And we obviously are concerned about some Chinese activities in space. We believe that there needs to be rules of the road and international standards for how we all access space for our own interests and larger economic good.” Kirby, a retired admiral in the US Navy, is a key adviser to Biden.

Michele Bullock is facing her first grilling as Reserve Bank Governor before senate estimates this morning, where she was asked for her thoughts on yesterday’s inflation figures.

The Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index data yesterday showed both underlying and headline inflation rose by 1.2 per cent over the September quarter, and Bullock said that was “a little higher” than the central bank had been forecasting, but it was not a surprise.

“It was pretty much where we thought it’d come out, given the information [we’ve received] since then, particularly the monthly CPI indicator, so we thought it was going to be about where it came out,” she said.

“[There were] no surprises in the sense that some of the things that were important [in the inflation figures] were fuel prices. We all know that fuel prices have been rising.
So it wasn’t a surprise.”

Bullock said what the bank was observing which the latest inflation data reinforced was that services inflation was remaining fairly consistent, and generally prices for consumer products were coming down.

The next RBA board meeting is in less than a fortnight, and experts are split over whether the board will decide to lift rates or hold them off the back of the stronger than expected inflation data.

Bullock said the board will take this information away, and will consider it alongside updated forecasts from the bank’s own experts

A CFMEU rally protesting the use of silica-based engineered stone descended on NSW Parliament House.

Hundreds of tradies, draped in flags and clad in high-vis, chanted “killer stone” as they blocked off Macquarie Street in central Sydney this morning.

With the nation’s workplace safety ministers meeting tomorrow to determine whether silica-based engineered stone should be banned, union leaders have said a failure to do so will leave blood on politicians’ hands.

Controversial CFMEU leader John Setka addressed the crowd, and called for the immediate ban of silica engineered stone.

“We will keep going until this death stone is banned. Politicians, if they fail to ban this, they will have blood on their hands,” he said.

The protest comes after NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey compared the advertising push for engineered stone to the tactics used by manufacturer James Hardie before the nationwide prohibition of asbestos 20 years ago.

“Can I say in my own personal capacity that having seen that ad yesterday, I thought it was a disgrace, and an attempt at misinformation and misdirection worthy of James Hardie and the worst of their tactics as they fought to stop the regulation of asbestos,” Mookhey said yesterday.

Major engineered stone supplier Caesarstone took out newspaper ads last week warning that a blanket ban on the product, linked to the deadly disease silicosis, could harm at-risk tradies and scare households.

The US ambassador to Australia says there is bipartisan support for the AUKUS legislation in Congress.

Caroline Kennedy told ABC TV this morning that she was talking to people about the submarine pact, and answering any questions she could about it.

“There’s strong bipartisan support in Congress for this legislation, for the AUKUS arrangement,” she said.

“This is something that people have been working on hard and for a long time. Certainly the administration just put forward a substantial amount of money to invest in our industrial base.”

She said she believed Congress would act, and support the bill.

“There’s a lot of confidence that they will.”

Turning to US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, who said one of the themes from the prime minister’s visit to Washington was “shared innovation”.

“One of the big themes of this entire visit is really the shared innovation of the United States and Australia,” she said on ABC News Breakfast.

Kennedy said it was shown with the announcement of Australia’s online spy agency joining with Microsoft to build a “cyber shield” to protect networks from security threats as part of a $5 billion investment.

She said there was an announcement about a subsea cable, to provide digital connectivity to many of the Pacific island nations.

“It will allow them to have the same kind of communications and speed and ease that we all have in larger countries.”

A big name in the American media will be a guest at the state dinner for Anthony Albanese at the White House, but it is not Rupert Murdoch or any of his family members.

Hollywood film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who ran Walt Disney for a decade before setting up the Dreamworks film animation studio, is on the guest list released by President Joe Biden’s staff ahead of the dinner.

Also on the list is Amanda Lacaze, the chief of mining company Lynas, a producer of rare earths – a key topic for Albanese and Biden in their talks.

Another guest is Shemara Wikramanayake, the managing director and chief executive of Macquarie Group, who was also a guest at the state dinner former president Donald Trump held for former prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2019.

While the B52s are not performing, their singers Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson are attending as guests. Another guest, from a very different musical background, is Itzhak Perlman, the Israeli-American violinist.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier announced that Australia would provide an extra $15 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza.

He announced the extra support for civilians in a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden.

“This adds to the $10 million Australia has already committed and will help deliver life-saving assistance, such as emergency water and medical services,” Albanese told reporters in Washington.

He said Australia “unequivocally condemns the terrorism of Hamas” and grieved for the loss of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives in the region.

“In times of crisis, respect for international humanitarian law is paramount – it is a recognition of our common humanity.”

The two leaders reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution to the 75-year-long dispute and a “path toward peace”.

Staying with the resources minister, who also spoke about the extra $2 billion to expand the production of critical minerals needed for renewable energy and high-tech devices.

Madeleine King told ABC radio this morning that the government would “absolutely” invest in processing those minerals.

“Basically, we need to get the industry going and all parts of it, whether it be mining and extraction through to concentration processes and then further processing going,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is visiting Washington, announced the plan ahead of talks with US President Joe Biden and a state dinner at the White House.