As it happened: Optus outage affects millions of customers; RBA lifts interest rates to 4.35 per cent

The bank also increased its Westpac Life total variable rate with bonus interest by 0.25 per cent a year to 5 per cent, and its eSaver total variable rate for the first five months by the same amount to 5 per cent, for new customers applying online, both effective November 17.

Westpac consumer chief executive Jason Yetton said while customers were cutting back in response to rising expenses, the bank’s overall hardship numbers remained low with more than seventy per cent of customers ahead on their mortgage repayments.

“Customers are proactively contacting us to discuss their options and we would encourage others feeling financial pressure to contact us sooner rather than later to speak to our team about what support is available,” he said.

The interest rate changes from the banks come after the Reserve Bank on Tuesday lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.35 per cent.

ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail, Maile Carnegie, said over the past 18 months, the bank had been proactively reaching out to thousands of home loan customers each month to check in with them about their circumstances and loan arrangements.

In another post, Albanese alluded to past difficulties in Australia’s diplomatic relations with Pacific Islands nations, saying they are “working hard to rebuild” the relationships.

In recent years, the Pacific Islands Forum has been hampered by threatened walkouts and no-shows which jeopardise the blue continent’s biggest strength: unity.

Showing the heightened US interest in the region, the Biden administration is sending cabinet official Linda Thomas-Greenfield, its Ambassador to the United Nations, which has ramped up engagement from his predecessor Donald Trump.

Increased US interest comes at a time when China’s engagement is also deepening in the region; most notably through security ties with the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will be a noticeable absentee in the Cook Islands, with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Zealand leaders also not attending for differing reasons.

AAP with Josefine Ganko

“We’ve been focused on restoring the services,” Bayer Rosmarin insisted.

“I wish that we could have reached all our customers, but obviously in an outage that is extremely difficult for us to do it.”

Bayer Rosmarin refused to be drawn on whether the latest crisis would force her to resign.

“I am only focused on restoring services for customers, and my whole team is focused on that now,” she said when asked if she would step down.

This year has been so exceptionally hot in part because oceans have been warming, which means they are doing less to counteract global warming than in the past.

Historically, the ocean has absorbed as much as 90% of the excess heat from climate change, Burgess said. And in the midst of an El Nino, a natural climate cycle that temporarily warms parts of the ocean and drives weather changes around the world, more warming can be expected in the coming months, she added.

AP