As it happened: Senate crossbench backs Labor’s climate change bill; treasurer warns budget relief could worsen interest rates

Taipei: A Chinese man and woman have been accused of plotting to form a micro-state in the Marshall Islands amid Beijing’s push to expand its influence in the region.

Cary Yan, 50, and Gina Zhou, 34, are said to have attempted to establish a semi-autonomous region similar to Hong Kong, in the Rongelap atoll.

They are accused by the US Justice Department of bribing officials and enticing investors to the islands which were seized from Japan by America during World War II.

Although the country gained independence in 1986 Washington maintains “full authority and responsibility” for the defence of the pro-Taiwan islands.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says he will accept Australia’s offer to fund his national elections as the country’s parliament voted to delay the timing of the next poll.

The Solomon Islands parliament on Thursday passed legislation delaying the next general election despite the objections of opposition party members who have accused Sogavare of a “power grab”.

Sogavare said he wanted the legislation to be passed on Thursday because of the risk of protests. The bill seeks to change the constitution to allow the election to be delayed from 2023 until 2024.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been accused of a possible breach of the ministerial code of conduct by the federal opposition for investing in an equities fund that is the largest shareholder in a firm that funds litigation and legal class actions in Australia.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attempted to suspend standing orders in parliament, claiming at least three ministers – Dreyfus, Kristy McBain and Ged Kearney – had now breached the ministerial code of conduct with their shareholdings, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s promise to clean up politics.

As first law officer of the Commonwealth, Dreyfus has responsibility for the courts and law reform. The register of members’ interests reveals his self-managed super fund holds shares in Greencape Wholesale Broadcap fund, which invests in a range of companies listed on the Australian share market. Greencape is, in turn, the largest shareholder in Omni Bridgeway with just over 9 per cent of shares – or about $100 million worth – and Omni Bridgeway bills itself as the “global leader in litigation financing” and is a large litigation funder in Australia.

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day and how the experts saw it.

The numbers: The Australian sharemarket gained ground on Thursday buoyed by a strong lead from Wall Street and signs interest rate rises could ease in coming months.

After a strong morning session, the ASX jumped around a percentage point on Thursday afternoon when Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe signalled interest rate rises would be smaller in coming months, closing 1.77 per cent, or 119.7 points, higher at 6848.7.

IT stocks led the gains, up 3.19 per cent, with all sectors closing higher except energy, which fell as much as 4 per cent in morning trade after Brent and US crude oil prices slumped overnight.

A long-running industrial dispute between the NSW government and unions has cost the state 44,000 hours of lost working time since early last year, according to documents filed to the industrial umpire by rail operators.

The state also estimates Sydney Trains has spent about $479,000 on venue hire for negotiations, and a further $32,000 to accommodate union delegates released from their day-to-day jobs to bargain, before the government called a sudden halt to talks last week.

While rail unions claim the government has failed to bargain in good faith, the documents filed by Sydney Trains and NSW Trains ahead of a Fair Work hearing on Friday reject the assertions.

The unions launched legal action in the Fair Work Commission late last week in a bid to force the government back to the bargaining table after Premier Dominic Perrottet threatened to terminate an existing enterprise agreement if rail workers did not vote for a new pay deal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s election promise to put a nurse in every aged care home around the clock is on shaky ground as senior bureaucrats reveal that there are no penalties for providers who fail to comply and the nurses’ union warns the promise is meaningless without enforcement.

Legislation to make it mandatory for all residential aged care homes to have a registered nurse “on site and on duty at all times” from July is being debated in the House of Representatives this week, but Australian Nursing and Midwifery Association President Annie Butler said it would be “completely unacceptable” if providers faced no penalties for failing to hire nurses.

“How meaningless is it going to be if you just unendingly don’t have to adhere to it?” she said.

Health department assistant secretary Melanie Metz told a recent Senate committee inquiry into the bill there were “no particular penalties attached to the requirements” to have a registered nurse on site 24/7 and experts say the requirement will not fix the aged care sector.

Australia Post boss Paul Graham says consumers should start planning their online Christmas shopping “now”, as the mail carrier gears up for a surge in parcels against a backdrop of supply chain uncertainties and labour shortages.

After speaking at an Australian British Chamber of Commerce event in Melbourne on Thursday, Graham said that shoppers should start ordering gifts early to ensure smooth delivery.

He said while Post was ready for the festive season, there was no certainty on how difficult conditions could get over the next few months because of rising interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty and supply chain challenges.

“I think the merchants are in much better shape than they have been the past couple of years. But if we get a similar sales surge [as] we have got the past couple of years, there will be some challenges,” he said.