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Seamless travel between New Zealand and Australia is one step closer.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Chris Hipkins today announced they will create a 12-month expert group to explore easier travel across the Tasman Sea.

That working group will report back by the end of June 2024. 

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"We have not looked at a trans-Tasman passport but what we're looking at though is making a seamless experience of going through from country to country," Albanese said from Wellington.

"That might look at, for example, how smart gates can operate and be complimentary.

"Before you get on a plane in either country it is already recognised that you are OK to come in and therefore you can just go through smart gates in a seamless way and in a timely way as well."

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The announcement comes after a direct pathway for New Zealand citizens to attain Australian citizenship came into effect on July 1.

"I am so pleased that as of this month, it is now easier for New Zealanders to call Australia home to become Australian citizens," he said.

"This is a change that was long overdue.

"It was the right thing to do and it was the first thing to do."

Albanese's trip to New Zealand is his first as prime minister and was for the annual meeting for leaders of the two countries.

In addition to easier travel, he and Hipkins announced a new trans-Tasman roadmap, which will stretch to 2035.

This roadmap is structured around five pillars: sustainable, inclusive and prosperous economies; security and resilience; being active partners in the Pacific; upholding shared principles and values; and the countries' peoples.

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"We live in a world where we need friends, partners and allies like New Zealand," Albanese said.

"We will get better results when we work together.

"The roadmap recognises that our trans-Tasman relationship is a significant asset for both countries to meet the challenges and build on the opportunities which are ahead of us in the coming decades.

"The roadmap also identifies how we will harness our collective strengths for the good of our countries, for the good of our people and for the good of our region."

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The fisherman was caught in the act eight times.

Aussies could be using a national digital ID within the next 12 months where licences, Medicare cards and other forms can be verified online by external organisations.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher took on the digital ID plan from the former Morrison government which would allow Australians to pop together their ID forms – including but not limited to driver's licences, Medicare cards or proof of age cards – into a platform to be used by external organisations to verify a person's identity.

She told the Australian Financial Review's Government Services Summit that the program will be up and running by mid-next year.

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"That's a pretty tight timeframe, so I don't want to be held to that. But that's kind of my roadmap," she said.

Gallagher said many states are already implementing digital services to access ID forms like driver's licences and a nationally-regulated service will be an extension of that for Australians.

"We've got the system, it's just not regulated and not in a shape I think that will allow us to drive it forward and give the interoperability and the economy-wide benefits that come from having a national system, but we're very committed to it," she said.

The service won't be a new card or number but ID forms will be compiled into one system in an "easy, secure, voluntary and efficient way", Gallagher added.

She also said the scheme would allow existing state and territory apps to be "interoperable" with the program, meaning it would all work together.

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But the scheme isn't without controversy.

Gallagher noted it has been "contested", with petitions already circulating against the digital verification service over cybersecurity concerns, data retention and from anti-government groups.

It comes as Australia has experienced a rise in cyberattacks in the past 18 months including the major Optus data breach, Medibank and financial services provider Latitude.

"There is already pushback," she said.

"We've seen this, particularly coming out of COVID-19 you know, theories, conspiracy theories about what government's trying to do."

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She defended the scheme as allowing Australians to have control of their information.

"It is about securing your information and protecting your information and ensuring that you know, when that information is shared, it's done under a regulated system," she said.

Australia Post, Mastercard and Australian Payments Plus have already implemented digital verification systems.

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The tax on Australia's spirits will tip over $100 per litre of pure alcohol as part of the twice-annual increase in line with inflation.

The upcoming hike, to be implemented from August 1, has led to spirits manufacturers and distillers to call for a freeze on the controversial excise.

Australian Distillers Association chief executive Paul McLeay said the hike reached "unthinkable new heights".

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"This is a devastating blow to spirits producers around the country, who are making a valuable contribution to domestic manufacturing and tourism," McLeay said.

"If the government is serious about growing domestic manufacturing jobs, particularly in the regions, they can't have it both ways."

The six-monthly increase will mean the tax will pass the threshold of $100 per litre, which it had not been expected to hit before 2029.

The tax is calculated at the point of manufacture or importation per litre of pure alcohol and then likely passed on to consumers.

For example, a bottle of spirits with a higher alcohol content will be taxed at a higher rate than drinks at the lower end.

Manufacturers and distillers also pay GST and other levies which can push the retail costs higher for the drinking public.

The increase in line with today's inflation data will bring the tax to $100.05 a litre, up from $97.90.

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A high-profile man accused of rape has sought six months of data from his alleged victim's mobile phone despite objections from prosecutors.

His case was heard in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday in the latest in a string of committal mentions to determine if there's enough evidence to proceed to trial.

The high-profile man, who is on bail and cannot be named for legal reasons, faces two charges of raping a woman in October 2021.

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Prosecutors had previously agreed to multiple four-week adjournments in line with the accused's request for a forensic medical report and a download of data from the complainant's phone.

Crown prosecutor Sarah Dreghorn told the court the man's defence had been supplied with the medical report but they were still negotiating over how much of the mobile phone data would be provided.

"(The defence) had requested a full download… A narrower request has now been made but it is still quite wide," Ms Derghorn said.

The man's solicitor, Rowan King, asked that Magistrate Clare Kelly either make an order to supply the data or another short adjournment to continue negotiations.

"Ultimately, those communications appear quite important to the defence's case," Mr King said.

Mr King had previously requested access to material from the complainant's phone obtained via the forensic system used by police to extract and analyse the contents of digital devices.

Ms Dreghorn told the court there was the potential for her office and Mr King to come to an agreement over how much mobile phone data was disclosed.

"At the moment the request is for (data) six months prior to the event's date; (The accused and the complainant) were not known to each other until the date of the offence," Ms Dreghorn said.

Ms Dreghorn said it was possible that her office would reject those terms.

"I know (crown prosecutor Nicole) Friedewald has already written to Mr King asking for some explanation as to why those messages and communications would be required," Ms Dreghorn said.

Ms Kelly adjourned the matter until August 9 and told both parties that if the disagreement was not resolved by then it could be resolved via a directions hearing application.

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Bleak new data has revealed that nine in 10 rental markets across the country saw an increase in rent in the last year.

Though depressing for renters, the news comes as no surprise to experts, who say "record levels of migrants", many of whom rent in inner-city unit precincts, "has bolstered demand".

The research, conducted by property analytics provider CoreLogic, showed that 90 per cent of house and unit markets across Australia saw an increase in rents in the last financial year.

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Of those, almost two thirds of unit suburbs recorded an annual increase of 10 per cent or more, as did more than one third of house markets.

CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said an overall shortage in vacant rentals is behind the worrying trend.

"Investors tend to shy away from the housing market during negative economic shocks," she said.

"The sharp rise in interest rates has coincided with a -23.6 per cent fall in new housing investment lending between April 2022 and May this year, and this includes a slight recovery in investment lending in recent months, which has lifted 10 per cent from a low in February this year.

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"On the demand side, record levels of overseas migrants, many of whom rent in inner-city unit precincts, has bolstered rental demand this year, causing an imbalance between rental demand and supply.

"For Perth in particular, there is a persistent shortage of rentals, with total rent listings now about -50 per cent lower than the historic five-year average."

Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin saw "100 per cent of unit markets record rent value increases" over the last 12 months, Ezzy added, while just three markets in Sydney, two markets in Melbourne and one market in Hobart saw unit rents fall.

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"Despite a few minor declines in the city's Central Coast region, Sydney units continue to record some of the strongest rental growth across the country," Ezzy said.

"Units in Sydney's Inner-city market of Haymarket recorded the highest annual rise, up 32.6 per cent – or $276 per week – followed by Georges Hall (31.3 per cent) and Arncliffe (30.9 per cent) in the city's Inner South West."

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A family who were told they were too old to stay in Australia have been given a temporary reprieve – but are now looking to move to New Zealand.

Parents Glenn, 57, and Sheena Tunnicliff, 50, who faced returning to the UK despite living and working in Australia for eight years, have got another year-long visa.

But Mrs Tunnicliffe, who started a petition to try to highlight their situation, said it's "a temporary band aid" which lasts until July 2024.

The family are also looking to move to New Zealand, which allows older people to stay in the country.

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As reported by 9News.com.au, the family moved to Perth in 2015.

Though they were close in age to the cut off, they should have been able to get permanent residency, known as PR, which would have allowed them to stay for good and eventually get Australian citizenship.

But visa and job changes over the years mean the family never managed to meet the strict rules.

It has an age limit of 45, so neither now qualifies.

Daughter Tamzin, now 21, has applied for her own visa and can stay in the country, but other child Molly, 18, is in the same situation as her parents.

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The trio faced having to return home to England by August 4.

However the new year-long visa is not a permanent solution. Now they've also applied for a visa to move to New Zealand where they can still get Permanent Residency.

Then, after five years, they could become New Zealand citizens which would then allow them to return to Australia to live.

"New Zealand's age is 55, we'd take all our skills and we'd go to New Zealand," Mrs Tunnicliffe, who runs a travel agency said.

"It's crazy, Australia's lost all our skills. In five years time we could walk back into Australia," Mrs Tunnicliffe said.

The Department of Home Affairs told 9news.com.au they don't comment on individual cases.

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Do you have a story? Contact journalist Sarah Swain: ss****@******om.au

Australia's annual level of inflation has slowed to 6 per cent as the effect of a dozen interest rate hikes since May 2022 hits consumer spending.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that in the June quarter of this year the consumer price index – commonly referred to as inflation – grew by just 0.8 per cent.

On a 12-month basis, inflation grew by 6 per cent, down from 7 per cent in the prior quarter.

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Today's fall was largely within the expectations of financial markets, and may now increase the chances that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will hold interest rates steady when it meets next Tuesday.

Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said the price of rent was a major driver in this quarter's results.

"Rents recorded the strongest quarterly rise since 1988, reflecting low vacancy rates amid a tight rental market. Rental price growth for flats continued to outpace the growth for houses," Marquardt said.

"Higher demand for international travel, particularly to Europe with the start of the European summer peak season, led to price increases.

"These were partially offset by price falls for travel to South-east Asia and New Zealand as prices dipped following increases during the Christmas and school holiday periods in December and January."

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In a potential sign of hope for borrowers, the ABS noted that Australia is now in a period of "disinflation".

"June quarter's annual increase of 6.0 per cent is lower than the 7.0 per cent annual rise in the March 2023 quarter," Marquardt said.

"This marks the second consecutive quarter of lower annual inflation, also known as 'disinflation', from the peak of 7.8 per cent in the December 2022 quarter."

Anneke Thompson, chief economist at CreditorWatch, said the central bank will now be keeping a close eye on unemployment data.

"Trimmed mean inflation came in at 5.9 per cent, a significant decrease from 6.6 per cent over the year to March," Thompson said.

"This result has reduced the chance of a further cash rate rise at the August meeting. It now seems that Labour Force data will become more crucial to the RBAs decision making.

"The board will be hoping to see some softening in unemployment rate, to reduce the chance of further pressure on wages."

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