As rental vacancies plunge to record lows, below 1 per cent in some areas, rents are climbing across capital cities and the regions.

While landlords have benefited through "stunning" rent increases, UNSW City Futures Research Centre's Dr Chris Martin said renters, which include many low income households, are struggling.

Against this skewed backdrop, Martin said it was time to talk rent control in Australia.

READ MORE: Almost half of Robodebt victims to get less than $100 in settlement payout

READ MORE: The Aussie neighbourhoods worst hit by mortgage stress

"We currently have very light regulation of rents during tenancies, in terms of frequency of increases and 'excessive to market' provisions, and there's no regulation of rents at the beginning of tenancies at all," he said.

"It's just whatever the market will bear."

Greater rent regulation, including capping the amounts rents can increase during tenancies, could be one way to help relieve pressure on renters, he said.

"Proper rent control hasn't been discussed for a while in Australia, but it's something that should be on the research and policy agenda."

However, the chief executive of a property company which represents home buyers claimed the situation for renters will only get worse if landlords are targeted more heavily by further government intervention.

BuyersBuyers boss Pete Wargent said Australia was already following some of Ireland's policy "mistakes" which he said would lead to an even greater shortage of rentals.

Wargent said "countless media articles" were chronicling Ireland's rental market situation, which followed a "series of measures to target so-termed 'greedy landlords.'"

Irish legislation included rent controls, changes to tax policy to restrict the deductibility of interest, and a moratorium on evictions, he said.

"The inevitable result has been a chronic shortage of rentals and massive queues outside properties for rent."

He said Irish landlords were leaving "the market in droves" due to increasing regulation and property taxes.

READ MORE: Millions of Aussies to get welfare payment boost in cost of living crunch

Australia and Ireland have both struggled to maintain adequate social housing supply.

But Wargent said regulations in Ireland had made it increasingly challenging for "private landlords to pick up the slack".

"Australia isn't at such a crisis point just yet, but things are heading in that direction."

Wargent said rent controls could ultimately negatively impact the market.

But UNSW professor Martin said housing should be regulated, like many other essential goods or services.

Property was often treated as a means to grow wealth rather than a fundamental need, he said.

"There should be regulation of rents in principle because everyone needs housing, and the consequences of not having it are dire."

Regulating rents would help ease a significant cost of living pressure, he said.

"Rents are increasing but not the quality or output of the housing service," Martin said.

"This is the problem with property investment: it promises that you can make a lot of money doing absolutely nothing.

"A landlord just happens to have acquired property in a place that has become more desirable.

"In almost all cases, the dwelling quality is declining while they make more gains."

READ: Landlord reveals he owns almost 300 properties in talkback radio call

According to latest rental data from Domain, the national vacancy rate fell to its lowest point on record after four consecutive months of holding steady.

"The rental market remains firmly in favour of landlords' with the number of rental listings sitting at its lowest point on record," the report said.

"This means tenants are likely to face further increases in asking rent."

Sydney dropped to a record low vacancy rate of 1.3 per cent, exacerbating worsening rental conditions and a highly competitive environment.

Melbourne's vacancy rate dropped for the seventh consecutive month to 1.4 per cent, the lowest point since March 2019.

According to Domain, Brisbane remains at an all-time low of 0.6 per cent, while Perth and Adelaide hit record lows of 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/caller-reveals-unbelievable-amount-of-investment-p/embed

Wargent said the rental market pressures were not the result of any one policy, but the combined result of multiple factors.

"It's the death of a thousand cuts for many small landlords at the moment."

The Reserve Bank meets tomorrow, where it is expected to again hike rates.

If that eventuates, property owners with mortgages will face tougher repayments.

Are you affected? Email ms**********@******om.au

Robodebt victims will find out from today how much their share of a $112 million settlement payment awarded as part of a $1 billion class action will be. 

However, there won't be a big pay day coming for most of the eligible 400,000 or so class action members – almost half will receive less than $100.

Around 30 per cent of class action members will be paid between $100 and $300. 

A small minority, about 5 percent, of robodebt victims will receive more than $1000.

READ MORE: 'My son could still be here': Mum welcomes robodebt royal commission

Services Australia says it is sending out letters to class action members from today and payments will arrive in bank accounts by the end of the month.

The money amounts to the interest owed to victims who repaid unlawful debts issued under the disastrously flawed scheme, which ran from July 2015 to November 2019 and is set to be the subject of an upcoming royal commission.

As part of the class action settlement, Centrelink has already repaid the $751 million that was wrongly recovered from 381,000 people.

What is Robodebt?

When Robodebt was rolled out in 2015 it was hailed by the government as a key tool to be used in tracking down welfare fraudsters.

The automated scheme made use of data matching algorithms. It assessed annual income data from the Australian Tax Office against fortnightly Centrelink welfare payments.

But Robodebt's averaging system used to calculate debts was problematic and in some cases inaccurate. It was declared unlawful by the Federal Court in 2019.

Gordon Legal's class action lawsuit led to the government agreeing to repay all of the unlawful debts.

It also led to the $112 million settlement now being paid out. 

Why are the payouts so small?

Robodebt was described by Justice Bernard Murphy –  the presiding judge over the class action – as "a shameful chapter" and "massive failure in public administration".

Robodebt victims have spoken about the financial and mental distress the unlawful debts caused. Many had their wages and tax refunds garnished to pay off the debts or were chased by debt collectors. 

Some family members have linked the debts to suicides, including Queensland mum Kath Madgwick, whose son Jarrad took his own life after receiving a debt.

Why then, are most victims only receiving what amounts to loose change?

This is because the settlement amount relates only to the interest owed. It is not compensation for any of the pain and suffering endured by Robodebt victims. 

Damages were not included in the scope of the class action.

One of the key questions to be examined by the Robodebt royal commission, announced last month by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will be whether victims should receive compensation.

How were the payments calculated?

Every class action member will get a different payment according to how much interest they are owed. 

Some robodebt victims repaid multiple debts. Class action members who made the earliest and largest debt repayments will get the highest settlement amount. 

Gordon Legal's court-approved costs of $10.3 million were deducted from the settlement sum of $112 million. 

This left $101.7 million to distribute to class action members.

Once the interest owed was calculated, there was also an amount left over which was divided amongst the class action members in proportion to their interest amount.

What do I do now?

You do not need to do anything to receive your payment. Centrelink will transfer the payment to your nominated bank account by September 30.

You can check your payment amount by logging into Centrelink through your MyGov account. 

You don't need to report your settlement payment as income as it will not be classed as taxable income.

If you believe your payment is incorrect you can request a review from Services Australia as long as it is within 30 days of receiving your settlement payment.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

A Melbourne mural depicting a Russian solider and a Ukrainian soldier hugging has been removed after significant backlash, including Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia describing it as "utterly offensive".

Artist Peter Seaton, who works under the name CTO, has spent the night painting over his work titled "Peace Before Pieces" on Kings Way in Melbourne CBD, just days after he completed it.

The mural portrayed a Russian soldier embracing a Ukrainian soldier.

READ MORE: Three teenagers stabbed in two separate attacks in Melbourne's west

Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, took to social media on Saturday to demand the artwork be removed, calling it "utterly offensive to all Ukrainians".

"The painter has no clue about the RU invasion of Ukraine and it is disappoint to see it done without consulting the Ukrainian community in Melbourne.," Myroshnychenko said online.

"The mural creates a sense of a false equivalency between the victim and the aggressor. It must be promptly removed."

Others have also taken to social media to blast the work, writing comments calling it an "extremely offensive picture, showing total ignorance of the Ukrainian reality".

READ MORE: Giant Ukrainian nuclear plant knocked off line again

Seaton took to social media yesterday to apologise for any offence his work caused.

"I apologise heavily to the Ukrainian people," he said in a video.

Seaton has this morning told the Today Show that he never expected such a response to the work.

"The original intention was to focus our efforts on this war towards a negotiation of peace, to avoid nuclear disaster from crazy leaders," he said.

READ MORE: Artificial Intelligence won an art contest, and artists are furious

https://twitter.com/AmbVasyl/status/1565982646353612800

Seaton said a lot of thought and consideration had gone into the concept.

"I talked to a number of different people of all political sides and got a lot of feedback from people.

"I proposed the initial concept and then I waited probably about six to eight months to actually do it. So I really tried to do the best thing.

"I felt it was the best way I could portray a message of peace which is something I am fundamentally about."

Seaton said it was not yet clear whether the wall would remain blank or whether he would paint another artwork in its place.

Jason M Allen was almost too nervous to enter his first art competition. Now, his award-winning image is sparking controversy about whether art can be generated by a computer, and what, exactly, it means to be an artist.

In August, Allen, a game designer who lives in Pueblo West, Colorado, won first place in the emerging artist division's "digital arts/digitally manipulated photography" category at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition.

His winning image, titled Théâtre D'opéra Spatial (French for Space Opera Theatre), was made with Midjourney — an artificial intelligence system that can produce detailed images when fed written prompts. A US$300 ($440) prize accompanied his win.

READ MORE: RBA tipped for 'super-sized' cash rate increase as cost of living crisis bites

"I'm fascinated by this imagery. I love it. And it think everyone should see it," Allen, 39, told CNN Business in an interview on Friday.

Allen's winning image looks like a bright, surreal cross between a Renaissance and steampunk painting. It's one of three such images he entered in the competition. In total, 11 people entered 18 pieces of art in the same category in the emerging artist division.

The definition for the category in which Allen competed states that digital art refers to works that use "digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process". Allen stated that Midjourney was used to create his image when he entered the contest, he said.

Midjourney is one of a growing number of such AI image generators — others include Google Research's Imagen and OpenAI's DALL-E 2. Anyone can use Midjourney via Discord, while DALL-E 2 requires an invitation, and Imagen has not been opened up to users outside Google.

READ MORE: Melbourne mural criticised as 'utterly offensive' to Ukrainians

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1565009335133999104

The newness of these tools, how they're used to produce images, and, in some cases, the gatekeeping for access to some of the most powerful ones has led to debates about whether they can truly make art or assist humans in making art.

This came into sharp focus for Allen not long after his win. Allen had posted excitedly about his win on Midjourney's Discord server on August 25, along with pictures of his three entries; it went viral on Twitter days later, with many artists angered by Allen's win because of his use of AI to create the image, as a story by Vice's Motherboard reported earlier this week.

"This sucks for the exact same reason we don't let robots participate in the Olympics," one Twitter user wrote.

https://twitter.com/GenelJumalon/status/1564651635602853889

"This is the literal definition of 'pressed a few buttons to make a digital art piece'," another Tweeted.

"AI artwork is the 'banana taped to the wall' of the digital world now."

Yet while Allen didn't use a paintbrush to create his winning piece, there was plenty of work involved, he said.

"It's not like you're just smashing words together and winning competitions," he said.

You can feed a phrase like "an oil painting of an angry strawberry" to Midjourney and receive several images from the AI system within seconds but Allen's process wasn't that simple. To get the final three images he entered in the competition, he said, took more than 80 hours.

https://twitter.com/rachelmetz/status/1565780528384524288

First, he said, he played around with phrasing that led Midjourney to generate images of women in frilly dresses and space helmets — he was trying to mash up Victorian-style costuming with space themes, he said.

Over time, with many slight tweaks to his written prompt (such as to adjust lighting and colour harmony), he created 900 iterations of what led to his final three images.

He cleaned up those three images in Photoshop, such as by giving one of the female figures in his winning image a head with wavy, dark hair after Midjourney had rendered her headless.

Then he ran the images through another software program called Gigapixel AI that can improve resolution and had the images printed on canvas at a local print shop.

Allen is glad the debate over whether AI can be used to make art is capturing so much attention.

"Rather than hating on the technology or the people behind it, we need to recognise that it's a powerful tool and use it for good so we can all move forward rather than sulking about it," Allen said.

Cal Duran, an artist and art teacher who was one of the judges for the competition, said that while Allen's piece included a mention of Midjourney, he didn't realise that it was generated by AI when judging it. Still, he sticks by his decision to award it first place in its category, he said, calling it a "beautiful piece".

"I think there's a lot involved in this piece and I think the AI technology may give more opportunities to people who may not find themselves artists in the conventional way," he said.

Allen won't yet say what the text prompt was behind his winning image — he's planning to keep it a secret until he publishes a larger related work that he hopes will be finished later this year.

Across the United Kingdom, businesses and households are warning that they won't make it through the winter without help from the government. That sets up enormous challenges for the incoming prime minister, who will be announced this week.

For months, the UK has endured a leadership vacuum while the country has skidded toward a recession and a humanitarian crisis triggered by soaring energy bills.

Since Boris Johnson announced he would leave office in July, the outlook for growth has weakened.

READ MORE: Riders safely rescued from rollercoaster at Movie World on Gold Coast

Annual inflation is running above 10 per cent as food and fuel prices leap. Frustration over the rising cost of living has compelled hundreds of thousands of workers who staff ports, trains and mailrooms to go on strike. The British pound just logged its worst month since the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum, hitting its lowest level against the US dollar in more than two years.

"It's just one blow after the other," said Martin McTague, who heads up the UK's Federation of Small Businesses.

"I'm afraid I can't find any good news."

The situation could get much worse before it gets better. The Bank of England anticipates that inflation will jump to 13 per cent as the energy crisis intensifies.

Citigroup estimates inflation in the United Kingdom could peak at 18 per cent8 in early 2023, while Goldman Sachs warns it could reach 22 per cent if natural gas prices "remain elevated at current levels".

READ MORE: RBA tipped for 'super-sized' cash rate increase as cost of living crisis bites

The contenders to succeed Johnson — current Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former finance minister Rishi Sunak — face calls to announce a dramatic intervention as soon as one of them becomes the fourth Conservative leader of the country in a decade.

The most urgent problem will be dealing with the skyrocketing cost of energy, which could unleash a wave of business closures and force millions of people to choose between putting food on the table and heating their homes this winter. Experts have warned that people will become destitute and cold-weather deaths will rise unless something is done fast.

"Everybody is assuming that there will be a swift and decisive announcement that puts this issue to bed, or at least provides people with reassurance," said Jonathan Neame, who runs Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer.

"If there's not, that person will come under very considerable pressure."

READ MORE: Pilot arrested after threatening to crash stolen plane into Walmart 

An energy 'catastrophe'

Energy bills for households will rise 80 per cent to an average of £3549 ($5998) a year from October. Analysts say the household price cap could rise to more than £5000 ($8450) in January and jump above £6000 in April ($10,139).

As people are forced to reevaluate their budgets, the boom in consumption that followed the COVID-19 lockdowns is dissipating fast. The Bank of England has warned the UK economy will fall into a recession in the coming months.

"The key challenge that the energy price surge poses is that households that use lots of energy — and in particular poorer households — are going to really struggle to make ends meet," said Ben Zaranko, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

"It's going to mean really big cutbacks in other areas of spending."

Meanwhile, Neame, whose portfolio includes about 300 pubs across southern England, said business owners are panicking.

Nick Mackenzie, the head of the Greene King pub chain, said that one location it works with reported its energy costs had jumped by £33,000 ($55,767) a year.

READ MORE: One-year-old in the US dies after father intentionally left him in hot car, police say 

"It's really daunting for a lot of businesses, especially the ones who came through COVID in a weakened state," McTague said.

"They're now struggling to deal with another once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe."

The crumbling British pound could exacerbate problems, making it more expensive to import energy and other goods, pushing inflation even higher.

Overlapping crises

It's not the only reason business owners and investors are increasingly anxious. While job vacancies fell between May and July, they remain 60 per cent above their pre-pandemic level.

Finding workers to fill open roles has been a particular challenge in the United Kingdom since the country voted to leave the European Union. About 317,000 fewer EU nationals were living in the United Kingdom in 2021 than in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Brexit is also scrambling trade, particularly with the European Union, the UK's largest trading partner. Exports and imports will be about 15 per cent lower in the long run than they would have been if the United Kingdom stayed in the EU, the Office for Budget Responsibility has projected.

Dean Turner, UK economist at UBS, said it's up to the new prime minister to try to make the most of the country's position without creating further disruption.

Yet hardline British lawmakers are still pushing to cast aside a key part of the Brexit agreement Johnson signed with the European Union, which could ultimately trigger a trade war with the UK's biggest export market.

"Brexit's happened. It is what it is, we've all got our own opinions on it," Turner said.

"But we've got to work with it to make it better for us, and I just struggle to see if there's any momentum to do that."

No easy solutions

Truss, who is expected to take the reins from Johnson after his government collapsed under a pile of scandals earlier this summer, has vowed to jumpstart the economy by slashing taxes. But many economists fear this approach could fan inflation and hurt fragile public finances, while failing to put money in the pockets of those who need it most.

"The benefits of cutting [taxes] would largely flow to the people who pay more tax, which are generally people with more money," said Jonathan Marshall, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation.

There's no way for the state to avoid paying huge sums to deal with the energy situation this winter, but targeted measures will be necessary to avoid waste. Freezing gas and electricity prices over the next two winters could cost the government more than £100 billion ($169 billion), according to researchers at the Institute for Government.

"Energy is expensive, gas is expensive," Marshall said.

"To avoid people freezing in their houses, that needs to be paid for. But the state doesn't need to pay for it for people who can afford it."

There are also questions about how the incoming government will afford a large-scale economic intervention, especially if slashing taxes — and therefore government revenue — is the priority.

The UK government borrowed heavily to provide support during coronavirus lockdowns. The country's debts are now almost 100 per cent of its gross domestic product. When interest rates were at rock bottom, and access to cash was cheap, this wasn't a major issue.

But that's no longer the case. The Bank of England has been aggressively hiking rates as it tries to put a lid on inflation. That will make it increasingly expensive for the government to service its debt. The United Kingdom also has issued a large number of inflation-linked bonds, adding to its vulnerability.

"It's almost a perfect cocktail of challenges that make public finances look at risk in a way they haven't in recent times," Zaranko of the IFS said.

When it comes to product showcases and big events, there are two big ones to take note of each year. CES in Las Vegas every January, and IFA in Berlin every September. This week in Berlin a huge range of new products were announced, and I'm on the ground having a look at them all.

This show is Europe's biggest by far, and in terms of attendance it beats the Consumer Electronics Show by a long way because the general public can buy tickets, meaning over 250,000 people will attend across the several days of the show.

IFA's focus is primarily on appliances. it's where retailers from around the world come to meet the appliance manufacturers to do deals that will see these products sold in stores, including in Australia.

READ MORE: New video game is 'like Tony Hawk meets John Wick'

Representatives of our biggest and smallest retailers are all here checking out what's new.

Here's a few highlights from what I've managed to see at IFA in Berlin

Big, I mean BIG screen TV

Everyone's heard of OLED, QLED and all the many and varied TV technologies. But for a while now the TV brands have been teasing something new called MicroLED. To my mind, it's like the technology used to make those big digital billboards, a bunch of small LED panels pinned together to make a big screen.

Samsung called it "The Wall" when they first made it a real thing, but it was never available to "residential" customers, instead it was more for large commercial installations.  Now, for the first time you can get access to this technology. But it comes at a price.

Being the very latest TV tech, and arguably the best — the 110-inch version of Samsung's MicroLED TV will set you back a cool $200,000.

In theory it can be made to almost any size, so I've no doubt we'll see a time when you can literally get a TV that covers your wall. But for now, it's the place of dreams. Having stood in front of this TV, I want one; it's glorious.

READ MORE: Could this tiny projector replace your living room TV?

Colour your kitchen appliances

Both Samsung and LG announced new colourful kitchen appliances, most notably fridges you can match to your kitchen design, or perhaps even your mood.

Samsung calls its version Bespoke allows buyers to pick colours for each door panel and having it suit your home design or your personality. It's a real product Aussie retailers are excited about selling.

LG's MoodUp fridges are colour-controlled by LED lights, which you can change using an app. There's word from LG Australia on availability locally but rest assured with Samsung launching Bespoke, LG will be keen to follow fast.

READ MORE: Twitter finally testing feature users demanded for years

Bendable displays

We've seen the latest in Folding Phones, a market Samsung owns so far, but there's plenty more cool bendable screen technology coming.

Lenovo and Asus announced laptops that open up to be a full screen, that is, there's no physical keyboard on the bottom side of the device as you'd normally see.  Instead an on-screen keyboard appears.

You can of course pair a Bluetooth keyboard and then use the larger flattened screen as a bigger screen display, and while an on-screen keyboard might seem strange, we're used to it with our phones, so why not on a laptop?

Remarkable really to see these screens just fold in half when you're done.

LG's OLED technology has taken a step forward too. While we've had curved screens on TVs and monitors before, the option now exists to simply change the screen as you want it. 

You might be working away on office documents on the 42-inch monitor flat in front of you, but then, with the touch of a button, you can make it bend, right before your eyes.

The edges of the screen push out towards you and you end up with a fantastic gaming or movie-viewing experience. That one is called the LG OLED Flex and given how popular it was here at IFA Berlin I'd be amazed if it didn't come to Australia sooner rather than later.

More than the humble oven

Sure, you set it to 180 degrees and cook the cake, or roast — whatever it might be — but the oven can be so much more.

I saw two key examples that were very new ideas. Vestel, a brand not known in Australia, tapped into the smoked meat craze with a built-in smoke dispenser.  Sprinkle some hickory (or other variety) wood particles into the dispenser, hit the smoke button and your meal is infused with that wooden flavour many achieve on big outdoor barbecues.  

READ MORE: Apple expected to unveil new iPhone on September 8

When you open the door you will need to expect the whole kitchen to have that same smell.

Miele announced a new HydroClean steam oven, which has a cleaning cycle that dispenses a food-safe cleaning product to foam the oven and rinse it with high pressure. Looking through the glass it looks like a dishwasher.  Miele told me the cycle would be run every three to six months depending on how much you cook, but the results seemed mighty impressive.  That one will be coming to Australia.

Consumer tech for you

While appliances are by far the biggest focus of this show, there were of course many more gadgets for everyday use too.

Jabra announced its new Elite 5 headphones, priced at $219. They are a lightweight fit, with great sound quality and impressive noise cancelling.

JBL took an interesting approach to its new wireless headphones, adding a touch-screen to the charging case so you can see the charge state and toggle features of the headphones when connected to certain devices.  It looks very cool.

And finally for the book lover, the new Rakuten Kobo Clara 2E launches at $229.95 in Australia and features a strong environmental credential, made with an 85 per cent recycled plastic exterior.

It's also waterproof so it's great for bath and beach reading whenever you like.

Riders have been rescued after from a rollercoaster at a Queensland theme park.

Four people were trapped 10 metres in the air for 90 minutes on the Scooby Doo Spookycoaster attraction at Movie World.

9News understands that the ride stopped after one of the riders took off a piece of clothing.

READ MORE: Two people dead in motor racing tragedy in north-west Victoria

Emergency services and technical rescue crews worked to safely remove the riders.

9News understands no one was injured in the incident.

Police have searched a rural property on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula after a man was found dead in a caravan yesterday afternoon.

The 66-year-old was discovered about 4.40pm after police were called to the property at Port Neill to check on his welfare.

A 28-year-old local man has since been arrested and charged with murder.

READ MORE: Riders trapped on rollercoaster at Movie World on Gold Coast

Detective Inspector Brett Featherby said the investigation was "in its infancy".

"The investigation is in it's very very early stages, we had members arrive there this morning, we are trying to determine the relationships between the persons," he said.

Featherby said the exact relationship between the two men was still being determined but said it was not a random incident.

The 28-year-old man was refused bail and will appear in the Port Lincoln Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Seven people have been injured after a vehicle reportedly crashed into a house in Pukekohe this evening. Emergency services were alerted to the crash on Puni Rd at 6.58pm. DO YOU KNOW MORE? – EMAIL KURT BAYER St John sent…

Police are seeking the public’s help to find Christopher Morrison, 65, who has been reported missing from Waitakaruru in the Waikato District.A police spokesperson said he was last seen on September 1.”Christopher usually frequents…