$100,000 could be slashed from the price of properties and rents also made significantly more affordable under an ambitious plan to drastically increase the number of homes built in Australia.

The proposal, put forward by independent think tank the Grattan Institute, calls on governments to allow three-storey townhouses to be built on residential land in capital cities without the need for planning permits.

It also says the same exception should apply to apartment blocks of up to six storeys near public transport hubs and "key commercial centres".

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Authors Brendan Coates, Joey Moloney and Matthew Bowes argued the changes – along with nine other recommendations put forward in the report – would help alleviate many of the issues that have caused Australia's housing crisis.

"Housing in Australia's major cities is among the least affordable in the world," they wrote.

"Restrictive planning controls add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of new housing in our capital cities.

"For decades, Australia has failed to build enough homes in the places that people most want to live.

"Now we have a housing affordability crisis that is dividing families and communities and robbing young Australians of their best chance in life."

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By providing default approval for those townhouses and apartments, new construction projects would be able to avoid time-consuming council and other government processes that the authors argue overwhelmingly favour a lack of development.

"The key problem is that state and territory land-use planning systems say 'no' to new housing by default, and 'yes' only by exception," they wrote.

It would also help Australian cities significantly increase their levels of population density, which currently lag well behind those seen overseas.

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The report says the proposed changes would lead to 67,000 homes being built a year, which would, in turn, cut rents by 12 per cent and reduce median prices by $100,000 over a decade.

The authors also argue the proposal could reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions by providing more people with shorter commutes and would boost the national economy by up to $25 billion a year in the long term.

"Building more homes where people most want to live will make housing cheaper and create wealthier, healthier, and more vibrant cities," the report states.

The recommendations come just days after new research from Cotality found the cost of a median Australian home hit a new record high of $872,538, driven by the fastest price rise in more than two years – despite interest rates remaining somewhat restrictive at 3.6 per cent since August.

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The Reserve Bank and other experts have consistently warned the housing crisis has been driven by a lack of supply.

RBA Governor Michele Bullock has cautioned that, even though governments are starting to make promising moves to address the lack of construction, it is likely to be at least two years before property starts to get more affordable for Australians.

While the federal government set a target of building 1.2 million new homes between last July and June 2029, it is already lagging well behind and faces little prospect of actually hitting that goal.

The Grattan report argues part of the problem is the $3.5 billion in incentives from the Commonwealth to the states for building more homes are poorly structured.

The authors said the federal government should pay those incentives in periodic instalments rather than a lump sum at the end of the five-year period, and that it should also pay the states to reform planning controls.

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Cybercriminals accused of funding North Korean weapons of mass destruction have faced financial sanctions and travel bans imposed by the Australian federal government.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced the government is working alongside the US to "starve" North Korea of money after it took action against four entities and one individual found to be funding the regime's unlawful weapons.

It comes as a report found North Korean actors stole an estimated $1.9 billion in cryptocurrency from companies around the world in 2024.

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"We all know the scale of risk and the threat that North Korea poses to the region," Wong said today.

"So we are always looking at ways to do more with other partners to put pressure on the regime, and starving them of funds is obviously a very important part of that."

Wong described the scale of North Korea's involvement in malicious cyber activities as "deeply concerning".

She called on the one-party state to abandon its "unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner".

"The Australia government is taking this action with the United States to apply pressure on North Korea's illegal revenue generation networks and address its persistent challenges to security and stability," Wong added in a statement.

"Australia will continue to work with international partners to respond to malicious cyber activity, promote the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace and keep Australians safe."

The US has doled out similar punishments against cybercriminals supporting the creation of weapons of mass destruction.

The US State Department earlier this week sanctioned two entities and eight people alleged to have supported North Korea's schemes to launder funds.

It named Ryujong Credit Bank, Korea Mangyongdae Computer Technology Company and its president U Yong Su among those sanctioned.

The department said the US "strongly condemns" the activities of entities associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

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Exclusive: Apple's head of environmental initiatives Lisa Jackson has landed in Australia to announce some groundbreaking new projects and initiatives as part of their broader green commitments leading up to 2030.

As a company that already powers all its stores and offices with renewable energy, Apple is looking to take that one step further by ensuring the Australian power grid contains enough green energy to offset the usage of every single Apple product used by Aussies.

This begins with a new solar farm currently under construction in Lancaster, Victoria.

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This, along with other renewable projects in Australia, will generate over one million megawatt-hours of clean electricity every single year on the behalf of Apple device owners.

While Apple can't actually ensure that renewables are being used in the powerpoint at your home where your iPhone is plugged in, it can match the amount of power you use with renewable energy on the grid to tip the overall scales of the Australian energy market just a little further toward renewables.

"By 2030, we want our users to know that all the energy it takes to charge their iPhone or power their Mac is matched with clean electricity," Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said.

"We're proud to do our part to support Australia's transition to a cleaner grid and drive positive impacts for communities and nature, all while moving closer to our ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across our entire footprint."

Apple has entered a long-term agreement with a company called European Energy, which enabled the commencement of the construction of the 80MW solar project in Victoria.

It will begin generating power in 2026.

Another quite intriguing initiative announced today is the transformation of 1700 hectares of formerly sugarcane farmland into a macadamia orchard with over 800,000 trees.

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This orchard, south of Bundaberg in Queensland, stretches eight kilometres on once-heavily farmed land to allow for native species.

Macadamia nuts have nothing to do with power generation because this is all part of a separate pledge by Apple known as the Restore Fund.

This seeks to help investment in nature-based carbon removal projects around the world to offset areas of the Apple production chain that simply cannot be made carbon neutral – something we all now know as carbon credits.

With one million megawatt hours of new solar energy in Australia, users of Apple iPhones, Macs, iPads and anything else can rest assured they're doing their bit, little by little, for the environment.

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The bosses of Australia's big banks have been warned they face a flood of cases unless they reassess rejected work-from-home requests.

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) said today it has written to senior executives in the sector calling for them to review their flexible work policies following a landmark decision against Westpac.

The ruling found the bank acted unlawfully when it denied a workers' request to work from home.

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In a letter, the FSU warns that employers could be breaching workplace law if they continue to reject flexible work requests without proper consideration, consultation or justification.

The Fair Work Commission ruled Karlene Chandler had the right to work from home full time after Westpac failed in its obligations under the Fair Work Act.

She sought to work remotely from her home south of Sydney to enable her to carry out school drop-offs and pick-ups for her two young children.

The bank's failures included not responding within 21 days, not engaging genuinely with Chandler's request and not providing her specific reasons for refusing it, the commission found.

The FSU says the ruling sets a precedent that will have far-reaching consequences across the finance sector.

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It claims many employers have sought to impose blanket return-to-office mandates without consideration for workers' personal circumstances.

The FSU has identified other examples of work-from-home arrangement by finance workers that have been rejected by managers.

"Our members have proven they can deliver from home," said National Assistant Secretary Nicole McPherson.

"Flexibility is not a perk, it's a legal right and we'll keep fighting to make sure every worker in finance can exercise it."

Westpac has been contacted for comment by 9news.com.au.

Australian Bankers Association Simon Birmingham said working from home arrangements were best left to individual banks and their staff.

"Australian banks employ around 180,000 people in a wide variety of roles.

"Work from home has become a valued part of employment arrangements for banks and many of their employees but isn't possible in all circumstances all of the time.

"Flexible workplace arrangements are ideally matters for individual banks and their employees, who are best placed to together achieve outcomes that deliver the best for all parties."

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A rare white humpback whale has been spotted defying migration habits off the NSW South Coast.

It was first seen off South Durras, near Batemans Bay, about 7am yesterday and then again more than 50km north off Warden Head, near Uladulla, later that afternoon.

The Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) has analysed the footage to determine whether the whale is Migaloo – the only albino whale on Australia's east coast that has not been seen since 2020.

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The rescue organisation has ruled that the whale is a rare one-year-old white humpback about 10m long.

It was first seen in Tonga in 2024.

"Importantly, this is not 'Migaloo,'" ORRCA said.

"The appearance of another white whale in this population makes today's sighting incredibly unique, exciting and special."

ORRCA is unable to confirm whether the whale is white in nature due to albinism, as there is no footage of its underside.

Whales can appear white either because of albinism – where whales lack pigment completely – or leucism – where whales have reduced pigment but are not fully albino.

The whale is currently travelling north despite the late stage of migration.

ORRCA said its movements are "very unusual", but it will need to wait for more sightings to assess its travel pattern more accurately. 

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Where is Migaloo?

It's a question that whale watchers, scientists, and organisations have been asking for the last five years.

Migaloo, meaning "white fella" in some Aboriginal languages, is considered the one and only true albino whale in Australia's east coast whale population.

He is an adult male whale, estimated to have been born in 1986.

The elusive mammal was first spotted travelling through Byron Bay in June 1991, and has been seen as far as the Whitsundays in north Queensland and Cape Schanck in Victoria.

He was last seen off Port Macquarie in June 2020, with no confirmed sightings since.

Although a potential sighting off Kaikōura in New Zealand last month sparked a glimmer of hope that Migaloo had returned.

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The Queensland and federal governments have special legislation to protect him from harassment, with any vessels or aircraft that get too close to be fined $16,500.

Migaloo, wherever he is, would be 39 years old today.

The average lifespan of a humpback whale is about 50 years, but some have been recorded to live up to 90 years. 

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More than a million Australians were looking for a job in 2024-2025, with work flexibility a key factor for many.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 1.2 million people were looking for a paid job in that financial year.

"Almost half of the 1.2 million people who wanted a paid job in 2024-25 were unemployed. The rest were either not actively looking for work or not immediately available for work," ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said.

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"Almost 1.1 million of this group were available to start work immediately or within the next four weeks, with a further 130,000 not available to start work within the next four weeks."

The difficulties with finding a suitable job differed in some ways between women and men.

The most important factors for women were being able to work part-time hours, and finding a job that matches skills and experience, with 33 per cent of women stating these factors as very important.

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Almost a third of men (32 per cent) reported that the most important factor to get them to work was finding a job that matches skills and experience, followed by support for training or study to improve skills (24 per cent) and ability to work part-time hours (23 per cent).

Women made up the majority of those people not available for work within four weeks, at 65 per cent.

Almost half (43 per cent) of women who wanted to work but were not available within four weeks reported caring for children as the main reason they were unavailable.

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There were also 800,000 people who worked part time and wanted more hours, with 89 per cent of these people available to start working more hours within four weeks.

Of the 5.1 million parents in the past financial year with children under 15, almost 700,000 didn't have a job, of which 16 per cent were looking.

There were about 700,000 people who had a long-term health condition and wanted a job.

While long-term health conditions were a common reason people were unavailable to start work, not all people with a long-term health condition were unable to work.

Long-term health condition or disability was the main reason for 39 per cent of men who were not available for work.

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A giant cargo plane's left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after take-off in the south-eastern US, as the death toll from the disaster jumped to 11 people, including a child.

Emergency workers, meanwhile, searched for more victims on Wednesday, (Thursday AEST), a day after the crash at UPS Worldport, the company's global aviation hub in Louisville, though Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said finding survivors seemed unlikely.

The inferno consumed the enormous UPS aircraft and spread to nearby businesses.

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After being cleared for take-off, a large fire developed in the left wing, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Inman said.

Airport security video "shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the take-off roll," he said.

The cockpit voice recorder and data recorder were recovered, and the engine was discovered on the airfield, Inman said.

"There are a lot of different parts of this airplane in a lot of different places," he said, describing a debris field that stretched for about one kilometre.

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Earlier, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear predicted the death toll would grow, noting that 16 families had gathered at a reunification centre for news of loved ones.

"Our fatality count is now up to 11, expected to reach 12, possibly by the end of the day, and there are a handful of other people that we're still searching for, that we hope weren't on site and that we hope were somewhere else," Beshear said.

Among those killed, at least one person is believed to be a child, "and a young child at that, which makes it all the harder," Beshear said.

The crash was captured in horrifying video taken from a truck parked about one kilometre from the impact site.

It showed the driver sitting calmly in the vehicle's cab moments before he's startled as the plane smashes into the ground.

The stunned man then jumps out and runs, shouting "oh, my God".

The plane with three people aboard crashed about 5.15pm on Tuesday (US Eastern Standard Time) as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Video showed flames on the plane's left wing and a trail of smoke.

The crash had a ripple effect, striking and causing smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting Grade A Auto Parts, though it could have been worse, Beshear said.

"Thankfully, a local restaurant that is right there … was missed and now is helping the search and rescue," Beshear said.

"Another blessing is this plane could have potentially hit the major Ford factory or the convention centre, those are all close by, and did not."

University of Louisville Hospital said two people were in critical condition in the burn unit Wednesday and that 13 others had been treated and discharged. Five people were treated at other hospitals.

Beshear declared a state of emergency and mobilised the National Guard in an effort to quickly free up resources.

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– With AP, CNN

A new podcast investigating the disappearance of two teenage girls from the NSW Sutherland Shire more than 40 years ago has revealed striking similarities in the cold case to other unsolved murders in the region.

When good friends Elaine Johnson, 16, and Kerry Anne Joel, 17, vanished in January 1980, the police cast the pair as runaways.

The girls were seen as rebellious because Elaine left home shortly after arguing with her parents over a party held at their house, and Kerry Anne had a minor accident in her mother's car.

However, Elaine's family has maintained she wasn't the type to run away and never gave up searching for answers.

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Key police shortcomings in their case have been examined in the investigative podcast Out from the Cold: Searching for Elaine.

The girls' friends weren't interviewed until more than three decades later, in 2014, and, at an inquest in 2016, it was revealed Elaine's original police file had been lost.

Elaine and Kerry Anne weren't the only teenage girls to go missing from the NSW south coast around that time, and for the subsequent police investigation to be riddled with incompetence. 

Just seven months earlier, in July 1979, 16-year-old Kay Docherty and 15-year-old Toni Kavanagh went missing from Warilla, a suburb on the outskirts of Wollongong.

The high school students were last seen at a Warilla bus stop. They had planned to hitchhike to Wollongong to go to a disco.

An inquest in 2013 found the girls had likely died shortly after they went missing and aired suspicions of detectives that they may have been murdered by notorious Australian serial killer Ivan Milat.

"They went without telling anyone. Kay told her parents she was staying at Toni's house for the night, and Toni told her family she and Kay were going to the movies," Jeff Dakers, a retired NSW police officer who was one of the first to investigate Kay and Toni's disappearances, told the podcast.

With very few leads to go on, the girls just became missing people, Dakers said.

About a decade ago, Dakers was contacted by local police officers who wanted to chat about the case.

To his shock, Dakers was told the files on Kay and Toni's disappearance had been misplaced and police had no evidence to go on.

Dakers also told of a chilling conversation he had with a Warilla local man who used to ride his bike in the sand dunes as a boy in 1980.

In the podcast the local man is referred to as Liam. Liam recalled seeing a man with two girls in the sand dunes in 1980, who told him the man was trying to kill them.

Dakers said Liam told him the girls he saw that day managed to escape the man and run to a local house.

Not long after, Liam went back to the sand dunes and saw the same man with a shovel and a ute.

The retired copper said Liam told him he believed the man he saw those two times out riding his bike was notorious Milat.

Liam says he had only recognised the man as Milat years later after seeing him in a documentary.

Milat was convicted in 1996 of the murders of seven backpackers whose bodies were found in the Belanglo State Forest, in the NSW southern highlands.

He was sentenced to life in prison and died in jail in 2019.

Milat's victims were all killed between 1989 and 1992 after he picked them up hitchhiking.

Police have long suspected that more victims of Milat are yet to be uncovered.

In 1993, Task Force Air reviewed nationwide unsolved cases of murdered and missing young people who could be possible Milat victims and the list ran to 58 people.

Last month, a NSW parliamentary inquiry into missing person cases and unsolved murders was announced.

The inquiry will focus on cases from 1965 to 2010, and investigate possible links between unsolved murders and long-term missing people around the Southern Highlands, Inner Sydney, Newcastle and the North Coast.

Toni and Kay's disappearance will be one of several case studies examined for possible systematic failings in the criminal justice system, and with a view to how new technology can assist police.

The push for the inquiry came from NSW upper house member Jeremy Buckingham, who gained support from Premier Chris Minns. 

Buckingham told the Illawarra Mercury there were often failings by the police during the era when Toni and Kay went missing.

In the 1970s and 80s, Buckingham said, women and girls who went missing or were murdered were often considered runaways or at fault for being out at night and "making themselves vulnerable" by catching a bus alone or hitchhiking.

"Now, it's utterly egregious to think like that," he said.

A lack of urgency led cases to go cold quickly, Buckingham added.

"Key people weren't interviewed, and I don't think it's an isolated incident," he said.

"How it is that two young women, two girls can just disappear off a suburban street, and key family members are not interviewed for years, if not decades, later."

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Thousands of Australians have joined the industrious trend of buying and selling snack vending machines for extra income, which can be a lucrative game for a lucky few.

The only problem? You might need more than a few machines to actually turn a profit.

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Do you have a story? Contact reporter April Glover at Google Play.

Zohran Mamdani has wasted little time after becoming mayor-elect of New York City before addressing the man who threatened to not only defund the city — but also to arrest and deport him — if he won.

"Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up," Mamdani, a Democrat, told the Republican president from the stage of his Brooklyn victory party on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT).

He issued a direct challenge to the president. "If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," he said.

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The proclamation was an illustration of how both men have seized on one another as politically advantageous foils as Mamdani has risen from obscure state lawmaker to national Democratic star and as Trump has cast today's Democratic Party as radical and out of touch with everyday voters.

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalised American citizen after graduating from college, went on to cast himself as the embodiment of the resistance against the president, who has pursued an aggressive, anti-immigrant agenda during his second term.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant," he said.

"So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

Trump, who has spent months insulting Mamdani and warning that the city would be ruined if he won, seemed to be watching.

"…AND SO IT BEGINS!" he posted on social media as Mamdani spoke.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who campaigned on a slate of far-left progressive policies and a cheery optimism that stands in stark contrast to Trump's darker and more hardline tactics, is expected to continue to face the president's persistent political bashing — along with a federal government that may try to thwart his agenda. It remains unclear however exactly how Trump plans to respond and if the courts will stop him.

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'Mayor Trump'

New York has remained relatively unscathed by Trump's administration, as he has targeted cities including Los Angeles and Washington, dispatching the National Guard. The current mayor, Eric Adams, enjoyed an unusual alliance with the Republican president, whose administration dropped a federal corruption case against the mayor so he could better assist with the president's immigration agenda.

But Trump for months has threatened to slash federal funding to the city and mount an outright takeover if Mamdani won — threats that became a cornerstone of Mamdani's rivals' campaigns against him.

Meanwhile, Trump and others in his party gleefully seized on Mamdani's most controversial policy proposals and past statements, including those criticising the city's police department, trying to cast Mamdani as dangerous — and representative of the Democratic Party at large.

"The Democrat Party has surrendered to radical socialist Zohran Mamdani and the far-left mob who are now running the show," said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella in a statement Tuesday night.

"They've proudly embraced defunding the police, abolishing ICE, taxing hard-working Americans to death, and replacing common sense with chaos. Every House Democrat is foolishly complicit in their party's collapse, and voters will make them pay in 2026."

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Mamdani says he will try to 'Trump-proof' the city

In his first news conference as mayor-elect on Wednesday (early Thursday AEDT), Mamdani made it clear that the city's most powerful former resident is one of the chief challenges he'll face in his new job.

"New Yorkers are facing twin crises in this moment: an authoritarian administration and an affordability crisis," he said. "And it will be my job to deliver on both."

Mamdani spoke about "Trump-proofing" New York City, which he said involves "protecting those with the least from the consequences of a man with the most power in this country."

But Mamdani said several times that he was willing to work with anyone, including Trump, if they can help New Yorkers. He said he has not heard from the White House or the president following his win.

Echoes of Trump

Nearly a decade ago, Trump was the bold yet untested candidate who notched a remarkable political victory of his own after building a populist coalition, harnessing social media, commanding the media spotlight and promising a wave of change.

Those same qualities that propelled the Republican into the White House in 2016 have helped Mamdani rise to become the soon-to-be mayor of Trump's hometown and the biggest city in the nation.

Mamdani on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) offered an early glimpse into the way he'll try to reflect those populist messages back against the president. He decried the high cost of groceries, something Trump raised as he campaigned for the White House last year, and said the president's decision to stop administering federal food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is "literally making it harder to afford those same groceries whose price he was decrying not that long ago".

But rather than see Mamdani as a Democratic analogue for his own path to power, Trump has cast him as a prime foil and a reason he may seek to punish or overpower the city.

Though most presidents don't devote time to tangling with local elected officials, Trump is not most presidents, and New York City holds special significance for him.

The Queens-born former reality star made his fame in Manhattan, where he became a TV star from his gilded penthouse and later launched his improbable presidential campaign after descending his golden escalator.

Trump has kept a particular focus on the city, trying to block its congestion pricing program, cancel construction on new tunnels under the Hudson River and insisting during his comeback presidential campaign last year on holding a mega-rally at Madison Square Garden despite his unpopularity in the city.

As the city prepared to pick its next mayor, Trump got unusually involved. He attacked him on social media, falsely labelling Mamdani a communist and eventually endorsing Cuomo.

And in the fall, intermediaries for the Trump administration approached Adams to try to persuade him to abandon his reelection campaign in an attempt to block Mamdani's path to victory.

On the eve of the election, Trump said he would likely cut federal city funding if Mamdani won, writing on social media that "it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required".

The White House and Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a message on Wednesday about federal funds for the city Trump may seek to withhold.

But he had already sought to punish the city this year as part of a broader pattern of asserting power against Democratic elected officials who've criticised him, including suspending funding for some infrastructure projects during the government shutdown and trying to slash grants aimed at addressing the costs of migrants.

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The threats also resonated with some voters.

Amy Snyder, an art adviser who voted for Cuomo, said she feared Mamdani "would not be able to stand up to Trump".

Ariel Kohane, a registered Republican who voted for Cuomo but has voted for Trump multiple times, said he expected the president would do everything in his power to prevent Mamdani from accomplishing his agenda — and hoped it would work.

"Trump will probably have to send in the National Guard and ICE agents, too," Kohane said.

Wacef Chowdhury, a volunteer for the Mamdani campaign, said he fully anticipated Trump would attempt to punish the city in retaliation for the democratic socialist's victory.

"We know he's going to try, but we're ready," said Chowdhury, who works in finance.

"We fought back the establishment, and we're going to do the same to the president."

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