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The teenager identified as racially abusing Latrell Mitchell during an NRL game has escaped criminal charges, instead receiving a formal warning from NSW Police.

The 14-year-old male allegedly directed a racist comment towards Mitchell as the players left the field at halftime of South Sydney's 16-10 loss to Penrith at BlueBet Stadium last Thursday.

The incident sparked calls for the NRL to ban the spectator for life, with Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou vowing the Rabbitohs would file a police report on the matter.

On Thursday, NSW Police confirmed they had met with the alleged offender and finalised their investigation.

"Following inquiries by officers attached to Nepean Police Area Command, a 14-year-old boy has been spoken to and issued a warning under the Young Offenders Act," NSW Police said in a statement to AAP.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the teenager disputed his comment was racially motivated.

The NRL confirmed to AAP their investigation remained ongoing.

"The Integrity Unit has been liaising with police and will soon finalise its own investigation," an NRL official said.

Ahead of Mitchell's first game since the incident, Demetriou said the fullback - a Biripi and Wiradjuri man - had drawn strength from the outpouring of support he had received.

"The support from the game, particularly from our club and everybody involved in it, and the way the NRL handled it was first class," Demetriou said.

"(Mitchell) has got a lot of support and he's got a lot of confidence out of that as well."

Mitchell and the Rabbitohs face traditional rivals the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Friday.

The last time the sides met, the Roosters' fans subjected Mitchell - who won two premierships at the Tricolours before he joined South Sydney - to a barrage of boos.

While Roosters players have urged their supporters to go easy on Mitchell this time around, Demetriou said his No.1 would garner plenty of support from the Rabbitohs faithful on gameday.

"If people want to boo, that's their choice," Demetriou said.

"They weren't booing him for being Indigenous ... they were booing him because he was a Rabbitohs player.

"He'll be well received, there'll be a hell of a lot of Rabbitohs supporters there and he'll get great support from them."

© AAP 2023

The job market remains in good shape but a return to a near 50-year unemployment low has reinvigorated the case for more interest rate hikes.

The jobless rate fell back to 3.5 per cent in February after an unexpected uptick to 3.7 per cent the previous month.

About 64,600 jobs were added during the month, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

"With employment increasing by around 65,000 people and the number of unemployed decreasing by 17,000 people, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent," head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

"This was back to the level we saw in December."

The unemployment rate improved in every state and territory except Queensland, which has corrected a little from particularly strong results previously.

The participation rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 66.6 per cent, also back to its December level.

The February boost in employment followed two consecutive months of declines, with 10,900 jobs disappearing from the economy in January.

Many economists expected a bounce back in the employment numbers because of the unusually high number of people waiting to start a new job in the previous month.

The February number came in a little higher than the consensus forecasts of a 50,000 lift in employment over the month, effectively unwinding the weak January result.

EY chief economist Cherelle Murphy said the February jobs data offered a clearer picture of the jobs market unhindered by COVID-19 and bad weather.

"It's hot," she said.

"Signs of weakness in December and January are gone, with more Australians working than ever before and the number of hours worked also at a record high."

Hours worked were up 5.1 per cent compared to February 2022, with hours worked lifting 8.4 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

The return to a national jobless rate in the mid-threes - with one unemployed person for every job vacancy - will likely support the case for further interest rate rises.

The RBA has softened its communications around future rate hikes and indicated it is getting closer to putting them on hold, but said it would base its April decision on incoming data.

BIS Oxford Economics head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the tight labour market was starting to generate faster wage growth.

"Labour cost pressures are still contained and the RBA is looking to ensure this remains the case," he said.

Ms Murphy also said the strong labour market would support the household sector as home owners stump up higher mortgage repayments.

A strong report card for the business sector in NAB's monthly survey also suggests the RBA has more work to do to cool the economy despite concerns of financial instability overseas.

Employment Minister Tony Burke said there were no signs of a wage-price spiral and the link between low unemployment and higher wages had been weakened over the years.

"The macro-economists talk about the hydraulic pressure that when unemployment is low, it pushes wages up but in Australia we have had industrial relations laws where that hydraulic pressure is there but there are leaks in the pipes," he told reporters in Sydney.

"We fixed a number of those leaks in the pipes last year, so that wages could start moving."

© AAP 2023

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia's relationship with China is markedly different to what it was three decades ago after Paul Keating attacked his government's acquisition of nuclear submarines.

The former Labor leader attacked the prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister directly, saying China wasn't a threat to Australia.

Mr Keating also described Australia's partnership with the US and UK through AUKUS as the worst international decision of a Labor government since the conscription policy during World War I.

Mr Albanese says he will govern in Australia's national interest.

"The world has changed," he told 3AW radio.

"China has changed his posture, and its position in world affairs since the 1990s when Paul Keating was active in politics, as a parliamentarian and as a leader.

"My job is to govern Australia in 2023 based upon what we see is the facts before us."

Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin attacked the AUKUS agreement for the "high-sounding rhetoric to deceive the world" with regards to nuclear non-proliferation.

All three nations are confident they remain compliant with their nuclear non-proliferation requirements, with the International Atomic Energy Agency director general content with how concerns have been handled.

Mr Wang said China was gravely concerned about the IAEA director's latest comments.

"The US, the UK, Australia and the IAEA secretariat have no right to make a deal between themselves on the safeguards issues in relation to AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation," he said.

"Safeguards issues related to nuclear submarine cooperation should be jointly discussed and decided by the international community."

The prime minister is also having to front criticism at home, with a second former prime minister weighing in on the AUKUS debate.

Malcolm Turnbull said Australia's plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines comes with a "very high risk" of failure.

As part of the arrangement, Australia will command a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines within the next three decades.

Mr Turnbull said Australia would need to train thousands of skilled workers, who then faced a challenge of finding work in a relevant field after the project finished.

Mr Turnbull also questioned whether Britain was going to be "financially strong enough" to be Australia's partner in delivering the boats, with the country's economy forecast to be the worst-performing large advanced economy this year.

He said unlike the UK, France - which Australia tore up a $90 billion submarine deal with for AUKUS - was already in the Indo-Pacific and had millions of citizens located there.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Mr Keating's comments showed there was division within the Labor Party over AUKUS.

"I think it is incumbent upon (the government) ... to rebuke the unhinged comments of Mr Keating," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"They should be taking the advice of the military and intelligence chiefs as opposed to Paul Keating."

State Labor premiers are also going head to head over where nuclear waste will be stored in the 2050s, with South Australian leader Peter Malinauskas saying it shouldn't necessarily be kept where the subs were built.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says it should be stored where all the jobs were going, with the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide being upgrade to be able to build nuclear submarines in the future.

"Apart from being parochial, I think if the jobs are going to a certain city maybe the waste can go to that state," he said.

"I don't think that's unreasonable, is it?"

© AAP 2023