Received

Australia and China have taken a first step towards repairing their diplomatic relationship following a "constructive" meeting between the leaders of the two nations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday.

It marked the end of a six-year diplomatic freeze and the start of better diplomatic relations.

China's $20 billion trade sanctions on Australia, detention of Australian citizens and relationship with Russia were discussed at the meeting.

The pair also discussed climate change and Mr Albanese urged Mr Xi to maintain the status quo when it comes to Taiwan.

But Mr Albanese said both leaders spoke honestly with each other about these issues.

"We have big differences to manage, but we're always going to be better off when we have dialogue and are able to talk constructively and respectfully, but also honestly, about what those differences are," he told reporters in Bali.

The prime minister said he urged the president to exercise China's influence on Russia in relation to the war in Ukraine.

But he said it would have been unrealistic to assume there would be solutions to the challenges in the Australia-China relationship in one meeting.

Mr Albanese described the meeting as a first step to moving forward but there were many more to go and there would be further meetings in future.

"It was a warm discussion ... I put (Australia's) position, clearly, firmly, but politely," he said.

Before the meeting, Mr Xi said he did not want difficulties in the China-Australia relationship.

"China and Australia are both important countries in the Asia Pacific region," he said.

"We should improve, maintain and develop our relationship as it is consistent with the fundamental interests of both countries' people."

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the importance of the meeting should not be underestimated as Australia seeks to "stabilise" the relationship between the countries.

"Australia's relationship with China has been in a difficult place, we know that," she told reporters on Wednesday.

"There are differences we need to manage, differences that will need to be dealt with but those differences are best managed through engagement ... we will cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we must and we will engage in the national interest."

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he hoped the talks would lead to an easing of trade bans placed on Australia.

"There are many other steps in the relationship, so let's hope that they can proceed, but from our perspective, we want a normalised relationship, but China has made that very hard over recent years," he told Sky News.

© AAP 2022

Donald Trump, who has mounted relentless attacks on the integrity of United States voting since his 2020 election defeat, has launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to pre-empt potential Republican rivals.

Trump, seeking a potential rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden, made his announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday a week after midterm elections in which Republicans failed to win as many seats in Congress as they had hoped.

In a speech broadcast live on US television, Trump spoke to hundreds of supporters in a ballroom decorated with several chandeliers and lined with dozens of American flags.

"In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," Trump said to a cheering phone-waving crowd of donors and longtime supporters.

Earlier in the day, aides filed paperwork with the US Federal Election Commission setting up a committee called "Donald J. Trump for President 2024".

For much of the speech, Trump steered clear of the name-calling that marked his recent public appearances, opting instead for a critique of Biden's presidency and a review of what Trump said was the policy achievements of his own time in office.

"Two years ago we were a great nation and soon we will be a great nation again," he said.

There is a long road ahead before the Republican nominee is formally selected in the summer of 2024, with the first state-level contests more than a year away.

Trump's announcement comes earlier than usual even in a country known for protracted presidential campaigns and signals his interest in discouraging other possible contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or his own former vice president, Mike Pence, from making a bid for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination.

DeSantis handily won re-election as governor during the midterms. Pence, while promoting his new book, has sought to distance himself from Trump.

Other potential Republican presidential hopefuls include Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump played an active role in the midterms, recruiting and promoting candidates who echoed his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

But many of his candidates in key battleground states lost, prompting some prominent Republicans to openly blame him for promoting weak candidates who derailed the party's hopes of taking control of the Senate.

Control of the House of Representatives remains up in the air, but Republicans are on track to win a razor-thin majority.

Trump will seek his party's nomination even as he faces trouble on several fronts, including a criminal investigation into his possession of government documents taken when he left office as well as a congressional subpoena related to his role in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack by his supporters.

Trump has called the various investigations he faces politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing.

Trump, 76, is seeking to become only the second US president in history to serve non-consecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland, whose second stint ended in 1897.

Biden, 79, said last week he intends to run for re-election and will likely make a final decision by early next year.

In an Edison Research exit poll, seven out of 10 midterm voters expressed the view that Biden, who remains deeply unpopular, should not run again.

In the same poll, six of 10 respondents said they had an unfavourable opinion of Trump.

During his turbulent 2017-2021 presidency, Trump defied democratic norms and promoted "America First" nationalism while presenting himself as a right-wing populist.

He became the first US president to be impeached twice, though congressional Democrats failed in their attempts to remove him from office.

The political landscape has changed dramatically since he won the presidency in 2016 and some in his party, including major donors, are exhausted by the drama surrounding him.

© RAW 2022

Wages are increasing at the fastest pace in a decade but inflation continues to outstrip pay rises, meaning pay packets are not lifting in real terms.

The national statistics bureau's wage price index lifted one per cent in the September quarter and 3.1 per cent annually in the September quarter.

"This is the highest quarterly growth in hourly wages recorded since March quarter 2012," Australian Bureau of Statistics program manager of prices Michelle Marquardt said.

In the June quarter, they grew 0.7 per cent in three months and 2.6 per cent over the year.

Ms Marquardt said rising pay packets were largely driven by the private sector, where they were growing at twice the rate of those in the public sector.

Including bonuses, private sector pay lifted 1.6 per cent for the quarter and 4.1 per cent annually.

Competition for workers has been putting upwards pressure on wages in the private sector, she said, as well as the Fair Work Commission's ruling to boost the minimum wage and awards.

But the rising cost of living continues to outstrip wages growth as headline inflation hit 7.3 per cent in the September quarter.

EY senior economist Paula Gadsby said the September quarter WPI result was a double-edged sword.

"Real wages continue to fall which will further weaken consumer confidence, already at recessionary lows due to the rising cost of living and rising mortgage rates," Ms Gadsby said.

"On the upside, it will not add much to price pressure, further assisting the Reserve Bank in their efforts to cool the economy and tame inflation."

The RBA has recently raised concerns about a wage-price spiral taking hold.

Ms Gadsby said fierce competition for labour - with the jobless rate close to 50-year lows - was only gradually feeding into wages growth.

Employment Minister Tony Burke said it was weak given the sustained low unemployment.

He said there were "leaks in the system" preventing the conversion of strong labour demand into higher pay.

"If you want to get wages moving, you have to start plugging those leaks in the pipes, you need to start closing those loopholes," Mr Burke said at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

"The next step in getting wages moving again is fixing Australia's broken bargaining system," he said, referring to Labor's proposed workplace reforms that include expanded multi-employer bargaining rights.

Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Liam O'Brien agreed the industrial relations system was failing workers.

"To get pay rises across the economy we need to make bargaining more accessible, in more workplaces," he said.

But some business groups warned the proposed reforms would do the opposite.

"If stronger wages growth is to be realised, it is vital that these gains are delivered by the enterprise bargaining system, which is reliant on increasing productivity," Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said.

"The proposed one-size-fits-all multi-employer bargaining changes will only reduce competition and hold back wages growth."

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said it showed businesses were prepared to offer higher pay to attract and retain staff.

"Today's WPI figures show encouraging signs that businesses are responding to a strong labour market with wages in the private sector growing at twice the rate of wages in the public sector in the September quarter."

The ABS will release its October employment data on Thursday.

© AAP 2022