Here is a look at what is making news around the country today.

Today’s national news includes Prime Minister Albanese vowing to strengthen measures vs online frauds, the prime minister chiding Peter Dutton over his ‘bizarre’ call to boycott Woolworths, Australia’s road toll up increasing seven per cent in 2023, and PM Albanese criticized by Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley over National Reconstruction Fund.

National

PM vows to strengthen protection from online frauds

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to look at any measures possible to protect businesses from scams after thousands of online shoppers had their credit card details stolen by hackers in a major coordinated attack, news.com.au has reported. Large businesses including Dan Murphy’s, Event Cinemas and Guzman Y Gomez were targeted by cybercriminals who fraudulently accessed over 15,000 customers’ online accounts since November last year. Scammers who purchased the stolen login details from overseas cyber-criminals then racked up thousands in online purchases.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/prime-minister-calls-major-hack-a-scourge-after-guzman-y-gomez-binge-targeted-in-coordinated-cyber-hack/news-story/d4853d70755478a1f72acb1197a7e287

Politics

PM criticized over National Reconstruction Fund

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has slammed the Labor government’s “downright deceitful” National Reconstruction Fund as manufacturers are yet to receive “one single cent” despite the Prime Minister’s open-for-business claim, Skynews reported. “It passed the parliament nearly one year ago and it hasn’t delivered one single cent to a manufacturing business. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that it was open for business, effectively indicating that you could apply and get money from this fund but the fund’s website says it is in a start-up phase.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/anthony-albanese-torched-over-downright-deceitful-national-reconstruction-fund/video/c0294c35bb0ef7542959cd0d90973c40

Finance

PM rebukes Peter Dutton over his ‘bizarre’ call to boycott Woolworths

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has unleashed on Peter Dutton’s “bizarre” call for a boycott of Woolworths, accusing the opposition leader of being more concerned with fighting a culture war than on helping Australians with the cost of living, news.com.au has reported. Mr Dutton has attacked the supermarket giant’s decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise – a move that Aldi has since followed last week. Mr Albanese said the call was an “extraordinary oversearch by a guy to make a point on a radio interview” and said such a call risked putting more than 200,000 people out of a job.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/peter-duttons-bizarre-boycott-of-woolies-slammed-claims-it-could-risk-up-to-200000-aussie-jobs/news-story/37a7a39cd6bda9545e73193b938c8dc2

Motoring

Road tolls up by seven per cent in 2023

Newly released figures from the Australian Government have revealed the country’s road toll increased by more than seven per cent in a single year, drive.com.au reported. According to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, a total of 1266 road-related deaths were reported during 2023. While it represents an increase of 7.3 per cent compared with 2022’s road toll, the figures equate to a 4.8 per cent increase when viewed per capita. Currently, there are almost five deaths annually for every 100,000 Australians.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/australian-road-toll-jumped-in-2023/