Morning Buzz: Higher taxes to hit 1.6 million Australians

More than one million Australians will be hit with increased taxes over the next five years as the rising wages of middle income earners force them into higher tax brackets.

The assessment from the Parliamentary Budget Office, released on Wednesday, could set the stage for pre-election personal tax cuts as early as next year.

The Budget Office found the average tax rate will climb 2.3 per cent over the next five years and affect at least 1.6 million Australians. Read more.

Two new cases of measles has been confirmed- bringing the total of cases in the Sutherland Shire to four.

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District said there was no direct link between the two new cases so far. They are investigating whether they could be linked to the two previous cases.

Measles is highly infectious and symptoms include fever, sore eyes and a cough followed a few days later by a non-itchy rash, when the fever is still present. Read more.

A truck driver has escaped with minor injuries after his prime mover and trailer went up in flames in dramatic scenes at Berrima. 

The truck was carrying a load of frozen goods when it caught alight on the Hume Highway about 8.25am on Wednesday. 

It crashed into the side of the Wingecarribee River Bridge, coming to rest against the balustrade, with burning matter toppling over the edge. Read more.

A video of a Cronulla real estate agent picking up a one metre long shark in the Oak Park rock pool and throwing it back into the ocean has gone viral.

The video of Melissa Hatheier was posted on the Cronulla Real Estate Facebook page on Tuesday.

“Our in house Shark Wrangler Melissa Hatheier wrestling a shark out of Oak Park Rock Pool yesterday morning! Nice work Mel!”, the post read. Read more.

New court orders diverting offenders from prison and into community-based supervision and treatment programs are more effective at reducing re-offending rates than prison sentences, according to groundbreaking new research.

The state's prisoner population is at a record high of 13,092 and the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has said consistently there is "strong evidence that prison exerts little to no deterrent effect".

It will publish a report on Thursday showing intensive correction orders (ICOs) - which are an alternative to short prison sentences - have led to a drop of up to 31 per cent in the odds of a person re-offending, compared with offenders given a prison sentence of up to two years. Read more.

A man has been charged with 10 offences after he allegedly took a stolen semi-trailer on a rampage through a Hunter Valley town on Wednesday, crashing into cars and buildings and causing a fireball to erupt.

The main street of Singleton was left looking like a war zone after Rodney Johnson, 29, allegedly crashed into several cars, injuring eight people, just before 9am.

One of the injured people, a 64-year-old man, is fighting for his life after being trapped in his car when it was hit by the semi-trailer, which was carrying mushroom compost. Read more.​

Commercially sensitive information on the $14 billion Joint Strike Fighter program, Australia's next fleet of spy planes and several of its naval warships have been stolen by hackers who breached a Department of Defence contractor, a government official has revealed.

A manager at the Australian Signals Directorate - the government's main national security cyber spies - told a conference in Sydney on Wednesday that the hackers stole 30 gigabytes of data including on the Defence projects.

ASD incident response manager Mitchell Clarke told the Australian Information Security Association conference that the ASD had codenamed the hacker 'Alf' after the Home and Away character played by Ray Meagher. Read more.

Sydney boss Graham Arnold is determined that his team complete the domestic treble of the Premiers Plate, Championship and FFA Cup, and they are now one win away from doing so after seeing off the challenge of South Melbourne in the FFA Cup semi-final on Wednesday night with a 5-1 win at Lakeside.

In the final they will face the winners either Adelaide United or Western Sydney Wanderers, who will play the second semi later in October. Read more.

The Socceroos path to Russia has finally become clear but the road ahead takes them to one of the most deadly cities in the world. 

Australia will play Honduras in the final 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying play-off after the Central American nation stunned giants Mexico at home, winning 3-2 and benefiting from other results going in their favour.

None was bigger than the humiliating 2-1 loss US suffered at the hands of minnows Trinidad and Tobago to miss out on qualifying for a World Cup for the first time in 32 years. Read more.

Ange Postecoglou has made the shock decision to quit as Socceroos coach in November, even if Australia qualifies for the 2018 World Cup.

Sources close to Postecgolou on Wednesday morning said the coach planned to step down because he wished to take up opportunities that may arise at club level overseas. Read more.

A rock has shattered a window on the Australian cricket team's bus after their T20 victory over India in Guwahati.

No one was injured in the incident which happened as the team was returning to their hotel from the Barsapara Stadium on Wednesday morning AEST.

The rock left a large hole in a window towards the back of the bus.

The seat next to the window was unoccupied at the time. Read more.

As a chastened Josh Dugan vowed to lock himself away on days off, one of his Australian teammates revealed he planned to run off to Byron Bay one game-day during the World Cup.

The Australians gathered in Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of a weekend trial against Fiji and Papua New Guinea at Suva's ANZ Stadium, with an errant Dugan assuring the media there would be no repeat of the NSW north-coast drinking session with Blake Ferguson during State of Origin that reportedly played a role in coach Laurie Daley's sacking. Read more.