PM

On Business PM: Global ratings agency Standard and Poors' reveals ballooning external debt and overheated home lending make Australia vulnerable to a downgrade; And it's not the only high profile institution sounding a warning on debt as leading global economist Willem Buiter says it will be almost impossible for China to achieve a soft landing and that will have big ramifications for Australia.

South east Queensland landholders have claimed a stunning win in the courts today, after expansion plans for a coal mine in the region was rejected. Queensland's Land Court has recommended against the controversial New Acland expansion in the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane. But, the battle isn't over yet, with the Queensland Government yet to approve the decision.

And coal workers hope it doesn't.

The latest data on lending points to a soft landing for the east coast property market, not a correction, or crash, as some have speculated. Loans to owner occupiers rose half a percentage point in May, producing an annual growth rate of 6 per cent - the slowest growth in 19 months. But despite efforts by the regulators, there's evidence investors are still taking up the lion's share of new loans in the property market.

The EPA will allow Australia's largest salmon company Tassal to farm more salmon in Macquarie Harbour that the area's current biomass limit as long as Tassal collects fish faeces from under its pens. The company has previously had a lease shut down after fish faeces damaged the environment at the lease.

'Unfair' rules barring carbon capture and storage projects from being funded by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will be removed under a plan announced today by the Federal Government. It says such a move will help reduce carbon emissions, but Labor's calling the change a 'stunt' while the Greens say the government's subsidising the fossil fuel industry at the expense of renewables.

An announcement on a billion-dollar subsidised loan for Adani's planned mega-mine project could be just weeks away. Adani has asked the Federal Government's Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility or NAIF to give it the loan to fund a railway to the mine. NAIF's CEO has told a public forum that it will make its first funding announcements in the new financial year.

The mining giant, Glencore has placed doubt over the future of its north Queensland operations, where it employs 2,000 people. In a letter to the Federal and Queensland Governments, Glencore says it can't guarantee the long-term future of its copper plants, blaming electricity prices and an uncertain investment market. It comes just weeks ahead of the release of a Federal Government report into the energy sector, and as taxpayer subsidies are considered for other major projects.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has introduced the bank tax bill to Parliament. It's the first time all the details have been publicly available. Changes have been made to the original proposal, after the Government consulted with the banks.

The US economy has achieved a rare feat - what economists call 'full employment'. Trillions of dollars were injected into the economy in the wake of the financial crisis, when unemployment was in the double digits. Now most Americans have a job. But it's come at a big cost. Wages haven't moved in years, and in some cases, have gone backwards. Experts say it means there's virtually no chance of Donald Trump's big economic promises coming true, and there are also significant implications for Australia.

It might seem harmless at the outset but new research out today reveals uncontrolled mobile phone use is leading adolescents down a dangerous path of sleep deprivation, plummeting self-esteem and other mental health issues. Researchers at Murdoch and Griffith Universities spent three years tracking how Australian teenagers use their phones at night and found their device addiction becomes worse over time. The findings are published today in the journal 'Child Development'.