Australia news live: Nationals senator Perin Davey would subject herself to random breath testing in parliament

Coalition frontbencher Perin Davey admitted to having two wines before a Senate estimates hearing but insists she was not inebriated.

LIVE – Updated at 07:11

Follow live.

Summary

07:11

Thanks for following along today’s live blog. Here is a wrap of the main headlines:

A Senate inquiry held its first round of hearings in Brisbane today, looking at whether cannabis should be legalised in Australia.

No more sites were identified with containing asbestos-contaminated mulch in the past day.

The government is continuing to advocate behind-the-scenes to bring Julian Assange back to Australia, Tanya Plibersek said today.

It was announced that Woolworths chief executive, Brad Banducci, will retire in September this year, when Amanda Bardwell will start as managing director and group CEO.

At mid-afternoon, Woolworths shares dropped 7.2% to a nearly year-and-a-half low of $33.27, on pace for their biggest fall since a 7.7% loss on 14 December 2021.

Police said a man has been placed under arrest in hospital overnight, following the discovery of three bodies in Sydney’s north-west yesterday.

Qantas announced former Telstra chairman John Mullen will become the new chair of the airline group’s board (and workers seemed hopeful he could change things).

Australian wages rose 0.9% in the three months to December, down from the record-breaking 1.3% quarterly growth through to September

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, accused the opposition of wanting to “whip up anger and fear in the Australian community because they think there’s votes in it for them”. (This was after shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, told Sky News that he was concerned about Australia issuing thousands of visas to Palestinian residents in the wake of the Gaza war – saying, “I don’t know how we can be doing adequate checks on the ground of those people”, among other things.)

And our prime minister Anthony Albanese declared himself a “Swiftie”, announcing he will be in attendance at the Taylor Swift concert in Sydney on Friday night. (Plibersek, on the other hand, announced her sadness at not being able to get her hands on a ticket.)

‘I would subject myself’ to random breath testing in parliament, Perin Davey says

07:07Sarah Basford Canales

The Nationals deputy leader, Perin Davey, has said she would subject herself to random breath testing in parliament if it were to be implemented after being criticised for appearing to be under the influence during a Senate estimates hearing.

The Coalition frontbencher admitted to having two wines before the incident but insists she was not inebriated. Davey explained on Tuesday she had ongoing speech challenges due to a medical incident years earlier, which causes her to slur her words.

Davey again insisted she was not drunk at the late-night estimates hearing on Sky News’ The Kenny Report on Wednesday evening.

I still maintain that I do not believe I was drunk and I will stand by that. I still maintain that I was able and capable to do my job, which I did.

Asked whether she was in a condition to legally drive a car, Davey said she wasn’t sure.

I wouldn’t know, I mean, we don’t have random breath testing in parliament. If we did, I would subject myself to it.

It is the second time this month a member of the Nationals has been in the spotlight for appearing to be under the influence of alcohol.

Earlier this month, the shadow veterans affairs minister, Barnaby Joyce, was filmed lying down on a Canberra pavement while uttering profanities into his phone. Joyce admitted it was a “big mistake” but said the incident occurred after he had mixed alcohol and prescription drugs.

06:53

Rio Tinto reports lower profit, charge for refineries

The world’s biggest iron ore producer has reported lower earnings on overall weakness in commodity prices but generated a boost to performance from an easing of energy costs.

Rio Tinto reported underlying earnings of US$23.9bn (A$36.4bn), down 9%, and net cash from operating activities of US$15.2bn, a 6% fall.

Capital investment guidance was unchanged at up to US$10bn per year in 2024, 2025 and 2026, the company said.

Rio Tinto said it expected to pay about US$1bn per year on closure activities – up from US$800m in 2023 – at the Gove alumina refinery, Argyle, Energy Resources of Australia and legacy sites.

“We will continue paying attractive dividends and investing in the long-term strength of our business as we grow in the materials needed in for a decarbonising world,” the chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, said.

Net earnings were US$10.1bn after a US$700m impairment charge mainly relating to Australian alumina refineries.

The resources heavyweight said it saw generally lower prices for commodities as supply improved and outpaced “modest” demand growth.

But there was a boost to underlying earnings from an easing of energy costs, including lower diesel prices for the Pilbara iron ore operations and lower energy bills at alumina refineries and aluminium smelters.

– Australian Associates Press

06:38

PM urges detained writer’s release after appeal waived

The prime minister has vowed to keep advocating for the release of Australian Dr Yang Hengjun after the jailed writer decided not to appeal his suspended death sentence.

Yang was found guilty of espionage charges in China in February after spending five years in prison.

He will still face the prospect of life behind bars at the end of a two-year suspended death sentence.

In a letter, Yang’s family and friends said they supported the imprisoned writer’s decision to waive his right to appeal:

Commencing an appeal would only delay the possibility of adequate and supervised medical care, after five years of inhumane treatment and abject medical neglect.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said work will continue by officials in calling for his release from prison. He told ABC radio:

We will continue to make representations to China that, in his interests, the Australian government will always stand up for the rights of Australian citizens.

We object in the strongest possible terms to the sentence that was handed out to him.

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the government respects the “difficult decision” Yang made.

I acknowledge the strength that Dr Yang’s family and friends have demonstrated through this period.

All Australians want to see Dr Yang reunited with his loved ones.

Yang’s family has described the charges levelled against him as being without factual basis and say there is little evidence of the justice system in China containing the rule of law.

– Australian Associated Press

06:19

Cyclone prompts WA pilots to jettison four-day strike

Industrial action by pilots in Western Australia has been called off because they might be needed for evacuation flights amid the looming threat of a cyclone.

More than 200 Network Aviation and QantasLink pilots were set to walk off the job tomorrow for four days over a long-running pay dispute.

But the strike at the Qantas subsidiary was cancelled on Wednesday after the state’s industrial relations minister, Simone McGurk, asked the Australian Federation of Air Pilots to stay at work.

“Given the risk posed by ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln in north-west WA, the [federation] has suspended the protected industrial action planned for Thursday to Sunday to enable evacuation flights to potentially take place if needed,” a union spokeswoman said.

– Australian Associated Press

06:09Daisy Dumas

Brisbane Portrait Prize backtracks on AI-generated art

The organisers of the $90,000 Brisbane Portrait Prize have backtracked on their “unconscionable” decision to allow wholly artificial intelligence-generated images to enter the prestigious competition.

The organisers originally argued that solely AI-generated work was justified on the basis that art is not stagnant and should reflect societal change – and that artists needed to retain copyright of the work, effectively barring the use of some AI platforms.

But they have since reneged after the controversial rules triggered an artists’ revolt and threats to boycott the prize.

Artworks generated wholly by AI would no longer be accepted and artists who do use AI must include the platforms, phrases and extent of the processes used to create the entry, the competition organisers said.

Our view is that AI is a tool many artists use on a daily basis, be that with intent, or by using the many programs and platforms which have it built into their operations. As a prize which allows digital entries and artistic processes, it is impractical to have a blanket ban on the use of AI.

The move brings the competition in line with others, including the National Portrait Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize for 2024, which allows the partial use of generative AI in entries.

Glenn Hunt, a former winner of the Brisbane prize’s digital category, helped lead the opposition to the original rules.

“The decision to embrace AI in what is solely the domain of human endeavour is unconscionable. The BPP board need to have a good hard look at themselves,” he told In Review before the backflip.

Coalition wants to ‘whip up anger and fear’ over visas for Palestinians, immigration minister claims

06:06Josh Butler

The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, has accused the opposition of wanting to “whip up anger and fear in the Australian community because they think there’s votes in it for them”, in a scathing response to criticisms about visas issued to Palestinians.

It follows comments by the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, who on Tuesday told Sky News that he was concerned about Australia issuing thousands of visas to Palestinian residents in the wake of the Gaza war – saying, “I don’t know how we can be doing adequate checks on the ground of those people” and “I’m deeply concerned that, at very least, among these 2,000 people will be sympathisers and political supporters of Hamas”.

Government data shows that between 7 October – the day of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel – and 6 February, Australia issued 2,415 visitor visas to people declaring Israeli citizenship and 2,273 visitor visas to people declaring Palestinian citizenship.

About 460 visitor visas for Palestinian applicants were refused in the same period.

Government data also shows that under the former Coalition government, there were sometimes 500 visas per week granted to Syrians fleeing that country’s civil war in 2015, for more than 12,500 in total. In 2021, the Coalition government also approved 5,000 visas for Afghan citizens in a single month.

Government ministers pointed to those data points to back the security checks carried out by federal agencies. The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, said: “We back our professional public servants and intelligence agencies who assess risk every day.”

Senator Paterson is once again showing there’s nothing the opposition won’t play for political gain.

Giles was more critical, claiming:

The Liberals and the Nationals want to whip up anger and fear in the Australian community because they think there’s votes in it for them.

Divisive [Liberal leader Peter] Dutton thinks dirty politics will make him prime minister, but he’s more [Pauline] Hanson than [John] Howard.

05:51

PM: Labor ‘consulting’ on recommendations to ban online gambling ads

Woolworths shares plunge as CEO Banducci plans exit

05:30

Woolworths shares were on track for their worst losses in years following the supermarket group’s announcement that Brad Banducci would be retiring as chief executive later this year.

At mid-afternoon today, Woolworths shares had dropped 7.2% to a nearly year-and-a-half low of $33.27, on pace for their biggest fall since a 7.7% loss on 14 December 2021.

The supermarket group also posted its half-year earnings of $1.69bn, up 3.3% from a year ago, with sales up 4.4% to $34.6bn. Trading in the first seven weeks of 2024 had continued to moderate.

E&P Capital retail analyst Phillip Kimber said the share price drop was to be expected, given the departure of a well-respected CEO during a period of heightened press and government scrutiny as well as very weak January Australian food sales.

The Woolworths chair, Scott Perkins, was emphatic that Banducci’s departure had nothing to do with the recent political controversies over Woolworths pricing and the stocking of Australia Day items.

“This process has been in train, there was no change in the timetable, no expedition at all,” Perkins said, adding that succession planning had begun in the middle of 2023 and he had been interviewing candidates since the back half of the year.

– Australian Associated Press

05:27

Labor’s Dunkley candidate Jodie Belyea ‘a real fighter, like Peta Murphy was’, says PM

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking on ABC Melbourne ahead of the Dunkley byelection, promoting former teacher and community leader Jodie Belyea.

She’s someone who’s a real fighter, like Peta Murphy was, and she understands the electorate. She’s a mum with a mortgage … She knows about issues facing locals.

Her son is doing his HSC this year … and she’s someone really connected, who Peta recruited, to the Labor party. And she’s someone who really cares about people.

She is certainly not a career politician, but she’s very warm, and just very honest and straightforward. And I think that has meant that she’s able to connect with people.

More to come from Albanese on ABC Melbourne in the next few posts.

05:26

PM says ‘we need to be careful’ about further cost-of-living relief measures

Ali Moore asked the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, if there was “more to come on cost of living”.

She put to him: “In this electorate [Dunkley], people say the tax cuts are nice to have, but they’re not really much of a help. The problem down here is in the hundreds of dollars a week, they’re not in the tens of dollars a week.”

Albanese said:

If you’re on an average income of $73,000, you’ll get a tax cut of over $1,500 a year – that’s more than double what people were going to get. But on top of that, you have the Medicare urgent care clinic … They’ve treated some 12,000 people through there already, to get that healthcare they need, when they need it for free. Cheaper childcare has led to a reduction in childcare costs of 11%, fee-free Tafe has made an enormous difference for people, cheaper medicines has made a difference as well. Australians have saved $300m since that was introduced last year.

We’ll look at further measures as well. We want to make sure that we address cost-of-living pressures whilst putting downward pressure on inflation. It’s no good just doing things that will have a negative long-term impact. We need to be careful about how we do it. And that’s what we’ve been doing.

04:45

A moment of silence for the minister for environment and water, Tanya Plibersek, who will not be attending the Eras tour.

She told 10 News:

I wish I was going to Taylor Swift. I hung – well, I didn’t hang on the line; I had the iPad going, the phone going, but I missed out. And do you know what’s worse? My husband got offered free tickets through his work, and he said no because he thought it would be a bad look. Can you imagine how unhappy I was when I heard that? Very upset.

Workers hopeful incoming Qantas chair can change airline

04:24

Airline workers have welcomed the appointment of former Telstra executive John Mullen as the next Qantas chairman, saying there is hope the new leadership will show greater accountability.

Mullen will join as chairman-elect on 1 July and take over the top role once Richard Goyder retires before Qantas’s annual meeting in October.

The incoming leader will be part of a new management team that includes chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who replaced Alan Joyce last year after the airline faced turbulent times.

Goyder and Joyce attracted plenty of controversy in recent years: there was a high court defeat over illegal job outsourcing; allegations the airline sold tickets to cancelled flights; and executive pay increases amid mass redundancies after it weathered the effects of Covid-19.

Australian and International Pilots Association president, Tony Lucas, urged Mullen to help Hudson bring about the cultural change she had promised. He said:

We look forward to greater accountability at the board level for decisions which affect the travelling public and dedicated Qantas staff.

Mr Mullen, the new board and the Qantas management team owe it to all Australians to restore Qantas to the brand that makes us all proud.

The Transport Workers Union was also optimistic. It said Mullen had had an open-door approach to the concerns of workers while he was chair of transport group Toll Holdings.

TWU national secretary, Michael Kaine, said the appointment was the first sign Qantas recognised it needed a shift in approach to unionised workers.

John Mullen has a track record of the earnest determination and openness required to steer the ship back towards the cherished icon Qantas once was.

– Australian Associated Press

04:23

On its website, AusNet advised customers were eligible for the relief payment from Tuesday but would not be able to submit applications until Thursday while AusNet updates its systems.

“We apologise for any confusion regarding the timeframe,” it said in a statement to AAP.

It will not impact our first payment run early next week.

There were 1,485 homes and businesses still without power on Wednesday morning as a result of the storms, and 37 homes have been deemed uninhabitable. All are expected to be reconnected by Friday. But the state is also bracing for more hot weather and storms tomorrow.

The state government has announced it will set up an expert panel to review the blackout, which disconnected power to 530,000 properties across the state.

– Australian Associated Press

04:22

Delay in compensation to Victorians without power

Victorians cut off from the power grid for more than a week after destructive storms will have to wait several extra days to lodge for compensation.

Prolonged power outage payments of $1,920 a week for households and $2,927 a week for businesses were announced on Friday after the storms swept through Victoria on 13 February.

Households and businesses are eligible for the payments, jointly funded by the state and federal governments, after spending at least seven days off power.

Power distribution companies were charged with distributing the payments, which were capped at up to three weeks.

The energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said AusNet, the main supplier hit by the widespread outages, advised her last night its website application system was not ready despite previous assurances it would be.

She said the delay was unacceptable, and that she had made her anger clear in conversations with the provider. She told reporters at state parliament today:

Here is another example where a privatised power company has failed to deliver in time for communities that are in need.

It is absolutely unacceptable.

She said she was “not polite” in urging AusNet to publish an explanation to customers on its website.

I’m very frank about what my expectations are of these companies.

– Australian Associated Press

(Keep an eye on the next blog post for more on this.)

04:05Emily Wind

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today. Rafqa Touma will be here to guide you through the rest of today’s news. Take care!

03:56

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln expected to reintensify into tropical cyclone north of WA

Moving north, ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln is set to move off the Kimberly coast and reintensify into a tropical cyclone north of Western Australia later this week.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there is a moderate risk it will redevelop into a tropical cyclone tomorrow night, and a high chance on Friday and Saturday.

From Sunday, ex-Lincoln is likely to be weakening over land, the bureau said.

03:52

Melbourne and other parts of Victoria under total fire ban tomorrow

A number of regions across Victoria will be under a total fire ban tomorrow, including Melbourne.

The districts under a total fire ban tomorrow include the Mallee, Wimmera, South West, Northern Country, North Central and Central fire districts.

The Central, South West and Wimmera districts have an extreme fire danger rating for tomorrow.

Melbourne is forecast to reach a top of 36C tomorrow according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The bureau said a front is crossing the south-east over the next few days, bringing hot temperatures tomorrow with an elevated fire danger before a cool change moves through.

On Friday, showers and storms are possible for much of New South Wales, including Sydney.

03:44

SA attorney general says government will seek extended supervision order on Snowtown accomplice

We’re now going to South Australia, where the state’s attorney general, Kyam Maher, is speaking following news that Snowtown accomplice Mark Ray Haydon’s application for release has been granted by the South Australian Parole Board.

(You can read more on this just earlier in the blog here).

Maher said:

The Parole Board has considered Mr Haydon’s parole application and agreed to the parole application on Mr Haydon imposing 27 different conditions on top of statutory conditions for his parole.

The government before this decision has already lodged an application with the supreme court for an extended supervision order, but has the potential to see further conditions placed beyond the May 20 release date.

We announced earlier this week it is our position as the government that Mr Haydon meets the test as a serious violent offender in the high-risk offenders act, but to put that beyond any doubt and to make sure that people who aid offenders after the fact in the future are captured by the high-risk offender act, we have legislation before parliament [that] I expect we’ll pass tomorrow to put that question beyond doubt and make sure the supreme court can consider our application for an extended supervision order.

03:29

Chalmers says 4.2% wages growth figure ‘very encouraging’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to the media from Brisbane about today’s wages growth data.

(You can read more on this earlier in the blog here.)

Chalmers says that real wages growth is back in the economy earlier than expected, and is “very encouraging”, but he acknowledges people are “still struggling” amid the cost-of-living crisis.

If you look at these numbers today, wages growth [is] at 4.2%, [the highest] annual growth since 2009. This is the first time we’ve had three consecutive quarters of real wages growth since 2018. It means that wages growth under the Albanese Labor government is more than 4%; under our predecessors, it was closer to 2%.

These are really welcome, really encouraging numbers. We are not getting carried away, because we know that people are still under pressure, and that’s why we want to get every taxpayer a tax cut from 1 July.

03:24

Total fire ban announced for southern parts of Tasmania until Saturday while north receives flood warnings

The Tasmanian fire service has declared a total fire ban for southern parts of the state from 2am tomorrow, through to Saturday.

Hobart, included in the warning, is forecast to be hot and windy tomorrow, reaching a maximum of 35C.

Meanwhile in the north of the state, the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood watch and act for St Helens, Beaumaris, Scamander and surrounds.

03:13

Concertgoers urged to plan ahead for Taylor Swift concert

NSW police are urging Swifties attending the Eras tour in Sydney this weekend to plan ahead.

In a statement, police said a “high visibility policing operation” will be in place, with large crowds expected from Friday through to Monday.

Operation commander, acting assistant commissioner Andrew Holland said:

With large crowds moving in and around the stadium, those who do not have a ticket are urged to stay away from the Sydney Olympic park precinct to avoid creating unnecessary congestion.

(This seems to be in reference to those who missed out on tickets gathering outside the venue to listen to the show instead.)

Holland continued:

Antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated, and police will act in a fair but firm manner to ensure everyone has a good time but not at the expense of other people’s safety, so take care of one another.

Snowtown ‘bodies-in-the-barrels’ accomplice Mark Ray Haydon due for release in May

03:07

Snowtown accomplice Mark Ray Haydon’s application for release has been granted by the South Australian Parole Board, the ABC has just reported.

Haydon, who was not convicted of any of the infamous 1990s murders but of assisting the murderers, is due for release in May.

Eight of the 11 people killed were found in barrels in a disused bank vault in the town, which is 150km north of Adelaide. A 12th death was linked to the killers.

The head of the board, Frances Nelson KC, said:

His institutional behaviour has been excellent throughout his incarceration. His compliance with prison rules and regulations has been such that we’re confident he will comply with parole conditions. He’s undertaken the various programs that we have prescribed for him and the department of correctional services have assessed him as being a low risk of reoffending.

We’re also mindful that his head sentence ends on 20 May, so in our view, the community would benefit – and he would benefit – from a period of supervision on parole prior to that.

He will be released firstly to the Adelaide pre-release centre. We have placed electronic monitoring as a condition, not because we think it’s really necessary from his perspective, but it will give some reassurance to the community given the notoriety of his offences and the fact that it’s attracted so much publicity.

The ABC says the supreme court will next week hear an application to have Haydon deemed a high-risk offender. If successful, the judge would be able to impose supervision conditions and restrictions on Haydon similar to parole conditions when his full sentence ends in May.

ATO considering writing off ‘robotax’ debts, commissioner says

02:55

Our own Sarah Basford Canales has just asked Chris Jordan about the ATO’s campaign to resurrect old on-hold debts, which she noted has “caused unnecessary distress for older Australians [and] lower-income earners, those most at risk”.

Q: What has gone wrong with this initiative?

Jordan said that thresholds were in place for low amounts of debt “for decades”, noting there was a bucket of debt called “uneconomic to pursue”.

But when debt collection was “pretty much” all turned off during Covid lockdowns, Jordan said that couldn’t last forever, so when the the debt collection systems were turned back on, the Australian National Audit Office questioned those on-hold debts.

[We argued] this has worked well for decades [and] we cannot spend the money to chase 5 cents, $2. It’s ridiculous. And they gave us a negative finding on our accounts and said, we are not conforming with the law.

Now, as a regulator, we can’t purposely not conform with the law. We have to. So, we’re working our way through, and we’ve ceased all of that correspondence. Probably wasn’t the best example of a project to communicate to people. We were never asking for the money. It was only – if you get a refund, you will now have this small amount owing, because the ANAO gave us a negative finding on our annual accounts saying we did not conform with the law.

We didn’t want to do it … We’re now working our way through what the best thing to do is.

Q: Why hasn’t the ATO asked the government for a reprieve for those at-risk taxpayers?

Jordan suggested this is “a bit unfair” to those who did pay their debts before 2017, but said this is an alternative they are looking at.

It would be a significant amount of money and it is the minister for finance that would have to exercise their discretion to write that off. But it is one of alternatives we’re looking at.

02:32

Chris Jordan questioned over consulting firms’ relationship with ATO

Taking questions from reporters, Chris Jordan is asked whether the big four consulting firms have a “cosy relationship” with the ATO, and if anything needs to change in regards to that relationship?

Jordan joked that “the big four firms don’t think that they have a cosy relationship with us.”

He continued:

They have their arguments, we work with them, we need them in the system. They’re systemic advisors that are necessary. Tax can be complex in that international cross-border sphere and new complex transactions. I think it’s a shame that you might see less willingness of senior private sector people wanting, for all the right reasons, to come and give back and do good thing for the public service, usually taking a significant reduction in remuneration. I think you might see that there will be less interest in that. But you can’t just be a closed shop …

You do need an interchange to have a thriving, stimulating environment. It’s good for people in the ATO to go to the private sector and maybe come back. It’s good for private sector to come and do things. And we get the benefit of knowledge that we might not have happened.

Jordan rejected the notion of “cosiness” and said it’s healthy to have an interchange.

[Just] because you happen to work somewhere once, doesn’t mean that forever after, you love everyone that’s ever there, who you’ve probably never met 99% or so of.

Alex Hawke faces fresh expulsion push

02:28Paul Karp

In July we reported that Liberal MP and Scott Morrison ally Alex Hawke was facing a push to expel him from the party over claims he delayed preselections, harming the Morrison government’s chances at the 2022 election.

According to the agenda of the New South Wales Liberal state council, that expulsion motion will be voted on this Saturday.

The motion was put forward by the Artarmon branch of the Liberal party, who cited accusations that Hawke, the former immigration minister, failed to attend nomination review committee meetings before the 2022 election, delaying preselections.

In July a Liberal source told Guardian Australia that Hawke was a “deeply unpopular figure” in the party but some fear the motion sets a “dangerous precedent” and although some may vote for the motion to “let off steam” it was regarded by many as a “dumb idea”.

We hear Hawke’s faction and the moderates are strongly against the motion. It is a possibility, but more likely than not it will not get up. A protest vote of 40 or 50% (the threshold for expulsion is 60%) would still be embarrassing for Hawke, if it materialises.

Other interesting motions for debate include:

Reinstating the membership of Matthew Camenzuli, who was expelled after he brought a court challenge against the process that allowed Morrison and a three-person panel to select candidates before the 2022 election; and

So suffice to say, not always happy families in the NSW Liberal state division.

02:18

ATO concerned about ‘industrialisation of identity theft’

Back at the National Press Club, and taxation commissioner Chris Jordan is now taking questions from reporters.

Speaking about cybersecurity, Jordan said he is concerned about what he calls the “industrialisation of identity theft through large-scale cyber breaches”.

He pointed to the Medibank and Optus hacks, and the “pool of information they have on people that can be used to create an identity of someone that is not that person using it”.

There was a situation recently where 30,000 new super funds were created in a very short period of time … using information from the dark web that they had received from the big data breaches. But the curious bit of this was – they were using bots.

… The criminals couldn’t fill out the forms to create the new super funds quick enough, so they devised a bot to do that work for them. Now, this is scary stuff. This is things that we really have to keep on top of, we really have to keep investing in, we have to keep convincing government that is something that continuous funding will be required.

02:11

ATO efforts to secure tax revenue from multinationals ‘paying off’

Taxation commissioner Chris Jordan said that being a good taxpayer is increasingly a key aspect of multinationals’ social licence when operating in Australia.

Speaking at the press club, he said the Tax Avoidance Taskforce (established in 2016) has secured around $30bn in additional tax revenue from multinational, large public and large private businesses – and future tax performance has been locked in.

[We are] requiring companies to agree to the tax treatment of their operations. Apple, BHP, Chevron, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, ResMed and Rio Tinto have all publicly acknowledged finalising disputes with the ATO.

These are landmark victories. The size of these successes for the benefit of all Australians are without precedent in the history of the ATO, and our efforts are paying off … being a good taxpayer [is] increasingly a key aspect of their social licence to operate in Australia.

ATO’s commissioner of taxation says ‘we defend against 4.7m attempted cyber attacks each month’

02:09

We’ll take you now to the National Press Club, where the ATO’s commissioner of taxation, Chris Jordan, has been speaking.

He’s been talking about the transformation the Australian Taxation Office has been through over the last decade, and since he took the job in 2013 – particularly in relation to its digital transformation.

He said the ATO has made “significant progress towards our vision of being a leading tax, super and registry administrator”, by emphasising “a culture where we don’t and won’t accept the status quo”.

Speaking about new challenges, Jordan said cybersecurity keeps him awake at night, noting that the risk of sophisticated fraud attempts “will only continue to grow”.

We hold about 50 petabytes of data. Now, to put that into context, that’s equivalent to one billion tall filing cabinets … Our security system and advanced systems monitor, they do detect and respond to cyber threats that face us at the ATO. On average, we defend against 4.7m attempted cyber attacks each month.

They target our websites, our services, and our infrastructure. And while we navigate these challenges, we have to keep pace with technology while continuing to innovate and expand our use of data to drive digitalisation. However, I’m not under any illusions the ATO of 2024 is perfect.

02:06Caitlin Cassidy

ACTU backs full funding for public schools

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has backed growing calls for the commonwealth to increase its public school funding, bringing it in line with state ministers and the Australian Education Union.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said she was deeply concerned that only 1.3% of public schools in Australia were currently funded to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), the minimum baseline for a decent education. Some 98% of private schools are funded at or above it.

The education minister, Jason Clare, has sealed a deal with Western Australia to lift its funding share to 22.5%, with the state government to fund the rest of the SRS. But the remaining states have rejected it, pushing the commonwealth to come to the table with a 5% offer ahead of a meeting of education ministers on Friday.

O’Neil said due to the federal government’s “superior revenue-raising capacity”, it should lift its minimum share of the SRS from 20 to 25% – to be legislated to prevent any future cuts.

The opportunity to fix this exists now. The future funding of every public school will be determined by governments in new agreements this year. We call on the federal government to ensure that these agreements are signed this year.

01:55Henry Belot

Comcare launches investigation into NDIS Commission over allegedly unsafe workloads

The federal government’s workplace safety commission, Comcare, has launched a formal investigation into the NDIS Commission over allegations it has not responded to an order to improve worker safety.

In April, Comcare ordered the NDIS Commission to identify and eliminate any “psychosocial hazards” allegedly caused by extreme workloads placed on staff. The commission responds to complaints from NDIS participants about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Unions and some workers fear workloads have impacted the quality of their work.

Comcare’s director of regulatory programs, Luka Campbell, confirmed the investigation in an email to stakeholders:

Comcare will be commencing an investigation into alleged noncompliance with the improvement notice within the compliance period. The investigation will be conducted separately to our ongoing engagement with the NDIS Commission to ensure compliance with the directions of the notice. Our inspectors will continue to provide advice and assistance to ensure compliance with the notice.

The NDIS Commission has been contacted for comment. The commission has previously told staff it sought “an internal review of the notice” and that Comcare decided to press ahead with it.

The Community and Public Sector Union’s deputy secretary, Beth Vincent-Pietsch, spoke with Guardian Australia and claimed that staff conditions have got worse since the improvement notice was issued.

Both the people who work there and people with disability are being put at risk … People with disability and their families need the NDIS Commission to be a proactive and powerful body that regulates providers of NDIS disability support services … significant work health and safety breaches within the Commission are compromising its ability to do that.

Wages grow 4.2% in 12 months to December

01:53

Australian wages rose 0.9% in the three months to December, down from the record-breaking 1.3% quarterly growth through to September, AAP reports.

Annually, the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a 4.2% increase in the wage price index, from 4.1% in the 12 months to September.

The December result was the highest annual growth since March 2009.

Wages were growing faster than inflation, representing a real pay gain for workers.

Private sector wages lifted 0.9%, the same pace as in the quarter before.

In the public sector, salaries lifted 1.3% – the highest quarterly rise in 15 years.

01:48Andrew Messenger

Landlord charged over alleged lack of smoke alarms at Russell Island property where six people died

The landlord of a Russell Island home where six people died in a fire in 2023 has been charged over an alleged lack of smoke alarms at the property.

Wayne Godinot, 34, died after racing into the house in an effort to rescue his five young boys who all also died in the fire. Their mother, Samantha Stephenson, 28, and another occupant survived the blaze, which destroyed three homes in August last year

Today, Queensland police revealed they had issued a 61-year-old Tweed Heads woman with a notice to appear at the Cleveland magistrates court on 26 March. She will face one count of “owners must install smoke alarms”.

She was not present when the fire occurred, police say.

Since 2022, all rental properties in Queensland are required to be fitted with several functioning smoke alarms. All domestic dwellings – including owner-occupied houses – must be compliant by 2027.

If found guilty, the maximum sentence is a fine of $770.

A spokesperson for the police said it would be open to the magistrate to take into account the circumstances of the alleged offence to determine a penalty.

Detectives continue to investigate the fire and a final report is expected to be submitted to the coroner.

01:43Eden Gillespie

Man charged with vandalising several Woolworths stores

A man has been ordered not to step foot within 50 metres of any Woolworths after being charged with vandalising several stores.

His alleged actions came after the supermarket chain confirmed it would not stock Australia Day merchandise.

Travis Profke, of Ormiston in Queensland, is accused of spray-painting graffiti outside Woolworths Metro in Teneriffe on 15 January.

He has also been charged with vandalising supermarkets at Victoria Point and Cleveland on 13 January.

Profke appeared at a Brisbane court on Wednesday charged with two counts of wilful damage and two counts of wilful damage by graffiti.

The 40-year-old was allowed bail on the condition he would not attend or approach within 50 metres of any Woolworths store.

He is next scheduled to appear at Brisbane magistrates court on 20 March.

01:40

Ex-Cyclone Lincoln set to intensify off WA coast

A “whiplash” weather shift is set to impact Western Australia’s north-west as ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln threatens to intensify.

A week after enduring scorching temperatures, the Carnarvon region may be impacted by a category-one cyclone in the coming days.

Heavy rain continues to lash WA’s far north-west as the ex-cyclone slowly moves off the Kimberley coast on Wednesday.

The system is set to strengthen offshore and form a cyclone again by Friday before tracking back toward the WA coast west of Onslow on the weekend.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson told AAP:

It is very much a whiplash in terms of the shift in conditions compared to what we saw last weekend.

Carnarvon got to 49.9C on Sunday and they are looking at a low end category-one system moving past them this weekend.

Ex-cyclone Lincoln has a chance of strengthening into a category-two system early on Saturday, the bureau warned.

– Australian Associated Press

01:31Amy Remeikis

Peter Dutton to speak at Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference

The Coalition may have lost a few battles when it came to stopping the government’s changes to 60-day dispensation, but it obviously hasn’t let go of the war, with Peter Dutton to speak at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference next month.

Mark Butler changed regulations to allow 60-day prescriptions, in a bid to save chronically ill patients money in medical dispensation costs, GP visits for repeat scripts and transport. The move was welcomed by GPs who had been pushing for the change, but bitterly opposed by pharmacists, who would lose out on the dispensation fees the government pays for each script they fill.

The Coalition took the side of the pharmacists and attempted to stop the regulation change, but were unsuccessful. Butler did agree to enter negotiations for the new community pharmacy agreement early and committed to reinvesting any saved funds from the dispensation changes back into community pharmacies.

But the issue has continued to bubble along beneath the surface.

Both Dutton and the shadow health minister Anne Ruston are down to present at next month’s Gold Coast pharmacy conference – so keep an eye on this space.

AFL stands firm on ‘no stadium, no Tasmanian club’

01:19

The AFL is not backing away from its “no stadium, no team” condition for the new Tasmanian club as the planned $715 million ground in Hobart’s CBD continues to be a divisive election issue.

Tasmania premier Jeremy Rockliff, who is aiming to be re-elected after calling an early poll for 23 March, has pledged to cap state government spending on the Macquarie Point stadium at $375 million.

Opposition leader Rebecca White has vowed to renegotiate the deal with the AFL if Labor is elected, insisting the waterfront stadium is not “the right priority for our state”.

“We also don’t believe it can be built on that site, for that price and in that time frame,” said White, who still wants an AFL team for Tasmania but without the cost to taxpayers.

When asked if he would be willing to renegotiate the agreement for the Tasmanian club, league boss Andrew Dillon said he would not be drawn into “hypotheticals”.

Dillon said:

We’ve been really clear on saying that the licence that we have for the 19th team in Tasmania, which will be an amazing thing for Tasmania … that we do need to have a stadium in Hobart, at Macquarie Point, (seating) at least 23,000 people and with a roof, because that was a pivotal part of the business case.

Dillon was adamant the AFL would go ahead with unveiling the nickname, widely tipped to be the Devils, and jumper in March despite the possibility of a change in state government.

– Australian Associated Press

01:08Caitlin Cassidy

Sydney high school and university students to walk out of class next Thursday in support of a Gaza ceasefire

The protest, part of a national strike by grassroots group Students for Palestine, is the third student-led action in New South Wales since the conflict began.

Eva, a member of local group High Schoolers for Palestine, said school kids in Gaza were being faced with “terror”.

We can’t just go to class and pretend like there isn’t a genocide going on. When we went on strike last year, Chris Minns told us that if we wanted to see change, we had to stay in school and get an education. But high school students in Gaza can’t go to school right now, they can’t get an education.

Noura, a Palestinian high schooler, said she was helping to organise the strike because “silence is not an option”.

It’s not fair that we get to start our school year whilst the schools in Gaza have been cancelled.

00:50

Over three nights of Eras Tour concerts at the MCG, Swifties used around 35 terabytes of data

Some fascinating stats have dropped from Telstra, following on from last weekend’s Taylor Swift concerts in Melbourne.

Over the three nights of Eras Tour concerts at the MCG, Swifties used around 35 terabytes of data – equivalent to 15,500 hours of video content travelling over the Telstra network.

To put that in perspective, to consume all the content that went over the Telstra network across those three nights, you’d need to stream the Eras Tour concert film, on loop, for 1.7 years straight.

Compared with other artists at the same venue, Taylor Swift fans used almost 200% more data.

The peak of data usage was just before the opening. People uploaded videos they’d captured steadily throughout the night, but at the end of the 1989 era when it was time for the surprise songs, downloads decreased and everyone was paying attention, Telstra says.

Traffic peaked again when it was time to go home, as people started to order Ubers, check tram schedules and map their routes home.

Ahead of the Sydney concerts, an upgraded 5G antenna system as been installed at Accor Stadium, which is expected to significantly improve the indoor performance.

00:36

Albanese on Dutton: ‘he’ll say anything in the short term in order to have an impact, without having any regard to the facts’

While on ABC Sydney, Anthony Albanese responded to questions from callers, including Ash from Drummoyne.

Ash asked the following question:

What worries me is that [opposition leader] Peter Dutton has taken the American attitude, or the Trump attitude, of coming out and just making false statement after false statement and no one fights back … Why isn’t the attack going back on him?

Albanese said he would call out the misinformation that is there, pointing to the claim Dutton made regarding cuts to Border Force (which Ash also raised).

He said the “appropriate authorities, the person who leads Operation Sovereign Borders, has said that the comments, without naming Mr Dutton, are inappropriate.”

Albanese continued:

And it is a problem that in politics these days you can get a lot of misinformation just stated out there. It gets a run and then the rebuttal gets a run as well. But that message has already been out there and I think that politicians need to be more responsible.

Peter Dutton, I think though, over a period of time people are working out that he just says no to everything, that he’ll say anything in the short term in order to have an impact, without having any regard to the facts that are there with any matter. And this is just the latest one. The tax cuts were another one.

And for some more context on this, you can have a read below:

00:20

Albanese says he has ‘engaged with Julian Assange’s legal team on a regular basis’

Speaking on ABC Sydney earlier this morning, the PM reiterated he had raised Assange’s case “at the highest levels” with the US and the UK.

I have put the view very clearly, privately, as I have publicly, that enough is enough. It’s time Julian Assange was brought home. I’ve engaged with his legal team on a regular basis as well, on a strategy to try to get through this and come out the other side in Mr Assange’s interest.

Asked what the setback is with the US, Albanese said Australia is “engaging diplomatically to try to achieve an outcome rather than … a headline.”

I don’t talk about the private conversations that I have with other leaders in person. I can just confirm that I certainly have raised it because that has been the subject of discussion, including with President Biden when we were there and did a press conference.

NSW premier Chris Minns discusses asbestos-contaminated mulch in estimates

00:16Tamsin Rose

The premier, Chris Minns, has incorrectly told parliament that almost 800 sites across New South Wales received mulch that could have been contaminated with asbestos.

His office quickly clarified that figure was actually the number of negative tests received to date by the Environment Protection Authority.

Testing has revealed 47 positive results for asbestos in recycled mulch with remediation work under way across Sydney.

Minns said:

The establishment of that taskforce which involved the EPA, Safe Work NSW, Fire and Rescue NSW [and] coordination from the premier’s department was a comprehensive response.

• This post was amended on 21 February 2024 to explain Chris Minns’ office had corrected the premier’s earlier statement.

00:08

Delay in compensation for Victorians without power

Victorians cut off from the power grid for seven days following destructive storms are still waiting to apply for compensation, AAP reports.

Energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio said AusNet, the main supplier hit by the outages, had advised her last night that its website application system was not ready despite previous assurances it would be.

She said the delay was not on, and has told reporters at state parliament:

Here was another example where a privatised power company has failed to deliver in time for communities that are in need. It is absolutely unacceptable.

00:07

WA police investigating Bibra Lake fire and unconfirmed reports of flare

Western Australia police are investigating a bushfire in Bibra Lake yesterday, after unconfirmed reports of a flare before the fire started at 2.20am.

The fire began around 2.20am in bushland, and was extinguished, however it re-ignited around 2.40pm due to the extreme weather conditions and quickly became a significant fire, threatening lives and homes on Bramley Way.

Department of Fire and Emergency Service personnel attended and extinguished the fire.

Police said in a statement:

There has been unconfirmed reports of a flare being sighted prior to the fire staring at 2.20am, and Strike Force Vulcan investigators wish to speak to anyone who may have seen the flare or any suspicious persons in the area between 2am and 2.30am.

Rewards of up to $25,000 are available for information that leads to the identification and conviction of an arsonist.

00:03

Investigation opened into HWL Ebsworth over data breach

The Australian information commissioner has commenced an investigation into the personal information handling practices of HWL Ebsworth Lawyers (HWLE), following a data breach last year.

According to a statement from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), the commissioner has “a range of options available to her” if, after an investigation, she is satisfied that “an interference with the privacy of one or more individuals has occurred.”

If the investigation finds serious or repeated interferences with the privacy of individuals, the OAIC says the commissioner “has the power to seek civil penalties against HWLE” from the federal court.

OAIC’s statement concluded:

In line with the OAIC’s Privacy regulatory action policy, the OAIC will await the conclusion of the investigation before commenting further.

20 Feb 2024 23:53

WA police charge man and woman with allegedly stealing from hospital staff, visitors and patients

Western Australian detectives have charged a man and a woman with 83 offences after they allegedly stole from staff, visitors and patients at hospitals.

Police will allege on 14 January, the two accused people entered a ward at a city hospital and stole a purse containing cash and debit card, as well as earrings and a necklace from an 82-year-old patient.

The pair then used the victims debit card in 81 alleged separate fraudulent transactions in various stores, police claim.

It will be further alleged that on 3 February, the two accused entered a hospital in Nedlands where they entered a restricted room which is only accessible via a swipe card, and stole a staff member’s bag and left.

They allegedly used the victim’s bank card in seven separate fraudulent transactions at various stores.

Police will allege the pair were involved in a number of other stealing incidents from hospitals and vehicles, resulting in fraudulent transactions being done.

The two accused were taken into custody and a search warrant was executed at the couple’s Woodbridge home.

The 43-year-old man has been charged with one count of burglary and commit on a place, two counts of trespass, four counts of stealing, eight counts of possessing stolen or unlawfully obtained property, and 31 counts of gaining benefit by fraud.

The 48-year-old woman has been charged with one count of burglary and commit on a place, two counts of trespass, four counts of stealing, one count of possessing a stolen or unlawfully obtained property, and 29 counts of gaining benefit by fraud.

They are due to appear before the Perth magistrates court today.

John Mullen to be new Qantas chair

20 Feb 2024 23:46Elias Visontay

Qantas has announced former Telstra chairman John Mullen will become the new chair of the airline group’s board.

Mullen will join the Qantas board from 1 July 2024 as non-executive director and chairman elect, and will assume the role of chairman ahead of the Company’s Annual General Meeting this October.

He will takeover from current chair Richard Goyder, who announced he would depart at the end of this year following a wave of criticism of Qantas’s corporate performance late last year.

20 Feb 2024 23:38Josh Butler

Albanese says he’s going to see Taylor Swift on Friday but ‘no idea’ where the seats are

Prime minister Anthony Albanese is really leaning into Taylor Swift-mania this morning, playing along with a radio promotion where a listener won free tickets.

As we brought you earlier, he told Nova radio “I’m a Swiftie” and confirmed on Kyle and Jackie O that he was going to the star’s concert in Sydney on Friday.

Asked by Jackie O if he “might be in the same suite as us then”, Albanese replied “might be”. Kyle Sandilands bragged that the radio duo was “in the Frontier Presidential Suite”, but Albanese replied “I have no idea where I am.”

Somehow we doubt the PM queued online for hours and days to get into the cheap seats up the back – but one person who did was Nova listener Taliah, who apparently entered a radio promotion to win free Taylor tickets.

Albanese’s social team clipped up vision from the PM ringing the listener live on air to deliver her news of the tickets.

Albanese has a story which he often tells about Swift’s Shake It Off being a dancefloor filler when he used to throw the occasional DJ set. I reckon you’ll hear that story a few times this week in various media appearances.

For any Swifties heading along to the Sydney concerts this week (or if you went to the Melbourne shows), let us know if you see any politicians in the crowd along the way.

20 Feb 2024 23:32

Bushfire concerns around illegal dumping in state forests

Forestry Corporation says it is monitoring state forests in the Bathurst area of New South Wales after a recent spate of alleged illegal dumping incidents.

Forest rangers say they have found piles of plastic coating that has been burnt off cabling at several state forest locations in the area.

Evidence found at one burn site in Sunny Corner State Forest enabled Forestry Corporation to identify and contact a local business, which advised that a large quantity of cabling had recently been stolen.

It is suspected the offenders burn the plastic conduit off the wire, as bare wire fetches higher prices with scrap metal dealers than plastic coated cable, Forestry Corporation said.

Ranger Paul Robb said a key concern is the risk that fires would spread into pine plantations.

Crackdown on airline cancellations at Sydney airport

20 Feb 2024 23:26Elias Visontay

Airlines will have less freedom to decide to cancel flights at Sydney airport without valid reasons, or else they’ll lose their take-off and landing slots, in a move aimed at helping smaller airlines better compete out of Australia’s largest airport.

Transport minister Catherine King has unveiled the overhaul to the legislation governing Sydney airport, which responds to concerns about the slot where movements are restricted to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour, and with an overnight curfew.

The government will significantly increase transparency about how slots are allocated.

Airlines will be required to provide regular information on how they use slots, such as reasons for cancellations or major delays, and this monitoring information will be regularly published, it said in a statement.

Independent audits of slot usage will be undertaken, with results published, to better detect and crack down on anti-competitive behaviour. This will help make sure that travellers have better information about airline performance. The first such audit will be carried out this year.

20 Feb 2024 23:22Elias Visontay

Sydney airport crackdown a response to ‘slot hoarding’

The government’s response addresses frustrations held by airlines, airports and industry leaders across aviation for several years, who accuse larger airlines such as Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin of “slot hoarding”.

Slot hoarding is where airlines schedule more flights than they intend to run, before cancelling them in a strategic manner so as to not cancel any service more than 20% of the time so they retain the slot at the expense of a competitor (known as the 80:20 rule).

Qantas Group and Virgin have consistently denied they misuse slots. However critics point to long term average cancellation data, which shows up to one in ten flights between Sydney and Melbourne are cancelled.

20 Feb 2024 23:11Josh Butler

Australia and UK sign online safety and AI agreement

Australia will work on challenges in online safety and AI with the United Kingdom, after communications minister Michelle Rowland signed an agreement with her British counterpart overnight.

The government is hailing as “historic” the signing of the Online Safety and Security Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with both Australia and the UK seeking to make their countries “the safest places in the world to be online”.

A statement from Rowland’s office says the agreement “encompasses a wide range of digital online safety and security issues, including illegal content, child safety, age assurance, technology facilitated gender-based violence, and addressing harms caused by rapidly changing technology, like generative artificial intelligence.”

It also includes commitments to further cooperation on online safety and security, including more in-person dialogues, coordinated bilateral and multilateral engagement, regulatory engagement, shared research projects, and working with industry.

Rowland:

We are like-minded allies and key partners in the fight for safer and more positive online experiences. Online safety is a shared, global responsibility. We must be proactive in ensuring that our legislative frameworks remain fit-for-purpose, and continue to evolve as new harms emerge.

The British secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Michelle Donelan, said the two countries were at “the forefront of online safety”.

The signing of the joint memorandum today signifies a new chapter in our shared history. I look forward to building on this partnership which will help address the challenges and harness the opportunities of the digital age.

20 Feb 2024 23:05

More on alleged homicide of ‘three people from one family’ in Sydney

Back to that earlier NSW Police press conference, about what it has alleged is a triple homicide across Sydney:

Police are going to allege that a 41-year-old woman and seven-year-old boy were subjected to an assault with murderous intent, and they died from their injuries.

Police said the pair were killed inside a taekwondo studio in North Parramatta between 5.30pm and 6.30pm last night.

Police will allege that some time after 6.30pm, the 49-year-old man who has been arrested in hospital travelled to Baulkham Hills and “had a confrontation” with a 39-year-old man, who is the father of the child who died. The 39-year-old was allegedly stabbed and died as a result.

The police officer told the media how this situation unfolded has been “tragic in the circumstances”, and the consequences are “cataclysmic”.

We have just lost three people from one family who had their lives taken away, or we allege is a murder.

Police believe the family are originally from South Korea.

20 Feb 2024 23:04

Alleged triple homicide a ‘very sad, tragic event’

Police said that the three people who have died are the members of one family living together in Baulkham Hills, making this a “very sad, tragic event”.

The 7-year-old child regularly attended the martial arts centre, for Taekwondo lessons, and on Monday afternoon or evening, they were going to attend another lesson.

They were known to the 49-year-old instructor who is now in hospital [and has been arrested], so there was a relationship in terms of knowing that he was the instructor for the taekwondo.

We’re still establishing what other connections or what other relationships may have been or may not have been …

Police said it could not speak on any alleged motive as it is “too early”.

Police also said the 49-year-old man in hospital has undergone surgery and is recovering.

20 Feb 2024 23:01

Albanese asked about Woolworths CEO stepping down

Prime minister Anthony Albanese spoke to ABC Sydney earlier this morning, and was asked about the resignation of Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci.

Albanese:

People would have seen the Four Corners interview on Monday night. I didn’t see it, but I have seen the reports of it and I have seen the excerpt of the bit that was problematic.

I want to talk about things other than personalities and what’s very clear is that for customers out there when they get to the checkout, they should get the lowest prices possible. When farmers are getting less for their products, I have said very clearly then the price at the checkout should reflect that.

Man arrested over alleged triple homicide in Sydney

20 Feb 2024 22:48

NSW Police are now speaking to the media about what they have alleged is a triple homicide across Sydney, which “occurred over the last couple of days”.

Police say a man has been placed under arrest in hospital overnight, following the discovery of three bodies in Sydney’s north-west yesterday.

The 49-year-old man had presented to Westmead hospital about 11.50pm on Monday, “suffering from apparent slash wounds to his chest and arms and stomach”.

He allegedly told police he had been attacked in the car park of a supermarket in North Parramatta earlier that evening.

Following extensive inquiries, about 11.20pm last night, detectives attended Westmead hospital and placed the man under arrest.

The man remains under police guard in hospital [and is] receiving treatment for his injuries and is expected to be charged at some stage.

20 Feb 2024 22:37

Three deaths in Sydney believed linked

NSW police are due to speak the media about three deaths across Sydney, including a child, that are believed to be linked.

We will bring you the latest here on the blog.

The bodies of a young child and a woman were found in a taekwondo studio in North Parramatta yesterday, following the discovery of a man’s body in nearby Baulkham Hills.

20 Feb 2024 22:35

AI technology to support crowd control at Taylor Swift concerts in Sydney

Sticking with Taylor Swift for a moment, and the NSW government says new AI technology will be used to ensure the more than 80,000 fans set to watch Swift at the Accor Stadium make it home safely.

Staff at Sydney Olympic Park and Transport for NSW will be working behind the scenes at each of the four concerts, “acting as eyes in the sky to support crowd control” at the stadium’s coordination centre.

A statement from transport minister, Jo Haylen, and planning and public spaces minister, Paul Scully, says the AI program combines features such as “de-identified CCTV footage, weather data and social media” to “accurately predict crowd movements and mood around the stadium”.

This allows teams to prevent problems before they occur and implement a range of measures like opening more exits, redirecting people, giving live updates, deploying more staff or playing music to keep the mood up.

The technology has been used for other events including the recent Laneway festival and Big Bash League cricket, as part of a trial that kicked off last year under the government’s $45m Smart Places Acceleration Program.

Scully said:

The software gives precinct staff an idea of crowd movements and capacities. It cannot be used for surveillance, tracking or facial recognition, meaning individuals are never identifiable.

Anthony Albanese: ‘I’m a Swiftie’

20 Feb 2024 22:33Paul Karp

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has done a round of FM interviews, with the obligatory wedding and Taylor Swift chat, confirming he will attend one of her Sydney concerts.

Albanese told Nova FM:

I’m heading there on Friday. I’m really looking forward to it. I go along with where I go everywhere – a lot of my friends these days. I don’t get to go anywhere by myself these days … I am very much looking forward to it. I’m a Swiftie! It’ll be great.”

On KIIS FM, he said:

I am [going] – everyone’s got time for Tay Tay, haven’t they? It’s going to be an event. I’m going Friday, I’ll be there.

Asked if he’ll be in a VIP suite, Albanese replied: “I have no idea where I am.”

Broadcaster Kyle Sandilands also offered to organise Albanese’s bucks’ party, saying he had “spoken to a couple of my boys and they say we got you sorted”.

Sandilands said that “the real bucks party me and John got sorted”, an apparent reference to former Kings Cross nightclub owner John Ibrahim who attended Kyle’s wedding, as did Albanese.

20 Feb 2024 22:03Jonathan Barrett

Woolworths boosts profits from grocery business

Woolworths has ramped up the profits derived from its Australian supermarkets business to record a $929m overall half-year profit, as pressure mounts over the company’s ability to keep delivering impressive returns while its customers grapple with fast-rising grocery costs.

The strong result contrasts with the bruising hits Australia’s biggest supermarket chain has been suffering to its reputation. It is facing multiple parliamentary inquiries and a year-long pricing probe from the competition regulator, designed to determine whether it is using a dominant market position to price gouge.

Profit margins for the chain’s Australian food business increased to 6.1% in the six-month period to December, up from 5.8% a year earlier.

Revenue across its business, which includes Big W and its New Zealand operations, increased 4.4% to $34.6bn. Its net profit result was up 2.2% from the prior corresponding period.

20 Feb 2024 21:53

Outgoing Woolworths CEO praises successor Amanda Bardwell

Announcing his resignation, outgoing Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said in a statement:

It has been a privilege to be a member of the Woolies team and one I have never taken for granted. We have a wonderfully talented and passionate team at Woolworths Group, as personified in Amanda Bardwell, and I look forward to working with Amanda and our team over the next few months as we set ourselves up for the next chapter.

Bardwell – who will take on the role of CEO and managing director from 1 September – has worked with Woolworths Group for 23 years, including as head of marketing for Woolworths Supermarkets.

20 Feb 2024 21:51

Outgoing Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci’s resignation comes after Monday’s Four Corners on the ABC, which focused on supermarket profits and market power.

Banducci made headlines with his interview for the program, in which he briefly called off the conversation and walked away.

20 Feb 2024 21:44

SA premier calls for more skilled migrants in state

The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskus, was next up on ABC RN to speak about the government’s defence deal.

Construction of the Hunter-class vessels will begin at the Osborne shipyard in South Australia this year, with the government saying the work would sustain at least 2,000 local jobs and create 500 jobs over the next decade.

The number of Hunter-frigates ordered by the government has been reduced from nine to six.

When discussing the workforce needed to deliver the frigates, Malinauskus is calling on the commonwealth government to increase the number of skilled migrants in South Australia.

When we see a curtailment of that program, it actually disproportionately affects our state because we know the default setting for most skilled migrants coming through countries to go to Sydney and Melbourne. We actually need a set of policies that allow people to see the full suite of options that are available to them, and here in South Australia [there is] more opportunity than any other point.

Malinauskus said the local workforce would have to be doubled in the next two-and-a-half years.

This isn’t doubling the workforce on service shipbuilding out in the never-never, this has to happen in the immediate future. It has to start gearing up before our next state election two years away.

20 Feb 2024 21:44

Assange case needs resolution – Marles

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has been making the rounds this morning, and just spoke with ABC News Breakfast.

Speaking about Julian Assange, he was asked whether Australia should step in and urge the US to drop its extradition proceedings.

Marles said:

His situation needs to be brought to a resolution, that’s really the point here. You can’t have somebody who’s indefinitely being incarcerated. And the advocacy that we provided both to the UK and the US governments is in respect of that. What we want to see is resolution.

Obviously we respect the independence of both the UK and the US judicial systems and we are very respectful of that, but in respect of an Australian citizen who is incarcerated overseas, we are very simply saying that this has been a long time now and this is a circumstance which needs to be resolved.

Q: Is it good enough for any Australian citizen to be in this situation?

Well, no, and that’s why we’re advocating on his behalf.

20 Feb 2024 21:44

Coalition urges Labor to push for Yang Hengjun’s release

The shadow foreign affairs minister, Simon Birmingham, has responded to Yang Hengjun’s decision not to appeal his suspended death sentence.

Birmingham said the decision was “entirely understandable” given the “terrible circumstances”, and urged the government to advocate “continuously … at the highest levels” for his release.

He wrote on X:

In these terrible circumstances the decision by Dr Yang is entirely understandable. It now falls to the Australian government [and] all with influence to advocate continuously [and] at the highest levels for his release from the unjust detention imposed on him by Chinese authorities.

20 Feb 2024 21:43

WA heatwave continues

The hot weather is continuing to affect parts of Western Australia today.

The far south of the state, around Esperance, has an extreme fire danger rating today. Esperance is forecast to reach a maximum of 36C.

Total fire bans are also in place in these areas, and a number of parks remained closed due to the bushfire risk.

More broadly, southern and western parts of the state have a high fire danger rating, including the eastern suburbs of Perth, which are forecast to reach a more moderate 30C today.

Woolworths CEO to retire

20 Feb 2024 21:43

The Woolworths chief executive, Brad Banducci, will retire in September this year.

The group made the announcement today, with Banducci advising Woolworths Group of his intention to retire after 13 years with the group, and eight as CEO.

Amanda Bardwell will start as managing director and group CEO on 1 September.

Sharehouse demand soars amid rental squeeze

20 Feb 2024 21:29Cait Kelly

Demand for share houses is surging, as Australia’s rental crisis continues to get worse and people seek more affordable options.

Flatmates.com.au recorded its highest-ever month for active users in January, with the platform recording over a million visits and 212,000 active members – its highest month for active members on record.

The website, which is one of many ways renters find shared houses and flatmates to live with, saw 67,700 new members join the platform in the past month, which was a 22% increase month-on-month and just 1.4% below last year’s record. New property listings rose 18.8% in the past year.

Flatmates.com.au community manager Claudia Conley said while January was the busiest month, demand still outweighed supply, with the seeker-to-lister ratio of many suburbs over 100-1:

January is the busiest month of the year for shared accommodation, with lots of domestic and international travel across cities and states.

The university semester is about to start, many members are looking to move for new jobs, most leases are renewed at this time of year, and migration is high as people flock to Australia for that quintessential Aussie summer experience.

Add to this a cost-of-living and rental crisis leading even more people to turn to share accommodation than usual, it’s no surprise that this January has been our busiest month ever.

Children’s charity ‘appalled’ at US veto on Gaza ceasefire

20 Feb 2024 21:27

Save the Children Australia says it is “appalled” the US has vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the third time.

The US argued the move would undermine negotiations over a hostage deal. The UK abstained from the vote.

You can read all the details on this below:

Save the Children Australia’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee, said:

We are appalled to hear of this new low in an already deep pit of failures from the international community. After four months of relentless violence, we are running out of words to describe what children and families in Gaza are going through, as well as the tools to respond in any adequate way.

The scale of death and destruction is astronomical. And with tanks poised to roll into Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has been forced to flee amid rising hunger and disease, this war is about to enter the deadliest stage possible.

Last week Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel against a carrying out a “devastating” and “catastrophic” ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, saying in a joint letter “there is simply nowhere else for civilians to go”.

20 Feb 2024 21:23

Here is the full story on detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun’s decision not to appeal his suspended death sentence in China:

20 Feb 2024 21:15

Marles talks up navy overhaul

The defence minister and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is speaking to ABC RN about yesterday’s defence announcement, with $11bn in extra funding.

You can read all the details on the announcement below:

The opposition defence spokesman, Andrew Hastie, said the country wouldn’t see a new ship in the water until 2031 and should focus on getting things happening by 2026.

Marles rejected this and said the procurement of the general-purpose frigate had been accelerated, but did not specify a date.

But the fundamental answer, and the hypocrisy from Andrew Hastie here, is astounding, is what we inherited from the former government… Where the opposition were at, they wouldn’t have a service combatant in the water until 2034. We will have four.

(In a later interview on ABC News Breakfast, he said the first general-purpose frigate would be in service “in the 2020s”).

Commenting on the vessels set to be built offshore, Marles suggested countries were already bidding for this work:

I’m pretty confident that there will be countries out there bidding very hard to get our work and that is already happening as we speak, as you could imagine.

20 Feb 2024 21:11

Turning to housing, Peter Malinauskus said policy certainty went hand-in-hand with housing security.

“It’s more than one policy that will inform our capacity to increase housing supply in this country,” the South Australian premier said.

I’ve [spoken to] a lot of people who have wanted to focus on a range of different policy ideas, [but] the only ones that will make a difference are the ones that contribute to supply. We have a supply problem, which means it goes to trade, it goes to land release, it goes to trunk infrastructure, particularly water infrastructure, which is a major challenge in my state … and also it goes to state-based taxes like stamp duty.

We’re pulling every one of those levers because of the high degree of urgency here. I think we’ve seen a lack of action in the past from governments of both political persuasions and now’s the time [to come together] across the political spectrum to try and turn this course around, because homeownership is is still very much part of the way we grow wealth in this country.

20 Feb 2024 21:02

Turning to Yang Hengjun, the Australian writer detained in China, who has decided not to appeal his suspended death sentence.

Speaking to ABC RN just earlier, deputy prime minister Richard Marles was asked whether this means Hengjun is now dependent on the government to try and secure his release?

Marles said:

Well, obviously the circumstances are very concerning. We will continue to advocate on his behalf each and every day. That’s in terms of sentence that’s been handed down to him, but also the day-to-day sense of the consular access that we have…

Labor pushing for Assange return to Australia – Plibersek

20 Feb 2024 20:54

Tanya Plibersek says the government is continuing to advocate behind-the-scenes to bring Julian Assange back to Australia.

Asked while speaking to ABC News Breakfast if the government is doing enough, Plibersek said the government had “made it very clear” Assange should be allowed to return.

We have concerns for his health. We have been working consistently since coming to government, particularly behind-the-scenes, to say that we believe Mr Assange should be returned … These sort of issues of diplomacy are not always best done through a megaphone, but we will continue to advocate for an end to this and see Mr Assange returned home.

Plibersek would not say whether the United States should drop the extradition proceedings, but assured that “government-to-government representations have been made”.

We have made that very clear and the prime minister, from the very first meetings he’s had as prime minister with the US administration, has made that clear.

Asbestos: no new contaminated NSW sites found in past day, watchdog says

20 Feb 2024 20:49

No more sites have been identified with containing asbestos-contaminated mulch in the past day, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says.

It said two negative results were returned in the past day and no positives, with the total number of positive sites remaining at 47.

The two negative results are both schools – Mount Annan Christian College at Currans Hill and Trinity Catholic Primary School at Kemps Creek.

Since 10 January there has been 798 negative test results. The EPA expects to receive further results over the coming days.

Precautionary testing will be undertaken at three health facilities:

Macquarie Hospital

Tresillian (Wollstonecraft)

Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice

An area next to a pathway under a bridge on Lilyfield Road, Lilyfield, is also being tested as a precaution.

Inner West council has advised most of the affected area is not accessible to the public, and the whole site is now fenced off.

20 Feb 2024 20:39

Man dies after electric unicycle crash in Victoria

A man has died after crashing his electric unicycle in Bellfield yesterday evening.

Police have been told the man was riding along Darebin Creek Trail, in the vicinity of Wimpole Crescent, when he lost control just after 5pm.

The rider, who may have been traveling at speed, crossed onto the wrong side of the trail and lost control while trying to avoid two cyclists travelling in the opposite direction.

The 35-year-old Heidelberg Heights man was ejected from his unicycle and crashed into a guardrail, and died at the scene.

Victorian police are appealing to the public for information or dashcam footage.

20 Feb 2024 20:37

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall in the north-east and east coast regions of Tasmania:

20 Feb 2024 20:21Amy Remeikis

Environment minister says fashion industry must reduce clothing sent to landfill

Tanya Plibersek says that for those who manufacture in Australia, “it means thinking hard about what they can do to create and sell products that have a longer shelf life while still being affordable; to design a product that could be reused, repaired or recycled rather than buried or burned”.

The environment minister said it was heartening to see some retailers voluntarily make the change to more sustainable wares but there was more to be done and she would not hesitate to step in and force the issue.

My jeans can be returned to the shop for repairs. My exercise gear can be returned to the shop for recycling. I have suits from an Australian designer that uses lots of remnant fabrics that would otherwise end up in landfill. And purchases are often packed in recycled paper and cardboard.

Internationally too, we are seeing more and more affordable brands and retailers using better environmental design and sourcing and taking responsibility for their products when the buyer is done with them.

Government is not sitting on our hands on this issue. The federal government has put the fashion industry on a watchlist – signalling our strong expectation that industry needed to take action to reduce clothing sent to landfill.

Australians send about 200,000 tonnes of clothing waste to landfill every year and the rise of fast fashion retailers, who pump out new designs outside the established fashion seasons, has given rise to a “wear and waste” mentality.

The Seamless program is designed to incentivise clothing design which is more durable and recyclable, close the textile and material loop so new fabric is not constantly being created from scratch and help encourage more circular business models.

Plibersek says fashion industry on a ‘watchlist’

20 Feb 2024 20:20Amy Remeikis

Australia’s fashion industry can either voluntarily sign up to reduce its climate impact or be forced to comply through government regulation, with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, warning the industry is on a “watchlist”.

In June last year, Plibersek gave the sector one year to get on board Seamless, an initiative of the the Australian Fashion Council which aims to create a circular clothing industry by 2030.

While there has been some movement in the past eight months, major retailers are still dragging their heels signing up to the scheme. The initiative imposes a 4c levy on every garment sold, with the money raised going towards funding research into sustainability and to establish textile recycling.

In a speech to eBay on Wednesday morning, Plibersek will reiterate her ultimatum.

“If it’s the fashion industry that makes the profits, then it must be responsible for doing better by the environment,” Plibersek will say.

That starts with taking responsibility for design. And given that up to 97% of clothing sold in Australia is designed and manufactured overseas, that means importers and retailers must be more accountable for the products they sell and their effects on nature. Are the clothes they sell destined for landfill after a few wears?

20 Feb 2024 20:15

Bushfire warning in Perth’s south downgraded

Alerts for a bushfire that threatened homes, an ice skating rink and a theme park in Perth’s south have been downgraded to advice level, AAP reports.

An emergency warning was issued for Cockburn Ice Arena and Adventure World and surrounding homes in Bibra Lake in the City of Cockburn yesterday evening, with people urged to take shelter.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services alert was downgraded to advice level early today due to decreased fire behaviour, with some areas including the theme park given the all clear.

The fire remains uncontained and controlled.

Firefighters battled the blaze with support from aerial water bombers.

Senate inquiry into legalising cannabis opens today

20 Feb 2024 20:12

A parliamentary hearing is to examine whether cannabis should be legalised in Australia, AAP reports.

A Senate inquiry will hold its first round of hearings in Brisbane today, looking at the potential legalisation of cannabis for adult recreational use.

The inquiry was prompted by a bill introduced to the upper house last year by Greens senator David Shoebridge which would allow for the possession of cannabis.

The bill would also set up a national agency that would register cannabis strains and regulate people able to grow the plant, as well as the operation of cannabis cafes.

The first round of hearings will include appearances from the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Lawyers Alliance and drug law reform advocates as well as officials from government departments.

In its submission to the inquiry, the medical peak body hit out at the proposal to legalise recreational use of cannabis but said its regulation for therapeutic use could be improved.

The submission said:

The AMA believes that if cannabis was legalised for recreational purposes, it would indicate to the public that cannabis use is not harmful.

Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform said the decriminalisation of cannabis use could pave the way for better regulation of the drug going forward.

The Department of Home Affairs, which will appear before the inquiry today, said it had multiple concerns with the cannabis proposal.

20 Feb 2024 20:05Emily Wind

Good morning, and happy Wednesday! Emily Wind here reporting for blog duty – I’ll bring you our rolling coverage today.

If you see anything that needs attention on the blog, you can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: [email protected].

Let’s get started.

Welcome

20 Feb 2024 19:30

Good morning and welcome to the rolling news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, here to bring you the best overnight and breaking stories before my colleague picks up the baton shortly.

The New South Wales mulch scandal widens again today with our exclusive story revealing that the material at the centre of the crisis has been found to contain building waste as well as asbestos. The state’s environment watchdog says it found the “foreign materials” when testing mulch made by Greenlife Resource Recovery at the Prospect Highway upgrade in Blacktown. Greenlife said it did not use construction waste in its recycled mulch which was made from “separated waste timber products”.

Julian Assange faces the risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if tried in the US, his lawyers have told a permission to appeal hearing in London, which could result in the WikiLeaks founder extradited within days if unsuccessful. Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, also argued that his Australian client could be targeted by US state agencies for “extra-legal attack elimination” if he was extradited. More coming up.

The world of AFL has been rocked by news that Melbourne Demons player Joel Smith has been accused of trafficking or attempted trafficking of cocaine by Sports Integrity Australia. The utility player, who is already suspended after testing positive for cocaine towards the end of last season, was charged last night with three anti-doping rule violations of the Australian Football Anti-Doping Code. Meanwhile, the GWS Giants have been rebuked by the ACT government for signing a sponsorship deal with Tabcorp, describing the deal as “deeply disappointing” given mounting evidence of gambling-related harm.

And the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has issued a stern warning to the fashion industry to work faster on reducing its environmental impact, saying it’s on a “watchlist” and must sign up to a scheme to create a circular clothing industry by 2030. More on that in a few minutes.

Summary

‘I would subject myself’ to random breath testing in parliament, Perin Davey says

Coalition wants to ‘whip up anger and fear’ over visas for Palestinians, immigration minister claims

Woolworths shares plunge as CEO Banducci plans exit

Workers hopeful incoming Qantas chair can change airline

Snowtown ‘bodies-in-the-barrels’ accomplice Mark Ray Haydon due for release in May

ATO considering writing off ‘robotax’ debts, commissioner says

Alex Hawke faces fresh expulsion push

ATO’s commissioner of taxation says ‘we defend against 4.7m attempted cyber attacks each month’

Wages grow 4.2% in 12 months to December

AFL stands firm on ‘no stadium, no Tasmanian club’

NSW premier Chris Minns discusses asbestos-contaminated mulch in estimates

John Mullen to be new Qantas chair

Crackdown on airline cancellations at Sydney airport

Man arrested over alleged triple homicide in Sydney

Anthony Albanese: ‘I’m a Swiftie’

Woolworths CEO to retire

Sharehouse demand soars amid rental squeeze

Children’s charity ‘appalled’ at US veto on Gaza ceasefire

Labor pushing for Assange return to Australia – Plibersek

Asbestos: no new contaminated NSW sites found in past day, watchdog says

Plibersek says fashion industry on a ‘watchlist’

Senate inquiry into legalising cannabis opens today

Welcome

OTHER NEWS