What happened Friday 9 February, 2024
With that, we’ll wrap up our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the key developments:
Investigators are probing how firefighters came to douse parts of a West Australian town in sewage wastewater while battling a bushfire.
The publishing of a Jewish creatives WhatsApp group chat and the contact details of alleged participants has led to death threats and forced one family into hiding, Labor MP Josh Burns has said.
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, has said that Labor’s redesigned stage-three tax cuts will not have a material impact on inflation.
The Coalition will move to force the government to bring in an airline passenger compensation scheme that would make carriers pay cash to delayed customers, in a bill dubbed “pay on delay”.
Regional councils in Australia have reported seeing people sleeping rough “for the first time in living memory” on the back of a significant increase in home values since the start of the pandemic, a national housing summit has heard.
A mother has sobbed and a father has hugged a prosecutor outside court as four boys were found guilty of murdering their 16-year-old son in a Melbourne street attack.
Thanks for reading. Have a pleasant evening.
EY apologises after former employee fired for allegedly promoting tax minimisation scheme
There’s been another apology from consultants in the Senate.
This time, it’s EY Oceania, which has apologised to clients who have been implicated in the civil prosecution of a former employee, who is accused of promoting a tax minimisation scheme and receiving more than $700,000 in unauthorised payments.
The former employee, whose name cannot be revealed due to a suppression order, is being sued by the commissioner of taxation in the federal court.
The firm’s tax and law leader, Scott Grimley, said the firm took action against the former employee before the ATO did. He said three clients have been drawn into the ongoing court case.
We have taken action against the former [employee] and that was taken as soon as we were able to establish the facts and establish a course of action, and obviously following due process, that former partner was terminated.
We are very sorry for those clients and that they’ve had to similarly have to deal with this matter.
EY Oceania’s chief executive, David Larocca, said the firm had wanted to speak about the issue publicly for many months but was restrained from doing so by a suppression order that was eventually revised:
We have absolutely missed this. We missed that this has happened.
Updated
Concerns grow over nicotine pouches
The Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association has raised concerns there is not enough research to understand the side-effects of nicotine pouches which are increasingly popular amongst young Australians.
Guardian Australia on Wednesday revealed Australian social media influencers are promoting likely harmful flavoured nicotine pouches in viral videos, with some claiming they are a tool to quit vaping.
Dr Nick Yim, the vice-president of AMA Queensland told ABC Radio “it’s really concerning these new nicotine products are coming onto the market”. He said:
I think the key thing here is many of these pouches, from what we have seen overseas, do contain high levels of nicotine. As we all know, nicotine is highly addictive and there’s not enough research done into the other chemicals in these pouches and what other damage they can cause.
This is similar to the vaping issue that we’re having at the moment, made three or four years ago when it first was introduced.
With these products, we are seeing all the multiple flavours that are coming through, similar to the vapes. So, these pouches are flavoured, and with those pretty colours and flavours they are clearly targeting children and young adults, which is very, very concerning.”
Yim said besides the toxicity, the biological need for nicotine and seeking it out can affect sleep, concentration, generate higher levels of anxiety and stresses especially for that child or young adult, “and we just don’t know what that can do long term for the developing body”.
The AMA’s concerns come in addition to the health minister’s, Mark Butler, who said he was “deeply concerned” about the novel nicotine product.
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Investigation under way into dumping of sewage on WA homes
Investigators are probing how firefighters came to douse parts of a West Australian town in sewage wastewater while battling a bushfire.
Residents in Bullsbrook, about 35km north-east of Perth, have been warned to empty water tanks and not eat anything from their gardens after water bombers drew from the wrong ponds at a wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday while battling a blaze that was threatening homes and schools.
Officials are probing why the ponds were not marked as no-go zones in department logbooks.
“Department of Fire and Emergency Services (Dfes) maintains an extensive log of no-go zones for water sources throughout the state,” a spokesperson said on Friday. “A review of the status of all available water sources in the state will be conducted.”
Read more:
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Barnaby Joyce filmed lying on a Canberra pavement having a phone conversation
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says he regrets not rising to his feet quicker after he was filmed continuing a phone call with his partner from the pavement after falling down while walking in Canberra one night this week.
Joyce, who was in Canberra for the parliamentary sitting week, said he was walking from parliament to his accommodation late on Wednesday, when he fell over next to a planter box on Lonsdale Street in Braddon.
Footage first published by the Daily Mail shows Joyce lying down on the pavement with his feet up on the planter box having a phone conversation and uttering profanities.
Joyce told Guardian Australia he was talking to his partner, Vikki Campion, at the time. He said:
If I knew someone was filming me I probably would have got up quicker before I walked home.
I was swearing at myself.
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WA Qantas pilots to strike for second day in week
Qantas pilots who operate passenger, charter and fly-in-fly-out (Fifo) services in Western Australia will strike for the second day in less than a week amid stalled pay negotiations with the “inflexible” airline.
On Friday, the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (Afap), which represents pilots employed by Network Aviation – a subsidiary of Qantas Group which operates Qantas Link, Fifo and charter services for the airline in Western Australia – said it had notified Network Aviation management about a stop-work action for Wednesday next week.
It follows the pilots taking a 24-hour stop work action on Thursday, which saw Qantas forced to re-book travellers onto Jetstar, Qantas and charter flights after Network Aviation cancelled 35 flights due to the strike.
Afap members have complained of “pay and conditions [that] are significantly inferior to that of other pilots at Qantas and comparable airlines”.
Afap senior industrial officer Chris Aikens said:
Our members deeply regret having to take this protected industrial action but are left with no other option … We have been negotiating in good faith for at least 18 months but the company continues to be inflexible.
Qantas said it was disappointed by the pilots’ decision to strike for a second time and that passengers would face further disruptions as a result. A spokesperson said:
We are reviewing schedules and planning contingencies to make sure our customers can get where they need to go.”
Pilots have been in negotiations for 18 months for an updated pay deal, which expired in 2020. The pilots also stopped work over pay deal negotiations in October.
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KPMG apologises to senators for denying the firm conducts power maps of public servants
KPMG Australia’s chief executive, Andrew Yates, has apologised to senators and sought to clarify its earlier comments about power mapping.
Last year, KPMG was asked whether it produced any maps that identified key decision makers within government departments and how likely they are to support the firm’s work. It unequivocally denied doing so. The maps can be used to help firms land new work.
After KPMG’s denial, Labor senator Deborah O’Neill tabled an example of power mapping conducted by the KPMG Australia. Greens senator, Barbara Pocock, subsequently used a parliamentary inquiry to accuse the firm of misleading the Senate.
Here are Yates’s comments to the inquiry a few moments ago:
We took too literal an approach to our response. It was never our intent to create uncertainty on this matter, and I apologise for that. Clients demand that we engage with them in an organised and coordinated manner and have a deep understanding of their business. A ‘map’ can help support these goals.
Pocock was not convinced by the apology. Here’s what she told the inquiry:
You have lied to us. That is my view. You have lied to us more than once. You’ve misled us, perhaps four times and probably more times that I don’t know about.
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Chris Minns on allegation of possible corruption in planning department: ‘I take it very seriously’
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has urged the former Coalition minister Alister Henskens to refer allegations of possible corruption to the state’s corruption watchdog.
Speaking in Lismore on Friday, the premier said he received no warning before Wahroonga MP Henskens alleged in the parliament he had received “credible evidence” to suggest a planning department official had used insider information for personal gain through the government’s housing plan.
Minns said:
We had no forewarning or knowledge of that particular allegation. I take it very seriously. The NSW government takes allegations of corruption extremely seriously, particularly in the planning department.
I would urge anyone, including that member, who had any information, to provide it to the Icac as soon as possible so that we can ensure that there’s a full and thorough investigation. It’s important the public has full confidence in the Department of Planning and the planning processes for the future.
Earlier in the day, planning minister Paul Scully said the government would refer the matter to Icac.
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People sleeping rough ‘for the first time’
Regional councils in Australia have reported seeing people sleeping rough “for the first time in living memory” on the back of a significant increase in home values since the start of the pandemic, a national housing summit has heard.
Linda Scott, president of the Australian Local Government Association and councillor for the City of Sydney, told the summit on Friday that councils across regional Australia had reported a visible increase in people sleeping rough, as well as an increase in the number of families “on the precipice of rough sleeping”.
“Rough sleepers were not a problem in the regions … but that has changed dramatically,” she said. “What is needed is actually to provide homes for people in our communities.”
Read more:
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NSW minister signals tougher penalties for illegal asbestos disposal
Tougher penalties for illegal asbestos disposal could be rolled out after the discovery of the potentially dangerous substance near a playground and other sites across Sydney.
The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the state government was looking at raising penalties to deter businesses from dumping the material.
Sharpe told ABC Radio:
I think the penalties issue is a really big one … It’s actually something that the government is looking at more generally.
We haven’t actually raised a lot of penalties for many years … And for some businesses, you don’t want it just to become the cost of doing business – their willingness to do the wrong thing.
Fines of up to $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for companies apply for those found illegally disposing of asbestos waste in NSW, although the sums can stretch to $1m if cases are heard in court.
The widespread presence of asbestos in building materials has re-emerged as an issue after bonded asbestos was found in recycled mulch at the recently opened Rozelle parklands, in Sydney’s inner west, in January.
AAP
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Publication of Jewish creatives WhatsApp group led to death threats, MP says
The alleged publishing of a Jewish creatives WhatsApp group chat and the contact details of alleged participants has led to death threats and forced one family into hiding, Labor MP Josh Burns has said.
Writer and commentator Clementine Ford on Thursday published a link on her Facebook page to the log of a group chat of over 600 Jewish writers and artists. The Age, which first reported the story, alleged the link also contained a spreadsheet of links to social media accounts and another file that contained the photos of over 100 Jewish people.
Ford was not the only person to have shared a copy of the log, but she said it was to provide her 239,000 followers with an insight into “how coordinated efforts are to silence Palestinian activists and their allies” via a transcript of the leaked chat.
More on this story here:
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Penny Wong on ‘two irrefutable truths’ about UN agency UNRWA
Foreign minister Penny Wong has reiterated concerns about a key United Nations agency delivering aid to Gaza, noting that while it does critical work, there remain serious allegations against its staff.
Wong, speaking at a press conference in Perth, again spoke of “two irrefutable truths” about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the group that Australia, the US and the UK and other donor countries suspended funding following allegations that as many as 12 staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israelis.
Wong said:
There are two irrefutable facts. It’s critical. The only organisation that has the infrastructure and personnel to provide assistance into a region which is experiencing a devastating humanitarian crisis in the midst of this conflict.
The second is that serious allegations have been made. I note that UNWRA itself, when these allegations were made public, described them as serious allegations against UNWRA staff, itself said that they would be terminating contracts and launching an investigation.
Now we obviously have previously increased our funding for UNWRA. We are keen to work with both the organisation and with Japan and other like-minded [nations] who have paused funding, to work out how we can gain the confidence to restore funding. We will continue to do that work.
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Penny Wong calls for ‘strategic balance’ in Asia Pacific so ‘no one country can determine outcomes’
Foreign minister Penny Wong has spoken of the need to ensure a “strategic balance” in the Asia-Pacific region so that a country’s “power and size alone” doesn’t determine outcome.
Wong, speaking from Perth where she is hosting the Indian Ocean Conference, fielded questions from several foreign reporters travelling from the region.
Wong said:
We want a region that’s peaceful.
We want to ensure there is a strategic balance in the region so that no one country can determine outcomes and no one country can constrain the choices that other countries have.
We’re for peace, stability, prosperity and countries being able to make their own decisions. We are for systems of rules and norms to ensure that it isn’t power and size alone which determines outcomes.
Updated
I’ll now be handing the blog over to Elias Visontay. Thank you for following along, and happy Friday!
Court action against Queensland coal-fired power plant after mass outage
Court proceedings are under way against a Queensland coal-fired power plant accused of failing to comply with performance standards, AAP reports.
The Australian Energy Regulator began federal court proceedings on Friday against Callide Power Trading (CPT), which operates the Callide C power station near Biloela in central Queensland.
The regulator alleges CPT breached two national electricity rules following an investigation into a mass power outage on May 25, 2021.
An explosion in the plant’s turbine hall resulted in a trip of multiple generators and high-voltage transmission lines across Queensland, leaving 470,000 homes and businesses without power.
The regulator alleges Callide’s C4 unit failed to ensure its plant met performance standards and did not design its facilities to comply with those requirements.
Regulator board member Justin Oliver said compliance with generator performance standards is critical:
It’s vital that registered participants and generators are aware of their performance standards and comply with them at all times so that the market and consumers aren’t wrongly exposed to the consequences of adverse events.
The Callide C plant can generate up to 1540MW of electricity - about 30% of the state’s overnight demand - and units C3 and C4 remain out of action.
A spokesperson for CPT said they will work co-operatively with the regulator to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
Updated
Coalition to push for airline passenger compensation scheme
The Coalition will move to force the government to bring in an airline passenger compensation scheme that would make carriers pay cash to delayed customers, in a bill dubbed “pay on delay”.
Opposition transport spokeswoman and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie and Liberal senator Dean Smith have tabled notice their intention to move “a bill for an Act to require the transport minister to make rules prescribing carriers’ obligations, and for related purposes” when parliament returns later this month.
There have been mounting calls to introduce a compensation scheme modelled on the laws already in place in the European Union and other countries, which would see airlines forced to pay cash to passengers who are delayed as a result of the airline’s operations, and not weather related issues. Such schemes also force airlines to compensate passengers for missed connections, and stipulate payments must be made within days of the delay or cancellation.
The Coalition appears to be upping the pressure on transport minister Catherine King to consider such a scheme, as the government prepares its long term aviation sector policy to be outlined in the much anticipated white paper to be released towards the middle of the year.
You can read more about the idea for a compensation scheme – which has the support of some independent MPs as a way to bring airlines into line – here:
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Call for more states to ban spit hoods
States and territories must follow suit and ban the use of spit hoods in the justice system after New South Wales became the second state to enact a legislative ban, a coalition against the restraint device has said.
The Ban Spit Hoods Coalition said the device, which has been linked to numerous deaths in custody, were an unacceptable threat to human life and dignity and the group would not stop pushing until it’s banned nationwide.
On Thursday, the NSW parliament followed South Australia’s lead and passed a ban on the the use of spit hoods in mental health care settings, and in adult and youth prisons.
It comes after the Northern Territory leader of the Country Liberal party, Lia Finocchiaro, indicated the territory may head in the other direction if the party wins government in August this year. Finocchiaro suggested she would reverse a 2016 enacted ban on the use of spit hoods on children in youth detention centres.
Gomeroi woman Alison Whittaker, a senior legal researcher at UTS, said the bill passing in NSW is a testament to the advocacy of families who’ve lost loved ones to the use of spit hoods in custodial settings:
Spit hoods are instruments of torture that strip people of dignity, humanity and life. From today, people in NSW can be assured that they won’t be lawfully used in any setting, on anyone. The Ban Spithoods Coalition will not stop pushing until all jurisdictions have banned spit hoods.
Despite spit hoods being banned in Northern Territory youth jails since 2016, police have used the device 27 times and emergency restraint chairs at least six.
In 2021, Selesa Tafaifa died after being restrained by staff at the Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre and placed in a spit hood.
The 45-year-old Samoan woman told Queensland prison guards four times that she couldn’t breathe and pleaded for her asthma medication six times before dying in custody, a coronial inquest has heard.
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Declan Cutler’s mother sobs as four boys found guilty of murdering teenage son in Melbourne street attack
A mother has sobbed as four boys were found guilty of murdering her 16-year-old son in a Melbourne street attack, AAP reports.
Declan Cutler was walking alone down a dark street when he was kicked, stomped on and stabbed by a group of eight boys in March 2022.
Declan bled to death on the ground after suffering 152 injuries, including 56 stab wounds and 66 blunt force injuries.
Victorian supreme court Justice Rita Incerti on Friday found four of the attackers – known under the pseudonyms SA, DM, QDM and SY – guilty of Declan’s murder.
More on this story here:
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PwC Australia bans income splitting arrangements used to limit tax, affecting 230 partners
More than 230 partners at PwC Australia have been using a legal tax minimisation scheme that allows them to divert part of their income to family members, lowering their tax threshold.
The use of the scheme – known as an Everett assignment – has long concerned the Australian Tax Office, which has warned some partners may be aggressively using the scheme beyond its intended scope.
PwC Australia’s chief executive, Kevin Burrowes, told a Senate inquiry into the consulting industry that the amount of partners entering into income-splitting arrangements has declined in recent years. But the practice will now be stopped:
Our partners have not been entering into them and we have made the decision to prohibit such [arrangements] going forward.
Burrowes told the inquiry the decision to stop partners using Everett assignments was made earlier this month. During that period, members of the inquiry had publicly criticised the arrangements.
It is not clear whether PwC Australia partners who are now using Everrett assignments will need to restructure their finances.
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Leonardo DiCaprio calls for an end to native forest logging in Australia
A recent successful legal action to temporarily halt logging in an area of forest south of Hobart by the Bob Brown Foundation has received a superstar spruik from Leonardo DiCaprio, who posted the news to his Instagram and called for an end to native forest logging in Australia.
Dicaprio wrote, alongside a picture of the critically endangered swift parrot:
Australia Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in the Tasmania nesting sites of the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot. Only an estimated 750 Swift Parrots remain, yet forest destruction has continued in their sole breeding sites in eastern Tasmania.
The Australian government has promised that it will prevent any new extinctions. Conservationists continue to encourage them to uphold their zero extinction commitment. The only way to protect the Swift Parrot, and hundreds of other threatened Australian forest species, is to end native forest logging across Australia and Tasmania.
DiCaprio is a longtime environmentalist and helped found the conservation organisation Rewild.
Here’s more on the Bob Brown Foundation’s legal action:
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‘We are deadly serious’: senators scold PwC after it refuses to release report used to clear itself, citing legal privilege
PwC Australia’s chief executive, Kevin Burrowes, has told a senate inquiry he has once again been denied a copy of a report used by the international firm to clear its partners of wrongdoing.
The Australia Tax Office, the Tax Practitioners Board and the Senate are seeking a copy of the report to test the credibility of PwC global’s claim that a confidentiality scandal was isolated to Australia.
The report, by law firm Linklaters, was used by PwC global to state there was no evidence that confidential information received by international partners was used for commercial gain. But its executive said six partners should have raised questions about whether the information was confidential.
Burrowes told the inquiry the firm considered the report to be privileged:
I’ve formally requested the Linklaters report again from PwC International Limited and that request was refused on the basis that the information contained in that report is privileged and confidential to PwC International Limited.
Earlier today, the ATO expressed frustration about PwC’s use of legal professional privilege to stymie its investigations and suggested the firm would employ a similar strategy with the Linklaters report.
The inquiry’s chair, Liberal senator Richard Colbeck, said the Australian public deserved to know who “the dirty six” were:
Can I tell you, if we don’t see the report, it ain’t going to be pretty … we are deadly serious about this. Deadly serious … We will do what we can – noting that PwC International are hiding behind legal professional privilege – to extract that report.
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‘Severe concern’: Former PwC Australia partners attended ATO meeting discussing investigation into firm, senate inquiry told
Two former PwC Australia partners attended a meeting between a regulator, theTax Practitioners Board, and the Australia Tax Office, where an investigation into their former firm was discussed.
The two former partners were also members of the TPB board, which helped expose a scandal involving the firm’s misuse of confidential Treasury information.
The TPB chair, Peter de Cure, has told a Senate inquiry the two TPB board members had previously disclosed their conflict of interest and excused themselves from discussions about PwC Australia.
But Peter de Cure said this did not happen in early September, when the TPB met with the ATO with no prepared itinerary. During this meeting, the ATO spoke critically of the firm and the TPB’s investigation into it.
Here’s part of Peter de Cure’s exchange with Greens senator, Barbara Pocock:
Barbara Pocock:
They were part of a discussion which was about the investigation into PwC [Australia], both at the time holding a financial interest in PwC?
Peter de Cure:
Yes.
Barbara Pocock:
They stayed for the entire meeting. Is that correct?
Peter de Cure:
I believe so. Yes.
The Labor senator Deborah O’Neil said the former PwC Australia partners’ attendance at the meeting caused her “severe concern” given conflict of interest concerns.
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Search for Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy expanded as operation enters sixth day
Victoria police are sending additional detectives and expanding the search area for missing Ballarat women Samantha Murphy after she was last seen leaving home to go for a run six days ago.
Detectives encouraged community members to continue helping in the search for Murphy.
In a press conference a short time ago, police said:
We look through that Eureka and state Forest area and today we’re focusing on the Buninyong area.
We are now in day six of the operation. We have covered a lot of areas so far so we’re just expanding search area.
Asked whether specialists relating to mine shafts or dams were involved, police said:
It’s all part of our search at the moment. We have had Victoria Police search and rescue squad involved in the search from day one. It is a challenging area and terrain within the area of the search operation … there were a lot of unused mines throughout that area as well and some thick and rugged bush.
Police said Murphy had her phone with her when she disappeared and are engaging with telecommunications technicians, but said they haven’t yet received information from the experts on her movement after she left home on Sunday morning. Police are also investigating Murphy’s movements in the lead up to her disappearance.
Police said:
We do hold significant concerns in relation to her welfare, particularly as the days go on.
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Arson attack detectives investigate another tobacco shop blaze
A suspicious blaze at a tobacco shop in Melbourne’s south-east is being investigated by detectives probing a wider conflict linked to a gang war, AAP reports.
The shop on Glenhuntly Road in Caulfield went up in flames at 2.30am on Friday.
Police believed the offenders drove a stolen vehicle into the front window and set the shop alight before fleeing in another vehicle.
No one was injured but the business and a nearby apartment was damaged.
It is being treated as a targeted attack, and Taskforce Lunar detectives will look at any possible links to other recent fires, Victoria Police said in a statement.
The taskforce is investigating more than 30 arson attacks believed to be linked to an ongoing conflict between organised crime groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs over illegal tobacco.
Police have previously said criminals are demanding regular payments from shop owners and ordering lower-level criminals to carry out firebombings.
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Earlier we brought you news of the 4.3 magnitude earthquake in Victoria that hit the state’s Gippsland region, 135km south-east of Melbourne, at 12.49am today.
Here’s more on this story here:
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ABC’s house committee condemns ‘abhorrent’ incidents of racism towards its Jewish and Arab journalists
The ABC’s house committee has condemned increased incidents of racism targeting its Jewish and Arab journalists, including a “flood” of online remarks inciting violence against them, and a “worrying number of Islamophobic and antisemitic acts in the real world”.
In a statement, it said:
The ABC House Committee is aware of increased incidents of racism targeting Jewish and Arab ABC journalists. In the last fortnight, there has been a flood of online remarks inciting violence against them, and a worrying number of Islamophobic and antisemitic acts in the real world. We support absolutely the democratic right to protest but condemn antisemitic and Islamophobic comments.
The House Committee rejects any and all attempts to target ABC journalists on the basis of their faith and ethnicity.
To use the Israel-Gaza conflict as a means to vilify Australian Arabs or Jews is abhorrent.
The ABC House Committee stands in solidarity with all ABC staff who have a connection to the conflict and condemns absolutely all forms of racism stemming from it.
Our society can be, and should be, better than that.
To our workmates, if you’re feeling unsafe and unprotected at work, please reach out to your local House Committee rep or organiser, we’ve got your back.
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Regulator expands investigation of PwC Australia with nine inquiries under way
A government regulator has broadened its inquiry into the consultancy firm PwC Australia and confirmed the existence of “nine current investigations”.
The Tax Practitioner Board’s chair, Peter de Dure, said three investigations were “well advanced” and would hopefully assist six other investigations into the firm’s conduct:
We have compiled a lot of information and our team is working through that and we intend to pursue those investigations in the ordinary course of the year. I don’t want to talk about the exact timeframes for the purposes of protecting the probity of the investigation.
The allegations being investigated are not known.
The TPB’s inquiries into PwC Australia began after the ATO raised concerns a former partner had shared confidential information about future tax laws with colleagues, who shopped it to international clients.
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Bullock encourages young women to study economics
Australia’s first female central bank governor has encouraged young women to consider a career in economics, after describing the subject as “fun”.
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, told a parliamentary committee in Canberra today:
All I’d say to young women is it’s really good fun and don’t be off-put by what you might think might be a challenging subject.
It’s a challenging subject, but it is a fun subject and economics gives you insights into everyday life that I think is valuable for everyone.
Bullock was responding to a question from Labor’s Alicia Payne, a member of the House of Representatives economics committee.
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Finance minister ‘not looking’ at negative gearing changes, inquiry hears
In the Senate cost-of-living inquiry, Matt Canavan probed what work the treasury is doing on negative gearing, attempting to uncover whether there is any work going on to reform the controversial tax deduction.
The treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, said:
I talk to the treasurer about every part of the tax system. The tax expenditure statement, released last week shows the distributional features of all parts of system, including negative gearing.
Canavan asked if there was work on any changes, Kennedy declined to answer, which Canavan suggested meant there probably was. Katy Gallagher, the finance minister, rejected the claim.
Gallagher said:
It’s not something we’re looking at, it’s not something we’re working on. It’s not something before the parliament.
Canavan noted that that’s what the government said before its changes to stage three.
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Victoria to hold inquiry into tobacco and e-cigarette controls
Unlike other Australian jurisdictions, Victoria doesn’t have a licensing system for the sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes, a gap which will now be examined by Victorian vaping and tobacco control inquiry.
Because no licence is needed to sell tobacco products in Victoria, it is difficult to determine where products are stored and sold, or to enforce laws on sellers.
The Victorian parliamentary inquiry is now seeking input from the public about the effectiveness of efforts to prevent and reduce the harm of tobacco use and vaping.
Committee chair Sarah Connolly said the inquiry would examine if more could be done to minimise harm, such as introducing a licensing scheme. But the inquiry will also examine the financial, health, social and environmental effects of tobacco and vape use.
The causes and consequences of the illicit tobacco and e-cigarette industry in Victoria, and how it affects the state’s justice system, will also come under scrutiny.
Connolly said:
Our Committee will conduct public hearings so we can listen directly to the relevant authorities and experts.
We’re also looking at holding a youth roundtable, similar to what we did for our 2023 inquiry into liquor and gambling.
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Experts lash classroom disruption review for ‘overly simplistic’ findings
Education experts have lashed out at the findings of a Senate inquiry into disruption in Australian classrooms.
The final report recommended another review into declining academic performance, after floating the idea of a “national behaviour curriculum”.
Dr Katrina Barker, associate professor for education and work at Western Sydney University, said assuming teachers could effectively apply evidence-based approaches in classrooms was an “overly simplistic view” of how challenging behaviour should be addressed:
Teachers need additional support, achieved through collaboration with their colleagues, school leaders, the students themselves, and parents, as well as allied healthcare professionals. This collaborative effort is essential for identifying the underlying reasons and motivations behind challenging behaviour.
Dr Erin Leif, a senior lecturer in the faculty of education at Monash University, said the report fell short in recommending strategies to establish supportive school systems.
The committee’s recommendations emphasise the importance of enhancing teacher professional development and national initiatives for school reform. Yet, the successful implementation of evidence-based teaching and behaviour management practices requires a robust and supportive school environment.
Here’s some background to this issue from an earlier take from experts on what needs to be done:
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‘People just don’t vanish into thin air’: search for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy enters sixth day
Samantha Murphy’s family and community are growing increasingly desperate as the search for the Ballarat woman enters its sixth day.
About 40 local police were expected on the ground again in the regional Victorian city on Friday, hopeful of finding any sign of 51-year-old.
Murphy – known to family and friends as a mentally and physically strong woman – was last seen leaving her Eureka Street home in Ballarat East about 7am on Sunday to go for a run.
Search crews have canvassed a large area of Ballarat looking for the mother-of-three, with the State Emergency Service and Country Fire Authority personnel helping police comb the city’s east, the Canadian Forest area and Mount Helen in recent days.
More on this story here:
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Bullock refuses to rule out further rate hikes
While mortgage holders will be hopeful the interest rate hiking cycle is over, the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, has not ruled out further increases.
“At this stage, the board hasn’t ruled out a further increase in interest rates, but neither has it ruled it in,” Bullock told a parliamentary committee today.
The RBA left its interest rate unchanged at 4.35% earlier this week, and some central bank watchers are anticipating there will be rate cuts this year.
Bullock said the RBA wants the inflation rate back to about 2.5%, describing the current 4.1% as “not good enough”.
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‘Not the Australia I want to see’: PM on reports of Jewish people moving in Melbourne due to ‘antisemitic attacks’
Anthony Albanese was on 3AW a short time ago, where he was asked about reports in the Herald Sun that suggest Jewish communities in Melbourne’s inner north are moving due to “antisemitic attacks”.
Albanese said:
I have not seen a rise in social disharmony like I’ve seen in recent times.
Now, people have very strong views about the conflict in the Middle East, but we don’t want to bring conflict here and one element of that has been the rising antisemitism.
Albanese then said he was “shocked” by comments made by Newtown MP Jenny Leong, who referred to the “tentacles” of the “Jewish lobby” and its influence across Australia.
Leong has apologised and said she did not intend to reference an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews as an octopus when she made the comments at the Palestine Justice Movement forum in Sydney in December, where the boycott movement against Israel was being discussed.
Albanese said:
That should not be ever used and spoken about, an inappropriate intervention is the way that it was put by members of the Jewish community.
The Jewish community have a very proud history of standing up against racism in all its forms, both here in Melbourne, but everywhere. They’ve taken the experience of antisemitism and broadened it out to very much reach out to opposition to racism in all its forms. And it is tragic that people feel that they have to consider … moving from their local communities, that’s completely unacceptable, and it’s not the Australia I want to see.
The great thing about our country is we can be a microcosm for the world and by and large we are. We’re a peaceful country. We live in harmony. The great thing is that people, whether they be Catholic or Jewish, or Hindu, or Buddhist or Muslim, live side by side and are enriched by the diversity … And that’s a sort of Australia that I want to see.
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Bullock says 'no material impact' on inflation from Labor's tax cuts
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, is not concerned about any potential impact of the stage-three tax cuts, recently redesigned by Labor, on inflation.
Bullock told the parliamentary committee the tax plan would not affect the central bank’s forecasts.
“The point with the stage-three tax cuts is that they’re staying within the fiscal envelope, it’s a redistribution, and we don’t see that that’s going to have any material impact at all on inflation or our forecasts,” Bullock said.
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RBA to ask public for input on $5 note redesign
The Reserve Bank will be taking public feedback on a redesign of the $5 note during March and April.
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, told a parliamentary committee today the bank wants to “honour and celebrate the culture and history of First Nations peoples” on a new design.
Bullock said:
As a first step in determining the design we will be asking members of the public over the course of March and April to share with us what they think should be on our $5 banknote.
In recent weeks, we’ve also begun visiting First Nations community organisations in key regional and remote locations across Australia and the Torres Strait, and we’re doing that to engage with local communities about the theme nomination process.
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Bullock says Australia needs to take ‘narrow path’
The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, borrowed a phrase from her predecessor, telling the parliamentary committee in Canberra that the central bank needed to take the “narrow path”.
This refers to the policy of achieving the maximum level of employment consistent with low and stable inflation.
While Australia’s inflation rate has retreated to a two-year low at 4.1%, it remains well above the 2% to 3% band the RBA targets.
“This is the balancing act that the board is focusing on,” Bullock said.
“We’re trying to bring inflation back to target without slowing the economy more than necessary on demand, or risking high inflation for longer.”
Bullock, the former deputy, replaced Philip Lowe to become Australia’s first female central bank governor last year. This is her first appearance at the House of Representatives economics committee.
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‘Frustrated’ ATO accuses PwC of ‘hiding’ report used to clear its partners of wrongdoing
The Australian Tax Office has still not received a report by the law firm Linklaters, which was cited by PwC global’s executive last year to clear its international partners of any wrongdoing.
The ATO and Australian senators are seeking the report to establish whether international partners were involved in monetising confidential Treasury information about future multinational tax laws.
The chair of that inquiry, Liberal senator Richard Colbeck, wrote to US and UK oversight committees last year asking for help to obtain the report, which has not been provided by the firm.
PwC Australia partners will appear before the inquiry later this morning.
The ATO’s second commissioner, Jeremy Hirschorn, has told the inquiry he has not seen the report and accused PwC of hiding it.
I think it’s fair to say that we share the frustrations of this committee that an organisation, which claims to be cooperative, is deliberately hiding behind the difference between their local firm and the international firm.
It would be preferable if that was [provided] in a spirit of true cooperation.
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‘Jewish businesses have been targeted’, Josh Burns says after WhatsApp group information leaked
Labor MP Josh Burns was earlier speaking with ABC RN about a report that details had been leaked from a WhatsApp group revealing the names of almost 600 Jewish people.
He said the publication of the people’s details goes “beyond this sort of trivial social media posts” but has led to serious consequences:
Jewish businesses have been targeted. And these are businesses where [the] owners are again just ordinary Australian citizens [and] these large social media platforms [are] marking them out as some sort of conspiratorial [contributors] to the Middle East [conflict].
It is put to Burns that the reason the group chat was because there has been a coordinated attempt to squash pro-Palestinian views and voices, including what was leaked about the ABC to Nine Newspapers. Does he see this point of view?
Burns said anyone is “absolutely entitled to your view” and he would “absolutely defend” their ability to do so, feeling “great sympathy towards the Palestinian people”.
On the specifics of some of these groups I think it varies … I don’t think it’s true to say that they have been focused on shutting down Palestinian voices. I think that’s an incorrect summation of them.
…If someone is someone is saying to another person, we should write letters because we don’t agree with this person, I don’t think there’s a problem with that. If people are putting up people’s private information on a public arena, insinuating that everyone needs to call to action against a private citizen, that is a different circumstance. And that is a circumstance where there is a direct threat against the individual and I think that is dangerous.
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RBA governor says inflation still a challenge
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, has started speaking at a parliamentary committee in Canberra, answering questions about interest rate decisions.
Bullock said high inflation is still a challenge, as are cost-of-living pressures.
Bullock said:
The board understands that rising interest rates have put additional pressure on households that have mortgages.
But the alternative of lower interest rates and high inflation for a prolonged period would be even worse for these households, as well as all the households without mortgages.
The RBA left its interest rate unchanged at 4.35% earlier this week, raising hopes that borrowing costs have peaked.
While inflation has been falling, it remains well above the 2% to 3% band the RBA is targeting.
Several state Labor premiers have called on the central bank to cut rates in order to ease cost-of-living pressures.
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Albanese takes aim at Coalition’s refusal to amend IR bill to remove inadvertent criminal penalties for employers
Circling back to Albanese, who was on ABC Radio Sydney a short time ago.
The prime minister took aim at the Coalition for denying amendments to remove criminal penalties from the closing the loopholes bill for employers who breach an order by the Fair Work Commission to stop unreasonable out-of-hours contact.
A recap: the comments refer to the new right for employees to disconnect from work emails and calls after a Greens amendment to the bill that passed the Senate yesterday.
The final votes were thrown into confusion by the discovery that the bill inadvertently allowed criminal penalties. Labor sought leave to amend this, but was denied by the Coalition.
In response to a question just now on the criminal penalties, Albanese said:
The government have said it will legislate to fix this. What occurred in the Senate yesterday, where the government sought to remove any possibility of criminal penalties from the right to disconnect element of the legislation that would be put to Parliament, and for reasons beyond our comprehension, the opposition did not move those amendments.
Now, It’s quite extraordinary that these provisions are potentially there because of the Liberal party. What will that mean of course, of any well it won’t mean anything. It’ll just mean we fix it up through separate legislation, because this legislation isn’t due to take effect for many months, so it won’t mean anything.
The point here is that we need to inject it to adjust industrial relations legislation to the modern world and in the modern world … because of modern technology, the idea that someone who’s been paid eight hours a day should effectively be available and on call and taking calls and doing work and doing emails 24 hours a day is something that needs to recognise in terms of quality of life, we need to adjust the law to deal with the modern world.
And that is precisely what we are doing here. [We legislated] A common sense provision that already is there in a range of awards so that the Fair Work Commission, can play a role in adopting what is in my view, common sense in my view, something that’s in the interest of working people but also in the interest of good relations with employers.
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Treasury secretary grilled on meeting with Chalmers over cost-of-living relief
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, is grilling the treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, about the crucial 11 December meeting on which treasurer Jim Chalmers asked for advice about how to deliver cost-of-living relief.
Asked if Chalmers gave a direction to look at stage three, Kennedy said “not from him”, just that the government wanted “options”. Kennedy said he was “open minded” but changing tax cuts made sense to “stay in the fiscal envelope” and deliver relief to “millions of people”.
Kennedy denied that it was “implied” in the task that the government wanted a new carve-up of stage three.
Kennedy said:
It was not a bright line – I don’t turn up and have an epiphany. I’m thinking about these issues on an ongoing basis. I’m not certain, I haven’t looked at average tax rates, the impact on labour supply. We need to check redistributive effects.
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Albanese rejects negotiating negative gearing changes with Greens
Anthony Albanese is speaking on ABC Radio Sydney now, where he was asked about Greens leader Adam Bandt saying he’d like to negotiate with the government on restricting negative gearing to one property.
The prime minister appears to rule it out, instead referring to the government’s changes on stage 3 tax cuts, and its focus on boosting housing supply.
We’ll determine our policies. We have a big tax agenda on the table right now that will benefit them 13.6 million taxpayers, every single taxpayer will get a tax cut.
Q: So if you have to negotiate with the Greens, would you say bargain off negative gearing or is it too much political poison after the 2019 election?
Albanese:
We don’t have to negotiate with the Greens, what we’d have to do is to put forward our positive policies, [and] the case for them.
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Tax arrangements the main tool for cost-of-living relief, treasury secretary tells Senate
The Senate select committee on cost of living is grilling the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and treasury officials on Labor’s revamp of the stage three tax cuts.
The chair, shadow finance minister Jane Hume, revealed that the committee has accepted a public interest immunity claim as the government is blocking access to cabinet documents about the changes to the tax cuts.
Hume took aim at Anthony Albanese for saying on the ABC’s Insiders that “we released all treasury documents when I spoke at the National Press Club”. She claimed the transcript published by the prime minister’s department had been “doctored” because the word “all” was omitted.
Gallagher had no comment about that allegation. She explained cabinet documents were not released because they were the same as the treasury advice, and it would not release submissions to cabinet.
The treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, confirms that the “advice is the same” in the cabinet document as the publicly released treasury document.
Kennedy said the advice reflects “the shape of the problem”, that it wanted to “help address cost of living concerns” by providing support to low and middle income earners.
Kennedy said:
It became increasingly apparent to me over time there are limited options. If you want to stay inside a fiscal envelope the main tool you’ll want to use … is income tax arrangements. Your options are constrained.
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Syndey train delays
Transport for NSW says delays to the train system in parts of Sydney this morning have now cleared.
It’s understood there were delays to the T2 inner west and T9 northern line after a train guard fell from a moving train, having suffered a medical episode.
Delays have now cleared and there is nothing impacting the system, according to a spokesperson, who added:
Sydney Trains’ safety team will be reviewing the incident.
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Ghost Bat deal ‘a great outcome’, Dutton says
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says the Coalition backed the investment into the next-generation collaborative combat aircraft, also known as the Ghost Bat.
(We had more details on this earlier in the blog, here.)
Dutton told Nine’s Today:
There’s not only sort of a domestic benefit but this will enhance our global reputation.
It’s a great outcome and we support it very much.
Under an agreement with the US, technology will be shared between the two countries to help fast-track the aircraft’s manufacture.
More than 55 Australian companies are contributing to the Ghost Bat program, with 70% of program spending going to local industry.
– from AAP
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Tremors felt from Sunbury to Wilsons Promontory
AAP has more details on the earthquake felt in Melbourne in the early hours of this morning:
The 4.3 magnitude quake hit near Leongatha in the Gippsland region, 135km south-east of Melbourne, at 12.49am.
The tremors were felt as far north as Sunbury, 38km north-west of Melbourne to Wilsons Promontory national park in the south, according to the government agency Geoscience Australia.
There was no threat of a tsunami in the aftermath of the quake, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.
The quake was the biggest to hit the state since a 5.0 magnitude earthquake rattled residents in south-western Victoria in October, the Seismology Research Centre’s chief scientist Adam Pascale told 3AW:
This is certainly getting to the magnitude where you expect some minor damage to appear but we haven’t heard any reports.
The seismologist said the state has experienced more earthquakes in the past couple of years than in the decade or two before:
It’s still within the normal range of activity for our region in the world.
The largest recorded earthquake in Victoria’s history – with a magnitude of 5.9 –occurred in 2019, resulting in thousands of insurance claims for damages, with tremors reaching as far away as Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide.
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Laser allegedly shone at police helicopter
Police have charged a man after he allegedly shone a laser at police aircraft.
A statement from Victorian police says a police Air Wing helicopter was flying above the Hazelwood North area about 9pm on Wedndesday when a laser was allegedly shone at the aircraft several times.
Air Wing officers directed police on the ground to an address in Church Road shortly afterwards. Officers located a laser and arrested a 33-year-old Hazelwood North man at the premises.
He was interviewed and is expected to be charged on summons with interfering with a crew member in an aircraft, reckless conduct endangering life and possessing a prohibited weapon.
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Quake reactions
Melburnians are reporting being woken up by the 4.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Leongatha at 12.49am. The epicentre was 8km deep.
One person wrote on X that their bedroom door was “rattling”.
Thought it was my cat trying to beat it down as she always does when wanting to come in to sleep. But nope, she was asleep in the lounge.
Yeah, my bedroom door was rattling. Thought it was my cat trying to beat it down as she always does when wanting to come in to sleep. But nope, she was asleep in the lounge.
— NickVeit-Williams (@N_Williams9000) February 8, 2024
Someone in Burwood said all their furniture “shook and rattle[d]”, while others reported their windows shaking.
yep Burwood all furniture shook and rattle
— Ally (@swingbubble65) February 8, 2024
Yes I did it my window was shaking.
— Kurtis Sofo (@kurtis_sofo) February 8, 2024
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Blame the possums: Melburnians report waking up, but not knowing why
Circling back to the earthquake near Melbourne, where people across the city have reported waking up in the early hours of the morning and not knowing why.
A caller to 3AW radio, Sarah, thought there was was a possum on her roof:
It woke me up and my husband said, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, I think there’s a possum on the roof … or a bird.’
I banged on the wall and it stopped so I thought, it’s just a possum.
3AW host Ross Stevenson said he had woken up at 12.45am and had no idea why.
Another caller, Angela, woke up and said it sounded as though something fluffy landed on her roof – a “soft” but big thud.
There have now been 4,718 “felt reports”, according to Geoscience Australia.
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‘Progress is being made’ in rebuilding Lismore
The development was welcomed by the Lismore mayor, Steve Krieg, who said it was an important social and economic boost for the regional centre:
We can now provide tangible, viable housing opportunities for our residents to be able to relocate from the floodplain and stay in the city that we all work and live in.
Two years on from the disaster that had such a profound impact on our lives, we can now genuinely feel that progress is being made in the recovery and rebuild of Lismore.
The government estimates land and homes will be ready to be sold by 2026.
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Deal struck to build more than 400 homes in Lismore
More than 400 homes will built on land in Lismore over the next two years in a deal between the New South Wales reconstruction authority, Southern Cross University and the state-owned property developer Landcom.
The deal is the first of its kind struck as part of the government’s $100m strategy to tackle the region’s housing crisis two years after it was devastated by floods.
The premier, Chris Minns, said:
This is something the Northern Rivers community has been waiting for and today is an important step in their recovery. We look forward to working with them to create a new place for people to call home. There is a lot more that we need to do but this is an important step in the community’s recovery process.
The 72 hectares of land at the university, which sits above the “probable maximum flood level”, will be developed into more than 400 homes including at least 20% for affordable housing.
Several blocks will also be developed for homes able to be relocated from flood-affected areas.
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Defence to announce next phase of ‘Ghost Bat’ combat aircraft
Defence industry minister Pat Conroy is expected to announce a significant further investment today into the next-generation collaborative combat aircraft, also known as the Ghost Bat.
It is being developed by Boeing Defence Australia under contract from the Australian government with an investment so far of $600m.
Eight planes have been produced and have been undergoing testing. The next phase will see more advanced capabilities added to them and take them a step closer to operational capability.
It is the first military combat aircraft to be designed, developed and manufactured in Australia for more than 50 years.
The Albanese government sees this as underscoring its commitment to backing the innovation and expertise of Australia’s defence industry. More than 55 Australian companies are contributing to the Ghost Bat program, with more than 70% of program expenditure going to Australian industry. The project is supporting hundreds of highly skilled and well-paid jobs.
The MQ-28A Ghost Bat is designed to act as a “loyal wingman” for other aircraft such as the Super Hornet or E-7A Wedgetail, as well as the F-35 and the P-8 Poseidon.
Good morning
Thanks to Martin for kicking things off this morning. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be with you on the blog today.
See something that needs attention? You can get in touch on X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
With that, let’s get back into it.
Updated
Wong says donors ‘need confidence’ in UNRWA
There’ll be more focus on foreign affairs minister Penny Wong today after she told ABC TV last night that she did not have the full evidence about alleged involvement of UN agency staff in the Hamas atttack of 7 October before she paused funding to the UNRWA.
But she told the 7.30 program she had spoken to agency head Philippe Lazzarini on Wednesday and would seek more information from Israel:
We recognise the importance of that organisation, which is why we’ve doubled the core funding, and I spoke with him about the various inquiries and investigations they are doing.
We spoke about ensuring that donors such as Australia can have the confidence to ensure that the pause is lifted because this is important for the people of Gaza and the people of the occupied Palestinian territories.
The primary concern is making sure that other donors, particularly those who have not provided their next round of operational funding ... that that confidence can be attained before the end of the month.
Read our full story here:
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MPs raise ‘significant human rights concerns’ on detention regime
A Labor-chaired parliamentary human rights committee has raised “significant human rights concerns” about the tough new restrictions the federal government placed on people released from immigration detention.
In its 14th report for 2023, presented to the parliament on Wednesday, the committee noted the laws that passed last November limit a number of human rights.
Under the post-detention regime brought in by Labor after the high court’s NZYQ ruling, those released must report their location and associations to authorities, obey curfews and wear electronic monitoring ankle bracelets.
The committee said it would have raised the regime’s incompatibility with human rights and international criminal law had it been given the chance to review the bills before it was swiftly introduced and passed within weeks of the court’s ruling.
The report said:
The committee considers that the scheme generally limits the right to equality and non-discrimination, as it applies only to non-citizens and only to those who cannot be removed from Australia. The committee considers it has not been established that these measures are compatible with this right.
While presenting the report on Wednesday, chair and Labor MP Josh Burns said:
All of the bills raise significant human rights concerns, which are detailed in both these reports. The committee draws these human rights concerns to the attention of the parliament; however, as these bills have now passed into law, the committee makes no further comment in relation to them.
Leongatha quake felt in Melbourne
According to Geoscience Australia, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake hit Leongatha in Victoria, 135km south-east of Melbourne, at 12.49am. The epicentre was 8km deep.
There were more than 4000 “felt reports”, many of them in the city of Melbourne, concentrated on its south-eastern suburbs closest to the epicentre.
But there have been no early reports of damage as at the time of writing – 4.3 is not big in the scheme of things, there are about 10,000 quakes of about this magnitude in the world every year.
One of the unique features of this one was its location – because the city’s namesake on the other side of the world had also just felt a quake.
According to the US Geological Survey, there was a 4.0 magnitude earthquake, at a depth of 10km, just off the coast of Melbourne, Florida, in the US about 10 hours earlier.
02/08 | Did anyone feel the Earthquake last night? A 4.0 magnitude Earthquake was reported well offshore of the Brevard County coast 101.4 mi E of Cape Canaveral at 10:48 PM Wednesday. For more information check out https://t.co/0qFKBZjHuG. #FL pic.twitter.com/7mo5wCC1t3
— NWS Melbourne (@NWSMelbourne) February 8, 2024
As you can imagine, much hilarity and some confusion ensued on social media.
This is bizzare. I am in Melbourne, Australia, and we also just felt an earthquake, 4.6 magnitude. Map below. Don't be confused therefore if you get Australians responding to this also!https://t.co/FZbLWa22Sh
— 🎶 The MuSinGer 🦋 (@TheMuSinger) February 8, 2024
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with the best overnight stories before my colleague Emily Wind comes along to take you through the day.
First up: thousands of Melburnians have reported feeling a 4.3 magnitude earthquake that happened overnight in Leongatha, 135km to the city’s south-east. Coincidentally, it happened just hours after a quake of a similar magnitude rattled Melbourne, Florida, causing some confusion on social media. More on this soon.
In other news, it looks as though Anthony Albanese is going to have a real fight to hold on to the federal seat of Dunkley three weeks tomorrow, with Labor only just ahead of the Coalition amid a barrage of negative cost of living-related attack ads. According to a uComms poll for Australia Institute published today, Labor has its nose in front in the Victorian byelection seat of Dunkley – but only just with a lead of 52% to 48%, well down from its 56-44 lead at the 2022 election. Attack ads paid for by the rightwing lobby group Advance Australia are targeting rising prices and the release of “paedophiles” from detention as being “on Albo … it’s us versus them”.
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has said she did not have all the evidence about serious allegations regarding a key United Nations agency delivering aid to Gaza before she decided to halt funding. Wong told the ABC on Thursday night that she had spoken to commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini and was working to bring an end to the suspension, including by seeking more information regarding the allegations from the agency and from the Israeli government. The Labor MP Josh Wilson broke ranks with the government, condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as “unconscionable”. More on that, too, coming up.
