What we leaned – Thursday 23 February
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a wrap of what we learned today, Thursday 23 February:
• The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has accused the Coalition of undermining superannuation “at every single opportunity”, as a political stoush continues after treasurer Jim Chalmers opened the door for changes to Australia’s superannuation tax concessions scheme this week.
• Thousands more Australians took up Medibank policies last year despite the hack of millions of customers’ data, helping the health insurance provider to a $233m profit for the half-year ending 31 December, the company reported on Thursday.
• Qantas has posted a record $1.5bn half-year profit, saying strong demand for flights and travel has offset fuel price increases.
• The Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, responded to huge profits reported by Qantas today, following similar results from Coles, Woolworths and CBA, warning of a inflation being fed by “companies putting up prices more than they need … a greed-price inflation spiral”.
• The Queensland government says its royalties deferral agreement with mining giant Adani will continue as long as it’s “financially viable”, as the company faces accusations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation.
• The gap between the average weekly earnings of men and women narrowed to a record low last November but remains at 13.3%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
• The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, confirmed that two Australians, Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, both from Adelaide, were among those who died in a plane crash in the Philippines on the weekend.
• A 37-year-old man attacked by a crocodile in Queensland’s north is recovering in hospital after he and his dog were attacked at the Bloomfield boat ramp, 60km south of Cooktown, yesterday evening.
Thanks for your company. We’ll be back with you bright and early to bring you all the news again tomorrow. Look after yourselves.
Updated
And here is my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes’s wrap of the robodebt royal commission hearings today.
The former deputy secretary of the Department of Social Services has told the commission she denies “reconstructing events” to protect herself from claims she turned a blind eye to the robodebt scheme.
