What we learned: Wednesday 6 December
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s our Wednesday wrap:
Anthony Albanese has struck a $10.5bn deal with the states and territories to split the cost of disability services outside the NDIS in return for granting them a further three years of GST funding.
A fourth immigration detainee has been charged after being released following the high court ruling. The Australian federal police have said the 45-year-old man was charged with one count of theft and one count of failure to comply with a curfew condition.
The house sat today to pay tribute to Labor MP Peta Murphy, who died on Monday from breast cancer.
Australian banks have warned that consumers and businesses risk having access to cash curtailed unless there is an urgent change to the way coins and notes are distributed around the country.
The Australian government has been praised for joining a global partnership committed to stopping billions of dollars in foreign aid and loans being spent on fossil fuel expansion, but the decision has also prompted renewed calls for it to reconsider polluting subsidies at home.
Half of Australia will be blanketed in a widespread heatwave by the end of this week, enduring days of high temperatures with little reprieve.
The FBI has arrested a man in Arizona in connection with last year’s religiously motivated terrorist attack on a remote Queensland property in Wieambilla.
Updated
Woolworths CEO to appear at Senate inquiry
Woolworths’s chief executive, Brad Banducci, has confirmed he will appear at a Senate inquiry into supermarket pricing as pressure builds on Australia’s big grocery chains to explain how they generated bumper profits amid fast-rising living costs.
Banducci said in a statement on Wednesday that the company would “openly and constructively assist the parliament” with its work.
“We are very aware of the pressures facing many Australian families,” Banducci said.
“We welcome the opportunity to explain to the Senate how we are working to balance the needs of our customers, our team and our suppliers in the context of economy-wide inflationary pressure.”
The inquiry has been set up to examine the effect of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the major chains, Coles and Woolworths. Hearings are expected to commence early next year.
Profit margins at Woolworths for its Australian food division spiked from 5.3% to 6% during the last financial year, far exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
Updated
