What you need to know today
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Here’s what you need to know today.
- The ABC’s most senior news executive, Justin Stevens, resigned after four years in the job. The search for his replacement is already close to completion.
- The Australian sharemarket reversed early losses and posted a solid gain after data showed inflation was weaker than expected in April, supporting the case for the Reserve Bank to leave interest rates unchanged next month.
- Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has said he will seek more detail from Speaker of the House Milton Dick before apologising for a post he made on X this afternoon after being ejected from question time. The post in question, which raised Dick’s ire, implied he was removed for asking relevant questions about the government’s tax policies.
- Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth defended plans to overhaul Workforce Australia, which do not involve re-publicising the employment services organisation privatised by the Howard government in the 90s.
- Queensland-based government MP Ali France (above), who unseated Peter Dutton at the last election, was referred to the AEC over claims she is enrolled to vote at a vacant block of land in the Brisbane electorate.
- Independent MP Dai Le criticised a lack of transparency over the ISIS-linked families’ returns and where they will live, worrying about members of her community who had “fled ISIS”. Kooyong MP Monique Ryan said the returned families should be spared from “aggressive media”.
- And Australia’s war crimes investigator has referred concerns to the National Anti-Corruption Commission over media coverage of Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest at Sydney Airport last month.
Dan Murphys owner seeks to lift spirits by cutting back on wine
The owner of two of the nation’s best-known bottleshop chains is about to undergo major changes under its new leader to improve performance and attract more “energetic socialisers”.
Endeavour Group, which owns Dan Murphy’s and BWS retail liquor outlets and hundreds of pubs across Australia, plans to take $300 million in costs out of the business, including the $100 million already planned for the new financial year.
“We don’t have the operating model right,” chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, who joined in January, told an investor strategy day today.
“We now have clarity on why the operating model doesn’t work and what has to be different, and how we are going to deliver.”
Wild weather for south-east Australia threatens to disrupt Origin
Wild weather is set to bring widespread rain to Australia’s south-east and possibly disrupt one of the nation’s biggest sporting rivalries.
The dynamic and unstable system is expected to bring heavy falls in the coming days to an area spanning southern and central Queensland to northern and coastal NSW, and as far south as eastern Tasmania.
The wet weather threatens to put a dampener on the State of Origin rugby league opener, which kicks off in Sydney at 8.05 (AEST) tonight.
Thunderstorms may even threaten to disrupt Origin I. Lightning strikes within 10 kilometres of a venue prompt games to be immediately suspended for at least 30 minutes under NRL rules.
‘More being radicalised’, counter-terror boss warns
Fresh warnings have been issued about youth radicalisation after the wives of previous Islamic State fighters arrived back in Australia.
“More people being radicalised, more quickly,” Home Affairs counter-terrorism co-ordinator Brendan Dowling told a federal budget hearing today.
He said states and territories were likely to need more funding to educate young people who were sympathetic to radical ideas.
Home Affairs does not provide specific funding support in relation to individuals despite a request being made by the NSW government ahead of the return of so-called “ISIS brides” to Australia.
Falling fuel prices bolster hopes for RBA rate reprieve
A softer-than-expected inflation result will give the Reserve Bank a little more space to leave interest rates on hold, but another rise is not off the cards yet.
Australia’s annual headline inflation rate fell to 4.2 per cent in April, from 4.6 per cent the previous month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The outcome was weaker than the 4.4 per cent rise forecasters had been expecting.
At first blush, that seems like good news for the central bank’s battle against inflation.
Welfare group says jobseeker changes don’t go far enough
The Australian Council of Social Service has welcomed the federal government’s plan to overhaul the nation’s employment services system, but says Labor should be more ambitious in the changes it plans to make.
There will be a three-tiered system for people who are dealing with Workforce Australia as they try to find a job, replacing the one-size-fits-all system jobseekers currently deal with.
ACOSS chief executive Edwina MacDonald said mutual obligations – a requirement for jobseekers to accept any work they are offered and attend interviews or training services – remained a sticking point.
“The minister’s recognition that mutual obligations are failing to help people into paid work is welcome. However, it appears the current compliance and penalties framework will remain in place, despite the large-scale harm caused by automated payment suspensions and the Ombudsman reports in the last year calling out unfairness and illegality.
“We urge the government to remove mutual obligations entirely.
“We also need to see an increase to Jobseeker, Youth Allowance and related payments, which are so low they create an additional barrier to people getting into paid work. People are focused on struggling to survive, to keep a roof over their head and eat three meals a day, let alone buy a new outfit or get a haircut for a job interview.”
Wilson won’t say if he’ll apologise to House speaker
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has said he will seek more detail from Speaker of the House Milton Dick before apologising for a post he made on X this afternoon after being ejected from question time.
“The incentive’s under the Albanese government to mislead the public, break promises to see the Australian community go to an election, and then once they’re elected, turn around and change their behaviour and do the exact opposite by their own admission,” Wilson told the ABC.
After being kicked out of the chamber this afternoon for interjecting, Wilson wrote on X: “@AlboMP… wouldn’t answer [Wilson’s question on CGT changes]. These are the incentives under the Albanese government: Deceive the public and you become PM, expose the deceit and get ejected from QT.”
At the end of question time, Dick addressed the comments, saying: “I ask when he returns to the chamber to apologise to the chair, and remind members not to reflect on the chair in the chamber or on social media.”
Wilson would not say whether he would apologise for the post, but said he would have a conversation with Dick. The words referring to question time have since been removed from the post.
Why Peter V’landys is about to get more powerful
State of Origin Game One takes place tonight – rugby league’s night of nights, with Queensland and NSW battling it out for supremacy.
But as the teams take to the field tonight, there’s a battle of a different kind taking place in the NRL as power swaps between the biggest names in sports administration – Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo.
Today, national head of sport Neil Breen on the politics of the NRL, and whether too much power may land in the hands of one man.
‘Now is the right time’: Resigning ABC news boss’s parting reflections
Justin Stevens has taken to social media to confirm that he is resigning from his role as ABC news director, and from the ABC entirely.
“These four years have been incredibly tough but immensely rewarding,” Stevens said on LinkedIn.
“Having said that, for reasons both professional and personal, now is the right time for me to move on and for someone else to take over the helm.
“There is no more complex news organisation in the country, no more scrutinised institution, and few so laden with public expectations.”
Sweltering UK sets two heat records in two days
The United Kingdom smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heatwave scorched parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life.
The searing temperatures have led to seven deaths in Britain and France.
A temperature of 35.1 degrees was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens, breaking the 34.8-degree record set a day earlier at Kew.
Speaker angered at Wilson’s X post
Question time has ended, but not before one last little bout of controversy involving the shadow treasurer.
After being kicked out of the chamber for interjecting one too many times, Wilson took to X to vent his frustration.
“@AlboMP… wouldn’t answer [his question on CGT changes]. These are the incentives under the Albanese government: Deceive the public and you become PM, expose the deceit and get ejected from QT,” Wilson wrote.
Speaker of the House Milton Dick took umbrage once informed, ending question time with this admonition.
“I ask when he returns to the chamber to apologise to the chair, and remind members not to reflect on the chair in the chamber or on social media.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
