What’s making news today
Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, June 10. Here’s what is making news:
- Canberra: Treasurer Jim Chalmers is eyeing a proposal for start-ups to keep using the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount as he moves to address concerns Labor’s budget would hurt high-growth firms and productivity.
- One Nation: Pauline Hanson has boasted about the rapid success of her fundraising blitz, with the party claiming to have raised more than half a million dollars in donations just eight hours after a launching a “Fire the Liar” website and fundraising drive. Read more here.
- Melbourne: A large crowd has gathered at the MCG to say their final farewell to legendary football figure and anti-MND campaigner Neale Daniher. Follow live here.
- Sydney: Western Sydney International Airport’s inaugural passenger flight will take off on October 25, with executives pledging to help ease demand on some of Australia’s busiest domestic routes.
- Bondi massacre: Naveed Akram was charged with 19 further offences in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, adding to his 15 existing murder charges and other allegations. The new charges include10 counts of shooting with intent to murder and six counts of discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest.
- US: US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for shooting down an American Army helicopter close to the Strait of Hormuz and said the US “must respond” to the attack. The US said a drone boat rescued the two aviators who were aboard the helicopter when it went down near the critical shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed during its war with the US and Israel.
NDIS inquiry hears proposed changes will ‘regress from human rights’
Australians with disabilities could have their access to work and social life stripped away under sweeping changes to the National Disabled Insurance Scheme.
Rosemary Kayess, Australia’s disability discrimination commissioner, delivered the grim warning during a Senate inquiry into the insurance scheme.
As the federal government prepares to cut funding and tighten eligibility for the $56 billion-a-year program, Ms Kayess said disabled people were at risk of losing their rights to work and socialise.
“The issue this bill raises is whether the reforms maintain the NDIS as a rights-based scheme or regress from human rights principles and standards,” she told the inquiry on Wednesday.
Twelve dead, nine injured in Johannesburg shooting
At least 12 people were killed and nine injured on Tuesday evening when gunmen opened fire at an informal settlement in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, police said on Wednesday.
Police said in a statement that they had launched a manhunt for more than 10 suspects following the attack at the Jumpers informal settlement.
The motive for the attack is not known.
Police said the suspects arrived in a white Toyota Quantum, entered the settlement from two access points and opened fire at multiple locations before fleeing in the same vehicle.
South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates, averaging about 60 a day.
Reuters
Solar surpasses coal in US, despite Trump’s efforts
Solar overtook coal in US power generation in May, the first time the renewable source outdid the fossil fuel in a calendar month.
Solar supplied 12.8 per cent of US electricity last month while coal accounted for 12.2 per cent, according to a report on Wednesday from the clean energy think tank Ember, which analysed monthly and hourly data from the US Energy Information Administration.
The use of solar is surging just as the US scrambles to add new electricity sources to meet the insatiable power needs of AI data centres.
The solar industry has managed to grow even as the Trump administration has taken steps to thwart its rise. It favours traditional electric sources, including coal and nuclear, which can produce power around the clock, unlike solar and wind.
Solar first overtook coal as the main source of power generation in Australia in August 2022.
Bloomberg
Iran claims fan tickets for World Cup games in the US have been revoked
Iran’s national soccer federation has claimed that FIFA revoked the ticket allocation for fans at the team’s three group-stage games in the United States.
It adds yet more turmoil to a chaotic World Cup build-up for the Iranian team.
Each federation for the 48 teams taking part is entitled to receive and distribute 8 per cent of stadium capacity for each of its games at the World Cup, adding up to several thousands of tickets per game.
Those allocations typically went on sale to each team’s most loyal fans soon after the tournament draw in December, when Iranians had already for five months been subject to a travel ban by the US government.
Mark Latham on hook for half a million after losing defamation appeal
A maverick MP will have to fork out more than half a million dollars after he failed to overturn a court ruling over a homophobic social media post aimed at a parliamentary rival.
Right-wing independent MP Mark Latham was found in September 2024 to have defamed Sydney MP Alex Greenwich in an explicit tweet during the 2023 state election.
He posted the tweet – which described a sex act – in response to a news article in which Greenwich described Latham as a “disgusting human being”.
The Federal Court found the post exposed Greenwich, who is gay and a vocal LGBTQI advocate, to hatred and ridicule.
Union seeks 35% pay rise for community, disability workers
A major union is agitating for 300,000 community and disability workers to receive a 35 per cent pay rise, because the complexity of their workload has increased substantially since the last time their pay was reviewed in 2012.
The Australian Services Union’s (ASU) submission to the Fair Work Commission today follows an FWC decision last month which awarded a 4.75 per cent pay increase to people on the social, home care and disability services award from July 1. During that ruling, the commission also ruled that no worker’s pay can go backwards once the new award comes into effect.
“Last week’s decision protected workers’ wages but it did not fix them,” the ASU said in a statement this morning ahead of the claim they filed to the FWC in Melbourne today.
“Since 2012, there have been a range of royal commissions, inquiries and regulations put into place. Not only are we seeing the work become more challenging and demanding, we are seeing workers required to do more training, qualifications and work to higher standards than previously,” said ASU national secretary Emeline Gaske.
“We need to grow this workforce by 100,000 in the coming years just to keep up with demand, and research tells us that more than a third of the workforce are considering leaving this year, because they just cannot afford to do the work they do.”
How much more you’ll pay for fuel when the tax cut ends in July
Motorists and businesses will be paying higher prices at the bowser as a reduction to the fuel tax comes to an end.
The federal government temporarily halved the fuel excise in April, slashing it by 26¢ a litre in response to soaring global oil prices caused by the war against Iran.
The $2.5 billion measure is planned to run out at the end of June.
Australia’s peak motoring body is warning, based on current prices, the average price for unleaded petrol in Sydney in July will be 40¢ higher than before the start of the war against Iran, at $1.99 per litre.
World Cup: ‘Ted Lasso’, country stars join openers at US’s first match
Dan + Shay will sing the national anthem and the star of Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis, also will participate in the pre-game festivities ahead of the United States’ opening World Cup match.
The US will face Paraguay on Friday in Inglewood, California. Purahéi Soul will perform the Paraguayan national anthem.
In a Tuesday press release, FIFA announced that Sudeikis “will welcome fans to Los Angeles and celebrate the unifying power of football on the world’s biggest stage”.
In the TV series, Sudeikis’ Lasso character is an American football coach surprisingly hired to take on an English Premier League soccer team, and who has unexpected success, despite this apparent mismatch of skills.
Seven Network bracing for 200 job cuts as new boss stamps authority
Seven Network staff are bracing for mass job cuts, with up to 200 roles expected to be axed this week.
The new chief executive of Southern Cross Media, Rohan Lund, has been open about looming cuts just a month after taking on the job but is expected to formalise those comments by informing staff in the coming days, three sources with knowledge of the matter but not authorised to speak publicly, said.
Some staff members from the television newsroom have already been informed by Seven’s News leadership team this week about their roles being impacted.
Australians need a fair share in AI data-centre rollout: Greens
Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said Australians needed to get a fair share in the AI data-centre rollout across the country.
It comes as submissions are now open for the Senate inquiry that will look into artificial intelligence data centres.
“AI is the new extractive industry, and it needs regulation, and we need to make sure the community is actually getting a dividend from it,” the senator told Radio National earlier today.
“Just like we’ve failed to regulate social media and to try and retrofit laws later on, we’re sleepwalking into this AI catastrophe.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
