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Farmers warn backpacker visa changes could push up food prices as the struggle for workers continues.
A range of changes come into effect for Australian visa programs from July 1, including a 25 per cent increase in visa charges for working holiday makers.
The National Farmers Federation said the changes will make Australia up to five times more expensive than countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Germany and will turn away working holiday makers including farm workers.
“Any increased charges, anything that makes them have less money to spend ... they will take that into account,” the federation’s Fiona Simson said.
A new wage threshold for temporary skilled migration means workers will need to be paid a minimum of $70,000 instead of $53,900, a figure which the federation says will rule out 84 per cent of agriculture workers.
Farmers warn further labour shortfalls will mean less produce as the workforce is already thousands of workers short.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said Labor is committed to improving wages and conditions for all workers, which includes a pay increase for those on the temporary skills shortage visa.
“Raising the TSMIT (income threshold) is an important step in delivering better pay for people working on Aussie farms,” the minister said.
AAP
The Federal Court has hit Insurance Australia Group with a $40 million penalty after ASIC launched court action against the insurer in October 2021 for failing to honour discount promises made to customers.
The penalty is the largest the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has successfully sought against an insurer and comes amid a crackdown by the regulator on insurance companies overcharging clients.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the court finding sent a strong message of deterrence to the industry.
“Insurers need to put their customers first and ensure that is reflected in their pricing practices,” she said.
The court found IAL, owned by IAG, made false or misleading representations to more than 600,000 customers between March 2014 and September 2019, by failing to deliver the full amount of loyalty and no claims bonus discounts they had promised to customers when they renewed their NRMA branded motor, home, boat and caravan insurance policies.
In a report released last week, ASIC said it had uncovered pricing failures by 11 general insurers, and that more than 5.6 million consumers were on track to receive $815 million in compensation.
IAG has made a provision for the fine, and a spokesman said it had compensated affected customers in this case.
An anonymous group of PwC Australia partners has stepped up calls for radical reforms at the firm and raised doubts about the independence of the internal investigations designed to identify those directly involved in the tax scandal.
The group, who call themselves “the Committee to Restore Trust in PwC through Transparency and Accountability”, said the primary beneficiaries of the scandal have “derived substantial financial, social and reputational” benefits from their association with PwC, while the newer, and less senior, partners, bear the brunt of the scandal.
PwC partners are rebelling against acting CEO Kirstin Stubbins’ plans to rescue the firm, saying they don’t go far enough.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
PwC has been embroiled in a crisis after it emerged that a number of senior partners at the firm had used confidential government advice to drum up work from multinational companies and help them pay less tax.
The scandal has forced the firm to issue a public apology and stand down nine partners pending the results of its investigation, however, the group has questioned the independence of the examinations being conducted by two law firms on behalf of PwC.
Southern states are facing a winter gas supply shortage and will rely on excess supply from Queensland.
Considerable storage and transport capacity is needed to shift the gas south, according to an interim gas report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
“It is imperative that gas flows from Queensland to the southern states, and that there is enough storage for it,” Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
Demand is expected to be high in the third quarters of 2023 and 2024, however the report notes it depends on how much gas producers commit to the Australian market.
The commission described the overall outlook for both winters as “finely balanced”.
It’s likely pressure on supply will ease off next year however that depends on several factors including unexpected disasters like floods.
“Weather and electricity market conditions have a strong influence on the amount of gas-fired generation we need in the energy mix, so the demand outlook remains somewhat uncertain,” Brakey added.
AAP
To breaking news on the Gladys Berejiklian ICAC finding, NSW Premier Chris Minns has refused to say whether he believes Berejiklian acted corruptly, as the Liberal Party confirmed she will not face expulsion from the party she once led.
While Minns today said the findings against Daryl Maguire, the former Wagga Wagga MP, were “serious and grave”, he repeatedly declined to endorse the anti-corruption watchdog’s conclusion Berejiklian engaged in serious corruption and said he did not believe she needed to apologise for her conduct.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has refused to say whether he believes Gladys Berejiklian acted corruptly despite the ICAC’s findings.Credit: SMH
Asked by reporters whether he also accepted the ICAC’s finding that Berejiklian acted corruptly, the Labor premier said: “I’m not prepared to make that claim.”
Asked whether he thought Berejiklian should offer the state an apology he said: “No.”
“It’s not for me to pass judgment about findings made by independent organisations or investigatory bodies like the ICAC ... what I would say and what I said about premier Berejiklian yesterday is that I thought her service to the state during COVID was exemplary,” he said.
Melbourne and Sydney have been rattled by earthquakes in recent weeks – including a late-night rumble last night.
Melburnians only knew about the 4.6 magnitude quake that struck eastern Victoria at 1.30am today – an aftershock of the large 2021 Woods Point quake – when they felt the earth shake.
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck in eastern Victoria this morning, shaking people across the state.Credit: GeoScience Australia
But as national science reporter Liam Mannix writes, Australia’s major cities would have no advanced warning if a huge earthquake were to strike, because unlike California and Japan, we do not have an early warning system.
However, scientists say there are major technical questions about installing one here – and the cost would be enormous, especially compared to the lack of damage most Australian earthquakes do.
If those hurdles could be surmounted, an early warning system would at most provide a few seconds’ notice.
Seismometers must be placed close to the quake epicentre to be effective. This works in California, where fault lines are well known. But Australia is large and covered in undetected fault lines.
Swifties are scrambling for the final tickets of Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour after general tickets for Melbourne shows went on sale at 2pm today.
Four million people tried to buy tickets in Wednesday’s presale while general tickets for Sydney went on sale at 10am today.
Swiftie Blaise De Vos bought tickets during Wednesday’s presale. But she needs more, so she’ll put her meticulous gameplan to use again today.Credit: Eddie Jim
Soon after midday, a Twitter update from Frontier announced the Friday and Saturday Sydney ticket allocation had been exhausted. This afternoon only VIP and hotel ticket packages remain for the Monday night concert.
Frustrated fans, who missed out on buying any tickets, expressed disappointment on social media about waiting online for hours without an opportunity to purchase tickets.
Meanwhile, many in Melbourne have lined up for hours to secure tickets, old-school style:
Read the full update from Martin Boulton.
The Albanese government could end up delivering the largest budget surplus on record with new figures showing the nation’s finances in rude health to the end of May.
The monthly budget figures, released by the Finance Department this afternoon, showed that at the end of last month the budget was in surplus to the tune of $19 billion.
The largest surplus on record was 2007-08 at $19 billion. That was also the last time the federal government bottom line was in the red.
Jim Chalmers revealed this week the May budget surplus would be significantly better than expected.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed this week that the surplus, forecast in May to be $4.2 billion, would be “significantly” better than expected.
According to the Finance Department, total receipts are $8.5 billion better than forecast in May while spending is $3 billion lower than projected.
Company tax collections are running $7.2 billion ahead of expectations, largely due to the continuing high price for key exports such as iron ore.
Spending in health and education are running slightly better than expected.
There is some late spending that has to be accounted for, including $2 billion to boost social housing.
Thanks for reading our live coverage so far today.
I’m heading off for the afternoon, but Angus Dalton will keep you updated for the rest of the day.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:
In April last year, Australia’s second-largest bank, National Australia Bank, received regulatory manna from heaven.
After a five-year-long investigation into suspected systemic breaches of anti-money laundering laws by the financial crime regulator AUSTRAC, NAB was spared a major fine like its competitors Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, which had respectively been fined $700 million and $1.3 billion for similar but more voluminous breaches.
NAB chief executive Ross McEwan.Credit: Elke Meitzel
Instead, AUSTRAC allowed NAB to enter into an enforceable agreement whereby it promised the regulator it would do better. “We have a plan to make our bank simpler for customers to use, while safeguarding against the criminal threat,” NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said at the time.
NAB’s easy AUSTRAC escape raised eyebrows in the banking industry, given the reputational damage the bank suffered during the 2018 banking royal commission, which heard evidence staff had falsified documents and a fraud ring had abused the bank’s introducer home loan program.
NAB’s loose controls were also raised again during the prosecution of former bank consultant Helen Rosamond.
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2023-06-30 04:45:09Z
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