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What we covered today
By Lachlan Abbott
Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.
To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:
- The latest OECD employment outlooks showed Australia has some of the worst real wage growth of the 38 member nations, exposing the federal government’s struggle to deliver on its election commitment to get real wages moving as inflation remains high.
- Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will meet Trump Republicans to shore up ongoing support for the AUKUS submarine deal as the world braces for another potential shake-up of American leadership at this year’s US election. Marles represented Australia at a NATO summit in Washington today (AEST).
- Labor insiders have signed up clients across corporate Australia to influence federal ministers on the government’s $22.7 billion “Made in Australia” green subsidies plan, highlighting the rise of a new class of lobbyists with close access to political leaders.
- In NSW, Premier Chris Minns today said allegations of systemic animal cruelty in the state’s greyhound racing industry will be investigated, but ruled out shutting down the sport.
- In Victoria, a major factory fire has exploded drums and sent toxic smoke drifting across Melbourne’s western suburbs. A fatal explosion and fire occurred at the same chemical manufacturing factory in October.
- In Queensland, the trial of a fringe religious group accused of killing a girl has begun, with the court hearing one of the girl’s parents had previously been jailed for failing to provide her with the necessities of life.
- In Western Australia, a Curtin University study released today has found the state needs more construction workers, varied dwellings and people willing to downsize from under-used properties to meet its growing population.
- In business news, billionaire Andrew Forrest’s company Fortescue is fighting to suppress a 600-page private investigator report, which details its extensive spying on ex-staff and their extended family members, in a court case that alleges stolen intellectual property.
- In world news, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen faces an investigation over suspicions of illegal campaign financing related to her unsuccessful 2022 bid for the presidency.
Thanks again for your company. Have a lovely night.
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Spears, nulla-nullas seized in Alice Springs fight as curfew call looms in NT
By Lachlan Abbott and Aaron Bunch
Alice Springs may be under a nighttime curfew for longer than planned after a violent disturbance in the Northern Territory town this afternoon.
In a statement to the ABC today, NT Police Minister Brent Potter said a decision on whether to extend the three-night public social disorder declaration – announced on Monday – for all residents and visitors in the town’s CBD from 10pm to 6am would be made tomorrow.
The centre of Alice Springs in January last year.Credit: Kate Geraghty
The chance of the curfew being extended may have risen after the territory’s police force reported five people were arrested in a “violent disturbance”.
“Around 1.15pm [ACST], police responded to multiple reports that a large group was fighting with various weapons on Bath Street,” NT police said in a statement.
“The incident is believed to have involved family groups known to one another.”
A girl aged 17, a woman aged 19, and three men aged 21, 26 and 42 were arrested. Police said all were expected to be charged with various offences, including disorderly behaviour in a public place and being armed with an offensive weapon.
“No serious injuries have been reported to police and a number of weapons including nulla-nullas, spears, a baseball bat and a machete were seized,” police said.
A nulla-nulla is a type of hardwood club traditionally used by Indigenous Australians.
Acting Southern Commander Drew Slape praised police for dispersing the crowd.
“This sort of violent criminal conduct has no place in our community. We will continue to take action against people who engage in this type of reprehensible behaviour,” he said.
“Our dedicated officers have responded to calls to assist and we will have extra members working tonight, giving up their time off in order to keep Alice Springs residents safe.”
The current curfew followed a weekend of violence in the town of about 25,000 that included a brawl involving 80 people, a knife attack on a 42-year-old woman, the robbery of a service station and the assault of four off-duty police officers.
In March, a three-week curfew for people aged under 18 was imposed on the Alice Springs town centre from 6pm to 6am following a series of wild brawls.
With AAP
Watt unveils $7m to tackle bird flu, but campaigners lash Plibersek’s inaction
By Lachlan Abbott and Tracey Ferrier
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has announced $7 million to boost Australia’s readiness for a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu yet to arrive, but wildlife campaigners have slammed Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for her handling of the issue, claiming it could be the greatest threat to Australian fauna since the Black Summer fires.
The H5-strain of avian influenza has been sweeping the world killing legions of poultry and wild birds, but also mammals like seals and sea lions. Pets, including dogs and cats, are also at risk.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In Australia, only the less serious H5N1 and H7N8 strains have been discovered at a dozen chicken farms, causing more than a million birds to be killed to stop the flu’s spread.
Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing moments ago, Watt said the government “doesn’t see it as inevitable” that the more potent strain would eventually arrive in Australia, but believes if it did, it would be “much more serious”.
“We can’t exactly put up a wall around Australia and stop birds flying in,” Watt said, “so the best thing we can do is make sure that we’re ready.”
He said the new funding would “literally be able to pay for additional offices to be surveilling the northern coast of Australia, and looking out for things that are a bit unusual in bird populations, such as mass deaths.”
Experts fear it the potent strain could reach Australia within months as migratory birds arrive for spring. But the issue wasn’t on the agenda when Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek met with state and territory environment ministers three weeks ago.
The Invasive Species Council says there’s been a wholesale failure by environment ministers to prepare for impacts on native wildlife, including endangered species like endangered Australian sea lions.
Invasive Species Council campaigner Jack Gough wants to know where the response plans are for places like Kangaroo Island, which has the third-largest breeding colony of Australian sea lions.
“It’s probably the biggest immediate threat to wildlife we have. Environment departments have washed their hands of the issue because they see it as an agriculture department issue – that is the fundamental problem,” he said.
“This will be on the scale of the Black Summer bushfires in terms of impact if it turns up. And yet no real preparation has occurred despite the fact that it’s urgent, with experts saying this could turn up in the next three months.”
With AAP
Fortescue seeks to suppress 600-page report about spying on ex-staff
By Anne Hyland
Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s company Fortescue is fighting to suppress a 600-page private investigator report, which details its extensive spying on ex-staff and their extended family members, in a court case that alleges stolen intellectual property.
The court heard that Fortescue conducted 19 days of surveillance on three former employees, their wives, children and other family members. The spying included sifting through their personal mail, following some family members and partners to Kmart, trailing a former employee to the airport and also spying on his wife and child at their family home.
Justice Brigitte Markovic is presiding over the case before the Federal Court in which Fortescue has taken legal action against three former employees: Michael Masterman, Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen.
It has accused the men of copying and taking the company’s intellectual property when they left to start a rival green iron project, called Element Zero.
State corruption watchdog says it can’t investigate everyone
By William Ton
Tasmania’s corruption watchdog warns it doesn’t have the money to investigate all misconduct claims, as the government beefs up its powers following a review into a serial paedophile police officer.
Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds used his status as a trusted member of the community to groom and abuse up to 52 young boys as far back as 1988, an independent review by former war crimes prosecutor Regina Weiss found. She described it was “the most prolific grooming” she had seen over 20 years.
Reynolds, who worked for a decade after accusations were first raised against him, took his own life in September 2018 while being investigated over the allegations.
The review’s five recommendations have been accepted in full by Tasmania Police Commissioner Donna Adams, with two pending government approval.
The recommendations under consideration are a redress scheme for Reynolds’ victims, and adding coercive examination to the Integrity Commission’s powers so it can investigate all reports of grooming and sexual abuse by police officers.
Today, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff committed to “appropriately deliver” the review’s recommendations, which Police Minister Felix Ellis said would be implemented as a priority.
But integrity chief commissioner Greg Melick said the organisation’s budget could not sustain the level of investigation or oversight the report recommended.
“We barely have the resources to exercise our existing powers as envisaged and expected by the Tasmanian Parliament and the public,” he said in a statement.
AAP
News Corp cuts 20 journalists, with The Australian spared
By Calum Jaspan
More staff members at News Corp’s Australian titles are being made redundant this week, as management finalises plans to make savings across the company’s mastheads.
Twenty editorial staff would lose their jobs, said people with direct knowledge of the plans, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Ten of the staff would be taking voluntary redundancies.
Titles affected include The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Mercury (Hobart), The Advertiser (Adelaide) and News Corp’s free news and lifestyle division, which includes website news.com.au. Managers emailed staff on Tuesday evening to set up meetings about the decision.
Of the 20 layoffs, more will come from The Daily Telegraph than any other paper. No regional staff or journalists from The Australian or the Herald Sun will be made redundant.
The layoffs are part of the media group’s wider effort to save about $65 million.
Australia to announce new support package for Ukraine
By Dominic Giannini and Kat Wong
Australia is set to announce a new support package for Ukraine, days after a deadly missile barrage destroyed a children’s hospital in the capital of Kyiv.
Earlier today Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite foreshadowed the new package, which will be announced in coming days, saying Australia would extend its efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia.
Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Australia’s been a great contributor, and will continue that contribution for as long as it’s needed,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
This morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked allies for more air defences at a key NATO conference in Washington.
Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is representing Australia at the conference, said it was important NATO members continued to support Ukraine.
“We see this as a conflict that is likely to endure over a period of time, and we certainly will be standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he told reporters in the US capital.
He also defended American leadership on Ukraine amid concerns over what a potential future Trump presidency could mean for the embattled nation. But Marles would not be drawn on speculation.
“I’m not going to go into commentary about what may or may not happen,” he said.
AAP, with Lachlan Abbott
NZ holds interest rates while Australia considers hike
By Ben McKay and Lachlan Abbott
New Zealand’s central bank has kept the official cash rate on hold but struck a decidedly dovish note in commentary, bringing hope for cuts on the horizon while Australia appears closer to raising rates.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) opted to hold the cash rate at 5.5 per cent for the seventh consecutive meeting.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will have to consider a rate rise at its next meeting in August after the annual rate of inflation jumped to 4 per cent in May.
The RBA was slower to lift rates than its New Zealand counterpart after inflation broke out around the start of 2022.
Australia’s cash rate remains at 4.35 per cent – 120 basis points below New Zealand’s.
RBNZ’s latest hold extends the pain for mortgage-holders, who are suffering under the highest interest rates in 16 years.
It was not a surprise, with all mainstream outlets predicting no change, including ABS Bank’s chief economist Nick Tuffley.
“People need to hang in a little bit longer [for rate cuts],” he told Newstalk ZB.
Inflation remains high in New Zealand.
The all-important consumer price index inflation was last measured at 4 per cent for the March quarter, down from a peak above 7, and just outside the RBNZ’s target band of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.
AAP, with Lachlan Abbott
Market update: ASX slides lower
By Jessica Yun
The Australian sharemarket has lingered in red territory on Wednesday on the back of a mixed Wall Street lead after Fed chair Jerome Powell’s remarks did little to change market expectations for the timing of an interest rate cut.
The ASX 200 was down 26.9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7,802.8 at 1pm AEST, with every single sector in the red or trading flat. Miners (down 1 per cent) have weighed on the bourse, and the only green spot was communication services (up 1.2 per cent).
Telstra is among the early gainers, with shares up 1.5 per cent a day after announcing it was raising prices on its mobile phone plans. The telco’s shares added 2.2 per cent on Tuesday.
Megaport is at the top of the bourse with gains of 2.9 per cent, followed by JB Hi-Fi (up 2.7 per cent) and Star Entertainment (up 2.6 per cent). Insignia Financial is at the bottom of the index with losses of 7.4 per cent at lunchtime, paring back some of its gains of 13.6 per cent from yesterday.
Trump challenges Biden to $1 million golf match
By James Lemon
Donald Trump has challenged Joe Biden to a million-dollar golf match, and even offered the president a generous handicap.
It comes after the two presidential candidates argued about their relative golf skills at the recent presidential debate.
Trump extended the bet during a campaign rally in Florida:
I’m also officially challenging crooked Joe to an 18-hole golf match right here on Doral’s Blue Monster, considered one of the greatest tournament golf courses anywhere in the world, one of the great courses of the world.
It will be among the most-watched sporting events in history. Maybe bigger than the Ryder Cup or even the Masters.
And I will even give Joe Biden 10 strokes a side. Ten strokes, that’s a lot. That means 20 strokes, in case you don’t play golf. And if he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity of his choice, $1 million. And I’ll bet you he doesn’t take the offer.”
A spokesman for Biden, James Singer, attempted to steer the moment back to politics:
We’d challenge Donald Trump to create jobs, but he lost 3 million. We’d challenge Donald Trump to stand up to Putin, but he bent the knee to him. We’d challenge Donald Trump to follow the law, but he breaks it. We’d challenge Donald Trump to not destroy our country, but that’s all his Project 2025 aims to do.
Joe Biden doesn’t have time for Donald Trump’s weird antics – he’s busy leading America and defending the free world. Donald Trump is a liar, a convict and a fraud only out for himself – par for the course.”
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