Labor calls for real rise in minimum wage
Patrick Commins
The Albanese government has advocated for an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage for nearly 3 million workers, ahead of the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) annual decision next month.
In this morning’s submission to the FWC, the government said it “believes workers should get ahead with a real wage increase”.
The annual minimum wage determination affects 2.9 million employees. It’s currently $24.10 per hour, or $915.90 a week.
Last year the FWC granted a 3.75% increase.
Inflation was 2.4% in the year to March, and 2.9% in underlying terms.
In line with longstanding Labor practice, the government did not nominate a figure.
In contrast, employer groups, such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, are arguing for an increase of 2.5-2.6%, citing the steep rise in costs for businesses.
The small business lobby group, Cosboa, says the increase should be between 2% and 2.5%, with a strong preference for the lower end of that range as employers will also be up for an extra 0.5% in compulsory super from July.
In contrast, the ACTU has advocated for an increase of 4.5% to help low-paid workers make up some of the lost ground to high cost of living over recent years.
In a joint statement, Jim Chalmers and employment and workplace relations minister Amanda Rishworth said their argument in favour of a real wage increase was “both economically responsible and fair”.
An increase in minimum and award wages is consistent with inflation sustainably remaining within the RBA’s target band, and will provide further relief to lower income workers who are still doing it tough.
While nearly a quarter of employees are on awards that are affected by the change in the minimum wage decision, only a tiny fraction – fewer than 200,000 – are actually paid the minimum wage.
Key events
Aussie shares hit three-month highs as rate cut looms
The Australian share market has surged to its highest level in three months after economic data paved the way for interest rate cuts in Australia and the United States.
The S&P/ASX200 rallied by 60.1 points, or 0.72%, to 8,357.6, as the broader All Ordinaries jumped 61.4 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 8,591.3.
The rally followed a mixed Wall Street session, but the S&P500 is up 22.8% in 27 trading days, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has surged roughly 30 per cent since early April’s Liberation Day sell-off.
Despite hotter than expected jobs figures on Thursday, money markets are still tipping a 97% chance the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates by 25 basis points next week, which will give equities room to push higher.
Overnight, US producer inflation slipped by the largest amount in five years, raising the likelihood of a cut in the United States.
– Australian Associated Press
Tim Wilson’s margin over Zoe Daniel shrinks further
Henry Belot
Another update from Goldstein, in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
The Liberal candidate Tim Wilson says his margin over teal independent Zoe Daniel has now further shrunk to 258 votes, with 474 votes remaining. That remaining vote figure may grow, however, with postals still coming in until midnight.
Here’s how an AEC spokesperson put it:
Postal votes can be received by the AEC until midnight tonight, so it’s possible we won’t have absolute final figures until Monday. For both seats our expectation is that we’ll be receiving a couple of hundred additional votes before the deadline.
Henry Belot
Tense wait as Goldstein and Bradfield counts inch forward
If you’re glued to the Australian Electoral Commission website hoping for the latest details on the vote count in Goldstein and Bradfield, perhaps come back later this afternoon. It’s been pretty slow progress so far.
Scrutineers in Bradfield – where Liberal Gisele Kapterian leads by just 43 votes – expect to begin counting new votes from about midday.
In Goldstein, Liberal Tim Wilson’s lead has dropped from 292 votes to 289. This morning, scrutineers conducted a second count of votes they dealt with yesterday. This likely explains the tiny change. They expect to deal with new votes at some stage later today.
So we’ll get a better sense of how the votes are tracking later this afternoon. Postals can still come in until midnight. Votes received late today may be counted on Monday. If the vote remains very tight in Bradfield, they may be key.
Adeshola Ore
Mushroom lunch trial hears from toxicologist
We’re following Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial today and will bring you updates.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha, regional Victoria, on 29 July 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The jury has been hearing more evidence this morning from Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos, the head of forensic science and chief toxicologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Under cross-examination by Patterson’s defence team, Gerostamoulos says there are “lots of variables” that need to be considered in determining the lethal dose of death cap mushroom toxins. He says factors like an individual’s age, weight and health can influence their response to toxins.
On Thursday, Gerostamoulos told the court death cap mushroom toxins were discovered in samples taken from Patterson’s father-in-law, Don Patterson, and Ian Wilkinson, the uncle of Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson.
The toxins were also uncovered in vegetable matter and debris found on a food dehydrator dumped by Patterson at a local tip days after the lethal lunch, Gerostamoulos told the court on Thursday.
Firefighters down helmets as Victoria tax hike ticked off
Volunteer firefighters have left their posts as a controversial Victorian emergency services tax hike passed into law in the dead of night.
Regional communities were without local brigades on Thursday night after crews took themselves offline as parliament debated legislation to enact the emergency services and volunteers fund.
The Country Fire Authority’s acting chief officer, Garry Cook, said leaders were working to understand whether it was in protest against the incoming levy.
“The word strike, I probably wouldn’t use that,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Friday morning.
But what we’ve done is had brigades book themselves off by saying that [they have] a shortage of crews available to respond.
The bill to establish the levy passed the Victorian parliament in the early hours of Friday after the state Labor government brokered a deal to secure crossbench support.
The levy will replace the fire services property levy from 1 July and expand coverage to other emergency and disaster bodies, including the State Emergency Service.
It was originally projected to lift the average annual bill for residential homeowners by $63 and $678 for primary producers, sparking protests from farmers and firefighters on the steps of state parliament.
But under last-minute changes, the Allan government agreed to lower the rate for primary production land and rebates for CFA and SES volunteers and life members.
Farmers will also be offered partial rebates but they are limited to those eligible for a temporary drought support package.
The agriculture minister, Ros Spence, announced $15.9m to expand the program to another 13 local government areas, taking the total to 24.
The expanded levy was originally forecast to raise an extra $2.14bn over the next three financial years when unveiled in the mid-year budget update.
– Australian Associated Press
Labor calls for real rise in minimum wage
Patrick Commins
The Albanese government has advocated for an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage for nearly 3 million workers, ahead of the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) annual decision next month.
In this morning’s submission to the FWC, the government said it “believes workers should get ahead with a real wage increase”.
The annual minimum wage determination affects 2.9 million employees. It’s currently $24.10 per hour, or $915.90 a week.
Last year the FWC granted a 3.75% increase.
Inflation was 2.4% in the year to March, and 2.9% in underlying terms.
In line with longstanding Labor practice, the government did not nominate a figure.
In contrast, employer groups, such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, are arguing for an increase of 2.5-2.6%, citing the steep rise in costs for businesses.
The small business lobby group, Cosboa, says the increase should be between 2% and 2.5%, with a strong preference for the lower end of that range as employers will also be up for an extra 0.5% in compulsory super from July.
In contrast, the ACTU has advocated for an increase of 4.5% to help low-paid workers make up some of the lost ground to high cost of living over recent years.
In a joint statement, Jim Chalmers and employment and workplace relations minister Amanda Rishworth said their argument in favour of a real wage increase was “both economically responsible and fair”.
An increase in minimum and award wages is consistent with inflation sustainably remaining within the RBA’s target band, and will provide further relief to lower income workers who are still doing it tough.
While nearly a quarter of employees are on awards that are affected by the change in the minimum wage decision, only a tiny fraction – fewer than 200,000 – are actually paid the minimum wage.
Court orders Pesutto to pay $2.3m in costs over Deeming defamation
Benita Kolovos
Former Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto has been ordered to pay $2.3m in costs after losing a defamation case brought by Liberal MP Moira Deeming.
Federal court registrar Alison Legge made the ruling during a short hearing on Friday. She said:
It is uncontroversial that the purpose of a costs order is not to punish the unsuccessful party. The purpose – no more and no less – is to compensate the successful party.
Sophisticated phishing scam impersonates Australia Post
People are being urged to be on alert as a sophisticated scam is circulating in text messages and emails, impersonating one of the country’s largest organisations.
Dubbed “Darcula”, the phishing scam sends out fraudulent messages claiming that a delivery from Australia Post failed due to an invalid postcode.
It lures recipients into clicking malicious links, designed to steal personal information.
The scam uses advanced techniques to bypass telco and network filters, allowing it to spread over iMessage and Rich Communication Services.
It comes as new data released by the postal giant reveals that more than 90% of Australians have been targeted by scammers in their lifetime.
Meanwhile, 74% of people have reported that scams commonly impersonate shipping and parcel delivery.
This is a worrying statistic, according to Adam Cartwright, chief information security officer at Australia Post.
He said it has never been more important to rely on trusted channels when managing deliveries.
If you’re expecting a parcel, don’t click on suspicious links or respond to unexpected messages, always check the [AusPost] app first.
Australians reported close to 250,000 scams last year, with financial losses totalling $318.8m according to the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Scamwatch service.
Phone scams had the highest overall losses for contact method with $107.2m reported lost across 2,179 reporters.
– Australian Associated Press
Ben Roberts-Smith loses bid to overturn defamation loss
Kate Lyons
Ben Roberts-Smith has lost his appeal against a defamation case ruling, with three justices of the federal court agreeing he was not defamed by Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters when they published reports in 2018 which claimed he had committed war crimes.
Josh Taylor
eSafety chief faces new lawsuits from X and Telegram over rules on child abuse material
The Australian online safety regulator, the eSafety commissioner, is facing two new lawsuits from Elon Musk’s X and Telegram over moves to force the platforms to comply with regulations around child abuse material.
Telegram is challenging in the federal court a nearly $1m fine issued in February for failing to respond on time to questions about what the company does to tackle terrorism and child abuse material on its platform. Telegram has argued it complied with the reporting requirements.
It’s the second challenge of such a fine, with a similar case launched by X still ongoing.
This week X has also separately launched a legal challenge related to eSafety standards around what action platforms need to take to stop child abuse material on their platforms, which are due to come into effect next month.
An eSafety spokesperson said:
eSafety is aware X has filed a judicial review in the federal court as to whether eSafety’s relevant electronic services (RES) standard should apply to its X platform. We are assessing the documents filed and will consider next steps accordingly.
The RES standard requires online platforms to take meaningful action to tackle the worst of the worst online content, including child exploitation and abuse material.
eSafety is prioritising its efforts on ensuring all platforms and services meet their obligations under the Online Safety Act to address high-impact and harmful content to keep Australians safe online.
Tom McIlroy
Ley says new deal with Nationals shouldn’t be rushed amid internal push to scrap net zero
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says progress on a new cooperation agreement with the Nationals will take time, promising productive talks amid an internal push to ditch net zero policies and even end the longstanding coalition with the Liberals.
Ley met with the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, in Albury on Thursday for the first formal talks between the pair since the Coalition was thrashed in the 3 May election.
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