Two days after the Reserve Bank’s latest rate raise, attention has swiftly turned to the fossil fuels industry as momentum builds for a windfall tax – or some form of action – on the sector’s super profits.
The sharpest words from the federal government came today, with industry minister Ed Husic condemning a “glut of greed” among gas producers who are “tone deaf” to appeals on prices, as he considers a “wide range of interventions”. Independent senator David Pocock added to calls to tax the super profits of fossil fuel companies – and 61% of Australians agree, according to a new poll.
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Gas greed | Husic confirmed a mandatory code of conduct was in the works to try to ensure more affordable domestic gas supply. The move comes after the federal budget forecast electricity price hikes of 56% over the next two years and gas price rises of 44%, with some of this already showing up in power bills.
Corporations paying no tax | About one-third of large corporations in Australia paid no income tax in 2020-21, the Australian Taxation Office revealed in its corporate transparency tax report. The ATO reassures us, however, that it subjects those companies “to an additional layer of scrutiny”.
William Tyrrell | The former foster mother of missing boy William Tyrrell knows where he is, a New South Wales senior detective told a local court. Tyrrell was three when he went missing from a home at Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in 2014. The barrister representing the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the detective held a false belief.
NSW floods | Hundreds have been ordered to evacuate in parts of Gunnedah and Forbes and 22 emergency warnings are in place across the state. Forbes is facing its worst flood in 70 years, while Gunnedah residents have been hit with their fourth major flood in two months.
Hillsong founder speaks | Brian Houston, the church’s founder, has broken a months-long silence, vowing to fight a charge he concealed child sexual abuse crimes committed by his father in the 1960s and 1970s. Houston resigned from Hillsong, the church he founded in 1983, in March after he was charged in 2021.
Russia’s ‘humiliating’ U-turn | Vladimir Putin’s decision to rejoin a UN-backed grain export deal from Ukrainian ports, only days after threatening to pullout, has been hailed as a “significant diplomatic outcome” by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Russia initially said it would abandon the brokered deal to allow grain exports from Ukraine – vital for the food security of many countries worldwide – after a dramatic drone attack on its warships in the port of Sevastopol.
Trump adviser gets immunity | Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s top adviser, was granted immunity from prosecution, as the US justice department continues to examine the unauthorised retention of highly sensitive government documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. The immunity signals the importance of his testimony to the criminal investigation.
More North Korean missiles | The reclusive state fired at least three ballistic missiles off its east coast today, sparking emergency warnings in northern Japan. It comes a day after a North Korean missile landed beyond the northern limit line for the first time since the 1945 division of the peninsula.
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Remembering Cassius Turvey
Vigils were held nationwide last night in memory of the 15-year-old Noongar and Yamatji boy, who was allegedly attacked while walking home from school with friends in Perth. Cassius’s mother, Mechelle Turvey, speaks about the powerful impact her son made on those around him. Listen to the 23-minute episode.
What they said …
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“Governments and democracy are losing this battle in trying to regulate … big tech.” – Mark MacGann, Uber whistleblower
MacGann leaked more than 124,000 company files to us this year, revealing Uber’s alleged misconduct. In his latest remarks, he said “some of these tech firms have become too big to govern”.
In numbers
A coalition of more than 40 advocacy organisations in the US sent an open letter to Twitter’s top 20 advertisers, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.
Before bed read
We’ve been warned of a new Covid wave being driven by Omicron subvariants XBB and BQ.1. How worried should we be, and will the Omicron-specific booster be effective? Our medical editor Melissa Davey takes a closer look in this short explainer.
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