That's it for today, thanks for reading
Here are the main stories on Sunday, 4 September:
International travellers on Qantas will face delays as workers are set to go on strike.
Lawyers for Const Zachary Rolfe have filed a last-minute objection to the scope of the inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death.
Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare blocks a notorious trolling website that harasses and doxxes trans people, days after indicating it had no plans to do so because it regretted taking similar action in the past.
A man dies in police custody in South Australia.
At least 14 deaths from Covid-19 reported across the country.
We will see you all back here tomorrow.
Updated
Two killed competing in off-road race
AAP have this report elaborating on the news we brought you earlier:
Two people have died in a collision during an off-road motorsport race in Victoria’s northwest.
Their vehicle veered off the track, crashed into a tree and burst into flames on Sunday.
The driver and passenger both died at the scene. They have not been publicly identified.
The crash happened just after 9am at the Rainbow Desert Enduro event around 400 kilometres from Melbourne.
Some 63 teams were competing in the two-day event, which involved multiple laps of a 75km course.
It was the first time Rainbow had hosted the race since the beginning of the pandemic.
Motorsport Australia initially suspended the event and later confirmed it had been abandoned.
In a statement, the organisation said it was providing support to event organisers and attendees while police investigated the incident.
It extended its condolences to the family and friends of the pair.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, has slammed the painting of a mural in Melbourne which depicts Russian and Ukrainian soldiers hugging.
1/ A recently unveiled mural in @Melbourne showing a RU and a UA soldier hugging is utterly offensive to all Ukrainians. The painter has no clue about the RU invasion of Ukraine and it is disappointing to see it done without consulting the Ukrainian community in Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/TCG6s7W9SJ
— Vasyl Myroshnychenko (@AmbVasyl) September 3, 2022
Lawyers for Const Zachary Rolfe have filed a last-minute objection to the scope of the inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death, saying the coroner should not examine the police officer’s history of using force during arrests or whether there was structural racism in the Northern Territory police force.
Walker died when Rolfe shot him three times in the remote community of Yuendumu, 290km north-west of Alice Springs on 9 November 2019. Rolfe was charged with murder in relation to the shooting but was found not guilty in March.
The three-month inquest, scheduled to start in Alice Springs on Monday, was set to examine factors directly relating to the shooting and broader themes including policing in remote communities.
The full story is here:
SA man dies in police custody after crash
AAP have the details:
A man has died in police custody after a series of events surrounding a hit-run crash in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
When police went looking for the suspected driver at a house in Craigmore on Saturday night they found two men fighting, with one holding a knife.
A 32-year-old Salisbury North man told officers he’d stabbed himself. The man later died.
Roughly six hours earlier, a pedestrian was struck by a white Toyota four-wheel drive at Andrews Farm following an alleged domestic disturbance.
A 26-year-old man suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Around 9pm police were told the driver involved was at a home in nearby Craigmore.
Two men could be heard arguing and a 4WD matching the description of the car involved in the collision was parked in the driveway.
Officers say they found the pair involved in an altercation on the living room floor and disarmed the 32-year-old.
Police say he was then handcuffed and taken outside.
“Sadly, once outside the premises that man became unresponsive,” Inspector Brett Featherby told reporters on Sunday.
He was given CPR but died before paramedics arrived.
His death is being treated as a death in custody and will be the subject of a report to the State Coroner.
A 41-year-old man involved suffered wounds to his hands and is being treated in hospital.
Police would not reveal details about the dead man as they were still notifying next of kin.
Police are now probing whether the Toyota involved in the hit-run was stolen.
Major Crime and Ethical and Professional Standards branch will investigate both incidents.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Updated
Two die in Victoria car race crash
Two people competing in a car race in Victoria’s north have died after their vehicle left the track, hit a tree and caught fire, police say.
A Victoria police statement issued this afternoon says:
Emergency services have attended a fatal crash in Rainbow that has left two people deceased.
It’s believed a vehicle involved in an organised car race has left a track off Fuller Road just after 9am, struck a tree and caught fire.
The driver and passenger, both yet to be formally identified, have died at the scene.
The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Updated
Here’s the full story on the news we brought you earlier about Cloudflare dropping Kiwi Farms:
The New South Wales industrial relations minister, Damien Tudehope, has blasted his federal counterpart, Tony Burke, for intervening in a state dispute with the rail unions, accusing Labor of “pressuring” the Fair Work Commission ahead of a hearing between the two parties.
National Covid summary
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia on Sunday, as the country records at least 14 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
Deaths: 0
Cases: 122
In hospital: 92 (with 1 people in ICU)
NSW
Deaths: 6
Cases: 2,887
In hospital: 1,689 (with 40 people in ICU)
Northern Territory
Deaths: n/a
Cases: n/a
In hospital: n/a
Queensland
Deaths: n/a
Cases: n/a
In hospital: n/a
South Australia
Deaths: 0
Cases: 382
In hospital: 94 (with 9 people in ICU)
Tasmania
Deaths: 0
Cases: 115
In hospital: 28 (with 0 people in ICU)
Victoria
Deaths: 8
Cases: 1,519
In hospital: 293 (with 15 people in ICU)
Western Australia
Deaths: 0
Cases: 816
In hospital: 198 (with six people in ICU)
Updated
Western Australia records no new Covid deaths
No one with Covid-19 has died in Western Australia overnight, with the state recording 816 new cases on Sunday morning, 198 people in hospital, and 6 in ICU.
South Australia records no new Covid deaths
No one with Covid-19 has died in South Australia overnight, with the state recording 382 new cases on Sunday morning, 94 people in hospital, 9 in ICU and one on ventilation.
South Australian COVID-19 update 4/9/22.
— SA Health (@SAHealth) September 4, 2022
For more information go https://t.co/FfBbwAHN4R pic.twitter.com/Lxdrb4rAa0
International travellers on Qantas face delays as workers set to strike
Ground handlers from Dnata, who are contracted to Qantas and other airlines, will walk off the job for 24 hours on Monday, September 12, AAP reports.
The industrial action was agreed to by Dnata workers on Friday with some 350 crew to strike.
It follows calls by the Transport Workers Union for Dnata to lift pay and conditions, including minimum guaranteed work hours.
Qantas sacked its own ground crew staff during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and moved to outsourcing roles to companies such as Dnata.
An airline spokeswoman said the negotiations were a matter for Dnata and the carrier had contingency plans in place to curb disruptions.
The transport union’s national secretary Michael Kaine said ground handlers couldn’t afford to stay in the industry because of a drop in pay and conditions.
“We need to rebalance aviation towards good, secure jobs that keep skilled workers in the industry and ensure the safety of the travelling public,” Kaine said.
He pinned the fall in conditions on Qantas’ outsourcing and the lack of JobKeeper payments for Dnata workers under the former Morrison government.
Kaine called on the new Albanese government to establish a regulatory body to set minimum standards across the industry.
Qantas is challenging in the High Court a recent Federal Court decision declaring the airlines’ outsourcing of 2000 ground crew workers as illegal.
If it loses the appeal, Qantas could owe compensation to the nearly 1700 workers it sacked during the pandemic.
Dnata crews provide ground handling services to Qantas international flights in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
It does not do baggage handling for Qantas domestic flights.
The airline spokeswoman said Dnata provided services to more than 20 airlines across Australia and would have potential impacts across the sector.
Updated
Australian gold production rises to 317 tonnes in last financial year
Australia mined around $26 billion worth of gold in the last financial year, AAP reports.
Output for the 2021/22 year totalled 317 tonnes – equivalent to two blue whales – led by the nation’s biggest goldminers Newmont and Newcrest Mining.
The annual result was boosted by a strong final quarter when 83 tonnes of gold was produced, up nine per cent from the March quarter, according to Melbourne-based gold mining consultants Surbiton Associates.
Australian gold producers have been benefitting from a weaker Australian dollar against the US dollar, which is the base currency for gold.
On the weekend, the price of gold was hovering around $US1710 per ounce.
Updated
As the UK grapples with a crisis of leadership and exploding gas prices that threatens to leave thousands without heating, Guardian executive editor Metrope Mills recounts how problems with the National Health Service led to the death of her daughter.
At the start of summer, my 13-year-old daughter Martha was busy with life. She’d meet her friends in the park, make silly videos on her phone and play “kiss, marry, kill”. Her days were filled with books and memorising song lyrics. She’d wonder aloud if she might become an author, an engineer or a film director. Her future was brimming with promise, crowded with plans.
By the end of the summer she was dead, after shocking mistakes were made at one of the UK’s leading hospitals.
What follows is an account of how Martha was allowed to die, but also what happens when you have blind faith in doctors – and learn too late what you should have known to save your child’s life. What I learned, I now want everyone to know. In a small way, I hope Martha’s story might change how some people think about healthcare; it might even save a life.
I am a fierce supporter of the principles of the NHS and realise how many excellent doctors are practising today. There’s no need for the usual political arguments: as the hospital in question has confirmed to me, what happened to Martha had nothing to do with insufficient resources or overstretched doctors and nurses; it had nothing to do with austerity or cuts, or a health service under strain.
No matter how many times I’m told that “it was the doctors’ job to look after Martha”, I know, deep down, that had I acted differently, she’d still be living, and my life would not now be broken. It’s not that I think I’m to blame: the hospital has admitted breach of duty of care and talked of a “catastrophic error”. But if I’d been more aware of how hospitals work and how some doctors behave, my daughter would be with me now.
For more on Guardian executive editor Metrope Mills’ account on the failings of the British NHS, read the full story:
Updated
NT coroner to examine Kumanjayi Walker shooting trial
It’s already been the subject of a high-profile murder trial and now a coroner will examine the outback police shooting of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker.
Walker died on 9 November 2019 when Const Zachary Rolfe shot him three times in the remote community of Yuendumu 290km north-west of Alice Springs.
The inquest, scheduled to start on Monday, will explore why police wanted to arrest the 19-year-old and how his death affected his family and community.
Rolfe, 30, was in March acquitted of murdering Walker, igniting grief and anger in Yuendumu, with some community members decrying the justice system as racist.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage had planned for the inquest to start at Yuendumu but the two-day sitting was cancelled last month amid rising tensions there.
For more on the upcoming coronial inquest, read the full story:
Updated
A new meaning to hot pursuit
A man on the run from Victorian police was given away by his body heat after trying to hide in a compost bin for nearly an hour, AAP reports.
Police saw a man on the roof of a property in the suburbs of Ballarat on Saturday afternoon, giving chase. But they lost the man and began checking backyards for him.
But it was a police chopper that sniffed out the fleeing suspect, by seeing a heat source coming out of a green waste compost bin in someone’s front yard.
Police opened it and found their man, who had been hiding in the bin for 45 minutes.
The 28-year-old was arrested and charged with criminal damage, trespass, theft of motor vehicle and burglary.
He is being held in custody and due to front a Ballarat magistrates court on Monday.
Updated
Book about Morrison’s ministries discloses national security discussions
It is the book that has landed Scott Morrison in the hottest water of his political career – revealing how he appointed himself to multiple ministries in his government unbeknown to the public or his colleagues.
That disclosure has attracted the most public interest, but the book Plagued also reveals previously secret deliberations of Australia’s national security committee (NSC) of cabinet.
The details include discussions about the government’s approach to dealing with China, the decision-making process behind closing Australia’s borders in early 2020, and discussions around Australia’s defence posture.
Morrison has previously said that he provided the authors, Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, with interviews as the pandemic unfolded, saying he cooperated with interviews “that were done contemporaneously”.
The authors do not disclose who was the source of the information.
Leaks from cabinet are not rare occurrences and the handbook on cabinet confidentiality actually addresses “authorised leaks” by members of the government to garner favourable publicity.
But leaks from the NSC are much rarer and go against longstanding political convention, although laws related to such leaks specifically require the information communicated to be “inherently harmful” for an offence to have been committed.
For more on the other revelations from the book that outed Scott Morrison’s multiple ministries, read the full story here:
Updated
Australia’s east coast prepares for more catastrophic flooding
Flood and severe weather warnings are in place across parts of Victoria, Queensland and NSW as Australia’s east coast braces for another wet spring and summer, AAP reports.
NSW and Queensland have already copped a wet and windy weekend and forecasts predict more rain on the way over the course of the week.
But winds are expected to ease in NSW over Sunday and early Monday.
Hazardous surf warnings are in place across both Queensland and NSW as the wild weather kicks up large swells.
Meteorologists are warning of a wetter than average spring on Australia’s east coast.
La Niña weather pattern is now set to do three back-to-back seasons, bringing more rain but lower temperatures.
The same weather conditions caused the devastating and deadly February-March floods and the recent June-July flooding.
The destructive weather, linked to climate change, has prompted reviews of state governments’ handling of their flood responses.
Updated
McKim calls for pause on interest rate rises until 2024
Greens senator Nick McKim says there should be no interest rate rise until “at least after the October budget”.
McKim said the RBA governor “needed to be upfront with the Australian people” after previous comments promising there would be no interest rate rise until 2024.
“Philip Lowe as good as said that interest rates would not go up until 2024,” McKim said.
Hundreds of thousands of people were induced into taking on massive debts on this basis.
He can’t then turn around and smash homeowners and renters with rate increases to deal with inflation that they are not causing while their wages are going backwards in real terms.
McKim said the current spike in inflation was driven by “corporate profiteering” that could be addressed by a super profits tax and a repeal of the stage three tax cuts.
He also called for the minimum wage to be lifted to 60% of median earnings, with award wages increased “in the care economy”.
Updated
RBA tipped to raise interest rates to 2.35%
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise interest rates when it meets on Tuesday, AAP reports.
A rise of 50 basis points to 2.35% is expected by economists for September but it is thought that any rate hike will be followed by a pause on action in October.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its national accounts report, which includes the key gross domestic product numbers, for the June quarter on Wednesday.
On Thursday, central bank governor Philip Lowe will deliver a speech on the economic outlook and monetary policy at the Anika Foundation in Sydney.
The ABS will also release trade data as well as payroll jobs figures.
At the end of the week, the National Skills Commission will provide a preliminary update on job vacancies for the month.
The national statistics bureau will also release “monthly business turnover indicator” data on Friday.
Updated
Troll site dropped by internet infrastructure firm after threats
Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare has bowed to public pressure and blocked malicious community forum Kiwi Farms after it systematically targeted trans people for harassment and an “escalation” in the number of threats made on the site.
Kiwi Farms is a notorious website that coordinates trolling campaigns against individuals and has recently begun targeting trans people and activists.
Members of the community singled out Canadian Twitch streamer and activist Clara Sorrenti by repeatedly posting their personal information online and making fake calls to emergency service providers in order to send law enforcement to her home.
Cloudfare CEO Matthew Prince initially resisted a community campaign pressuring his company to stop providing services to Kiwi Farms, saying previous efforts to take action against far-right websites 8chan and Daily Stormer set a precedent that prompted authoritarian regimes pressuring it to act against human rights websites.
Just as the telephone company doesn’t terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded in consultation with politicians, policymakers and experts that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy.
To be clear, just because we did it in a limited set of cases before doesn’t mean we were right when we did. Or that we will ever do it again.
But in a post to Twitter on Sunday Prince said his company had taken action after “the threats on the site escalated in the last 48 hours” and “it became enough of an imminent emergency” that they could not wait for law enforcement to act.
We just blocked Kiwifarms. The threats on the site escalated enough in the last 48 hours that, in spite of proactively working with law enforcement, it became enough of an imminent emergency we could no longer wait for them to act. Details of our decision: https://t.co/xNnSXn65R6
— Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) September 3, 2022
Kiwi Farms has been blocked in Australia and New Zealand for hosting the Christchurch terrorist video – but Australia lifted the block after the site stopped hosting the video.
For more on the campaign to force Cloudfare to drop its support for Kiwi Farms, read Guardian technology reporter Josh Taylor’s report:
Updated
Tasmania records no new Covid deaths
No one with Covid-19 has died in Tasmania overnight, with the state recording 115 new cases on Sunday morning, 28 people in hospital and no one in ICU.
Updated
ACT records no new Covid deaths
No one with Covid-19 has died in the Australian Capital Territory overnight, with the territory recording 122 new cases on Sunday morning, 92 people in hospital, one in ICU and one on ventilation.
ACT COVID-19 update – 4 September 2022
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) September 4, 2022
🦠 COVID-19 case numbers
◾ New cases today: 122 (62 PCR and 60 RAT)
◾ Active cases: 1,066
◾ Total cases since March 2020: 203,197 pic.twitter.com/rlliaTnW9d
Updated
Dutton and the skills summit
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, derided it as a union talkfest, but the Albanese government achieved more than could reasonably have been expected from its jobs and skills summit.
Yes, some of it was held over from national cabinet earlier this week (the extra Tafe places, for example). Some items were a long time coming and dictated by the circumstances of massive workforce shortages (permanent migration up to 195,000 and a $36m investment to speed up visa processing). One policy was even a tweak of an idea suggested by Dutton in June (the relaxation of tax rules to allow pensioners to work more).
But, add to that the massive list of industrial relations reforms outlined by Tony Burke on Thursday intended to get wages moving again (and increase workers’ power) and Labor can rightly say the summit was a success.
For more on why Dutton will be hoping Australians weren’t paying attention to the skills summit this week, read Guardian Australia’s political correspondent Paul Karp’s analysis:
Updated
And that’s it for Brendan O’Connor – a lot there to go through but the skills and training minister looks calm and confident following the skills summit this week.
Updated
‘We should be making sure that they’re not forgotten’
O’Connor is asked about measures to keep tradies in apprenticeships, but also crucially what the government was going to do to get people living with disabilities into the workforce – particularly an idea floated by Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott to reduce restrictions so people on the disability support pension can work while receiving support.
When we have a tight labour market we have an opportunity to make sure that people can access the labour market who have been locked out for years, including people with disability, First Nations people and long-term unemployed. We should be making sure that they’re not forgotten here.
This is an interesting response as the government has so far refused to raise social security payments to the poverty.
Updated
Extra Tafe funding will continue in 2024: O’Connor
O’Connor is asked about $1.1bn being set aside for federal, state and territory governments to offer 180,000 fee-free Tafe places, noting that money is for 2023 and raising the question: what happens after that?
O’Connor:
We’ve been able to create five guiding principles to negotiate a five-year-long agreement with the states and territories. They are the deliverers of the sector but it needs reform. The sector but it needs reform.
Notionally we’re looking at the $3.7bn over five years from the commonwealth. That’s on top of what payments are made, subject to negotiation. We understand – we are a big funder of the VET sector. We need to make sure. But let’s be clear: we’ve got that commencing 21 January 2024.
Updated
O’Connor: ‘must be a lifting’ of minimum pay for temporary skilled migrants
O’Connor is asked abut whether the minimum pay for temporary skilled migrants – $53,900 – should be raised as it has not been increased for “more than a decade”.
O’Connor says the figure should be lifted:
We have to examine that. That meant that it’s fallen in real terms. Obviously if it’s nominally the same for nine years, we have to make sure it’s not about bringing people in to displace local workers. I think there must be a lifting of that measure.
Updated
‘We have almost a million visas that are not processed’
Now on migration, O’Connor says the government is attempting to balance competing interests in raising the migration cap, filling skills gaps and ensuring a growing economy without eroding the bargaining power of Australian workers.
O’Connor:
What we had under the previous government, is Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison not understand immigration is also an economic portfolio. We have almost a million visas that are not processed. We have thousands of temporary holders who have been here for a decade in areas of skills shortage who can’t get permanent residency. We had the temporary visa holders not provided any jobkeeper or jobseeker flee the country. It was starve or leave.
We were left with greater skills shortages than should have been the case. That’s if the previous government understood the importance of immigration and temporary and permanent skilled migration to the economy.
Updated
O’Connor defends Burke over letter to Fair Work Commission
O’Connor is asked about allegations that workplace relations minister Tony Burke wrote to the Fair Work Commission flagging the government’s intention to remove the right of employers to terminate agreements at a time when Dominic Perrottet is threatening to tear up an enterprise agreement with rail workers in New South Wales.
O’Connor:
Firstly, the first time it was raised by the government was in relation to the tugboat dispute. The NSW government was looking to terminate that, which would have reduced wages by 40%. The premier himself called these people heroes. That was the first time I think Minister Burke then raised concerns about that, rightly. I think the letter has just been a foreshadowing of our intent to the Fair Work Commission.
O’Connor says the move was pre-emptive ahead of any legislation being introduced and passed:
The Fair Work Commission is independent and the president and the commissioners are pursuant to the Fair Work Act. The government, as a protocol, was foreshadowing our intent and we know there may well be employers that may seek to terminate agreements before the legislation.
Updated
‘We’ve seen collective bargaining halve in a decade’
O’Connor is also asked about the prospect that the circumstances under which workers can strike will be expanded in an echo of the 1970s – a concern of business groups and one that has been hammered by opposition leader Peter Dutton in recent days.
O’Connor:
I think there’s been goodwill and an effort to work it through. What I will say is there are a lot of moving parts is because with rights to take action, either for employers or for employees or unions, there’s the role of the commission in terms of arbitration. That’s been a very important mechanism of any form of multi-employer bargaining. Also constraints on the level of action.
I think you have to look at it all together. The focus is on getting agreements. What happened is we’ve seen collective bargaining halve in a decade and that has led to the lowest wage growth of any decade in living memory. Would it be compulsory or opt-in? All the business groups, even the Council of Small Business Organisations, say it has to be opt in. That will obviously be subject to discussions.
Updated
O’Connor: current bargaining system ‘not fit for purpose’
Speers is asking O’Connor now about the prospect of sector-wide bargaining, which the ACTU has been calling to be reintroduced. This would mean workers at each individual company will no longer have to negotiate with their company in isolation to every other.
Speers says business is “anxious about where this might lead” and asks what the government is “hoping to achieve”.
O’Connor says the current system has meant wages are 3.5% lower in real terms because of inflation.
The current system, the way it operates, is not fit for purpose. It is not leading to outcomes that are mutually beneficial, so in fact disincentives to bargain. Now, the legislation that we enacted when last in government had a mechanism for low-paid bargaining across employers but it didn’t work. We needed to try something more effective.
Updated
O’Connor spruiks jobs summit on Insiders
The skills and training minister Brendan O’Connor is speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers, saying the recent skills summit has led to “looks of goodwill” that will lead to “good outcomes” and a “path forward”.
We know that the previous government boasted that low wages was a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture. We want one that sees wages grow in real terms, businesses profit and we start to see better productivity, because that also will help.
Updated
Victoria records eight new Covid deaths
Eight people with Covid-19 have died in Victoria overnight, with the state recording 1,519 new cases on Sunday morning, 293 people in hospital, 15 in ICU and six on ventilation.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) September 3, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAchah pic.twitter.com/dk8lSjutPV
3 doses (16+): 69.7%
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) September 3, 2022
2 doses (12+): 94.7%
Doses total: 6,344,026
Hospital: 293
ICU (active + cleared): 15
Ventilated: 6
Lives lost: 8
New cases: 1,519 (Rapid antigen test cases: 1,086, PCR test cases: 433)
PCR tests: 6,832
Active cases (all): 13,712
New South Wales records six new Covid deaths
Six people with Covid-19 have died in New South Wales overnight, with the state recording 2,887 new cases on Sunday morning, 1,689 people in hospital and 40 in ICU.
COVID-19 update – Sunday 4 September 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 3, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 97% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine*
- 95.4% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine* pic.twitter.com/9zgcjS1m7p
- 69.6% of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine**^
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 3, 2022
- 81.9% of people aged 12-15 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine*
- 78.2% of people aged 12-15 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine*
- 49.4% of people aged 5-11 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine*
- 1,689 hospitalisations
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 3, 2022
- 40 people in ICU
- 6 lives lost
- 2,887 positive tests: 1,480 RAT & 1,407 PCR
Updated
Burke writing to Fair Work Commission ‘most concerning’ – Cash
Cash also attacked Tony Burke for writing to the Fair Work Commission signalling Labor intends to curtail employers’ ability to apply to terminate a workplace pay deal in a way that would cut pay and conditions.
Cash said:
This is one of the most concerning things I’ve seen in the first 100 days of the Albanese government. For a minister in the government to write to the independent Fair Work Commission and seek to influence them in how they make decisions – that should deeply concern all Australians. The role of the tribunal is to interpret the law as it stands, not as Mr Burke and Albanese would like it to be. They’re actually pre-empting the Senate, which may not agree to this alleged change. Serious questions arise in relation to integrity.
The agriculture minister Murray Watt denied that this was an attempt to influence any particular dispute such as the NSW trains dispute. Watt said the “timing is just coincidental” because the letter reflects a “longstanding belief” that employers should not be able to threaten to cut pay and conditions during a dispute.
Earlier, Cash was unimpressed with changes to allow pensioners to work more, suggesting they amount to “a very strange half-baked attempt to do what Peter Dutton put on the table in June”.
Cash said it “didn’t take a summit to tell you we need more workers in Australia” due to the “massive skills shortage”. She declined to endorse the new cap of 190,000 on permanent migrants, saying the “devil will be in the detail”.
For more on the Sydney trains dispute, read this from the Guardian Australia’s Michael McGowan.
Updated
Cash says Labor paying its union ‘paymasters’ in full
The shadow employment minister Michaelia Cash has accused Anthony Albanese of putting the interests of the union movement above the Australian people at the jobs and skills summit.
Cash told Sky News:
The big winners from the two-day talkfest were the Australian union movement. The Labor party are paying their paymasters in full. It’s very disappointing what Australians can now see is sensible and modest changes proposed 18 months ago to [the better-off-overall test] which would’ve helped employers negotiate with employees … were completely, totally, utterly opposed by Labor but apparently now are OK.
In relation to industry-wide bargaining, this is why the outcome of the summit is a win for the union movement. This is what they’ve been asking for for years and years. Even the Rudd and Gillard government refused to deliver on this.
Cash said the legislation should:
create a criminal offence of bullying or harassing small business into pressuring them to do a deal; and
ensure strike action should not be able to be taken for an industry-wide deal
Both of these would be in breach of International Labour Organization conventions on freedom of association, which guarantee a right to strike.
Also, critics of the multi-employer bargaining proposal are consistently misrepresenting it as industry-wide bargaining.
The workplace relations minister Tony Burke has said any changes would not interfere with deals struck directly between employers and their workforce. So a single-employer deal will always be an option.
Updated
The skills and training minister Brendan O’Connor will be appearing on ABC Insiders this morning and shadow immigration minister Michaelia Cash has appeared on Sky News on Sunday to discuss the jobs and skills summit.
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
Fierce winds, hazardous surf and flood warnings have been issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for Australia’s east coast. The BoM’s severe weather warnings include minor flood warnings for the Bellinger, Namoi, Bogan, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Murray, Edward and Darling rivers, with a deep and intense low hammering Lord Howe Island.
The Australian government is working on a plan to help international students studying nursing, engineering and IT stay for longer as part of a reform to the nation’s migration program that is being billed as the “biggest since the end of the second world war”. The Albanese government has already announced it will increase the country’s permanent migration intake by 35,000 to 195,000 – the highest it’s ever been.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the first part of the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be in the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started ...
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