US software company Salesforce gave NDIS officials gifts worth more than $100 on 45 occasions

Documents submitted by the company to a parliamentary inquiry also detail meetings between Salesforce and former minister Stuart Robert at his request

US software company Salesforce has disclosed it gave gifts worth more than $100 to NDIS officials at least 45 times between 2019 and 2023, including wining and dining them at ritzy restaurants and bars in Melbourne and Canberra.

The information – submitted by Salesforce to a parliamentary inquiry scrutinising contract arrangements by the NDIS and Services Australia under the former Coalition government – appears at odds with the disability insurance agency’s earlier answers it had no evidence staff had received gifts or benefits from Salesforce.

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Senate opposition firms against Coalition’s nuclear power plan as David Pocock blasts ‘reckless’ proposal

ACT senator says he is not ideologically opposed but Coalition’s nuclear proposal is ‘unrealistic’ while Lidia Thorpe says it doesn’t make economic sense

Senate opposition to the Coalition’s nuclear plan is firming, presenting a major hurdle to Peter Dutton’s proposal for seven nuclear power plants on top of state objections.

In addition to Labor and the Greens, independent senators Lidia Thorpe and David Pocock have voiced major criticisms of the policy, while Jacqui Lambie, who has previously expressed support for nuclear to be part of the mix, is investigating the Coalition’s proposal and is concerned nuclear plants are “incredibly expensive”.

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‘This is monumental’: Australia takes first step to world heritage nomination for parts of Cape York

‘We want this to be on the bucket list of visitors from around the world because it is so special globally,’ environment minister says

Australia has taken the first steps to nominating parts of Cape York for recognition as Unesco world heritage.

The area features 17,000 year-old rock art – some of the world’s largest – and is home to more than 300 threatened species, including the green sawfish, Cape York rock wallaby and southern cassowary.

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Man charged over alleged Queensland shooting murder lost gun licence three years ago, police say

South Mackay man, 31, charged with murder and attempted murder over Robb Place shootings as police investigate how he allegedly gained access to firearm

A Queensland woman was leaving for a sporting activity when a neighbour allegedly shot her dead in her car in front of two girls.

Ryan Geoffrey Cole, 31, has been charged with murdering the woman and shooting another person who came to her aid in Mackay, north Queensland.

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Gender pay gap in Australian public service more than 13%, study finds

It compares with 21.7% in the private sector which WGEA report says is due to more flexible working practice and more full-time work

For every dollar a male federal public servant makes, his female counterpart makes 86c, data reported for the first time by the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) reveals.

An analysis of data reported by 116 commonwealth public sector employers found the public sector’s gender pay gap was 13.5% in 2022, which was roughly two-thirds that of the private sector’s pay gap (21.7%).

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Typical Aldi grocery bill 25% cheaper than at major supermarkets, Choice research finds

Undercover shopping study on 14 common items part of move to provide transparency after Coles and Woolworths accused of price gouging

A basket of Aldi groceries is typically 25% cheaper than an equivalent purchase at major chains Coles and Woolworths, according to government-funded research conducted by consumer group Choice.

The price comparison of 14 common grocery items is part of an initiative to provide better transparency of the supermarket sector, which has faced allegations of anti-competitive price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis.

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‘No credible reason’ to expect cheaper power bills under Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan, experts say

Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute rejects Coalition’s claim electricity prices are high due to Labor’s renewables policy

Peter Dutton’s claim that nuclear energy would lead to cheaper power bills has been rejected by energy experts, with one saying there was “no credible reason” to think adding “the most expensive form of bulk electricity” would cut prices.

They said a range of evidence, including a recent CSIRO analysis, suggested nuclear power would be more expensive than other options, and that solar and wind system under construction – supported by firming technology – was the cheapest option.

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‘You cannot do mass surveillance privately, full stop’: Signal boss hits out at government encryption-busting moves

A ‘legitimate grievance’ with big tech firms is being used by police as a pretext to undermine privacy, Meredith Whittaker says

Police have used the “very legitimate grievance” the public has with large tech companies like Meta about data collection and surveillance as a pretext to undermine user privacy, the president of encrypted messaging app Signal has said.

Meredith Whittaker told Guardian Australia that it had become “an easy win with few political consequences” for politicians to beat up on Facebook in the past decade, and while there was legitimate public backlash against the “mass surveillance tech business model” the policy response had a “very unfortunate shape”.

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Climate needs come a distant second to politics in Dutton’s nuclear plans

The Coalition still has questions to answer about its energy proposals – not least cost – but some wonder if the aim is just to disrupt renewables

Last year, when Peter Dutton campaigned against the proposed voice to parliament, he said repeatedly that it shouldn’t be supported because it lacked detail. Now, as he seeks to upend the transition to renewable energy in Australia and spend billions of dollars to build nuclear reactors instead, there is almost none.

Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have selected seven locations around Australia for future nuclear reactors. On Wednesday, they finally named them.

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Labor under pressure from within to act on gambling reform as one-year anniversary of landmark report nears

Exclusive: Discontent growing among advocates, crossbenchers and Labor MPs over delay in implementing 31 recommendations, including advertising ban

Crossbenchers, gambling harm advocates and even some inside Labor are demanding the Albanese government speed up moves towards banning gambling advertisements, as pressure mounts on Labor to act.

Next week marks one year since Peta Murphy’s landmark gambling report was delivered, and a key Labor MP is planning to “urge” the government to respond soon. Discontent is growing over the government’s failure to respond to its 31 recommendations, including a ban on all advertising for online gambling.

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Australia news live: Dutton announces Coalition’s nuclear policy and proposed sites, but no costs

Sites named at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang. Follow the day’s news live

Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’

I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:

We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.

Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.

So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.

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Charlise Mutten trial: Justin Stein found guilty of murdering partner’s nine-year-old daughter

Jury finds 33-year-old drugged and fatally shot Mutten in the Blue Mountains in January 2022

Justin Stein has been found guilty of the murder of his then-partner’s nine-year-old daughter Charlise Mutten.

Charlise’s body was found dumped by the Colo River, north-west of Sydney, four days after she was reported missing, with gunshot wounds to her head and lower back.

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Peter Dutton names seven potential nuclear power station sites but avoids questions on cost

Coalition will push ahead with potential sites across Australia, but serious questions remain about viability and cost

Peter Dutton has announced seven potential sites for nuclear power plants including two in Queensland and two proposed small modular reactors but dodged questions about the cost of the Coalition’s nuclear power plan.

A snap Coalition party room meeting on Wednesday heard the opposition will propose that Tarong and Callide in Queensland; Mount Piper and Liddell in New South Wales; Collie in Western Australia; Loy Yang in Victoria; and the Northern power station in South Australia could host nuclear power plants.

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Labor MP Josh Burns’ electoral office has windows smashed in attack by vandals

Jewish MP says attack that used slogan ‘Zionism is fascism’ was ‘politically motivated’

Vandals have smashed windows and set fire to the front of the federal Labor MP Josh Burns’ Melbourne electoral office in what he has branded a “politically motivated attack”.

At least five people were seen near the office located on Barkly Street in St Kilda about 3.20am on Wednesday, police were told.

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Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest can sue Meta over Facebook scam ads, US court rules

The Australian mining magnate can try to prove that Meta was negligent in allowing scam ads on Facebook, judge says

A US judge has rejected Meta Platforms’ bid to dismiss a lawsuit by billionaire Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest over scam Facebook advertisements that use his likeness to promote fake cryptocurrency and other fraudulent investments.

In a decision on Monday, US district judge Casey Pitts in San Jose, California, said Forrest could try to prove that Meta’s negligence in allowing the ads breached its duty to operate in a commercially reasonable manner.

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Melbourne and Sydney wake to coldest morning this year after Queensland weather record

Band of cold blankets entire east coast, with widespread frost across Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW

Melbourne and Sydney have shivered through their coldest morning so far this year, after Queenslanders awoke to a blanket of frost across a large swathe of the state’s centre on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Sydney recorded a low of 6.5C at Observatory Hill, compared with Melbourne’s bone-chilling low of 1.4C.

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RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

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Labor senator Fatima Payman calls on government to ‘recognise Palestine’ in rebuke to Albanese

Party were ‘fierce champions of Palestine’ in opposition and they must ‘summon that spirit of old’, she writes for Al Jazeera

The Labor senator Fatima Payman has called on her own government to “recognise Palestine” and undermined efforts by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to discredit protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Payman, writing for Al Jazeera, argued that nations needed to take a “definitive stance” on Palestinian statehood because Israel “continues to disregard its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and cease genocidal acts”. Israel denies committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

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Matt Kean, a sometimes lone Coalition voice on climate threat, announces shock retirement

NSW Liberal MP rules out running for federal parliament as he exits state politics after 13 years

New South Wales Liberal MP Matt Kean has announced his resignation from politics after 13 years in state parliament.

Kean made the surprise announcement in a snap press conference at NSW parliament on Tuesday, hours after the Minns Labor government handed down its second budget.

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Australian online seller Booktopia enters share trading halt a fortnight after major job cuts

Bookseller tells ASX it will announce outcomes from strategic review, including ‘progress in seeking additional funding’

Australia’s largest online bookseller has entered into a voluntary share trading suspension, just two weeks after axing 50 jobs and losing its chief executive.

Booktopia Group Ltd notified the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Monday, saying its securities would be suspended from quotation immediately pending an announcement on “further outcomes” from a strategic review, “including its progress in seeking additional funding”.

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