Accountancy firm argues it is not liable since it had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent such behaviour
Employers can be found vicariously liable for alleged sexual assault that occurred between employees outside working hours but only where it was connected with their employment, according to a leading employment law expert.
PwC is facing legal action claiming the accountancy firm is liable for the alleged rape of a graduate employee following after-work drinks.
Continue reading...Gregor Johann Haas, 46, was arrested in Cebu City on Wednesday and is facing extradition to Indonesia, where he is accused of drug trafficking
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters says the club are supporting prop Payne Haas “in every way” after the player’s father was arrested in the Philippines and facing extradition to Indonesia, where he is accused of drug trafficking.
Gregor Johann Haas, 46, was arrested in Cebu City on Wednesday, according to local media reports.
Continue reading...Ballot aims to make system more equitable for those from China, India and Vietnam while also tightening temporary migration
Backpacker visas for citizens of certain countries will be handed out by lottery in only the second time Australia has used such a system, as the federal government escalates its crackdown on temporary migration.
Hopeful working holidaymakers from China, India and Vietnam will have to pay $25 to enter a randomised ballot for a limited number of visas from July 2024.
Continue reading...Swimming Queensland chief Kevin Hasemann says ‘I’ve never been to a gallery’ and furore has ‘evolved into something I could never have imagined’
The head of Swimming Queensland has defended a campaign that saw Olympic champions lobby the National Gallery of Australia to take down portraits of their patron, Gina Rinehart, because they were deemed “offensive”.
An acrylic colour portrait by Vincent Namatjira of Australia’s richest woman was the target of the campaign along with a second black and white portrait by Namatjira in ink and pencil.
Continue reading...Encampment at Arts West building continues as tensions simmer at other university campuses
Pro-Palestine protesters and University of Melbourne administrators remain in a deadlock despite a warning that police could be called to enter the campus at any time.
As tensions simmer between university administrations and student activists across the nation, those camped inside the Arts West building have defied the University of Melbourne’s demands and the threat of police intervention.
Continue reading...Woman told to buy MacBooks after being threatened with knife at the Stud Park shopping centre on 10 May, police say
A mother and her baby were allegedly abducted from a Melbourne shopping centre by a knife-wielding man who then forced the woman to drive to electronic stores to buy laptops.
Victoria police are hunting for the man after the incident in Rowville, in Melbourne’s south-east, on 10 May.
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Shorten and Dutton clash over reduced migration
Earlier this morning the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, clashed over Dutton’s promise to reduce Australia’s migration intake in his budget reply speech last night.
Well, Bill, a couple of points. One is that we say that, in the first year, 40,000 homes will be freed up. That includes the numbers who would be bidding at auctions this weekend against Australian citizens.
If the government had have adopted our policy over a five-year period, you would free up 325,000 homes. So the number of people who are foreign citizens, who are buying houses in our country is low, but nonetheless it contributes to an overall shortage of housing in our country.
Continue reading...Opposition leader promised in speech on Thursday to restrict property investment by non-residents
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has criticised the opposition leader Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech as “unhinged” and lacking in economic credibility, as he set out around Australia to explain the government’s own economic plan.
With parliament now in recess for a week, Chalmers headed to Port Augusta in South Australia with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and SA state and federal colleagues to promote the government’s renewable energy transition agenda, badged as Future Made in Australia.
Continue reading...NSW police allege a senior player was arranging ‘for yellow cards to occur during certain games’ in late 2023
Three A-League men’s players have been arrested in Sydney after an international investigation uncovered an alleged betting corruption scandal.
New South Wales police on Friday said they had arrested the three footballers following an investigation by the organised crime squad which began in December and was assisted by the UK gambling commission.
Continue reading...Budget includes $227m funding boost but health expert says ‘the value of urgent care clinics is yet to be established’
Doctors and health policy experts have questioned the federal government’s decision to fund an extra 29 urgent care clinics in the absence of strong evidence that they work.
Tuesday’s budget included $227m to fund the clinics, which will bring the total number across Australia to 87. The clinics offer bulk-billed walk-in care, seven days a week over extended hours, with the intention of reducing the burden on emergency departments and easing out-of-pocket health costs.
Continue reading...Critics argue change could lead to people installing smaller solar power systems so they aren’t penalised for exporting excess energy during the day
A new tariff that will charge solar panel owners for exporting their energy during the middle of the day could discourage solar uptake, consumer groups say.
Ausgrid, which has about 280,000 customers in New South Wales with rooftop solar panels, has introduced a two-way tariff system to incentivise solar panel owners to export their power into the grid in the evening, when it is most needed.
Continue reading...Companies are using training and accreditation services but there is a lack of evidence about which interventions really work, submissions say
Companies are accrediting workplaces as “menopause friendly” without using any strong evidence in their processes, according to leading women’s health organisations and doctors who say women must have input into any changes aimed at helping them.
A Senate inquiry has been established by the Greens senator Larissa Waters to investigate the health and economic impacts of menopause on Australian women, including its effects on workforce participation and productivity.
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‘We don’t think production tax credits is way to go’: Angus Taylor on Future Made in Australia
Is the Coalition going to vote against the Future Made in Australia policy, which was fleshed out in the budget and includes tax credits (in 2028) for things like critical minerals mining and green hydrogen?
We haven’t seen the act. We don’t think production tax credits is the way to go in order to have a strong manufacturing sector.
It’s about getting those fundamentals right whether it be approvals, whether it be getting rid of red tape or making sure the construction costs are competitive with the rest of the world.
Oh, but it’s also a drop in the ocean, you know. What are we saying? It’s a Band-Aid on a bullet wound compared to the pain that mum and dads in Australia are actually feeling.
I can tell you, they’ve paid a lot more than $300 under Mr. Albanese for their electricity. For the life of me, though, what it does show is Mr Albanese, [and the government] they’ve got their priorities all wrong.
Continue reading...Comments come just hours after Senate passes motion urging senators to ‘engage in debate and commentary respectfully’
A Coalition senator accused the Labor backbencher Fatima Payman of “supporting terrorists” and then withdrew the claim, just hours after the Senate passed a motion opposing “inflammatory and divisive comments”.
The NSW Liberal senator Hollie Hughes denied she had directly referred to Payman as a “terrorist”, which is what was alleged by some senators who were sitting in the chamber at the time and did not wish to be named.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Report says members are strongly against admitting women on an equal basis, but are open to having more ‘lady guests’
Just four members of the exclusive male-only Melbourne Savage Club say they support women being admitted as members, according to a “members’ satisfaction survey”.
But more “lady guests” could visit for “mixed dining”, breaking a 130-year tradition, if suggestions included in the survey were taken up.
Continue reading...Chris Minns said Labor MP Anthony D’Adam’s comments in a speech to parliament were ‘absolutely reprehensible’
A Labor politician who criticised the actions of New South Wales police officers towards pro-Palestinian protesters has been sacked from his role as parliamentary secretary by the premier, Chris Minns.
Minns took aim at the comments made by the upper house MP Anthony D’Adam, saying that D’Adam had never raised his concerns about the police commissioner, Karen Webb, and officers before making his speech in parliament on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...University of Melbourne cancels classes as activists at Deakin defy directives on encampments
Students occupying a University of Melbourne building have been threatened with “disciplinary action and police action”, as at least three other universities seek to crack down on pro-Palestine encampments.
In a video released more than 24 hours after activists “crossed a line” by starting a sit-in at the Arts West building, the University of Melbourne’s deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Michael Wesley, said management’s patience was “now at an end”.
Wesley said some protesters could be disciplined under the university’s codes of conduct and may face police action.
Police allege that after murdering nine-year-old, Justin Stein drove to buy methamphetamine with her mother
The mother of Charlise Mutten and the schoolgirl’s alleged murderer drove to Sydney to buy drugs after the nine-year-old was fatally shot in the face and back, a court has been told.
Justin Laurens Stein, 33, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the girl on or around 12 January 2022, at Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
Continue reading...Treasurer says migration ‘important’ but needs to be ‘well managed’
Jim Chalmers has said the projected halving of net migration will contribute to Australia’s inflation fight, ahead of Peter Dutton’s budget reply which is expected to attack Labor over the spike in arrivals.
As Guardian Australia revealed in April, the Coalition will make home ownership a “core” election issue by linking the net migration intake to housing construction, a policy expected to be announced or at least constitute a major theme of the opposition leader’s reply on Thursday.
Continue reading...Labor touts cost of living package as ‘substantial’ but advocates say changes are inadequate
The federal government’s decision not to further increase funding for jobseeker, housing and domestic violence is a “gaping hole in the heart of the budget”, advocates have warned, with politicians and civil society dismayed there was not more cost of living support announced on Tuesday.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the budget’s cost of living package was “substantial” and targeted at “middle Australia”, listing the revamped stage-three tax cuts, $300 energy bill rebates, a slight increase to rent assistance and freezing medicine prices as the highlights of its response.
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