Qantas chairman heckled by shareholders at AGM as investors reject executive pay plans

Shouts of ‘shame on you’ after shareholder Chris Maxworthy’s microphone cut off

Qantas’s annual general meeting erupted with shareholders shouting “shame on you” at the board’s chairman, Richard Goyder, as investors overwhelmingly rejected the embattled company’s executive pay deal.

That result, which marked one of Australia’s largest ever protest votes against executive pay, came after Goyder and the airline’s chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, apologised to investors for a year of sagas that had seen the company’s share price plummet.

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Taylor Swift: warning over fake tickets as NAB urges punters to be wary of social media scams

Concern around fake Taylor Swift ticket scams comes as bank reveals $220,000 worth of transactions abandoned daily

National Australia Bank has warned punters to be on the lookout for scams on social media sites claiming to have tickets to high-profile sold-out concerts such as Taylor Swift in the coming months.

The bank said on Thursday that after alert prompts were introduced into its banking app and online banking site in March warning customers they might be scammed, about $220,000 worth of transactions were abandoned a day. These alerts have since been expanded to cover ticket and marketplace scams.

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WA town stops using Wiggles song to deter homeless people; Paul Keating lauds Bill Hayden at state funeral – as it happened

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Husic was on the show to discuss the results of the AI Safety Summit held in the UK this week, where Australia and 27 other countries signed a major artificial intelligence agreement.

The Bletchley Declaration affirms that AI should be developed, designed and deployed in a human-centric and safe manner.

It has been very clear from a number of countries, not the least of which the US, which brought in a big executive order this week to improve AI safety and security, that there will be more safety testing and also evaluating those AI models, and holding companies much more accountable for the way that they do that development work.

There will be safety institutes set up in the US and the UK to help with that testing and it will involve researchers in that work and a state of the science report that will look at the developments particularly around what they call frontier AI, generative AI and Australia will have a voice there with the CSIRO’s chief scientist, Dr Bronwyn Fox, who will represent our country in the development of that research work to give governments and regulators a heads up on how the technology is evolving too.

I have been concerned for weeks about where things would head. I was concerned that innocent Palestinian families would bear the brunt and the heaviest burden, in terms of the type of action that was being foreshadowed.

I think the world, the international community, is watching very closely. I have said previously there has to be a much more strategic, precise way to hold Hamas to account. Israel’s actions do matter, in terms of the way in which they conduct these military operations, and I think a lot of us are deeply concerned about the impact, not only on innocent Palestinians but particularly kids.

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Suspected mushroom poisoning: Erin Patterson fronts court on murder charges over deaths in Victoria, Australia

Patterson, 49, was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after family lunch in rural Australian town of Leongatha

The woman at the centre of a mushroom lunch that allegedly killed three people and left a fourth fighting for his life is also accused of attempting to murder her former partner four times over the past two years, according to Australian court documents.

Erin Patterson, 49, has been charged with murdering Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, after a lunch in her home in the rural Australian town of Leongatha on 29 July.

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Labor accused of ‘dragging feet’ on reinstating program that monitors airlines for potential price-gouging

Opposition says there’s ‘no excuse’ for further delays on the government reviving the ACCC flight monitoring regime


More than two weeks after announcing it was reviving an airline industry monitoring program, the Albanese government is yet to formally direct the competition watchdog to conduct the investigation.

After months of scrutiny into Qantas’s influence in the government’s decision to block rival Qatar Airways’ push to boost its flights to Australia, the Greens and independent senator David Pocock in October knocked back a proposal to extend a Senate inquiry on the topic.

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Two people fined $500 over damaging posters of Israeli hostages at Bondi beach memorial

NSW police have issued criminal infringement notices after footage emerged of men attempting to take down posters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas

Two men have been issued fines for offensive behaviour over the vandalism of a memorial at Bondi Beach for Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

The installation of 230 beach towels and pairs of thongs beside posters of those kidnapped on 7 October had run more than 100 metres along the concourse.

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Australian academics apologise for false AI-generated allegations against big four consultancy firms

Case studies created by Google Bard AI as part of submission to parliamentary inquiry proven to be factually incorrect

A group of academics has offered an unreserved apology to the big four consultancy firms after admitting they used artificial intelligence to make false allegations of serious wrongdoing in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry.

The accusations have been met with scorn by the firms, concerned that inaccurate information has been given parliamentary privilege to unfairly tarnish the reputation of its staff.

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Patients warned many doctors won’t change approach to bulk billing despite new incentives

Boosted rebate for concession card holders and children under 16 is in effect but GPs’ peak body says other patients won’t benefit

Many Australian patients won’t see their doctors return to bulk billing despite incentives introduced by the Albanese government, GPs have warned, while experts say more measures are needed to help disadvantaged, chronically ill people.

Patients who are bulk billed do not pay anything for their consult, with GPs billing the government directly through Medicare instead.

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Albanese to raise human rights and trade with Xi in first China visit by Australian PM since 2016

Ahead of trip signalling emergence from diplomatic deep freeze, Albanese also calls on Beijing to again allow Australian journalists to report from mainland

Anthony Albanese will raise human rights, trade and Australia’s concerns about the militarisation of the South China Sea when he meets Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday during the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016.

Albanese has signalled he intends to raise the plight of the Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who has been detained for more than four years in China. Ahead of his departure, the prime minister also called on the Chinese government to issue visas to Australian journalists, allowing them to report once again from the mainland.

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Scrap blue cards for First Nations kinship carers, Queensland family and child commissioner says

Damning report finds state’s blue card screening system creates unnecessary barriers to placing children with their families

Queensland’s family and child commissioner has called for blue card requirements to be scrapped for First Nations kinship carers after a report found the system relies on “irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments”.

Since 2001, Queenslanders who work around children have needed to obtain a blue card, with offences including drug trafficking, murder and child abuse disqualifying a person from obtaining one. But a report by the Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFCC) found blue cards create additional barriers to placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families.

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Indigenous voice defeat doesn’t mean voters want assimilation, Albanese says

PM says he hopes there’s a retreat from ‘rhetorical positions’ on social issues, adding family violence is not ‘confined to one section of the population’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the government will “push back” on Coalition calls to promote assimilation of Indigenous communities in the wake of the voice referendum, saying the vote’s defeat is not an endorsement of such policies.

Albanese also appeared to take a swipe at the Coalition’s calls for inquiries into social issues in Indigenous communities, saying family violence is not “confined to one section of the population”.

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The tobacco industry claims smoking reforms fuel the black market. Health experts say this is wrong

Proposed changes such as plain packaging for vapes and individual cigarette warnings come under microscope at Senate hearing

In three days of hearings about wide-ranging law reforms aimed at discouraging smoking and addressing the health risks posed by vaping, one issue dominated the questioning of health experts by senators.

Will the changes actually fuel the tobacco and vape black market?

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Rare white platypus spotted in northern NSW: ‘I didn’t think anyone would believe me’

Researcher shares images of an ultra-rare platypus – possibly the first ever documented - observed in the Northern Tablelands

Researchers hunting for an endangered turtle have discovered something even rarer – a white platypus frolicking in a New South Wales stream.

Photos and footage of the extraordinary creature have been published in a scientific journal after several encounters over the past two years or so.

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Huge Lego collection and boxes of gemstones seized by Victoria police in alleged meth lab raid

A 36 year-old man was charged with trafficking, proceeds of crime and firearms offences after raid at Botanic Ridge house in Melbourne

A mountain of Lego found in a suburban drug raid is so large police are going to need a truck to seize it.

The 1,130 boxes worth more than $200,000 were discovered on Tuesday alongside a meth lab and boxes of gemstones at a Botanic Ridge house on Melbourne’s suburban fringe.

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Wiggles ‘deeply disappointed’ over use of Hot Potato to deter homeless people – as it happened

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Watts has gone on to confirm that there are still 65 Australians stuck in Gaza that the government is “supporting” and are being provided consular assistance.

Watts says Dfat is working to get those individuals to the Rafah crossing and out of Gaza “as soon as possible”.

We know this is an incredibly distressing time for Australians in Gaza and their families and we are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels the best information and options we have about their safety in a very difficult situation.

The circumstances on the ground are incredibly challenging and they are changing on a day to day basis. This is a conflict zone. It is a very difficult operating environment so we do the best job we can in the circumstances.

Crossings like this are the result of an enormous effort from Australian consular officials and diplomats in the region. So many conversations at the ministerial level, foreign minister Wong spoke with her counterparts in the region and we’re grateful that this initial cohort has made the crossing from Gaza to Egypt.

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Judges to be protected against civil lawsuits after Salvatore Vasta sued over wrongful imprisonment

Australian government to grant federal circuit court and family court judges the same protections as other commonwealth judges under new legislation

The federal government is preparing to introduce reforms granting greater protections to inferior court judges after a landmark case in which a wrongfully imprisoned man successfully sued Salvatore Vasta.

Vasta, a judge in the federal circuit court, was successfully sued this year by a man who he falsely imprisoned during a routine property dispute after a series of “serious and fundamental errors” and “gross and obvious irregularity of procedure”.

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Australia’s new UN counter-terror chief fears world repeating ‘same mistakes’ of the past in Israel-Gaza conflict

Prof Ben Saul cautions that exceeding the limits of international law only breeds extremism and discontent, and is no recipe for peace

As he takes office as the UN’s sole special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism this week, Prof Ben Saul’s purview is dominated by what he views as one serious, though not unprecedented, “mistake”: countering terrorism with military might.

“Unfortunately, when 9/11 came, the same kind of pressure to take the gloves off became manifest pretty quickly,” says the incoming monitor and Challis chair of international law at the University of Sydney, as he reflects upon Israel’s siege of Gaza in response to Hamas’s attacks on 7 October.

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Erin Patterson charged with murder over suspected mushroom poisoning deaths in Victoria, Australia

Patterson, who has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested on Thursday over the family lunch in the rural Australian town of Leongatha

Erin Patterson, the woman at the centre of the mushroom lunch that left three people dead and a fourth fighting for his life, has been charged with murder.

Patterson was on Thursday charged with murdering Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and her sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, at lunch in her home in the rural Australian town of Leongatha on 29 July.

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Adelaide family of four among 20 Australians to flee Gaza via Egypt border

Adelaide family who escaped besieged enclave through Rafah as part of multinational deal say crossing border was ‘nerve-wracking’ and took several attempts

An Adelaide family of four who had been trapped in Gaza for three weeks are among 20 Australians who have managed to escape the besieged enclave into Egypt.

Australia has confirmed 20 Australian nationals – and three other people who had registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) – crossed through the Rafah pass into Egypt as part of a multinational deal to allow foreign national civilians to leave Gaza.

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‘Ceasefire now’: Australian Jewish group breaks ranks with vigils for peace

Organisers hope gatherings in Sydney and Melbourne will give a voice to ‘values’ not reflected in mainstream discussions

They gathered in coats and scarves in the dwindling light on a little hill in Bondi, a coalition of 100 or so, accompanied by dogs and children.

The decision to gather in public on Wednesday night was a deliberate one to highlight the first Jewish grouping in Australia to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the release of hostages and freedom and justice for all in Israel and Palestine. A similar gathering in St Kilda, Melbourne echoed the call for peace.

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