Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Pared-back bill now relates only to casual employment; government faces scrutiny over its botched vaccine booking website. Follow all the latest updates
Doctors’ group lashes out at Liberal MP, saying ‘all public figures’ should ‘act responsibly’; Morrison government to face pressure on jobkeeper and jobseeker. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:
Husic:
Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.
When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.
Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.
Husic:
The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.
It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.
Sydney to keep 10-visitor rule but from 24-26 December children under 12 not counted; lockdown continues in half of northern beaches, but small Christmas gatherings allowed. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
The Northern Territory has revoked its categorisation of New South Wales region Illawarra as a coronavirus hotspot.
Health minister Natasha Fyles made the announcement this afternoon following an emergency cabinet meeting, saying the decision was made because there were no cases from the northern beaches there.
This is based on the evidence that they’ve had no cases from the northern beaches coronavirus cluster. I know people are anxiously awaiting other local government areas, but the advice from our chief health officer Hugh Heggie ... is that it is safe to remove that hotspot declaration for the Illawarra Shire local government area. The others will remain in place.
Victoria is reminding people from greater Sydney, the Central Coast or the northern beaches to not attempt to enter Victoria, just in case you might have forgotten.
If you have been in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, or Sydney's Northern Beaches since Dec 11 please do not attempt to enter Victoria. Only people who have exclusively visited or travelled through other parts of NSW can apply for a Border Crossing Permit to enter Vic. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/bad8irfvqn
As soon as it’s safe to open back up to NSW, we will. For now, we’re making sure Victoria can stay safe and stay open.
Fair Work Commission to be given power to approve agreements that don’t guarantee workers are better off overall. Follow all the latest updates
Earlier, the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, set out the union movement’s objection to the “extreme” industrial relations bill. Those are:
On the other side of that debate:
Take the sand out of your ears – and let's hope we can soften your hearts. Because all this legislation does is push people further and further in the ground. Please Senators, vote no to this horrendous legislation. My full speech: https://t.co/MTYbj02hyw
NSW to lift tranche of restrictions while in Victoria it will no longer be compulsory to wear face masks in offices or cafes; federal parliament returns for the final sitting week of 2020 – latest updates
Victoria will begin accepting international flights again from today – a flight from Sri Lanka is about to touch down in Melbourne. All up, there will be about 125 travellers arriving as part of the hotel quarantine program in Victoria today.
There is no longer any private security guards as part of the Victoria program – and any worker has to work exclusively for the Victorian government.
The latest foreign interference laws are also due to pass parliament this week – these ones are the ones looking at agreements with foreign governments that private organisations and state governments have made.
States, Territories and local governments will have three months to handover agreements with foreign governments which @dfat "will carefully and methodically consider against Australia's foreign policy settings" #auspol@Birmo@SBSNewspic.twitter.com/pwT5PtCEta
Ordering food delivery via the convenience of an app became a regular feature in our locked-down cities. But at the heart of this industry lies a tale of insecure work, where delivery drivers have few rights and dangerous work conditions. After the deaths of several deliver drivers, Naaman Zhou examines the risks facing those in this growing line of work
Guardian reporter Naaman Zhou has led coverage on this issue, you can read his reports and those of others here:
The Industrial Relations Commission has supported the government’s plan to prioritise job creation, the NSW treasurer says
Unions will consider legal and industrial action after what they say was a “diabolical and disgraceful” decision by the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission to award a 0.3% pay rise to public sector workers.
The commission made its decision on Thursday after the NSW government had pushed for a controversial 12-month freeze on public sector wages.
The National Retail Association wants all businesses to have greater flexibility, not just those receiving jobkeeper
Australia’s retailers are calling on the Morrison government to broaden the power of employers to cut workers’ hours and change duties, as Labor signalled it will oppose the move to extend flexibility linked to the jobkeeper wage subsidy.
The National Retail Association chief executive, Dominique Lamb, told Guardian Australia the government should consider granting all businesses the flexibility to vary work hours – not just the firms in receipt of the jobkeeper wage subsidy.
The Downfall meme format has been widely circulating on the internet for more than a decade, with users adding their own subtitles to a clip from the 2004 German film Downfall, showing a highly agitated Adolf Hitler in his bunker screaming at his military commanders in the final days of the war.
Qantas is moving to recruit cabin staff from its New Zealand subsidiary to operate scheduled flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas, after it failed to get sufficient volunteers from its Australian cabin staff to operate planned flights.
Amid news that 50 Qantas and Jetstar staff have contracted coronavirus there has been growing anxiety among Qantas staff about plans to resume flights to Los Angeles, London, Auckland and Hong Kong later this week.
Fair Work Commission finds oil refinery technician was not comparing his bosses to Hitler when he posted Downfall meme
An oil refinery worker who was sacked for creating a Downfall parody of his bosses has had his job reinstated, after the Fair Work Commission ruled the “memetic context” of the video meant it was unreasonable to find he was comparing them to Nazis.
Move follows underpayment scandal that resulted in staff being back-paid almost $8m in wages and superannuation
Celebrity chef George Calombaris has put much of his restaurant empire into voluntary administration.
Advisory and investment firm KordaMentha has been appointed as administrators of 22 companies in the Made Establishment Group, which KordaMentha says operates 12 restaurants and food venues in Melbourne.
Crossbencher ‘hopes to think’ she is close to a deal with government on union penalty bill unexpectedly defeated last year
Senator Jacqui Lambie is looking to strike a deal with the government “as soon as possible” on the union penalty bill, while Labor struggles to contain a debate in its own ranks about union-backed superannuation funds.
Lambie is meeting the industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, on Tuesday to continue negotiations on the bill, which would lower the threshold for the deregistration of unions and disqualification of their officials.
Exclusive: Survey reveals almost all are paid per delivery and a quarter of riders have been in an accident
Food delivery bike couriers are being underpaid by up to $322 a week compared with minimum rates of pay and superannuation in the transport award, according to new union statistics.
The Young Workers Centre – an initiative of the Victoria Trades Hall Council – conducted a survey of more than 240 riders, revealing most are engaged on a “take-it-or-leave-it” basis and almost all are paid per delivery, with no minimum rates of pay.
The deputy prime minister’s comments about the Pacific were both insulting and wrong
Australia’s diplomatic performance throughout the Pacific Islands Forum has evoked a colonial arrogance that many hoped was in the past. While Pacific Island states raised understandable concerns about the climate emergency and rising sea levels, Australia’s response was to insist on the removal of references to coal from the official communique.
The deputy PM, Michael McCormack, who was left in charge of the government while Morrison was busy dismissing our neighbours’ concerns in Tuvalu, continued the insults at home.