Australia news live: Angus Taylor claims Labor being ‘tricky’ on super tax changes; treasurer hails fastest economic growth in G7

ABC staff to take protected industrial action for first time in 17 years

ABC staff have voted to take protected industrial action for the first time in 17 years over what they say is a poor pay offer from ABC management.

Hundreds of staff met today around the country and agreed to walk off the job for 40 minutes at 2pm on Tuesday to coincide with the Reserve Bank board meeting and BA official cash rate announcement, on 7 March.

Earlier they voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action, which will include different strategies up to and including a full 24-hour stoppage.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance media director Cassie Derrick said 90% of staff were in favour of taking industrial action because the offer from management was not good enough.

ABC managing director David Anderson has taken over the bargaining with unions but talks have stalled.

Derrick said:

This is not just about pay. It’s about ensuring a fair go at forging a career at the public broadcaster.

The union says the offer must also include back pay to the expiry date of the previous enterprise bargaining agreement.

MEAA media director Cassie Derrick said 90% of ABC staff were in favour of taking industrial action because the offer from management was not good enough. Photograph: Danny Casey/AAP

Updated at 23.05 EST

Key events

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has announced it is taking legal action for the first time over the alleged mistreatment of a corporate whistleblower.

Asic announced Wednesday it was lodging a federal court case against coal producer TerraCom Limited and four executives over its handling of a whistleblower complaint about the alleged falsification of coal quality results.

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said:

This is a significant case because it is the first time ASIC has taken action for alleged breaches of the whistleblower provisions. ASIC alleges that TerraCom and its senior company employees engaged in conduct that harmed a whistleblower who revealed the alleged falsification of coal quality certificates.

Whistleblowers perform a vital role in identifying and calling out corporate misconduct We take any indication that companies are engaging in conduct that harms or deters whistleblowers very seriously.

The case alleges that the company falsely told the ASX that the whistleblower’s allegations were wrong and that they had been independently investigated. By allowing the “false or misleading statements” to be published, the company is said to have “engaged in conduct that caused detriment to the whistleblower’s reputation, earning capacity, and psychological and emotional state”, Asic said.Terracom told the ASX on Wednesday that it would “vigorously defend the proceedings”.

The proceedings relate to disclosures made by the Company with respect to a former employee in early 2020. The Company has lawyers engaged and will vigorously defend the proceedings.

Thank you for your attention today. You’re now in the excellent hands of Cait Kelly!

ABC staff to take protected industrial action for first time in 17 years

ABC staff have voted to take protected industrial action for the first time in 17 years over what they say is a poor pay offer from ABC management.

Hundreds of staff met today around the country and agreed to walk off the job for 40 minutes at 2pm on Tuesday to coincide with the Reserve Bank board meeting and BA official cash rate announcement, on 7 March.

Earlier they voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action, which will include different strategies up to and including a full 24-hour stoppage.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance media director Cassie Derrick said 90% of staff were in favour of taking industrial action because the offer from management was not good enough.

ABC managing director David Anderson has taken over the bargaining with unions but talks have stalled.

Derrick said:

This is not just about pay. It’s about ensuring a fair go at forging a career at the public broadcaster.

The union says the offer must also include back pay to the expiry date of the previous enterprise bargaining agreement.

MEAA media director Cassie Derrick said 90% of ABC staff were in favour of taking industrial action because the offer from management was not good enough. Photograph: Danny Casey/AAP

Updated at 23.05 EST

Greek rail tragedy ‘felt intensely’ in Australia

You may have already read about this terrible news out of Greece today, where at least 29 people have been killed and 85 injured after two trains collided near the town of Tempe.

The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, says the tragedy is being “felt intensely in Australia” particularly because of the large community of Greek Australians.

Updated at 23.02 EST

Large, fast fire threatens properties in western Queensland

About 20 people are being urged to prepare to evacuate their homes with a large bushfire already threatening some properties in Queensland’s Western Downs region.

Firefighters have urged people living at Weir River, southwest of Dalby, to prepare to leave as they battle the fast-moving blaze.

They say the fire is burning on Cecil Plains Road and Cecil Plains Moonie Road near the Kumbarilla state forest towards North Boondilla Boundary Rd, Colemans Road and O’Connor Road.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service said in an alert today:

Conditions could get worse quickly.

Firefighters are working to control the fire, however you should not expect a firefighter at your door. Firefighting aircraft may assist ground crews.

People living at the nearby Waar Waar Homestead, and anyone in Waar Waar state forest and surrounding areas are urged to stay informed of the situation.

– AAP

Updated at 22.54 EST

SBS Audio takes flight

SBS Radio has today become SBS Audio, reflecting the public broadcaster’s offering of programs in addition to podcasts and live streaming services.

David Hua, SBS Director of Audio and Language Content:

Every week we broadcast more than 262 hours of original audio content. The new SBS Audio digital experience across the app and website will further drive growth in a space where we are already seeing more than six million streams and podcast downloads every month.

More than 5.6m Australians use a language other than English at home have access to language services on SBS Radio 1, SBS Radio 2 and SBS Radio 3 channels.

SBS caters to 63 languages in total across radio, podcasting, online and social media, including new programming in Bislama, Malay, Oromo and Tetum.

Updated at 22.52 EST

Privatised cleaning of NSW schools has failed staff and students, UWU says

The privatisation of school cleaning in New South Wales schools is failing staff and students, according to a survey released by the United Workers Union (UWU).

The survey of more than 400 NSW school cleaners found half didn’t have enough time to complete necessary cleaning and a quarter said they hadn’t been properly paid by private contractors.

Almost 80% surveyed reported they worked split shifts, where their day could span 13 hours and the bulk of work completed before and after school.

The UWU said the privatised system was leading to the reduction of full time jobs and an unreasonable workload, citing examples of work schedules providing one cleaner 10 minutes to clean a school’s 36 toilets.

The union is calling on the state government to bring services back under its control when the five-year contract expires in December.

Milena, a school cleaner said contracting “wasn’t working”.

NSW opposition leader Chris Minns has promised Labor wouldn’t pursue further privatisations if elected.

If cleaners in the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia can be employed directly by the government, why shouldn’t we? … we need better.

Linda Revill, UWU property services co-ordinator, said cleaners were being burdened with “unrealistic goals”:

It’s not good enough the state is spending $1.75bn on this five-year contract but cleaners have in some cases seen their numbers more than halve at their schools.

Schools aren’t being cleaned safely or properly and cleaners are barely scraping out a living on $22.76 an hour.

NSW school cleaners are a living example of a failed privatisation that needs to be reversed, to the benefit of children, parents, teachers, schools and the workers.

Updated at 22.47 EST

National security chiefs focus on TikTok risks

The Australian government is looking to the nation’s top security agencies to determine if any actions should be taken against popular social media app TikTok.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government and security agencies are aware of the White House’s actions, with a new directive giving all US federal agencies 30 days to wipe the app off government devices.

Questions have been raised about the Chinese-owned social media app’s surreptitious data collection methods.

Chalmers said the government hasn’t yet been advised to take the same action as its US counterparts, but it would act on the recommendations of security agencies.

He told ABC TV.

We’ll take the advice of our national security agencies. But the advice to us hasn’t yet changed.

Home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, last year ordered her department to investigate how TikTok harvests data following concerns China can access the personal information of Australians.

O’Neil has asked national security agencies to provide a range of options to tackle data collection by social media giants.

China has hit back at the US, saying it firmly opposed the action. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said:

How unsure of itself can the world’s top superpower be to fear a young people’s favourite app like that?

The US has been over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress foreign companies.

The US government should respect the principles of market economy and fair competition … and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies.

– AAP

Updated at 22.30 EST

Family of released archaeologist ‘overjoyed’

The family of a Toowoomba-based archaeologist taken hostage in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea say they are overjoyed by his safe return and are now focused on helping him heal.

Prof Bryce Barker and his research team were captured by a criminal gang of about 20 “runners” moving guns and drugs across PNG while researching the history of human migration to Australia. The New Zealand-born professor was released on Sunday.

The family said in a statement today:

We are overjoyed to have Bryce back home with us. The kindness and care of so many in our community have been sources of strength for us. We kindly ask for privacy as we begin the healing process with Bryce. Thank you again to everyone who played a role in his safe return home.

Prof Bryce Barker arrives at Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba, after being released by armed criminals who held him hostage in a remote part of Papua New Guinea. Photograph: AAP

Updated at 22.26 EST

GDP growth stalled if population growth was taken out

Australia boasted going about three decades without a recession. One reason for this was that population growth helped fan demand in the economy.

Well, that story looks like continuing. While the economy did expand 0.5%, as noted earlier in the December quarter, it was flat on a per capita basis.

New migrant numbers are now rebounding, along with overseas students, so there should be ongoing demand from those two groups. They could help Australia avoid a recession although it will be interesting to see if per-capita numbers reveal a retreat.

Meanwhile, there’s also a spread of growth outcomes across the economy, with several states going backwards (including the one that’s holding state elections on 25 March, NSW).

Not sure if we’ll have politicians heralding a “Canberra-led recovery” but for now at least, the ACT is leading the way.

Updated at 22.17 EST

LGBTIQ+ health plan will ‘save lives’

LGBTIQ+ Health Australia says the federal government’s $26m pledge for health strategies “will save lives”, saying wellbeing outcomes for the queer community have worsened even as other indicators have improved.

LHA CEO Nicky Bath said:

A 10-year plan developed with input from an LGBTIQ+ Health Advisory group will give government a blueprint for change. It is a foundation for improved policies, interventions and approaches to achieve equitable health and wellbeing outcomes.

As reported earlier, assistant health minister Ged Kearney and health minister Mark Butler will announce the new funding and a 10-year wellbeing plan today. There’s also $26 million for research specifically into LGBTIQ+ health outcomes.

Bath said:

This action plan will save lives. It is a crucial advance in addressing the serious inequities LGBTIQ+ people experience in health outcomes.

Although LGBTIQ+ people have been identified as a priority population in many national strategies, for many years the disparities in health and wellbeing outcomes have persisted or worsened.

She said LHA looked forward to working with the government on the plan.

Speaking to a human rights conference connected to World Pride, Kearney today said “there is still so much work to be done, especially in improving health outcomes for LGBTIQA+ people”.

I know, and we as a government know, these issues are complicated and there is much more to do.

The government is opening consultation on the action plan today.

Updated at 22.15 EST

Codes acknowledge link between head injuries and neurodegenerative disease

Three of the major Australian football codes, NRL, Rugby Australia and Football Australia, have acknowledged the link between head trauma and serious neurodegenerative disease at a senate inquiry hearing today.

Representatives from those contact sports organisations gave evidence today as part of the third day of public hearings for the senate inquiry into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sports.

Their appearances came in the wake of moving evidence from Hayley Shaw, the daughter of late NRL player and coach, Steve Folkes, who was the first Australian to be diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) posthumously in 2019.

A large and growing body of scientific evidence shows links between contact sports and CTE.

Shaw said her family had never been contacted by representatives of the NRL since they found out about her father’s pathology, despite its links to his playing career and the diagnosis being widely reported.

We also heard from Boxing Australia this morning, and this afternoon we’ll hear from the Rugby Union Players Association and representatives from some government agencies responsible for research funding and health.

Elsewhere, Collingwood coach and former player Nathan Buckley has come to the defence of the Australian Football League after news broke earlier this week that a Melbourne law firm was preparing a class action against the AFL, seeking compensation on behalf of players who had suffered concussion.

Buckley told the Herald Sun he didn’t think the AFL should be held responsible for concussions players sustain:

I’m interested by this strict liability and where it sits – I think a lot of people try to slate it across to the league itself.

But I suggest that anyone who has ever played the game has played the game knowing the risks associated and assuming the risks associated to their health both immediate and potentially down the track.’

You do get well paid for it but you’ve been playing it since you were a kid so when does the AFL become responsible for your choice to play the game?

When you’ve been doing it for possibly 10 years plus before you even enter that competition, I don’t know exactly how that is going to be determined.

The AFL has yet to give evidence to the inquiry.

Collingwood coach and former AFL player Nathan Buckley: ‘I’m interested by this strict liability and where it sits.’ Photograph: AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Updated at 22.09 EST

Taylor is asked why he refused to support energy discounts for pensioners:

We voted against the government’s price caps which won’t work and we have seen the result on the supply side of the gas industry and I’m confident we will see a lot more than that.

But we want higher incomes for pensioners and that’s why we went to the budget in reply and laid out a pathway for pensioners to be able to do a few extra hours of work and not lose their pensions.

This would solve two problems. It would get more workers available for businesses, that’s a great thing, we need, it’s the number one thing we hear from small businesses around Australia is that Australians need workers.

Updated at 21.57 EST

Labor ‘haven’t been upfront’ about super tax changes: Angus Taylor

Taylor has been asked about how the super policy would be modest in comparison to the tax cuts the Liberal government legislated for higher earners:

Let’s be clear. They haven’t been upfront with the Australian people about how many Australians are going to be affected. The important point here is the Treasury included a very tricky provision in what has been laid out, which is to not index the threshold.

This is tricky behaviour we are starting to see from Labor and what it means is that for someone who expects to go to the pension phase in turn, 20, 30, 40 years, that threshold in real terms will be way below what Labor has laid out.

If inflation continues to rise, that threshold in real terms will fall dramatically and the number of Australians affected will rise dramatically.

Updated at 22.39 EST

Taylor:

They are putting legislation through in this term, so this idea that they are taking this to the Australian people is deeply misleading. They are legislating it now without taking it to the Australian people. That was my point this morning.

Taylor:

The government has promised that they are going to try to fight some kind of way to relieve some of these pressures, but the reality is we have seen no relief on these pressures at all.

In fact, interest rates can either go up, the expectation is they will continue to go up. With an extra $114 billion of spending from the government in the last budget, stimulant in the economy and putting extra pressures on inflation, and interest rates.

Despite Australians paying sharply more tax in the last quarter … the government wants to tax Australians more. Make no mistake about it. Labor’s 2019 big taxing agenda is back. It is back.

Taylor says the government has broken an election promise not to touch super – despite the fact this legislation comes into effect after the next election.

Updated at 21.40 EST

Taylor is talking about the accounts data out today:

What we see in the data is the slowing economy and raging inflation in particular we have seen enormous pressures now on Australian households.

They are pulling back on the savings rates in order to be able to make ends meet. We are seeing three pressures in particular that I want to highlight that’s come out of the data.

First we know well, inflationary pressures, inflation running at almost 8%, but second-guessing very strong growth in the mortgage payments that Australians are having to pay as we see interest rates are rising, and these are put great pressures on many Australian households with a mortgage.

The third clear pressure that comes through the data is on taxation. We have seen an increase in tax payments from Australian households of over 7% in the last quarter.

Updated at 21.39 EST