Australia news live: Uluru Dialogue accuses Dutton of ‘deception’ over voice; Kamahl and MC Hammer back yes vote

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What we learned today, Friday 22 September

What happened? Quite a lot!

We have to start with media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s (sort of) retirement, in which he promises to remain quite involved. What does it mean for Australia? And don’t miss Weekly Beast!

No campaigner Warren Mundine, who has had a bit of a rocky ride this week, looks like he won’t run for the Liberal senate seat vacated by Marise Payne. And senator Lidia Thorpe said she’ll give him a call about treaties.

And there are calls for no campaigner Gary Johns to be sacked after yet more offensive comments.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers found himself a substantial budget boon.

New Qantas boss, Vanessa Hudson, apologised in a video statement for letting down customers.

And MC Hammer jumped on the yes campaign bandwagon, while singer Kamahl ditched his no stance and joined the US rapper in the yes camp.

Thanks for your company today, until next time!

Updated at 03.45 EDT

Flights inquiry a ‘farce’, Labor senator says

The Senate inquiry into the cost and settings of the airline industry is on its second day but as we mentioned earlier, it hasn’t been without its teething issues.

The Coalition-majority committee is over in Perth today, where it was initially hoped Qantas chair Richard Goyder would appear in person.

That has not happened, and instead only a few witnesses are appearing in person while others, such as competition watchdog ACCC and the heads of Canberra, Darwin and Adelaide’s airports, have appeared via video link.

The situation prompted a grumpy response this morning from Labor senator Tony Sheldon, who described the whole inquiry as a “farce”:

This hearing has been a farce from the beginning. In [my] four years as a senator, I have never had to make a statement like this before. Government senators on the committee were not allowed to see, or receive, verbal advice on updates on the program until yesterday, which is unprecedented.

Most of the West Australian witnesses invited did not want to appear on the inquiry, and for good reason. So now the taxpayer has forked out money to fly everyone in this room across the country to hear from two, just two, local witnesses in person. Now the rest of today’s hearing will be conducted over the phone. Ironically, this hearing has probably made Qantas quite a lot of money at the taxpayer expense.

Liberal senator Dean Smith hit back at the Labor senator, defending the committee’s decision to head to Western Australia:

It is important for a variety of reasons that the community come to Western Australia. It’s disappointing that senator Sheldon might find it a chore to travel across the continent, but it gives him a bit of a glimpse into the importance of the aviation industry.

Updated at 01.08 EDT

Starbucks back pays staff more than $4.5m

Starbucks has back paid staff more than $4.5m in an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

In a statement the ombudsman said Starbucks had self-reported its non-compliance almost three years ago after it became aware it had underpaid staff during a review of its payroll systems.

The majority of underpayments were due to the company failing to pay part-time staff the overtime pay they were entitled to under the award, the ombudsman said.

Starbucks found it had underpaid staff during a payroll systems review. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Updated at 00.53 EDT

Uluru statement’s architects accuse Dutton of ‘deception’ on voice

The Uluru Dialogue, who are architects of the Uluru statement from the heart, have called out Peter Dutton for spreading “misinformation” and “deception” on the Indigenous voice to parliament in an op-ed he wrote that was published in the Daily Telegraph today.

In a statement, the Uluru Dialogue said Dutton’s opinion article “demonstrates a level of ignorance and misinformation that is alarming in a man who is seeking to be the prime minister of our country”.

In the statement, the group fact-checked the claims made by Dutton in the op-ed.

On Dutton’s claim that “a voice would be the most consequential change to our system in history. There is no similar constitutional body anywhere in the world – and there is nothing ‘modest’ about the proposed change before us,” the Uluru Dialogue responded:

The 93 new words proposed for the constitution make it absolutely clear: “The Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government”. The parliament is free to ignore those representations. There are similar structures set up around the world, and indeed in Australia at state and local government levels, to give voice to First Nations peoples.

Uluru Dialogue leader Megan Davis. Photograph: Mark Brake/AAP

On Dutton’s claim made in the op-ed that “because we are all Australians, we are treated equally under the law. A Voice will change this fundamental democratic principle”, the Uluru Dialogue responded:

Contrary to his claim here, our founding fathers actually recognised that inequities exist in any society and that we can use our laws to address them; that is why the constitution established a senate in which Tasmania has as many senators as New South Wales, despite having far fewer people. The founders actually recognised the importance of giving Tasmanians a ‘voice’ through representation, that might otherwise be drowned out by the larger states. The constitution also contains a races power. All Australians are not treated equally.

The constitution has always divided by race, to the detriment of our people. A voice corrects this.

Updated at 01.37 EDT

MC Hammer supports voice

Legendary rapper and musician MC Hammer has emerged as the latest prominent figure to lend their support to the Voice.

The American rapper took to X, formerly Twitter, to say he had read up on the issue and believed it was time to “repair the breach”.

I had to get up to speed. I read this article below. I’m with you. Australia it’s time. Repair the breach. #Yes2023

Australia has no treaty with its Indigenous people, and has done little in comparison to other British dominions like Canada, New Zealand and the United States to include and uplift its First Nations people.

‘Repair the breach’: MC Hammer. Photograph: Rex Shutterstock/Alamy

He continued, quoting Dr Megan Davis and the important precedent the voice would set:

Finally, he went on to share multiple videos, including one from Guardian Australia featuring Sarah Collard:

Updated at 23.41 EDT

Advice on potential charges over William Tyrrell disappearance to be given to NSW police soon, coroner told

Advice from prosecutors regarding possible charges over the 2014 disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell will be given to New South Wales police in the coming months, a coroner has heard.

A coroner heard on Friday that police are seeking the advice from the office of the director of public prosecutions about the case, with that opinion due to be delivered by the end of January.

Earlier this year multiple media outlets reported that police had recommended the foster mother be prosecuted over William’s 2014 disappearance as investigators believed she might have disposed of his body.

But lawyers for the woman again called on police to release any evidence they suggested would form the basis of criminal proceedings against her.

“We are midway through the inquest and William remains missing and his case unsolved,” lawyer Rylie Hahn-Hamilton said outside the inquest.

“William’s foster mother maintains she had nothing to do with his disappearance and asks the police to continue … looking for William and what happened to him.”

Updated at 23.17 EDT

Kamahl switches to yes vote in voice referendum

Australian singer Kamahl, who had been vocal about voting no in the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament, has said that after “sleepless nights weighing the pros and cons” that he will now be voting yes.

In a video statement supplied to news.com.au, Kamahl said he had changed his mind after speaking one on one with comedian Dane Simpson and constitutional lawyer Eddie Synot.

Kamahl said:

They have convinced me otherwise. And I’m delighted that I’ve changed my no.

Kamahl says he will now be voting yes for the Indigenous voice. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Updated at 22.58 EDT

New Qantas chief apologises for ‘letting down’ customers

Qantas’s new CEO, Vanessa Hudson, has issued an apology to customers, saying: “I know that we have let you down in many ways.”

In a video statement released today, Hudson said:

We haven’t delivered the way we should have. And we’ve often been hard to deal with. We understand why you’re frustrated, and why some of you have lost trust in us.

I know that our people have tried their absolute best under very difficult circumstances. I want you to know that we’re determined to fix it to improve the experience for you and to support our people better. We want to get back to the national carrier that Australians can be proud of. That’s known for going above and beyond. We understand we need to earn your trust back, not with what we say but what we do and how we behave.

This is going to take time and I asked for your patience. The work is already under way. We’re putting more people in our call centres to help solve problems faster. We’re adding more frequent flyer seats. We’re reviewing all of our customer policies to make sure they’re fair.

And we’re giving our frontline teams more flexibility to better help you when things don’t go to plan. That’s only the start.

This has been a humbling period, but through it, I share the pride and passion that I know our people have for Qantas and this gives me the confidence that we will rebuild your trust. Thank you for your support.

New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has told customers the airline needs ‘to earn your trust back’. Photograph: Russell Freeman/AAP

Updated at 22.26 EDT

Hobart’s Dark Mofo festival on hold for 2024, citing rising costs

Dark Mofo, the midwinter festival held in Hobart celebrating “ancient and contemporary mythologies, darkness and light, birth and death”, will be put on ice for 2024 as organisers pause “for a period of renewal”.

Organisers said the 10-year-old event, which was created by David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), wants to “reshape a more sustainable model for a full return in 2025”.

A statement on Friday read:

Despite achieving record attendances and box office results this year, it is essential for organisers to take stock of changing conditions and rising costs, in order to reset the festival for the future.

A further statement on Dark Mofo’s website said while the 2023 festival “left an indelible mark, it also exacted its toll, prompting the decision to pause, reflect and plan out a more sustainable future”.

As part of an agreement with the Tasmanian government, two key events of the festival will still take place in 2024 – the Winter Feast and the nude solstice swim, which will coincide with the opening of a new major Mona exhibition.

A performance at Dark Mofo in 2018. Photograph: Jesse Hunniford

In a statement on Friday, Dark Mofo’s artistic director, Chris Twite, said:

Dark Mofo has always been dedicated to enriching and transforming lives through ambitious art and ideas. We want to make sure that we have a festival that continues to deliver incredible art and artists, that continues to expand its artistic boundaries and remains a beacon of creativity, innovation, and cultural significance.

While this was a tough decision, it ensures we move forward in a viable manner. The fallow year will enable us to secure the future of Dark Mofo and its return at full force in 2025.

As the winter version of the Mona Foma festival, Dark Mofo is known for staging provocative and cutting edge events, including a voluntary abduction, a 36-hour rave, and performance art using a slaughtered bull. The festival is no stranger to controversy: in 2021, after a concerted backlash, the festival cancelled one of its key works in which Spanish artist Santiago Sierra planned to immerse a Union Flag into the donated blood of Indigenous people.

Updated at 21.19 EDT

Gas workers secure deal with Chevron to end strikes

Workers at Chevron’s Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities are preparing to end their strikes following a deal brokered by the industrial arbitrator.

The workers, represented by the Offshore Alliance, had been in a long-running dispute with the oil and gas giant over pay and conditions in a sector that typically uses individual contracts.

Union members endorsed a recommendation from the Fair Work Commission at a late night meeting on Thursday of more than 350 workers. Chevron also said it had accepted the mediator’s recommendation.

The union representatives said in a statement:

The Offshore Alliance will now work with Chevron to finalise the drafting of the three agreements and members will soon cease current industrial action.

The alliance said the proposed enterprise agreements contain substantial improvements in employment terms, including increased remuneration, job security, locked-in rosters and career progression.

Chevron’s gas workers engaged in a series of 24-hour strikes over the past week, leading up to the agreement.

The alliance includes the Australian Workers’ Union and Maritime Union of Australia.

The dispute had unsettled global energy markets, given the Chevron-led Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities account for about 7% of global LNG supply.

Updated at 21.37 EDT

Catastrophic fire danger rating issued for part of NT

Northern Territory emergency services are braced for catastrophic fire conditions with a total fire ban for the Barkly region, AAP reports.

A total fire ban for vast swathes of the territory stretching from Kalkarindji to Tennant Creek has been issued until midnight on Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology warns the fire danger threat is expected to deepen on Friday:

Warm and dry with moderate to fresh and gusty east to southeasterly winds combined with high grass fuel loads will result in elevated fire dangers in the Gregory South East and Barkly North fire weather districts.

Authorities are bracing for wind gusts of up to 55km/h to fan the fires already burning throughout the region.

Updated at 20.49 EDT

Murdoch did ‘enormous damage’ to international democracy, says Malcolm Turnbull

Former Coalition prime minister, Malcom Turnbull, has just told ABC News Breakfast that Rupert Murdoch has done “enormous damage to the democratic world”.

Turnbull’s comment was in response to being asked what he thinks Murdoch’s legacy will be as he steps down as chairman of both News Corp and Fox News.

Turnbull was scathing of Murdoch’s legacy in his response:

He’s built a vast global media empire, and, no doubt, the business pages will give him credit for that. But he has done enormous damage to the democratic world and, in particular, to the United States. The anger-tainment ecosystem that Fox News, above all, has created in the US has left America angrier and more divided than it’s been at any time since the civil war.

It is sought in order to keep its ratings up, it is sought to enrage Americans, divide Americans, and divide them against each other [and] it has knowingly spread lies, most consequentially, the one that Donald Trump, where Donald Trump claimed to have won the 2020 election. And, of course, that created the environment which made the January 6 insurrection possible.

Murdoch has been the largest voice in the English-speaking world – or the loudest voice, at any rate – to deny the reality of global warming and delay action to address it. So, you know, Brexit – would Brexit have occurred without Murdoch’s support? I very much doubt it. Donald Trump would never have been president without the platform that Fox News created. So, it’s a hell of a legacy, I have to say.

Updated at 19.36 EDT

Government has not changed its view on tax cuts, Chalmers says

Jim Chalmers is now on RN Breakfast, where he was asked by host Hamish McDonald whether he was reconsidering the stage-three tax cuts given much of the $22.1bn budget surplus comes from the taxes of “hard working Australians”.

Chalmers said the government has not changed its view on the tax cuts, which recent data showed will flow disproportionately to high-income earners and men:

Well, first of all, it’s partly a function that people are working more and earning more. The labor market is incredibly resilient given what’s coming at us from around the world. And so unemployment is lower than what many people anticipated. And wages have began growing again, and that’s a good thing too. And that’s one of the reasons why the budgets in better nick but also getting good better prices for our commodities and what that means for company tax.

We haven’t changed our view about the stage three tax cuts, but we have found a way to provide substantial cost-of-living relief for people on low and middle and fixed incomes, because we recognise people are doing it tough and they’ve been our priority.

Updated at 18.01 EDT

More than 100 killed on roads in August

Australia’s road toll continues to climb, with more than 100 people killed in road accidents in just one month, Australian Associated Press reports.

New road toll figures, released by the federal transport department on Thursday, showed Australia recorded its highest August road toll since 2018, with fatalities rising by more than eight per cent.

New South Wales and South Australia recorded the highest increases, with both up by more than 20%.

Cyclists and pedestrians recorded even larger increases.

The rising toll came despite national targets to halve road deaths by 2030.

Statistics showed 103 people were killed in road accidents during August, and 1250 people died during the past 12 months – an increase of 8.4 per cent.

The Australian Automobile Association managing director, Michael Bradley, said the high death toll was not only disturbing, but would be hard to address without detailed information on why road accidents had occurred.

The national motoring body has been calling on state and territory governments to provide detailed information on fatalities, including factors that may have contributed to accidents, and the state of the roads on which they occurred.

Current data also fails to note serious injuries in road accidents, despite targets to reduce them.

Bradley said:

Until Australia gets serious about understanding the crashes occurring today, we have no credible plan to prevent the crashes of tomorrow.

Data reporting is the first step to preventing crashes and saving lives as it will generate the evidence on which future transport policy can be based.

He said providing detailed crash information should be made a requirement under the national partnership agreement between the federal and state governments currently being developed.

Updated at 22.30 EDT

Murdoch a ‘leader of drive, audacity and deal-making skill’ – the Australian

The Australian, the only paper Murdoch ever founded himself, marks his departure from the top role with a commentary piece by its veteran columnist Paul Kelly.

In a glowing valedictory to his long-time employer, Kelly calls him “a leader of drive, audacity and deal-making skill for seven decades” who “left a lasting imprint on the media industries of the main countries in which his corporations have operated, notably Australia, Britain and the US”.

The stepping-down of Rupert Murdoch as Executive Chairman of Fox and News Corporation is a turning point in the career of the most successful businessman in Australian history and one of the most influential, enduring and path-breaking media leaders in the democratic world.

Murdoch was always highly political. That was integral to his nature, his outlook on the world and the influence he mobilised and brought to bear. It meant attitudes towards Murdoch were often shaped by the political preferences of his media outlets, exciting supporters and infuriating critics.

Murdoch’s publications projected political and cultural values and sought to shape the direction of their societies.

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch’s eldest son, who is set to be his successor after seven-decade run as controversial media mogul. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Updated at 18.02 EDT

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you our top overnight stories before Jordyn Beazley takes the reins.

We can’t start anywhere else other than with the news that Rupert Murdoch will be stepping down from his roles as head of his media companies Fox and News Corp to be emeritus chair of the organisations. The long-awaited departure of the hugely influential tycoon appears likely to see his son Lachlan take over, with Murdoch Sr praising him as a “passionate, principled leader” in a note to staff. We will have all the Australian reaction to the news and analysis about how the man from Adelaide rose to become the arguably the world’s most influential media tycoon.

The Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, has called on the no campaign to sack Gary Johns after he described the voice to parliament as a “grab for power” and Aboriginal people as an organised lobby group “crawling all over Canberra” in newly unearthed comments. The former Labor minister, listed as a director of the major no campaign organisation, claimed Indigenous leaders “want to stick it up the white man”, and proposed a “very, very heavy cultural intervention” for Aboriginal children. Johns was contacted for comment. We’re also looking at how anti-voice pamphlets are spreading misinformation.

The Albanese government has been given a major boost after the first federal budget surplus in 15 years was revised up to $22.1bn thanks to higher tax receipts and higher commodity prices. The government says the final outcome will confirm it has returned 95% of the upward revision in tax to the budget bottom line, but the Treasury now expects two years of slow growth.