NSW seeks end to industrial action by train drivers with application to Fair Work
The NSW transport minister, John Graham, says the government will seek to end industrial action by train drivers with an application to the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday.
Earlier on Sunday the commission ruled that industrial action was decreasing, giving unions a win as train drivers and guards failed to show up for work on Friday.
Graham said the government “will not hesitate” to file again to “protect commuters”.
This dispute over time has been about a range of things, at one point about running trains 24 hours a day and at another point about free fairs, now it is about a $4,500 sign-on bonus. We cannot afford bells and whistles.
Graham said the government was offering “fair pay and conditions in line with what the government has settled with other workers”.
There is no blank cheque here. We cannot sign a blank cheque to settle this dispute. If we did there would be another demand in six months, and we would be back again explaining why another demand for spring the rail network to a halt, so no blank cheque, we need to settle this fairly.
Key events
RTBU NSW branch Secretary Toby Warnes is speaking to reporters now about a decision by the Fair Work Commission to allow union members to continue industrial action in their ongoing dispute with the state government.
There have been at least five [action actions] and the government haven’t won one yet. Right now they’re five for none.
Warnes said commuters looking to travel in Sydney is to check all the applications before leaving home, consider other methods or work from home, saying “if the government lifts its lockout notices, I can guarantee the trains will run pretty much as normal tomorrow”.
Warnes says that the New South Wales government has not been engaged with unions over the last ten months unless there are periods of industrial actions.
Responding to questions about the government statements that it would continue taking legal action to end industrial action, Warnes says effort would be better spent negotiating a deal.
It would be nice if the government spent as much time and resources negotiating with its workers than bringing legal actions.
Warnes says rail workers have been coming to work, completing their shifts and have been told they would not be paid for the time. He said that the FWC found that Sydney Trains systems did not distinguish between those who do not come into work for sick leave, and those engaged in industrial action.
Warnes also rejected government allegations that it could not give the union “a blank cheque” due to risk that they would make new demands in six months, saying “that’s now how Enterprise Bargaining Agreements don’t work like that”.
Unfortunately we’ve seen a complete disregard for facts by Sydney Trains, Transport for New South Wales, and the government during this bargain.
Melbourne zoo investigating shock death of Kimya the western lowland gorilla
Vets at Melbourne zoo are investigating the sudden death of Kimya, a 20-year-old western lowland gorilla.
In a statement, Zoos Victoria said the gorilla’s death was “unexpected” and that staff were “devastated” at the news.
“Kimya passed away unexpectedly this morning, and vets are undertaking a necropsy to determine the cause of death,” Zoos Victoria said.
Melbourne zoo members, visitors, volunteers, and staff – especially Kimya’s dedicated keeper team, many of whom have cared for her since her arrival – will deeply feel this loss.
The zoo said it was looking in the matter, and “as part of this investigation a full necropsy will be undertaken to determine the cause of death”.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Mostafa Rachwani:
Children among seven injured as burnout goes wrong in NSW
A five-year-old and six-year-old are among seven people injured after a teen driver lost control of his car while doing a burnout, AAP reports.
The 18-year-old driver lost control while performing the burnout in front of a crowd at Abermain, west of Newcastle in the NSW Hunter Valley, just after midnight on Saturday night.
The man’s car smashed into a parked vehicle which then struck seven onlookers, including a five-year-old and a six-year-old.
The children were treated by paramedics at the scene and rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Five other adults were also injured and taken to hospital for further treatment.
The driver remains in hospital under police guard with serious injuries.
Police have established a crime scene on Bromage Road as they probe the circumstances of the crash.
PM sparks anger with pledge over salmon farming in Tasmania
Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that will allow “sustainable salmon farming” to continue in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, sparking anger from conversationists and researchers who urged for the local industry to be scaled back.
The promise, made in a letter to industry group Salmon Tasmania, came after years of lobbying for action in Macquarie Harbour to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, had also been reconsidering the future of salmon farm licences in Macquarie Harbour after environment groups made a legal case that an industry expansion in 2012 had not been properly approved.
In the letter, the prime minister referenced a new report from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (Imas) which shows the Maugean skate population is “consistent with the long term average as at 2014”.
Albanese said the report noted positive signs with oxygenation efforts – with reduced levels of dissolved oxygen across the harbour posing the main threats to the species.
The prime minister said in the letter, seen by Guardian Australia:
But even with this new and positive data, it is clear to me the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – introduced 25 years ago – does not allow for a commonsense solution on an acceptable timeline.
For more on this story, ready the full report by the Guardian Australia’s Emily Wind:
NSW man dies after car driven by 14-year-old rolls
An investigation is under way after a man died after a single-vehicle crash in the state’s Hunter region yesterday.
Police were called to Merriwa hospital about 4.20pm on Saturday, after a 65-year-old man died shortly after being driven there by a family member.
Officers attached to Hunter Valley police district were told the man suffered critical injuries when the 4WD in which he was a passenger crashed and rolled on Roma Road, 40km north of the Merriwa township.
The driver, a 14-year-old girl, was uninjured.
Police have been told the area is out of phone reception and the crash was only discovered when a neighbour and a family member drove past.
They took the injured man to hospital; however, he died shortly after arrival.
Local police have established a crime scene and an investigation has commenced by officers attached to the Crash Investigation Unit.
NSW seeks end to industrial action by train drivers with application to Fair Work
The NSW transport minister, John Graham, says the government will seek to end industrial action by train drivers with an application to the full bench of the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday.
Earlier on Sunday the commission ruled that industrial action was decreasing, giving unions a win as train drivers and guards failed to show up for work on Friday.
Graham said the government “will not hesitate” to file again to “protect commuters”.
This dispute over time has been about a range of things, at one point about running trains 24 hours a day and at another point about free fairs, now it is about a $4,500 sign-on bonus. We cannot afford bells and whistles.
Graham said the government was offering “fair pay and conditions in line with what the government has settled with other workers”.
There is no blank cheque here. We cannot sign a blank cheque to settle this dispute. If we did there would be another demand in six months, and we would be back again explaining why another demand for spring the rail network to a halt, so no blank cheque, we need to settle this fairly.
Schools to get new anti-bullying standard
The government wants to tackle bullying in schools with a new national standard on best practice response for teachers.
The education minister, Jason Clare, announced the initiative on Sunday, appointed Dr Charlotte Keating and Dr Jo Robinson as co-chairs of the an anti-bullying rapid review to look at how schools could better address bullying.
Clare said:
Bullying is not just something that happens in schools, but schools are places where we can intervene and provide support for students. All students and staff should be safe at school, and free from bullying and violence.
That’s why we’re taking action to develop a national standard to address bullying in schools.
Dutton pledges to ‘engage very quickly with Trump’ on deals
Asked about comments Dutton made during a Sky News interview that aired earlier on Sunday where he said people shouldn’t take everything the US president, Donald Trump, says “literally”, Dutton said:
I just think we’ve got a different president with a different style from most of his predecessors, and he wants to do deals. I think there’s a great deal for Australia to do with the United States.
Dutton pledged to “engage very quickly with the Trump administration”, saying the Coalition “we’ve already got obviously a number of contacts within the Trump administration”.
Some of those friendships, longstanding, and we will be the best party to have a productive, constructive relationship with the United States that will serve Australia’s interests.
Coalition are ‘underdogs’ in election: Dutton
Dutton says the Coalition are the underdogs going into the next federal election despite a YouGov poll suggesting his party is currently the favourite to win the next election.
We’re the underdogs going to this campaign because a first term government hasn’t lost since 1931. But to counter that, in the Albanese government, we’ve got the worst government since 1931. So people are ready for a change.
Dutton says Middle Arm in NT a ‘very significant project’
Dutton has waved off concerns about a proposed petrochemical hub, Middle Arm, planned for Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory saying that environmental regulations will be followed.
Dutton said Middle Arm “is a very significant project”.
We obviously have been sympathetic to it in the past, and we will in government.
Asked whether Dutton would commit $1.5bn to get the project off the ground, Dutton says “we’ll have a chat to the Territory government about the latest figures and what’s happened to costs”.
Dutton appears to have declared a pre-emptive victory at the upcoming federal election, saying “there is no prospect of Anthony Albanese forming a majority government after the election”.
So if you vote for Labor, you’re voting for a Labor-Greens government, and we don’t need three more years of Anthony Albanese, let alone three more years of an Albanese government, which would be a disaster for families and small businesses.
Dutton hints at Indigenous spending cuts
A future Coalition government would expect to see cuts to Indigenous spending if elected after an audit, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says.
Dutton is speaking to reporters in Palmerston in the Northern Territory where he says the government has been “putting more and more public servants, more and more bureaucracy, and more layers making it harder for decisions to be made” at a time when “Australians have had to trim back every dollar of expenditure and discretionary spend and waste in their own budgets”.
Asked about the announcement that three men will be deported to Nauru under an arrangement with the Pacific nation, Dutton instead boosted the Coalition’s record on “stopping the boats”, saying that Labor has allowed “the boats to restart”.
On the deal with Nauru, Burke says:
The government of Nauru, is aware of their background. The government of Nauru is a sovereign government, and they’ve made a decision as a sovereign government to issue these visas. Under our character test they are not eligible for a visa in Australia, given that visa has been issued. They should leave.
He also says the government anticipates the decision will face legal challenge, as the immigrations laws passed were intended to serve as a workaround to the NZYQ decision by the high court.
Bourke says he anticipates the reforms will withstand legal challenge.
Fun fact there are more legal cases against the Immigration minister than any other minister in the Australian government. Always has been, always will be. Lawyers haven’t launched anything yet. I simply, whenever I make any decision, I presume that there’ll be a contest in the courts.
And you know, we will go in there with in a very strong position as a Commonwealth dealing exactly with the legislation that the Parliament passed to be able to send people to third countries.
Burke said that it is the view of the government the three people “are not being indefinitely detained”.
They’re being detained pending pending removal. We know exactly where they’re going. And there is a visa. We are the there are final pieces of logistics that now get now get organised. But they had to be taken into detention the moment Nauru had issued the visas, because at that moment the visas they were on were cancelled. And under the Immigration Act they became unlawful non-citizens in Australia.
Three men in immigration detention to be resettled in Nauru: Tony Burke
The Australian government is moving to remove three people from Australia to Nauru under migration laws it passed.
The three people were part of the NZYQ cohort who the government says have “failed the character test”. All three are violent offenders and one has been convicted of murder.
Speaking to reports, the minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, says all three men “are now in immigration detention”.
They will be put on a plane and sent to Nauru as soon as arrangements are able to be made. That will not be within the next seven days, but it will be as soon as possible.
Burke said he was “very grateful to the government of Nauru that we are in a situation now where three people, where previously the situation had seemed intractable, are now on a pathway to leave Australia”.
Slide in Labor poll numbers a cost-of-living issue: David Littleproud
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is riding high after a negative poll showing the Coalition leading Labor 52 to 48 on a two-party preferred basis.
Speaking to Weekend Today on Sunday morning, Littleproud said the slide in poll numbers for Labor came down to cost-of-living issues and that a future government had to “get back to basics”.
One of the most telling factors in this poll is that 55% of Australians think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. They’ve asked themselves, ‘Do they feel better off and do they feel safer after three years of Anthony Albanese?’ And what we’ve got to do is continue to articulate the commonsense solutions to address that cost of living.
That’s a sensible energy grid that drives down, not just your power bill, but your food bill and a sensible migration bill, a migration policy that actually helps to build some homes, brings the right people in, and banning foreigners from competing with you.
Election poll places Coalition in pole position
Labor has a mountain to climb to prevent Peter Dutton from forming government at the next election, with polling predicting a coalition wave in outer suburbs, AAP reports.
The coalition will be just two seats short of forming government in its own right at the next federal election, polling has found, but the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has cast doubt on his party securing the support of independents.
Latest modelling by YouGov released on Sunday projected the coalition to win 73 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, well ahead of Labor on 66.
The result, if replicated at the election, which is due to take place by 17 May, would leave Dutton to become Australia’s next prime minister, said YouGov director of public data Paul Smith.
It would also make Labor the first single-term federal government since 1931.
Haemorrhaging votes in working class outer suburbs, Labor was on track to lose 15 seats but gain three from the Greens in Brisbane and one from independent Dai Le in western Sydney.
Two government ministers were set to lose their seats – Pat Conroy in Shortland and Kristy McBain in Eden-Monaro.
Labor’s primary vote share was projected to slip below 30% while the coalition’s would lift to 37.4%.
But that was only the model’s central result out of a range of possible outcomes, with the Coalition on course to secure between 65 and 80 seats, Labour taking 59-72, the Greens 1-3, and independents 7-10.
Dutton pledges to reappoint sacked home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo
Dutton also signalled that he would re-appoint former home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo if re-elected, saying he was “unfairly vilified” by the Labor government.
I think he was vilified unfairly by the government, and I would make a decision in relation to appointments, if we’re fortunate enough to win government.
Pezzullo was sacked after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct 14 times, including using his power for personal benefit.
You can read more about what happened here:
