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Adam Bandt named CEO of Australian Conservation Foundation
Adam Morton
The former Greens leader Adam Bandt has been named as the head of one of the country’s biggest and oldest environmental organisations, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
Bandt, who unexpectedly lost the seat of Melbourne at the May election, will replace long-time ACF chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy, who announced earlier this year that she was resigning.
Bandt starts at ACF in January. The foundation said he would “not play any further role in the Greens”.
The ACF chair, Ros Harvey, said Bandt was the unanimous choice of the organisation’s board after a “rigorous search” that involved screening more than 300 candidates.
She said “hard times require bold leadership” and Bandt had the “vision, the bravery and the experience required” for the job.
In a statement, Bandt said it was a “true privilege to help lead Australia’s most respected voice for nature and climate at such a critical time”. He said:
Climate collapse is beginning, nature is in crisis and this is the parliament that can avoid extinction. This could be the best parliament ever for nature and climate. We’re setting politicians a test we hope they meet.
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‘I don’t think Jacinta has it in for Indians’ Barnaby Joyce says
The fallout continues from Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments suggesting the Labor party’s migration policies were attempts to garner votes from immigrants including those from India.
Barnaby Joyce appeared to defend Price on the Seven Network this morning, putting the comments down to a “mistake”.
The s MP said:
You make mistakes in politics all the time, and the best thing to do is apologise, move on … Get on to another topic. It’s just the nature of politics. You’re not going to be perfect on every statement you ever make, you’re gonna make mistakes.
I don’t think Jacinta has it in for Indians, by the way. I think that she’s trying to convey … migration is out of control. Why is it out of control? Not because of the people [but] because we just don’t have the resources. We don’t have the houses, the hospitals, the schools, the dams to absorb them.
He said Price should apologise “if that solves the problem”.
Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, also interviewed on Sunrise, said the Indian community was due an apology.
Jacinta Price should apologise and if she doesn’t, Sussan Ley should make her apologise … They’ve got all sorts of mess happening in the Coalition.
The Wiggles deny former CEO was illegally fired
The Wiggles have told a court they will fight an unlawful dismissal lawsuit from their former chief executive, who claims the blue Wiggle undermined him, AAP reports.
Luke O’Neill says he was denied bonuses and excluded from meetings before being dismissed without a reasonable basis by the famous children’s entertainers.
He has launched legal action against the group, blue Wiggle Anthony Field and its general counsel Matthew Salgo in the federal court. No defence has been filed with the court but the band’s lawyer indicated on Monday the allegations were contested.
The Wiggles’ lawyer, Bianca Dearing, said on Monday:
“There are multiple complaints or inquiries pleaded during the course of the applicant’s employment ... all of which are denied.”
Justice Michael Lee asked the parties to set out timetabling ahead of a potential hearing in April, noting he was “unclear about how long it will take”.
The Wiggles and its former chief executive will likely attend mediation before the end of the year to see if the issue can be resolved before a hearing, the court was told.
O’Neill was fired in May, a decision he says came without a reasonable basis and without any prior warning or earlier adverse feedback. He alleges his dismissal was unlawful.
You can read more about the case here:
Coles and Woolworths underpayment bill could top $1bn
Jonathan Barrett
Coles and Woolworths are preparing to pay more than $1bn in the fallout from a major wages case that found the supermarket giants had underpaid thousands of workers.
The federal court found last week the big supermarkets hadn’t adequately tracked entitlements owed under the relevant retail award, resulting in years of missed overtime, penalties rates and other various payments.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleged Woolworths underpaid 19,000 workers and Coles underpaid more than 8,700 staff, including store managers.
Woolworths said in an ASX statement today it could owe workers a further $250m to $470m in pre tax payments, and up to $280m in additional costs including superannuation and payroll tax.
Coles estimates it might need to pay a further $150m to $250m to “reflect the findings of the court, including interest and on-costs”.
The estimates are in addition to significant sums Australia’s two biggest supermarket chains have already made in back payments. Proceedings are due back in court in late October.
The underpayment issue could become even more costly for the supermarkets, given the figures do not take into account potential payouts stemming from class actions.
‘Anti-corruption’ protest organisers reach agreement not to march on Sydney Harbour Bridge
Penry Buckley
NSW police and protest organisers have reached an agreement for an alternative route that will not block the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend.
As we reported last week, protesters had lodged a “form 1” notifying police of a planned public demonstration across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Saturday, 13 September. But after negotiations between senior officers and organisers, the route will now start in Hyde Park and follow a route through Sydney’s CBD, police said in a statement.
In a preliminary hearing at the NSW supreme court this morning, the organiser who lodged the form, Mary-Jane Liddicoat, said she had not been able to find legal representation in time for an urgent hearing originally scheduled for this afternoon. That hearing has now been cancelled with the court hearing an in-principle agreement had already been reached.
Police have now formally withdrawn their filing to the supreme court. The NSW supreme court has ordered that each party pay their own legal costs.
In the statement, police thanked the organiser for their cooperation and added the force recognised and supported the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly.
The protest, which is marching under the name “Australia Unites Against Government Corruption” includes the groups My Place Australia and MMAMV, which as the ABC have reported have campaigned against vaccine mandates.
Luca Ittimani
Airline customer watchdog proposal not strong enough, Choice says
Following up on news the Albanese government is exploring a consumer protection scheme for aviation, customer advocacy group Choice has warned the industry needs a stronger watchdog.
Labor today said its scheme could give customers the right to be compensated for cancelled or delayed flights and provided with prompt rebooking, refunds and food and accommodation.
The proposed watchdog could assist with customers’ unresolved complaints about airlines or airports and penalise breaches, but it will report to the transport minister and won’t be responsible for creating new rights for consumers.
Choice’s director of campaigns, Rosie Thomas, said the new scheme was a welcome first step but the ombudsperson needed more power and independence than Labor has proposed:
We deserve clear rights when flights don’t go to plan, not a patchwork of airline policies. However, consumer rights are only ever as strong as the complaints processes to enforce them.
Banks and telecommunications companies have to answer to an independent umpire and the airlines should too.
The government is taking submissions on the design of the new scheme and watchdog.
Caitlin Cassidy
UTS students ‘blindsided’ by program suspensions
The president of the UTS students’ association, Mia Campbell, says students were “blindsided” by management’s decision to suspend enrolments in more than 100 courses at the university and feel “abandoned” by leadership.
Appearing at the Senate inquiry into university governance, Campbell said it rang “alarm bells” when the senior leadership team, appearing before her, said the changes would have no impact on current students, as many had lost the opportunity to study postgraduate options right at the end of their degrees.
Campbell read out quotes from students in the school of public health, who said a week before the cuts were announced, they attended an honours information session with “hope and ambition”.
We were blindsided by news of the suspension of this program … Students of public health feel abandoned by this university, by its leadership and by the vice-chancellor. For many of us in public health, we chose to study this degree on the basis we would have a solid pathway to complete a bachelor, honours and PhD, but now we may not be able to.
Campbell said some PhD supervisors had already been made aware that they might have to supervise students for free if they were subject to job losses next year.
In my classes I’ve seen tutors and peers frustrated and demoralised by the uncertainty and loss of direction of the university, many students are hearing bleak warnings from staff … I worry about how employers will interpret the value of my degree, considering UTS has decided to discontinue it.
Read more here:
Spring has sprung?
Melbourne enjoyed its warmest day since May on Saturday, with the mercury reaching 22.1C, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The warmth coincided with the start of Petyan, or wildflower season, in Victoria.
In Sydney, the temperature was 27.1C at midday today – but while spring has sprung, it may only be a glimpse, with the SES warning parts of NSW are heading into a few days of unsettled weather.
Erin Patterson’s sentencing hearing this morning was historic beyond its immediate subject matter: it was also the first time news cameras have been allowed in Victoria’s supreme court to film a sentencing.
Here is Justice Christopher Beale’s sentencing of Patterson in full:
UTS cuts staff bonuses and confirms consultants bill of $44m
Caitlin Cassidy
The vice-chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney, Prof Andrew Parfitt, says senior staff will not be paid any bonuses as a result of the ongoing restructure at the institution. Late last year, UTS announced around 400 jobs will be lost to deliver $100m in annual savings.
Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, pointed to Parfitt’s own salary of around $935,000 last year.
Does the operation sustainability initiative consider a cut to that salary or the salaries of any of the other very highly paid executives, or is it just staff who have to pay the price of the changes that you are proposing?
Parfitt said senior executives and the senior staff group “will not now be paid any bonus or performance components, which is a saving across the university of about $2.5m”. He also confirmed UTS had spent $44m on consultants last year.
Faruqi also pressed Parfitt on “fear and mistrust” among staff to speak openly, who were instead resorting to “closed door meetings and encrypted WhatsApp groups”.
He said “genuine and open consultation around challenging issues needs to occur”.
It’s part of our change process, and we have been attempting to release the document ... which provides the basis for the changes that we might consider.
The change proposal will be released in the next fortnight, Parfitt said.
Caitlin Cassidy
‘Unprecedented’ amount of pressure on universities, says vice-chancellor
Staying with the Senate inquiry into university governance, around 1,000 prospective students are expected to be affected by the temporary suspension of enrolments at the University of Technology Sydney, its deputy vice-chancellor has said.
Asked about the 120 courses that have been affected until the end of the autumn 2026 semester, Prof Kylie Readman said 33 had fewer than 10 enrolments, and a further 31 had no students enrolled:
If I looked at these courses’ commencing students in 2025, it was less than 1,000 out of about 38,000 at the university. We did follow our policy and our process to identify these courses for temporary suspension, each dean noted the courses that they wanted to suspend, and they were approved by the provost.
In his opening statement, the vice-chancellor, Prof Andrew Parfitt, said universities in Australia were facing an “unprecedented” amount of pressure:
In my 30 years in the sector ... I have never witnessed such a confluence of challenges currently facing our institutions ... constraints on revenue leading to financial stress and job losses ... the underpayment of wages, campus safety concerns ... antisemitism and other forms of racism, foreign interference ... debates around academic freedom and freedom of speech, rapid impact of emerging technologies. It’s a long list, senators.
Mourners arrive to pay respects to Porepunkah shooting victim
Family, friends and colleagues are coming together to salute a veteran police officer who was gunned down just days away from retiring, as the hunt for his alleged killer continues.
Detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson will be farewelled with full police honours at a funeral at the Victoria Police Academy today, reports AAP.
The 59-year-old was one of two Victoria Police officers killed on 26 August while serving a warrant on Dezi Freeman on a property in Porepunkah, about 300km north-east of Melbourne.
The officer was looking forward to spending more time with the love of his life, Lisa, and already had a list of tasks to tackle in his free time.
His partner, with whom he built a home, will be among the mourners expected to pack the onsite chapel at the academy in Melbourne’s east to remember the man affectionately known as Thommo.
Thompson deserved the life he had planned for after his policing career, state police union boss Wayne Gatt said.
“That, after 38 years in the job and on the cusp of retirement, he made the decision to put others before himself, is a measure of the man we’ve lost,” Gatt said.
Erin Patterson has left Victoria’s supreme court after her sentencing hearing this morning.
The convicted murderer left as she arrived – in a secure prison truck with a crowd of onlookers.
Video: Erin Patterson sentencing
Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years after murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth with a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.
Here’s footage of the moment Patterson was this morning sentenced by Justice Christopher Beale:
