4 weeks ago
Dutton says he would abolish position of First Nations ambassador
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said he would axe the First Nations ambassador if elected.
This comes after the Daily Telegraph reported the Albanese government approved spending of more than $350,000 last financial year to send the ambassador on nine overseas trips – mostly to the US and Europe. Justin Mohamed was appointed to the new role in March 2023.
Speaking to 2GB radio this morning, Dutton said:
If it is the case that we win the next election, that position will be abolished on day one … I think this is a waste of money …
It’s the only position of its nature in the world … It will be a very different way of governing if we win the next election.
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Victorian man charged for alleged unauthorised radio transmissions to aircraft
The Australian Federal Police have charged a Melbourne man for allegedly interfering with aviation radio networks to “broadcast various chants and false mayday recordings.”
The man, 45, is expected to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today and face three charges for the alleged radio interference at Melbourne Airport over a two month period.
An investigation commenced this month, with investigators executing a search warrant on Saturday at the man’s Lower Plenty residence. Officers allegedly located and seized four handheld radios and associated equipment, allegedly used to transmit the interference – including two mobile phones with recordings of chants and mayday messages.
The man was arrested and charged with three offences, including one count of radio transmission capable of prejudicing the safe operation of an aircraft.
Australia to provide additional $10m to humanitarian aid in Gaza
The government has announced it will provide an additional $10m in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In a statement, the government said funding would be directed to UNICEF and UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) to provide “lifesaving assistance, with a focus on women and girls, including the delivery of nutrition support, as well as hygiene and dignity kits.”
Since 7 October, Australia has committed $82.5m in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said:
Australia’s support will help address the dire humanitarian situation with the delivery of nutrition and essential hygiene and health products. Rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian relief must reach civilians, and aid workers must be protected to enable their lifesaving work.
We continue to press for a ceasefire, the protection of civilians and the release of hostages.
The minister for international development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, said the situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and that “civilians should not be made to pay the price for the horrendous acts of others.”
The ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, was asked about the interim report on supermarkets handed to Treasury, and where this investigation sits in relation to that. She responded:
These considerations and these allegations actually were brought to us before the commencement of the supermarket inquiry and the supermarket inquiry is excluding and not considering those specific elements.
Asked just how big this is, Gina Cass-Gottlieb said it was “very significant”.
The conduct we are considering is very serious.
It is part of one of our most important priorities to protect consumers this year, which has related to the pricing of essential products and services, and you can’t get more essential than food and grocery products.
Asked if one supermarket was more egregious than the other, she replied:
We do consider it is significant behaviour for each of them and don’t think that actually it does justice to either to make a comparison.
Cass-Gottlieb was also asked if the people in charge should stand down, and responded: “That decision is a decision for the supermarkets and the board of the supermarkets.”
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was also asked about the potential of a class action from consumers, and said there is “always a potential of class actions” when consumers “have been harmed”.
We are seeking, through the community service order, in order to give to the community and the most needy members of our community, redress.
The ACCC is seeking community service orders that Woolworths and Coles each fund a registered charity to deliver meals to Australians in need.
She detailed this order further, and said:
We will put to the court that there should be a substantial additional donation to charities that are providing food relief and meals in aid to needy families and that each of Coles and Woolworths are ordered to pay additional donations to support that.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb detailed the material harm to consumers from the alleged actions:
When the discounts are not genuine, consumers are foregoing buying products at another store which is offering genuine discounts or buying a different product that has a genuine discount.
Q: Does the fact that consumers picked this up suggest that they aren’t even trying to hide it? Are you concerned about how brazen the supermarkets are being?
Gina Cass-Gottlieb:
We have both exercised our enforcement and investigation powers here, following on the tipoffs … from consumers.
We are also looking in depth at the supermarket sector, pursuant to a government direction in order to look at competition, costs, prices and margins. We are testing this behaviour in multiple ways.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was asked if she was “stunned” these alleged actions happened? She responded:
What we can see is that consumers do come to understand and to consider, after seeing very lengthy periods of sustained price reductions, and a very short significant price increase … Consumers come to understand these aren’t genuine price reductions.
She pointed to the example of the Oreo Family Pack product, which we detailed earlier.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC is seeking “a significant penalty” from Woolworths and Coles, but there is no dollar figure at this point.
This is serious conduct. It is of great concern to us and it affected many consumers with millions of products sold, [allegedly] subject to this practice. That penalty has to be high enough to be not a cost of doing business for such major companies to deter them from this conduct in the future and deter all retailers from this manner of conduct.
ACCC chair addresses media about court action against Woolworths and Coles
Chair of the ACCC, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, is speaking to the media following news it would take court action against Woolworths and Coles over its “prices dropped” and “down down” promotions, which it alleges were misleading.
She told reporters about how the investigation began:
We first identified this conduct because of contact from consumers. We then tracked social media and saw on X, reddit and TikTok that hundreds of consumers were reporting prices that they did not consider were genuine. We followed that up with our own in-depth investigation using our compulsory powers.
We understand that many consumers are seeking to manage their household budgets, including through the use of discounts on their grocery purchases. In times of cost of living pressures, it is critical that all pricing claims and price discount claims are accurate.
