1 month ago
Network Ten and Wilkinson reach agreement on costs
Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson have reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
Ten previously agreed to pay Wilkinson the sum of $558,548.30, which is less than a third of the $1.8m in indemnity costs she sought.
But yesterday, the federal court confirmed an agreement between the parties for the network to pay Wilkinson $1,150,000.
It has until 19 March to pay the remaining $591,451.
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
What to expect from Senate estimates today
Senate estimates will be back underway today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:
Creative Australia bosses, including chief executive Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.
Lebanon-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino had been chosen for the 2026 Biennale, until early works of art by Sabsabi were raised in parliamentary question time on 13 February.
Creative Australia called a snap board meeting following question time and by 9.30pm that night, it had rescinded its invitation to Sabsabi and Dagostino. Immediately after question time, arts minister Tony Burke called Collette to discuss the selection, but Burke denies any political interference.
Meanwhile, an estimates hearing will probe the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as former Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks prepares to commence a five-year term as ABC managing director in March.
Journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s departure has been a topic at previous estimates hearings, with questions about how much money the ABC was spending on legal fees. The broadcaster’s response in August means it remains unlikely the question will be answered at the hearing today:
To avoid prejudice to the ABC’s position, or unintended interference or influence of the proceedings, questions on the costs of litigation should be deferred until the conclusion of those proceedings.
McKenzie defends Dutton public sector cuts as McKim warns of ‘Donald Trump-style campaign’
Bridget McKenzie also defended Peter Dutton’s move to slash public sector jobs in order to fund the Coalition’s Medicare injection. She argued there had been 36,000 additional public servants in Canberra under Labor.
We also think that there’s been wasteful spending in excess of $100bn of initiatives over the last three years that could be better prioritised. What economists are saying is that Australians are going to have to pay more in taxes to actually pay for the spending of this government, and we believe particularly young people don’t need to be on the hook for this. We need to be making sure a government lives within its means, just like your viewers.
Asked if the Greens would support this, Nick McKim instead accused Dutton and the Liberals of “engaging in a Donald Trump-style campaign.”
We’re really worried about a descent into far-right extremism in Australia led by Peter Dutton, in the same way that we’re seeing it in the US. So we’re not going to back any of that stuff … We want people who are doing it tough to get more support, we want strong climate and we want to see actually things improve for people.
McKenzie and McKim on Labor’s Medicare plan
s senator Bridget McKenzie and Greens senator Nick McKim both spoke with the Today Show earlier on the government’s Medicare announcement last week.
In case you missed it: Labor has promised 18 million extra bulk-billed GP visits a year as part of an $8.5bn investment in Medicare, which Peter Dutton then said the Coalition would match dollar-for-dollar, by cutting thousands of public servant jobs.
McKenzie rejected the notion that the Coalition wouldn’t have done this, if not for Labor making their announcement.
There was an absolute response, because what we can’t have is another Mediscare campaign by a prime minister desperate to drag the Coalition down because he’s got no new ideas.
McKim said the Greens were “absolutely backing it” because “it was our idea”.
We’re stoked that it’s been put in place, and it just goes to show that, you know, Greens pressure works … Ultimately, we’ve got a lot more ideas like this. If you want a few more, how about dental into Medicare?
Network Ten and Wilkinson reach agreement on costs
Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson have reached an agreement to cover her legal costs over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
Ten previously agreed to pay Wilkinson the sum of $558,548.30, which is less than a third of the $1.8m in indemnity costs she sought.
But yesterday, the federal court confirmed an agreement between the parties for the network to pay Wilkinson $1,150,000.
It has until 19 March to pay the remaining $591,451.
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for blogging duties – thanks to Martin for kicking things off for us. I’ll be with you on the blog for most of today, guiding you through our rolling updates.
As always, you can read out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s go.
CBA boss acknowledges 'challenge' for households
The boss of Australia’s largest retail bank has penned a letter of reassurance to customers amid cost-of-living pressures and a slip in its shares, AAP reports.
Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn said in a letter that hit most patrons’ email inboxes on Monday:
It’s been a challenging time for Australian households and businesses, and we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates.
For our variable home loan rate customers, the full interest rate reduction will hopefully provide some relief.
CBA shares fell more than 8% last week – a fall mirrored by other major Australian banks – but recovered on Monday, rising 2.97%. Comyn declared in his letter that physical cash was “here to stay”, even if customers’ banking preferences may evolve:
We’ll continue to distribute more than $4bn in cash each month through Australia’s largest branch and ATM network, which will also benefit from $100m in upgrades in 2025.
We have extended our promise to keep all our regional CommBank branches open until at least 31 July 2027 to support communities and jobs in regional Australia.
Cait Kelly
Greens vow to overhaul job services and abolish mutual obligations
This morning the Greens will launch their policy to overhaul job services by eliminating for-profit providers from the employment services system, restoring the Commonwealth Employment Services, abolishing mutual obligations and hiring more staff to bring call wait times to Centrelink to under five minutes.
Based on PBO analysis, the party said its plan would cost approximately $3.6bn over four years. It said the CES would create thousands of public service jobs and would be universally accessible for everyone, including those who are already employed.
Greens spokesperson on social services Penny Allan-Payne said:
The privatised employment service system is costly, ineffective and cruel. It makes it harder for people to look for and find work, while enriching for-profit providers, many of whom have demonstrated a callous indifference to the well-being of the people they’re meant to help.
Mutual obligations are not only cruel, they’re completely dysfunctional. Multiple ongoing technology issues have rendered the system almost inoperable, while information that’s recently come to light raises serious questions about the legality of the whole scheme.
We’d be better off doing away with the system altogether, rather than continuing to throw good money after bad on something that is costly to administer and completely counterproductive.
Pledge to make beaches and parks more accessible
Josh Butler
The Labor government has pledged $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. Social services minister Amanda Rishworth is launching the “Accessible Australia” initiative today in Cairns.
It aims to provide federal funding for infrastructure such as more accessible change room and toilet facilities, all-terrain or beach wheelchairs, and “inclusive” play spaces for people with special needs.
An existing program, Changing Places, will be expanded to help people access parks and beaches, including funding for accessible pathways better suited to wheelchairs, “mobi-matting” suitable for people with wheelchairs or reduced mobility, and playgrounds with facilities like sensory play platforms.
Rishworth’s office suggests the initiative could help attract more visitors to Australia, with the program to be promoted through Austrade. The minister said:
Through Accessible Australia, we are significantly broadening the types of accessible infrastructure and amenities that will be built across Australia, providing access – for the first time for many – to national parks, beaches and play spaces.
The Australian government will also provide funding to state and territory governments to help with the design, development and delivery of Accessible Australia projects.
People with disability have the same rights to be included in our communities, to access the spaces we gather in, and to experience our beautiful natural environment.
Labor outlines plan to expand mobile coverage across Australia
Josh Butler
The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland will launch the policy today. Her office says it will lead to up to 5m sq km of new outdoor mobile coverage across Australia, including more than 37,000km on regional roads. The new universal outdoor mobile obligation will require mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia.
Rowland said:
Whether it’s in national parks, hiking trails or out on the farm, outdoor coverage will be accessible almost anywhere where Australians can see the sky.
The plan would expand triple-zero access, boost voice and SMS coverage in mobile black spots, and improve mobile signals during disasters and power outages. The government says it would seek to introduce legislation this year, with implementation by late 2027, to “expand the universal service framework to incorporate mobile coverage for the first time”. Rowland:
The government will work with stakeholders and industry to get the legislation right, including flexibility where warranted by supply, spectrum and other factors. The Albanese government will also engage with industry and examine incentives and removal of barriers to support public interest objectives and competition outcomes.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind with the main action.
Anthony Albanese says he is confident that the US would defend Australia if it were to come under attack, despite Donald Trump rewriting European security since coming to power. But the prime minister added that Australia needed to look after its own security and would make its own decisions on foreign policy, including on support for Ukraine.
The comments came on a special edition of the ABC’s Q+A last night, in which he took questions from members of the public on foreign affairs, the cost-of-living crisis, housing and social cohesion. Reaction coming up.
On the subject of the economy, the Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn has written to his customers to reassure them amid cost-of-living pressures. He says high borrowing rates have proved a “challenging time for Australian households and businesses” and “we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates”. More coming up.
The Labor government is promising a “universal outdoor mobile obligation” if it wins the coming election, pledging what it calls a “world first reform” for universal call and SMS service across virtually all of Australia. More coming up as Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, launches the plan today.
And Labor is also promising $17.1m to provide more accessible beaches, parks and tourist locations for people with a disability. More on that in a tick.
