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What we learned: Wednesday, 6 August
With that, we will wrap the blog for the day. Thanks for staying with us. Nick Visser will be back tomorrow morning to take you through Thursday’s breaking news. Until then, here were the biggest headlines:
Updated at 04.33 EDT
$305,000 awarded to international student in ‘landmark’ sexual harassment case
The federal court has awarded an international student $305,000, after it found she was sexually harassed and further victimised by threats of a defamation case.
The damages ruling included $160,000 in general damages, which the Redfern Legal Centre said was the highest award ever recorded in an Australian sexual harassment claim.
The centre brought the case on behalf of the woman, then 22, who was working at a fast-food franchise. It was successful in claims of sexual harassment, victimisation and aggravated damages.
The woman has been unable to work for two and a half years since leaving the workplace where the harassment occurred, the centre said.
Seri Feldman-Gubbay, a senior solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, said:
No matter your income, race, disability, or visa status, if you are working in Australia, you have the right to a safe workplace, free from discrimination and harassment.
Updated at 04.29 EDT
Anne Davies
Latham seeks documents on decade-old sexual harassment allegations against former NSW ALP secretary
Allegations of sexual harassment from 2015 against the former New South Wales Labor secretary Jamie Clements are again in the news.
Documents about the alleged harassment of a female Labor staffer in the NSW parliament will be made available to parliamentarians under an order for papers in the NSW upper house.
Independent Mark Latham, who has been under scrutiny over his own behaviour in parliament, called for the papers.
He is seeking documents related to investigations by the NSW Police. No charges were laid against Clements.
The former NSW Labor secretary, Jamie Clements, in 2012. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP
Latham has raised questions under privilege about the involvement of the premier, Chris Minns – then an opposition backbencher – in the aftermath of the incident.
Latham accused the premier of hypocrisy in calling out his alleged behaviour. He said Minns was a close friend of Clements and that the 2015 incident was not properly investigated.
“This is an incredibly serious matter, which the upper house needs to call the Labor party to account,” Latham said in support of his motion.
A decade of denial is enough. The slutshamers, the intimidators, the perpetrators and the perverters of justice thought they had got away with it.
Latham’s call for papers includes the police file and any other related documents created by government agencies that dealt with the 2015 incident.
Labor did not oppose the order. The Greens and other minor parties supported Latham’s request, saying there were real issues about the way allegations of sexual harassment were dealt with in the NSW parliament and by political parties, despite a report by Liz Broderick recommending reforms.
Documents are usually produced within 28 days. They are usually made public, but agencies can limit access to members of parliament for reasons of privacy or because they are privileged.
Updated at 04.41 EDT
Asic close to approving rival for ASX
Patrick Commins
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could finally have some much-needed competition, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) revealed it was in the “final stages” of approving an application from CBOE Australia to operate a rival exchange.
The ASX is effectively the only option for an Australian company that wants to publicly list its shares.
Cboe Australia was formerly known as Chi-X before being bought out by the American giant Cboe Global Markets in mid-2021. Cboe also has operations in Europe and Canada.
The regulator made the announcement at today’s meeting of Jim Chalmers’ investor roundtable, where Asic also announced it was looking at ways to make it easier for foreign companies to have a dual listing in the local share market.
Asic and the Reserve Bank have been intensely critical of the ASX’s operations after a major meltdown of its computer systems last year that led to serious disruptions before Christmas.
The regulator in June launched an inquiry into the ASX’s risk management, citing “repeated and serious failures”.
The Asic chair, Joe Longo, when launching the inquiry, referred to the ASX as “ubiquitous”. He said:
You simply cannot buy and settle on the Australian public equities and futures markets without relying on ASX and its systems.
Chalmers said in a statement that if the market listing went ahead, “this will mean more investment in Australian businesses and that means more jobs and opportunities for Australian workers”.
Updated at 04.11 EDT
Flood evacuations under way in Narrabri, NSW
Residents are evacuating Narrabri in northern New South Wales as water levels rise after heavy rains battered the state.
Narrabri Creek exceeded the major flood level this afternoon and could rise further this evening, the NSW State Emergency Service has warned. The SES has already issued 16 emergency warnings in the area, encouraging locals to leave.
Flooding is expected to reach the town of Wee Waa, 40km west of Narrabri, on Wednesday evening. The SES has issued a watch and act warning, urging residents not to enter flood waters.
The SES has already carried out 39 flood rescues and responded to more than 2,500 incidents as the damaging weather hits the state.
The SES acting assistant commissioner, Allison Flaxman, said water levels were expected to remain high for several days in some locations. She urged people in Narrabri to leave while they could:
Flood water can rise faster than expected and cut off roads, leaving people isolated or in danger. We are strongly urging everyone in the affected areas to evacuate while it’s still safe to do so. Please don’t wait until it’s too late.
Updated at 04.02 EDT
Josh Taylor
Arts and media groups demand Labor take a stand against ‘rampant theft’ of Australian content to train AI
Calls for the careful regulation of artificial intelligence from Ed Husic and Bridget McKenzie this afternoon follow advocacy today from arts, creative, and media groups, as well as the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley.
The organisations have demanded the government rule out allowing big tech companies to take Australian content to train AI models, with concerns such a shift would “sell out” Australian workers and lead to “rampant theft” of intellectual property.
The Albanese government said it had no plans to change copyright law, but any changes must consider the impact on artists and news media. Ley said copyrighted material must not be used without compensation.
“It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it,” Ley said on Wednesday.
Read more here:
Updated at 03.38 EDT
eSafety commissioner has ‘too much power’, Liberal shadow minister says
The Coalition’s shadow communications minister has backed tighter rules for online platforms around child sexual abuse – but wants that call to be made by the government, not the eSafety commissioner.
The commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, today said YouTube and Apple were not tracking the number of users reporting child sexual abuse on their platforms. Google has since said almost all child abuse content was detected and removed.
Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh said the report showed more needed to be done, but she did not want the eSafety commissioner to be handed more powers. She told the ABC:
I feel in some respects the eSafety commissioner, as an unelected official, has too much power in some ways. I think she should be – it should be officials; it should be parliamentarians that are making such serious decisions.
McIntosh said more rules were needed, but the government should set them:
If children are being exploited in the most horrible, disgusting ways that no one reasonable could even imagine, the government needs to step in a little bit more.
Updated at 03.24 EDT
Nationals’ Bridget McKenzie says AI risks ‘challenging what it means to be a human’
The adoption of artificial intelligence could threaten what it means to be human, Bridget McKenzie, the Nationals frontbencher, has warned.
The Victorian senator and former Coalition minister told the ABC the financial savings of AI adoption should not outweigh the social costs. She said:
We also run the risk of really challenging what it means to be a human, and that is our creative industries and the process of creating. For us, it’s not just about the intellectual property piece, per se, but also the process of being a creative, writing a song, prose, dance, that is part of being human. I would hate to see that somehow be frittered away in a chase for some economic nirvana.
I’m also a grandmother. So, I have an interest in the future, not just next week’s share price.
McKenzie said she was worried about AI’s impact and endorsed calls from Labor’s Ed Husic for the consideration of overarching legislation or an “AI act”.
Bridget McKenzie is concerned about the impact of AI on the creative industries. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 03.41 EDT
Coalition frontbencher calls for ‘brave’ reform from roundtable
Bridget McKenzie has called for Labor to use its mandate to enact big economic reform ahead of the government’s productivity roundtable in two weeks’ time.
The Nationals frontbencher said tax, industrial relations and energy should be the focus of the roundtable, rather than the theme that the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is emphasising – government regulation.
McKenzie told the ABC the government should be more bold:
The Australian people have legit given these guys a huge mandate and they should use what is often nowadays quite a unique proposition. … Everything should be on the table.
I call on the treasurer to be brave. Our economy needs it.
McKenzie declined to specifically endorse the Productivity Commission’s proposal to cut company tax and bring in a cashflow tax. She pointed to the need to bring down road construction costs and ensure electric vehicle drivers paid for their road use:
There’s some really cool ways we can address the productivity concerns.
Updated at 03.14 EDT
Husic calls for Albanese to work with Trump on Palestine recognition
Ed Husic has called for the prime minister to coordinate with Donald Trump as Australia weighs recognising a Palestinian state.
Speaking to the ABC, Husic praised Anthony Albanese for discussing Gaza with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the wake of France’s commitment to recognising a Palestinian state.
The two leaders had a phone call overnight, discussing their longstanding support for a two state solution and their commitment to getting aid to civilians amid the crisis in Gaza. An official readout passed on to the media did not specifically mention recognition.
Husic said international cooperation would be essential if Australia was to work to end the violence facing Gaza’s innocent civilians. He added:
We’ll need to find ways too, as startling as this may sound, of engaging the Trump administration on this. Because they will have a lot of impact and sway on the Netanyahu government. So it will require us finding ways to work across nations on that.
Ed Husic speaking to the Voices for Gaza vigil outside Parliament House on 23 July. Photograph: Lincoln MageeShare
Updated at 02.34 EDT
Former tech minister calls for an AI act
Ed Husic, Labor’s former industry and technology minister, has defended the prospect of economy-wide laws for artificial intelligence.
The government’s Productivity Commission overnight warned an overarching AI-specific piece of legislation risked stifling the technology’s potentially transformative benefits – a perspective Andrew Leigh, Labor’s assistant minister for productivity, has backed.
Husic has previously suggested Australia could benefit from an “AI act” while he was a minister in the Albanese government. Now a backbencher, he told the ABC:
The view that we can just skate through without having a firm regulatory approach is not going to cut it. … If we want people to have the confidence around that, you need to have a solid regulatory framework.
If we don’t have an economy-wide act, what we get left with is a Whack-A-Mole approach – an AI problem comes up, we whack a new law and regulation on it, we think it works, it’s horrendously slow, complicated and is contradictory in many cases.
Husic said a clear framework would be more effective than piecemeal regulation, warning unregulated AI uptake could lead to economic and political disruption if leads to loss of jobs:
It’s a bit unedifying to lose your job to an AI chat bot. Businesses that rush to just put the technology in without thinking of the consequences for their workforce, they create an element of political instability as well that gets pounced on by the extremes of politics, who claim that people are being ripped off and not being given a fair go.
The Labor backbencher also supported calls for creative workers to be compensated for the use of their work in AI training models.
Updated at 02.38 EDT
Tom McIlroy
Leigh convenes economic roundtable in Melbourne ahead of larger roundtable discussions
Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for productivity, is bringing together a high level group of economic thinkers in Melbourne on Thursday, part of discussions ahead of this month’s government roundtable.
Leigh is assembling a roundtable for academics and think tanks “to consider ways to support a more dynamic and competitive economy, mobilise investment, develop Australia’s human capital, and facilitate innovation”.
Some of the notable names attending include tax experts Robert Breunig and Miranda Stewart, housing expert Peter Tulip from the Centre for Independent Studies, former Reserve Bank deputy Guy Debelle, economists Saul Eslake and Dan Andrews, Michael Brennan from the e61 Institute and John Asker from the University of California.
Sessions at the event will cover technology and human capital, investment and allocative efficiency. Leigh said:
By bringing together some of the country’s best academic and think tank economists, we’re tapping into a wealth of expertise to help shape smarter policy. This isn’t about theory for theory’s sake – it’s about practical ideas that can boost productivity and improve lives.
Economic forecasts are tricky – especially about the future. But with this roundtable, I predict success.
Updated at 02.28 EDT
Student strike for Palestine planned around Australia on Thursday
Students around Australia are planning to walk out of class tomorrow to protest starvation in Gaza and demand Australia sanction Israel.
Organisers said hundreds of university and high school students were expected to rally at Sydney’s Town Hall on Thursday, with more protests planned for Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Wollongong.
Students striking for Palestine in 2023. Photograph: Richard Milnes/Shutterstock
The rallies will demand the government cut trade and diplomatic ties with Israel and impose further sanctions, Students for Palestine said in a statement. Students will also protest universities’ partnerships with weapons companies and restrictions on pro-Palestine activism on campuses.
Josh Lees is among those who will address Sydney’s rally. The Palestine Action Group activist and organiser of Sunday’s Harbour Bridge march said:
Our incredible mobilisation on Sunday demonstrated that public opinion is overwhelmingly opposed to the crimes Israel is committing in Gaza …. The students are showing that ordinary people in Australia will continue to demonstrate until our voices are heard and our government ends its material support for Israel’s war crimes.
Hannah Thomas, the former Greens candidate whose eye was injured after attending a pro-Palestine rally, is also expected to speak.
Yasmine Johnson, rally organiser and a student at the University of Technology Sydney, pointed to a United Nations’ agency’s estimate that 28 children have died each day in Gaza in the past 22 months.
That’s a classroom’s worth of young lives being taken from us every day by bombing and starvation. Enough is enough.
Updated at 02.40 EDT
Natasha May
NSW flu cases almost double in July
Flu cases in NSW have nearly doubled in the last two months as doctors warn the state’s vaccination rates are lagging the rest of the country.
The latest data shows a jump of more than 78% in the number of flu cases in July (37,895) compared to June (21,257), the peak body for GPs is warning. The Royal Australian College of GPs is calling on patients to ensure they get the flu vaccination, which is recommended for all people aged 6 months and over to have yearly.
Dr Rebekah Hoffman, a Sydney-based GP and the NSW chair of the College, said there was a worrying trend of low immunity across the state.
I’ve diagnosed more influenza A and B cases in the last few weeks than I have over the rest of the flu season. And frankly, patients haven’t been getting their flu jabs at the same rate as other years. They can certainly help themselves when it comes to the flu vaccine.
The percentage of people aged 15 and over vaccinated in NSW is below the national average. There is also a shortage of people aged over 65 getting their jabs. We would urge them strongly to take action. People aged 65 years and over are more likely to require hospitalisation or have serious complications due to influenza, such as pneumonia or a heart attack.
Cases have almost doubled, and vaccinations are low – flu jabs need to be prioritised for those most vulnerable in our community- it is definitely still not too late to have your flu vaccine!
Dr Hoffman said flu vaccines should be free in NSW.
Updated at 01.55 EDT