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Aussies paying high prices ‘too often’: former competition watchdog boss
The former head of Australia’s competition watchdog Professor Allan Fels is addressing the National Press Club in Canberra.
He is speaking about an inquiry he chaired into price gouging, conducted for the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
In his address he said the greatest concern for Australians was the cost of living, which was based on two components; income and prices people pay.
Professor Allan Fels has written a reporting into Price Gouging and Unfair Pricing Practices.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
My conclusion is Australians are paying prices that are too high too often. And the cause is weak and ineffective competition into many sectors of the economy.
Two policies are needed.
First, the Australian government needs to act on the high prices to investigate their nature and causes and where possible, their remedies. The remedies do not include price control but … there is much the Government can do.
Secondly, remove or weaken market power with greater competition.”
He said he was pleased to investigate prices charges to consumers, how firms set profit margins and their contribution to inflation.
The former watchdog chair added while there was discussion about the “horrors of monopoly market power”, there was little discussion on what to do about those high prices.
$1 million fines for ‘dodgy’ colleges in fresh crackdown
By Angus Thompson
Fraudulent colleges will face fines of close to $1 million and the government will be able to freeze applications for new training providers in a bid to boost educational standards while cracking down on student visa rorting.
Legislation to be introduced on Wednesday will also weed out colleges misrepresenting themselves as prestigious institutions and void the registration of providers that have been inactive for 12 months.
Fraudulent colleges could be fined close to $1 million under new laws to be introduced by Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“We need to make sure we’ve got sufficient powers, sufficient teeth, to go after dodgy providers,” Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor said as he prepares to increase penalties from $187,800 to $939,000 for “ghost colleges” with few or no students, or significant breaches of training and qualification standards.
“We believe that in some circumstances, the fines at the moment are factored in by some providers as the cost of doing business.”
Greens leader reaches deal on right to disconnect
By Olivia Ireland
Back to federal politics, Greens Leader Adam Bandt has announced the workers’ right to disconnect will be included in Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s Closing Loopholes legislation.
“The Greens have won workers’ right to disconnect. When you clock off you’ll be able to switch off thanks to the Greens after a long push to protect people’s time at home and their time with their families,” Bandt said from Canberra.
David Pocock has also given his support to the measure.
Greens leader Adam Bandt reaches deal on right to disconnect with government.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s what else Bandt said about the right to disconnect:
Workers will be able to refuse those reasonable messages from the employer that come after hours and we know that that impacts on people’s lives, makes it harder to spend time with your family, makes it harder to do the things that matter to you.
This is something that Senator Barbara Pocock has been pushing for some time … and now we have an agreement from the government that there will be a right to disconnect in workplace relations.”
Police officer to plead not guilty over Cooma taser death
A police officer accused of fatally tasering a 95-year-old woman will face trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
Kristian White, 33, appeared before Cooma Local Court today, with his solicitor indicating the senior constable would plead not guilty to manslaughter.
The court was told all other charges were withdrawn, and White will next appear at the Supreme Court to be arraigned on April 5.
Kristian White leaves Cooma Court.Credit: James Brickwood
He remains on bail and was supported by his partner at court.
White is alleged to have used a stun gun on resident Clare Nowland at an aged care home in the southern NSW town of Cooma in the early hours of May 17, 2023.
Nowland died a week after being tasered in a nursing home.
The 95-year-old woman, who weighed 43 kilograms and lived with dementia, was confronted while using a walking frame and holding a steak knife.
She was repeatedly asked by staff, paramedics and police to drop the knife, a NSW Police statement of facts said.
She was tasered and fell, hitting her head on the ground. Nowland was taken to Cooma Hospital, where she died on May 24.
AAP
Call to cancel renewable rollout, Nationals declare bush is full
By Mike Foley
New renewable energy projects in regional Australia must be stopped now, Nationals leader David Littleproud has declared as he claims the nation should downgrade its commitment under the Paris Agreement, signalling a major escalation in the political brawl over climate policy.
Regional communities and farmland cannot cope with more wind and solar farms, as well as transmission lines, Littleproud said, arguing that renewable energy should be delivered with more solar panels on the roofs of big commercial buildings.
Opposition spokesman for veterans affairs Barnaby Joyce during the rally against renewable energy.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“We have now got to a saturation point in regional Australia from these renewable projects of industrial scale,” Littleproud said.
“There is a case to constrain future renewables to simply solar panels on rooftops where the population is concentrated.”
The Nationals’ zero tolerance for renewables poses a challenge for the Liberals, with division between the Coalition partners a stumbling block at the 2022 election, where voters backed the Albanese government’s more ambitious climate policies.
More needs to be done to Close the Gap: Anthony Albanese
By Olivia Ireland
Staying with the prime minister, who says more needs to be done on Closing the Gap for Indigenous Australians following a blistering assessment of Australia’s failure to improve outcomes for Indigenous people by giving them more control over their affairs.
In 2020, the agreement was described as a game-changer, but the Productivity Commission review which was published today, said governments were making only “slow, uncoordinated and piecemeal” progress.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agrees more needs to be done to Close the Gap. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“We need to do more, and the government acknowledges that. We’re doing work, particularly at the moment across a range of issues,” Albanese said earlier this morning.
“All governments need to do better, the report today is a reminder of that. The government acknowledges that, which is why we’ll continue to put forward practical measures in order to close the gap and we’ll be making our statements when that Closing the Gap report is tabled shortly.”
PM accuses Dutton of being ‘vague’ on promises for more tax cuts
By Olivia Ireland
The Coalition are being “vague” on their promises for further tax cuts, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
He accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of announcing a thought bubble while speaking in Canberra.
Albanese says there is almost no information on Dutton’s promise of further tax cuts, and said even during Labor’s time in opposition it wasn’t as vague as the Coalition on commitments.
Anthony Albanese slammed Peter Dutton’s tax talk as a “thought bubble”. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“It’s been some time since I’ve seen such a vague commitment, but I’ve never seen such a vague commitment from a Labor government or a Labor opposition,” he said.
Here’s what else he said about Dutton’s comments:
If the opposition wants to say that they’re just going to have more tax cuts, this is, bear in mind their third position that they’ve had in a week, then they need to say what will the cuts be?
This is just a thought bubble from Peter Dutton, who if he was fair dinkum, that our change of position is a bad thing then he’d vote against it and he’d promise to roll it back.”
Albanese supports workers right to disconnect
By Olivia Ireland
Speaking earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has supported the right to disconnect, saying someone who is not being paid 24 hours a day should not be penalised if they are not online.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s Closing Loopholes legislation is under negotiation with crossbenchers this week – particularly around whether workers would be able to tell their bosses to stop making unreasonable contact after hours – which Albanese said is not unreasonable.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backs workers right to disconnect. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“These things have been advanced through the discussions that took place last Friday, between Tony Burke and employers,” he said.
“What we’re simply saying is someone who’s not being paid 24 hours a day shouldn’t be penalised if they’re not online and available 24 hours a day.
“Indeed, many companies and businesses have exactly these systems in place now.”
Katter in disagreement over cash in Canberra cafe
By Olivia Ireland
Delving into the Canberra bubble, yesterday at the parliamentary cafe independent MP Bob Katter says he got into a disagreement because he tried to pay in cash.
Telling Sky News Australia this morning about what happened, Katter said the disagreement should be a launch pad to protest a cashless society.
“[The cashier] said, ‘we don’t accept cash’ and I said ‘well too bad for you, you have to, it’s legal tender and it’s illegal for you not to take cash’,” he said.
Bob Katter visits Innisfail in far north Queensland after a cyclone.
“We’ve had a lot of anti-cashless rallies in north Queensland … it’s quite right we start the fight against cashless society, if you have a cashless society, the banks control your life.
Ultimately, after the argument, Katter said he was allowed to pay in cash.
“I said ‘no, no no, I will stand here, and you will accept this legal tender and if you don’t you’ve broken the law’ so the manager came down, and he ran off, and he said ‘yeah it is the law, we do have to accept cash’,” he said.
Lidia Thorpe to support Labor’s IR bill, negotiations with independents continue
By Angus Thompson
Former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has leant her support to the government’s latest industrial reforms, all but securing the success of the final components of the Closing Loopholes legislation as the government continues to negotiate with independent senator David Pocock.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke last year struck a deal with the Greens to include a right to disconnect and bolster the rights of employees in drawn-out wage disputes to pass legislation Labor providing greater protections to casuals and workers in the gig economy.
Senator Lidia Thorpe.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The government has been negotiating with Pocock and Tasmanian senator Jaqui Lambie, who this morning said she was against both of the Greens’ amendments, adding she didn’t believe the right for employees’ to ignore contact from their bosses after hours should be legislated.
“Sometimes you really worry that when it comes to the Greens they go into complete overreach,” Lambie said during a press conference in parliament house.
The office of Thorpe, who left the Greens last year over differences that included their approached to an Indigenous Voice to parliament, confirmed Thorpe would be supporting the package.
Pocock, who has expressed concerns over the scope of the reforms, is continuing to negotiate with Burke.
The legislation is set to be debated in the Senate from 11am.
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2024-02-07 01:45:19Z
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