EXCLUSIVE TV backstab as top-secret auditions are held for presenter's dream gig. Plus, Channel Ten finds a new host to save sinking ship - and mags brace for fire sale: INSIDE MAIL
The private equity firm behind Are Media - publisher of Woman's Day, New Idea and The Australian Women's Weekly - is looking to offload the company after five years.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Commonwealth Bank sends jobs to India as it cuts hundreds of workers in Australia
Australia's biggest bank has sent 100 jobs to India after retrenching hundreds of local staff with a union accusing it of offshoring work for cheaper labour. The Commonwealth Bank last month told the Finance Sector Union that 304 Australians would be made redundant in technology and retail roles. This occurred as 110 jobs, affected by redundancies in Australia, were created at the Commonwealth Bank's Bangalore-based subsidiary, CBA India. These new jobs in India included job titles that had existed in Australia including staff data engineer, senior software engineers, staff software engineer, engineering manager, software engineer and senior data engineer. The Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest home lender, has more than doubled the number of staff in India in just two years. The Finance Sector Union's national secretary Julia Angrisano said the Commonwealth Bank had breached faith with its own staff by saying positions were redundant in Australia only to recreate them in India. 'By hiring for the same job, at their own Indian subsidiary, they're showing themselves to have breached the enterprise agreement and essentially lied to their workers,' she said. 'This is the very definition of bad faith. We have known for years that big banks have had a preference for work to be performed offshore. 'Yet we now have the proof that this is happening in real time. 'Our members are outraged by this kind of behaviour and seriously question CBA's commitment to Australian jobs.' The Commonwealth Bank's number of staff in India more than doubled in two years, growing from 2,854 employees in June 2022 to 5,630 by June 2024, its annual report said. Ms Angrisano argued this was about CBA benefiting from cheaper labour in India. 'We do not believe that the redundancies outlined in these change processes are in fact genuine redundancies and that in doing so, CBA has breached the terms of the agreement,' she said. 'These jobs are not required to be done in India; they're just moving the work there to take advantage of cheaper labour and further line their own pockets.' But a Commonwealth Bank spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia that CBA India was insourcing roles that had previously been done by a third party. 'During the formal consultation on recent workforce changes, the FSU did not raise any concerns with us about like-for-like job changes,' she said. 'We refute their claims and have met with the union this week to respond in detail and assure them that there is no basis to their allegations.' The Commonwealth Bank's chief executive Matt Comyn was last year paid $8.977million with bonuses. Specialist recruiter and career coach Tammie Ballis took aim at the big four bank for sending roles offshore. 'Are you telling me, Australia being the multicultural country that we are that they can't find someone that's living here that is bilingual with those skills?,' Ms Ballis said. 'Come on, not only that, if you have a look down here, this is their acknowledgement to country. Paying respect to our First Nations Australians. You're not for Australians.' During Question Time in Parliament, Senator Gerard Rennick of the Liberal National Party of Queensland pressed the Treasury on whether the government was aware of how much money is being sent offshore in wages. A senior Treasury official said they didn't have the answer right away and would get back to him later. 'It's not hard to see why Treasury took my question about the Free Trade Agreements with the Philippines and India on notice,' Senator Rennick said. 'It turns out that the Australian Government charges no taxes on wages paid by Australian companies to foreign workers in other countries who are effectively working remotely, taking Australian jobs. 'Not only are we losing jobs, we are losing the tax that those jobs would have paid while Australian corporations still get a tax deduction despite sending money offshore. 'This then means the remaining Australian workers have to pay higher taxes to make up the shortfall. This is selling Australia out plain and simple.' 'This is selling Australia out plain and simple. Furthermore, for those of you who think that working at home is a good thing be careful what you wish for. 'You might be replaced by a foreign worker.' He also pointed out that some workers are being brought in from other countries. 'For example, I've been told that there are people coming from the Philippines to build the transmission lines between Wagga and South Australia. 'Do we know how much money in remittances is getting sent offshore in terms of wages paid either for outsourcing or people coming onshore? Aussies unleashed about the increasing globalisation of the workforce. One said: 'Govt should make it illegal for big banks, those above a certain threshold/size, to offshore IT and call centre jobs, especially given their huge billion $ profits'. A second added: 'At the end of the day these companies are greedy af and don't care about the average Australian. It's why I will always choose family over work every chance I get bc they wouldn't care if I dropped dead over my desk.' A third said: 'I worked for Telstra and my job went to Philippines where wages were 1/4 of Australian. 'Lead to seven extra calls per complaint resolution and time factor extended from four days to 14 days.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Salim Mehajer walks free from jail: Disgraced property developer swaggers out through the razor wire in blue suit to go and live with his mum and dad because he's broke
Bankrupt property developer and disgraced former politician Salim Mehajer has walked free after five years in jail to live with his parents because he's flat broke. The one-time millionaire who flaunted his wealth with an extravagant wedding and luxury marble mansion swaggered out from behind the razor wire of a western Sydney prison on Friday. Wearing a blue suit, and his white teeth bared in a dazzling smile XX, the 39-year-old fraudster strolled out of the John Morony Correctional Centre at Windsor without a care in the world - but a very long list of parole conditions. The new parolee looked upbeat as he jumped in a waiting blacked out limo and sped through the prison gates, but faces a strict regime of reporting daily to his parole officer. The eldest of Amal and Mohamad Mehajer's eight children, he will be relying on his parents' support if he follows through on his plan to rebuild his failed property empire. The former Auburn council deputy mayor has been in prison since November 2020, when he was hailed for lying to a court, and has served back-to-back sentences for multiple offences. The NSW State Parole Authority (SPA) decided last month to grant his release m parole on conditions including that he undergo drug and alcohol testing, participate in domestic violence programs if directed and not communicate with any Outlaw Motorcycle Gang bikies or associates. He is also banned from contacting his DV victim or entering the Central Coast. Mehajer was declared bankrupt during a previous prison stint in 2018 when his property business, SM Project Developments, was liquidated. Creditors included the Australian Taxation Office and the company which built the marble staircase at his former lavish home in Frances Street, Lidcombe. He was locked up again in 2020 after he was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath. While behind bars in 2023, Mehajer was again convicted in separate trials for unrelated fraud and domestic violence offences. A jury found Mehajer guilty of multiple counts of assault, one count of intimidation and one count of suffocation relating to his abuse of an ex-partner, and he was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months in jail. He was convicted of assaulting the victim by punching her in the head in his car, suffocating her with his hand over her nose and mouth until she passed out, crushing her hand as she held her phone and threatening to kill her mother. At a further trial while he was in jail, he was found guilty by a jury of fraud on two counts each of making a false document and using a false document. The jury convicted him of creating false statutory declarations and affidavits by forging the signatures of his solicitor, Zali Burrows, and one of his six sisters. Mehajer overcame a raft of objections, including the risk of him reoffending, his refusal to change his attitude and his continued denial of some of his crimes. In granting him a release, SPA said Mehajer had completed all possible programs in prison. It determined his rehabilitation was better served in the community under the supervision of a psychologist and community corrections officers. His parole conditions include being of good behaviour, and ongoing treatment from a private psychologist. Mehajer first made headlines with his over-the-top wedding in 2015, when a reported $1million of gaudy excess closed off a Sydney street. Mehajer and his young bride 'Aysha' - former Wollongong beautician April Learmonth - were married amid a procession of Harley Davidsons, rented Lamborghinis, a helicopter overhead, and a reception with 10,000 red roses and gold-dusted desserts. The flashy party had been delayed until Salim's own father made his exit from prison, after being released early from a maximum three and half years stint in prison. Mohamad Mehajer was convicted of conspiring to defraud the National Australia Bank of more than $3 million after attempting to bribe a bank employee to approve a loan that overstated the value of the family property company. Mehajer staged a car crash in 2017 which led to him pleading guilty to 22 charges, including perverting the course of justice, and making a false call for an ambulance Salim's marriage lasted a year. In 2016, Aysha took out a restraining order against him, and thereafter the attention-seeking fraudster became embroiled in legal and financial troubles. Now its his dad's turn to help Salim, who he has previously described as 'the brain' of the family and 'the head of the family'. In 2024, Salim pleaded guilty to his role in a bizarre car crash he had set up to avoid attending court on another matter, a stunt he was caught out on partly because of CCTV capturing his distinctive leg tattoos. Mehajer pleaded guilty to 22 charges, including perverting the course of justice, making a false representation resulting in a police investigation, making a false call for an ambulance and negligent driving.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
BHP fourth-quarter iron ore output beats estimates on Pilbara strength
July 18 (Reuters) - BHP Group ( opens new tab on Friday reported better-than-expected iron ore output for the fourth quarter and hit the upper end of guidance for both iron ore and copper output in fiscal 2025, helped by supply-chain strength at its central Pilbara hub. The company had undergone a debottlenecking exercise at its Pilbara operations after the ramp-up of the South Flank mine last year. That helped boost its output in the June quarter, offsetting a weak March quarter that was impacted by two tropical cyclones. In fiscal 2025, BHP produced 290 million metric tonnes (Mt) of iron ore, at the upper end of its full-year forecast of 282 Mt to 294 Mt. It expects to produce between 284 Mt and 296 Mt in fiscal 2026. The world's largest listed miner said iron ore production from those operations on a 100% basis was 77.5 Mt in the three months ended June 30, up from 76.8 Mt a year earlier. That beat a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 75.90 Mt. BHP's total copper production was 2.02 Mt for fiscal 2025, at the upper end of its guidance range and in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 2.0 Mt.
