Australia news live: ACCC plan to tackle supermarket gouging; Greens call for workplace racial equality agency
Greens call for workplace racial equality agency
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Sarah Basford Canales
Greens urging Albanese government to lift income supports above poverty line
The Greens are urging the Albanese government to lift income support payments in next week's federal budget, adding it is the last opportunity before Australians go to the polls to 'to turn [Labor's] platitudes into meaningful action'.
The minor party's social services spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, wrote to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, yesterday in a last-minute bid to raise rates above the poverty line.
The government's own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee released its 2025 report earlier this month recommending the jobseeker rate be increased to 90% of the aged pension.
As Guardian columnist, Greg Jericho, outlined on Thursday, the current base rate of the age pension is $1,047.10 or $1,144.40 with supplements. If jobseeker was raised to 90% of the base rate, it would cost the government $3.5bn and to raise it to 90% of the total including supplements would cost $5.2bn.
Welfare support payments received a minor boost on Thursday after indexation came into effect. Those receiving jobseeker payments over 22 and without children received a $3.10 fortnightly increase to $789.90 while couples on jobseeker will now get $1,149 after a $4.60 increase. Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The jobseeker base rate was raised by $40 a fortnight in Labor's 2023 federal budget, coming into effect in September that year. Allman-Payne wrote:
This budget is your government's last opportunity before the federal election to turn platitudes into meaningful action, by raising the rate of all Centrelink payments to above the poverty line. On behalf of the millions of people in this country who continue to struggle on poverty payments, we implore you to do so. Share Krishani Dhanji
The Greens have called to establish a workplace racial equality agency to document experiences of racism in workplaces and improve racial equity.
The agency would collect data and public information on indicators such as representation in the workforce and in governing bodies, record instances of racism, and would try to improve equality in hiring practices, pay and workplace training.
The minor party says they would put forward almost $100m to support the agency in the medium term and it comes on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The deputy Greens leader, Mehreen Faruqi, says the agency will help 'provide the proactive focus needed to eliminate racism in workplaces':
Systemic and entrenched racism in workplaces is not going to go away by itself, it needs concerted effort.
As Dutton and the Liberals mirror Trump to ramp up their attacks on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we must double down on strong action for racial equity to address deep-seated racism. Share
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then my colleague Emily Wind will take you through the day.
Australia's rapidly changing relationship with the United States is the subject of two of our top stories this morning. First, former chief of the defence force Chris Barrie has warned that 'the vandals in the White House' are no longer reliable allies and urged the Albanese government to reassess its strategic partnership with the US.
At the same time, some of America's biggest tech companies such as Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon and Elon Musk's X have lodged a formal complaint urging the Trump administration to target 'coercive and discriminatory' Australian media laws.
Closer to home, meanwhile, the long-awaited competition watchdog's report into the big supermarkets says the retailers raised prices in the cost-of-living crisis to help them become among the most profitable in the world. In a 441-page report released last night, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made 20 reform recommendations to the federal government, including forcing Coles, Woolworths and Aldi to publish all prices on their websites, and notify shoppers when package size changes in a bid for transparency around 'shrinkflation'. Reaction coming up. Share
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New Statesman
an hour ago
- New Statesman
The eco-centrists want the Green Party back
In last year's General Election, the Green Party quadrupled its representation in parliament (from one in 2019 to four in 2024, albeit). Caroline Lucas, elected in 2010, was for a long time the party's only MP. After years of the Green's representation in Parliament resting solely on Lucas's shoulders, July 2024 was a turning-point. 'I spoke in the House of Commons five times yesterday, on a range of topics,' Ellie Chowns, the Green MP for Northwest Herefordshire told me when we met on a drab evening at a café in St James's Park. 'We as Greens have got a much stronger voice [in Parliament] speaking day in day out on the issues that really matter,' Chowns said. Alongside her, Adrian Ramsay, the Green MP for Waveney Valley nodded. During our 45-minute interview, we were all variously forced to dodge the pigeons who kept flying dangerously close overhead. Ramsay has been the current co-leader of the party, alongside Carla Denyer, the Green MP for Bristol Central since 2021. But their term is almost up; the party will hold a leadership election later this year. While Denyer has decided not to re-contest, Ramsay, who has been a Green Party politician since 2003 felt he isn't done yet. He is running once again to be co-leader of the party once again, with Chowns as his co-star. Chowns and Ramsay's pitch to Green Party members is simple: a vote for them is a vote for two experienced leaders, who already have a position inside parliament and a proven track-record of winning elections .'We're the only candidates in this [leadership] election who have won under first-past-the-post,' Ramsay told me, 'and we want to build on that success, it is about substance.' He added: 'Anyone can say that they want to be popular,' Ramsay said, 'we've shown how you actually do it.' Chowns agreed: 'The only way to change politics is by winning more seats in the system,' she said, 'and Adrian and I have shown how to do that. You build the biggest possible coalition of voters.' The pair have received backing for precisely this reason from Green Party Grandees such as Lucas and Baroness Jenny Jones. This is all no uncertain dig at the pair's main competition: current deputy leader, Zack Polanski. Shortly after the May local elections, in which the party won an additional 181 councillors, current Polanski, launched a (not so surprise) solo-leadership campaign. His platform of 'eco-populism' has exposed a split in the party between the radical left wing (which Chowns and Ramsay indirectly describe as 'loudhailer politics') and those who want to appeal to a wider base, including former Conservative voters. Ramsay is irked by Polanski's decision to run. The current co-leader, who wrote the Green Party's handbook on how to win council elections, has spent most of his political career working out how to turn the party from a fringe group into a force capable of winning Parliamentary elections. The election of an additional three Green MPs last year, was the culmination of this, or so he says. Polanski's wants to position the Greens as a left-wing mirror to Nigel Farage and Reform. In fact, when I spoke to him shortly after he launched his leadership bid in May, Polanski said he may even actually 'agree' with some of 'Nigel Farage's diagnosis of the problems' . Chowns and Ramsay think this is the wrong approach. 'We've already demonstrated how ecological ideas can be popular,' Chowns said. She added: 'I don't aspire for the Green Party to ape Reform in any way neither in its content, not its style…We can't out shout Reform.' Polanski is a member of the Greater London Assembly, but if he is elected he will sit outside the machinations of Westminster; an arrangement which could cause more trouble than it's worth. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe 'There are some major pitfalls that would need to be addressed here,' Ramsay said, 'journalists look to what's happening in parliament to see where each party stands on the issue of the day because parliament is the centre of British political debate.' Having a leader outside of Westminster could become particularly troublesome if there is a disagreement between the party's leadership and its MPs. In some ways, this has already happened. Polanski has said the UK should withdraw from NATO, a policy which neither Ramsay nor Chowns support. 'If on that day you had the leader, who was outside parliament, speaking for the party saying I want to leave NATO and then our foreign affairs spokesperson in Parliament saying that the Green party want to stay there and reform NATO, then who do you look to as giving the Green Party's position?' This could get messy. Members of other parties are looking at this race, curious about where it could leave the Green Party (one sympathetic Labour MP told me they thought it would be a 'disaster' and would alienate much of the party's more moderate base). Polanski did not inform Ramsay or Chowns of his intention to run before going public with his campaign. When I ask the pair how things will work if Polanski does win, Ramsay said: 'I think that's for Zack to set out… he's certainly had no conversations with the MPs about whether that would work or how he would make it work.' As I went to ask my next question, Ramsay shot back, 'he's made no attempt to talk to us about it at all.' Though Chowns and Ramsay's campaign may not have landed as loudly as Polanski's, they have election-winning credentials. As Ramsay said, it took time to build the 'broad coalitions' which have pushed the Green Party to where it currently sits. With polling for the leadership election opening in a matter of months, the pair may need to ramp up the volume in order to win the fight; it won't take much time for that 'broad coalition' to be unpicked. [See more: Did Zia Yusuf jump, or was he pushed?] Related
Metro
7 hours ago
- Metro
Footage shows immigration raids on nail bars, construction sites and restaurants
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Thousands of arrests have been made over the past year as part of Labour's crackdown on illegal working, the government has said. Immigration enforcement teams have raided 9,000 properties across the UK, including restaurants, nail bars and construction sites, and made 6,410 arrests since the election. The Home Office said the activity forms part of its fight against organised crime and efforts to stamp out the jobs used to entice migrant workers and asylum seekers onto small boats. Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said: 'For too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit migrants, with people allowed to arrive and work here illegally. 'This will no longer be tolerated on our watch. That's why we are ramping up our enforcement activity and introducing tougher laws to finally get a grip of our immigration and asylum system. 'Under our Plan for Change, we will continue to root out unscrupulous employers and disrupt illegal workers who undermine our border security.' Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sign up here. Footage has been released of the raids, which included 36 arrests a construction site in Belfast's historic Titanic Quarter. Elsewhere, nine arrests were made at a caravan park in Surrey last month following intelligence individuals were working illegally as delivery drivers in the gig economy. Nine people were also arrested in Bradford in March as officers intercepted a popular illegal working pick up point in Naples Street. Eddy Montgomery, director of enforcement, compliance and crime at Immigration Enforcement, said:'Our work to tackle illegal working is vital in not only bringing the guilty to account, but also in protecting vulnerable people from exploitation. 'I'm incredibly proud of our enforcement teams across the country for their hard work, skill and co-operation on these often challenging but highly important operations.' More than 1,100 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel last Saturday, the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year. The latest Home Office figures show that 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,811. This is 42% higher than the same point last year (10,448) and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610), analysis of the data shows. It is still lower than the highest daily total of 1,305 arrivals since data began in 2018, which was recorded on September 3, 2022. This year is on course to set a record, with the 14,811 total arrivals so far the highest recorded for the first five months of a year. More Trending The Home Office said ramping up illegal working enforcement activity forms a key part of its drive to restore order to the immigration system. A spokesperson said: 'In many cases, individuals travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in the UK, when in reality they often end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours, with the threat of arrest and removal if they are caught working illegally. 'In the latest move to restore order to the asylum and immigration system, the Government is also introducing tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working by extending Right to Work checks on those hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like construction, food delivery, beauty salons and courier services.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Why I'm scared by a report about Britain's 'minority white' future MORE: Universal digital 'BritCards' on an app could soon be used to prove who you are MORE: Full list of 12 countries on Donald Trump's travel ban
Metro
14 hours ago
- Metro
'How do I know my mum isn't dead in a ditch after Israel arrested her?'
Seren Murphy, 43, was relaxing at home on a Saturday night when she got a message on the WhatsApp family group chat from her mum. She'd been arrested by Israel. Seren's mum, Máire Ní Mhurchú, 70, flew to the occupied West Bank in early May to do what she has done for 20 years – help Palestinians. But no one heard from the mum-of-three, grandmother-of-eight and great-grandmother-of-two for days after she was detained and threatened with deportation on Saturday, an order she is fighting in the courts. Seren, a librarian in Swansea, told Metro: 'How do I know she's not dead in a ditch somewhere? 'When you look at what's happening in Gaza, the fact that they have murdered aid workers and medical staff, what's to stop them from bumping off a little old lady?' As much as Seren's phone has been 'red-hot' recently from her frantically checking it, she knows her mum will be fine. She said: 'My mum is my hero. She's got the biggest heart of anybody I've ever met – Palestine is part of her life and soul.' Almost every autumn, Mhurchú, who goes by D Murphy, goes to the West Bank to help pick olives off the terraced hillsides. But the olives were unharvested when she landed last month. Seren said: 'The joy is disappearing. They're living in fear… Some of the villages she's been to have been bulldozed to the ground. Some people she knows are dead.' One village is Khalet Al-Daba'a in Masafer Yatt, home to 14 families before Israeli forces demolished 90% of the homes and infrastructure. Murphy, from Douglas in Cork, was joined by her friend Susanne Björk on May 28 to volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Björk, 48, told Metro Israeli settlers she filmed 'terrorising' Palestinian villagers stole her phone on May 30. She reported them to the police. But at 6.30am the next day, masked soldiers kicked down their door and gave them 10 seconds to get out. Israeli settlers serving as reservists reportedly told them to leave as they were in a 'military area' before police arrested them. Björk said: 'But the police and soldiers the day before had not mentioned this. How are we to know we were not supposed to be there?' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Inside the station, they saw two Palestinian boys, aged about 13. Björk recalled: 'An officer told me: 'These are terrorists. If we don't zip-tie them, they'll run.' We were in the middle of an illegal settlement. There was nowhere for them to go.' Israel has classified the area as a military zone since the 1980s, complicating residents' ability to remain. Khalet Al-Daba'a is inactive, according to a 2022 map. At a Sunday hearing in Tel Aviv, the court accused them of being in a military zone and threatening soldiers and police. Björk said: 'Which is a ridiculous thing to say because these are heavily armed people and I'm a 48-year-old woman with a 70-year-old.' After agreeing to board the next available flight, Björk was deported. Murphy is in Givon Prison and was denied counsel on Wednesday, ISM said. Björk said: 'I fear for D. She's a 70-year-old woman in detention – we had to fight to use the toilet.' On Wednesday, Seren's aunt received a call – it was Murphy, saying she had not spoken with her lawyer since Monday. Seren said: 'I'm reassured knowing she's still alive. It's surreal to think that way about your mum. 'But alongside those feelings is also anger at the fact we're in this situation and what is happening every day in Palestine.' Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 people hostage. Israel has killed nearly 54,700 Palestinians, mainly women and children. ISM told Metro: 'Israel labels indigenous Palestinians, their supporters and those who tell the truth about the genocide unfolding in occupied Palestine as criminals, uses force to silence and remove them from occupied Palestine.' More Trending Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Metro officials are providing consular assistance. It said: 'As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.' The IDF, the Israel Police and Sweden's Ministry for Foreign Affairs have been approached for comment. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Ireland has a US border — it could help travellers nervous about Trump's America MORE: I spent 48 hours in Ireland's rebel city — it's in the midst of a revolution MORE: US suggests Palestinian state should be in the French Riviera
