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7NEWS
3 days ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
Mike Smithson: SA government delivered its budget as if it knows it already has the next election in the bag
The SA Labor government has delivered its 2025 state budget as if it knows it already has next year's election in the bag. The annual document released yesterday was about as interesting to the average voter as watching paint dry. There were only a few morsels aimed at winning the hearts and minds of battlers because treasury coffers are running low and have taken a substantial hit from Whyalla's demise and the resulting taxpayer cash injection. This year's budget surplus has been whittled back to a meagre $18 million with state debt forecast to climb to $48 billion by 2029. Treasurer Stephen Mullighan says there's no need to panic because SA's financial situation is totally manageable. With an interest bill destined to hit $6.72 million per day others may think otherwise. This budget smacks of a confident government looking to win next year's election based on the popularity of the Premier who continues to win over punters with his 24/7 charm offensive. Peter Malinauskas has brought big events to the state such as the AFL Gather Round and LIV Golf which have elevated his status to the national stage. His negotiating skills are thought by most to be second to none. Labor holds 28 lower house seats in the state's 47 seat parliament so is as assured of victory as it ever could be. That's why it didn't need to offer anything extraordinary to voters in a budget which was more about yawn than a new dawn. Law and order were this year's flavours of budget day leaving SA's police commissioner smiling from ear to ear. An extra 326 sworn officers will be pounding the beat by 2030 as part of a $395 million package. There could be two reasons for the sudden windfall in an area which can be easily overlooked. Commissioner Grant Stevens wields enormous influence and respect as he has since the covid days. Stephen Mullighan now also wears the dual hat of Police Minister and desperately wants to keep his top cop onside. But he has multiple juggling acts elsewhere. Whyalla's steel woes will continue to be a drain on the public purse. His health budget has blown out by almost half a billion dollars as new services come on-line requiring many more staff who will never be able to keep up with demand. The spiralling problem of ambulance ramping was conveniently airbrushed from the Treasurer's presentation to the media, despite being one of the government's biggest headaches. The housing sector claims there wasn't enough in it for them. Cost of living is crippling families across the state. And drought affected farmers are also reaching out for more life-saving assistance. But the government's sights are set on winning next March. If they're forced to wear the boring badge for this budget, it means they'll have more in the kitty for upcoming election campaign promises. If Labor does win this predicted landslide election victory, they know they'll probably occupy the treasury benches for at least another eight years. They can be as tough as they want with future budgets knowing their grip on the purse strings is long term. But those controlling the levers also know they'll be happily retired on their parliamentary pensions as future generations pay down the massive debt.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major warning after lawyer sacked for chucking a sickie: 'Not acceptable'
An Australian lawyer's sacking for attending an AFL match after chucking a sickie has prompted a major warning about mental health leave. It falls under the banner of personal leave, which is meant to help workers deal with issues that make them unable to work that aren't strictly physical health problems. Mitchell Fuller claimed he burnt out when he applied for leave last year, before travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide to watch the AFL Gather Round. He took another day off the following Monday. Workplace lawyer Roxanne Hart told Yahoo Finance personal leave isn't meant for something like this. "It can't just be something like, 'I woke up today and I feel a bit tired', that's not acceptable," she said. "It's more for when you're like 'I'm depressed, or I have a mental illness'. That's absolutely fine. It's not a day for rest and relaxation, that's what your annual leave is for." Push for extra 12-days paid reproductive leave for Aussie workers to fight $21 billion issue ATO warning for every Aussie who plays lottery after $70 million Oz Lotto jackpot $6,000 superannuation cash boost for Aussie workers as retirement 'drain' halted Fuller filed an unfair dismissal claim after he was sacked from Melbourne-based law firm Madison Branson Lawyers in August. However, the Fair Work Commission slapped that down last week, adding that the commercial lawyer's "conduct and attitude was utterly incompatible with his ongoing employment as a solicitor at the firm, where integrity and honesty are paramount". Fuller accepted the defeat but called out the concept of Australia's leave policy, which he said is designed to help workers get back on their feet."If you're neurodivergent, under pressure, and trying to manage a health condition without support, how likely are you to document every detail yourself, or get yourself into a psychologist's office that very week?" he told the Herald Sun. "Employees shouldn't have to over-explain, self-diagnose, or conjure up evidence to justify the simple act of looking after themselves. It's completely absurd." He told The Project that at the time of the AFL match, he had run out of his ADHD medication, which "added fuel to the fire" and "made it unbearable to even be at work". He said while he could have been upfront with his boss about his circumstances, he feared that conversation wouldn't have gone down well because of the "hostile" work environment. Fuller was asked for a 'please explain' after photos from his AFL getaway were revealed to his employer. It's unclear whether he uploaded images to social media himself or if someone else did, but Hart said it serves as a reminder to avoid documenting your sick day, even if it's something "quite innocent". "You don't realise until afterwards, 'Oh, that is actually how it was perceived,'" she told Yahoo Finance. "Perception is everything these days, and people are quick to make decisions. When it comes to your employment, it's important to protect that and appreciate how certain actions might come across." Gen Z uses social media far more than their older counterparts, with MSS Media revealing the youngest workers spend around four hours a day on apps like Instagram and TikTok, while Millennials only spend up to two and a half hours each day. Baby Boomers on the other hand spend around one hour and 45 mins per day on social media. "People should just be very careful about what they'd post online to reduce the risk of having these sorts of issues," Hart added. The lawyer said the country needed a better system that supports workers before they burn out. "We need to quit snickering at the idea of 'mental health days' and start writing them explicitly into our workplace laws," he told News Corp. But Hart told Yahoo Finance that the country already has fairly well-defined laws that allow for this type of leave - you just can't push the boundaries. Sick leave and personal leave are the same under the eyes of the Fair Work Commission, which states you're allowed to take time off work if you're dealing with a physical or mental injury. But you might have to provide evidence to prove it. Fuller told his work he was unable to see his regular doctor for a certificate for the Friday off, however, he provided one for the Monday, which he obtained from an online portal. While that would normally suffice, in this case, it wasn't sufficient. "The Fair Work Commission basically said, 'Look, we don't accept that you saw or spoke to a doctor. You just did this online thing, and I don't accept that that is enough to outweigh the evidence that you were well enough to travel back from Adelaide that day with your friends,'" Hart told Yahoo Finance. "It comes down to how much evidence of being unwell you have to provide to your employer." The youngest workers across the country are the most prone to calling in sick compared to any other generation. According to a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan, Gen Z workers are nearly twice as likely to chuck a sickie than Baby Boomers, with the majority of young workers doing so with minimum symptoms. It found Gen Z workers take an average of 14.3 sick days per year, compared to Baby Boomers with 8.9 sick days. A survey by Finder found the average worker has a whopping 27 days of sick leave accrued, with 47 per cent saying they felt pressure to continue to work when they were unwell. But Milly Bannister, Gen-Z founder of youth mental health charity ALLKND, told Yahoo Finance that people should feel free to take mental health days much more freely. "From a cognitive-behavioural perspective, employees might rationalise taking a sick day when not physically ill as a necessary step to maintain their overall wellbeing, which can be a coping mechanism for dealing with stress or dissatisfaction at work," she said. "They might need a break to deal with anxiety, depression, or burnout, which are just as important as physical health problems but often don't get the same respect." Fuller was asked whether his incident could cause other workplaces to doubt an employee's mental health day request. He said the question highlights one of the biggest issues in this space. "The thing about mental illness, [and] neurodiversity in my case, is it's invisible," he told The Project. "It exists only in your head. There is no way to make it concrete... tangible, perceptible to the outside world. "So I couldn't come to the tribunal with one magical bit of evidence that will prove that I was really struggling that week. It was just my word against theirs, and that just wasn't good enough on the day."Sign in to access your portfolio
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- The Guardian
Sacked Melbourne lawyer who chucked sickie to go to the AFL loses bid to get his job back
A Melbourne lawyer who pulled a sickie so he could attend the AFL Gather Round in South Australia has failed in a bid to get his job back after his own social media posts proved he was fit for work. The Fair Work Commission found this week that Mitchell Fuller, who was fired as a solicitor with Madison Branson Lawyers in August last year, was not unfairly dismissed. In a decision published on Monday, the commission found that Fuller told his team in an email sent on the morning of 5 April last year that he 'had a tough time sleeping last night and am not feeling up to coming into the office'. He was in Adelaide with friends, having caught a plane there the night before. 'To state the obvious, the real reason Mr Fuller could not come into the office was because he was in Adelaide, pursuant to a trip he planned and partly paid for four days earlier,' FWC deputy president Andrew Bell wrote in his decision. Bell wrote that after sending that email, Fuller 'proceeded to enjoy the day and weekend with his friends'. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Bell found Fuller went to the Port Adelaide v Essendon match that night, went to the beach, the pub, and watched a South Australian National Football League match the following day, and went to the Collingwood v Hawthorn match on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning, when Fuller was again expected at work but was instead travelling back to Melbourne by car with his friends, he sent an email titled OOO [out of office] stating: 'Hey team, unfortunately I'm still in a bit of discomfort today and don't think I can hack taking public transport quite yet. I'll speak to a doc and get a medical certificate when I can, hopefully will be OK tomorrow morning.' Bell found: 'Mr Fuller's email on 8 April 2024 falsely conveyed that it was the alleged 'discomfort' that was the reason Mr Fuller was unable to attend work that day." 'To again state the obvious, the real reason was not discomfort but was because it was physically impossible to be at work, owing to the fact that he was in a car with friends presently located approximately 700km away. 'The reference to 'public transport' was a fiction aimed at concealing his actual location. Not even Mr Fuller was willing to suggest that there was 'public transport' from Adelaide to Melbourne.' In July last year, Fuller's employers were concerned about his performance and contacted a human resources consultant to assist. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The consultant 'on her own initiative', Bell found, discovered posts on Fuller's Instagram account of the Gather Round weekend that were tagged as located at Adelaide Oval and showed 'a connection to football … [and] Mr Fuller and his friends socialising, such as at the beach or with beers at a pub'. Bell found that Fuller, who represented himself during the hearing, displayed conduct and an attitude that 'was utterly incompatible with his ongoing employment as a solicitor at the firm, where integrity and honesty are paramount' and had also been dishonest to the commission. 'I am very mindful that my findings that Mr Fuller made false representations to his employer and gave false evidence to the Commission is an extremely serious conclusion to reach, particularly in relation to an individual who holds a legal practising certificate and ought to be acutely aware of the seriousness of such matters,' Bell wrote. 'The most generous conclusion that could be made is that Mr Fuller was simply indifferent to the accuracy of his witness statement to the point of falsity. 'Either way, it is conduct no witness should engage in; for a practising solicitor giving evidence about a critical event, it is inexcusable.' Bell also noted in his decision that Fuller had been preselected by a political party. He was the Greens candidate for South Yarra in council elections late last year.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Aussies to cop hottest April day in decades
Aussies in the country's southeast are facing an unusually hot April, with forecast temperatures up to 10 degrees above seasonal averages. Sky News predicts Melbourne will see its hottest April day since 2004 this weekend, with Adelaide to sweat through four straight days of temperatures above 30C from Saturday. 'It's more typical of a summer weather pattern than mid-autumn,' Sky News meteorologist Alison Osborne said. 'It's not a heatwave strictly speaking, it's just another unseasonal warm spell across southern Australia, from (Thursday) to next week.' 'It's not what I would call untenable heat, but people would've already put their shorts away and now be thinking, 'What the bloody hell's going on?'.' Residents can expect maximums between 31C and 33C from Saturday through to Tuesday, with Melbourne likely to hit 30C on Sunday. This hot streak falls right across the AFL Gather Round, in which all 18 teams play in South Australia. A top of 33C would mean Adelaide's hottest day this late in autumn since 2019, Ms Osborne said. Temperatures are forecast to be up to 10 degrees hotter than the April average in Victoria and SA. The heat means fire danger across SA, Victoria, and pockets of Tasmania. The weather is being driven by a slow-moving high-pressure system travelling from the Great Australian Bight to the Tasman Sea, bringing hot and dry weather. A weather system north of the Top End could form a tropical low, with a moderate chance of becoming a cyclone on Friday. However, current forecasts suggest the weather system is likely to remain north of the Northern Territory coastline.
