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Herald Sun
17 hours ago
- Business
- Herald Sun
Allegra Spender reveals plan to overhaul Australia's tax system
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Shaking up the tax system can have environmental benefits, help equalise the generational wealth divide and rev up the Australian economy, independent MP Allegra Spender says. Speaking ahead of a roundtable meeting on the topic in Canberra later on Friday, Ms Spender says she's been putting a slightly embarrassing spin on the topic of tax. 'We're actually doing livestreaming on YouTube. I've been doing some slightly cringeworthy Instagram videos on tax reform recently, just trying to bring more people into this conversation,' she told ABC's Radio National on Friday. 'Because tax matters to all people, it influences our country, but it's sometimes pretty hard to get your head round and I do want people to be able to get informed.' Allegra Spender says Australia needs to – and can – make hugely beneficial changes. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer The independent MP for Wentworth has organised a meeting of tax experts, economists, business and community voices on Friday to discuss what 'meaningful reform should look like'. This meeting will be a precursor to broader roundtable meetings organised by Treasurer Jim Chalmers next month. 'The Treasurer has now opened the door to tax reform,' Ms Spender said on Friday. 'I feel that tax reform has the opportunity to help Australia solve some of its biggest problems like sluggish productivity growth, like the fact that young people can't get ahead, like the fact that we need to make this climate transition as cheap as possible. 'But to be honest tax hasn't really been on the table until now.' The large mandate given to the government set Australia up for meaningful change, she said. 'When I look back at history, you look at the Hawke-Keating reforms, you look at the Howard-Costello reforms, and I think most Australians would say those reforms, they were difficult but they set the country up for the long term,' Ms Spender said. 'And I think we do have an opportunity, in this term of parliament and into the next election, to potentially make the sort of significant reforms that can set up our community for the decades to come.' Originally published as 'Decades to come': Major economic meetings begin with precursor roundtable
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Five ice hockey players found not guilty in Canada sexual assault case
Five Canadian ice hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman were all acquitted by an Ontario judge on a packed courtroom, Justice Maria Carroccia reviewed testimony and evidence from the highly publicised eight-week trial over the course of several hours before declaring the men not former players for Canada's world junior hockey team were accused of assaulting the woman, known as EM, in a hotel room in 2018 in London, Ontario, where they had attended a Hockey Canada Carroccia said she did not find EM's evidence "credible or reliable". She added that "the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me". The central issue of the trial was whether EM, who was 20 at the time, had consented to every sexual act in the room that for the players contended that she asked the men to have sex with her and they believed she gave McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart were all players with the National Hockey League (NHL) when the allegations surfaced, although one was playing in Europe. Only one, Mr Hart, testified in his own trial attracted significant attention in Canada, and so many people attended court to hear the ruling on Thursday that clerks had to open two additional overflow rooms. Hockey Canada: A sex assault scandal disgraces country's pastimeFour NHL players charged in Canada over 2018 sexual assault In explaining her ruling, Justice Carroccia pointed to inconsistencies in EM's testimony, including about who had bought drinks that night, and said EM's statements reflected an "uncertain memory" that did not line up with evidence presented in the trial. There were differences in what the woman told police investigators and those for Hockey Canada, which settled a C$3.5m ($2.5m; £1.9m) lawsuit for an undisclosed sum in 2022, as well, the judge said. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Courier-Mail
a day ago
- Science
- Courier-Mail
Tides could help predict when huge icebergs break loose: study
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Ocean tides can trigger city-sized icebergs to break off from Antarctic ice shelves, scientists said on Thursday, offering a potential way to predict these dramatic events in the future. It is not normally possible to forecast when icebergs break free, or calve, although the timing is important because these behemoths change the shape of ice sheets and affect global sea levels. Yet when a chunk of ice the size of Greater London suddenly broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in 2023 and started drifting away, glaciologist Oliver Marsh was not surprised. Marsh told AFP he had predicted that a huge iceberg breaking off was "imminent within the next weeks to months". The British Antarctic Survey researcher had spent years studying the huge crack that would create the 550-square-kilometre (210-square-mile) iceberg named A81. As Marsh had anticipated, the calving occurred at the peak of spring tide, when there is the biggest difference between the ocean's high and low tide. New research led by Marsh, published in the journal Nature Communications on Thursday, used modelling to show that the calving was triggered by the tide, along with high winds and stress on the ice. After A81 broke off, Marsh visited the ice shelf to see how open water had replaced what had previously been "ice as far as you could see". "It was sad to see it go, in a way," he said. A81 is currently drifting up the eastern side of the Antarctica Peninsula towards the Weddell Sea. It remains to be seen whether it will come close to South Georgia island, which is an important breeding ground for penguins, seals and other animals. - 'Out of balance' - The world's biggest iceberg, A23a, ran aground not too far from South Georgia earlier this year but is not thought to pose a threat to wildlife. Now that A23a is exposed to the waves of the Southern Ocean, its "days are numbered", Marsh said. He emphasised that iceberg calving is a natural process which balances out the massive amount of snow that falls on Antarctica every year. However, "now we're out of balance", Marsh added. Antarctica loses ice in two ways -- icebergs calving and ice sheets melting. And ice sheets are melting at a rapidly increasing rate as oceans warm due to human-driven climate change, scientists have warned. "We don't know whether calving rates have gone up" because they happen relatively infrequently, Marsh said. A81 was the second of three mammoth icebergs that have broken free of the Brunt Ice Shelf since 2021. "We are expecting a very large calving event at some point from this area" in the future, Marsh said. But he could not give a timeframe. "Whilst we're saying we are a step closer to being able to predict these events... it is still difficult to predict." dl/gil Originally published as Tides could help predict when huge icebergs break loose: study
Courier-Mail
a day ago
- General
- Courier-Mail
Plane crash in Russia's far east kills nearly 50 people
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed in a remote area of Russia's far eastern Amur region on Thursday, killing all on board, authorities said. The plane, a Soviet-made twin-propeller Antonov-24, went down in remote, thickly forested terrain, leaving a column of smoke pouring from the crash site and no signs of survivors, according to state media and videos published by investigators. The Angara Airlines flight was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at around 1:00 pm local time (0400 GMT). A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Tynda's airport. Videos published by Russian investigators showed smoke rising from the crash site and what appeared to be fragments of the plane strewn across the forest floor. A search and rescue team arrived only hours after the crash at the remote, hard-to-reach site and found no evidence of survivors, according to the state news agency TASS. Investigators did not say what caused the crash. Weather conditions at the time of the incident were poor, Angara Airlines CEO Sergei Salamanov told Russia's REN TV channel. "The commander made the decision to carry out the flight," he was quoted as saying. Tynda, home to around 30,000 people, lies in an area of thick taiga forest about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the Chinese border. At least one Chinese national was on the flight, state media in China reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. "I would like to express my deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy to the families of the victims," Xi said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. The plane dropped from radar while attempting a second approach to land at Tynda, regional prosecutors said. The forest terrain complicated search efforts, a rescuer told the TASS agency. "The main search operations are being conducted from the air," it said. Angara Airlines, a small regional carrier based in the Russian city of Irkutsk, did not immediately release a statement on the crash. - Five children - Russia's aviation watchdog has not yet given a definitive number of people on board. The Amur region's governor, Vasily Orlov, said the plane was carrying 43 passengers and six crew members. Among the passengers were five children, he said. The TASS agency cited emergency services as saying the plane was carrying 40 passengers and six crew. Aviation authorities have opened an investigation. The plane appeared to have been manufactured almost 50 years ago, during the Soviet era, according to civil aviation database In 2021, the aircraft's airworthiness certificate was extended until 2036, data from the site showed. AFP was not able to immediately verify this information. The Antonov-24 is a popular, Soviet-designed turboprop plane that first entered into service in 1959. Russia has taken steps to switch from Soviet aircraft to modern jets in recent years, but ageing light aircraft are still widely used in far-flung regions, with accidents frequent. bur/jhb Originally published as Plane crash in Russia's far east kills nearly 50 people
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Explosion heard in Syria's Idlib, several people killed: Sources
An explosion rocked Syria's Idlib on Thursday, killig several people, according to Al Arabiya sources. The cause was not immediately known. Developing
