NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says members ‘furious’ amid pay negotiationsSharlotte ThouNSW nurses and midwives will strike for 24 hours next Tuesday, after the government has given “no indication they intend to move” on their initial offer of an annual pay rise of 3%.NSW health minister, Ryan Park, this morning said the 3% pay rise was conditional on no further industrial action.NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) general secretary, Shaye Candish, said the government’s offer of a 3% increase was “already rejected” by NSWNMA members, who have called for a wage increase of 15%.The union has “genuinely tried to avert this action, but the government has simply failed to demonstrate a willingness to move”, she said.
Our members are furious … it’s a really difficult decision for a nurse or midwife to decide to go on strike.
ShareUpdated at 06.08 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureNSW police are appealing for information to locate an inmate who escaped custody at Silverwater in Sydney’s south west earlier today.Gary Glover, aged 44, was last seen on Jamieson Street, Silverwater, around 1.30pm on Friday. He is described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance, 170cm tall, of large build, brown eyes, black hair, and a tattoo of a flag on the left side of this neck.He was last seen wearing a green shirt, green pants, black boots, and a yellow hi-visibility vest.Police said anyone who sees the man is urged not to approach him but to contact Triple Zero (000) immediately.ShareCaitlin CassidyA judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campuses risks marginalising Muslim and Palestinian university students concurrently facing rise in discrimination, Muslim Voices Matter has warned.A spokesperson for the group, Ghaith Krayem, told a committee holding a Senate inquiry into the bill that the body fully supported efforts to combat antisemitism “when it genuinely exists”, but questioned the necessity of the legislation.Muslim Votes Matter is one of the new organisations seeking to mobilise Australian Muslims at the next federal election, describing itself as “the largest, and among the fastest growing, minority groups in Australia”.Krayem:
What evidence exists to suggest antisemitic incidents at Australian universities are significantly more prevalent or severe than other forms of discrimination such as anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian racism? We’re not saying it doesn’t exist or it hasn’t increased, we’re asking the community to separate out activism against Israel and its application of Zionism from genuine antisemitism.
Kraymen questioned why the bill didn’t concurrently address a parallel rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiments on campuses. He said conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism could have a “chilling effect” on campuses and undermine free speech.
By introducing legislation that addresses only one form of racism, we risk further marginalising other communities who face daily discrimination.
ShareColes has launched an automated warehouse of grocery delivery in Victoria.The supermarket giant says the Truganina site is over than 87,000 square metres — four times the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground — and when fully operational will hold three million units of stock and be able to process more than 10,000 customer orders per day when running at full capacity.A centralised hub will contain a fleet of over 700 bots able to fill a customer order containing 50 items in five minutes, Coles says, using AI air traffic control to guide the bots around a 3D grid, but the items are packed and delivered by Coles staff members.A second site in Wetherill Park, New South Wales, will open next month.Coles CEO, Leah Weckert, said it was the first of its kind in the country:
This transition from a local, store-based fulfillment model to a central, world-class facility will enable us to better serve the greater Melbourne region, home to more than five million people.
Amazon has similar facilities, and is planning more automated delivery centres in Australia to launch in the near future.ShareUpdated at 07.43 CESTJosh ButlerABS told Labor excluding gender identity questions posed risk to censusThe Albanese government was warned that excluding questions on sexual orientation and gender identity from the census could increase feelings of exclusion in the LGBTQ+ community and even risk the success of the data collection exercise, newly released documents reveal.The Australian Bureau of Statistics raised concerns in ministerial submissions about strong public criticism to scrapping the proposed questions, potential “damage” to relationships with LGBTQ+ expert groups advising on the census and limitations in the quality of data the census collects.Read more:ShareUpdated at 07.40 CESTEmily WindMany thanks for joining me on the blog today, Josh Taylor will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.ShareOverheated market could burn first-time homebuyers, expert saysOne expert says pushing people to enter the “overheated” housing market is a bad idea, AAP reports, with new data finding first-time buyers want to buy property as soon as possible.A survey from insurance company Helia found 71% of Australians agree “now is a good time” to buy a property, despite cost-of-living stresses and persistent inflation at 3.8%.Of the 3002 respondents, 1965 were first-timers and most (87%) agreed with the statement they were “feeling a growing sense of urgency to buy [their] first property as prices keep going up”.Prof Emma Baker, director of the Australian Centre for Housing Research, warned that focusing on home-buying was not in the nation’s best interest.
Should we be encouraging people into an overheated market? No. It’s not fair on them and bringing forward demand in a tight market only contributes to greater unaffordability.
Residential housing over the inner Brisbane suburb of Milton. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAPShe said young householders seeking to become owners “clearly face more barriers than their parents did”.
House prices have risen consistently for 50 years, moving from three times to around 10 times average income … Many young people will be lifetime renters. Over the last couple of Censuses, Australia has begun to shift … to a nation of home purchasers and renters.
Baker suggested more discussion should focus on how to make rental markets more appealing “rather than obsessing about how to bring more people into home ownership”.ShareUpdated at 07.10 CESTPrepare to leave warning issued for rural Queensland town amid fast-moving fireA ‘prepare to leave’ bushfire warning has been issued for Rosenthal Heights, near Warwick, 130km south-west of Brisbane.The Queensland fire department says a fast-moving fire is burning on the corner of Ford and Kingsleigh roads, travelling towards Inverleigh and Ranger roads.
Conditions could get worse quickly. Firefighters are working to contain the fire. You should not expect a firefighter at your door.
The warning said some properties were at risk and the fire was likely to hit the community in the coming hours. Roads, power, water and mobile phone services may be affected as the fire approaches.ShareUpdated at 06.50 CESTGreens warn Danish immigration minister to ‘not go down this path’ on asylum policyContinuing from our last post: Greens immigration spokesperson, David Shoebridge, met Kaare Dybvad Bek and told him, “Very clearly: do not go down this path” and copy the Australian playbook.Shoebridge told AAP:
A national asylum policy that deliberately harms innocent people who are only seeking protection is a race to the bottom, where you will squander billions in public funds and degrade your collective values.
Australia’s more recent history on asylum seekers should also be a lesson, but in what not to do and how to avoid your politics sinking to a moral low.
The Human Rights Watch Australia director, Daniela Gavshon, also told Dybvad Bek that Australia’s “failed offshore detention regime” on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea had caused “immense suffering”.Vibe Klarup, Amnesty International Denmark’s secretary general, likened Nauru to “an open-air prison” and said, “From a human rights perspective, there are no good lessons learned from the very costly Australian model.”ShareUpdated at 06.36 CESTDanish immigration minister hails ‘valuable’ Nauru tourDenmark’s immigration minister says he gained “valuable insights” on a trip to Nauru to study Australia’s controversial offshore asylum seeker processing setup, AAP reports.Danish immigration minister, Kaare Dybvad Bek, last week travelled more than 13,000km from Copenhagen to the tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru, which has hosted an Australian-run immigration detention centre on and off since 2001. He told AAP:
I had a prolific trip, which gave me lots of valuable insights and lessons. I learned much about both the pros and the cons of the cooperation between Australia and Nauru.
Dybvad Bek said since 2014 more than 30,000 people have drowned or disappeared on their way to Europe, and the “current situation is deeply inhumane and an insult to humanity.”
The Danish government only wishes to engage in solutions in line with our international obligations and responsibilities, including the European convention on human rights.
We’ll bring you more on this in a moment.Denmark’s immigration minister says he gained ‘valuable insights’ on a trip to Nauru. Photograph: Ben Mckay/AAPShareUpdated at 06.20 CESTThe Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds about the Snowy Mountains from tomorrow morning.Damaging winds around 60-70km/h, with peak gusts above 90km/h, are possible over elevations above 1000m of parts of the Snowy Mountains from early tomorrow.This will follow the passage of a cold front across Victoria. Winds are expected to ease by early Saturday afternoon, the Bureau said.Locations which may be affected include Jindabyne, Perisher Valley, Charlotte Pass, Thredbo and Adaminaby.ShareSharlotte ThouUnion asked if rejecting 3% offer would give it less leverage in negotiationsOver four months of negotiations, Shaye Candish said the union wasn’t able to resolve “even the most simple claims” such as whether nurses should be entitled to have two days off in a row.However, two small no-cost claims have been settled, in relation to having notice boards in tea rooms and nurses not working night shifts before they go on leave.In response to a question suggesting that rejecting the 3% offer would give the union less leverage in negotiations, Caddish said “we would never stand in the way of our members receiving an increase to their pay”.
But the reality for us is that members have already rejected this offer, and 3% doesn’t go nearly far enough.
ShareSharlotte ThouLow wages were undermining their ability to deliver high quality care, Shaye Candish added, and leaving nurses and midwives feeling undervalued.NSW midwives are moving to states like Victoria and Queensland, where wages are between 10 and 22% higher, she said.
Unfortunately they’re in a position where they’re forced to take this action to the government to the table and offer something meaningful.
It’s not acceptable for the state government to continue turning a blind eye to the pay inequity that is seriously undermining this state’s largest female-dominated workforce. We now have the lowest paid nurses and midwives in the country.
ShareNSW Nurses and Midwives Association says members ‘furious’ amid pay negotiationsSharlotte ThouNSW nurses and midwives will strike for 24 hours next Tuesday, after the government has given “no indication they intend to move” on their initial offer of an annual pay rise of 3%.NSW health minister, Ryan Park, this morning said the 3% pay rise was conditional on no further industrial action.NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) general secretary, Shaye Candish, said the government’s offer of a 3% increase was “already rejected” by NSWNMA members, who have called for a wage increase of 15%.The union has “genuinely tried to avert this action, but the government has simply failed to demonstrate a willingness to move”, she said.
Our members are furious … it’s a really difficult decision for a nurse or midwife to decide to go on strike.
ShareUpdated at 06.08 CESTNuclear cannot deliver in timeframe needed for climate and energy security, independent MP saysIndependent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, says that nuclear power cannot deliver results in the timeframe needed for “climate and for energy security”.In a series of tweets, she responded to reports that the Coalition’s plan for seven nuclear power plants could lift power bills for average households by $665 a year:Spender said:
The next 10 years is what counts for climate and for energy security, and nuclear simply cannot deliver in that timeframe.
This is not about being “pro” or “anti” particular technologies. It’s about basing energy policy on the facts. We’re already at ~40% renewables. We need to accelerate action on what we know works, rather than causing huge investment uncertainty by ripping up AEMO’s plan.
We can remain open to the possibility that new technologies may develop on future, but that doesn’t mean we should bet the house on them and ignore the evidence of what works today.
ShareUpdated at 05.52 CESTTaking questions, James Johnson said the Socceroos have a match in less than three weeks – which is why they’re looking to appoint a new, permanent coach, rather than an interim one.
We will look locally and globally. But ultimately, we need a coach that will come in and get the best out of an Australian group of players and take our great players through a complicated Asian qualifying process.
ShareFA hopes to appoint new Socceroos coach ‘in the coming days’James Johnson said Football Australia was already searching for a new coach:
We know the market, we know who is available, and I want to confirm that we will move quickly to appoint a permanent coach before the next window. And hopefully, in the coming days or next week or two, we would like to convene you here with us so we can share the news of who the new Socceroos coach will be.
ShareUpdated at 05.41 CESTJames Johnson from Football Australia has been speaking to reporters, following news that Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold has resigned.Johnson said the resignation transpired “very quickly”, off the back of the last match in the qualifiers against Indonesia.
I want to say very clearly that we appreciate Graham Arnold… [He] has been a key person within the Subway Socceroos set-up for the past six years, and under his leadership, there have been many outstanding achievements that have been made by the Subway Socceroos…
He’s had an outstanding playing career and he’s done a lot for Australian football. So we wish Graham Arnold, we wish his family, all the very best in the future and on behalf of the Football Australia board, I do want to thank Graham, personally, for all of the work that he’s done over the past six years.
Share