Australia news live: architect of Hecs says Labor pledge to wipe 20% of student debts better spent on health or jobseeker | Australia news

Kelly Burke

New South Wales has become the sixth state/territory to introduce minimum pay for musicians performing at any event that receives state funding, including music festivals and sporting events.

The $250 minimum fee per artist deal brings NSW in line with Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT that all now operate under similar schemes introduced since Covid-19 cut a swathe through the live music industry.

According to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) half of Australia’s working musicians earned less than $6000 last year, placing the sector in an insecure work crisis.

A survey conducted by Musicians Australia earlier this year found that 60% of working musicians were paid less than $250 per gig, despite more than one third of them having spent up to 20 hours per week rehearsing, practicing, or preparing for a gig.

The $250 pay per gig minimum is part of the NSW government’s new 10-year contemporary music strategy.

Jordyn Beazley

And that’s where I’ll leave you for today. Caitlin Cassidy will steer the blog from here.

A man in his 60s was bitten by a shark while spear fishing off Curtis Island this morning.

The Queensland ambulance service said the man was stable but had lacerations and abrasions to both his arms.

The attack occurred at about 8.25am. The man was transported to Gladstone hospital by police boat.

Cait Kelly

Jobseekers protest outside job provider rated worst by members

The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union has staged a protest at APM Employment Services in Brunswick after the organisation suspended thousands of jobseekers each week and was rated the worst provider by members.

Jobseekers in Melbourne were rallying outside the inner north office, with several handing over the “golden demerit” award in a ceremony.

The AUWU’s Victorian coordinator, Jessica Harrison, said the high rates of suspension, as previously reported in Guardian Australia, had resulted in unnecessary stress for jobseekers:

In a three-month period, APM suspended payments of 32,220 claimants. That’s over 2,600 per work. This is outrageous.

It’s stressful enough to try to make ends meet in the current economic climate, without having your lifeline cut. And the privatised job agencies receive government handouts for this.

One of the protesters carried a sign that said “show us your payslips” in reference to concerns the provider threatened to hand over payslip details, which would trigger a publicly funded payment. APM has previously denied any wrongdoing.

AUWU said this year it had received more complaints about APM than any other provider, with jobseekers rating the agency 1.93/5 in a recent national survey.

Josh Taylor

Forrest’s lawyer welcomes Meta move on advertiser verification

The senior legal counsel for billionaire mining magnate and philanthropist Andrew Forrest, Simon Clarke, has welcomed Meta’s announcement that the company will require businesses and individuals to verify themselves before being able to put financial ads on Facebook or Instagram.

Guardian Australia revealed this morning that Meta would begin verifying ads in February in a bid to stop fake celebrity crypto investment scam ads on the platforms.

Forrest’s likeness has been used in many of the ads, and he has taken Meta to court in the US over the scam ads.

Clarke told ABC Perth on Monday that the announcement was “welcome and significant”. He added:

We think it’s something that Dr Forrest has been advocating for for some time, and we think it will make a material difference to the amount of fraud on the platform, it’s essentially a compliance procedure that should work at the front end to stop a lot of the criminals getting on the platform.

He said he would like to see Meta allow elderly or vulnerable people to have to opt in to seeing financial ads in the first place.

Forrest’s case against Meta in the US is still in the discovery process, Clarke said, which he said would give insight into how the decisions are made and to what extent there is automation.

Clarke said since the case was launched, the number of fraudulent ads featuring Forrest had started to diminish, but between April and December last year, there were seven new scam ads a day, or about 1,700 in total.

More than a dozen people have been charged over an alleged multimillion-dollar attempted import of cocaine into Australia, the largest in the nation’s history.

Australian federal police charged 11 men and two juveniles with conspiring to import 2.34 tonnes of cocaine into the country by sea.

It is alleged the men and crew of a vessel attempted to import the drugs into Queensland with multiple groups planning to collect the cocaine onshore.

The men were arrested on Saturday after a collaborative effort by the AFP and Queensland police investigating a transnational organised crime syndicate.

The amount of cocaine allegedly attempted to be imported weighs the same as a Ford Raptor ute. The AFP said it is estimated to have a street value of $760m and could equate to 11.7 million street deals.

More on this story here:

Caitlin Cassidy

Hecs architect favours levy on universities over ‘very blunt’ international student cap

The Hecs/Help architect, economist Bruce Chapman, has called the proposed international student cap a “very blunt instrument” but made the case for a levy on universities.

Taking questions at the National Press Club, Chapman said he wasn’t an immigration expert but there was a “better way of doing things” than a hard cap, adding:

Economists hate quantity restrictions.

Chapman instead made the economic case for a levy on universities, pointing to large public sector subsidies that universities had benefited from historically:

Australian universities, some for well over 100 years, have been hugely subsidised in terms of research money which has built up their reputations … and on top of that, they’re rent-free. [Their] properties are getting huge public sector subsidies … the case for a levy is in part about getting a return for taxpayers.

Hecs architect criticises Labor’s pledge to wipe student debts by 20%

Caitlin Cassidy

The architect of student loans, economist Bruce Chapman, is appearing today at the National Press Club (NPC) on the topic “Hecs isn’t broken, but it needs urgent attention”.

He has called the federal government’s recent changes to raise the minimum repayment threshold and make repayment scales fairer the best changes to the Hecs/Help system in three decades.

But he was less supportive of Labor’s pledge to wipe debts by 20% if it wins the next election – pointing out the estimated budget cost could be used to run the public hospital system for a year or increase the jobseeker payment.

Chapman has also been scathing of the former Morrison government’s Job Ready Graduates Scheme, which vastly increased the cost of some degrees, including humanities. Labor has canned the scheme, but is delaying any reform to the cost of degrees to a yet-to-be-established independent commission.

Sarah Basford Canales

Shorten hails changes to Centrepay, which was not ‘working as intended’

Continuing with Bill Shorten’s earlier press conference at Parliament House, the government services minister says he’s “very confident” reforms to bar predatory providers from financially abusing welfare recipients will continue after he’s moved on from federal politics.

As Guardian Australia reported this morning, the government will boot “high-risk services” from the Centrepay system, which includes companies providing consumer leases and household goods.

The Centrepay system allows government-approved providers of essential services, such as rent and electricity, to take money from a person’s welfare payment before it is deposited in their bank account but the types of services available have broadened in recent years.

Shorten said on Monday the system had been “misfiring” nor “working as intended”.

When it does work, it’s very good, but the government was seeing a whole lot of problems, where, in particular, some services that were being provided for Centrepay were really not appropriate for the vulnerable people on the government systems.

About 10,000 businesses offer services to the more than 607,000 users who opt-in to the Centrepay system, Shorten said. Most did the “right thing”, he said, while others were “very inappropriate” and were taking advantage.

The announcement is complicated by Shorten’s departure from parliament next month, when the former opposition leader will take up the role of president and vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra.

But he insisted he was “very confident” the reform would continue after he had left.

Shorten said he believed this for three reasons: an improvement in culture, advocates pushing strongly and the Albanese government recognising not to treat “people as the enemy” or view them “under suspicion”.

This has been a very good process, and I think it sets a pattern for how to do consultation in the future.

Sarah Basford Canales

Shorten says NDIS is in good shape for next minister

The outgoing NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, believes the $42bn program is in a good place for the next minister as he embarks on a career move out of federal politics.

Shorten outlined a number of the changes made since the release of the NDIS review almost a year ago, conceding “there are still lots of things to improve, but it’s definitely headed in the right direction”.

The former Labor leader was asked a number of questions about who he thought should take on the NDIS and government services portfolios after he leaves for the University of Canberra in January.

Shorten said:

I think [the NDIS is] a portfolio which requires passion. It requires a commitment to people with disability. It requires a lot of thought, and it requires a lot of effort, and there are many Labor parliamentarians who pass that prescription.

But as for any particular names, Shorten was tight-lipped.

I think the NDIS is a very important portfolio. How the prime minister chooses to construct his cabinet will be up to him … there’s 680,000 people directly benefiting from it so it certainly does require that cabinet level of attention but the machinery of government matters, it’s not on my job description …

Peter Hannam

The ANZ and Indeed, meanwhile, this morning released their survey of job ads for November.

While there was a 1.3% fall for the month, the previous numbers were upwardly revised to a 0.7% month-on-month increase.

Yes, ads are down 27.6% from the peak reached in June 2022, but the tally remains 15.1% above pre-pandemic levels.

Stability in the labour market is good for those in work (or looking for it) if not for the chances of an early Reserve Bank interest rate cut. Prior to today, the market was tipping just a 3% (ie negligible) chance of a cut in the cash rate at the RBA’s final board meeting for 2024 on 9-10 December.

Finally, there was some mildly positive news on the building approvals front in October.

There were 15,498 dwellings approved, seasonally adjusted, in the month, the most since December 2022.

The 4.2% increase for the month was better than the 1.3% increase economists had expected. From a year ago, the approvals were up 6.1%.

If maintained for a year, the October approvals would deliver a bit over 180,000 new dwellings (assuming each approval led to a completed dwelling). A bit of an improvement but still only three-quarters of the pace the federal government wants if we are to get 1.2m new homes over five years.

Latest data points to an economy gathering pace without an interest rate cut

Peter Hannam

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a slew of September quarter and October numbers today, most of which point to the economy holding up if not gathering a bit of pace.

Retail sales in October expanded 0.6% for the month, better than the 0.4% pace expected by economists. The annual clip, at 3.4%, was the best since May 2023, and well ahead of the 2.1% headline inflation rate.

It’s always a bit tricky to compare spending with earlier years because “Black Friday” spending – and all the pre-BF events – may be pulling forward some of the spending.

Still, the revised stage-three tax cuts left more money in a lot of pockets/digital wallets. And there are other numbers suggesting resilience in the economy if not a gathering of growth momentum.

Data for the September quarter showed wages advanced 1.2% in those three months to be 4% higher than a year earlier. Profits didn’t go so well, down 8.5%, but lower commodity prices probably played a bit of a role there.

Henry Belot

‘Deeply disappointing’: Victorian gambling regulator criticises federal government delay on ad ban

The chair of the Victorian gambling regulator has criticised the federal government’s delayed action on wagering ads, describing it as “deeply disappointing”.

Fran Thorn is the outgoing chair of the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission who will leave the role on 31 December. She told Guardian Australia the federal government could have at least restricted ads, if not banned them:

As the outgoing chair of the VGCCC, it is deeply disappointing that the federal government has not been able to find the time to pass legislation to ban gambling advertising, even in part.

This would have represented an important step forward for gambling regulation and harm minimisation.

The commission has previously called for the federal government to implement the recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry into gambling harm, including a full ban on wagering ads after a three-year transition period. Its leaders have reported a “bombardment” of concern from parents about gambling ads.

Last week, the communications minister’s office apologised to multiple people harmed by the gambling industry after delaying the long-awaited advertising reforms, admitting government action has taken “longer than hoped”.

Peter Hannam

Continuing on from our last post:

As the Aemo executive Michael Gatt says, “for several years, Aemo has flagged these emerging risks and with the support of state governments and network operators are developing appropriate emergency solutions”.

“Aemo does not want to directly control people’s rooftop solar,” Gatt said. That said, if actions to secure the grid aren’t enough, “the temporary management of rooftop solar by network operators under state government solar management programs may still be required although we expect this may only occur in very rare circumstances”.

As independent energy analysts such as Gabrielle Kuiper have noted elsewhere, Aemo could do more to explain and demonstrate the grid has a problem. If they did, it might be clear that alternatives exist before “last-resort measures” are taken to turn off rooftop solar.

Why not, say, set up a contracting market much like Aemo has when demand is forecast to be too strong, and big users get rewarded by powering down. These users might be encouraged to power up during low-demand periods.

Aemo might also give incentives so we get more virtual power plants that connect up batteries (including those in households), Kuiper said.

The Smart Energy Council, too, said its calls for a Battery Booster program would help resolve the issue and help accommodate a lot more households joining the 4m already with solar panels.

The council has been advocating “for a consistent national approach that doesn’t place the burden on equipment manufacturers, installers and the rest of the industry”, its chief executive, John Grimes, said.

And as we noted a few weeks back, using “overvoltage” as the way to turn off solar inverters to stop rooftops’ exports is not without its problems:

Peter Hannam

‘Emergency backstop’ tool needed to curb rooftop solar if grid demand too low: Aemo

Last week, we had the prospect of too much demand for the power grid in NSW, and the prospect of repeats during summer (as we noted in this analysis from yesterday).

Well, there are challenges for the electricity market at the other end of the range. On sunny days in spring and autumn (when it’s not too hot or cold), there is so much solar energy being generated that so-called minimum system loads may not be sufficient for the grid to be secure.

We looked at this issue a couple of months ago when MSL alerts were being issued for Victoria:

As it happens, the Australian Energy Market Operator has released a report this morning that highlights the progress (or lack of it) in dealing with those times when rooftop solar panels are exporting a lot – perhaps too much – electricity into the grid.

“Now that rooftop [photovoltaics] is supplying more than half the grid at times, this requires introduction of a new ‘emergency backstop’ mechanism,” Aemo’s report states. This mechanism would “allow rooftop PV systems to be curtailed or turned off briefly if necessary in rare emergency conditions, similar to the capabilities normally required of any large scale generator”.

Now, Aemo is not saying they should be given that mechanism. Rather, the point is that various states have taken some steps to work with the distribution networks, but progress is not uniform and also not moving fast enough. Here’s how things stand: