Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector – as it happened | Australia news

Here are the main stories on Friday, 6 September:

• The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announces a $4.7bn package to address gender-based violence after a meeting of the national cabinet. He said that a “nationally coordinated approach is required to address this national crisis”;

• The ALP president and former treasurer, Wayne Swan, says the Reserve Bank of Australia is ‘putting economic dogma over rational decision-making’ and ‘punching itself in the face’ with its approach to interest rates;

• The federal government will pay up to $202m compensation to thousands of Indigenous workers whose wages were stolen while working in the Northern Territory last century;

• A Senate committee has been told that a proposed foreign student cap would ‘gut’ the private education sector;

• The new NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, defends the use of spit hoods to “protect frontline workers”;

• Victoria police say they are considering further action on allegations of criminal links within the CFMEU after a senior union official was charged with alleged threats to kill an Indigenous labour-hire owner; and

• Bruce Lehrmann has been given extra time to refile the grounds of his appeal against his defamation trial loss to Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson, after he missed court-set deadlines.

Thanks for reading this week, and enjoy your weekend.

Prof Michael Salter, an expert in child sexual exploitation and gendered violence, says today’s announcement of $4.7bn to address gender-based violence is an “ambitious new plan”.

Labor’s Future Made plan could already be history

A multi-billion-dollar manufacturing push for more work in renewable energy and critical minerals faces an uncertain future getting off the ground, AAP report.

The federal government’s signature Future Made in Australia plan would inject more than $22bn over the next decade to boost sovereign capability in emerging industries and safeguard national resources.

While a government-led inquiry on Friday recommended laws setting up the scheme be passed by parliament, the Coalition and Greens have come out against the proposal.

In a report into the laws, Liberal senators Andrew Bragg and Dean Smith warned the proposal would lead to increased influence of unions in manufacturing sectors, and urged the plan be blocked.

Labor would need the support of either the Coalition or the Greens to get the manufacturing plan through the Senate.

The Greens said the shape of the economy was unclear under the manufacturing strategy.

The full report is here.

Greens to launch Wills campaign

The Greens will launch their campaign for Wills on Saturday, with leader Adam Bandt saying his candidate would become one of the most powerful MPs in the country if she won the seat from Labor at the next election.

Bandt is expected to tell the crowd at the campaign launch in Coburg, in Melbourne’s north, that the new electoral redistribution has also made the seat “a lot more Green”.

Wills is held by Peter Khalil on a margin of 8.6%, but that has been cut to below 5%, on some estimates, following the redistribution, which was confirmed earlier this week.

Bandt is expected to say at the launch:

Everyone who lives in Wills has a choice. An ineffective and powerless backbencher … [or] Samantha Ratnam. And if she gets in, your strong progressive Wills member will be one of the most powerful MPs in the country.

Samantha Ratnam is one of the most incredible, effective and inspirational Greens in this party’s history.

Ratnam, a former MP in the Victorian upper house, is expected to say:

Young people are being asked to inherit a planet with a climate and environment that’s breaking down. They are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt before they even begin their adult lives. Owning a home is a distant dream and renting too often a nightmare. A visit to the dentist is too expensive and too many can’t afford the food they need.

This is why I decided to put my hand up to run in Wills. Nothing changes if nothing changes and it is time for change here in Wills.

Catie McLeod

NSW government pledge to make prisons safer in wake of guard rape case

The New South Wales government has announced it will invest $30m to introduce significant reforms to the state’s prisons to make them safer for inmates and staff.

The funding announcement comes as the state government begins responding to the recommendations from a special inquiry into former prison guard and convicted rapist Wayne Astill.

The inquiry, led by former high court justice Peter McClellan, found multiple failings in the management and culture at the Dillwynia women’s prison, where Astill worked as a guard, and across the Corrective Services NSW system.

Among the reforms announced this afternoon by the Minns Labor government are an advocacy service for female inmates to raise concerns, the installation of hundreds of new CCTV cameras, and new staff misconduct procedures.

The government has also promised to change the law to reduce the barriers to prosecuting corrections staff engaged in inappropriate relationships with inmates.

In a statement, the corrections minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, said:

Our thoughts are with the victims of Wayne Astill’s horrific crimes. We again thank the inmates, staff and advocates who spoke up, including to provide the special commission with evidence.

We should accept nothing less than a corrections system that is built on integrity, transparency, safety and respect for both staff and inmates.

These are significant changes and we’ll need to work closely with staff, the union and advocates to get them right.

The government says it has accepted all of the recommendations from the Astill inquiry in full or in principle.

Police announce reward for information in WA ‘bush doof’ rape case

The WA police have announced a $250,000 reward for information about a horrific rape at a “bush doof” more than two years ago.

A 31-year-old woman was attending the event at Cable Beach on 29 May 2022 when she left a crowd of about 200 people and walked into the sand dunes.

She was approached by an unknown man who struck her to the head multiple times before sexually assaulting her, police said in a statement. The victim sustained serious facial injuries as a result of the assault.

Special crime detective senior Sgt Luke Fowler said:

This was a random and vicious attack on a young woman, and she continues to live with the aftermath of the incident every day.

Someone in the community knows something. This amount of money has the potential to change someone’s life, and at the same time, help police and the victim get some much-needed answers.

Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector

Caitlin Cassidy

The independent education sector is projecting thousands of job losses and the closure of campuses as a result of the federal government’s proposed student cap, a Senate inquiry has heard, while some public universities face international student reductions of more than half.

Holmes Institute CEO Stephen Nagle told the inquiry Labor’s proposed bill would “gut” the private sector, comparing it to a “Soviet-style” intervention. He said as a result of the seemingly “random” cap, some of his campuses would be forced to close, while around 100 jobs would be lost.

Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Christopher Riley said the institution was facing a 55% reduction in commencements in 2025, despite just 17% of the institution being composed of international students.

Deputy chief executive of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia, Felix Pirie, said the federal government had made decisions “on the fly” and “without adequate consultation or advice” to tertiary education institutions – a claim echoed by a number of universities who appeared before the inquiry.

He said some independent providers had been given caps of zero for seemingly little reason, while others would be forced to halt enrolments by as high as 80%.

Beyond being poorly drafted insofar as it appears to contain some technical flaws, concerns remain that it will have an adverse impact on independent skills training and higher education providers. The end result will be job losses of hardworking Australians in the thousands.

Caitlin Cassidy

International student cap plan slammed at Senate committee hearing

The federal government has been universally canned for its plan to cap international student enrolments at 270,000, with a Senate committee into the bill hearing the sector was not adequately consulted and faced extensive economic and job cuts in coming months.

Shadow minister for education, Senator Sarah Henderson, told the inquiry the federal government had “deceptively” revealed the details of the cap the day after the most recent hearing, showing “contempt” for the process.

Greens spokesperson for higher education Senator Mehreen Faruqi was also vehement in her criticism of the proposed national planning level, suggesting she had received feedback she wouldn’t repeat that started with the word “cluster” and labelled it a “migration policy designed as an education bill”.

Asked to comment on suggestions from the education minister, Jason Clare, that regional Australia would be winners as a result of the changes, Regional Universities Network CEO Alec Webb replied “winning has never felt so much like losing”.

Western Sydney University vice-chancellor professor George Williams similarly said he was “frankly shocked” by the details of the cap, which would significantly hamper his institution’s international enrolments despite having a large nursing cohort and ample accommodation.

The formula is deeply flawed, deeply random and arbitrary. It will have perverse unintended consequences … and cause great damage.

Uber’s $81m tax bill wiped as it doesn’t ‘pay’ drivers, court finds

Millions of dollars worth of payroll taxes levelled at Uber have been wiped out after a court found passengers, and not the rideshare giant, paid drivers for their services, AAP report.

The San Francisco-based company’s local subsidiary, Uber Australia, appealed to overturn six payroll tax assessments made by the NSW chief commissioner of state revenue for the years 2015 to 2020 totalling more than $81.5m.

Uber argued its transport services were provided directly by drivers to riders and existed under contracts between those parties, which were agreed to when users sign up to its app.

But in a decision with potential ramifications for taxes levied on other peer-to-peer services, NSW supreme court justice David Hammerschlag on Friday ruled that Uber did not pay drivers a wage and dismissed the assessments and interest sought by state officials.

Uber acted as a “payment-collection agent”, distributing money paid by riders to drivers that could not be considered a wage, he found.

“It is not Uber who pays the driver,” Justice Hammerschlag said in his ruling.

“The rider does that. What Uber pays the driver is in relation to the payment Uber has received, not in relation to the work itself.”

Lawyers for the chief commissioner accepted drivers provided a transport service for riders, but they argued drivers also did the same for Uber.

In response, Uber argued that its system existed only as a marketplace through which drivers and riders could identify and “contract” with one another.

Here’s a video of the announcement earlier today out of national cabinet, confirming a $4.7bn package to address gender-based violence.

Luca Ittimani

NSW greyhound racing board await sacking call

The board governing greyhound racing in New South Wales is still yet to hear whether it will be sacked after the minister responsible threatened to sack them in June for failing to notify him of widespread animal welfare complaints.

The racing minister, David Harris, in late June threatened to sack the board of peak body Greyhound Racing NSW, demanding they show cause for issues including failing to notify him of alleged mistreatment of dogs.

The board is yet to hear Harris’ final decision due to legal requirements in the show cause process. Harris on Friday told budget estimates the delays had left him “a little bit frustrated”:

The board has responded. The department has given me the necessary advice. I have now made a decision, but I have to take that to cabinet, which I understand will be next week or the week after.

Harris also revealed he suggested the GRNSW board make its chief executive, Robert Macaulay, stand aside while complaints about a rehoming facility were investigated in early June, but the board refused. Macaulay resigned as chief executive in July after the allegations prompting Harris’ threat to the board became public.

Some more support form the sector for the announcements coming out of national cabinet today.

Emily Wind

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today – and this week! I’ll hand over to Nino Bucci, who will guide you through the rest of our rolling coverage into this evening. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service says it has been ‘left behind’ by national cabinet package

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service says it will not be possible for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person to access culturally safe legal services due to the “shoddy decision” by the government to leave its services “severely underfunded”.

In a statement following the release of today’s national cabinet package, VALS called on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to “fully fund Aboriginal Legal Services across the country so that they can meet the demand of the communities they serve”.

VALS said it was particularly concerned that under the new National Legal Assistance Partnership, there is no new funding to meet increased demand, no detail on the implications of a new funding stream, and that VALS “might be worse off” due to changes in how funding is provided to different jurisdictions.

It said funding for indexation and wage parity “will not even allow us to maintain our current level of services”. Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, said:

This announcement is not representative of a government that says it believes in Aboriginal justice … It stings worse because … Albanese has spent so many years claiming to be a champion for Aboriginal people, and he has failed us at every turn …

This is just a rollover of the stingy deal the former federal government implemented which was a cut from the agreement before that… This will mean that services like Balit Ngulu, our dedicated legal service for Aboriginal children, and our regional offices are at risk of cutbacks and closure …

There is plenty of time for the federal Labor government to fix their mistake before the new agreement is implemented and before the next election. We know that there is an increasing number of Australians that want governments to invest in Aboriginal communities and they are willing to change their vote accordingly.

Greyhounds US adoption scheme has recommenced despite two more dogs dying

Luca Ittimani

A controversial scheme sending retired racing greyhounds to the US has recommenced despite the death of two more dogs in transit, a New South Wales parliamentary committee has heard.

The program, run by industry peak body Greyhound Racing NSW, was paused by Qantas in June after animal welfare advocates raised concerns over the deaths of two dogs in transit.

An additional two greyhounds, called Alby and Katana, also died in the program in June before it was suspended, Animal Justice party MP Emma Hurst told NSW budget estimates today. Hurst referred to one dog “being left on the tarmac for six hours and boiling to death”.

GRNSW had since recommenced sending dogs to the US, according to the racing minister, David Harris, who said:

There are standards for the transport of animals on aircraft, and as long as that’s adhered to, then that’s the rules.

Guardian Australia understands Qantas is not participating in the recommenced program and has not lifted its pause.

Harris said he would not intervene in the program before the government’s inquiry into allegations of issues in the greyhound industry handed down its findings in December.

The minister said he was not personally aware of the deaths until they were raised at budget estimates but subsequently confirmed his office has been notified.

In a statement outside estimates, Hurst reiterated her demand for the end of the rehoming program:

This entire program needs to be stopped immediately before more dogs die.

Here is what we know so far about $4.7bn national cabinet package

Following on from today’s national cabinet, here is what we know so far on the $4.7bn package to address the domestic violence crisis, thanks to our political reporter Sarah Basford Canales: