Larissa Waters says Cox told her of defection an hour before presser with PM, but ‘no animosity’
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said she had a “calm and measured” conversation with senator Dorinda Cox an hour before she defected to Labor yesterday, saying people need to have their “values fit with the party they seek to represent”. Waters told ABC News this morning:
Dorinda called me an hour before her press conference with the prime minister. And we had a very calm and measured conversation about it. And I did genuinely wish her all the best. There’s no animosity there.
It’s disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda says her values lie there. You need to be true to yourself, don’t you?
Waters did hit Labor’s green light of the extension of the North West Shelf gas project when speaking about the party’s values.
What with Labor having decided just this last week to approve an absolute carbon bomb off the coast of WA, which would not only have massive climate impacts but which would have huge impacts on ancient rock art. Those values are not consistent with Greens values.
Key events
Australia Institute economist calls minimum wage decision ‘fair’
Greg Jericho, chief economist at the Australia Institute, described the minimum wage increase as a “fair decision” on social media. He noted that even with the increase real wages are still lower than they were five years ago, writing:
People worrying about productivity really need to ask themselves do they think the lowest paid are the cause of low productivity. I mean get real.
Also it still sees real awards lower than they were 5 years ago.
Allow content provided by a third party?
This article includes content hosted on embed.bsky.app. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Election-watcher signals Boele in good place with final booths to go in Bradfield recount
Election-watcher Kevin Bonham has an update on the recount for the seat of Bradfield. Bonham notes that independent Nicolette Boele’s margin is now up to 34 votes over Liberal Gisele Kapterian.
Bonham says there are just 11 booths remaining in the recount, “three of them tiny”. He says:
It is very likely that Boele will now go on to be seated and there is now a good chance that the margin will be outside the margin of a potential AEC challenge over multiple voting.
This means Kapterian would have to challenge and would need to have grounds to do so, none of which have yet been suggested.
Patrick Commins
Fair Work Commission cites fear loss in real wages would become ‘permanently embedded’
The president of the Fair Work Commission, Justice Adam Hatcher, said the decision to deliver an above-inflation 3.5% increase in the minimum wage was to claw back the loss of real incomes over the past few years.
Hatcher said the commission did not want to see the fall in living standards over recent years to become “entrenched” among the lowest-paid Australians. He said when handing down the decision:
The principal consideration which has guided our decision is the fact that since July 2021 employees who are reliant upon modern award minimum wages, or the national minimum wage, have suffered a reduction in the real value of their wage rates.
He said the “inflation spike” had particularly hurt lower-paid workers, and that fears of further fuelling inflation had informed minimum wage decisions over recent years.
But with inflation back under control, Hatcher said it was time to make up for that hit to living standards.
This provides us with an opportunity to go at least some of the way towards correcting what has happened over the last four years by awarding a real increase to modern award wages and the national minimum wage.
We are concerned that if this opportunity is not taken in this annual wage review, a loss in the real value of wages which has occurred will become permanently embedded in the modern award system and the national minimum wage, and a reduction of living standards for the lowest paid in the community will thereby be entrenched.
We are satisfied that the level of wage increase we have determined is sustainable.
McManus says small businesses can increase prices to counter inflation, but workers rely on minimum wage changes
Sally McManus responded to a question about the effect a minimum wage increase would have on small businesses who will have to pay more in wages. She said:
They can always put up their prices, as they have over the period of inflation. Workers can’t put up their wages when inflation spikes. They depend on these increases.
For the last four years, [workers have] actually gone backwards, they’ve gone backwards in real terms. So, now them catching up is not only fair but it’s actually good for the economy to have more money circulating.
ACTU secretary says minimum wage increase a ‘great outcome’ for lowest-paid workers
Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said the 3.5% minimum wage increase was a “great outcome” for the country’s lowest-paid workers. She said the increase was 1.1% more than inflation. McManus said during a press conference:
3.5% means they’re starting to catch up again, and that makes an enormous amount of difference in terms of people’s bills, people’s ability to pay for the basics.
People obviously that are on minimum wages and award wages are paying for the essentials, and the essentials have gone up all of that time. And now, finally, they’re gonna start getting ahead again.
She said the increase wasn’t just some “little” increase but was “actually significant”.
Ian Roberts says he’s been diagnosed with epilepsy
Rugby legend Ian Roberts says he has been diagnosed with epilepsy, potentially due to his NRL career giving and receiving hits. Roberts was speaking with Nine’s Today this morning on a social media trend called Run It Straight, where two people run full-speed into each other and stream the results on the internet. He said:
In the last 12 months, I’ve had a bit of an issue myself. I was just recently diagnosed. And I’m not just saying this because we’re on air – but it’s potentially to do with this – with epilepsy.
I reckon the damage I did to myself was, was not taking the shots, was making the shots, you know.
Roberts said he’s started a new process of medication which has “really helped”, describing his health as “good” now.
Patrick Commins
Minimum wage will be $24.95 an hour and $948 for a full-time week
That minimum wage increase will equate to $24.95 an hour or $948 for a full-time work week. That’s up from $915.90 a week.
Minimum wage to increase by 3.5% from July
Patrick Commins
Australia’s minimum wage of $24.10 an hour will be increased by 3.5% from July, in a decision by the Fair Work Commission that delivers a real wage increase for the country’s lowest paid workers.
Last year’s decision was for a 3.75% increase.
Nearly 3 million employees have their pay set by an award and are directly affected by the annual minimum wage determination. The number of Australians paid the minimum wage, however, is a fraction of that – below 100,000 people, according to government estimates.
The government had argued in favour of a decision that did not send workers’ wages backwards, and the final result falls between the competing demands from the peak union body and business groups.
Inflation was 2.4% in the year to March, and the Reserve Bank recently predicted it would ease to 2.1% by June. But the RBA also expects the end of government cost-of-living support payments, such as energy bill subsidies, will see inflation accelerate to 3.1% by mid-2026.
The ACTU argued in favour of a 4.5% lift, while business groups had made the case for an increase of around 2.5% or lower, arguing that firms were struggling with sharp increases in operating costs.
The Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association, in an industry with a large share of employees on awards, had argued the minimum wage should increase by no more than 2% this year.
Larissa Waters says Cox told her of defection an hour before presser with PM, but ‘no animosity’
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said she had a “calm and measured” conversation with senator Dorinda Cox an hour before she defected to Labor yesterday, saying people need to have their “values fit with the party they seek to represent”. Waters told ABC News this morning:
Dorinda called me an hour before her press conference with the prime minister. And we had a very calm and measured conversation about it. And I did genuinely wish her all the best. There’s no animosity there.
It’s disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda says her values lie there. You need to be true to yourself, don’t you?
Waters did hit Labor’s green light of the extension of the North West Shelf gas project when speaking about the party’s values.
What with Labor having decided just this last week to approve an absolute carbon bomb off the coast of WA, which would not only have massive climate impacts but which would have huge impacts on ancient rock art. Those values are not consistent with Greens values.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria Treasury hasn’t modelled impact of credit rating downgrade
Now that the Victorian budget has been handed down, attention turns to budget estimates. The public accounts and estimates committee hearings began this morning, with the treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, and senior officials from the Department of Treasury and Finance appearing as the first witnesses.
During an exchange between the Treasury secretary, Chris Barrett, and Liberal MP Richard Welch, it was revealed that his department has not conducted any modelling on the potential impact of a credit rating downgrade.
Barrett said the department does model scenarios involving interest rate rises up to a “100 basis point increase” and its impact on the budget. He said rate increases would be the result of a credit ratings downgrade.
Victoria currently holds the lowest credit rating of all Australian states, after downgrades in the wake of the pandemic due to its rising debt levels.
Symes said Monday that ratings agencies had “provided positive initial feedback in relation to this year’s budget”, which shows net debt declining as a proportion of the economy and that the government is “moderating” its infrastructure pipeline.
She also revealed she will meet with ratings agency Moody’s this Friday.
Seven people charged in alleged import scheme linked to 300kg of illicit drugs, 20m cigarettes
Police have charged seven men following a years-long investigation into allegations a criminal group used trusted insiders to import illegal products into Sydney.
A strike force was established in 2023 to investigate allegations that a man, 42, was importing large quantities of illegal drugs and illicit tobacco while allegedly claiming he had the ability to get around border controls. Police later discovered an industrial cooler imported from Canada in July 2024 that contained more than 280kg of liquid methamphetamine.
The man allegedly also used a freight forwarding company to import more than 20 million cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates. Police also alleged the man planned to import 50kg of cocaine in a shipping container from Panama in May 2025, allegedly disguised in cement bags.
The 42-year-old has since been arrested and charged with multiple counts of importing large quantities of tobacco and the attempted import of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, among other charges. He will appear in court in late July.
Six others with alleged links to the import plans also face charges.
Lifeblood in urgent need of O-type blood donations
Lifeblood has issued an urgent call for an extra 9,500 donations of O positive and O negative blood in the next seven days. The Australian Red Cross says O-type blood supplies are at their lowest levels since October 2023. Lifeblood’s executive director, Stuart Chesneau, said:
Every day, we issue close to 10,000 blood transfusions and medications to hospitals around the country to meet patient demand and we can’t do it without people donating.
O-type blood is the most frequently ordered by hospitals and can be used in emergency situations. O negative is a “universal blood type”, meaning it can be used by anyone even if their blood type is unknown.
Fewer thab than 7% of the Australian population is O negative.
