Key occasions
Tony Burke, who has taken on dwelling affairs, immigration and multicultural affairs portfolios in prime minister Anthony Albanese’s cupboard reshuffle, tells ABC RN the brand new roles are “a serious job that has to be done”.
“I’ve worked in the area previously, when I was last minister,” he mentioned. “Keeping Australia safe is absolutely essential.”
Extra to return on Burke talking on ABC RN within the subsequent weblog put up.
Albanese says Rex Airways is ‘necessary’ as provider calls buying and selling halt
Elias Visontay
Turbulence at Rex Airways seems to be rising after the provider requested a buying and selling halt following hypothesis it will appoint consultants to turnaround its monetary woes.
On Monday, the ASX introduced it had suspended commerce within the airline’s shares after it had requested the transfer pending an announcement associated to a information article printed on Saturday, understood to be a report within the Australian that the airline had appointed turnaround consultants from Deloitte.
Rex’s request recommended an imminent associated announcement, with the halt in place till the graduation of commerce on Wednesday.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, mentioned an airline working into bother was a weekly prevalence within the powerful, international business.
“One thing we need to do is to make sure that we have a viable and ongoing Australian aviation industry,” he informed ABC Information.
However he added {that a} vary of communities across the nation relied on the provider.
“Rex is the only airline to go to some of those destinations, so it’s important,” Albanese mentioned.
The prime minister met his transport minister, Catherine King, on Monday and additional info had been sought from the airline, he mentioned.
Stephanie Convery
Extra on Invoice Shorten’s announcement this morning:
The info shared by Shorten’s workplace additionally consists of notes that the common time it took for an operator to reply the cellphone at Centrelink throughout that three-week interval in July was 26 minutes “depending on the day”.
For comparability, the common wait time for Centrelink calls to be answered in July and August 2023 was 32 minutes, in contrast with 22 minutes the earlier monetary yr.
The figures additionally declare the variety of congestion messages within the week ending 21 July had been 58% decrease than they’d been within the week ending 14 January.
Make of all of it what you’ll. It’s unclear if the reductions in processing time for issues just like the pharmaceutical advantages scheme security internet – from a mean of 98 days final monetary yr to twenty-eight days within the first three weeks of July – shall be sustained.
Like all the opposite enhancements claimed, we gained’t actually know till the tip of the yr if these figures present everlasting progress, or only a blip at a quiet time of yr. They usually’re averages, not medians, so that they’re liable to be skewed by extremes at both finish.
Shorten mentioned in a press release in a single day:
I do know Australians are doing it powerful and I’ve requested Companies Australia to work laborious to cut back its declare processing and name wait occasions. There’s extra to do, significantly in processing complicated claims, however we’re making vital inroads throughout the board.
Shorten claims backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims have fallen 66%
Stephanie Convery
Invoice Shorten shall be out and about this morning sporting his minister for presidency providers hat, claiming that underneath federal Labor, the backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims has been lowered by 66%, and that processing occasions have lowered by 73% on final yr for individuals making use of for jobseeker funds.
Some 890,000 excellent claims had been resolved, Shorten mentioned in a press release in a single day, with the entire now down from 1.35m in early February to “a regular number” of round 460,000.
Processing occasions had improved by 84% for paid parental depart (from 25 days all the way down to 4) and 73% for jobseeker (from 22 days down to six), the minister mentioned.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our rolling information protection. I’m Martin Farrer and these are a number of the high tales this morning.
Our lead story this morning is the primary a part of a brand new investigation. It reveals that a number of lecturers have spoken to Guardian Australia in regards to the variety of college college students who wrestle with “basic English” however nonetheless obtain levels, saying the integrity of the tertiary sector is underneath menace – and the rise of AI is accelerating the disaster.
Australians are feeling much less against a Donald Trump presidency than 4 years in the past, and fewer positive the Aukus settlement will make Australia safer, in response to our newest Guardian Important ballot.
Invoice Shorten shall be out and about this morning sporting his minister for presidency providers hat, claiming that underneath federal Labor, the backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims has been lowered by 66%, and that processing occasions have lowered by 73% on final yr for individuals making use of for jobseeker funds. Full particulars arising.
The Albanese authorities turned down a plea from price range airline Bonza for monetary help 10 days earlier than it entered voluntary administration and finally collapsed, we report this morning. Paperwork obtained by Guardian Australia by freedom of data legal guidelines reveal the transport division ready a short on Bonza’s monetary help request for the transport minister, Catherine King, on 20 April. Ten days later the airline’s planes had been repossessed and 1000’s of passengers stranded throughout the nation.
It comes Anthony Albanese mentioned Rex Airways was “important” to communities not served by Qantas and Virgin after the provider suspended buying and selling in its shares amid hypothesis about its future. Extra arising.
