Australia Post issued a renewed call for people to secure their dogs after reporting more than 1,200 dog-related incidents affecting its posties over the last six months. an average of nine incidents a day.
The agency said that figure is a 5% increase on the same period last year. which raises serious concerns about the safety of its frontline workers. New South Wales is the worst offender, accounting for more than a third of all cases.
Russell Munro, the general manager of safety for AusPost, said in a statement:
double quotation mark Posties encounter multiple dogs every day while delivering, and some can pose a real safety risk. What seems like a routine delivery can quickly escalate,. our posties can’t predict how a dog may react, regardless of breed or temperament.
Posties are now equipped with citronella spray as a last line of defence measure. a non-toxic effort to briefly distract dogs. Munro added:
double quotation mark If you’re expecting a delivery. make sure your dog is securely contained in another room, behind a locked gate or safely restrained. If you’re unable to do so, we encourage customers to consider using a 24/7 free. convenient parcel locker as a safer alternative.
The South Australian Government will introduce legislation to this week to defer the 2026 periodic local government elections by five months. in response to a request from the Acting Electoral Commissioner to delay the vote. A statement from the Deputy Premier Kyam Maher said inadequate frameworks, processes. documentation meant the 2026 election was planned and delivered at the same time, with the local council elections set to follow.
double quotation mark Maher: In the plainest of terms. the Acting Electoral Commissioner has said that the Electoral Commission is simply not equipped to manage the local government elections should they proceed this year. It’s a warning we cannot ignore,. we have moved swiftly to respond to the Commissioner’s concerns and propose a sensible, pragmatic way forward. This is a sensible response to ensure local government continues to function. that the Electoral Commission has additional time to prepare for an efficient, effective rollout of the next council elections. It is now up to the Parliament to decide.
PM to ‘give consideration’ on extended fuel excise
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking on the Bellarine peninsula in Victoria. Asked if there will be an extended fuel excise on diesel, he said:
double quotation mark We will give consideration to those matters.
The peace deal in the Middle East, we welcome.
We welcome the fact that the [memorandum of understanding] has now been signed,. the signing of the agreement will take place in Switzerland on Friday. We want to see this hold.
We have called for de-escalation for some time.
Victoria premier says she will ‘absolutely’ lead Labor to election, Ben Carroll calls for end to ‘internal politics’
The Victorian premier. Jacinta Allan, has emerged unscathed from the last Labor caucus meeting before the winter break, telling reporters she will “absolutely” lead the party to November’s state election.
Briefly speaking to reporters on the way out, she said the meeting was “fantastic,” with MPs discussing the week ahead in parliament. the need to focus on the working people they represent.
The deputy premier, Ben Carroll, considered her most likely challenger, walked into the meeting with Allan. Afterwards, he told reporters that “no one” had spoken to him about a leadership spill:
double quotation mark It’s not coming from me, I’ve been a loyal deputy to Jacinta Allan for three years,. that remains the case.
He said the premier told the room to be “united and disclipined”. When asked whether he wanted MPs to start focusing on the election and the challenge ahead, Carroll said:
double quotation mark Yes because internal politics is not what Victorians want. As we’ve seen, Labor is leaking to One Nation, the conservatives are hemorrhaging to them.
While he conceded Labor was polling poorly, he said the party could “turn it aroud” and win in November:
double quotation mark We’re in the fight of our lives. we’re going to win the election in November … you wacth the papers the next day. We will turn this around and we will win in November.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson spoke to 2GB earlier this morning. where she was asked about her relationship with opposition leader Angus Taylor. She had this to say:
double quotation mark I haven’t spoken to Angus since 2019 when he [was] environmental minister.
Hanson was asked if Taylor had reached out after the Coalition leader said he would do so,. she said he hadn’t so far. When pressed about any future deal between the two should the next election give them enough seats to form government. Hanson added:
double quotation mark We’re not going to count our chickens before they hatch. There’s a lot of work to do, but I’ve offered supply. confidence to Angus Taylor to the Coalition government so that we can get rid of this toxic Labor government.
Grill’d says promotion ‘undertaken with positive intent’
Grill’d has issued a statement responding to the ACCC announcement. it is taking the burger chain to court over alleged greenwashing.
In its statement, Grill’d said its Tree Day Tuesday promotion was “undertaken with positive intent”. that it donated more than $250,000 to plant more than 100,000 trees and restore more than 40 hectares of forests.
double quotation mark Grill’d has a proud history of supporting and donating to thousands of community groups across Australia.
Local Matters has raised over $7 million for thousands of community groups, including local charities, schools. sporting clubs across Australia.
We are an Australian business,. supporting Australian communities and those in need has and will always be part of who we are.
Grill’d takes Australian Consumer Law very seriously,. our reputation is forged in trust and doing the right thing in the communities where we live.
Grill’d has worked internally. with all stakeholders, including the ACCC, to ensure that brand and sustainability initiatives undertaken are clear and cause no confusion in the eyes of the Australian public.
ACCC takes Grill’d to court over alleged greenwashing of tree planting donations
The consumer watchdog has launched legal action against Grill’d for alleged “greenwashing”. accusing the burger chain of misleading customers by greatly overstating how much money it was donating to environmental causes.
The Australian Competition. Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced this morning that it had taken Grill’d to the federal court, alleging the company broke consumer law by misrepresenting its Tree Day Tuesday campaign.
The ACCC alleges Grill’d made various representations to customers during the campaign, which it ran between January 2021. April 2024, including that it would donate $1 from every burger purchased on a Tuesday towards the planting of trees.
However. the ACCC says that while Grill’d sold more than 5m burgers on a Tuesday during the campaign, only about 4% of those resulted in the company making a Tree Day Tuesday donation.
This is because the fine print imposed strict terms. conditions on which orders would qualify for a donation, which the ACCC alleges Grill’d did not adequately disclose to customers.
Some conditions required customers to be members of Grill’d’s Relish loyalty program,. only dine-in orders made at the front counter of one of the stores qualified; online orders or those made via table QR codes did not.
In a statement, the ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
double quotation mark We consider this to be a form of greenwashing … Grill’d is a large fast-food chain. operates across Australia, meaning that its conduct had the potential to mislead many consumers nationwide about the environmental benefits of their purchase.
Guardian Australia has contacted Grill’d for comment.
Allan suggests Labor would never preference One Nation above the Coalition
Allan said the biggest risk to working people was a “One Nation show that’s opposed every wage rise for workers”. a “Liberal outfit that can’t govern without One Nation, indeed, would be the junior partner to One Nation”:
double quotation mark That means cuts to services, cuts to wages,. what we need now more than ever before at this time is a government that steps in.
She also lashed the Liberal party for failing to rule out a preference deal with One Nation. Allan suggested Labor would never preference One Nation above the Coalition:
double quotation mark The Labor party’s views on One Nation have never changed. We’ve always fought them because they are about cuts to workers’ wages, cuts to services,. they don’t believe in a government that steps in and helps working people.
What we are seeing, though, is that it’s the Liberal party who’s changed. The Labor party has been consistent and clear for decades on this question. We are now seeing the Liberal Party abandon any sense of decency. principle … They had it in the 90s … Now, in a desperate attempt to save their own skin, they are talking about doing a deal with One Nation.
Momentum for leadership spill in Victoria fizzles
Victorian Labor MPs are about to hold their final caucus meeting before the parliamentary winter break – a gathering. was considered the final oppourtunity to launch a leadership spill against Jacinta Allan.
However, the momentum for a spill fizzled out after her most likely contender, the deputy premier, Ben Carroll, told reporters yesterday he wanted his daughter to grow up “knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier. get re-elected in her own right”.
There was also an awkward moment during yesterday’s press conference when Carroll looked the premier in the eye. told her he would not launch a challenge against her on Tuesday.
Asked if Carroll’s comments yesterday meant there would be no challenge today, Allan told reporters this morning:
double quotation mark You heard very clearly from the deputy premier yesterday, myself and other colleagues. We are a strong and united team who understand very clearly who we are here to represent.
She said “working people and families need a Labor government that is focused on them”. Allan went on:
double quotation mark [I am] not interested and focused on anonymous gossip. We’ve got to get on and do the hard work. I do acknowledge that we are in times where families and working people are feeling more challenging than ever before. There’s a confluence of factors that are being experienced today here in Victoria. around the world that is putting huge pressure on household budgets.
Government will let KPMG extend contracts despite new work blacklist: Gallagher
The Albanese government will let KPMG receive extensions on its hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts even though the firm is barred from bidding for new work.
Katy Gallagher yesterday said she expected the Australian government would not engage KPMG “on any new contracts”. her department had asked the firm not to apply after allegations KPMG partners had leaked confidential client information to colleagues.
But Gallagher today confirmed existing contracts could be extended. She told Radio National:
double quotation mark They’re stopping bidding for work. That doesn’t extend to current contracts with KPMG, for reasons that are under contract, essentially.
Extensions would be applicable for some active KPMG contracts expiring on 30 June, worth $331m,. another $94m expiring by 30 September, when the blacklist is set to lift. Government tender data shows a further $203m in federal contracts with KPMG will not expire until after September.
The government has executed. or will execute, at least 32 contracts with KPMG, since the allegations became public on 24 March, tender data shows.
Read more about the allegations here:
Australian video assistant referee (VAR) Shaun Evans has been cleared by Fifa of any wrongdoing after saying he did not intentionally make a hand gesture used by white supremacists.
AAP reports Evans made an upside down “OK” symbol with his right hand in front of his right leg. It was interpreted by some as a reference to the “circle game” – in which the aim is to trick other people into looking at a specific hand gesture –. others believed Evans had made a gesture referencing white supremacy.
Fifa found Evans had not breached its disciplinary code.
“FIFA’s independent disciplinary committee can confirm that. after looking into the matter involving support video assistant referee Shaun Evans, it has found no evidence of breaches of the FIFA disciplinary code,” the game’s governing body said in a statement.
double quotation mark The disciplinary committee has also taken note of Mr Evans’ statement.
As we reported in the blog earlier. Evans said he did not make the gesture intentionally, saying it was an “involuntary, subconscious twitch”.
Australia Post issued a renewed call for people to secure their dogs after reporting more than 1,200 dog-related incidents affecting its posties over the last six months. an average of nine incidents a day.
The agency said that figure is a 5% increase on the same period last year. which raises serious concerns about the safety of its frontline workers. New South Wales is the worst offender, accounting for more than a third of all cases.
Russell Munro, the general manager of safety for AusPost, said in a statement:
double quotation mark Posties encounter multiple dogs every day while delivering, and some can pose a real safety risk. What seems like a routine delivery can quickly escalate,. our posties can’t predict how a dog may react, regardless of breed or temperament.
Posties are now equipped with citronella spray as a last line of defence measure. a non-toxic effort to briefly distract dogs. Munro added:
double quotation mark If you’re expecting a delivery. make sure your dog is securely contained in another room, behind a locked gate or safely restrained. If you’re unable to do so, we encourage customers to consider using a 24/7 free. convenient parcel locker as a safer alternative.
Butler defends NDIS changes
Asked directly on Sunday if people would die as a consequence of the changes. the health minister, Mark Butler, said: “No, they won’t.”
He told ABC’s Insiders program:
double quotation mark The NDIS is probably the most significant social reform this country has made since Medicare in the 80s. It’s transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians for the better. I completely understand why they’re desperately concerned to hang on to that reform. I’m desperately concerned to do that as well but the truth is the NDIS has got way off track.
It’s worth noting that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese,. the NDIS minister, Jenny McAllister, are members of the Labor left faction in New South Wales.
A branch of Labor’s youth wing warned the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) “will cost lives”. should be halted.
In its submission to a Senate inquiry into the changes. Young Labor Left New South Wales argued that the proposal framed people with disabilities as “financial burdens”.
The submission has been published online ahead of the scheduled release of the inquiry’s final report on Tuesday.
More than 240,000 participants are expected to be forced off the scheme by 2031 under contentious changes designed to contain the ballooning cost of the $50bn-a-year disability program.
The government also wants to slash the stream of funding that participants use to hire support workers to allow them to engage with the community, in a move advocates warn will lead to more isolation. segregation.
The inquiry’s public hearings last week heard from several witnesses who feared that participants would die as a result of the changes. which are intended to save $38bn over four years.
The Young Labor members echoed those warnings in their written submission:
double quotation mark Young Labor Left NSW is deeply opposed to this Bill. We consider the Bill, in its current form, harmful to the disabled community and should not be passed. The reckless removal of support will cost lives.
Young Labor Left NSW is not opposed to reforming the NDIS and measures to safeguard the integrity of the NDIS. However, the Bill in its current form seeks to bar. remove people from accessing the NDIS as a cost-saving measure. The framing of people with disabilities as financial burdens that must be alleviated for the sustainability of the scheme is deeply dehumanising. erodes the trust the community has in the Government to safeguard and the rights and dignity of the disabled community.
Family reels from ‘tragic situation’ as Coogee shark attack victim loses arm
The family of the woman critically injured in Saturday’s horrific shark attack at Coogee beach is still coming to terms with the catastrophic scope of her injuries. the heartbreaking impact on her toddler.
Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old primary school teacher, mother. dedicated ocean swimmer, remained on life support in the intensive care unit at St Vincent’s hospital after being mauled by a suspected 3.5-metre great white shark.
“It’s such a tragic situation,” her older brother Joshua Stewart told the Guardian.
double quotation mark Leah is so full of life. she’s so energetic, she loves the ocean, she was a keen swimmer, she was swimming in the flags, really close to the shore when it happened on a crystal-clear Saturday morning. She’d done all the right things.
He confirmed Leah had undergone an arm amputation. remained in a critical condition, with the family bracing for further possible life-altering news regarding injuries to her legs.
Victorian Labor’s new laws to force opposition to show their hand on work from home rights
Last year. the Victorian premier announced that her government would legislate the right to work from home two days a week for those who can “reasonably” do so. She has said the plan would boost productivity via increasing participation of women, particularly new mothers, in the workforce.
The policy was also designed to wedge the opposition after the issue became a flashpoint in the 2025 federal election campaign. when Peter Dutton was forced to back down on a policy to restrict work-from-home arrangements for public servants due to backlash.
Opposition leader. Jess Wilson, has refused to outline the Coalition’s position on the bill until the legislation is introduced to parliament. Now they will be forced to show their hand.
Australian politics now contest of ‘practical versus populist’, Labor MP will say
Australian politics is now defined by a contest of “practical versus populist”. according to a Labor MP who claims his party are the only ones left in the sensible centre.
The assistant minister to the prime minister, Patrick Gorman, will use a speech to the McKell Institute on Tuesday to argue that the domestic political landscape is no longer shaped by a divide between left. right.
Gorman will lump the Liberals, Nationals. the Greens in the same category as One Nation, accusing all four parties of pursuing populism over practical policy solutions.
He will argue that Labor, in contrast, is the “only practical party of the centre remaining in Australian politics”.
The Perth MP will say:
double quotation mark The other thing populism does is create a wall of noise behind which unpopular policies are hidden. These parties are loud on populism and then quiet on their true agenda.
The comments follow a string of national opinion polls that show One Nation is now ahead of Labor. making it the most popular party in the country.
As we reported last week. Labor has begun targeting Pauline Hanson ’s record of opposing cost-of-living relief for workers as it attempts to stall One Nation’s momentum.
Australian Shaun Evans has denied he intentionally made a hand gesture used by white supremacists in a clip of the VAR officials prior to Germany’s match against Curacao match on Sunday. Press Association reports.
Evans appeared to make an upside down “OK” symbol with his right hand as the broadcast feed cut to the “meet the team” section for the VARs before kick-off.
The gesture is used in the completely harmless “circle game”, but has also been used by far-right supporters. the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added it to a list of hate symbols in 2019.
Fifa is understood to be aware of the incident. seeking answers from Evans as to why he made the gesture, although the governing body subsequently said no evidence of any disciplinary code breaches had been established.
Evans released a statement this morning, saying:
double quotation mark I would like to clarify that I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message. affiliation, game or belief of any kind.
The only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch. I was unaware I had done it at the time. Images taken later during the match showed. I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers.
The coverage following this incident simply does not reflect who I am. Of course, I understand how the gesture has been interpreted. I regret this, however I want to be very clear and categorically say that I did not knowingly or deliberately make the hand symbol suggested.
Officiating at the World Cup is the biggest honour of my career. I look forward to supporting my colleagues for the rest of the tournament.
Discussion
Sign in to join the thread, react, and share images.