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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/oct/22/australian-politics-live-melbourne-school-covid-victoria-nsw-
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Australia politics live: Victoria reports five new coronavirus cases and 400 Melbourne residents given stay-at-home order | |
(30 minutes later) | |
Suburbs in Melbourne’s north on high alert after school student tests positive. Follow the latest | Suburbs in Melbourne’s north on high alert after school student tests positive. Follow the latest |
Annastacia Palaszczuk has responded to Gladys Berejiklian’s earlier demand that Queensland repay NSW the $35m NSW has spent on hotel quarantine for Queenslanders: | |
Bill Shorten appeared on Afternoon Briefing this afternoon. He was asked if he was concerned with the northern Melbourne suburbs cluster and whether Melboune could handle a third lock down, if that cluster were to get out of control: | |
Q: You know big business has been concerned that the announcement should already have been made for reopening. Do you think they have been too slow to open? | |
Shorten: | |
(No, I don’t have a Bvlgari anything - just a habit of browsing Instagram accounts of things I will never be able to afford in a gazillion years) | |
And in answer to the person who sent me a message asking about my watch - I have an older model Apple watch that I pay off monthly, because it is impossible to do a daily blog and keep in top of all the messages I receive, without the buzz on my wrist. | |
For those asking, Christine Holgate did not receive one of the Cartier watches – they went to four senior managers who worked on a project that involved increasing the amount of banking people could do at post offices. | |
It appears, at least from what I can see here, that Holgate is a Bvlgari fan. | |
The Community and Public Sector Union has also responded to the Australia Post Cartier story: | |
The union’s deputy national president Brooke Muscat: | |
It is clear that the board and the CEO are more concerned with lining their pockets than public services and their workers. | It is clear that the board and the CEO are more concerned with lining their pockets than public services and their workers. |
This is the latest in a string of dodgy and selfish decisions made by management. Instead of focusing on essential public services, Australia Post has: | This is the latest in a string of dodgy and selfish decisions made by management. Instead of focusing on essential public services, Australia Post has: |
Frozen workers’ wages; | Frozen workers’ wages; |
Forced workers to take leave during the pandemic; | |
Misled Parliament and lied about profits; | Misled Parliament and lied about profits; |
Refused to rule out redundancies; | Refused to rule out redundancies; |
Failed to act on customer aggression in contact centres; | |
Been slow to act on increasing workloads at contact centres; and | Been slow to act on increasing workloads at contact centres; and |
Tried to pay themselves fat bonuses in the middle of a pandemic. | Tried to pay themselves fat bonuses in the middle of a pandemic. |
The union representing Australia Post workers, the CPSU is calling for the resignation of Australia Post CEO and investigation into to the board. | The union representing Australia Post workers, the CPSU is calling for the resignation of Australia Post CEO and investigation into to the board. |
“Our members having been working harder and longer to help the community in the pandemic, all while taking a pay freeze, and how are they rewarded? Not with a watch or a bonus I can tell you that,” Muscat said in a statement. | |
“Whether it’s watches in 2018 or big fat bonuses in the middle of a pandemic the Australia Post board and its management are out of touch.” | |
The Australian Financial Review’s Tom McIlroy has spoken to John Stanhope, who was the Australia Post chairman at the time of the watch purchase. | The Australian Financial Review’s Tom McIlroy has spoken to John Stanhope, who was the Australia Post chairman at the time of the watch purchase. |
From the Fin story: | From the Fin story: |
Mr Stanhope told the Australian Financial Review he didn’t remember the purchases. The port of Melbourne chairman said he would cooperate with an investigation by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. | Mr Stanhope told the Australian Financial Review he didn’t remember the purchases. The port of Melbourne chairman said he would cooperate with an investigation by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. |
He said: | He said: |
The posties’ union has responded to the Cartier story and the request for Christine Holgate to stand aside while it is investigated. | The posties’ union has responded to the Cartier story and the request for Christine Holgate to stand aside while it is investigated. |
Greg Rayner, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union’s national secretary, said the problems at Australia Post went far deeper than watches and the largesse was a symptom of broader problems at Post and how management was out of touch with workers. | Greg Rayner, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union’s national secretary, said the problems at Australia Post went far deeper than watches and the largesse was a symptom of broader problems at Post and how management was out of touch with workers. |
After high court officials told Senate estimates that eight former associates and one former staff member had come forward to give more information to the inquiry into Dyson Heydon, we’ve clarified how many of these were new complaints. | After high court officials told Senate estimates that eight former associates and one former staff member had come forward to give more information to the inquiry into Dyson Heydon, we’ve clarified how many of these were new complaints. |
A high court spokesman said: | A high court spokesman said: |
Australia Post paid dividends of about $28m in the last financial year to its one and only shareholder: the government (therefore part of taxpayer consolidated revenue). | Australia Post paid dividends of about $28m in the last financial year to its one and only shareholder: the government (therefore part of taxpayer consolidated revenue). |
We heard in estimates that it paid close to $100m in bonuses. Of that, just over $21m went to frontline workers – the posties. Most of the rest went to managers and executives. | We heard in estimates that it paid close to $100m in bonuses. Of that, just over $21m went to frontline workers – the posties. Most of the rest went to managers and executives. |
That’s the problem with government business enterprises: they are run as if they are part of the private sector. But they are owned by the taxpayer. | That’s the problem with government business enterprises: they are run as if they are part of the private sector. But they are owned by the taxpayer. |
So it’s a weird grey zone where people from the private sector are brought in to run the organisation, and they run it as if it were a private corporation – which is what it is set up to run like – but it is accountable to the government. | So it’s a weird grey zone where people from the private sector are brought in to run the organisation, and they run it as if it were a private corporation – which is what it is set up to run like – but it is accountable to the government. |
Meanwhile, in Macquarie Street ... | Meanwhile, in Macquarie Street ... |
Kath Sullivan does great work in this space (as does Lucy Barbour). | Kath Sullivan does great work in this space (as does Lucy Barbour). |