Key occasions
New South Wales is the primary state to contemplate introducing fines for betrayal of belief for corporations that leak delicate authorities tax info to purchasers following the PwC tax scandal.
State finance minister Courtney Houssos is telling ABC Radio the fines could be within the multimillions:
I’m working with the Chief Commissioner for state income to implement a change to our coverage that can be certain that extreme penalties will apply to advisors and likewise to organisations who search business benefit by sharing confidential tax associated info.
…We’re multimillion greenback fines for each the people concerned and likewise for the organisations.
We expect that when you find yourself supplied with confidential tax info by the federal government, that any breach of that belief ought to be tightened and there ought to be very, very severe penalties for that.
Good morning! Natasha Might stepping as much as the plate to serve you the remainder of right this moment’s reside information protection.
Australia wants stronger anti-slavery legal guidelines, assessment warns
Daniel Hurst
Australia ought to toughen up its legal guidelines in opposition to trendy slavery, together with by imposing fines on companies that lie about actions they’re tacking to deal with the issue, a government-ordered assessment has discovered.
The Trendy Slavery Act, which took impact in 2019, goals to push companies to deal with a variety of dangers of their provide chains, together with human trafficking, servitude, employee exploitation, little one labour, compelled marriage, debt bondage and misleading recruiting.
Large companies are required to report steps they’re taking to handle the issue in statements posted on a government-run register – however the reporting obligations have lengthy been criticised for missing tooth.
In a report tabled by the federal government in parliament late yesterday, Prof John McMillan stated the consultations he oversaw had discovered “a broadly endorsed view” that there was “no exhausting proof that the Trendy Slavery Act in its early years has but triggered significant change for individuals residing in circumstances of recent slavery”.
McMillan has made 30 suggestions, together with requiring companies which have annual income of $50m or extra to report the steps they’re taking over the difficulty. Meaning the principles will cowl a bigger variety of companies, as a result of the present reporting threshold is $100m of annual income.
McMillan additionally beneficial making it a penalty for failing to submit trendy slavery statements, failing to take specified remedial motion, or making an announcement “that knowingly consists of materially false info”. He wrote:
Proposed legislative adjustments largely goal what are seen to be the three principal weaknesses within the current Act – the usual of recent slavery reporting is variable, the reporting obligation isn’t correctly enforceable, and the method is liable to being drowned by a sea of enormous and incompatible statements.
The overseas affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the performing legal professional normal, Katy Gallagher, stated the federal government would contemplate the suggestions, however famous that lots of them had been in keeping with Labor election commitments.
Mark McGowan, state premier, stated it was “unthinkable” {that a} US-style college taking pictures may have occurred at a WA college.
He advised reporters yesterday throughout a go to to the varsity:
We’re very fortunate nobody was killedThe bullets went shut. It’s a horrible, horrible factor and it may have been a lot worse.
That is extraordinary stuff. That is the type of factor you see occurring within the deep south of America.
McGowan stated work was already below strategy to dramatically reform the state’s gun legal guidelines.
Boy charged with a number of offences after allegedly taking pictures at Perth classroom
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with a number of offences after he allegedly drove to a faculty in Western Australia and shot at a classroom as scared college students hid in concern, Australian Related press stories.
The incident at Atlantis Seashore Baptist School north of Perth on Wednesday is known to be the primary firearms episode at a faculty in Western Australia.
Police arrested the boy on the scene at about 11.50am after he allegedly fired three rounds, with two pictures hitting a classroom.
Western Australia police on Thursday charged the teenager with a depend of driving with out authority, three counts of possessing an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, discharging a firearm to trigger concern, possessing a prohibited weapon and performing unlawfully with intent to hurt.
The boy was anticipated to face the Perth youngsters’s courtroom this morning.
Officers took the teenager into custody with out incident on Wednesday, seizing two rifles, a .243 and .22 calibre, allegedly present in a automotive on the scene.
The weapons are understood to be registered to the boy’s father.
Authorities reward Sydney residents for fast evacuation as fireplace raged
Hearth and Rescue NSW Supt Adam Dewberry praised individuals residing in residences and different buildings close to the scene of the massive fireplace in Sydney yesterday for evacuating promptly when a number of fireplace alarms went off.
He additionally stated quick-thinking firefighters prevented the flames from destroying adjoining buildings by hosing them down and stopping the fireplace from spreading.
There have been some fires that unfold into the condo buildings … firefighters had been in a position to extinguish these and stop them additional penetrating into the buildings and inflicting important injury.
Supt Dewberry stated it was believed the 2 buildings concerned within the blaze had been vacant.
It was an extremely intense fireplace and the age of the constructing, the kind of development with plenty of timber frames and flooring, and with that, very effectively seasoned and dry timber.
Our firefighters have carried out a beautiful job to get on prime of this hearth.
Supt Dewberry stated there have been no stories of accidents to members of the general public and just one firefighter suffered a minor burn to his arm.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome everybody to our reside protection of the Australian information day. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the perfect of the in a single day tales earlier than my colleague Natasha Might steps as much as the plate shortly.
Firefighters and police will right this moment start their investigation into the massive blaze in Sydney that destroyed a seven-storey constructing subsequent to the town’s Central station yesterday. Greater than 120 firefighters with 30 fireplace vans battled the blaze at a heritage-listed former hat manufacturing unit in Surry Hills which broke out at round 4pm, sending fiery particles crashing to the bottom in Randle Road. Hearth and Rescue NSW Supt Adam Dewberry advised ABC Information it was unbelievable nobody was damage in one of many metropolis’s greatest fires in years.
Additionally this morning, now we have an unique interview with Greens chief Adam Bandt. He tells our chief political correspondent, Paul Karp, that the federal government can’t depend on his get together’s assist for its “weak” adjustments to petroleum useful resource lease tax. In stinging remarks, Bandt says it isn’t clear the adjustments will herald any further income and the coverage was “written by the gasoline foyer” so “it’s not definitely worth the serviette it was written on after a protracted lunch”. Extra on this one developing.
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with a number of offences after he allegedly drove to a faculty in Perth, Western Australia and shot at a classroom as scared college students hid in concern. Police final evening charged him with a depend of driving with out authority, three counts of possessing an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, discharging a firearm to trigger concern, possessing a prohibited weapon and performing unlawfully with intent to hurt. The boy was anticipated to face the Perth youngsters’s courtroom this morning.
