Australia news live: Woolworths workers continue strike as shelves go bare; worst state for business named
Key events
“Dark ages” said the front page headline in the Daily Telegraph, while the Courier Mail said “Step on the gas”.
Underneath was a story exhorting the government to ensure more gas-fired power stations are built to avoid the prospect of balckouts. However, what it didn’t say until the reader turned to the inside was that the “stories” were advertorials paid for by the fossil fuel lobby.
Our environment editor Adam Morton deconstructs the claims.
A handful of countries should be held legally responsible for the ongoing impacts of climate change, representatives of vulnerable nations have told judges at the international court of justice (ICJ).
During a landmark hearing at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which began on Monday, Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and environment, said responsibility for the climate crisis lay squarely with “a handful of readily identifiable states” that had produced the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions but stood to lose the least from the impacts.
Read our full story;
South Australia has secured the title of best state to do business, narrowly beating Tasmania, which landed in second place.
Victoria came in last place in the business lobby’s rankings of state and territory regulatory frameworks and tax settings.
The top-performing state in the Business Council of Australia’s leaderboard sports the lowest payroll tax rate for large employers.
South Australia similarly ranked highly for stamp duty and land tax rates, and businesses had fewer licensing and permit hoops to jump through than elsewhere.
Its urban planning system, which takes into account the pace development applications are assessed, also outperformed other states.
But on retail trading hours, South Australia had among the most restrictive rules dictating when businesses can and cannot open.
BCA chief executive Bran Black said the report “highlights good practice regulations and planning systems across Australia that other states and territories should look to adopt”.
Woolworths picket continues
Picketers will continue their around-the-clock presence at Woolworths warehouses and say they will be there until a pay agreement is reached, Australian Associated Press reports.
United Workers Union members are blocking all entrances to a distribution centre in suburban Melbourne after Woolworths announced plans to reopen.
Plans to bring in staff yesterday fell through, but picketers at the Dandenong South site turned away logistics trucks trying to enter.
The strike action has seen supermarket shelves across Victoria stripped, with scenes akin to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Customers can expect to see ongoing empty shelves after the union failed to agree to allow workers to return to work as a result of the ongoing strikes, Woolworths said.
“The majority of our team at the Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre want to return to work and be paid again, our customers are facing increasingly empty shelves, another union has endorsed our deal, and we are still at the negotiating table with the UWU,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
“As long as they continue to block access to our site, our customers will continue to face shortages on shelves in Victoria.”
One store, on Collingwood’s Smith Street, had most of its toilet paper aisle emptied along with large portions of its bread and fridge sections.
The company and union returned to the negotiating table on Monday.
“We are hopeful of a breakthrough because our workers deserve to be safe at work,” United Workers Union National Secretary Tim Kennedy said.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories to get things started before Daisy Dumas takes the reins.
It may have passed a stack of new laws last week but the Albanese government is in election peril if our latest Guardian Essential poll is anything to go by, with voters deeply underwhelmed by Labor’s performance in the two critically important policy areas of housing affordability and improving wages.
The government has been rated “poor” by 53% of voters on its efforts to contain housing costs, according to today’s poll, while ministers also received surprisingly little credit for increasing wages, with 35% saying they had done a “poor” job on that score as well. More coming up.
Vanuatu has outlined its case in a landmark climate action brought before the UN’s top court, arguing that international law and the warming of the atmosphere demands broader action.
Beginning overnight, the Pacific state is leading two weeks of hearings at the international court of justice in The Hague, seeking an formal advisory opinion on whether high-emitting countries should do more to stave off climate catastrophe. More coming.
More than 1,500 Woolworths warehouse workers will strike for the 13th day running today in their fight for better pay and safety on the job. The industrial action has affected up to five distribution centres run by Primary Connect, the supermarket giant’s supply chain arm, and has led to some bare shelves in stores. More coming up.
And the Business Council of Australia has ranked all the states and territories on how easy it is to “do business” in them – in other words, which has the least tax and regulation. Victoria came last.
