Pianist’s case against MSO not a ‘roving inquiry’ on Middle East conflict, judge says
Nino Bucci
The judge hearing the case of a pianist who alleges the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra unlawfully discriminated against him because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestianian journalists says the matter will not be a “roving inquiry” over conflict in the Middle East.
Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, a cancellation which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on the Gaza conflict.
At a performance four days earlier in Southbank’s Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which was dedicated to Palestianian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces.
The trial is set down for 15 days and started in the federal court in Melbourne on Monday.
Justice Graeme Hill told the court before opening submissions in the trial that while he was aware the matter had attracted public controversy:
This is not a case about that public controversy, and I’m not going to let the case turn into a roving inquiry about that public controversy.
Things about a situation in the Middle East are not, as I see it now, part of the legal issues in this case, even if they are part of the reason we are here.
Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri KC, is now giving her opening to the trial.
Key events
New Zealander detained in Tahiti after alleged Qantas biting incident
Caitlin Cassidy
A New Zealand man has been detained in Tahiti after an incident in which a Qantas flight attendant was allegedly bitten on an international flight.
The QF21 flight departed Melbourne bound for Dallas on Friday, but was diverted to Papeete in Tahiti seven hours later when the behaviour of the disruptive passenger forced it to land.
Upon arrival in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, the plane was met by authorities and the passenger was issued a no-fly ban by Qantas, meaning he will be unable to fly on any future Qantas and Jetstar flights.
Consular officials from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they aware of the detention of a New Zealander in Tahiti.
“For privacy reasons no further information will be provided,” the spokesperson said.
Luca Ittimani
Taylor denies that Coalition ties with migrant communities will be harmed by plan to restrict welfare
Angus Taylor has dismissed concerns his plan to cut permanent residents from government schemes will harm the Coalition’s relationship with migrant communities.
Delivering his budget reply speech on Thursday night, the opposition leader announced plans to slash immigration and restrict welfare programs including jobseeker and the NDIS to citizens only.
Asked today why taxpaying permanent residents should loss access to welfare, Taylor told reporters:
Citizenship matters … If people commit to this country, if everyone commits to this country, we will commit to them.
Migrant groups said Taylor was making migrants scapegoats for the housing shortage and Liberal backbencher Andrew McLachlan has today broken ranks to oppose the measures, saying they would harm the Coalition’s relationship with diverse communties.
Taylor dismissed those concerns, when asked whether he was prepared for that possible harm. He said:
I don’t think this causes harm with those – these are – we are a great – I grew up in one of the greatest immigrant towns in Australia. I grew up in Cooma. After the Second World War we saw a wave of thousands of immigrants coming to that town to work on the Snowy Mountains scheme. …
It was incredible but these people committed to our country and we committed to them. That is the picture of immigration that has worked for this country which is why we are one of the greatest immigrant nations on earth.
Angus Taylor says Labor’s tax changes are ‘rotten’
Opposition leader Angus Taylor just spoke in Sydney. He said Labor’s changes to the capital gains tax discount and the end of negative gearing are “rotten” and amount to taxes that will “kill aspiration in this country”.
On migration, he’s maintaining the Coalition will link net overseas migration to housing completions. Under Taylor’s plans, if elected, each year the new Coalition housing minister would announce how many houses have been completed and use that figure to set the number of migrants allowed into Australia.
“If you don’t have the houses, you can’t have the people,” Taylor said:
Let me tell you, if this country is not able to offer home ownership as a centre piece of what it is to be Australian, it is not Australia any more.
Pianist’s case against MSO not a ‘roving inquiry’ on Middle East conflict, judge says
Nino Bucci
The judge hearing the case of a pianist who alleges the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra unlawfully discriminated against him because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestianian journalists says the matter will not be a “roving inquiry” over conflict in the Middle East.
Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, a cancellation which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on the Gaza conflict.
At a performance four days earlier in Southbank’s Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which was dedicated to Palestianian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces.
The trial is set down for 15 days and started in the federal court in Melbourne on Monday.
Justice Graeme Hill told the court before opening submissions in the trial that while he was aware the matter had attracted public controversy:
This is not a case about that public controversy, and I’m not going to let the case turn into a roving inquiry about that public controversy.
Things about a situation in the Middle East are not, as I see it now, part of the legal issues in this case, even if they are part of the reason we are here.
Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri KC, is now giving her opening to the trial.
Albanese says negative gearing changes about building up ‘wealth of the nation’, too
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking now in Adelaide, continuing his blitz today talking about the government’s housing efforts on the back of last week’s federal budget.
He said the changes to negative gearing is a “common sense” move that won’t affect those who already have such properties. But those who want to invest in the future will need to do so with new builds so as “well as building up your assets and your wealth in future, you’re building up the assets and wealth of the nation”.
Albanese added:
Whether you need social housing, whether you are in a private rental, or you want to own your own home, our plan is comprehensive.
Quite frankly, we know that the Australian dream of owning your own home was becoming more and more difficult. My government wasn’t prepared to sit back and watch that happen.
About 30 landlords fined under NSW’s new no-grounds evictions law
Penry Buckley
About 30 of the 635 potential breaches investigated by the NSW rental taskforce have been found to be in contravention of the no-grounds evictions laws, with fines totalling $65,450. Most of those when a landlord tried to re-let a property online during the exclusion period after an eviction.
The CEO of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, told the ABC he welcomed the commitment by the government to be a “more active regulator”. He said the Tenants’ Union had identified properties that were “getting through the gaps” and weren’t having penalties applied, including those not listed online.
Penry Buckley
NSW government says no-grounds evictions reforms are working
The NSW government says a year after it legislated to end no-grounds evictions, the reforms are working, although tenants advocates say some properties are getting through the gaps.
Under changes to NSW rental laws in force since May last year, landlords have been required to provide a valid reason for an eviction. The government says prior to this, when there was no mandatory data collection, an estimated 45 per cent of leases ended by landlords were ending without a reason given.
Valid reasons for an eviction include planned renovations. Last year, tenants’ advocates raised concerns that changes to the laws, which allowed landlords to provide a written statement of intent rather than a full quotation for planned works, had created a loophole.
The NSW rental commissioner, Trina Jones, told reporters this morning that renovations were being given as a reason in about 11% of cases where landlords had ended a tenancy.
For the about 16% of cases where a landlord is ending in tenancy, it really depends on the landlord’s circumstances. Many are preparing the home or saying the home is being sold, or they might be moving back into the home, or they’re changing the use of the home.
In about 11% of cases, we see those homes are being renovated, or there’s a significant repair work being done. We haven’t seen any adverse impacts of that [change to the law], and we’re monitoring that really closely.
Sydney to get trial electric ferry in 2028
Sydney will get new a new trial electric ferry after the state government signed contracts to build the locally designed, Australian made vessel.
A shipbuilder will begin making a trial vessel – a 24-metre battery-powered ship – later this year, which is due to begin sailing for 12 months of trials from early 2028. It could then service the new Sydney Fish Market if and when it officially takes on passengers the following year.
Charging infrastructure will be installed at Barangaroo Wharf.
The government says the trial will provide “valuable insights” as the state considers a wider transition away from diesel-powered ferries in the coming years. Officials said no decisions have been made so far about a broader electric fleet until the trial vessel goes through its year on the water.
John Graham, the NSW minister for transport, said:
The first trial of an electric ferry on Sydney Harbour is an important moment for our iconic ferry fleet which will transition from diesel propulsion over coming years, informed by this first vessel.
The Sydney Morning Herald notes the trial will come more than two years later than initially planned.
More on the announcement supporting 51,000 new homes in Queensland
We have more details on the deal between the federal government and Queensland to deliver more than 51,000 new homes to the state, including more than 20,000 for first home buyers.
The Australian government will provide $2bn in support, including $399m in grants and $1.6bn in zero-interest concessional loans for infrastructure. The Queensland government will provide a matched contribution of $399m.
The funding will support infrastructure like road and sewerage upgrades across priority development areas including Mount Peter, Southern Thornlands and Waraba, as well as other sites.
The first of the new homes are expected to be finished in mid-2028.
Catie McLeod
Data reveals how Coles and Woolworths switch promotions in sync
You’re looking to buy an electric toothbrush. You’re in Woolworths and you see one of the Oral-B kits advertised for sale at $99.50.
The product appears to be a half-price bargain, reduced from its usual price of $199, which also happens to be how much the same item costs at Coles.
But what you wouldn’t know, unless you were paying very close attention, is that the toothbrush kit had been 50% off at Coles and full price at Woolworths just a week earlier – or that, more often than not, when it was on promotion at Coles, it was full price at Woolworths, and vice versa.
New analysis of the “high/low” pricing strategy employed by Australia’s two biggest supermarkets comes after a court found this week Coles deceived customers with misleading discounts in its “Down Down” promotional program.
Read more here:
Chalmers says tax changes are about making ‘tangible difference’ in housing market
Jim Chalmers says he understands some Australians will have “strong views” about the politics surrounding the changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing:
We understand that people will have strong views about the politics of this but it is the substance of the changes that we are making that matters most and the substance of what we are announcing today: tens of thousands of new homes for Queenslanders including tens of thousands of homes for first home buyers.
This is how you make a tangible difference to the housing market in this country, taking difficult decisions, building more homes, making more of those homes available to first home buyers.
He was asked if he made a “mistake” after breaking a campaign promise. Chalmers said:
I’m confident that the substance of what we’re doing is the right decision, taken for the right reasons.
Federal government announces $2bn effort to build 50,000 new homes in Queensland
The federal government has announced a major housing investment in Queensland, a deal between the Albanese government and the state government to build 50,000 homes for Queenslanders.
Of these, 21,000 will be reserved for first home buyers. It will be supported by $2bn in loans and grants from the federal government, with the Queensland government contributing as well.
Jim Chalmers is speaking at a press conference in Brisbane. He said:
This is a budget which makes hard decisions to get more Australians into homes.
It is a budget for workers, a budget for first home buyers and a budget for future generations who would otherwise be locked out of the housing market.
The status quo in housing and in tax is broken and we are fixing it.
We’ll bring you more shortly.
Nearly 1,000 people charged in NSW operation targeting those with history of domestic violence
New South Wales police charged nearly 1,000 people during a four-day, statewide operation targeting offenders with a history of domestic violence.
Officials said the operation ran from 13 May to 16 May and was an intelligence-led effort to “ensure the safety and wellbeing of domestic and family violence victims and the broader NSW community”. Over the period, 993 people were arrested and charged, with 2,063 charges laid and 94 firearms seized.
Yasmin Catley, the NSW police minister, said in a statement:
Domestic and family violence is a stain on our society. These offenders rely on fear and control, and [Operation] Amarok is about turning that pressure back onto them.
If you use violence, intimidation or coercive control, police will come for you.
Opposition pushes back on assertions that immigration plans are similar to One Nation’s
Dave Sharma, the shadow assistant minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs, also spoke to RN this morning, where he was asked about any difference between the Coalition and One Nation immigration policies. Opposition leader Angus Taylor outlined a controversial migration policy last week, which prime minister Anthony Albanese said appeared to be a copy of Pauline Hanson’s own ideas.
Sharma pushed back against those assertions this morning, saying the policies were “quite different” while saying he wasn’t a student of One Nation’s politics.
I wouldn’t pretend to be a student of One Nation’s policy … but the policies we’ve put forward are what we believe are in the nation’s interest, and that is to make sure that when we bring people to Australia, there’s enough housing to accommodate them in a way that does not put pressure on the existing housing stock for people who are already here and to make sure that our immigration program is working in Australia’s national interests.
When pressed about where cuts to the migration figures will come from, Sharma said there were still years to go until the next election, and those details would be revealed closer to that date.
Sacked pianist’s case against Melbourne Symphony Orchestra heads to court
The opening strains of a concert pianist’s discrimination case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are about to be heard in the Federal Court, AAP reports.
Jayson Gillham’s case is set to become a test of workplace rights in Australia and the pianist has crowdfunded more than $175,000 to cover his legal costs.
He is suing the orchestra over the termination of his contract after a performance at an MSO event in 2024, when he performed a solo piece called Witness dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza.
Gillham introduced the piece by saying Israel targeted journalists in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.
The orchestra then cancelled his performance at the Melbourne town hall, citing safety concerns, with the controversy making international headlines.
The trial is expected to run for three weeks and the MSO is expected to call around 20 witnesses.
Watt says ‘too many Australians locked out of the housing market’
Murray Watt was asked about the response to the federal budget last week, which is starting to filter through opinion polls this morning. He said the government didn’t design the budget to see the government’s standing go up or down in those surveys, but to see more Australians get into homes.
He went on:
I don’t think that anyone listening to the program this morning would seriously think that the current situation can continue … We could either sit back and allow the current situation to continue with too many Australians locked out of the housing market, especially younger Australians, or we could take some difficult decisions.
Now, of course, it’s our job to get out there and explain these decisions.
Watt said the government had an obligation to explain its change in stance on the CGT discount and negative gearing, saying the Labor party was about making sure Australia has an equitable system for both younger and older generations.
Australian health officials to work on Ebola outbreak response, minister says
Murray Watt, the federal environment minister, says he expects Australian health officials will be working with other countries as the world responds to the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
The World Health Organization declared the event a “public health emergency of international concern” on Sunday, urging robust global efforts to limit its spread.
Watt spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, providing a brief update on Australia’s role in that response. He said:
I’m sure that our health officials will be working with other countries in terms of the response to this. You know, I think we’ve seen previously around the world outbreaks of Ebola have been of great concern to the world. So as I say, I’m sure that some of our officials in the health department would be working with their international counterparts about this as well.
No one has ever been diagnosed with Ebola virus disease in Australia, according to the Centre for Disease Control. The agency says that just one diagnoses would trigger an urged public health response.
Albanese on three-state blitz to tout budget tax changes
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking on Triple M Hobart this morning about the budget plans, continuing the campaign to tout the latest federal budget. He’s stressing once more that changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing are a recalibration of fairness in the housing system.
He said:
First home buyers who rock up to an auction, and they’re competing against an investor, the investor has the taxpayer by their side.
If they [the investor] have to choose, and they get down to the business end … they’re in a stronger position, because the taxpayer, [if they have to pay more], they have increased tax deductions … now that’s not fair.
Albanese is on a three-state blitz today – breakfast in Hobart, lunch in Adelaide and dinner in Perth.
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to get the blog started. Here’s what’s on deck:
New South Wales police have charged nearly 1,000 people with more than 2,000 charges in total as part of a statewide operation targeting offenders with a history of domestic violence. Officials said the effort was meant to ensure the safety and wellbeing of domestic and family violence victims.
Meanwhile concert pianist Jayson Gillham’s discrimination case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will begin today. He is suing the orchestra over the termination of his contract, which was ended after he performed a piece in 2024 dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza.
I’m sure there’s much more to come, stick with us and we’ll bring you all the latest updates.
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