As it happened: PM rules out ever requesting Qantas upgrades; ACCC sues Optus over ‘unconscionable’ sales to vulnerable people

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• Anthony Albanese has ruled out ever requesting Qantas upgrades as he continues to look to quell criticisms about his travel arrangements from fellow politicians.
• The ACCC has launched proceedings against Optus in the Federal Court for engaging in unconscionable conduct in the sale of goods and services to vulnerable people. The telco giant has since apologised for its ‘unconscionable’ conduct.
• Embattled supermarket giant Woolworths faced questions over dodgy discount schemes, price gouging and environmentally dubious farming practices at its annual general meeting today.
• In NSW, income support payments will provide up to 13 weeks of support for workers and sole traders who lost income due to power outages in the far western NSW town of Broken Hill and nearby areas.
• In Victoria, Peninsula Health has been ordered to fork out more than $300,000 in penalties for failing to pay overtime to a junior doctor.
• In international news, at least 95 people have been killed in the deadliest flooding to hit Spain for three decades after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Gemma Grant, signing off.

The addition of 1000 new ranger jobs across the country has been welcomed by Indigenous land management groups but they say more ongoing funding is needed to support their work.

Country Needs People, which supports ranger groups across Australia, said it was great to see the $355 million funding commitment.

Federal funding will support 35 new projects in Queensland.Credit: Katie Purling

“It’s great to see the first stage of rollout of the new Indigenous ranger positions announced and the federal government delivering on their long-term commitment,” chief executive Patrick O’Leary said.

“This won’t be the last funding round and there will need to be further rounds of ranger job funding following the next federal election.”

Up to 770 of the new ranger roles will be set aside for Indigenous women, who play an important role in protecting women’s sites, preserving cultural knowledge and practices.

“We know as First Nations people that both men and women have significant roles in our culture, in our society, and we want to see more of our First Nations women be acknowledged through the ranger programs,” Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said from Healesville in Victoria on Thursday.

“So, this will give and boost, hopefully, for our women across the country who receive this funding with their nearby ranger groups.”

The federal government has promised to spend $1.3 billion in the Indigenous Rangers Program until 2026, aiming to double the number of rangers by the end of the decade.

It’s important and varied work, with rangers managing fire, tackling feral animals and controlling invasive weeds while protecting threatened species.

The federal funding will go to 115 projects across the country: 35 in Queensland, 23 in Western Australia, 21 in NSW, 12 in Northern Territory, 11 in South Australia, 9 in Victoria and 4 in Tasmania.

It is the first time in more than a decade that new ranger groups have been able to apply to join the Commonwealth Indigenous Rangers Program.

AAP

Back to NSW now, where the network operator prepares to reconnect regional towns to the energy grid, following devastating storms that left the area without power.

Broken Hill has had its sixth consecutive night without losing power, Western NSW Minister Tara Moriarty said earlier today.

Severe outages followed thunderstorms on October 17 which damaged powerlines, while back-up generators delivered intermittent power to 20,000 locals.

Transmission network operator TransGrid expects to reconnect residents to the national energy grid within 24 hours as workers fix 3.5km of transmission lines.

Homes and businesses in Broken Hill should have no interruption to their power supply as it switches from back-up generators to the grid once the work is complete.

But some residents in surrounding areas including Wilcannia and Menindee could be out for up to three hours as the switch takes place, with infrastructure company Essential Energy to notify customers ahead of time.

The approaching reconnection comes as income support payments are offered to residents and businesses.

How the outages occurred will be subject to government discussions, Moriarty said.

“The priority for us at the moment is to make sure we get through this emergency situation, get the power back on, give the community certainty about the situation that they’re in, and then we will be looking at what has happened,” she said.

AAP

To international news now, where at least 95 people have been killed in the deadliest flooding to hit Spain for three decades after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings.

Meteorologists said a year’s worth of rain had fallen in eight hours in parts of Valencia, causing pile-ups on highways and submerging farmland in a region that produces two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter.

Cars are piled in the street with other debris after flash floods hit the region in the Sedaví area of Valencia, Spain.Credit: Getty Images

Residents in the worst-hit places described seeing people clambering onto the roofs of their cars as a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away chunks of masonry from buildings.

“It’s a river that came through,” said Denis Hlavaty, who waited for rescue on a ledge at the petrol station where he works in the regional capital. “The doors were torn away and I spent the night there, surrounded by water that was two metres deep.”

Defence Minister Margarita Robles told Cadena Ser radio station that a military unit specialised in rescue operations would start combing through the mud and debris with sniffer dogs in the worst-hit areas on Thursday.

Asked if the number of victims was likely to increase, she said: “Unfortunately we are not optimistic.” The teams have brought with them 50 mobile morgues.

Footage shot by emergency services from a helicopter showed bridges that had collapsed and cars and trucks piled on top of each other on highways between flooded fields outside the city of Valencia.

Read more about this story here.

Reuters

Telco giant Optus has apologised to customers after it was sued by Australia’s competition and consumer watchdog for allegedly selling vulnerable, disadvantaged and disabled customers services that they often didn’t want or couldn’t afford.

The ACCC launched Federal Court action against Optus on Thursday, alleging that the company took advantage of hundreds of its customers by selling them overpriced and unaffordable devices and services, then in some cases pursuing consumers for resulting debts.

Optus is being sued by the ACCC.Credit: Nikki Short

The allegations involve 429 consumers, primarily in Darwin’s Optus stores, many of whom were First Nations Australians from regional and remote areas, and some of whom were low-income or disabled. The ACCC began its investigation after a referral from the industry ombudsman.

Optus interim CEO Michael Venter apologised and said the company had taken disciplinary action, including terminations, against staff responsible for the alleged misconduct.

Optus has also introduced changes to credit controls, and additional mandatory training for staff on dealing with vulnerable customers.

“We sincerely apologise to all customers affected by this misconduct and for the distress caused,” Venter said on Thursday. “We deeply regret that in these instances we failed to meet the customer service standards that our customers deserve and should expect.

The misconduct alleged by the ACCC is unacceptable, and completely out of step with our company values and we accept that we need to protect all customers, including those experiencing vulnerability, from this type of behaviour.”

Venter, who will serve as interim CEO until next month when Stephen Rue takes over, said Optus is in the process of appointing a customer advocate in a new role.

Read the full article here.

To Victoria now, where a health service has been ordered to fork out more than $300,000 in penalties for failing to pay overtime to a junior doctor, which has sparked hope for class action settlements.

Victoria’s Peninsula Health was found to have failed to pay Gaby Bolton overtime 208 times between 2019 and 2021, when she was working as a doctor in training at Frankston Hospital.

Frankston Hospital.Credit: Paul Jeffers

The Federal Court in August 2023 found Peninsula Health had contravened the Fair Work Act in failing to pay Dr Bolton’s entitlements for unrostered overtime.

Peninsula Health had planned to try and overturn the decision, but abandoned its appeal in February.

Justice Mordy Bromberg ordered the health service pay a $316, 260 penalty for its breaches on Thursday.

Dr Bolton said the court’s condemnation was “a sign of hope for thousands of junior doctors across the state, who simply want to be paid their minimum entitlements for the work they perform”.

“I look forward to the day when, like our counterparts in NSW and the ACT, junior doctors don’t have to fight in court to be paid for the hours we worked,” she said in a statement.

Several Victorian health services, including Peninsula Health, are facing class actions by junior doctors over allegations of widespread and systemic underpayments.

Australian Medical Association Victoria president Jill Tomlinson said the penalty was an indictment on the state government for failing to settle doctor pay disputes outside court as other states have.

“The extremely belligerent attitude of those at the top is no doubt what has motivated such a strong rebuke from the court,” she said.

“Today should be a day that causes reflection at the very top of our health system and brings the key decision-makers in the Department of Health to the negotiating table with a full appreciation of the extent of the harm being caused by their inaction.”

Victoria’s health department has been contacted for its response.

AAP

To NSW now, where income support payments are being offered to rural residents who lost power following devastating storms.

The federal assistance will provide up to 13 weeks of support for workers and sole traders who lost income due to power outages in the far western NSW town of Broken Hill and nearby areas.

Storm-damaged Transgrid towers on a property 60 kilometres south of Broken Hill.Credit: Jodie Pearce

Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister said the severe storms and resulting electricity outages had impacted livelihoods.

“This is a really difficult time for a lot of far western communities impacted by the recent storms and the power outages,” she said.

Applications for the disaster recovery allowance open at 2pm on Thursday and people can check their eligibility and apply for assistance through Services Australia and myGov.

The assistance comes after power companies Origin and Energy Australia agreed to defer bills for impacted customers.

The NSW government also announced support payments of $200 for residents and up to $400 for businesses.

The outages followed severe thunderstorms on October 17 which damaged powerlines, while back-up generators delivered intermittent power to 20,000 locals.

The region is expected to be reconnected to the national grid by Saturday as workers fix a 3.5km section of transmission lines.

Locals have been asked to minimise energy usage during evening peak periods.

AAP

Weight Watchers Australia has reversed a decision to shut the in-person workshops in Australia and slash its workforce of 150 staff.

“Following a strategic reassessment of our decision to close in-person workshops within this market, we’re happy to have found a path forward which will retain the majority of our workshops. We believe this updated strategy is the right one - and in the best interest of both our members and our company,” a spokeswoman said.

Oprah Winfrey stepped down from the Weight Watchers board in February. Credit: AP

“We have proudly supported our members in Australia and New Zealand for over 50 years, leading us to foster a loyal and engaged community, with in-person workshops playing a deeply meaningful and critical role.

“The in-person workshops have been a core part of its ethos of a person’s self-control being central to weight loss, but the global group struggles for financial survival against a new generation of weight loss drugs like Ozempic.

Weight Watchers US operations have already moved to online workshops and embraced GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic, to confront the existential threat to its traditional business which has sent its shares plunging from $US45 in 2020 to just $US1 this week.

US celebrity Oprah Winfrey dealt the group a major blow in February when she revealed that she was stepping down from the Weight Watchers board and donating her 10 per cent stake in the business to charity.

AGL shares slumped by more than 6 per cent on Thursday after investment bank Barrenjoey downgraded its call on the stock.

Barrenjoey analyst Dale Koenders issued a note saying the largest Australian power generator is approaching an “earnings hole” with the looming expiry of its cheap coal and gas supply contracts.

Barrenjoey lowered its earnings-per-share forecast for by between 8 and 13 per cent for the 2027 financial year, and 30 per cent in the 2028 financial year.

Expiring deals with gas supplier QGC and coal giant Peabody’s Wilpinjong coal mine, which supplies the fuel to burn at AGL’s Bayswater coal-fired power station, could lead to a deeper-than-expected $300 million reduction in underlying earnings, Koenders said.

But AGL had already started investing to offset lost earnings, he added, which would offset “much but not all of these lost earnings”.

AGL’s investments include $1 billion on a big battery at the site of its retired Liddell coal plant and an equity stake in the Kaluza smart energy and retail platform that would drive its retail transformation.

As we reported earlier, embattled supermarket giant Woolworths is today facing shareholders at its AGM, with the board to receive questions on the supermarket’s salmon farming practices as protesters gather outside.

The foundation of former federal Greens leader Bob Brown is backing the line of questioning inside the AGM, while a group called Neighbours of Fish Farming simultaneously campaigns outside the event.

Protesters travelled from Tasmania to share their message outside the Woolworths AGM.Credit: Louise Kennerley

The group led protests across the country on Wednesday and called on Woolworths to vote against stocking salmon from Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania - home to the endangered Maugean skate, a push that they continued today.

Campaigner Jess Coughlan was in Sydney for the protest and is representing the group at the supermarket’s AGM on Thursday.

“Shoppers were shocked to hear that they had no idea where their salmon was coming from, or the devastation it was causing in Tasmanian waterways,” Coughlan said.

“Many pledge to stop buying salmon.”

Woolworths has vowed to vote down the motion to cease selling the product, saying more information is needed on the environmental impacts.

The supermarket giant’s share price tumbled 5.8 per cent early on Wednesday after its trading update.