Australia news as it happened: NSW rail workers wage deal stalls; Tasmania debates no-confidence motion of Rockliff; Shadow treasurer urges Labor to ‘drop’ super tax proposal

Thanks for following our live blog. That’s a wrap for today – stay tuned for more live news coverage tomorrow.

Here’s a quick rundown of today’s top stories:

• Teal candidate Nicolette Boele has won Bradfield after a tight recount, defeating Liberal rival Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes.
• Former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson backed calls from Defence Force chief Admiral David Johnston for higher defence spending.
• Greens leader Larissa Waters called Senator Dorinda Cox’s split from the party disappointing, denying claims that Cox told the new leader to “grow a spine”.
• Under-siege Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff shot back at Opposition Leader Dean Winter after a move to debate a no-confidence motion led by Winter succeeded. MPs are debating on the decision, with an outcome expected later today.
• US President Donald Trump signed a directive to raise steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent, with a carve-out for the UK to be reviewed after July 9.
• Westpac’s RAMS home loan franchises are facing legal action after submitting fake payslips to approve mortgage applications, according to the corporate watchdog.
• Opposition deputy leader Ted O’Brien slammed Labor’s proposed superannuation changes as an economic “disaster”, and urged the government to drop its proposal.
• A housemate of missing Queensland teen Pheobe Bishop has been arrested after police suspended searches.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday issued his most forthright defence of his superannuation policy.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

• Elon Musk criticised Donald Trump’s proposed tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.
• Australia’s economy grew by just 0.2 per cent in the March quarter, below the expected 0.3 per cent.
• The NSW government and Electrical Trades Union are locked in a dispute over a proposed enterprise agreement to end a bitter train network standoff.
• The Dutch government collapsed over disagreements on immigration, likely triggering a snap election. Meanwhile in South Korea, opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung won the presidency, ending months of political turmoil.

Thanks again for tuning in – see you tomorrow.

Staff at Westpac’s RAMS home loan franchises submitted fake payslips from employers that did not exist to get mortgage applications over the line, the corporate watchdog says in a new court case alleging “systemic misconduct” within the lender.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Wednesday launched legal action against RAMS, a home lending business that Westpac bought in 2007. Westpac closed RAMS to new customers in August last year.

Westpac says RAMS is working co-operatively with ASIC to resolve the proceedings as quickly as possible.Credit: Getty Images

The case, which follows investigations by ASIC, alleges RAMS was in breach of the Credit Act by failing to properly supervise representatives of the company, and it says this resulted in “widespread misconduct” by RAMS franchisees and staff.

RAMS admitted it conducted business with unlicensed persons, failed to properly supervise its representatives, and failed to have proper policies and procedures in place.

Westpac, which has previously acknowledged misconduct in RAMS, said RAMS was working with ASIC to resolve the proceedings as quickly as possible.

Read the full story here.

When Michael J. Fox – aka Marty McFly – blew the minds of a 1955 dance hall with a face-melting rendition of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode, it was immediately iconic.

But the guitar has never been seen since filming wrapped up on the first Back to the Future film. Something the brand behind the axe – Gibson – is looking to change.

Fox, Christopher Lloyd (aka The Doc) and others have issued a public call for help to find “the most famous guitar in cinema history”.

While of course that’s up for debate, (Jack Black’s six-string from School of Rock and a few from the spoof rockumentary, Spinal Tap, might be challengers), the red ES-345 definitely has a place in film history – even if the model started going on sale in 1959, four years after the scene in the film was set.

“It’s in some teamster’s garage,” Fox joked in a video on Gibson’s social media.

The cast did not address why, 10 years on from the year 2015 portrayed in Back to the Future II, we are still without hoverboards.

Sexual violence in Australia has been described as “invisible” with the justice system failing to deliver outcomes for survivors, as experts call for a stronger message to be sent to perpetrators.

In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Australian Law Reform Commission president Justice Mordy Bromberg and Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin outlined the barriers survivors faced when accessing justice.

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin and Australian Law Reform Commission president Justice Mordy Bromberg at the National Press Club.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Most people who perpetrated sexual violence in Australia faced no consequences, Bromberg said.

“This means that in our society, sexual violence is typically invisible,” he said.

“The perpetrators of sexual violence need to be brought to justice for their conduct to be exposed, renounced and addressed, and for a message to be sent to all that sexual violence will no longer occur with impunity.”

In Australia, the annual economic cost of gender-based violence against women and children is estimated at $26 billion.

Sexual violence survivors are often disempowered, disrespected and re-traumatised by the response of the justice system to their reports. This includes police officers, lawyers and the wider court system.

Pathways to civil and restorative justice needed to be made clearer to allow people access to alternative outcomes other than criminal proceedings, Bromberg said.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

AAP

O’Brien has described Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian’s narrow loss in the NSW seat of Bradfield as a “really sad result” after independent Nicolete Boele secured the seat by a margin of 26 votes.

Asked if the recent Liberal leadership vote which resulted in Sussan Ley elected as opposition leader should be revisited given Kapterian had been included, O’Brien said the ballot process was “standard”.

“No, that’s the usual approach taken. Advice is received by the parliamentary wing from the federal director as to who should be given a franchise to vote in the party room and that’s standard process,” he said.

Opposition deputy leader and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien is up again, this time on Afternoon Briefing where he has doubled-down on the Coalition’s promise to rally against Labor’s proposed super tax changes.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and deputy leader Ted O’Brien.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

O’Brien said the Coalition was no longer interested in negotiating with the government on its planned changes after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government would not compromise on taxing unrealised capital gains.

“This is a dreadful tax, and therefore we need to fight against it,” O’Brien said on Afternoon Briefing.

“If the prime minister or the treasurer wishes to engage and speak to the Coalition, of course we’ll speak to them. But the way the tax is presented today, the fact it increases taxes, it has unrealised capital gains, it’s not indexing … none of those things align with our values.”

Richardson has gone on to say that he agrees Australia should look to increase its defence spending after he was asked about the request made by the United States that Australia boost its spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP.

Richardson backed calls from Australia’s Defence Force chief Admiral David Johnston who said Australia was “fully expending its [defence] budget at the moment”.

Australian army soldiers train at RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory.Credit: Pfc. Matthew Mackintosh / Department of Defence

“Very often in the past, the defence budget has been under-expended, underutilised, and that’s been used as an argument against increasing the defence budget. We’re now in a position where defence is spending every dollar allocated to it,” he said.

Richardson said he believed the government was still open to considering an adjustment to the budget to increase its defence spending.

“But obviously, they want to go through a proper process to arrive at a rational decision and not simply make an announcement one day after the secretary of defence in the United States has demanded that we do this or that,” he said.

Former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson says the Australian Strategic Policy Institute – a think tank which last week accused the government of failing to spend enough on defence – has acted “very partisan” in recent years.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Australian Strategic Policy Institute needs to think about how it is conducting itself.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, Richardson said he had “a lot of time” for the institute which he described as having been more “disciplined” lately.

“I don’t think they were seeking to be partisan a few days ago,” he said, referencing their annual analysis of defence spending.

“However, at different points over the past five years, they have been very partisan, and I believe they’ve stepped out of their remit at different points.”

The NSW government and the Electrical Trades Union are at loggerheads over one final sticking point in a proposed enterprise agreement that would bring an end to a bitter dispute that has crippled Sydney’s train network.

NSW Transport Minister John Graham.Credit: Oscar Colman

On Friday, the government announced it had come to an agreement with the combined rail unions for a 12 per cent pay rise over three years. However, the government still hadn’t smoothed everything over with the ETU.

The union wants its qualified electrician members to be classified separately in the agreement. The other negotiating unions, including the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, are ready to put the deal to a vote after the months-long dispute.

Despite feeling confident the issue would be resolved at a Monday meeting, the state government is still at the negotiating table.

“Enterprise agreement negotiations are complex but in this situation, it’s really clear: we need an enterprise agreement that actually retains and protects qualified tradespeople on our network otherwise our trains won’t work. It’s as simple as that,” ETU NSW organiser Jesse Savill said.

South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myung, vowed on Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the United States and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.

Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier on Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-president Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

New president Lee Jae-myung and his wife, Kim Hea-Kyung, celebrate in front of the National Assembly on Wednesday.Credit: AP

In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said that his government would deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance. But he said he would “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and co-operation”.

He said he’d pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighbouring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo co-operation.

“Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximise our national interests,” Lee said.

AP