As it happened: Coalition calls on Labor to deregister CFMEU; Trump to meet Putin to discuss war in Ukraine

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:

• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will challenge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to introduce national racketeering laws to tackle allegations of CFMEU corruption, describing the revelations about the union as “the biggest corruption scandal in our country’s history”.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned that Cyclone Alfred will punch a $1.2 billion hole in the upcoming federal budget while posing a threat to inflation.
• Administrators have taken over a struggling national chain of childcare centres, prompting warnings to staff of an “uncertain” and “challenging” future.
• In NSW, the state government’s controversial laws banning protests near places of worship are being challenged in the Supreme Court, and Premier Chris Minns is also facing a parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled MPs and the public over a criminal hoax that sparked the new legislation.
• In Victoria, a new police investigation codenamed Operation Hawk will be immediately established to probe “shocking and unacceptable” allegations of criminal activity at taxpayer-funded construction sites, Premier Jacinta Allan announced on Monday.
• In Queensland, Brisbane commuters will be able to tap their bank card, smartwatch, or phone to pay for bus fares from as early as next Monday with Translink set to roll out the final leg of its smart ticketing trial, three years later than promised.
• In Western Australia, the recruitment firm at the centre of a furore over the management of state’s election claims a letter penned by the state’s political parties to Premier Roger Cook demanding an inquiry is riddled with inaccuracies.
• In business news, the Australian sharemarket kicked off the week on a bright note, buoyed by a broad rally on Wall Street as a rise in iron ore prices drove mining stocks higher.
• In world news, US President Donald Trump says he plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

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NSW hospitals will be subjected to emergency accreditation visits to ensure junior doctors are being safely supervised after the mass resignation of dozens of psychiatrists.

Three doctors heavily involved in the dramatic mass resignation of more than 200 public hospital psychiatrists gave evidence to the Industrial Relations Commission on Monday, the first of a five-day hearing to strike a deal between their union and the NSW government.

Pramudie Gunaratne speaks at a press conference in January.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Dr Pramudie Gunaratne, the NSW chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, told the court that the college was planning emergency accreditation visits to hospitals across NSW in response to concerns raised by trainees.

“They [trainees] have been finding that on one six-month rotation, they may have five or six different supervisors,” she said.

“Trainees have to observe what good psychiatric care looks like … [and] when you’re changing every month, then the quality of that training for those registrars is significantly diminished.”

Gunaratne said some local health districts were now failing to meet even the bare minimum mandatory training hours for registrars.

During cross-examination, lawyers for NSW Health suggested the college played a role in coordinating the resignations and the accreditation visits were designed to “ram home” the impact on the health system in order to force the government to act.

A full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission will hear evidence until Friday, with the aim of reaching a fair agreement between the government and the union representing the psychiatrists – the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (ASMOF).

Lawyers for the union revealed they also wanted any deal struck this week to require the government to commit to hiring a certain number of psychiatrists. That is on top of their main demand, which is a 25 per cent “recruitment and retention” bonus they say would address psychiatry vacancies in the NSW public system.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving has called on employers to confront organised crime in the building industry, describing corruption in the construction sector as a problem that the new union leadership cannot solve alone.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Irving condemned footage aired in a joint investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes last night that showed a CFMEU health and safety representative bashing his girlfriend while he was on his lunchbreak.

CFMEU administrator Mark Irving.Credit: Joe Armao

“It was horrifying and disgusting,” Irving said.

“This a systemic problem, and a systemic failure. We have all failed women. The union has failed women and will do better. The employers have failed women and must do better.”

Amid reports that organised crime infiltration of the CFMEU was rampant and ongoing, Irving said developers and employers across the building industry also needed to “step up” and stop doing business with bikies.

“It is my view that creating a construction industry free of corruption cannot be achieved by the [CFMEU] administration alone,” he said. “Every decent player in the industry needs to do some of the heavy lifting.”

He added: “The vast majority of decent honest union members and organisers are amongst the many victims of organised crime and bikies in the industry.”

Irving welcomed the Victorian and federal government announcements earlier today. He said he had spoken to Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt about next steps to tackle the problem.

“Specifically, I urge employers to perform their positive duty to implement measures to eliminate, as far as possible, sexual harassment of workers,” Irving said.

Profit margins for Australia’s airport carparks have surged over 60 per cent for the second year on the back of robust demand for travel, especially to international destinations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) airport monitoring report for 2023-24 showed combined parking revenues at Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth hit $2.6 billion – a 24.3 per cent rise.

A Qantas plane on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport.Credit: Luis Ascui

Melbourne had the cheapest short-term parking at $15 for 30-60 minutes, compared to $16.80 at Perth, $23.60 in Sydney and $23 in Brisbane.

For long-term parking, Melbourne was again the cheapest: $37.19 for 2-3 days, against a whopping $78.70 in Perth. Sydney at $63.17 pipped Brisbane at $60.60 in the same period.

The increase occurred “despite the four major airports collectively handling fewer passengers than before the pandemic”, the ACCC report said, as the lingering effects on consumer behaviour remain evident.

Passenger numbers grew by 13.7 per cent to 114.6 million since 2022-23 at the four airports, but remained 4.7 per cent below 2018-19 levels.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil maintains the federal government has taken the “strongest possible action” against the scandal-plagued CFMEU and said deregistering the construction union won’t fix misconduct in the building industry.

Speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Monday, the Victorian MP expressed her disgust over footage aired in a joint investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes last night that showed a bikie-linked CFMEU health and safety representative bashing his girlfriend while he was on his lunchbreak.

Minister for Housing Clare O’Neil (pictured in February) expressed her disgust over footage aired in a joint investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I have seen some of the footage and it’s gut-wrenching,” O’Neil said.

“The footage of a full-grown male beating up a woman – it absolutely turned my stomach.

“The union movement’s supposed to be about standing up for people who can’t protect themselves, and I can’t think of any more anti-union thing I have ever seen.”

O’Neil pushed back against Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s proposal to deregister the CFMEU given persistent allegations of misconduct.

“It would be on the table if it was going to be help us resolve the situation, but it absolutely won’t,” she said.

“We have taken, with regard to the CFMEU, the strongest possible action that there is. We have taken the union out of the hands of the people trying to do the wrong thing, and put it in the hands of an independent administrator. We are continuing to work with that administrator to make sure he’s got the powers and resources that he needs.

“I don’t know if Peter Dutton can actually really know what he’s talking about here, if he’s [calling for] deregistration. All that would do, is mean that the union is basically open for lawlessness.”

Australian shares have finished higher for the second session in a row after a Wall Street turnaround and fresh stimulus hopes from China.

As markets closed, the S&P/ASX200 was up 55 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 7844.7 points.

The ASX 200 edged higher on Monday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The local bourse followed a rebound on Wall Street during Friday’s session, after an eleventh-hour funding deal saved the US government from a partial shutdown.

Talk of China boosting domestic consumption with fresh stimulus measures has buoyed iron ore and oil prices, giving local miners and energy stocks a lift.

The Australian dollar was buying US63.25¢, up from US62.95¢ on Friday at 5pm.

AAP

US President Donald Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he pushes to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump disclosed the coming conversation to reporters while flying from Florida to Washington on Air Force One on Sunday evening (Monday AEDT).

President Donald Trump waves from his limousine as he leaves Trump International Golf Club last weekend.Credit: AP

“We will see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I will be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday,” Trump said. “A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end.”

Trump said land and power plants are part of the conversation around bringing the war to a close.

“We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” he said.

Trump described it as “dividing up certain assets”.

AP

Australia’s business council and the Victorian opposition have both called for a royal commission into the CFMEU after this masthead revealed allegations of violence against women, organised crime infiltration and corruption.

In a statement issued today, Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said it was clear the appointment of a CFMEU administrator was inadequate as alleged criminal conduct continued, including “standover payments to underworld figures being employed on taxpayer-funded infrastructure sites and the shocking treatment of women”.

“These allegations are incredibly serious and it’s clear that only a royal commission will have the ability to stop the bleeding from any ongoing criminal behaviour,” Black said.

Separately, the Victorian opposition has renewed its calls for a royal commission into the construction union’s Victorian branch. It will move a non-binding motion on the issue through the state parliament’s upper house on Tuesday.

Asked what could be done to take action now, Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the state government should be kicking alleged bikies off its Big Build worksites.

Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin speaks last week.Credit: Christopher Hopkins

Opposition spokesman for major projects Evan Mulholland said the state government’s review by Greg Wilson was a “wet lettuce approach” and that Premier Jacinta Allan had sat on its recommendations for months.

“It was a pathetic approach, and we know now that it was a cover-up,” Mulholland said.

Premier Jacinta Allan said a federal royal commission into the building and construction sector delivered “very little”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged funding of up to $35 million to rebuild the firebombed Melbourne synagogue if he wins government.

Speaking from outside the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne in Ripponlea this afternoon, Dutton said the wreckage from the attack in December was “very confronting”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visiting Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne on Monday.Credit: Justin McManus

“What I wanted to announce today was that Coalition government would provide funding of up to $35 million to provide support to build back ... this synagogue, this centre, and this wonderful contribution to life here in the local community,” he said.

“We want to bring it back to life. Much bigger and better. That is a symbolic response to those people who have hate in their hearts.”

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has hit back at the Coalition’s call to deregister the CFMEU, describing the move as a “reckless plan” that would “hand control of the union back to the very criminals we are beginning to remove”.

Earlier today, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton again demanded the construction union be deregistered following another investigation by this masthead that revealed more allegations of misconduct among CFMEU officials.

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Watt announced today that he would refer allegations of criminality by CFMEU members to federal police after a bikie-linked man was caught on camera assaulting a woman while on his lunchbreak at a state-funded construction project.

But in a social media post about 2pm, the employment minister pushed back against the Coalition’s proposals for the construction union, arguing they would be counterproductive.

“Peter Dutton’s reckless plan for the CFMEU would hand control of the union back to the very criminals we are beginning to remove. Deregistering the union would allow it to operate without ANY regulation, with the worst elements free to run rampant on construction sites again,” he said.

Watt said the Coalition’s plan would end the CFMEU’s current administration under Mark Irving, KC, which was intended to weed out corruption and criminality. He also suggested the Coalition’s plan to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was flawed, claiming the regulator that Labor abolished merely “prosecuted workers for having union stickers on their helmets” and allowed construction union misconduct to take hold.

“Now the administrator is beginning to clean up the union, and police have established active operations with state police forces and are conducting raids, Peter Dutton wants to recklessly close it all down,” Watt said.

“We don’t need to import an American racketeering law – we already have our own laws to go after ‘kingpins’, such as section 390.6 of the Criminal Code, which already deals with directing criminal organisation.

“Peter Dutton’s reckless desire for a headline puts at risk the investigations and crime-fighting that the Coalition never bothered to commence in their decade in office.”