Australia news live: ATO reveals almost a third of companies paid no income tax in 2022-23; two NSW police dogs die in car

Faruqi says court win sends message that ‘racists will be held accountable’

Kate Lyons

Senator Faruqi, who was in tears in the courtroom as the judge handed down his ruling – as were most of her legal team – has addressed the media outside the federal court, saying that the win today was legally “historic” and sent “a strong message to racists that they will be held accountable”.

“Today is a good day for people of colour, Muslims and all of us who have been working to build an anti-racist society,” she said.

Today is a win for every single person who has been told to go back to where they came from – and believe me there are too many of us who have been subjected to this ultimate racist slur far too many times in this country.

Telling someone to go back to where they came from is a strong form of racism and it is also an affirmation for migrants that people of colour do not have to be grateful or to keep quiet, and I will be speaking out more loudly and more strongly than ever before

Faruqi said the judgment “draws a line that hate speech is not free speech and those who subject people to racial abuse will not get away scot-free.”

Today’s judgment is landmark, it is historic and it is groundbreaking and it will set a new precedent of how racism is viewed in this country. It is a warning for people like Pauline Hanson and I do hope it emboldens individuals and communities to assert their right to live free from racism.

Faruqi thanked her family, staff and legal team, saying:

The decision to take Pauline Hanson to court was not taken lightly and it has taken a very personal toll on me and my family, but I did it for everyone in this country who feels and is targeted by the destructive impact of racist language.

Today I have been vindicated and all those people who face racism have been vindicated as well.

Natasha May

Boom in new doctors as record numbers move to Australia, Butler says

The most recent cohort of new doctors was the largest influx in over a decade, with one new doctor added every hour last year on average, the health minister Mark Butler says.

The registration of 9,490 new doctors in in 2023-24 was even greater than the 2022-23 cohort of 8,356 new doctors which at the time was the largest influx of new doctors in more than a decade, according to a statement released by the health minister this morning.

The boom is driven by record numbers of internationally qualified doctors moving to Australia, Butler says.

The 5,431 doctors from overseas registered to practise in Australia in the past financial year represents an 80% increase than the 2,991 doctors who registered in 2018/19, the last year before Covid.

It follows changes implemented under the Kruk review which have reduced the time for internationally qualified doctors’ applications to be assessed, which went from over 100 days in 2021-22 to less than 70 days in 2023-24.

Butler says there are also more doctors choosing to become general practitioners, bucking the trend which has seen government reports warn there would not be enough to meet growing healthcare needs.

In 2024, there was a 13% increase on the year before of doctors accepting a place on a government-funded training program to become a GP or rural GP with more than 1,600.

Next year there are expected to be more than 1,750 offers made to junior doctors to begin GP training, leading to an intake that could be up to 10% larger than 2024, according to the health minister.

Butler said:

We know the difficulty that too many Australians face getting in to see a doctor and we are doing everything we can to attract, train and retain more doctors.

Rafqa Touma

NSW expands Indigenous youth program to deter from crime

The Safe Aboriginal Youth program is expanding to new locations across NSW, as part of the Minns government’s reforms announced in Moree.

The program, which provides a safe transport and outreach service to keep young people off the streets late at night, is designed to help divert young people from crime and reduce the risk of them becoming victims of crime.

It will have new locations in Moree, Orange, Coffs Harbour and Tamworth, and will also expand services in Dubbo. These locations were identified after consultation with local communities and analysis of crime data. The program already operates in Kempsey, Taree, Newcastle, Dubbo, Bourke and Wilcannia.

This expansion is part of the Minns Labor Government’s $26.2m package of initiatives it says will address youth crime in regional NSW. Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations will be prioritised to manage services in new locations.

“The journey for every young person across NSW is different, and we want to make sure as many young people as possible have opportunities to find a positive path in life,” Minister for youth justice Jihad Dib said.

“Our priority is to keep young people safe, supported and away from possible involvement with the justice system.”

Minister for Aboriginal affairs and treaty David Harris said:

Early intervention is critical to giving at-risk youth the best chance of staying away from harmful activities and getting their lives on a positive pathway.

ATO reveals almost a third of companies paid no income tax in 2022-23

Elias Visontay

Australia’s largest corporations paid almost $100bn in income tax in a year, fresh statistics published by the government reveal.

The latest data, released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on Friday, covers the 2022-23 financial year, and reveals the office received $97.9bn in income tax from large corporations, an increase of 16.7% from the previous year.

ATO deputy commissioner Rebecca Saint said that when also considering additional tax revenue raised by the ATO’s tax avoidance task force, revenues from large corporates totalled $100bn in 2022-23.

Tax paid by the oil and gas sector increased from $1.5bn in 2021-22 to $11.6bn in 2022-23, with some oil and gas companies now among the largest taxpayers in Australia, Saint said. This result was driven by a combination of commodity prices, the project production life cycle and ATO intervention, she said.

The ATO noted that the $100bn figure for 2022-23 was difficult to compare to previous years, because the definition of what was considered a large corporation in the corporate tax transport (CCT) report increased to cover Australian-owned private entities with total income above $100m, up from the $200m threshold in previous years.

The share of entities that paid no income tax has decreased from 36% in 2013–14 to 31% in 2022–23.

Saint said:

While there are legitimate reasons why a company may pay no income tax, the Australian community can be assured we pay close attention to those who pay no income tax to ensure that they are not trying to game the system.

Kate Lyons

Faruqi in tears after court ruling

An emotional Senator Mehreen Faruqi hugged her legal team in tears after a judge declared that a tweet from Senator Pauline Hanson about her, in which Hanson said Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan”, had breach Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Justice Angus Stewart found the tweet from Hanson, in response to one posted by Faruqi regarding the Queen’s death, portrayed Faruqi as a “second-class citizen” who “took advantage” of Australia and as a migrant to the country “should be grateful for what she has and keep quiet”, which he declared to be “exclusionary”.

Stewart also found Hanson’s comment that Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan” was a “variant of the slogan ‘go back to from where you came from’”, which he said was an “evident racist trope” and a “strong form of racism”.

Justice Angus Stewart has found that Pauline Hanson’s tweet, where she said Mehreen Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan”, is unlawful.

Hanson will need to delete the tweet and pay Faruqi’s costs for the proceedings.

Stewart rejected Hanson’s arguments, including that Faruqi’s tweet on the Queen’s passing justified her response, and that it did not fall within the fair comment exemption because it was a “angry, personal attack”.

The judge said:

The court has concluded that the tweet was reasonably likely in all the circumstances to have been profoundly and seriously offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating to a significant number of members of the identified groups and to the reasonable targeted person in the position of Senator Faruqi.

Based on frequent public statements made by Senator Hanson over nearly three decades, the court has found that Senator Hanson has a tendency to make negative, derogatory, discriminating or hateful statements in relation to about or against groups of people relevantly identified as persons of colour, migrants to Australia and Muslims, and to do so because of those characteristics.

He said that under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, the post was unlawful in that “it was reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend and self humiliate and intimidate the applicant and groups of people, namely people of colour who are migrants to Australia or are Australians of relatively recent migrant heritage and Muslims who are people of colour in Australia”.

Andrew Messenger

Queensland truth-telling inquiry’s halt ‘unprecedented’ – chair

Queensland’s truth-telling and healing inquiry has been paused following comments by the state’s new premier, David Crisafulli.

The LNP, which won government at the weekend, had committed to shut down the inquiry and repeal its legislation. That would also end the pathway to treaties with Aboriginal Queenslanders.

On late Thursday afternoon chairperson Joshua Creamer said to do so would be “unprecedented”.

“It must be noted that this is unprecedented. It is unheard of that an independent inquiry be shut down by a change of government,” he said.

If the inquiry is formally stopped it will be a lost opportunity for the state. We are not going to get another opportunity at this in the next decade, two decades, in my lifetime.

Crisafulli told a press conference earlier Thursday that he would repeal the Pathway to Treaty Act as one of his first acts in government. The bill will be repealed this year, he said.

The inquiry has sittings planned for December.

“We won’t be allowing those to go ahead, but it’ll be done with respect and decency, and there will be a relentless focus from the government departments to do good by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Crisafulli said, on Thursday.

Crisafulli said his “strong advice” to the people running the inquiry is “the new government has been very clear that we are not embarking on that process”.

Creamer said he’d had no communication from the new government.

However, based on the Premier’s comments, the Inquiry will pause its current workplan until further information is available. This pause aligns with our trauma-aware and healing- informed approach and is to protect the wellbeing of participants and all Queenslanders currently engaged with the Inquiry.

People sharing their stories to capture an accurate history of our state is not divisive and I’m hopeful the Inquiry can remain in some form to continue this critical work before it’s too late.

The LNP voted for the treaty and truthtelling laws in 2023, but changed its mind after the failed voice referendum last year.

About 68% of Queenslanders voted no in the voice referendum last year, the highest of any state.

Elias Visontay

Two NSW police dogs die during transport to training day

Police in New South Wales will investigate how two dogs from its canine units died while being driven to a training day.

NSW Police announced they had launched an investigation after police dog Xtra and development dog Soldier were found dead within an air-conditioned pod inside a purpose built police vehicle.

In the statement, police said the dogs’ handlers had driven them to a development day at “a Lucas Heights facility”. Lucas Heights is a suburb in south-west Sydney known as the home of Australia’s only nuclear reactor.

“About 12.30pm, the handler conducted a routine check, finding PD Xtra and DD Soldier deceased in the police vehicle,” the statement said.

The dogs were taken to a specialist veterinary clinic but were unable to be revived.

PD Xtra, a German Shepherd, was accredited as a general-purpose dog in July 2018 and was attached to the Newcastle/Central Coast Dog Unit. DD Soldier, a German Shepherd, commenced service with the Dog Unit in February 2024 for training and development.

NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb said “today is a very sad day for the Dog Unit and the thoughts of the whole police family are with them”. “We owe it to PD Xtra and DD Soldier to conduct a thorough investigation.”

Josh Taylor

Labor receives online safety review ahead of law revamp

The federal government has received an independent review of the Online Safety Act that will form an overhaul of the law, expected to be announced before the end of the year.

The review, conducted by Delia Rickard PSM, began in April and received over 2,200 responses and held meetings with over 100 stakeholders.

The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, did not release the report to the public, but said the recommendations would be considered and responded to “shortly”.

It comes as the eSafety commissioner abandoned a legal fight last month against Elon Musk’s X platform over attempting to force the removal of dozens of tweets with the video of the stabbing of a Wakeley church bishop in April. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, indicated that it was better to address the validity of her powers over the platforms in the Online Safety Act review rather than through a court process.

It is also expected that changes to the Online Safety Act will include the introduction of age assurance to restrict access to social media for younger teens, pending the outcome of a trial of the technologies that could be used.

Elias Visontay

Flight attendants set for pay rises up to 28% under new IR laws

New industrial relations laws that come into effect from today mean that hundreds of flight attendants stand to benefit from pay rises up to 28%.

The ‘same job same pay’ laws mean that airlines such as Qantas – which has been criticised for employing cabin crew on an array of different agreements, including some directly and others through third parties – can no longer pay workers on the same flight at different rates.

In a statement, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said more than 800 cabin crew employed through labour hire firms will see pay rises of up to 28% from today.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said “these wage increases are life-changing for flight attendants and their loved ones”.

Working people across many industries are experiencing the benefits of the Albanese Government refusing to bend to big business who lobbied hard to stop these laws, including CEOs like [former Qantas chief] Alan Joyce.

Flight Attendants Association of Australia federal secretary Teri O’Toole said:

“Some of our cabin crew can earn significantly less than directly employed crew despite doing the same job, all because they are technically employed by a labour hire company.

This first wave of pay rises for our members will go a long way in restoring dignity to our profession. Cabin crew are undervalued and underpaid for the tireless work they do every day.

Earlier in that same interview, Bridget McKenzie admitted she had actually received a flight upgrade, after earlier this week being adamant she hadn’t.

The shadow transport minister apologised on air, saying she has asked Qantas, Virgin and administrators of Rex for her flight records to clear up anything she hadn’t declared.

Earlier this week, I said I’d never received an upgrade. I checked my records, and checked that I declared an upgrade. So that, for me, you know, really instigated how to getting to the bottom of this.

And I think really the only way can do that is by getting a full log of flights and upgrades from the three domestic airlines. I’ve been calling on the prime minister as a way since last weekend to actually do the same.

And so I don’t probably believe I should be subjecting other people to standards I’m not prepared to subject myself to. So when that information comes in, I will be obviously updating my declarations.

I think for transparency and accountability, I have to obviously update a public declarations as quickly as possible.

Amanda Meade

New Radio National Breakfast host is Sally Sara

Seasoned foreign correspondent Sally Sara will take over as Radio National Breakfast host next year.

The presenter of ABC Radio’s The World Today since 2020, Sara has reported from more than 40 countries as an ABC foreign correspondent, including Africa, Iraq, India and Afghanistan.

Sara said:

I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to join the Radio National Breakfast team. I can’t wait. I will work hard to engage the audience with stories from across the country and around the world.

Sara replaces Patricia Karvelas, who will present Afternoon Briefing on the ABC News channel next year, as well as Q+A and weekly political wrap The Party Room.

Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you to take you through the day’s news.

We begin with Gina Rinehart, whose company Hancock Prospecting has just reported a bumper profit of $5.6bn. The enormous profit mostly comes from consistent iron ore volumes coming out of the Roy Hill, Hope Downs and Atlas Iron operations – with a record output from Roy Hill. In a statement, Hancock Prospecting also made a note of the $3.9bn it paid in taxes in the past year.

Elsewhere, Queensland’s truth-telling inquiry is under threat, with the newly installed LNP government intent on shutting it down. Premier David Crisafulli told a press conference on Thursday that he would repeal the Pathway to Treaty Act as one of his first acts in government. The bill would be repealed this year, he said, leaving scheduled sittings in December in flux.

We’ll bring you more on those stories, and everything else happening around the country as it comes. Stay tuned.