As it happened: Telecommunications act tweaks unveiled following Optus data breach; ministers at odds over tax cut debate

Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, could be heard in the tape saying they wanted to time the story for the March 2021 sitting week and parliamentary hearings. Higgins, which the court heard was a former media adviser, said it wasn’t her intention to damage the Liberal Party but, “you would naturally drop a story at the start of a sitting week.”

However, she said the discussions were led by Maiden and Wilkinson.

“They were fighting so that, come Walkleys time, who could claim what,” she told the court on Thursday referring to the journalism awards, adding she didn’t have any control over the timing of the story at that point.

“It became not even about me or my story, it became about them.”

Read more here.

The lowdown: The ASX fell at the open after a poor session on Wall Street overnight sapped the momentum from a two-day rally across global equities, but strong performances from energy stocks helped keep the market from sinking into the red.

Woodside and Santos were both trading higher as global oil prices jumped by around 1.5 per cent after the OPEC+ cartel of oil-exporting countries defied western governments by decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices.

Shares in AI crowdsourcer Appen plunged after another earnings downgrade. The stock dropped as much as 18 per cent to a low of $2.73 – its lowest since 2016 – as the company’s profit margins continue to shrink on the back of it receiving fewer high-margin, large contracts from the likes of Facebook, Google and Microsoft.

Read more here.

Four level crossings will also be removed along the Ballarat train line at Coburns, Exford and Ferris roads in Melton and Hopkins Road in Truganina by 2028.

But the premier could not say when train lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale, also in the outer west, will be electrified and served by Metro trains, which was part of the government’s Western Rail Plan announced a month before his 2018 landslide election victory.

“We promised to undertake a massive transformation of rail services throughout the west and that has to be done in stages,” Andrews said.

“The alternative, of course, is to shut the whole system down for an undefined period. You’ve got to do this in stages, you’ve got to do it in a logical, sequential way.”

Read more here.

“And in this regard, Solomon Islands will not do anything, prime minister, that will undermine our national security and jeopardise the security of any or all [Pacific Island] forum countries,” he said.

“Prime minister, I reiterate again that Solomon Islands will never be used for foreign military installations or institutions of foreign countries because this will not be in [the] interest of Solomon Islands.

Sogavare thanked Australia for helping to pay for next year’s Pacific Games and the Albanese government’s “kind offer” to help fund his nation’s elections.

Last month Sogavare accused Australia of launching an “an assault” on his nation’s democracy by publicly offering to pay for the scheduled 2023 elections.

Albanese told Sogavare he was a “very welcome guest” and that “building up trust” between the two nations was vital.

He said Australia regarded itself as being part of the “Pacific family”

“Like families, we won’t always agree on every single item but what we will agree on is common interests wherever we can,” he said.

Albanese said he looked forward to hosting Sogavare at the Lodge on Thursday night.

In February, WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby asked the EPA to review the greenhouse gas conditions imposed on Australia’s most expensive resource project.

Whitby’s spokeswoman said the minister would decide on the EPA’s recommendations – which are enforceable only with his approval – in due course.

To date, Chevron has been required to build a system capable of storing all of the about four million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide from offshore reservoirs along with natural gas and “implement all practicable means” to bury at least 80 per cent of the pollutant.

Chevron proposed that any new requirements should not be “disproportionate to their effectiveness” and only seek “best endeavours”, but the EPA considered this would be insufficiently clear or measurable.

Read more here.

“The way responsibilities are divided up is going to be impacted by this. What’s documented is going to be impacted by this. The way bug bounty programs are designed is going to be impacted by this,” said Chinmayi Sharma, a scholar in residence at the Robert Strauss Centre for International Security and Law and a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

Sullivan’s trial concluded on Friday, and the jury of six men and six women took more than 19 hours to reach a verdict.

“While we obviously disagree with the jury’s verdict, we appreciate their dedication and effort in this case,” said David Angeli, a lawyer for Sullivan. “Mr Sullivan’s sole focus — in this incident and throughout his distinguished career — has been ensuring the safety of people’s personal data on the internet.”

Stephanie M. Hinds, the US attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a statement: “We will not tolerate concealment of important information from the public by corporate executives more interested in protecting their reputation and that of their employers than in protecting users. Where such conduct violates the federal law, it will be prosecuted.”

Read more here.

Upper house MP Catherine Cumming says her Independence Party has more than 1000 members but claims an “archaic” mail process has caused delays to registration. The party intends to field two candidates in all eight upper house regions.

“I can count 100 people who didn’t even get the form,” said Cumming, who was elected as a member of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party in 2018 but quit the party after losing the ballot to be its leader. “They’ve created this archaic dinosaur process.”

However, the VEC, which checks members are on the electoral roll and also not in another party, said it was unaware of any mailing issues.

“The accuracy of the addresses in those lists are entirely matters for each applicant party,” a spokeswoman said.

Read more here.