As it happened: PM to announce Voice referendum date next week; Strep A infections surge across nation

A court has issued violence restraining orders against a group of climate activists over a failed protest at the Woodside Energy boss’s family home.

The gas company said the interim orders were issued against four activists allegedly involved in the action outside chief executive Meg O’Neill’s Perth residence earlier in the month.

They prevent the activists, who are part of the Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign, from commenting publicly about O’Neill or the alleged attempted protest outside her house that was foiled by West Australian counter-terrorism police.

The protesters were previously charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and granted bail with strict conditions that prevent them from approaching O’Neill or Woodside property.

If there’s one thing that we know about Jim Chalmers’ first intergenerational report, it’s that most of its forecasts will prove wrong.

Since Peter Costello released the first intergenerational report, every one of them have got at least one key fact incorrect – from the number of Australians to the health of the budget.

While the reports paint an important general picture of the future, the fine detail falls short.

In Costello’s first effort, released in 2002, Australia’s population was forecast to grow from 19.6 million to 25.3 million by the early 2040s.

The prognostication, made before the birth of Costello’s baby bonus, was based on expectations of very low levels of net migration (just 90,000 a year), a drop in female fertility and only a moderate increase in expected lifespans.

Retail Food Group, the parent company of Gloria Jean’s, Donut King, Michel’s Patisserie, Crust Pizza and more, has wrapped up lengthy turnaround efforts for the franchise food business that had been suffering for several years.

The group is now at the tail-end of its massive restructuring project that began in 2017 after this masthead uncovered systemic wage fraud, sham employment contracts, and underpayments in many of its franchisee outlets operating under a brutal business model.

Over several years, the franchise operator shut hundreds of stores, settled legal action with the ACCC and paid franchisees $10 million, saw a revolving door of chief executives, and faced investigations after deliberately selling Michel’s Patisserie cakes months after their use-by date.

But in the 2023 financial year, Retail Food Group notched an 8 per cent lift in underlying revenue to $98 million and a 21 per cent increase in underlying earnings to $26 million. Gross profits lifted 9.3 per cent to $69.1 million.

The Minns government’s “incredibly disappointing” environmental record could see the NSW Greens withhold its support in the hung parliament.

In the first sign the NSW government’s progressive parliamentary bloc may be fracturing, Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann attacked the decision to reinstall 51 shark nets along the state’s coastline, accusing Labor of breaking an election commitment.

Faehrmann on Wednesday joined a cross-party alliance of members from the Coalition, Animal Justice Party, Liberal Democrats and independents to call for the implementation of alternative technologies to the controversial shark nets.

“We’re standing here today and saying ‘Enough is enough’. You cannot continue to take our support for granted if you continue to act against the interests of the environment, against your promises at the election,” she said.

Indigenous people are yet to gain full engagement with federal and state governments to close the gap on disadvantage in key fields like education and health, says the head of the Productivity Commission, Michael Brennan, ahead of a decision in the next few days on the Voice referendum date.

Brennan says the governments need deeper consultation with Aboriginal communities to lift outcomes, but he stops short of publicly backing the Indigenous Voice ahead of the vote, expected on October 14.

While the debate over the Voice is dominated by politics, Brennan used a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday to issue a warning about underlying disadvantage.

The Closing the Gap agreement between Canberra and the states, signed in 2020, was meant to improve outcomes on 17 targets across areas such as health, education and incarceration, but he says only four of those are on track to improve.

“Governments are busy, if you tally up the actions under all of the implementation plans, by our nine jurisdictions, you will come up with 2000 actions which are purporting in some way to be contributing towards closing the gap. But this busyness is really just business as usual,” he says.