Australia news live: Qantas launches investigation into trans-Tasman mayday; superannuation crackdown on sex offenders | Australia news
Good morning
And welcome to Wednesday’s Guardian Australia live blog.
Qantas has launched an investigation into an engine issue on QF144 from Auckland to Sydney yesterday. Qantas engineers and aviation safety inspectors are set to examine the plane’s jet to determine why it failed, prompting a mayday call and emergency landing. The flight landed safely at Sydney airport at about 3.30pm and Qantas said all 145 passengers disembarked the aircraft normally.
Convicted child sexual abusers will be prevented from hiding their assets in superannuation under a federal government proposal released today, as reported by the ABC. Under the proposed changes, victims of child sexual abuse would also be able to access compensation via the release of an offenders superannuation. The proposal follows a long campaign by Grace Tame, former Australian of the Year.
Speaking of superannuation, new Treasury analysis shows that in the September quarter, about $1.5bn in increased super contributions were paid into employees’ accounts, marking an increase of 5% from the previous quarter. The assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, Stephen Jones, said:
These contributions don’t just help provide dignity in retirement for millions of Australians.
They add to the $3.3tn pool of national savings that benefit the overall economy.
I’m Emily Wind, stay tuned as we bring you the latest today. And if you see anything that needs our attention, you can tweet it my way @emilywindwrites.
Key events
Chris Bowen ‘expects’ gas companies to comply with law
When asked if customers who are trying to get new contracts are being offered rates much higher than before, Chris Bowen said the government’s intervention would see the first year’s price rise come down from 20% to 18%, and the second year’s price rise come down to 4%. He added:
The gas companies are saying that they need to make sure they comply with the law, I accept that on face value … that is what they are doing.
And the government expects them, as the law provides, to supply gas at reasonable prices to Australian firms and individuals. I expect that to be the case.
So if there’s a disagreement here, is it in the nuance about any additional gas that’s getting into the market and how it’s being sold at this point, given that the bulk of contracts between the suppliers and the retailers for this year would have been signed and agreed some time ago.
It will take ‘some time’ for gas price caps to flow to retail – energy minister
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, is on ABC RN Breakfast this morning, to discuss whether gas producers will comply with the governments price caps and if they can be forced to supply more to the domestic market.
When asked if the market intervention is backfiring, he said:
Not at all, on the contrary. What we are seeing is some time, as we always said, for our wholesale cap to flow through to retail prices.
Of course you’re going to see, as we’ve always said, a little bit of time for the wholesale price cap to flow through to retail price caps.
What we said, we were expecting a 20% increase in 2021 to 2023 and then a 20% increase in 2024. That was what the Treasury analysis we put upfront in the budget [said], and then we say that that’s not acceptable to us. The first increase is built into the system. And the second huge increase in effect we can deal with.
Good morning
And welcome to Wednesday’s Guardian Australia live blog.
Qantas has launched an investigation into an engine issue on QF144 from Auckland to Sydney yesterday. Qantas engineers and aviation safety inspectors are set to examine the plane’s jet to determine why it failed, prompting a mayday call and emergency landing. The flight landed safely at Sydney airport at about 3.30pm and Qantas said all 145 passengers disembarked the aircraft normally.
Convicted child sexual abusers will be prevented from hiding their assets in superannuation under a federal government proposal released today, as reported by the ABC. Under the proposed changes, victims of child sexual abuse would also be able to access compensation via the release of an offenders superannuation. The proposal follows a long campaign by Grace Tame, former Australian of the Year.
Speaking of superannuation, new Treasury analysis shows that in the September quarter, about $1.5bn in increased super contributions were paid into employees’ accounts, marking an increase of 5% from the previous quarter. The assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, Stephen Jones, said:
These contributions don’t just help provide dignity in retirement for millions of Australians.
They add to the $3.3tn pool of national savings that benefit the overall economy.
I’m Emily Wind, stay tuned as we bring you the latest today. And if you see anything that needs our attention, you can tweet it my way @emilywindwrites.
