Pianist’s case against MSO not a ‘roving inquiry’ on Middle East conflict, judge says
Nino Bucci
The judge hearing the case of a pianist who alleges the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra unlawfully discriminated against him because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestianian journalists says the matter will not be a “roving inquiry” over conflict in the Middle East.
Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, a cancellation which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on the Gaza conflict.
At a performance four days earlier in Southbank’s Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which was dedicated to Palestianian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces.
The trial is set down for 15 days and started in the federal court in Melbourne on Monday.
Justice Graeme Hill told the court before opening submissions in the trial that while he was aware the matter had attracted public controversy:
This is not a case about that public controversy, and I’m not going to let the case turn into a roving inquiry about that public controversy.
Things about a situation in the Middle East are not, as I see it now, part of the legal issues in this case, even if they are part of the reason we are here.
Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri KC, is now giving her opening to the trial.
Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Chalmers calls out ‘unhinged scare campaign’ on tax changes
Jim Chalmers is blaming an “unhinged scare campaign” for fuelling some of the backlash to the government’s proposed crackdown on negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts.
The treasurer conceded Labor has taken a “political hit” after the latest Newspoll found a negative response to last Tuesday’s budget.
Speaking to reporters in Queensland earlier today, Chalmers said the government was prepared to wear the short-term political cost in order to attempt to fix the “broken” status quo on housing and tax.
There are no easy decisions left when it comes to making a genuine difference to housing in this country, and so we’ve taken some difficult decisions. We’ve taken a political hit for that, we expected that.
Chalmers said the poll results were not surprising given what he described as an “unhinged scare campaign” that opponents with “partisan or commercial interests” were waging against the changes.
The treasurer, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and other senior ministers were on Monday dismissing claims that proposed changes to one form of trust – a discretionary testamentary trust – amounted to a “death tax”.
Luca Ittimani
Labor rejects Liberal ‘death tax’ budget claims
The government has pushed back at a revived Coalition campaign against “death taxes” targeting the budget’s new tax on some trust structures.
Labor’s budget last week included a new 30% minimum tax, from 1 July 2028 onwards, on one specific type of trust, called a discretionary trust. The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, today said:
It is a death tax by stealth. There’s no doubt about that.
Treasury has estimated discretionary trusts provide income to fewer than 5% of Australians and they are largely used by “high-income and high-wealth Australians”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was today asked whether the government was penalising parents who wanted to secure their family’s future. He said:
We’re not. The existing position stays exactly the same. If they want to keep the arrangements in, then a fixed trust can be there as well. What we’re doing is making sure that the tax system works for everyone.
Tanya Plibersek, the Labor frontbencher, was asked whether the new tax amounted to a death tax on Channel Seven’s sunrise this morning. She said:
No, it’s not because you can still have a fixed testamentary trust if you want to.
“Death tax” claims were used against Labor with devastating effect when it took comparable tax reforms to the 2019 election. You can read more here:
New Zealander detained in Tahiti after alleged Qantas biting incident
Caitlin Cassidy
A New Zealand man has been detained in Tahiti after an incident in which a Qantas flight attendant was allegedly bitten on an international flight.
The QF21 flight departed Melbourne bound for Dallas on Friday, but was diverted to Papeete in Tahiti seven hours later when the behaviour of the disruptive passenger forced it to land.
Upon arrival in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, the plane was met by authorities and the passenger was issued a no-fly ban by Qantas, meaning he will be unable to fly on any future Qantas and Jetstar flights.
Consular officials from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they aware of the detention of a New Zealander in Tahiti.
“For privacy reasons no further information will be provided,” the spokesperson said.
Luca Ittimani
Taylor denies that Coalition ties with migrant communities will be harmed by plan to restrict welfare
Angus Taylor has dismissed concerns his plan to cut permanent residents from government schemes will harm the Coalition’s relationship with migrant communities.
Delivering his budget reply speech on Thursday night, the opposition leader announced plans to slash immigration and restrict welfare programs including jobseeker and the NDIS to citizens only.
Asked today why taxpaying permanent residents should loss access to welfare, Taylor told reporters:
Citizenship matters … If people commit to this country, if everyone commits to this country, we will commit to them.
Migrant groups said Taylor was making migrants scapegoats for the housing shortage and Liberal backbencher Andrew McLachlan has today broken ranks to oppose the measures, saying they would harm the Coalition’s relationship with diverse communties.
Taylor dismissed those concerns, when asked whether he was prepared for that possible harm. He said:
I don’t think this causes harm with those – these are – we are a great – I grew up in one of the greatest immigrant towns in Australia. I grew up in Cooma. After the Second World War we saw a wave of thousands of immigrants coming to that town to work on the Snowy Mountains scheme. …
It was incredible but these people committed to our country and we committed to them. That is the picture of immigration that has worked for this country which is why we are one of the greatest immigrant nations on earth.
Angus Taylor says Labor’s tax changes are ‘rotten’
Opposition leader Angus Taylor just spoke in Sydney. He said Labor’s changes to the capital gains tax discount and the end of negative gearing are “rotten” and amount to taxes that will “kill aspiration in this country”.
On migration, he’s maintaining the Coalition will link net overseas migration to housing completions. Under Taylor’s plans, if elected, each year the new Coalition housing minister would announce how many houses have been completed and use that figure to set the number of migrants allowed into Australia.
“If you don’t have the houses, you can’t have the people,” Taylor said:
Let me tell you, if this country is not able to offer home ownership as a centre piece of what it is to be Australian, it is not Australia any more.
Pianist’s case against MSO not a ‘roving inquiry’ on Middle East conflict, judge says
Nino Bucci
The judge hearing the case of a pianist who alleges the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra unlawfully discriminated against him because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestianian journalists says the matter will not be a “roving inquiry” over conflict in the Middle East.
Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, a cancellation which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on the Gaza conflict.
At a performance four days earlier in Southbank’s Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which was dedicated to Palestianian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces.
The trial is set down for 15 days and started in the federal court in Melbourne on Monday.
Justice Graeme Hill told the court before opening submissions in the trial that while he was aware the matter had attracted public controversy:
This is not a case about that public controversy, and I’m not going to let the case turn into a roving inquiry about that public controversy.
Things about a situation in the Middle East are not, as I see it now, part of the legal issues in this case, even if they are part of the reason we are here.
Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri KC, is now giving her opening to the trial.
Albanese says negative gearing changes about building up ‘wealth of the nation’, too
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking now in Adelaide, continuing his blitz today talking about the government’s housing efforts on the back of last week’s federal budget.
He said the changes to negative gearing is a “common sense” move that won’t affect those who already have such properties. But those who want to invest in the future will need to do so with new builds so as “well as building up your assets and your wealth in future, you’re building up the assets and wealth of the nation”.
Albanese added:
Whether you need social housing, whether you are in a private rental, or you want to own your own home, our plan is comprehensive.
Quite frankly, we know that the Australian dream of owning your own home was becoming more and more difficult. My government wasn’t prepared to sit back and watch that happen.
About 30 landlords fined under NSW’s new no-grounds evictions law
Penry Buckley
About 30 of the 635 potential breaches investigated by the NSW rental taskforce have been found to be in contravention of the no-grounds evictions laws, with fines totalling $65,450. Most of those when a landlord tried to re-let a property online during the exclusion period after an eviction.
The CEO of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, told the ABC he welcomed the commitment by the government to be a “more active regulator”. He said the Tenants’ Union had identified properties that were “getting through the gaps” and weren’t having penalties applied, including those not listed online.
Penry Buckley
NSW government says no-grounds evictions reforms are working
The NSW government says a year after it legislated to end no-grounds evictions, the reforms are working, although tenants advocates say some properties are getting through the gaps.
Under changes to NSW rental laws in force since May last year, landlords have been required to provide a valid reason for an eviction. The government says prior to this, when there was no mandatory data collection, an estimated 45 per cent of leases ended by landlords were ending without a reason given.
Valid reasons for an eviction include planned renovations. Last year, tenants’ advocates raised concerns that changes to the laws, which allowed landlords to provide a written statement of intent rather than a full quotation for planned works, had created a loophole.
The NSW rental commissioner, Trina Jones, told reporters this morning that renovations were being given as a reason in about 11% of cases where landlords had ended a tenancy.
For the about 16% of cases where a landlord is ending in tenancy, it really depends on the landlord’s circumstances. Many are preparing the home or saying the home is being sold, or they might be moving back into the home, or they’re changing the use of the home.
In about 11% of cases, we see those homes are being renovated, or there’s a significant repair work being done. We haven’t seen any adverse impacts of that [change to the law], and we’re monitoring that really closely.
Sydney to get trial electric ferry in 2028
Sydney will get new a new trial electric ferry after the state government signed contracts to build the locally designed, Australian made vessel.
A shipbuilder will begin making a trial vessel – a 24-metre battery-powered ship – later this year, which is due to begin sailing for 12 months of trials from early 2028. It could then service the new Sydney Fish Market if and when it officially takes on passengers the following year.
Charging infrastructure will be installed at Barangaroo Wharf.
The government says the trial will provide “valuable insights” as the state considers a wider transition away from diesel-powered ferries in the coming years. Officials said no decisions have been made so far about a broader electric fleet until the trial vessel goes through its year on the water.
John Graham, the NSW minister for transport, said:
The first trial of an electric ferry on Sydney Harbour is an important moment for our iconic ferry fleet which will transition from diesel propulsion over coming years, informed by this first vessel.
The Sydney Morning Herald notes the trial will come more than two years later than initially planned.
More on the announcement supporting 51,000 new homes in Queensland
We have more details on the deal between the federal government and Queensland to deliver more than 51,000 new homes to the state, including more than 20,000 for first home buyers.
The Australian government will provide $2bn in support, including $399m in grants and $1.6bn in zero-interest concessional loans for infrastructure. The Queensland government will provide a matched contribution of $399m.
The funding will support infrastructure like road and sewerage upgrades across priority development areas including Mount Peter, Southern Thornlands and Waraba, as well as other sites.
The first of the new homes are expected to be finished in mid-2028.
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