CEO and managing director of icare, Richard Harding, resigns
Richard Harding will finish as chief executive officer and managing director of insurer business icare in October, according to a statement from the company.
Harding joined in 2021 when the organisation was “in a period of crisis and under intense public scrutiny”, the statement notes.
He has since implemented significant reform through transformation programs that have led to improved outcomes and set the organisation on the path to long term sustainability.
Harding issued an apology to at least 53,000 injured workers affected by an underpayments scandal. In 2021 it was announced they would share in a $38m payout:
John Robertson, icare chair, thanked Harding for his leadership:
He has shown resilience during some challenging times, resetting the organisation’s focus, stabilising performance, and delivering on public expectations… In particular, Richard has led a significant improvement within the icare culture, creating an open, transparent and constructive environment that enables people to make a difference.
icare will begin the recruitment process for a new CEO, the statement said.
The icare headquarters in Sydney. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Higher taxes on foreigners pitched to free up homes in New South Wales
Foreign buyers could be slugged with higher taxes for buying existing NSW homes as the government looks for ways to address the housing crisis, AAP reports.
NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the state was grappling with a problem of overseas investors leaving properties vacant and not putting them out to rent. He told Sydney radio 2GB today:
We don’t have many levers we can pull which can lead to a quick return of housing stock to the rental market.
About 63,000 properties – almost equal to the total number of homes built in NSW every two years – were sitting vacant, Mookhey said.
NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian
Under existing arrangements, most foreign buyers are subject to an 8% surcharge on residential property purchases. Mookhey said that number hasn’t change since 2017 but “I think the market conditions have clearly changed.”
A tax hike in line with Ontario in Canada, where foreign investors are charged an extra 25% on top of the property purchase price, is one option being considered ahead of the June budget.
Commercial TV lobby responds to prominence legislation
The commercial TV lobby says a senate committee report “misses the mark” by not applying the new requirements for prominence of free-to-air channels to existing sets in the market.
Only manufacturers of new smart TVs will have to prominently display Australian TV channels to ensure local networks are not crowded out by streamers, a senate committee has recommended.
The so-called prominence legislation has been designed to guarantee local, free-to-air TV services Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS and the ABC are easy for Australian audiences to find on smart TVs.
Free TV said in response to the report:
If we don’t make this important change, the legislation will not make any meaningful difference until late this decade.
Free TV said the committee has also failed in ensuring television sport remains free for all Australians.
The networks want the legislation amended to stop paid streaming services buying up exclusive digital rights and putting sports behind a paywall.
Foxtel, which is 65% owned by News Corp, is opposed to the legislation, arguing it restricts consumer choice and could distort the market in favour of broadcasters.
Tasmanian Liberals secure deal with Jacqui Lambie Network to form government
Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff said he has reached an agreement with the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) to form government.
In a statement, Rockliff said three new members of the JLN – Miriam Beswick, Andrew Jenner, and Rebekah Pentland – have agreed to provide confidence to his government “on all confidence and censure votes, guarantee supply to support all appropriation and revenue bills, and support the government on parliamentary motions that bind the government.”
All parties have entered into this agreement with goodwill and trust, and I am confident that this agreement will provide the long-term certainty and stability the Tasmanian people expect …
I thank the JLN for their productive and collaborative approach that they have taken as we have worked towards an agreement.
Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff. Photograph: Rob Blakers/AAP
Former Channel 7 Sunrise reporter Nathan Templeton dies
Former Sunrise reporter Nathan Templeton has died after suffering a medical episode while on a dog walk in Victoria, the network has reported.
In a post to Facebook, Sunrise said:
The tragic news of Nathan’s passing has left us all at Sunrise and Seven profoundly saddened.
Nathan was a respected journalist whose passion for storytelling was evident in all his years reporting for Sunrise and several Olympic Games.
Our deepest condolences go out to his family, loved ones and especially his two young sons, during this difficult time.
As 7News reports, Templeton joined its Melbourne team in 2012 as a sports reporter and then became the Melbourne correspondent for Sunrise in 2016. He leaves behind two young sons.
EPA confirms asbestos at eight sites across Melbourne
Adeshola Ore
Victoria’s environment watchdog has confirmed asbestos-contaminated material has been discovered at eight parks and reserves across Melbourne.
The Victorian Environment Protection Authority says test results have confirmed asbestos at Shore Reserve in Pascoe Vale South, in Merri-bek council. It says three small samples were removed. The EPA has advised the council to inspect the site and confirm no other contamination is present.
The EPA is also inspecting a new site, RJ Long Reserve in Williamstown North, after receiving a report from a member of the public on Tuesday.
Warning tape around playground equipment at a park where asbestos has been found at Hosken Reserve in Coburg North. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
New home starts sink to 11-year low: Master Builders Australia
The latest building activity data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows there is “still a long way to go before Australia overcomes the housing crisis”, Master Builders Australia says.
The group’s chief economist, Shane Garrett, said work started on just 163,285 new homes during 2023, a 10.5% reduction on the previous year.
He added that detached house starts dropped by 16.4% to 99,443 – the lowest in a decade. And a total of 62,720 higher density homes were commenced during 2023 overall, “the worst performance in 12 years”.
The mismatch between the supply of new homes to the rental market and demand for rental accommodation is particularly worrying. Rental inflation continues to accelerate at a time when price pressures across the rest of the economy have been abating.
Housing construction at Schofields, north west of Sydney, in 2022. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Chief executive, Denita Wawn, said today’s result means that 934,400 new homes have been started across Australia over the past five years.
Since 2019 we have seen the cost of home building increase by 40%. Governments need to work to change this. The cost of delivering projects needs to go down and the time to completion must be shortened.
Chalmers yet to ‘hear a whisper’ from Coalition over proposed merger changes
As you may have seen, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has unveiled extensive changes he wants to make to mergers policies, as reported here by Paul Karp.
The government is touting the changes as the most significant in half a century, although we will have to see how many of the proposals get through parliament and also how consultation led by the ACCC, hones the final result.
We’ll have more to say in a separate piece shortly about a couple of the changes now that we’ve had a chance to hear from both Chalmers and ACCC chief, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, in speeches earlier today in Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
But Chalmers did highlight to us a silence from the Coalition, including shadow treasurer Angus Taylor. Chalmers:
We have not heard a whisper from the Coalition today. We flagged this change at the beginning of the week. It’s now Wednesday. We have offered a briefing and we expect them to take that up.
Chalmers has a theory why they’ve largely remained stumm so far:
The main reason why they’re talking about everything except for competition policy and economic reform today is because they would rather stoke division in our community than stoke competition in our economy.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
We did, though, check in with Taylor, and got this response:
None of this will restore the collapse in Australians’ standard of living. This is a treasurer who is all spin and no substance,” he said. “It’s important the government doesn’t confuse competition policy with competitiveness of the economy. Labor’s policies on energy, [industrial relations] and tax are making Australia a less attractive place to do business.
We will scrutinise this to make sure this policy gets the balance right.
We assume Taylor will take up the offer for a briefing – though we haven’t had that confirmed.
AFL suspends Jeremy Finlayson for three matches over homophobic slur
Jeremy Finlayson has accepted a sanction from the AFL for using a homophobic slur during Friday night’s game against Essendon, which means the Port Adelaide forward will miss three matches and undertake an education program.
Jeremy Finlayson of the Port Adelaide Power. Photograph: Morgan Hancock/AAP
The 28-year-old used the offensive term towards an opponent in the match against the Bombers – won easily by the Power – telling club staff during the third-quarter break and apologising to the Essendon player after the match.
And with that, Jeff Dimery’s appearance at the national press club has wrapped up – after he saved himself from a near-slip after walking from the podium!
