A pint at the pub could soon cost punters up to $15 as Australia faces its biggest beer tax hike in decades.
The tax is set to increase by four per cent, or $2.50 more per liter, marking the largest jump in 30 years.
Buying your own drinks at the bottle shop is no way to avoid the hike either, with taxes on a carton to rise to $18.80.
Australia is facing its biggest beer tax hike in decades. (iStock)
The Brewers Association is pleading for some relief, saying people could be paying up to $15 a pint under the new increase.
“Australians are taxed on beer more than almost any other nation. We have seen almost 20 increases in Australia’s beer tax over the past decade alone,” CEO John Preston said.
“Brewers and pub and club operators were extremely disappointed the former Government did not deliver on a proposed reduction in beer tax at this year’s March Budget.”
Pubs and bars are facing increased tax costs. (TheFork)
Preston said it wouldn’t just be pub patrons affected.
“For a small pub, club or other venue the latest tax hike will mean an increase of more than $2700 a year in their tax bill – at a time when they are still struggling to deal with the on-going impacts of the pandemic,” he said.
“This is a problem that the new Treasurer has inherited from his predecessors and there are many competing demands on the Budget. Nonetheless, we believe there is a strong case for beer tax relief to be provided by the new Federal Government – with the hidden beer tax to go up again in February 2023.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pledged to look at potential relief, but has not committed to axing the tax.
Buzz Aldrin’s moon mission jacket sells for nearly $4 million
From a room filled with unopened birthday presents, to framed photos and videos on phones, the Spadafora family’s home is filled with sweet and painful reminders of the little girl they lost.
Key points:
Rozalia at first seemed to recover from an infection, but then her condition deteriorated
She was taken to Canberra Hospital, where her family say they were ignored for hours before she died
The ACT Coroner is investigating the circumstances surrounding her death
For the mother of five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora, who died earlier this month at the Canberra Hospital, bedtime is the worst.
“I sleep with the little pajamas that she had on at hospital because that’s the only thing I have,” Katrina Spadaford said.
“My son, he doesn’t even want to come out of his bedroom… he’s just distraught.”
‘No help ever came’
In the days before her fifth birthday, Rozalia became unwell with what the doctor at first thought was an ear infection.
It was initially believed Rozalia Spadafora had an ear infection.(Supplied)
“It was just like a thing that many kids have been through before: a fever, sore throat,” Katrina said.
“With antibiotics, within a couple of days she was back to almost her normal self.”
But the weekend before her birthday she took a turn for the worse.
She awoke pale and lethargic with a swollen face.
On the recommendation of a doctor, Katrina and her mother took Rozalia to the Canberra Hospital’s emergency department.
What followed was a long order, through which Rozalia was left waiting for hours with what the family described as only the most cursory of examinations.
Even when Rozalia began throwing up, Katrina said their calls for help weren’t answered.
“No help ever came,” she said.
“My mother went to find more bed linen and blankets.”
Emergency helicopter diverted to airport
Rozalia’s family say they want to know more about how and why she died.(ABC News: Harry Frost)
Eventually the family were told Rozalia had Influenza A, and there was swelling around her heart.
However, because no pediatric cardiologist was available, she would need to be flown to Sydney.
It took several more hours for a helicopter to arrive and, even then, the family were told it wasn’t able to land at the hospital because the “tarmac was damaged” and it was diverted to the airport.
Katrina said medical staff struggled to get monitoring equipment to work so Rozalia could be driven to the airport.
But by then it was too late. Rozalia went into cardiac arrest.
“Her eyes rolled back and I could tell that that was it,” Katrina said.
“They rushed me, my mom and my dad out of the room.
“They came to give updates while they were doing [cardio pulmonary resuscitation] — giving us false hope. I knew it was false hope.
“They tried for about an hour but they couldn’t bring her back — she passed away.”
Katrina said they had around 20 minutes with Rozalia’s body before police arrived to take statements.
Rozalia was too unwell to open her birthday presents, and died the day after her birthday.(Supplied)
The family were left in shock, but Katrina said they weren’t contacted by the hospital until the day that ABC News reported a coronial investigation was underway.
Katrina said the family has serious concerns about Rozalia’s treatment in the lead-up to her death.
“I want to know what exactly happened,” Katrina said.
“When did they know my daughter was that sick and why wasn’t I told?”
“And I want to know why we don’t have the equipment here to deal with these problems.
“Why do we need to go to Sydney?
“We’re in the nation’s capital – this is a joke.
“No other family should have to go through this.
Canberra too small for some specialized services, Chief Minister says
An investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding Rozalia’s death at the Canberra Hospital.(ABC News: Penny McLintock)
Speaking on ABC Canberra on Friday, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said attracting and maintaining specialist medical services to the capital was difficult, given the ACT’s population, compared to that of Sydney and Melbourne.
“That is a reality of a city of 450,000 people as opposed to a city of five million people,” Mr Barr said.
“The range of health services is always going to be larger [in bigger cities].
“There are certain things where even Australia, with 26 million people, is too small to be able to sustain really highly specialized services for very rare health conditions.
“We’re all very, very sad about that news [of Rozalia’s death] and obviously we’ll take any recommendations from a coroner with the utmost seriousness.”
Health Minister Rachel Stephen Smith also offered condolences this week and said staff involved in the incident were being supported.
Katrina said her family had received no direct correspondence from the government.
In the aftermath, they are left with the birthday presents Rozalia was too unwell to open, the day before her death.
“I have to live with this and I’m not getting any support. I didn’t receive a phone call,” she said.
An investigation by the ACT Coroner has been launched.
Late on Sunday, the premier announced his decision to sack Petinos from his ministry, releasing a statement that “further matters concerning her” had come to light.
Barilaro’s CV and the panel report that recommended his candidacy for US trade commissioner will also be released on Monday in the eighth tranche of documents produced under order.
The papers, which had been marked privileged by the government, can be seen after an independent arbitrator ruled they could be made available to the public with minor redactions.
Emails, briefing notes
Other documents include emails relating to West’s recruitment and briefing notes to Ayres and department secretary Amy Brown.
Brown is scheduled to make a return appearance on Wednesday at the inquiry. Brown, who the government maintains was the final decision-maker, previously said she was told to stop the recruitment of West “due to a change in government policy”.
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
The committee is expected to ask Brown about any directions she received from Ayres as the responsible minister.
Recently released documents have placed Ayres closer to the trade appointment, despite his saying he did not act on Barilaro’s cabinet submission and that he ensured the positions remained public service decisions.
Another Liberal who requested anonymity to speak freely called on Ayres to do “the honorable thing” and step aside.
“We need our best team in the paddock, and he needs to have a long hard think about what his future entails.”
In a statement, Ayres said he always respected the independence and apolitical nature of the public service, which selected Barilaro after an “independent and meritorious” recruitment process.
“I continue to reject any proposition that suggests the Americas role was created, or its recruitment orchestrated, for the benefit of John Barilaro. Indeed, I find this suggestion offensive.”
Ayres later published a lengthy statement on social media, defending the process that Barilaro appointed, insisting it was a decision of the public service in which he could not intervene.
“Not liking Mr Barilaro or his style of politics is not a suitable reason to reject his application, let alone not select him for the role,” it said.
Ayres wrote that “integrity and politics” were at the heart of the issue, and accused NSW Labor of attacking his personal integrity to target his seat of Penrith, which he holds on a wafer-thin margin.
Opposition treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey said the new documents would shed light on the process under which Barilaro was appointed and they would also raise questions about the role played by Ayres.
Timing ‘concern’
Mookhey said the timing of the briefing note to Barilaro about West’s appointment in August last year was concerning.
“It’s awfully suspicious that there is this mad rush to prepare and pass a cabinet submission to let ministers pick the Americas candidate after the deputy premier gets a brief about who the secretary chose for the job,” he said.
The inquiry has previously heard evidence that Barilaro asked for a cabinet minute to be prepared in mid-September to make the commissioner roles ministerial appointments.
Barilaro did not respond to a request for comment. He is scheduled to front the inquiry on August 8 and 12, book-ending the first parliamentary sitting week after the winter break.
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It’s been nearly one year since data scientist Kathleen Riethmuller vanished without a trace from Sydney, with police branding her disappearance “out of character” as they launch a fresh appeal for information.
Mystery surrounds the disappearance of the Brisbane woman, who was last seen on October 28, 2021.
Concerns were sparked when a member of the public found the 28-year-old’s belongings in a backpack in Lane Cove, a suburb in Sydney’s north.
The backpack contained essential items, such as Kathleen’s identification documents and bank cards.
Police have launched a fresh appeal for public assistance to locate Brisbane woman Kathleen Riethmuller, who’s been missing from Sydney for almost one year. (NSW Police)
An investigation into her whereabouts began following the discovery of the bag.
Police determined Kathleen attended a retail store on Reserve Road in Artarmon, about 11.40am on the day she was last seen. She was then sighted again at 2.30pm in North Sydney, wearing a long-sleeved denim dress and black flat shoes.
The sightings come after Kathleen checked into Elephant Backpackers in inner-city Woolloomooloo.
Police believe the 28-year-old may have traveled to Melbourne.
Missing Persons Registry Manager, Detective Chief Inspector Glen Brown, has called her disappearance “out of character”, adding they’ve chosen to highlight her case as Missing Persons Week 2022 begins.
CCTV captured Kathleen Riethmuller on October 28, 2021. She was wearing a long sleeve denim dress and black flat shoes. (NSW Police)
“Detectives from both North Shore and Kings Cross have conducted extensive inquiries into Kathleen’s movements and activities immediately before and after she went missing,” Brown said.
“Her behavior was clearly out of character when she was last seen, and we’ve been unable to establish any logical reason for her movements that day and subsequent disappearance.
“Investigators strongly suspect Kathleen may be alive and possibly living interstate, and any information to that effect would be very helpful to police.
“We continue to work off several possibilities as to why Kathleen disappeared but ultimately, we need the public’s help – which is why we’ve chosen her case to highlight during this important week.”
Kathleen Riethmuller’s belongings were found in a backpack on Centennial Avenue in Lane Cove. (Google Maps)
Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole is hopeful the new appeal will uncover more clues.
“The ripple effect that occurs when a person goes missing without reason or without a trace shouldn’t be underestimated,” Mr Toole said.
“Police are committed to finding Kathleen to provide answers to her family and those who knew her, but they need the public’s help.”
Kathleen is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 165cm – 175cm tall, of thin build, with long dark hair.
Missing Persons Week is an annual national campaign to raise awareness of the issues and impacts surrounding missing persons and runs between Sunday 31 July and Saturday 6 August 2022.
Police are appealing for anyone with information about Kathleen Riethmuller’swhereabouts to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 orhere.
“I’ll dry off and we’ll have a big cuddle. He does not understand what this is all about today, but these experiences I’m sure will be an important part of his development. It means a lot,” she said.
That winning feeling: Jessican Stenson.Credit:AP
Since her last bronze medal Stenson has married (she was previously Trengove), had Billy and she said motherhood had made her a better runner.
“I’m a more relaxed runner as a mother. I can just enjoy the process a bit more. I really wasn’t thinking about the outcome today I was just trying to tick off each 5k and that’s what you do as a mum you can’t think too far ahead it’s just one moment at a time and you can’t control it you just have to respond to what is happening and I think that gives women a lot of strength as parents,” Stenson said.
“I was trying to juggle being excited and soaking it in with concentrating (in the final stages when it was clear she was well ahead and set to win). These roads can be uneven and it only takes one little step for me to land flat on my face and not get up again. I just had to deliver myself to the finish line.
Australia’s Eloise Wellings leads Australia’s Jessica Stenson during the Women’s Marathon on day two of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, EnglandCredit:PA
“I was coming into the home straight and I saw the 1K to go sign and thought ‘you’re joking’. It was a long final K. I kept tricking myself, saying ‘this is the final hill, no this is the final hill’ and they kept coming.”
She now has time to celebrate with a burger and maybe a cheeky beer.
All three of Australia’s female marathoners made the top five after Stenson was joined by Eloise Wellings in fourth in 2:30:51 and 45-year-old veteran Sinead Diver fifth in 2:31:06.
Earlier, Liam Adams delivered an extraordinary performance in the men’s marathon to lead for most of the race and finish just seven seconds off the podium in fourth place.
A full-time tradesman in Melbourne, he had never seen the course before, his app didn’t work so he hadn’t worked out the route and was then dismayed to discover when he confronted it that there was a punishing long uphill climb the last five kilometers.
“It’s tough, but I will take that, I’m pretty proud of that run, those guys are professionals, I’m amateur, I’m working 40 hours week they’re not, they are probably running 40 hour weeks,” said Adams who was at his third Commonwealth Games and ran the last two Olympics.
“Those guys are world-class 2:05 2:06 type guys, I’m not in their league. I just thought try and stick with them and hold onto them and I did alright considering.”
Adams went out to lead for more than half the race because the pace began too slowly. He admitted he probably paid the price later on.
Uganda’s Victor Kiplangat won gold in 2:10:55, Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu silver and Kenya’s Michael Githae. Adams finished in 2:13:23.
De Rozario continues dominance with gold
Madison de Rozario racing in the wheelchair is like Usain Bolt sprinting in his prime. When he raced he won. When Australia’s wheelchair marathoner competes she wins.
De Rozario won another gold medal, this one a second successive Commonwealth marathon gold to go with her twin golds from the Paralympics in Tokyo last year, her three world para championships gold and then there are the innumerable silver and bronze.
The win came as Australia’s De Rozario won her marathon in 1 hour 56 minutes, winning by 3.45 minutes from Eden Rainbow-Cooper of England.
All smiles: Madison deRozario.Credit:Isaac Parkin/PA/AP
“The actual course though was one of the hardest marathons I have done in my life with the most brutal part of it being the last 5k which is the cruelest way to have to end the marathon. Definitely a tough race, I am definitely feeling it,” de Rozario said.
That she would win another gold was likely given the long CV and the bursting trophy cabinet, that she would do so in Birmingham had a sense of even greater expectation given the size of the field.
There were four athletes in the race: two Australians, two English. There was no bronze medal awarded due to the size of the field.
“Regardless of the size of the field it’s an incredibly elite field … yeah it was a small field but it was a tough race.”
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Meanwhile, Australia’s Jake Lappin finished fifth in the men’s wheelchair marathon in 1:56:21, 15 minutes behind gold medalist Johnboy Smith from England.
Get all the latest news from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games here. We’ll be live blogging the action from 4pm-10am daily.
CBRE’s Caroline Fagerlund says no one has lived in the apartment because it was purchased by the buyer’s mother, who no longer wants to leave the family home – presumably the Nahas family’s Merrylands mansion.
Buyers are being given a guide of $6.5 million.
Meanwhile, records show the buyer of their Bellevue Hill home is Canberra developer Zhenglian Wang, a director and majority owner of Coda Property Group and TF Taofei Investment group.
The three-level residence comes with DA approval to be knocked down and rebuilt into a Blainey North-designed mansion.Credit:
The Nahas and Sahyoun sale resulted almost doubled the $11 million it last sold for in 2020 by freight boss Arthur Tzaneros, although it did score DA approval just three months before it was listed to be knocked down and rebuilt as a Blainey-North-designed mansion at a cost of $6.3 million.
Point Piper’s latest buyer
Nikki Schofield has bought an apartment in Point Piper’s art deco Buckhurst block for $6.25 million.Credit:evil fairclough
Investment banker Phil Schofield and his wife Nikki, of Melbourne’s coffee and olive oil Valmorbida family, have bought a Point Piper apartment from billionaire Will Vicars.
The couple were already living in the ground-floor apartment in the art deco Buckhurst block, which no doubt would have made the $6.25 million sale from landlord to tenant all the easier. It last traded for $2.48 million in 2008.
Schofield, an executive director of investment bank Canaccord Genuity, and Nikki wed in the summer of 2016 in New York before the likes of business types like Rob Rankin, Ben Tilley and developer Robert Whyte.
Trismegistus Farm’s record hopes
North Coast property Trismegistus Farm – built by self-styled spiritual healer Serge Benhayon and his wife Miranda – is for sale for $17.995 million, discounted from $24 million a month ago.
Trismegistus Farm is set on 23 hectares thanks to a recent property consolidation.Credit:
Jaye Scanlon, of the Melbourne rich list family headed by Melbourne-based billionaire philanthropist Peter Scanlon, purchased the property from the Benhayons a year ago, and consolidated it with an adjoining property soon after to create a 23-hectare holding company.
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Amir Mian, of his eponymous agency, and assistant Rochelle Lamers say it last traded for $17 million, however official title records show the Benhayons pocketed $3.8 million, and the neighboring acreage with a four-bedroom house and cottage was added for $1.25 million.
The property, named after the Egyptian god Hermes Trismegistus, is billed in the marketing as the “Land of the Gods”, and features a main six-bedroom residence, a separate caretaker’s cottage, Queenslander cottage, two swimming pools, separate recording and photographic studio, pecan orchard and stables and arena.
It is Tuesday night in Ipswich and across town lines of hungry people are forming outside boarding houses, hostels and care centres. Everyone is waiting for a bright yellow van to roll around the corner.
For some, tonight’s meal will be their first for that day. For others, the first in a few.
Helping Hands volunteers scramble every week to pull together grocery packs and collect food donations to make sandwiches and soup for some of the region’s most vulnerable.
But, as the cost of food rises, that’s becoming more difficult to do.
“We don’t have many pantry packs this week folks,” one of the volunteers yells to a crowd of 20 people, some of whom started to line up half an hour before the van arrived to get the first pick of what was on offer.
“So, if you don’t need one tonight, we ask that you don’t take one. But, of course, if you do need one, feel free to take it,” he said.
Kyle Dixon has relied on the service for nearly two years.
He’s found refuge at an Ipswich boarding house. While it’s not perfect, for $170 a week he has a bed and a roof over his head.
Kyle Dixon says his budget is getting tighter. (ABC News: Dean Caton)
While the weekly food van service has been a budget lifesaver, he said he’s been going hungry a lot more recently than ever before.
“I have a bit less money, considering my bills and the expenses I need to do day-to-day life,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s quite hard to get food in.
“With the soup and the sandwiches as well [from the van], it’s absolutely amazing. That’s a good dinner if you hadn’t had anything to eat already.”
Anthony Burke, who volunteers for helping hands, has seen the effects of the rising cost of living firsthand.
Mr Burke said people seem hungrier and more desperate.
“In the last year [there’s] been a lot more demand,” he said.
“Some people are having to choose between canned food and toothpaste — in those situations, they’ll always choose the food.”
Anthony Burke says there is increased demand for food services in Ipswich. (ABC News: Dean Caton)
Sean Maskiel has also relied on the food van for two years.
He lives in another boarding house in Ipswich, and said he’s noticed more people are using the service now.
“There’s quite a few homeless people that are appearing out of nowhere that just need that extra hand,” he said.
Sean Maskeil says the boarding house he stays at is full.(ABC NewsLaura Lavelle)
Rental crisis filling boarding houses
Gene Waterman manages two boarding houses in Ipswich.
Just a few weeks ago, there were up to 15 people on a waiting list for a room.
“[It is] crazy. From five years ago to now, it’s a completely different beast,” he said, “10 years ago, there were always around 10 rooms available. Now I’m always full.
“There is literally nothing out there. You don’t have a choice where you live. You just go anywhere you can get a place.”
Data from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland shows the average cost to rent a three-bedroom property in Goodna, Springfield, Bellbird Park and Camira in 2019 was $350 per week.
Now it’s $420.
In the Rosewood area, the price hike is even steeper, going from $295 per week to $440 per week in just three years.
And, while rental costs balloon, so has the number of people sitting below the poverty line.
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) now defines the poverty line as any single adult earning less than $457 per week or a couple with two children earning less than $960 per week.
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 more than 54,000 people in the Ipswich local government area were earning less than $499 per week.
According to the 2021 census, that number has grown to more than 55,000.
Problem starts with low income
ACOSS chief executive Edwina MacDonald has a handle on the issue.
“We know that, of the people we’re spoken to, 50 per cent of them are skipping meals and they’re reducing how much they’re eating,” Ms MacDonald said.
“We know that they’re cutting back or not using their car at all.”
Ms MacDonald said raising incomes was the key to turning the situation around.
“If we don’t do something to address the cost for people who are on the lowest incomes, demand is certainly going to go up,” she said.
“It’s really obvious that, with the cost-of-living problem, we need to be looking at incomes.”
“If we just look at individual costs, it’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole — the different costs pop up and we’re just trying to address them one-by-one.
“Really, the structural problem is about incomes.”
“Give me back my slogan,” veteran broadcaster Phillip Adams says, after a somewhat sweary rant about Qantas.
The man who is now known as the voice of ABC radio’s Late Night Live was once an advertising guy, with a client who was one of the world’s oldest airlines.
“I got the account,” he says, “by proffering the ‘Spirit of Australia’ as a blood sacrifice.
“I suggested that it would be the perfect slogan, and at the time it was apposite. I had fond memories, going back to the evacuation of Darwin.”
The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services – the world’s third oldest airline – has long held a special place in the hearts of Australians, thanks to its reputation for safety and efficiency, and the emotional appeal of its advertising over many years.
But within a few short months travelers have savagely turned on the airline as Qantas struggles with the legacy of the pandemic and the results of its corporate decision-making.
When Australia closed its borders to most travelers during Covid – including its own citizens in some cases – Qantas got rid of thousands of staff, including baggage handlers, and outsourced the work.
Now the news and social media are filled with horror stories from irate passengers whose bags have gone missing, who are stuck in eternal security queues, or who have been stranded when flights have been cancelled.
hey @Qantas you left like 50% of flight QF157 from Melbourne to Auckland’s luggage somewhere and I would love to know where my bag is or the status of it’s return? I’ve called the Menzies Aviation like you said to but it seems like the message bank is full…
@G_Parker our flight out of Broome was canceled Friday 15th July. Sat on the plane from 7pm to 11pm then we’re told to disembark, no accommodation offerings, qantas staff left and terminal was closed. 200+ people left to fend for themselves after 11pm at night.
In June, Qantas had the highest flight cancellation rate of any Australian airline and – along with its budget sibling Jetstar – the lowest rate of on-time arrivals and departures.
In Adelaide this week, security scanners were on the blink, and bags were wantonly swapped between lines. In Canberra, people were hustled to gates, then turned around and sat away.
For some it has been inconvenient and frustrating, but for others the problems at Qantas have had serious financial and career consequences.
The Melbourne metal band Thornhill set off on a 30-stop tour of the US earlier this month.
The band landed after a long flight from Perth via Sydney.
Their luggage didn’t.
Guitarist Matt van Duppen says at first it was just confusing, but confusion gave way to anger when Qantas didn’t help, until they went public on Twitter and television. They had to cancel shows, cop the financial hit, and leave their fans in the lurch as they tried to track down their kit.
“They lost all the gear,” Van Duppen says. “Our amps, our guitars, drum stuff, all our electronics, the stuff to power our ear monitors.
“No one on the phone could tell us where the bags were. We couldn’t play the first two shows, and we were very close to not playing the third.”
Van Duppen is in San Francisco when Guardian Australia talks to him. He’s sunny, but not sanguine.
The band lost income in show fees and merchandise sales, after already paying double the price for the latest trip compared to the last.
“Qantas dropped the ball,” he says. “It’s a kick in the guts.”
Qantas is far from the only player in the airline industry struggling in the current conditions, which include factors well beyond its control, such as the sky-high cost of jet fuel caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But senior management, and above all the high-profile chief executive, Alan Joyce, have come in for savage criticism.
7.50am @qantas Melbourne Canberra flight leaves at 9.10am. What a surprise. New Aussie slang for late flights & lost bags. “Joyed” “I’ll be late to the meeting my flight was Joyced”. “I’ll need to buy some clothes- my bags got Joyced”.#auspol
The head of the construction union, Dave Noonan, coined the term “Joyced”, for when things go wrong at Qantas, but he is far from alone in highlighting management’s responsibility.
Qantas picked up $2bn in taxpayer funds during Covid, and delivered first class bonuses to executives, while pilots and engineers are fighting for higher pay.
But regardless of exactly what has gone so wrong to trash the reputation of a national icon in such a short space of time, it faces an uphill battle to regain the trust of the Australian public. Can the Qantas brand be fixed?
‘There’s a lot of attachments’
Qantas has never been shy about trading on its history as an aviation pioneer in the outback, and its periodic contributions amid national crises.
Born in 1920, it initially ferried mail as well as people, and for a while operated as a flying doctor service.
By the second world war, it was moving supplies and troops, and evacuating people from danger zones.
In 1974, a Qantas Boeing 747 evacuated 674 people from Darwin in the wake of Cyclone Tracy, and in 2002 Qantas plans brought the wounded home after the Bali bombings.
The airline’s reputation for safety was cemented by the 1998 film Rain Man (famously never shown on Qantas flights), in which Dustin Hoffman’s character Raymond notes that “Qantas never crashed”.
The national airline inspired deep, patriotic, loyal devotion, which helps to explain the sense of hurt, even betrayal, in reaction to its recent troubles.
Because it’s Qantas. The Spirit of Australia. Qantas is choirs singing in the outback. It’s the Flying Kangaroo. It’s Kylie and Hugh and calling Australia home.
In the middle of 2021, when people were deeply exhausted by the pandemic but optimistic that some sort of end was in sight, Qantas put out a true-to-brand tearjerker advertisement.
There’ll be meetings and holidays and maskless hugs and overseas weddings, it promised, if everyone got vaccinated.
“I had a dream that I’d just fly away,” Tones and I crooned. “Someday we’ll all be together once more”, Qantas promised.
“There’s so much emotion,” Chris Baumann, an associate professor at Macquarie University, says.
“People remember Qantas from their childhood. There’s a lot of attachment.”
Baumann, an economist and course director of the university’s bachelor of marketing and media course, says there is a century of “brand equity” in Qantas.
That buildup of fondness and high expectations means that, when Qantas fails, it hits hard. Baumann says when people are flying Jetstar, they’re just happy to get a free coffee. But the bar is much higher with the national carrier. When it fails, they don’t just feel disappointed; they feel betrayed.
“With these issues with the luggage, with flights being canceled… passengers will be forgiving if it’s the weather,” he says.
“But if they think it’s at least in part due to mismanagement, they blame the brand that they know.”
That historical equity, he says, also means it will all even out.
“People are upset at the moment,” but have short-term memories, he says. “In six months they’ll book again.”
Sitting in @Qantas lounge in Melbourne now. Plans being delayed and canceled and temperatures are certainly peaking in here….not the best of months for the brand! #CustomerService
Consumer psychologist Adam Ferrier – who has worked for Jetstar – agrees that the current woes are a “blip”.
“The amazing thing about strong brands is how little the short term matters,” he says.
Social media allows individual complaints to be elevated, then amplified by traditional media, he says, but that’s not reflective of the broader sentiment.
“There are years of emotional investment [in Qantas],” he says. “The current public relations issues Qantas is having are built off 100-plus years of being a really strong brand… this is a blip in the consumer psyche.”
Qantas apologized to travelers this week. In an interview on the Sydney radio station 2GB, senior manager Andrew David acknowledged the airline had let customers down.
“We are the national carrier – people have high expectations of us, we have high expectations of ourselves – and clearly over the last few months we have not been delivering what we did pre-Covid,” he said.
In a separate statement earlier this month, he said some criticism was fair, but some of the problems were global.
Restarting the airline after it was grounded by the pandemic was complex, he said. A tight labor market and rising Covid cases were the headwinds, not the baggage handler outsourcing. Qantas was now recruiting staff and cutting flights.
“Given Covid and flu will be ongoing, there will be a few more bumps along the way,” he said.
“But over the weeks and months ahead, flying will get back to being as smooth as it used to be.”
Phillip Adams wants his slogan back. Customers want their bags back.
Qantas wants its reputation back, and only time will tell where it will land.
Since late June, Greg Rolles must produce on demand his computer and mobile phone for police inspection, and tell them his passwords.
Key points:
Some charged Blockade Australia activists are banned from using encrypted apps
Their bail conditions also stipulate they must unlock their devices for police
Civil liberty groups have criticized the rules, claiming they are “unusual” and “extreme”
He is not allowed to use any encrypted messaging apps, like Signal or WhatsApp. He can only have one mobile phone.
And there is a list of 38 people, many of whom are his friends, who he’s not allowed to associate with in any way — even, another activist found, liking a post on social media.
These are the strict technology-related bail conditions imposed on some Blockade Australia climate protesters—a development legal experts have criticized as “unusual” and “extreme”.
The climate action network was linked to a series of protests earlier this year, targeting ports and freight trains in New South Wales, and a property where activists were gathered was raided by police.
More than 30 people were arrested for unauthorized protests and disrupting traffic, among other charges, according to police statements.
In April, the NSW Parliament passed laws with steep fines and jail time for activities that “shut down major economic activity”, including protesting illegally on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates.
A Blockade Australia protester is arrested by NSW Police. Eleven activists were arrested following action in Sydney on June 27.(Twitter: Blockade Australia)
Mr Rolles was arrested in late June, when he was pulled off the street in Sydney for allegedly blocking roads and obstructing traffic.
As soon as he was released under the bail conditions, he deleted Signal and lost many of his contacts. Because he ca n’t use WhatsApp, he said he can no longer communicate with people in Afghanistan for whom he was organizing assistance with his church.
The vagueness of the encryption ban is also a concern for him. As well as barring specific apps like Signal and Telegram, it states “the defendant is prohibited from possessing or having access to an encrypted communications device and/or possessing an encrypted application/media application”.
Large swathes of the internet are encrypted, which simply means that information is converted into code to protect it from unwanted access. Apps from online banking to streaming services are typically encrypted.
“Encryption is everywhere because it’s a fundamental part of keeping modern communications technology secure and functional,” a spokesperson for Electronic Frontiers Australia said.
“[That includes] essentially any modern device, including laptops, mobile phones, ATMs, TVs, PlayStations, and government websites such as myGov, Medicare, and Centrelink.”
Mr Rolles said he was worried the provision could be read in its most strict interpretation.
“I’m quite afraid of how that’ll be enforced.
“I definitely always have that kind of background anxiety — will the police just knock on my door?
“If a police officer was a bit annoyed at me, could they say, ‘you’ve been making phone calls, that’s encrypted’?”
Mr Rolles has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Facebook ‘thumbs up’ lands activist in hot water
Defense lawyer Mark Davis, who is representing some of the Blockade Australia activists, said the vagueness of the prohibition was concerning.
“It used to name the things you couldn’t have, and then they made it all encrypted communication,” he said.
“It could be you’re on your PlayStation.”
He also takes issue with the non-association rules, and the lack of specificity about what an “association” might be.
Mr Davis said one of his clients had been pulled in by police after they reacted with a “thumbs up” emoji to Facebook comments shared by friends who were also allegedly part of Blockade Australia activities.
“A thumbs up, it’s not much in terms of communication,” the activist told the ABC.
“The fact that the state finds that threatening—people talking and sharing our ideas—is very telling.”
No breach of bail charges were ultimately pursued over the “likes”.
Jane Sanders, principal solicitor at the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, said such bail conditions were not overly common in her experience, apart from in cases of serious offenses like drug trafficking, child abuse material or repeated allegations of using a carriage service to menace or offense .
“It would be those sorts of things where technology is used to facilitate what [police] allege to be quite serious crimes,” she said.
In the case of these climate protests, some of the alleged conduct is “potentially serious and potentially very disruptive”, Ms Sanders said.
She said if she were to play devil’s advocate, perhaps police or courts might think it’s necessary to stop the group from communicating with each other.
However, in her view, bail is about managing risk while someone awaits trial.
“To effectively shut down the right to political communication with these conditions, it seems extreme to me,” Ms Sanders said.
‘A shit way to live’
NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Josh Pallas suggested such restrictions on communication and technology abused the purposes of the Bail Act.
“It is meant to stop people from not appearing in court, from committing other serious offences, or perceived danger to the community, or interfering with witnesses,” he said of bail law.
Blockade Australia have also undertaken protests targeting coal transports in the Port of Newcastle, disrupting operations.(Supplied: Blockade Australia)
In the case of climate protests, he doesn’t see the same risks.
“They are peacefully protesting. Where is the threat to security?”
Likewise, forcing someone to ensure all their personal information is open to police surveillance is “an extraordinary step to take”, according to Alice Drury, legal director of the Human Rights Law Center.
She is also concerned about how loosely written the bail conditions are.
“[They’re] certainly … very broadly drafted bail conditions that make it very hard for people to understand and comply with,” she said.
“Police discretion should never be that unfettered.”
For Mr Rolles, a dedicated climate activist, it’s led to continuous worry about whether he might unwittingly run afoul of the rules by using his phone or the internet.
“I’ve always got in the back of my head where my meds are, and a top that I’ll be able to wear in the watch house to keep me warm,” he said.
Under this system, general practice trainees remain employed by NSW Health, allowing easy transition between hospital and community-based general practice training placements, and portability of entitlements such as annual leave. Several trainees at the conference praised the program and Davis told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age it was helpful because losing entitlements by switching employers “definitely turned students off and significantly impacted women, who were more likely to be GPs”.
Butler said the results of the single employer model in the Murrumbidgee would inform a possible further trial in South Australia.
Department of Health secretary Dr Brendan Murphy told the conference that growth in GP numbers was only 1.8 per cent a year, while growth in other medical specialists was 4.2 per cent a year.
He said there were many reasons why medical students were not choosing to specialize in general practice, including the financial rewards and the focus on “high throughput medicine”.
“Far too many of our young doctors are not choosing to go into general practice, which is the area we have the greatest predictive need in the future,” Murphy said.
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“Some colleagues and many of the general practice groups say that some of their other specialist colleagues are earning more money for the same or less hard work, so that’s part of it – the reward for the job.”
Several conference attendees spoke about junior doctors graduating with a high burden of debt and gravitating to the best-paid work as a result, while others described a retention problem in general practice because of financial pressures and burnout.
Davis told this masthead that financial sustainability was important, but money was not the main motivation of most medical students.
“We’re still at the stage where we have come into medicine because we care about people and want to make a difference in the community,” Davis said. “Most students, if they get adequate exposure to general practice and have a good experience would be very likely to go into the career.”
Davis said students were not applying for general practice because of the lack of value placed on primary care. She welcomed the new government putting more funding into general practice, but said universities also needed to invest more in making it the “go-to profession”.
“We do most of our training in medical school in tertiary hospitals in the city and it’s usually a small subset that go out and do rural general practice placements,” Davis said.
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“We’d love to see that really increasing, or even a flipped model where you do most of your training in the community and rotate into hospitals – I think something like that would encourage more students to go into general practice.”
Murphy said the government had “massively expanded” the John Flynn Placement Program to expose junior doctors to general practice, especially in rural and regional areas. This is a voluntary program.
He said the National Medical Workforce Strategy, endorsed by health ministers late last year, showed Australia had enough doctors – more than the OECD average including those trained in Australia and those trained overseas – but the workforce was not properly distributed.
Murphy said a related problem to the undersupply in general practice and other areas such as psychiatry was oversupply in other specialties such as emergency medicine and orthopedic surgery.
This problem arose partly because hospitals relied on employing junior doctors to fill positions in emergency medicine departments, but did not have the staff specialist positions available once the doctors completed their training.
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