McDonald’s has been slapped with a wage theft claim of at least $250 million in the Federal Court over alleged denial of paid breaks to workers.
Key points:
McDonald’s workers were allegedly denied 10-minute breaks that they were entitled to
SDA is seeking at least $250 million in compensation plus penalties on behalf of the workers
The fast food giant intends to defend the allegations
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) is seeking compensation on behalf of more than 250,000 current and former McDonald’s workers across Australia.
If successful, the union said the claim would be one of the largest of its kind in Australia’s history.
The SDA is alleging workers at more than 1,000 current and former McDonald’s sites were denied their uninterrupted 10-minute break when working four hours or more during a shift.
South Australia branch secretary Josh Peak said McDonald’s workers were told if they want their paid break, they cannot get a drink or go to the toilet.
He said in almost two years of investigation the union had heard more than 10,000 accounts from former and current employees, including young Australians, at McDonald’s stores across Australia.
“Workers were systematically, deliberately denied the rights to those breaks,” Mr Peak told ABC Radio Adelaide Breakfast.
“It’s just not good enough that a large employer such as McDonalds would create a scheme that leads to people not being paid correctly or getting base entitlements.”
The statement of claim alleged workers had to seek permission to get a drink or go to the bathroom and could be directed to resume work before their 10-minute break was up.
Mr Peak said workers were misled or not informed about their rest break entitlements and the multi-billion dollar corporation should be penalized for it.
“It is really outrageous behavior to be tricking young people into thinking they are not entitled to go the toilet if they used their paid entitlements,” he said.
“Workers never got their paid 10-minute rest break and when workers did ask for it, they were told ‘we don’t do that here because you can go the toilet whenever you like’, which is completely ludicrous.”
Josh Peak said McDonald’s workers should be entitled to paid breaks.(ABCNews)
The claim named 323 McDonald’s operators who allegedly denied paid rest breaks to workers over the past six years.
McDonald’s Australia issued a statement in which it denied the claims.
“McDonald’s believes its restaurants complied with applicable instruments, provided rest breaks to employees and were consistent with historic working arrangements,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman said.
“Those arrangements have been known to the SDA for many years. The manner of taking breaks has not been challenged or raised by the SDA as a matter of concern throughout successive enterprise bargaining processes for new industrial agreements.
“We are very mindful of our obligations under applicable employment laws, including the former enterprise agreement and the Fast Food Industry Award, and continue to work closely with our restaurants to ensure employees receive all correct workplace entitlements and pay.”
Claim originates from SA
The new claim is in conjunction with the SDA’s 15 existing Federal Court claims against McDonald’s Australia and 14 franchisees — seven of them in South Australia.
In December 2020, 14 McDonald’s employees at the Frewville and Mount Barker restaurants lodged a compensation claim after allegedly being denied their 10-minute rest break.
As a result of that action, the investigation extended nationwide.
Isabella worked at McDonald’s in Adelaide CBD.(Supplied)
Isabelle, who worked at McDonald’s in the Adelaide CBD for almost five years, said she was not given her entitled 10-minute break, but instead was allowed drink breaks freely during shifts.
“The drink break was only for 20 seconds, or as fast as you could drink and then come back to work straightaway,” she said.
“I’d spoken to my bosses about it and they just told us that we didn’t get them, they chose to do something different, and that it was legal, it was all fine.
“There were a lot of managers who would get angry if you needed to go to the bathroom and have a drink break.
“They saw it as you being lazy and not actually doing what you need to do.”
She said she was scared of other managers at her former workplace, even when she was in managerial positions.
“I remembered thinking, what do I need more? Do I need a drink more or do I need to go to the bathroom more — and then you just pick from there,” she said.
“Now that we’re going into an actual, normal workplace, we know that that definitely wasn’t normal to be stressed about going to the bathroom or getting a drink.”
Mr Peak said the same story was being repeated across the country.
He said the claim was also about sending a message to other franchises.
“It’s also about sending a signal right throughout the entire fast food industry that young workers, just because they’re young, doesn’t mean you can lie to them.”
Just a few days after Apple reintroduced a battery percentage icon on the latest iPhones, developer Rony Fadel has updated his popular Batteries app with a new option to enable a similar looking battery percentage icon in the Mac’s menu bar.
As on the iPhone, the battery percentage appears inside the battery icon on the Mac for a consistent appearance across iOS and macOS. The existing battery indicator on the Mac can be disabled in the System Settings app in the Battery menu.
Starting with the fifth developer beta of iOS 16, it is once again possible to view an iPhone’s battery percentage in the status bar without having to swipe down to open Control Center. The feature is available on most iPhones with a notch, with the exception of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, standard iPhone 11, and iPhone XR. It’s possible that Apple may expand the icon to additional iPhones in later iOS 16 betas.
Apple had removed the ability to view battery percentage in the status bar when the iPhone X was released in 2017 due to the notch and only brought it back now.
Batteries for Mac is a useful app that lets you view battery percentages for an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Beats, and other Bluetooth devices in the macOS menu bar. The app can also provide low battery notifications for the devices on the Mac. The app is priced at $8.99 in the US and is also available as part of the Setapp subscription bundle.
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Scottie Scheffler is coming under fire for his cardinal sin during the opening round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.
The world No.1, who won this year’s Masters and backed it up by finishing runner-up at the US Open, walked across Open Champion Cameron Smith’s line on the 12th hole as the world No.2 prepared to make a putt.
As a seemingly oblivious Scheffler walked across the green, Smith, 28, looked up at his rival quizzically before returning his focus on the hole.
Eagle eye fans didn’t miss the moment, however, as they highlighted Scheffler’s actions as a not-so-subtle attack on Smith, who is reportedly sitting on a deal to join the rival LIV Golf Series on a deal worth an estimated $AU140 million.
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Cam Smith holes out for EAGLE! | 00:24
“This is basically golf’s version of throwing at someone’s head,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another said: “Spicy head games from Scottie LIV related?”
Interestingly, though, only a hole earlier Smith and Scheffler had high-fived each other on the green.
But, then again, Smith did record an eagle on 13 as he holed out from 156 yards. Did it help his focus on him?
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J-Day of old stuns to revive hopes in $75m event, Smith’s strong response to LIV drama
While Scheffler has not criticized Smith for his coy responses regarding his future, the world No.1 hit out at the golfers, including Australian Matt Jones, who tried to gain an exemption to play at this week’s FedEx playoffs despite joining the rebel golf league.
“Those guys kind of made their decision to go join another tour and they broke the rules and regulations of our tour and now they’re trying to sue us, which is definitely a bit frustrating,” Scheffler said ahead of the tournament.
“I definitely am surprised to see some guys now suing us. If they win, come out here and play, that’s something that’s up to the courts, I can’t control what’s going to happen in a court case. Definitely interested but at the end of the day it has no effect on my preparation for the week.”
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Professor Cooper said that as a permanent worker you have every right to use your leave and should tell your boss you intend – and need – to use it. There are legal protections for workers with caring responsibilities in the Fair Work Act, as well as in the Sex Discrimination Act.
If you don’t have paid leave entitlements, Cooper said you have access to two days of unpaid carers’ leave under the Fair Work Act. This is important to keep in mind if appeals to what she describes as “common sense and common decency” prove futile.
If, as she put it, “dispassionately pointing out that this is a family emergency and that [you] would like the support of [your] employer” gets you nowhere, make sure you know your rights. And if you’re unsure or feel those rights are unclear, there are lots of organizations that can help
“[You] could seek advice from a union, a working women’s center or government body like the Workplace Ombudsman. All have good resources on their websites as well as advice lines,” Cooper says.
“If the employer does not allow the employee to take leave, they could be in breach of several laws in both the industrial and discrimination jurisdictions.”
To me, this is as much a question about modern expectations of businesses and employers as it is about the law. As Cooper put it, “good employers recognize that employees have lives and non-work responsibilities, and support them in meeting these.”
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I’m not sure that’s a particularly radical idea or that too many readers of this column would bristle at the sentiment. And yet, I wonder what would happen if the tables were turned and an employee said to a boss “it’s not my fault your business is so inflexible that my brief absence is considered intolerable”.
I think it would be considered impertinent, and for some even profane. Until we get away from the idea that an organization – a corporation – deserves a kind of dignity and respect that an individual doesn’t, these sorts of situations will continue to arise.
Of course, this doesn’t free the manager who made the comment of responsibility.
“Overall this person sounds like a bad boss,” Cooper concluded. “I’m glad to hear that the employee has left this business.”
So am I, and I hope your relative has found satisfaction in her new place of work, as well as a more reasonable person to work under.
Work Therapy welcomes questions from anyone on any work-related topic. Send yours to [email protected]
A Florida man on Wednesday commissioned a plane to pull a sky banner with the message “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” and fly over Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home as supporters of the former president rallied outside to protest this week’s FBI search of the home.
Miami resident Thomas Kennedy told USA TODAY Thursday that he and a handful of friends paid $1,800 to fly the banner for four hours Wednesday near Trump’s estate in Palm Beach.
“We thought it would be funny,” Kennedy, a self-professed Trump critic and Democratic activist said. “From our perspective, Trump is a bully and we wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.”
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“We got a little message flying over Mar-a-Lago for Trump and the losers gathered there,” he posted on Twitter as the plane soared above him in the sky.
Kennedy, 31, said the message was for both Trump and his supporters who had gathered near the estate for a third day this week.
“My message to them would be to do something better with your time,” Kennedy, a Democratic National Committee member from Florida said. “I would do it again. One hundred percent.”
What’s everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
On Monday, agents searched Trump’s residence and his safe in what sources familiar with the matter have told USA TODAY is an investigation related to Trump’s removal of classified documents from the White House when he left office.
Officials said Trump stored the records at Mar-a-Lago for up to a year, a potentially serious violation of the law if the records were classified.
Trump has denounced the investigation saying he was entitled to take the records and called the action part of a “witch hunt.” However, Trump appointed current FBI Director Christopher Wray during his presidency.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her de ella at [email protected] and follow her de ella on Twitter @nataliealund.
2022 has been a big one for electric cars in Australia, as more carmakers introduce battery-powered models to supply growing interest from drivers wanting to escape the bowser, or stop contributing to harmful emissions, or both.
Whilst EV deliveries in the first half of the year were stymied largely by Covid shutdowns in China – essentially cutting off supply of the highest volume EV manufacturer, Tesla – a swathe of new EV models are now landing on Australian shores.
Not least of those is the Tesla Model Y, which has just claimed the title of number one best-selling car in California, a market 50% larger than Australia in terms of population, and which buys about 60% more cars per year.
And then there is of course the BYD Atto 3, which will be delivered to first customers imminently. as the brand makes its local debut. Priced from $44,900 for the Standard Range variant, it is currently the most affordable electric car on the local market.
Alongside the Tesla Model 3, both will make the top three best-selling cars in 2022 (albeit with the BYD lagging behind, although still in the thousands.)
Offering space and performance in the case of the Model Y, or vehicle-to-load and a budget sticker tag in the case of the Atto 3, the two present very different value propositions.
But there are still a few more models yet to be launched in 2022. We take a look.
Cupra Born – late 2022
The Cupra Born will be the first battery-electric car to reach Australia from the Volkswagen automotive group when it arrives in late 2022. With first orders slated to arrive in early 2023, it is billed as an edgy version of Volkswagen’s ID.3 and will also be made in Zwickau alongside the VW electric hatchback.
In hatchback terms it won’t be cheap – it is expected to be priced somewhere between $50,000-60,000.
Importantly, that price includes a big 82kWh battery and the longest range of any electric hatchback on the Australian market. Rated for 548km under the European WLTP cycle, it should offer a range in the high 400s in real-world conditions.
Don’t expect the Cupra Born to be a threat at the lights, however: though more than capable of beating many ICE cars, it has a modest acceleration of seven seconds from 0-100km.hr.
See also:
Cupra Born first impressions: Edgy electric hatch fills long-range gap Cupra lands in Australia with electric hatch and plans for two more EVs from 2025
The Cupra Born. Source: Volkswagen
Kia e Niro
Kia will introduce the refreshed e-Niro in the third quarter of 2022, and along with a striking new contrasting C-pillar option, will come with vehicle-to-load capabilities both inside and externally.
Available in two trims, the e-Niro S starts from $65,300 before on-roads while the flagship GT-Line trim will start from $72,100.
It is the first Kia to undergo the carmaker’s local suspension and tuning program since the start of the pandemic, and also the first to bring Kia Connect connectivity and telematics to Australia.
The S trim and GT-Line Niro EV have the same 64.8kWh battery as the outgoing model, but an additional 5km in range, bringing the combined distance to 460km (WLTP).
On a DC fast charger, charging may be done at a maximum rate of 100kW, improving charging durations from 10 to 80% (43 to 45 minutes) by nine minutes. On AC chargers, charging can be done at a maximum rate of 11kW, completing 10 to 100% charging in 6 hours and 20 minutes.
See also:
Kia Niro EV: Spacious family cabin with cheapest V2L on market from HMG Kia reveals all-new Niro EV pricing, details and specifications
The Kia Niro GT EV. Source: Kia
Kia EV6 GT – Q4, 2022
The Kia EV6 GT is the highly anticipated flagship version of Kia’s all-electric EV6 crossover.
Having arrived in late July for local tuning, the EV6 GT is expected to launch locally in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Official pricing and specifications are yet to be announced for Australia, but we do know that the “go-fast” EV6 GT will be Kia’s fastest to date, sprinting from a standing start to 100km/hr in just 3.6 seconds thanks to 430kW dual motors and 740Nm torque.
And it is understood that a number of $2,000 deposits have already been put down for Kia’s halo car according to the brand’s local arm. Likely priced somewhere around the $100,000 mark, it will come standard with the same 77.4kWh battery as its EV6 stablemates.
See also: Kia puts halo electric EV6 GT through local rough road paces
Kia EV6 GT being tuned outside Canberra. Source: Kia
Volvo C40 – Q4, 2022
The sleek C40 crossover is the first battery electric car from Volvo that is purely zero emissions, with no internal combustion engine equivalent.
Slated for arrival from the start of the fourth quarter, the low-profile, compact C40 is available in two formats including a single motor variant priced from $74,990 before on-roads and a dual motor option from $82,490 before on-roads.
Despite having a smaller battery, the single-motor front-wheel drive model has a higher WLTP driving range (real world range will depend on driving styles and conditions), providing an estimated 434 kilometers on a single charge as opposed to 420 kilometers for the dual-motor model.
The 300kW/660Nm dual-motor powertrain with all-wheel drive delivers a standing start to 100km/hr in just 4.7 seconds.
A 150kW DC fast charger can charge a 78kWh lithium-ion battery from 10% to 80% capacity in 40 minutes, giving it an estimated 420km of WLTP-certified range.
See also: Volvo reveals Australian pricing and specs for new C40 Recharge electric SUV
Volvo C40. Source: Volvo
BMW i7 – Q4, 2022
Planned to launch alongside a 740i mild hybrid, the expansively roomy BMW i7 promises to be a veritable executive-level electric car.
And it will bear an equally veritable executive price, starting from a little less than $300,000.
For that, the i7 offers fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology and dual motors producing 400kW power and 745Nm torque, a driving range of up to 625km (WLTP) and acceleration from 10-100km/hr in 4.7 seconds.
But it is perhaps the high-end features that the i7 will offer that will capture the attention of the well-heeled.
In addition to fully automatic doors, a 31.3-inch BMW Theater Screen, and a third generation BMW Wallbox for charging at home as standard, the i7 also includes a free five-year subscription to the Chargefox network.
See also: New electric fully BMW i7 to launch in Australia this year at $300k
Genesis GV60 – Q3, 2022
Already on the ground in Australia for local homologation, the premium GV60 will be on offer in a $103,700 luxury variant as well as a $110,700 performance variant.
The AWD luxury variant will have a total 234kW of power, with 160kW of that going to the rear axle. This car is mostly rear-wheel-driven because its front-wheel drive will only produce 74kW. The maximum torque this combination can produce is 605Nm.
The Performance AWD GV60 will instead produce the same amount of power (180kW) from the front and back axles, totaling 360kW and the maximum torque of 700Nm.
It will have the same 77kWh battery pack, 800-volt ultra-fast charging, and bidirectional “vehicle-to-load” capability. The top-of-the-line “Performance” version will have 321kW of power and ride on 21-inch alloy wheels.
See also: Genesis GV60: Pricing, specs and details of luxury EV officially revealed
The GV60. Source: The GV60. Source: Genesis
Mercedes-Benz EQA350
A considerable influx of new all-electric Mercedes-Benz will hit the showrooms before the end of 2022, including the more powerful EQA350 (the EQA250 arrived in 2021), the EQB sedan in both 250 and 350 format, as well as the EQE touring sedan.
Official local details are yet to be announced for these models, and the launch of the EQA350 is several months behind schedule.
The EQA 350 4Matic’s dual-motor electric engine produces 215kW and 520Nm of power, and according to WLTP testing, the vehicle’s 66.5kWh battery can provide a range of up to 432 kilometers without emitting any emissions.
This is an increase of 75kW and 145Nm over the EQA 250’s single motor, and it delivers a 6.0-second sprint to 100 km/hr. Pricing is yet to be announced but expect it to sit above the EQA250’s $76,800 before on-roads pricing.
See also: Mercedes EQA 250 review: An electric SUV tailored for the city
The EQA compact SUV. Source: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz EQB250 and EQB350
As the electric equivalent to the combustion engine GLB, the EQB a mid-size SUV that sits between the compact EQA and the larger EQC SUV.
Larger families may be pleased to hear that the EQB comes in a seven-seater as well as a five-seater layout, at least in Europe.
While it is yet to be confirmed if this option will make it to Australia, this is a possibility given Mercedes-Benz has expressed commitment on making sure Australia does not miss out on any of its electric offerings.
See also: Mercedes-Benz launches seven-seater electric EQB in Europe
The Mercedes-Benz EQB. Source: Daimler
Mercedes-AMG EQE 53
The “one bow” design of the EQE makes for a smooth seamless offering, with 21″ wheels and up to a generous 654km WLTP range that – for those in the market for a premium electric tourer – makes it the perfect long-distance car.
Local details and specs are yet to be announced. However, while the initial global launch of the vehicle promised both 350+ and 43 4MATIC variants, it will be the 53 4MATIC that will arrive in Australia first.
The EQE350+ delivers 215kW/565Nm, while the entry-level AMG 43 delivers 350kW/858Nm. The AMG 53 – which in Europe starts at €109,777.50 (around $A160,000 converted) delivers up to 505kW power and a massive 1,000Nm torque.
See also: Mercedes teases new EQE electric sedan, expected for Australia
Mercedes-AMG EQE: Two new all-electric performance saloons. Source: Mercedes-Benz
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organizer of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model 3 and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
Check out our Models pages for news and analysis, reviews and road trips on this and all EV models currently or soon to be available in Australia.
Forget about that crazy-thin foldable phone from earlier. Xiaomi just beat Tesla to unveil a working humanoid robot prototype at a live event earlier today, and yes, it looks awfully familiar. The Xiaomi CyberOne is 177cm (5.8 feet) tall, weighs 52kg (115 pounds), is nicknamed “Metal Bro” and is also somehow given a zodiac sign, Leo. After a short walk to the middle of the stage, the CyberOne gave CEO Lei Jun a flower (for some reason), before it politely accepted a selfie with the man responsible for its very own existence. The bot was able to walk off the stage without any drama.
The CyberOne is the second product coming out of the Xiaomi Robotics Lab, after the CyberDog from August 2021. The humanoid machine has a face in the form of a curved OLED panel, it can see the world in 3D, hear with two microphones and identify 45 types of emotions from human vocal expressions. Its body has a total of 21 degrees of freedom, which are enabled by 13 joints. Its upper limb actuators can operate with a precision of up to 1Nm for a gentle touch, and its legs are powered by actuators rated at up to 300Nm. But of course, the CyberOne is clearly nowhere near as nimble as Boston Dynamics’ Atlas.
Despite the surprising live demo, Lei said that for now, each CyberOne would cost somewhere in the range of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan (about $89,100 to $104,000), so it’ll be a while before his company deems it suitable for mass production, if ever. It’ll be interesting to see how Elon Musk responds to this lookalike of his own big boy, though he’s probably a little distracted these days.
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Single woman, 30, was set up with a ‘hot stranger’ at a pub by her DAD in a saga followed by millions on TikTok – and you won’t believe what happened next
An Australian publicist has shared the incredible way she met her now-boyfriend
Alice James, from Melbourne, said her dad asked for a cute man’s number for her
The 30-year-old and her father were enjoying beers at the pub
Her dad amused her attention to the ‘total hottie’ at the bar before talking to him
Since then the two went on a number of ‘amazing dates’ before making it official
Alice says her dad is her ‘ultimate wingman’ and owes it all to him
By Carina Stathis For Daily Mail Australia
Published: | Updated:
A ‘very single’ Australian publicist has shared the moment her ‘ultimate wingman’ dad asked for a cute guy’s number on her behalf at a pub, which led to becoming her now-boyfriend – and thousands are eager to know who he is.
Alice James, from Melbourne, was enjoying her father’s company while sipping on a pint of ale after the opening night of Six The Musical.
The 30-year-old told FEMAIL the two were ‘talking garbage’ before her dad James diverted her attention to the ‘total hottie’ sitting at the bar.
‘I had obviously noticed this stunning gentleman with his mate at the bar as soon as we walked in. Dad said “leave it with me” then jumped off his seat and proceeded to talk to these two guys,’ she recalled.
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Single television publicist Alice James, from Melbourne, (pictured) was enjoying beers at the pub with her dad James when he diverted her attention to the ‘total hottie’ sitting at the bar
‘I had obviously noticed this stunning gentleman with his mate at the bar as soon as we walked in. Dad said ‘leave it with me’ then jumped off his seat and proceeded to talk to these two guys,’ Alice told FEMAIL (pictured: Alice and her dad James)
James struck up a conversation with the young men asking if they ‘go for Collingwood’, then turned to the eligible bachelor asking how old he was and if he was single.
‘Dad then pointed to me saying “well this is my daughter and she is very single”. As the night went on we all kept chatting until the two boys at the bar got up to leave and dad stopped them saying: “Wait! You can’t leave! You haven’t exchanged numbers!”,’ Alice recalled.
In a rush James ran to the bar, grabbed the order pad and made the two write down each other’s digits.
‘The boy was so nervous that he actually handed his number to my dad instead of me – hilarious!’ Alice said.
The following morning Alice sent the man a text saying ‘Sorry about my dad’ with a laughing emoji.
‘I wasn’t sure if he was interested or dad had just forced him to talk to me. But he replied and said it was a treat to meet us both and invited me out to dinner a few nights later,’ she said.
‘After our first date we both just had such a good time, there were a lot of laughs and chemistry and it just felt refreshingly right.’
Since then the two have continued to go on ‘amazing’ dates and both are ‘just so happy’.
A few weeks prior to the pub night Alice had also stopped using dating apps and wanted to take a break because she ‘wasn’t having fun anymore’.
But to her surprise she was able to meet someone in public thanks to her dad.
‘We had both been single for a while with some pretty grim dating history so we feel very lucky to have this connection that we do,’ she said.
Dad James struck up a conversation with the single man and pointed out how Alice is also single. When the man and his friend of him got up to leave James said: ‘Wait! You can’t leave! You haven’t exchanged numbers!’
And now after getting to know each other, the guy from the pub asked Alice to be his girlfriend – and she said yes.
‘I definitely owe it all to dad, the ultimate Wingman and the Maverick to my Goose because there is no way either of us would have made the first move at the pub and how sad that this relationship may never have happened,’ she said.
‘It also made the first meeting of the parents very stress free, because I think he was pretty confident that he already had dad’s tick of approval!’
The two singles started texting and went on a number of ‘amazing dates’ before he eventually asked Alice to be his girlfriend – and she said yes
From the beginning Alice has shared the interactions in a series of now-viral TikTok videos that have captured the attention of thousands.
Many praised James for his action and being the ‘best wingman ever’.
‘Ummm any chance I can like, borrow your dad?!’ one person wrote in the comments, another added: ‘My dad needs to step up.’
Nick Kyrgios delivered another tennis masterclass to put Alex de Minaur to the sword and scorch into the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters 1000. De Minaur entered the first-time showdown with his Davis Cup teammate as Australian No 1, but was handed a reality check in a 6-2, 6-3 mauling at the hands of the hottest player on tour.
Kyrgios needed barely an hour to wrap up a 15th win from his past 16 matches and guarantee himself another important rankings boost ahead of the US Open starting on 29 August.
At times it looked like Kyrgios was toying with de Minaur, who barely won a point in the opening four games. He finally got on the board but Kyrgios, mixing stylish serve-volley plays with ferocious power from the back, effortlessly took the opening set in 23 minutes before immediately grabbing an early break in the second.
He briefly lost composure after failing to serve out the match at 5-2 but regained his cool to clinch victory with a ruthless fourth break of de Minaur’s serve.
“I did what had to be done. He’s a hell of a player if you play to his strengths from him, he’s one of the best players from the back in the game, he’s just so fast, ”Kyrgios said of de Minaur after the match.
Kyrgios had a day earlier produced a serve-and-volley masterclass to stun world No 1 Daniil Medvedev 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2. He said the effort had certainly taken a toll.
“Incredibly tough, after yesterday’s big high playing Daniil. The crowd was amazing, it’s a day I’ll probably never ever forget,” he said. “Today it was really hard for me mentally to play Alex, we’re such good friends and he’s been having such a good career so far carrying the Australian flag. It’s just tough mentally, it’s never easy to play a friend like that, especially if they’re an Australian.”
The red-hot Wimbledon runner-up is projected to rise from 37th to No 27 in the standings and could crack the world’s top 15 if he backs up last week’s success in Washington with an eighth career title on Sunday.
That would secure Kyrgios a crucial top-16 seeding in New York, ensuring the 27-year-old would not play a higher-ranked rival until at least the second week at the season’s final grand slam.
Kyrgios’s more immediate focus is Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the semi-finals for a sixth tournament running outside of an injury-enforced withdrawal in Mallorca the week before Wimbledon.
Hurkacz beat Kyrgios two months ago on the Halle grass courts and advanced to the last eight on Thursday with a fighting 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) third-round win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas .
Earlier, fourth seed Casper Ruud advanced to the quarters with a 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista Agut.
Ruud is the highest seed left in the singles draw following the demise of the top three seeds – Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas – on Wednesday.
On a world map, Macquarie Island is a speck in the Southern Ocean, but for ecologists it is a beacon, illuminating a future for large-scale environmental recovery projects.
Melissa Houghton first set foot on the 34km-long green streak as a dog handler in late 2011. Rabbits, cats, rats and mice had been introduced by sealers in the 1800s and were wreaking havoc on the world heritage site. At their peak, there were approximately 300,000 European rabbits and an unknown number of black rats and house mice.
During their trip, Houghton and a labrador named Wags found what would prove to be the last vertebrate pests left on the island: an adult rabbit and her young. In 2014, Macquarie was declared pest free, the largest island to successfully eliminate rabbits to date.
Ten years after Wags sniffed out the last rabbit, the island has sprung back to life, and Houghton has stuck around to witness the change. She gave up dog handling, became a scientist and completed her PhD as part of the research team monitoring the island’s resurgence.
“Seeing it rebound, knowing it’s got a long way to go, and that we don’t know what else is going to happen, it’s so exciting,” Houghton says.
An all-you-can-eat buffet
Houghton remembers being “blown away” by her first views of Macquarie Island after a three-day voyage south from Tasmania in 2011. Its beaches were crowded with hulking elephant seals and raucous colonies of endemic royal penguins. But Keith Springer, who was leading the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project, warned her that beyond the beaches the once biodiverse and unique island was so damaged that it was “nothing but a pretty paddock”.
Melissa Houghton and her Labrador Wags among the island’s penguins. Photographer: Melissa Houghton
Attempts to rid the island of pests had already been under way for some years. The last feral cat was shot in 2000, poison drops were used in 2010 to kill the rats and mice, with rabbits also being targeted. But after the accidental poisoning of native birds, calicivirus (a rabbit haemorrhagic disease) was released in February 2011 to further reduce rabbit numbers.
Houghton and Wags were one of several teams sent to scour the island for surviving pests. “There are massive steep coast cliffs all the way round the island. There might be a few hundred rabbits, but it just seemed impossible [to find them],” she says.
Trudging through the landscape, Houghton saw the damage the pests had wreaked. Before the sealers, the largest creatures eating the island’s vegetation were insects. So for rabbits it was an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Melissa and Wags with the last adult rabbit on Macquarie Island in November 2011. Photograph: Courtesy of Melissa Houghton
The island had been dominated by giant tussock grass and swaying forests of megaherbs, such as Macquarie Island cabbage, which can grow taller than a human. This, says Houghton, is “like celery, very delicious, so the rabbits just absolutely loved it and smashed it”, stripping the landscape and destabilizing slopes where grey-headed albatross nested. “You’d have slime and lichen and landslips where albatrosses were trying to raise chicks and survive.”
Houghton was only able to see some plants in small fenced-off areas. These included two endemic orchids and a tiny herb called australian huperzia. “I couldn’t even envision what the island was meant to look like,” she says.
Birds such as blue and gray petrels, which had been hunted off the island by cats, were returning by 2011, says Dr Justine Shaw of the Queensland University of Technology and Houghton’s PHD supervisor. Shaw recently coordinated a 10-year project to assess the island’s response to pest eradication.
But life was still dangerous for the returning petrels. They nest in burrows, and rabbits had eaten the vegetation that hid and protected them, making the birds vulnerable to attack from skuas, a native predatory bird.
‘The tussock is over your head’
Gradually, life for the island’s birds is improving. Antarctic prions and white-headed petrels, which also nest in burrows, had managed to cling on in some sites while pests were on the island. Their numbers are now increasing. “It’s fantastic and so exciting,” Shaw says.
As birds return to breed, they also poo. This adds nutrients to the soil, which in turn helps the plants to grow back stronger. Tall plants then help burrowing birds hide from predatory skuas. “It’s this wonderful feedback loop,” Shaw says.
Today, the “pretty paddock” that Houghton first experienced has been transformed. “The tussock is over your head, and you’re dodging all these penguin tunnels,” she says. The orchids and tiny herb that had been protected by fencing have started turning up all over the place.
Houghton’s PhD research has also tracked the response of invertebrates such as spiders, flightless flies and springtails. “It’s amazing that somewhere so isolated can have so much diversity of insects – there’s a lot of endemic species,” she says. Removing mice, rats and rabbits might not seem like a way to improve life for invertebrates, but many of them rely on the plants the rabbits were gobbling up. Also, “when mice are on an island they target juicy larvae, caterpillars, moths and spiders and beetles,” says Houghton. The change is palpable. “You go into a hut now and there’s cobwebs everywhere.”
One of Macquarie Island’s native predatory birds, a skua, at Cape Star. Photographer: Melissa Houghton
Typically after an eradication scientists tend to assess how one charismatic species has responded to the pests’ removal. But Shaw is interested in how the island is responding as a whole ecosystem. “It’s not like someone turns the lights on and it’s back to normal. It’s actually quite a staggered response,” she says.
When Shaw talks about the legacy of the eradication she looks to the future. Understanding the intricacies of how Macquarie Island is recovering has reported island pest eradications on New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Antipodes Islands, South Georgia and more. In July 2022 a project was announced to eradicate predators including possums, rats, feral cats and hedgehogs from New Zealand’s Rakiura/Stewart Island, an inhabited island.
Island eradication is not cheap – the Macquarie project cost Aus$24.5m (£14m) and would have been more if not for in-kind support from research facilities already on the island. But isolated islands are hubs for biodiversity, with each one often having its own unique array of flora and fauna.
“This one management action, the eradication, has saved entire communities and species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world,” Shaw says.
Houghton is grateful to have witnessed the island’s resurgence. “It’s one of the few instances where humans can permanently reverse some damage we’ve caused,” she says.
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