TRANSCRIPT
- Questions asked over Qantas flight upgrades for politicians
- Hefty fines to be imposed on dodgy NDIS providers
- Australia's cricket team rests its star players ahead of the Twenty20 series against Pakistan.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton says he has never contacted an airline boss to ask for upgraded flights.
It follows revelations published in a book by journalist Joe Aston that the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese contacted the then-CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, to actively request upgrades on his flights, including during his tenure as opposition spokesperson for transport.
While Mr Dutton conceded he has had his flights upgraded at the instigation of airlines, he says he never sought them out.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers was also asked about his flights and said he had never requested an upgrade.
The Prime Minister has defended his conduct and says the upgrades were within the rules and disclosed.
But Mr Dutton says the Prime Minister has more questions to answer.
"In fact, I think it's a bit strange that Mr Albanese is contacting the CEO of an airline when he's the shadow minister or the minister for transport. Now I, as you know, very strongly believe in the need for people to declare their pecunary interests and sometimes there are oversights and the rest of it. There's human error involved. But when you're talking about having a personal phone call to ask for an upgrade as the transport minister or the shadow Transport Minister, I presume the Prime Minister is going to answer questions about that."
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Fines for unscrupulous NDIS providers will rise from $400,000 to more than $15 million under new regulations unveiled by Bill Shorten.
The minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme said the reforms would help the regulator weed out dodgy operators.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will also gain new detterence and compliance powers, including the ability to refer providers for prosecution.
Mr Shorten says the reform would help improve the quality of care participants receive.
"What we seek to do is to increase the criminal penalties, the maximum penalties, from four hundred thousand dollar a year to in excess of fifteen million dollars where someone has hurt or injured a participant. There's been a real loophole where if you injure a worker at work, you can face 38 times the penalty than if you injure a participant on the scheme, and we seek to remove this loophole."
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A woman has faced court accused of assaulting independent senator Lidia Thorpe.
27-year-old Ebony Bell appeared via video link in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury and three counts of unlawful assault.
Senator Thorpe alleges she was assaulted at a public event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in May.
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Oil giant Santos is being accused of misleading and deceptive conduct in the Federal Court by advocacy group the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility.
The group alleges the fossil fuel company did not have the evidence to back public claims it could meet international climate change goals and reach net-zero emissions.
They say Santos did not have a proper basis for claiming it had a clear pathway to reduce emissions by 26 to 30 per cent by 2030, and net-zero by 2040.
The trial is expected to run for 13 days.
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The United States has joined calls from observers for a full probe into reports of election rigging in Georgia.
It comes as the country's president calls on people to protest the contested election, which was held at the weekend.
The ruling Georgia Dream party claimed victory on Sunday despite opposition claims the election amounted to a constitutional coup.
Citing reports from international and local observers, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the election was marked by vote buying and intimidation.
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And in sport,
Australia's men's cricket team is opting to leave out all of their first-choice players for the upcoming Twenty20 series against Pakistan.
They hope the decision will help the team prepare for a blockbuster battle with India to claim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia will face Pakistan in three one day internationals starting from November 4, then take on the same opposition in the shortest format of international cricket.
