NEW Tillies boss boasts European success
Football: Brand new Australia Matildas coach Joe Montemurro and Football Australia's interim CEO Heather Garriock spoke to the media after announcing a brand new era for the Matildas.
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News.com.au
32 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Should not be punished': Queensland decries GST carve up
Cash-strapped state governments are looking west with envy as Western Australia pulls in its large slice of the GST carve up despite the healthiest books in the country. Resource-rich WA posted a $2.5bn operating surplus on Thursday – it's seventh budget surplus in a row. From Friday it is set to receive its share of the GST pool of 75 cents in the dollar, despite its strong revenue stream from its resources sector. State premiers and treasurers have been agitating for changes to the GST distribution, since the final figures were announced in March, and ahead of the funds formally being dished out on Friday. WA is still enjoying the windfalls of a 2018 GST deal struck under previous Coalition government by then-treasurer Scott Morrison and backed in by the Albanese government, where WA is guaranteed 75 cents of every dollar paid in GST. Without this benchmark, WA would have received as little as 18 cents back. The WA Premier and Treasurer credited their economic management for this week's operating surplus and healthy debt forecasts. Iron ore prices are hovering at $US95 while the state government has done its forecasting with an expectation of $US72 a tonne. But every state and territory except WA has been posting deficits since the 75 cent distribution reforms in 2018. The Queensland Treasurer feels short-changed, as strong coal royalties pad the state coffers. Victoria and NSW's slices of the GST pie are set to expand while Queensland's portion gets a trim. 'This money belongs to Queenslanders and we should not be punished because of our support for industries that underpin our national wealth,' state Treasurer David Janetzki said. The impending Queensland state budget, to be delivered on Tuesday, will show the effects of a dip in coal prices after an $8.8bn royalties windfall during the past four years. Despite the Sunshine State's royalty take coming down, Queensland's GST payout this year falls by $1.1bn to $16.5bn. In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who has historically opposed raising the GST rate, left the door slightly open to raising it from 10 per cent – the amount the excise has remained for the past 25 years. 'I've, for a decade or more, had a view about the GST,' he told The Conversation. 'I repeated that view at the Press Club because I thought that was the honest thing to do, but what I'm going to genuinely try and do, whether it's in this policy area or in other policy areas, is to not limit what people might bring to the table.' This year, Queensland is the only state or territory getting less than previous years, while every other jurisdiction is getting more. Victoria is set to become a net-recipient of the GST pool for the first time as well. 'It used to be the case that our friends in Victoria would help us shoulder the burden in supporting all the other states,' NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said last month. 'Victoria is now a recipient state, to quite a large degree, $1.07 (per dollar taxed) is what they're getting. 'I'm going to continue to speak out, particularly about the fact that NSW is now carrying the federation when it comes to GST distribution.' The Northern Territory receives $5.15 for every dollar it contributes, far and away the largest return. Despite having the second largest population, Victoria receives the largest portion of the total pool, getting 27.5 per cent; with a $3.6bn year-on-year increase this time around.
SBS Australia
40 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Australia's social media ban is approaching, but questions remain over whether it will work
April Willis says young people need a seat at the table for figuring out how to implement the teen social media ban. Source: SBS News / Ash Minchin Like many, April Willis has been using social media since her early teens. As she grew up on the platforms, she says she didn't immediately understand the impact it was having on her. She says that in hindsight, though, she can see that a lot of her "behaviours" and "the content and interactions" she had on social media platforms were "definitely not great" for her mental health. But the now 22-year-old ReachOut youth advocate says she doesn't think a ban would have stopped her. "I think the hard truth is that a lot of us are thinking, 'I would've found a way around it', as I'm sure many young people will." Whether she actually would have is one of the many questions experts are wondering six months out from the implementation of Australia's social media ban for those under the age of 16. And as of 11 December this year, social media companies will be required to take "reasonable steps" to prevent Australian children and teenagers under 16 from using their platforms. A government-commissioned trial into the potential technologies used to assess the ages of users presented their preliminary findings on Friday. Their key finding was that "age assurance can be done in Australia and can be private, robust and effective". "The preliminary findings indicate that there are no significant technological barriers preventing the deployment of effective age assurance systems in Australia," project director Tony Allen said in a statement. "These solutions are technically feasible, can be integrated flexibly into existing services, and can support the safety and rights of children online." With details about the accuracy of the technologies tested left for later release, experts are wary of the trial's initial claim. Daniel Angus is a professor of digital communication at the Queensland University of Technology and the director of its Digital Media Research Centre. "One of the key concerns that we have is how the industry often will inflate their accuracy and the utility of these approaches when we know that there are still significant issues when it comes to both gender and also racial biases, but also the general lack of efficacy of these approaches," he said. According to the Department of Communications, a government-commissioned report from the Social Research Centre found nearly nine in 10 adults were supportive of age assurance measures. Only two of those 10 had heard of at least one potential method to check a person's age online. 'This research shows Australians widely support our world-leading age restrictions on social media for under 16s and have strong expectations of platforms when it comes to data protection and security," Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a statement. Angus says the general public has not been adequately informed about the likely impacts of these technologies. "I think Australians are in for a very rude shock when this actually perhaps, gets implemented, and they all of a sudden are being forced to hand over [their] data to access services that they've freely been able to access up to this point," he said. "It's absolutely everything you would expect to find in the midst of a moral panic where people have been sucked along with this idea that, 'Yeah, this thing is really, really bad and we need to prevent it,' but have not stopped to think critically about this, and then not been properly informed about the fullness of that risk." John Pane, chair of digital rights organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), is a member of the stakeholder advisory board for the trial. He says the EFA has "concerns about the rollout of this technology because it's not simply about restricting access to social media platforms for children 15 and under". "It requires all adults who participate in the online environment, who wish to access social media platforms to either have their age authenticated or establish their identity as a means of, or part of that age authentication. "So from our perspective, it's the Trojan horse for getting people to get used to providing more and more credentials online." Amid these concerns, some remain supportive of the ban, including Kirra Pendergast, another member of the stakeholder advisory board. "Initially, I was only against the ban purely because of the technical workarounds that are possible for some kids who are more technical than others," she said. "But after having lots of conversations with parents in particular, it became abundantly clear that the ban was making parents have a conversation that we've needed to have for a very, very long time." Pendergast is the founder of Safe on Social, an online safety advisory group for schools and businesses, and chief digital safety strategist at the global Ctrl+Shft Coalition. "I get contacted almost every single day by parents that are struggling with this," the cybersecurity expert said. "They don't know how to say no." Pendergast said parents and educators would have "a lot more time to get it right". "It's like all aspects of technical security, cybersecurity, and cyber safety. It's never ever going to be 100 per cent. This is never going to be the silver bullet. "It's a really, really good start because, again, it sparked all of the conversations that we needed to have at every level of society." Professor Tama Leaver, an internet studies academic at Curtin University and the chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, says the ban responds to a "very real fear that parents have that social media is an unknown space". "If this is world-leading, we need to be quite clear on what the legislation is actually doing." He warned that the implementation of the policy may not address all the issues that have been discussed. "Some harms, for example, such as cyberbullying, were very much touted as one of the big problems to be solved," he said. "There is nothing in this legislation that addresses cyberbullying meaningfully at all. "This at best addresses algorithmic amplification … of young people's experiences of social media, but … we expect from what's been said already that most messaging apps are exempt from this legislation. "So, the spaces where we imagine cyberbullying is most likely to happen are not being touched by this legislation at all." Leaver was a signatory on an open letter from more than 140 academics and civil society organisations against the ban. "If the rest of the world is watching Australia and hoping that this might be a blueprint, we're going to have an awful lot of work to do in the next few months to actually have a blueprint to practically do this rather than simply aspire to giving parents some reassurance," he said.
Daily Telegraph
40 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
2025 Melbourne Cup: Ethical Diamond wins at Royal Ascot
Don't miss out on the headlines from Melbourne Cup. Followed categories will be added to My News. Irish master trainer Willie Mullins has unveiled a potential Melbourne Cup candidate in Royal Ascot winner Ethical Diamond. Ethical Diamond, raced by owners of stablemate Absurde, who ran seventh and fifth respectively in the Cup the past two years, won the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes (2400m) by two lengths under champion jockey Ryan Moore. 'We will give him a little break and look at York – that is normally where we go from here,' Mullins said. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'The Ebor would look possible. We would love to go to Melbourne. 'If we can get him qualified, that would be wonderful. 'We might see if we can get him Group-placed. I think he would suit the race (Melbourne Cup).' • 'Zachariah the Electrifier': Jockey targets darts glory Mullins has wanted to win the Cup since he fell in love with the race that stops a nation in 1993 as a spectator when Irish champion Vintage Crop, trained by Dermot Weld, triumphed at a Flemington. Mullins has placed in the Cup twice previously with Max Dynamite. Mullins travelled Vauban, now trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, and Absurde to Melbourne the past two years without luck. The Ebor Handicap at York offers the winner a golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup. • Moody, Purton, Tapp join turf legends in Hall Of Fame Vauban won a 2800m handicap at Royal Ascot in 2023 and then qualified for the Cup with a Group 3 victory in Ireland. Ethical Diamond must at the very least now place in a Group race at 2400m and beyond to be eligible (pass ballot clause) for Cup consideration. An Ebor win would assure the emerging stayer a start in the Cup but also attract a weight penalty. Vauban carried 55kg in 2023 Melbourne Cup, finished 14th of 23, and melted in hot conditions. Royal Ascot has coincidently been held under Australian-like conditions this year, with a good to firm-rated track and temperatures nudging 30C. Ethical Diamond revelled on the fast ground. 'There is a big win over hurdles in Ethical Diamond too but, at the moment, we will concentrate on Flat,' Mullins said. 'To me, I wouldn't think he loves this type of (fast) ground, but all the flat people tell me horses by Awtaad often like it.' Originally published as 'We would love to go': 2025 Melbourne Cup contender Ethical Diamond wins for trainer Willie Mullins at Royal Ascot
