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Chinese President Xi Jinping likely to skip G20 summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a summit of G20 leaders including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters.
Two Indian officials, one diplomat based in China and one official working for the government of another G20 country said Premier Li Qiang was expected to represent Beijing at the September 9-10 meeting in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali last year.Credit: AAP
The summit in India had been viewed as a venue at which Xi may meet with US President Joe Biden, who has confirmed his attendance, as the two superpowers seek to stabilise relations soured by a range of trade and geopolitical tensions.
Representatives for the Indian and Chinese foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.
One senior government official from host India told Reuters that “we are aware that the premier will come”, in place of Xi.
The sources in China, two of whom said they were informed by Chinese officials, said they were not aware of the reason for his expected absence.
Xi, who secured a precedent-breaking third term as leader last October, has made few overseas trips since China abruptly dropped strict pandemic-induced border controls this year.
He did, however, attend a meeting from leaders of the BRICS group of major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in South Africa last week.
Reuters
52 dead in Johannesburg CBD fire
In breaking world news, 52 bodies have been recovered and 43 people were injured in a fire in the central business district of Johannesburg, South Africa.
The blaze ripped through the multi-storey residential building in Marshalltown at around 1.30am on Thursday (9.30 am AEST).
A search and recovery operation is underway and at least one child is among the dead. The death toll is expected to rise.
AP
Chorus of business groups in total opposition to draft workplace laws
By David Crowe
Business groups have warned of higher prices for consumers, fewer new jobs and thousands of layoffs as a result of looming workplace laws they want to see vetoed in federal parliament.
The combined message included estimates from the Minerals Council of Australia that the draft laws would add $1.2 billion in costs to the nation’s biggest miner, BHP, and make it harder for companies to use labour hire firms to fill jobs.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott the workplace reforms would hurt workers by hurting productivity.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The Minerals Council joined the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in declaring their total opposition to the draft bill after Employment Minister Tony Burke outlined his plans at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
The business chiefs cited a key comment from Burke, that new rights for gig economy economy workers such as Uber drivers could lead to higher prices, as proof that Australian consumers would pay for the changes unless the Senate voted to block the bill.
“The bottom line is this: this will not close loopholes, it will create problems,” said Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott.
“It will hurt workers because it will hurt productivity, the key to getting high wages. It will hurt small businesses at a time when they are struggling under a sea of red tape. It will cost consumers more – the government is on the record today [saying] it is going to cost you more for your pizza, for your delivery. How much is it going to cost? The bill should not be passed.
“The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chair Matthew Addison also attended the joint statement in Parliament House, shortly after Burke spoke, to say the changes would impose higher costs and more regulation on smaller employers.
Tania Constable, the chief executive of the Minerals Council, said the changes would increase complexity for every business. “That’s going to impact every consumer and every worker across Australia,” she said.
“At the end of the day, make no mistake, we’re talking about less jobs.”
Ai Group chief Innes Willox said the consultations with the government had not stopped changes that would cost jobs.
“It will lead to increased cost, increased complexity, less employment,” he said. “And, unfortunately, the laying off of thousands of people across the economy over time.”
Controversial COVID-era visa scrapped from tomorrow
By Matthew Knott
In breaking news, tens of thousands of temporary migrants will be forced to apply for a different visa or leave the country after the federal government announced it was shutting down a special COVID-era visa program that was believed to be widely abused.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced that the 408 pandemic event visa will be closed to all new applicants from Friday, with only existing visa holders able to apply for short-term extensions.
The government used a short time frame to prevent a flood of new applications.
The department issued 65,859 pandemic visas from June 2022 to March this year, including almost 27,000 in the first three months of this year, even though the era of international border closures had ended.
‘Underpaying people is cheaper’: Burke on paying more for pizza
By Angus Dalton
Asked whether draft legislation aimed at setting minimum wages and lifting conditions for gig economy workers would increase prices for consumers, Employment Minister Tony Burke said there would be “some modest pass through”.
“When you say, oh, could there be a pass through to someone getting pizza delivered to their home? Well, underpaying people is cheaper,” Burke said at the National Press Club. “Slavery is probably cheaper too. We’re talking about some of the lowest paid people in Australia.
“And if that means there’s a tiny bit extra you pay when your pizza arrives to your door and they’re more likely to be safe on the roads getting there, then I reckon it’s a pretty small price to pay.”
The new laws are aimed at setting minimum wages and lifting conditions for workers in the gig economy.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The industry has said the changes could increase the cost of services delivered by the gig economy.
Uber backs a “universal safety net of entitlements” including minimum pay, personal accident insurance covered by digital platforms and appeal rights for workers who lost their jobs, but warned of higher prices for 8 million Australians who use food delivery and rideshare apps.
“If reforms are inadequate and fail to reflect the modern realities of gig work, there could be significant impact to jobs, to consumer availability and to businesses,” Uber said in June.
Burke on improving ‘nineteenth century conditions’ in gig economy
By Angus Dalton
Employment Minister Tony Burke has said new legislation to be introduced next week will provide a definition of what it is to be an employee – which he said is currently absent from the Fair Work Act – and protect “employee-like” workers in the gig economy.
“What is it to be employee-like? There’s effectively three things that the Fair Work Commission will look at,” Burke said at a National Press Club address. “Do you have low bargaining power? Do you have low levels of control over the work that you do? And finally, are you being paid low wages in the sense that [you receive] less than what you would get if you were being employed as an employee?”
Employment Minister Tony Burke spoke about new legislation for gig workers that will be introduced to parliament next week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
He said the new category will allow the introduction of minimum wages and conditions for people working through rideshare, food delivery and care economy apps, who are currently classified as independent contractors.
“It means you keep all the flexibility ... hop onto the app when you want, take shifts when you want. The apps will still have different surge mechanisms where, at different points of day, where there’s higher demand, your rates go up. That’ll all still be possible. But we’ll no longer have a situation where there is no floor.
We’ll no longer have a situation where some of the more reputable apps are being undercut by other apps that emerge on the market that are putting people into unreasonably poor remuneration and unreasonably unsafe working conditions.
We want them to have some minimum standards. Because, while we all love the technology, it’s got to be possible to have 21st-century technology without having 19th-century working conditions.
Have you been stuck on an ambulance stretcher at an ED?
Several decades ago, ambulance ramping, a phenomenon that sees ambulance crews languishing outside hospitals or stuck in crowded corridors with patients, was virtually unheard of in Australia.
But these days, it has become synonymous with emergency departments, and the sight of a fleet of ambulances parked outside local hospitals in cities around Australia is common.
The Age health team is looking to speak to patients or their families who have had a recent experience of ambulance ramping. They are particularly interested in speaking to Victorian patients.
You can contact them using the form below.
Julie Bishop heading to China for diplomatic mission as tensions thaw
By Matthew Knott
Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop will travel to China next week on a sensitive back-channel diplomatic mission, the latest step in the Albanese government’s efforts to stabilise relations with Australia’s biggest trading partner.
Former Labor trade minister Craig Emerson is also set to visit Beijing alongside Australian business leaders, scholars and cultural representatives for the first Australia-China high-level dialogue to be held since early 2020, when relations between the two nations plummeted.
Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop is headed to China to help repair bilateral relations.Credit: Andrew Meares
The quasi-official forum, to be held on September 6-7, comes ahead of a possible meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi next week and a planned visit by Albanese to China by the end of the year.
A source familiar with the planning of the event but not authorised to speak publicly said they expected it would feature a “frank and fearless” exchange of views, adding it was the latest demonstration of a steady thaw in tensions between the two nations since the election of the Albanese government.
Join the conversation
Senator Lidia Thorpe’s opinion piece ‘Your Constitution was designed to erase us. Your token Voice does not empower us’ is sparking plenty of discussion with our subscribers.
@David Jackson says: “She has made some excellent points in her article … the Constitution in terms of the First Nations people was and is implicitly racist.”
@Jane writes: “Thank you Lidia for your rage. There is no doubt we need to hear it. Whilst banners and cheesy white smiles are there to make us feel as one, it’s seriously important that our history of violence is not smoothed over with a feel good moment … It’s a yes from me even though the paternalism of the vote is not lost. Once a Voice is established, I hope it is not homogenised, I hope it can deliver some substance to our country and genuine outcomes. Because right now in this compromised world, it feels like hope is all we’ve got.”
@Alf Neuman says: “What people living now and in future should do is to achieve equality in health, education and opportunities for Indigenous Australians. That is the most important and logical outcome we should expect of what government should do to achieve. The Voice can’t undo what happened in the past and we don’t need it to proceed to the future when we already have Indigenous representation at all levels of government.”
But @Brian has a different take: “A win for No will not be a ‘fresh start’. It will mean no change, possibly ever.”
What do you think? Let us know via the link above.
Senator Lidia Thorpe outlined her reasons for opposing the Voice in an opinion piece.Credit:
This afternoon’s headlines
By Caroline Schelle
Thank you for reading our live coverage for the first half of the day.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:
My colleague Angus Dalton will be keeping the blog updated for the rest of the afternoon. Look forward to joining you again tomorrow morning.
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2023-08-31 06:25:24Z
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