Australia news LIVE: Australian murder suspect faces death penalty in Thailand; climate change, El Nino trigger ‘frustrating’ start to ski season

Leaders of the police taskforce established by the Allan government to tackle Big Build corruption have declared there is “no doubt” organised criminals have infiltrated the construction program, and warned combating the sector’s entrenched problems will require legislative change.

As Premier Jacinta Allan said on Monday that she could not understand why people with evidence would not come forward to police, officers also described a struggle to recruit witnesses against the gangland figures profiting from the building sector because Victorians were terrified they would be threatened, firebombed or have their business shut down.

The police officers leading Taskforce Hawk, the elite squad created to combat crime and corruption on the state’s Big Build and in the wider construction sector, also used an exclusive interview with this masthead to accuse Victoria’s largest contractors of failing to ensure they are resistant to organised crime infiltration.

Read the full investigation by Nick McKenzie and Chip Le Grand here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said any evidence of corruption within the CFMEU should be immediately referred to the police, as he defended the federal government’s action on the embattled union.

“We have no tolerance for organised crime, and it’s appropriate that authorities take action when it comes to the CFMEU. In my first month as leader I expelled John Setka from the Labor Party. He took us to court, and we won that legal action. We have put the CFMEU into administration, something that was not done by the former government at all,” Albanese told ABC’s 7.30 last night.

Albanese’s comments came after revelations in this masthead that the Victorian government knew the CFMEU’s lawless takeover of its Big Build infrastructure program was driving massive labour cost blowouts but directed contractors to pay up and carry on, including $200 million to cope with out-of-control industrial relations on Labor’s much-touted Metro Tunnel project. Reports in this masthead also went to the involvement of gangland figure Mick Gatto in the alleged conduct.

The prime minister said he had sought assurances that no federal funds would end up in the hands of gangland figures, as he backed Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s response: “The premier has made her position very clear as well, of her opposition to any corruption, which is that it’s appropriate the authorities take action”.

Asked about “strong evidence” that money was flowing between contractors and organised crime figures, Albanese said: “[Where] there is evidence of corrupt conduct in any area of Australian society, it’s appropriate the authorities, the police take action, people are charged, and people have the book thrown at them, it’s that simple,” he said.

“If there’s criminal activity, there should be the strongest possible action. Full stop. Exclamation mark.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson has rejected calls for the Liberal Party to rebrand after frontbencher Melissa McIntosh called for the move following disastrous polling in two newspapers yesterday.

“The best word we have is ‘Liberal’ because it speaks to a sense of hope about the future, about an Australia where people are in control of their own lives, hard work pays off, and people feel a basic sense of respect,” Wilson told journalists at Parliament House in Canberra.

“Australians need hope right now against the high tax agenda of the Albanese government and those that want to divide us, which is both the Albanese government and One Nation.”

Asked whether the party was cutting through, with all major polls showing the Coalition receiving less than 20 per cent of the primary vote, Wilson said: “There’s a lot more work to do to build out the blue horizon of Liberal hope, where young Australians feel like they can get ahead, where hard work pays off.”

Wilson described talk of a change of Liberal leadership as “a complete distraction” from the government’s economic management.

The Australian government is providing consular assistance to seven Australians impacted by the earthquakes in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.

“It has been utterly devastating, and I think authorities are still working through the scale of those who are lost and those who are still trapped,” Wong told ABC television this morning.

“This is very, very distressing for all, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Venezuela.

“We are providing some consular assistance to some seven individuals. We obviously will continue to engage with authorities to determine if any Australians need further assistance.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the government is “engaging” with the issue of paying teenagers superannuation when they work fewer than 30 hours per week, as he spruiked changes to the system set to come in this week.

“We’re engaging on all these sorts of issues. We’re always looking for ways to improve the system, but for us, our time and effort and energy has been going into this change, which comes in from tomorrow,” Chalmers told Sky News.

From July 1, employers will have to make superannuation contributions within seven days of paying employees. Currently, superannuation payments only need to be made on a quarterly basis. The change is expected to increase the value of superannuation accounts over time.

Chalmers said the change means “thousands of extra dollars for workers.”

Asked about the Greens proposal to pay superannuation to nearly 500,000 teenagers who work fewer than 30 hours per week, Chalmers said: “We didn’t need the Greens political party to tell us that this was an important issue. I met with a delegation of young workers just last week talking about this, we’re always looking for ways to strengthen the superannuation system.”

Chalmers did not make it clear whether the government was intending to make alterations to the way superannuation is paid to teenagers.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan has glossed over suggestions that the Liberals and Nationals parties need the support of One Nation to get into government.

Speaking on Sky News, Canavan said Australia needed a change of government. Asked if the Liberals and Nationals would need the support of One Nation to achieve this goal, Canavan said the Coalition was “best served by putting our own foot forward.”

“We have got to fight for what we believe in, and I believe that our country needs a change of government, a change of direction. Things are going backwards at a rapid rate right now,” said Canavan.

“We need to change our country because things are going own the toilet right now.”

Pressed on the topic of One Nation, Canavan redirected questions.

“What the clear focus on is defeating this government. That’s the primary goal that we’ve got to do because that’s the only way we change the country. Talking about other political parties is not going to change the country,” he said.

Liberal Senate leader Michaelia Cash has repeatedly rebuffed questions over the Coalition’s record low polling, insisting that Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s leadership is safe.

“There’s a long way to go between now and the next election, and our focus is on putting forward a credible plan to the Australian people that will improve their standard of living,” Cash told Nine’s Today this morning.

“I walk through shopping centres and people come up to me, and they say: ‘Please change the government. We cannot afford any more of a Labor-Greens dirty deal’,” Cash said before dismissing a question over the uncertainty of Taylor’s leadership.

The questions come after dual polls this week showed the Coalition’s primary vote falling to between 17 and 18 per cent, sparking calls for a party “rebrand” from frontbencher Melissa McIntosh. Cash dismissed the statement.

“Australians don’t want us to rebrand, they want us to change the country that is actually going backwards under Larissa Waters, the Australian Greens, and Anthony Albanese,” she said.

The Christian Brothers in Australia transferred some of its most valuable colleges to a separate trust for just $1 each but now claims it will be broke by September and unable to compensate hundreds of survivors of shocking clerical abuse.

At least three prominent schools in NSW, including Waverley College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, were passed by the Catholic order in 2018 to the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia.

Documents obtained by this masthead reveal other NSW schools including St Patrick’s College in Strathfield and St Pius X College in Chatswood were also transferred that year for the nominal consideration of $1 each.

The move came just months before state governments across Australia removed the controversial Ellis Defence, which had limited civil claims against churches since 2007.

The transfer of schools between the two entities has fuelled claims by abuse survivors and their lawyers that the Christian Brothers engaged in a deliberate strategy to shield its assets from civil claims.

Read the full investigation here. 

A striking absence of snow has left Australia’s slopes muddy and bare as the ski industry pins its hopes of a salvageable season on a late downfall to cover the alps.

Skiing businesses rely on the winter school holidays to bring hordes of families to the Australian alps to kick off the ski season.

But as students begin their holidays in Victoria and start marking off the last days before winter holidays begin in NSW this weekend, a glum would-be skier posted a clip of himself standing beneath chair lifts on a slope of dull muddy grass marked by a strip of manufactured snow.

Snow coverage in Australia is in long-term decline due to increasing temperatures caused by climate change, data from the Bureau of Meteorology shows. This year’s season is also expected to be hit by the onset of an El Nino weather pattern, declared by the Bureau of Meteorology on June 16, which causes warmer and drier conditions.

However, resort operators in NSW and Victoria insist the lacklustre start to the season is not uncommon.

Read the full story here.