Australia news LIVE: Mass power outages continue across Victoria; PM gets engaged to partner; Labor backs Julian Assange vote

Network 10 owner Paramount says Australian workers will be among the 800 people to lose jobs as the US entertainment giant looks to save cash amid takeover talks.

Global Paramount CEO Bob Bakish informed staff in America earlier this week of the cuts, which he said were necessary to maintain profit growth. News of the job losses came the day after the company’s US television network CBS broadcast the NFL Super Bowl to a record audience.

Paramount owns Network 10 in Australia.Credit: Lester Ranby

An internal memo shared with staff in Australia on Thursday morning by Pam Kaufman, president and CEO of Paramount’s international markets, confirmed the local impact, with affected workers to be notified by the close of business.

Here’s more on this breaking story.

Earlier, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten was asked about whether the government should change its negative gearing policy in an interview on ABC Radio Melbourne

He said the government’s tax reform agenda was “pretty full at the moment”.

“We’re doing the tax cuts which will allow people to … earn more and keep more and so that’s pretty positive,” he said.

Government Services and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The minister said the Labor government wanted to ensure multinationals were paying their fair share of tax, ensure the petroleum resources rent tax, and deliver its rent-to-buy changes.

“I also think, in housing, our rent-to-buy change is the sweet spot. We believe that the best thing we can do for housing shortages is to increase the supply of houses. I’m certainly not aware of any plans to tackle negative gearing.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is speaking in the House of Representatives this morning on the government’s reformed stage 3 tax cuts after announcing his engagement.

“It’s a great day in so many ways Mr Speaker,” Albanese called out joyfully.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to marry his partner Jodie Haydon.Credit: X/ @AlboMP

Advocating for his legislation to change stage 3 tax cuts, Albanese loudly proclaimed to the chamber that the opposition is “very loud and angry” at people who are voting in favour for the package.

“This package is a package that doesn’t leave people behind,” Albanese said.

In state news, 25 homes have been lost in bushfires and 100,000 Victorian properties are still without power two days after wild weather smashed the state.

A Country Fire Authority spokesperson told this masthead that 24 houses had been destroyed at Pomonal and one was razed further north at Dadswells Bridge after two separate bushfires broke out on Tuesday.

One watch and act alert remains active for the out-of-control Bellfield fire near Halls Gap. That blaze was blown east by strong winds, injuring firefighters caught in a burnover.

The other fire, on the northern edge of the Grampians National Park near Mt Stapylton, was downgraded to an advice message shortly after 7.30am on Thursday. The fire is still burning in dense bushland.

Updates on the situation are available here.

Anthony Albanese could be the first Australian prime minister to get married in office, if he ties the knot while he still has keys to The Lodge.

Albanese proposed to his long-time partner Jodie Haydon on Valentine’s Day and announced their engagement on social media site X this morning.

A wedding date hasn’t been announced.

It will be the first marriage for Haydon and the second for Albanese, who separated from his first wife Carmel Tebbutt in 2019 – the mother of his son Nathan – after 19 years of marriage.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to marry his partner Jodie HaydonCredit: Twitter / @AlboMP

All previous prime ministers except John McEwen, Julia Gillard and Albanese were married while in office.

McEwen was newly a widower when he briefly became the prime minister in December 1967, following the death of Harold Holt.

Gillard’s then-partner Tim Mathieson lived with her at the lodge, but they never married.

Here’s more on the engagement.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said it’s likely some businesses are using the cover of higher inflation to price-gouge customers.

The Reserve Bank’s recent economic outlook highlighted that grocery prices had risen by a substantial 20 per cent since 2020, compared to 8 per cent over the past decade.

Greens senator Nick McKim asked whether Bullock thought some companies were using the cover of high inflation and a lack of competition to boost profits over and above what would be needed to meet increasing costs, and Bullock agreed.

Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Michele Bullock speaks about price gouging.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“Yes, there probably are firms that are using circumstances of lack of competition, strong demand, and as you mentioned, the cover of higher inflation,” she said in a senate estimates hearing.

“If you’ve got inflation back around 2 to 3 per cent, and it’s in the background, it’s much more difficult, I think, for firms to use high inflation as cover for … putting up their prices.”

McKim asked whether that behaviour of raising prices beyond what is needed to meet increased costs would constitute price-gouging.

“I think that’s what people are using to define price-gouging,” she said.

Bullock also agreed that it was easier for companies to engage in price-gouging behaviour where there were low competitive pressures, but would not cast judgement on the competitive pressures or lack thereof in the groceries sector.

Foreign minister Penny Wong has issued Israel a forceful warning not to launch a ground invasion of the besieged Gazan city of Rafah, saying there would be no justification for such a move.

“Our message to Israel is: listen to the world, do not go down this path,” Wong told Senate estimates hearings in Canberra.

Wong said that the federal government had “grave concerns about an impending major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This would bring further devastation to more than a million civilians seeking shelter,” she said.

“Large-scale military opposite operations in densely populated areas risk extensive civilian casualties.

“Australia believes this would be unjustifiable.”

While condemning the October 7 Hamas attacks that triggered the war in Gaza, Wong said that “even in war, there are limits and even in war, there are rules”.

“The fact that a war or conflict is justified under international law does not mean that there are no rules that need to be observed,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week said he had “very deep concerns” about a possible Israeli incursion into Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million people have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

Back to news about the vote to bring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange back to Australia, with independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie saying it passed with a “thumping majority”.

The independent MP told ABC TV he hoped to also get the opposition on board with the motion, but they demanded amendments that were “unacceptable”.

“They would have gutted the motion,” he said.

Whistleblower and former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“It’s also the first time the prime minister and the members of his cabinet have sat there and so publicly and strongly endorsed the substantive element of the motion which was important for the US and the UK to drop the matter and allow Julian to come home.”

Wilkie was also asked about the Coalition’s lack of support on the issue, and said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton previously backed calls for Assange to return.

“You’ll have to ask Peter Dutton if he’s changed his position. I think the federal opposition were just looking for some excuse not to support it.”

But Dan Tehan, the opposition’s immigration spokesman, said they didn’t want to criticise Americans for standing up for their right to deal with those accused of leaking national security matters.

“We have to get this right,” he said.

“What Julian Assange is accused of is leaking national security secrets. No one should condone that. What we do want to see from the Coalition is that justice can prevail in a quick time, that he can get heard in court and that the length of time it is taking to prosecute … is not so long.”