Morning Mail: Centrelink staff toilet breaks ‘timed’, ABC defends unfair dismissal claim, British royals set for hospital

ABC tribunal date | The ABC will defend a wrongful dismissal claim by the presenter Antoinette Lattouf at the Fair Work Commission in Sydney today after its managing director, David Anderson, told staff that the broadcaster rejected claims it was influenced by outside lobbyists when it fired the journalist in December.

‘Intrusive and stressful’ | Centrelink call centre staff claim they are being monitored minute-by-minute, including the length of their bathroom breaks, as part of a management-led crackdown to improve average call wait times that have nearly doubled in the last year.

Wong meetings | Penny Wong has held talks with Palestinian leaders and people affected by settler violence as she continued to urge for peace in the Middle East. She also passed on Australian concerns about civilains deaths in Gaza to Israel’s president.

Audit clash | Four consultancy firms reported more than 520 real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest while being paid more than $40m to audit the safety and quality of aged care homes over two years.

Treaty talks | Victorian traditional owner groups are calling for special land rights to prevent land they own from ever being repossessed by the government, as the state prepares for nation-first treaty talks this year.

Glacier meltdown | The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour – 20% more than was previously thought – a study reveals today. Some scientists fear the deluge of freshwater might mean ocean currents no longer carry warm water to the UK and western Europe, with severe consequences for humanity.

Houthi terror listing | The US has put Yemen’s Houthi rebels back on its list of global terrorists as the group warned it would view any such move by Britain or America as a declaration of war.

Smart move | Apple has overtaken Samsung as the world’s top smartphone seller, ending the Korean tech firm’s 12-year run as industry leader as it sold 234.6m units last year.

Royal woes | King Charles is to be treated in hospital for an enlarged prostate, while Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has been admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery.

Bad timing | The actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been held at Munich airport for allegedly failing to declare an expensive watch he was planning to sell.

Australian Open | Jordan Thompson went down in four nail-biting sets to world No 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas last night but Alex de Minaur cruised past Matteo Arnaldi and into the third round. The strong showing by home players continued as Storm Hunter (pictured) ousted Germany’s Laura Siegemund in three tough sets over 141 minutes.

‘Tell it to my face’ | Novak Djokovic clashed with a heckler during his tense match against another Australian, Alexei Popyrin. The Serb won in four sets but confronted a man in the crowd after “tolerating” comments for the whole of the match.

Cricket | Australia will aim to build on their overnight 59-2 in reply to the West Indies’ 188 when day two of the first Test against the West Indies starts in Adelaide this morning, despite the loss of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

Business | Tech company Atlassian will release a report on its first 1,000 days operating with a remote workforce.

Housing | Core Logic’s property report will show unit values rising faster than houses in some parts of the country.

Sydney | Judgment is due in an employment lawsuit brought by a British NRL referee who claims he was stood down because of his accent.

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