NTEU DITCHES 'TAKE OUR WAGES' TACTIC

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the National Tertiary Education Union has largely abandoned its proposed National Jobs Protection Framework — a plan to save 12,000 university jobs in the face of more than $4.5 billion in revenue shortfalls.

The national proposal — which would see laid-off workers receive 30-50% of their pay in exchange for a general fall to 90-95% — was rejected by 17 Vice-Chancellors and accepted by just three.

While NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes laid the blame squarely at those VCs, the framework was also rejected by at least 1300 rank and file members decrying what they saw as union-backed wage cuts with negligible protection against redundancies.

PS: With JobKeeper still restricted to private universities, UNSW has told parents it will close one childcare centre by the end of this year and is potentially looking to privatise the remaining three.

SALLY FORTH

Both The Australian ($) and Sydney Morning Herald report that Scott Morrison will bring ACTU secretary Sally McManus on board a group of business representatives from next week, as part of a forum series designed to create a new workplace relations deal by September.

The government, which has ditched the union-busting Ensuring Integrity Bill as a peace offering to the unions, will also bring in the Business Council of Australia, Master Builders Aust­ralia, Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other smaller organisations ahead of determining five workplace reform working groups.

POVERTY NOT POPULAR: While this is all very lovely, it’s worth pointing out that yesterday Morrison confirmed he would not extend JobKeeper or JobSeeker, even if, according to a new ABC/Vox Pop Labs poll, most Australians support maintaining the latter’s not-poverty rates.

DAN'S BAD DAY

In a double-whammy for Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, The Age reports that the Victorian government did not consult with DFAT before signing off on an infrastructure deal under China’s Belt and Road Initiative last October.

Secondly, and relatedly, the paper reports that a five year review by the Victorian Information Commissioner demonstrates a steady year-on-year decline in the release of freedom of information requests by state departments and agencies.

THE SHIPPING NEWS

On the other side of the country, the ABC reports that six crew members of a livestock carrier docked in Fremantle have tested positive for COVID-19.

While confirming the remaining, quarantined 42 crew members are “currently well”, WA Premier Mark McGowan has accused Border Force of allowing the ship Al Kuwait to berth for a week despite health concerns from as early as May 22.

SHIP SHAPE: In a reminder of just how potent these clusters can be, Nine reports that a Queensland woman linked to the Ruby Princess likely carried a “dormant” version of the virus for 10 weeks before falling ill.

RIO TINTO DESTROYS 46,000-YEAR-OLD INDIGENOUS SITE

Right on National Sorry Day 2020, WAToday and the ABC report that Rio Tinto destroyed a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site in WA’s Pilbara region in a mine blast over the weekend.

While Rio Tinto received ministerial consent to turn Juukan Gorge into an iron ore mine in 2013, subsequent archaeological digs found artefacts in rock shelters including:

• a 28,000-year-old tool made from bone;
• the earliest known use of grindstone technology in Australia; and
• a 4000-year-old plaited hair belt with DNA linked to today’s Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people.

John Ashburton, chair of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama Land Committee, has expressed frustration over the lack of regulatory flexibility to account for new information, an issue Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt says will be covered by new state heritage legislation this year.

STATE WRAP

• Ahead of National Reconciliation Week starting today, WA launched a NRW 2020 website to encourage digital commemoration.
• Victoria launched grants of up to $500,000 for multicultural media outlets to continue delivering news, entertainment and information, and has extended the deadline to register pools and spas from June to November 1, 2020.
• NSW will match federal government funding and invest $12.8 million in frontline support for survivors of domestic violence during the crisis.
• The ACT government announced a series of in-depth guidelines for sector recovery from 11:59pm Friday 29 May, including a scalable, 20-to-150+ patron framework for the hospitality sector.
  • ACT also launched a “one stop shop” for cultural events throughout the crisis, RISE Canberra, which will also facilitate the creation of the two-month, $240,000 Where You Are Festival, to launch July 10, 2020.
• The Queensland Government announced a further $500,000 to support stART, a new quick turnaround grant program for the state’s independent creative artists, producers, designers, technicians and arts workers.
• The NT government announced that former Dow Chemical Chairman and CEO, Andrew Liveris, and former Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, have been appointed as co-chairs of the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission.
  • Check out Crikey’s profile on Liveris for how the business oligarch-turned-Trump cheerleader got the gig.
• Finally, the Tasmanian government will extend the temporary arrangements for cashless buses and the bus fare amnesty for all public school bus and general access services until Sunday July 5, 2020.