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‘Extremely unimpressed’: AGL fires back at Cannon-Brookes’ takeover bid
AGL chief executive Graeme Hunt has rejected billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ claim he can shut and replace the company’s coalfired power stations without price shocks, warning shareholders will not cede control of the 180-year-old energy giant unless they are paid a far bigger premium.
In his first public comments since the offer was lobbed on Saturday, Mr Hunt acknowledged the need to take AGL away from coal but said the bidding consortium’s timeline of shutting its plants was ″overly accelerated″ and its offer for the business was far too low.
Golding’s view.Credit:Matt Golding
″It’s very clear to me that shareholders are extremely unimpressed with what’s been offered from a value perspective,″ he said.
Mr Cannon-Brookes, Australia’s third-richest person, joined Canadian asset manager Brookfield to launch an $8 billion bid to buy AGL this week, with plans to close its remaining coal plants by 2030 and spend $20 billion more to replace them with large-scale renewable energy and batteries.
The proposal was criticised by Prime Minister Scott Morrison who claimed that power prices would go up if more coal plants were closed too quickly.
AGL’s board has rejected the takeover offer, which represented a 4.7 per cent premium on the company’s Friday closing price of $7.16 a share, saying it ″materially undervalued″ the business.
Read the full story here.
William Tyrrell foster mother charged with additional count of common assault
The foster-mother of missing toddler William Tyrrell has been charged with an additional count of common assault, which she will ask a magistrate to dismiss on mental health grounds, a court has heard.
William’s foster-parents, who cannot be named, were charged in November last year with one count each of common assault, relating to the alleged assault of a child. That child, who is not William, was allegedly assaulted at a home in Sydney. A local court heard yesterday an additional charge of common assault has been laid against the foster-mother.
NSW Police search for missing toddler William Tyrrell (inset) in November 2021.Credit:Wolter Peeters, Supplied
The woman’s lawyer, Sharon Ramsden, said her client intended to enter pleas of not guilty to both counts and proceed to a hearing if she was unsuccessful in having the charges dismissed on mental health grounds.
Ms Ramsden said her client had previously flagged an intention to have the matter dealt with under section 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act, which allows a magistrate to dismiss a charge unconditionally, or order that a person receives treatment or other care.
Ms Ramsden said her client was assessed by a psychologist and she had anticipated having a report ″in coming weeks″. ″But I’ve then received the fresh charge on Friday,″ Ms Ramsden said. ″I’ll need the psychologist to assess in relation to that matter as well.″
Read the full story here.
Restrictions ease further in Victoria, but experts question ongoing mask rule for primary schools
Most COVID-19 restrictions for adults have been removed under the latest Victorian government changes, but some primary school children will still be required to wear face masks in the classroom, a decision questioned by some experts.
Health Minister Martin Foley on Tuesday loosened a raft of remaining COVID-19 rules. Working-from-home recommendations will lift next week and most mask mandates will be removed from 11.59pm on Friday, except for particular settings such as on public transport, in hospitals and for retail and hospitality workers.
Natalie Gamble with her children Sophie nine, and Max, seven.Credit:Jason South
Professor Fiona Russell, director of child and adolescent health at the University of Melbourne, said children should not have tougher restrictions than adults, who had resisted returning to offices while the mandates remained.
“And yet, this is what we’re expecting of children: all day, five days a week,” she said. “I think in the context of masks, children should be following the same guidelines as adults.”
Other mitigation strategies, such as rapid antigen testing and ventilation, are continuing and Professor Russell said it was important to give children relief now in case there was a new variant or a surge in cases over winter, when mask rules could return.
Most importantly, she said, children needed to stay home if they had COVID-19 symptoms.
You can read the full story here.
Dossier compiled for NSW Premier furious over Sydney rail shutdown
Premier Dominic Perrottet, furious about being kept in the dark about the complete shutdown of Sydney’s rail network, instructed senior staff to urgently investigate the timeline of events that led to the debacle.
An internal dossier was provided to the Premier’s office on Tuesday, which included details of texts messages sent between ministerial staff and the rail agency in the hours leading to the decision to switch off the passenger rail network.
Commuters disembark from a train at Parramatta Station on Tuesday.Credit:Kate Geraghty
Transport Minister David Elliott came under repeated fire to explain when he was told about the transport agency’s decision to close the network, which disrupted hundreds of thousands of commuters on Monday.
Labor leader Chris Minns grilled Mr Elliott over a text message between the minister’s chief of staff and a bureaucrat before 11pm on Sunday, citing it as evidence the government had advance knowledge about the imminent shutdown.
Commuters endured another day of major disruptions on Tuesday as just a quarter of scheduled passenger train services operated across the city.
A senior government source said that while Mr Perrottet was confident Sydney Trains had made the appropriate decision based on safety concerns, he was incensed that he knew nothing of the looming chaos.
Read the full story here.
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Voters worry about falling wages, back lower migrant intake
Australians are scaling back their hopes for a swift economic recovery and a boost to wages as the nation heads to an election fight over the cost of living, with 53 per cent of voters expecting their personal incomes to fall in real terms this year.
Only 12 per cent of voters believe their personal incomes will increase above the rate of inflation in the year ahead, despite warnings about worker shortages and public forecasts for shrinking unemployment.
An exclusive survey for The Age shows 43 per cent of voters think their incomes will stay steady in nominal terms but fall after taking inflation into account, while another 10 per cent expect to earn less because they will work fewer hours or have their pay cut.
Voters are also losing confidence in the outlook for the economy this year and are turning against the idea of restoring permanent migration to the numbers recorded before the coronavirus pandemic, with almost two-thirds of respondents saying the intake should restart at a lower level.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hailed the nation’s 4.2 per cent unemployment rate as the lowest in more than a decade and said the worker shortages should push wages higher, but Labor is preparing to fight the election, due by late May, on the cost of living with a warning about stagnant incomes.
The survey, conducted by research company Resolve Strategic, was based on questions to 1604 eligible voters from February 15 to 20. The findings have a margin of error of 2.5 per cent. ″Despite the positive macroeconomic figures, many people remain uncertain about the recovery and, more relevant to them, about jobs, wages, living costs and house prices,″ Resolve director Jim Reed said.
You can read the full story here.
Joe Biden rolls out sanctions after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Today’s biggest story is likely to be in the Ukraine. You can view our live coverage here. Below is the latest story from our foreign affairs correspondent Anthony Galloway to bring you up to speed.
Ukrainians gather for “Mariupol is Ukraine” in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022.Credit:AP
Europe is on the brink of its worst war in decades with Russian troops moving into eastern Ukraine as part of a mission that Western leaders believe will be used as a pretext for an invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday ordered his Defence Ministry to send troops to “maintain peace” in eastern Ukraine’s two breakaway regions, in a significant escalation of the crisis.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the latest world leader to add his reaction to the move. He chaired a meeting of Britain’s national emergency security committee yesterday, saying afterwards that Moscow appeared to be bent on a full-scale invasion.
“I’m afraid all the evidence is that President Putin is indeed bent on a full-scale invasion of the Ukraine, the overrunning, the subjugation of an independent, sovereign European country and I think, let’s be absolutely clear, that will be absolutely catastrophic.
“I think that the tragedy of the present situation is that President Putin has surrounded himself with like-minded advisers who tell him that Ukraine is not a proper country. And I think that he is going to find that he has gravely miscalculated,” Mr Johnson said.
Earlier Australia directed its embassy staff to immediately leave Ukraine for Poland and Romania, temporarily closing the office that was set up in the country’s west last week after embassy staff left the capital Kyiv.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne urged all Australians remaining in Ukraine to leave immediately: “Do not delay”.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning. It’s Wednesday February 23. I’m Liam Mannix and I’ll be here hosting our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Russia has begun invading Ukraine, according to US President Joe Biden. Biden is speaking in the White House right now, describing Putin as “carving” out new countries yesterday.
Biden has flagged sanctions on two Russian banks, Russian elites and their family members. These are the first sanctions, and can continue to escalate, he said. You can follow our live coverage here.
Most COVID-19 restrictions for adults have been removed under the latest Victorian government changes, but some primary school children will still be required to wear face masks in the classroom, a decision questioned by some experts. Professor Fiona Russell, director of child and adolescent health at the University of Melbourne, said children should not have tougher restrictions than adults, who had resisted returning to offices while the mandates remained.
Australians are scaling back their hopes for a swift economic recovery and a boost to wages as the nation heads to an election fight over the cost of living, with 53 per cent of voters expecting their personal incomes to fall in real terms this year. Only 12 per cent of voters believe their personal incomes will increase above the rate of inflation in the year ahead despite warnings about worker shortages and public forecasts for shrinking unemployment, according to an exclusive survey for the Herald and The Age.
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