☕️ New laws to protect employee costs

We need help settling an office debate… Vote on the poll below!

“You’re about building your brand. We’re about building houses.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong speaking to the Greens in the Senate yesterday, as the Greens and the Coalition continue to refuse to support a Government housing bill.

£170,000 ($AU330,000)
The amount UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is paying his chief of staff, Sue Gray. This is more than his own annual salary of £166,786 ($AU325,190), according to the BBC.

2011
“Call Me Maybe” was released by Carly Rae Jepsen. I feel like 🎶I just met her and this crazy🎶.

A majority of United Nations (UN) member states have voted in favour of a resolution ”demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine within the next twelve months”.

There were 124 UN General Assembly votes in favour of the resolution and 14 against. Australia was one of 43 countries that did not vote (abstained).

The UN resolution is not legally binding and Israel has described it as “diplomatic terrorism”.

It follows an International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion in July — when the UN’s highest court declared Israel’s settlements were “unlawful”.

This week, 29 countries and the state of Palestine introduced a UN motion, urging Israel to “end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within a year.

Earlier this year, the state of Palestine was granted expanded rights as a UN member. This is the first time it’s been able to co-author a motion at the UN General Assembly.

The motion “welcomed” a recent ICJ advisory opinion that declared Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was illegal. Israel rejected this ruling.

Australia abstained from this week’s vote in the UN General Assembly.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she regrets that Australia and its ally, the UK, “were not in a position to support this resolution.”

“We will continue to look at ways we can add our voice to a pathway out of this conflict,” Wong said.

The UK’s UN Ambassador, Barbara Woodward, said the motion didn’t outline a clear plan “to effectively advance our shared aim of a peace premised on a negotiated two-State solution”.

Israel and the U.S. were among the UN members who voted against the resolution.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said the motion represented “one-sided resolutions” that fail “to consider what the Israeli people have endured”.

U.S. Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said her country remains firmly opposed to Israel expanding its settlements. However, she said the motion failed to outline terms for “progress towards two States and living in peace, side by side”.

This resolution is not legally binding, meaning the demand for Israel to withdraw cannot be enforced.

However, the UN noted a resolution carries “immense moral weight, representing the collective resolve of the UN membership on a matter of grave importance”.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

A law to reduce employees’ costs to take workplace harassment claims to court has passed Parliament.

Under the Costs Protections Bill, someone who takes their employer to court for workplace discrimination or sexual harassment won’t have to cover their boss’ legal costs if they are unsuccessful.

It’s the final recommendation to be acted on from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) 2020 Respect@Work report.

Taking a workplace discrimination complaint to court can be expensive.

At trial, a judge might reject the complaint, and order the complainant to pay their workplace’s legal fees as well as their own. This is known as a “costs order”.

In 2022, Australian National University (ANU) researchers concluded the combination of legal expenses and the risk of a costs order “is a major barrier to applicants pursuing” claims they have a chance of winning.

Separate ANU research has shown around 450 cases have progressed to court since national sexual discrimination laws came into effect in 1984.

This is because many sexual harassment claims are settled out of court, with many requiring all parties to sign “non-disclosure agreements” — legal clauses requiring them to stay silent.

In 2022, the AHRC found one in three Australians had been sexually harassed over the previous five years.

In 2020, the AHRC conducted a national inquiry into workplace harassment. In its final report, titled Respect@Work, it made 55 recommendations to reduce harassment at work.

54 of the recommendations have been accepted, some of which are still in the process of being implemented.

The remaining recommendation, overhauling costs orders to give greater protections for victim-survivors, has now passed Parliament.

Under the new law, a person who brings a workplace sexual harassment case can’t be asked to pay their employer’s legal fees if they’re unsuccessful in court.

It also covers claims of religious, racial or LGBTQ+ discrimination.

The Government said legal costs can “deter victim-survivors of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination from commencing legal proceedings.”

The costs protection won’t apply if a court is convinced the claim has no serious basis or is unreasonable.

It will also not apply if the alleged perpetrator does not have a “power advantage” over the person who is making the harassment complaint.

This means bringing an unsuccessful complaint against a coworker could still result in a requirement to pay both parties’ legal costs.

However, it means the complainant wouldn’t pay the legal fees of large companies.

The Coalition voted against the costs protection law.

While Liberal Senator Paul Scarr said that “costs should not prevent any Australian going to court”, he raised concerns that small businesses could end up paying large legal fees for baseless claims.

The Law Council of Australia has also raised concerns about the new law, saying it “tilts the balance overly in favour of the applicant”, creating “financial risk” for employers.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Tinder Launches New Consent Course

Tinder’s new Consent Course, with Chanel Contos, WESNET and The Relatables, is now live on School of Swipe!

What you’ll learn:

Why take it: Become a more respectful partner and improve your relationships and intimacy.

Start learning today - visit Tinder’s School of Swipe here!

The director of the Norwegian Road Federation called the milestone “historic”, attributing the uptake of EVs to Government incentives including lower taxes, tolls and parking fees for EVs, as well as bus lane exemptions.

The Federation says the country’s new challenge will be to have EVs outnumber diesel-powered cars, projected to be achieved in 2026.

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Chloe Christie.

An 8-year-old girl in the U.S. was caught by police driving her mum’s car to Target.

After Ohio police received reports of a missing child, they found the girl 16kms from home in a Target carpark, drinking a Frappucino from Starbucks.

Luckily, no one was injured on her shopping spree.

Bedford Police shared the story on Facebook, saying: “Not sure what she bought... We did let her finish her Frappuccino. We’re not mean.”

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

A new TV show has started a conversation about diversity in media, and the representation of autistic people in Australian workplaces.

The Assembly features a collective of autistic journalism students, mentored by ABC veteran journalist Leigh Sales. Students interview some of Australia’s biggest names, from Hamish Blake to the Prime Minister.

The series has sparked broader discussions around representation, highlighting the strengths of neurodiversity in a way you might not have seen on screen before.

To talk us through the Assembly and its broader impact, Leigh Sales joins us in today's deep dive.