Australia through to Eurovision final after Delta Goodrem wows Vienna
Big news to start the morning: Australia’s Delta Goodrem has qualified for the Eurovision final.
The other qualifiers from this morning’s second semi-final are Denmark, Albania, Cyrus, Malta, Romania, Norway, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Czechia.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
Australian retailers on notice over ‘fake discounts’ as Coles braces for record fine after landmark court ruling
Coles’ landmark federal court loss could signal the end of “fake discounts” in Australia, according to two former competition watchdog chiefs, with the supermarket giant at risk of record fines exceeding $200m.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued Coles and its rival Woolworths, accusing the supermarket giants of duping shoppers between 2021 and 2023 with “was/is” promotional pricing.
Justice Michael O’Bryan on Thursday found Coles’ “Down Down” promotions in some cases falsely led customers to believe they were enjoying a true price reduction.
All Australian retailers have been left on notice to keep their “discounts” genuine, according to Rod Sims, the former head of the consumer watchdog.
Read more here:
Labor ‘raising taxes without people actually knowing’: Taylor
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, was on RN Breakfast this morning after delivering his budget reply speech last night. The Coalition has vowed to index tax brackets to inflation, part of major tax overhaul should they come to power in the next election.
Taylor told RN that his read of the recent budget was Labor “raising taxes without people actually knowing”, adding the Australians public should have the opportunity to address taxes at an election.
“We’re going to stop that,” Taylor said. “Labor or the government shouldn’t have an automatic tax increase. If the government wants to increase taxes, it should go to an election. It should put that to the people.”
He maintained that his other major plan, to limit many welfare payments to citizens, was just about “prioritising Australians over others”.
“This is, I think, a very natural thing for a government to do,” he said.
Passengers from hantavirus ship to land in Perth today
We’re expecting the four Australians who were on board the virus-hit cruise ship to land in Perth at around 11am local time (1pm in Sydney).
We’ll have the latest when it happens.
Read more here:
Good morning, it’s Nick Visser here to take over the blog. Let’s get to it and see what Friday holds.
Australia through to Eurovision final after Delta Goodrem wows Vienna
Big news to start the morning: Australia’s Delta Goodrem has qualified for the Eurovision final.
The other qualifiers from this morning’s second semi-final are Denmark, Albania, Cyrus, Malta, Romania, Norway, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Czechia.
Eurovision protests kept to minimum amid heavy police presence
It’s worth noting the controversy around this year’s Eurovision, which is likely to continue as Israel’s Noam Bettan won through to the final in the first semi two days ago.
Bettan was booed by some in the crowd during his performance in Tuesday’s first semi-final.
The 28-year-old made it through to Saturday’s final after receiving a mixed reception from the crowd before his performance began, with some members of the audience shouting during the quiet moments of his song Michelle.
Israel’s inclusion in the competition has led to a boycott from Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia.
Press Association reported this morning that protests against Israel’s inclusion have been kept to a minimum around the Wiener Stadthalle, with a heavy police and security presence, but a protest event featuring speeches and music called No Stage For Genocide is planned for Friday at Venediger Au, a play park on the city’s outskirts.
Photos of Delta Goodrem’s performance
And just to reassure you that Delta’s performance was just as spectacular as the rehearsal, here are some more photos hot from the wires.
Migrant advocates accuse Angus Taylor of chasing votes with ‘dog whistles, fear and division’
Cait Kelly
Advocates for migrants last night accused Angus Taylor of using his budget reply speech to “chase votes with dog whistles, fear and division”.
Taylor claimed that migrants were coming to Australia and claiming benefits before they were becoming citizens, a situation which he said Australians did not accept.
But the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said that newly arrived migrants already face strict waiting periods of up to four years before they can access most Centrelink payments, including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and the Parenting Payment.
By the time most permanent migrants become eligible for those payments, they are already eligible to apply for Australian citizenship, it said.
Jana Favero, deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said:
The Coalition’s dangerous decision to return to its harmful, failed refugee policies of the past shows what a mess they are in. They have no new policy ideas. Temporary protection visas have harmed countless people and kept many families apart for over a decade. So many are still trying to recover.
Taylor’s comments tonight are inflammatory and desperate. The fact that he feels the need to dog-whistle about mass deportations of so-called ‘overstayers’, many of whom are actually trapped in a massively blown-out court and tribunal system created through years of Coalition underfunding, shows they are far more interested in stoking fear than delivering serious policy solutions.
The language in tonight’s address misleads the nation by claiming that migrants are arriving and immediately accessing welfare payments, which is a blatant lie. In reality most of the restrictions he’s talking about already exist and there are lengthy wait periods for welfare payments.
The Coalition knows all this and is deliberately misleading Australians about how the welfare system already operates in order to whip up fear and division.
Cait Kelly
Migration ‘will be below 200,000′ under Coalition: Taylor
Meanwhile, on with some more serious news.
Speaking on the 7:30 Report last night, the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, said under a Coalition government the number of migrants allowed in the country will be tied to the number of houses built.
Asked what the exact number is, he would not say, saying only it would be 40% of current migration levels.
Asked if which migrants he would cut – international students, New Zealanders, working holiday visas (which the Nationals would oppose because of its impact on agriculture) – he said:
If I may answer – it will be below 200,000. There’s no doubt about that.
And then the right mix will depend on the circumstances of the time. What is clear, what is clear, is that the number of students in this country has been at record levels.
This government lost control of that situation.
Does Australia stand a chance in the Eurovision voting?
Of course, the judges are only half the equation – there’s also the public vote, where fans can vote by phone or SMS, up to 10 times (but not for their own country).
This is where the peculiar politics of Europe come in, because politically, culturally or geographically aligned nations will usually vote for each other.
Given Australia’s distance, we might be disadvantaged here. The top 10 from tonight’s show go on to the grand final on Sunday (Austria, as hosts, automatically qualify).
We’ll find out soon – the UK entry is on now with some nonsense, then there are three more songs before the votes start being tallied.
Nick Miller
Delta Goodrem performs in Eurovision semi
There was a harp. There was a sparkly dress. A lot of smoke. A crescent moon.
Yes, there was a mid-song key change, in the best traditions of Eurovision cheese.
And there was Delta, ascending into the rafters on a column that emerged proudly from her grand piano, soaring into space on a last effortless high note.
I’d say she did rather well. We’ll find out later what the judges thought.
Photos from Delta Goodrem’s last dress rehearsal
Here are some images from Delta Goodrem’s last dress rehearsal before this morning’s semi-final. Looks like quite the production.
We’ll have a full report after the event. In the meantime, do take our Eurovision quiz.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
We start with some pop fun: Australia’s Eurovision hopes are being put to the test in Vienna, Austria, where Delta Goodrem is (at the time of writing) just about to hit the stage to perform her song Eclipse.
In more weighty news, migrant advocates have accused Angus Taylor of using his budget reply speech to “chase votes with dog whistles, fear and division” and accusing him of a “blatant lie” by saying migrants were able to access welfare payments when they arrived in Australia. More coming up.
Four Australian citizens who were aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak off the coiast of Africa, will land in Perth this afternoon after the government secured a suitable aircraft and crew for the journey. More coming up.
