28 Aug 2024

Australia: Union rebellion, student cap, first class fiasco

From Nine To Noon, 9:45 am on 28 August 2024
A photo taken on August 20, 2023 shows the wing-tip of a Qantas Airbus A330 descending to land at Sydney´s Kingsford Smith Airport. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

Qantas' first class ticket offer seemed too good to be true...and thanks to a ticketing error, it was. Photo: WILLIAM WEST/AFP

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to talk about the massive protest by construction workers angry at the federal Labor government and in support of a controversial union forced into administration over alleged links to organised crime.

A cap has been introduced to the number of foreign students that Australian universities can take, leaving the institutions fearful for their budgets.

Qantas accidentally sold 300 first-class airfares at $15 percent of their regular price - but it wasn't too embarrassed to claw the seats back.

And organisers of Canberra's spring flower festival are in a panic over unseasonably warm weather has seen a stack of blooms emerge early.

Karen Middleton is Political Editor of the Guardian Australia.