Ep.376: Nige has waited 16 years to see his wife again. But he may never do so
English A cooking class is underway at a small café in the leafy Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte. Chef Nigethan Sithirasegaram ((NEE-GATE-AN SIT-RAH-SAY-GRAM)), known to friends and family as 'Nige', is preparing a feast from his homeland Sri Lanka. For the 49-year-old, cooking is a vital connection with his Tamil culture. 'I'm going to teach lamb curry, one of the iconic curries in Sri Lanka and also cook beetroot Curry and also raita, rice, the full package meal. When I'm cooking here, actually I'm really proud everyone likes my food. ' And that means a lot to Nige who fled Sri Lanka in 2009 at the end of the civil war, leaving behind his wife and young son. '16 years, almost 16 years [ago] I left my wife. Every day is very torture and the painful. I'm struggling and also panic. I want my family with me all the time.' As a Tamil, Nige fears he can never return to Sri Lanka. He now has a permanent protection visa in Australia, and has applied for a spouse visa for his wife Thusa, who remains in Sri Lanka. '[It's] A very hard time. My wife asks me every day 'when you take me to Australia?' It's very painful for me and also painful for her. ' Immigration is a hot election issue. The federal budget predicts net migration of 260,000 in the next financial year. Asylum Seeker resource centre deputy CEO Jana Favero. 'It's really disappointing. What we should be doing is increasing in our humanity and our generosity and our compassion. It's really a tactic used by politicians that are playing into fear and division.' With almost 140-million people forcibly displaced worldwide, according to the UNHCR, Jana Favero calls for an earlier pledge to increase Australia's humanitarian intake to 27-thousand places. 'Australia can and should do more to increase our humanitarian intake in response to global catastrophes that are happening around the world. If you have a look at what's happening in Gaza, in Yemen, in Sudan... We've had many conversations with the Albanese government about their commitment to increase the places to 27,000, but [we] only have them at 20,000. This is insufficient, and we should do more. We feel that the figure should actually be 50,000.' For Nige, who worries daily about his wife's safety, the long wait is agony. 'It's really killing my heart. I know the situation; [for] a single woman [to] survive in Sri Lanka in [the] east part or [the] north part is really hard. So, that [is] situation for my wife, it's so breaking [my] heart.' As a Tamil born in Sri Lanka's east, Nige grew up as conflict raged between government forces and the Tamil Tigers. His earliest memories are of fleeing violence. '[For] My whole life, [I saw] war and bombing and disaster. I'm Tamil, so they suspect me and also they tried to kidnap me. I saw lots of torture equipment, lots of civilian kidnapping and killing them on the street, dead bodies. That's why I escaped from Sri Lanka without my wife and son'. At the end of the war and fearing for his life, Nige fled to Singapore and then Malaysia. What followed was a harrowing 46-day boat journey to Australia. 'The fuel is not enough, fuel run out. And also the boat is [a] very old boat and wooden boat. Also very big storm and rough sea. Many people got seasick. Then finally the Australian border posts took to me Christmas island.' Nige spent the next six years in various Australian detention centres. '[The time in the] Detention centre is [a] very hard time because we can't go outside. I'm really struggling [in the] detention centre [for] six years, mentally and physically'. At the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre in Broadmeadows in 2014, Nige met café founder Derek Bradshaw and the connection would change his life forever. 'We had a house out the back of our café that we decided that we wanted to use to try and support people to get the start that they so badly needed after coming out of detention. And Nige went on to cook and that's when we started doing our Tamil feasts. ' A decade later the pair remain good friends and in 2023 Derek Bradshaw obtained a student visa for Nige's son, Ruksi. Being reunited with his dad was a day the teenager will never forget. 'Touching him, hugging him. It's so crazy: when I see him, I have a hug and it's all the feeling about my dad. It's like feeling in real life in front of my eyes and I can feel it. This is my dad!' It was a great moment for Derek Bradshaw, too. 'When we picked up Ruksi from the airport he looked at me and said, 'this is the best day of my life', and sorry, I'll get emotional, but as a father of four kids, I just cannot imagine the trauma and the grief that Nige has gone through. ' Nige and his son Ruksi now live in north Warrandyte rent free, thanks to the generosity of a local couple Reg Ellery and Olive Aumann. 'Our children had left home Nige's been living with us since 2016. He's a wonderful, wonderful man and his son's a wonderful young fellow. ' Nige and Derek Bradshaw continue to host Tamil feasts at the 'Now and Not Yet' Café, raising raise funds to resettle refugees and asylum seekers. 'When you hear the stories and understand the atrocities that they are escaping - civil war and genocide and things that [happen] if we're in those situations, we would absolutely run and escape as well. I'm proud that this sort of sacred community space has become a space where people feel loved when they walk through the doors, that people come in here and connect with others.' Nige is also working in aged care while he waits for his wife's visa to be granted. Jana Favero says the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre already supports more than 7,000 people seeking safety. 'We need to invest in family unification so that people can be with their families. That story is extremely sad. And what's sad is that family reunion probably will be one area that is cut, which would be absolutely devastating not only for that individual but for tens of thousands of others who are waiting to be with their family. For now, all Nige can cling to is hope. 'This process takes a very long time. I don't know what's the reason. I don't know still how long I'm going to be wait. Every day is painful. But I believe one day, me and [my] wife [will be] reunited in Australia.' Italian In un piccolo caffè nel verdeggiante sobborgo di Warrandyte a Melbourne è in corso una lezione di cucina. Lo chef Nigethan Sithirasegaram, conosciuto da amici e parenti come 'Nige', sta preparando un banchetto tipico del suo Paese natale, lo Sri Lanka. Per il 49enne, la cucina è un legame vitale con la sua cultura tamil. 'I'm going to teach lamb curry, one of the iconic curries in Sri Lanka and also cook beetroot Curry and also raita, rice, the full package meal. When I'm cooking here, actually I'm really proud everyone likes my food. ' E questo significa molto per Nige, che è fuggito dallo Sri Lanka nel 2009 alla fine della guerra civile, lasciando in Sri Lanka la moglie e il figlio piccolo. '16 years, almost 16 years [ago] I left my wife. Every day is very torture and the painful. I'm struggling and also panic. I want my family with me all the time.' In quanto tamil, Nige teme di non poter più tornare in Sri Lanka. Ora ha un visto di protezione permanente in Australia e ha richiesto un visto per coniugi per sua moglie Thusa, che rimane in Sri Lanka. '[It's] A very hard time. My wife asks me every day 'when you take me to Australia?' It's very painful for me and also painful for her. ' L'immigrazione è un tema elettorale caldo. Il bilancio federale prevede una migrazione netta di 260.000 persone nel prossimo anno finanziario. La vice direttrice generale del Centro risorse per i richiedenti asilo, Jana Favero: 'It's really disappointing. What we should be doing is increasing in our humanity and our generosity and our compassion. It's really a tactic used by politicians that are playing into fear and division.' Con quasi 140 milioni di sfollati in tutto il mondo secondo l'UNHCR, Jana Favero chiede un impegno anticipato per aumentare l'accoglienza umanitaria australiana a 27mila posti. 'Australia can and should do more to increase our humanitarian intake in response to global catastrophes that are happening around the world. If you have a look at what's happening in Gaza, in Yemen, in Sudan... We've had many conversations with the Albanese government about their commitment to increase the places to 27,000, but [we] only have them at 20,000. This is insufficient, and we should do more. We feel that the figure should actually be 50,000.' Per Nige, che si preoccupa quotidianamente della sicurezza della moglie, la lunga attesa è un'agonia. 'It's really killing my heart. I know the situation; [for] a single woman [to] survive in Sri Lanka in [the] east part or [the] north part is really hard. So, that [is] situation for my wife, it's so breaking [my] heart.' Nato nello Sri Lanka orientale, Nige è cresciuto mentre infuriava il conflitto tra le forze governative e le Tigri Tamil. I suoi primi ricordi sono quelli della fuga dalla violenza. '[For] My whole life, [I saw] war and bombing and disaster. I'm Tamil, so they suspect me and also they tried to kidnap me. I saw lots of torture equipment, lots of civilian kidnapping and killing them on the street, dead bodies. That's why I escaped from Sri Lanka without my wife and son'. Alla fine della guerra, temendo per la sua vita, Nige fuggì a Singapore e poi in Malesia. Seguì uno straziante viaggio in barca di 46 giorni verso l'Australia. 'The fuel is not enough, fuel run out. And also the boat is [a] very old boat and wooden boat. Also very big storm and rough sea. Many people got seasick. Then finally the Australian border posts took to me Christmas island.' Nige ha trascorso i sei anni successivi in vari centri di detenzione australiani. '[The time in the] Detention centre is [a] very hard time because we can't go outside. I'm really struggling [in the] detention centre [for] six years, mentally and physically'. Nel 2014, nel centro di detenzione per immigrati di Melbourne a Broadmeadows, Nige ha incontrato il fondatore del caffè Derek Bradshaw e conoscerlo ha cambiato la sua vita per sempre. 'We had a house out the back of our café that we decided that we wanted to use to try and support people to get the start that they so badly needed after coming out of detention. And Nige went on to cook and that's when we started doing our Tamil feasts. ' Un decennio dopo i due rimangono buoni amici e nel 2023 Derek Bradshaw ottenne un visto di studio per il figlio di Nige, Ruksi. Il ricongiungimento con il padre è stato un giorno che l'adolescente non dimenticherà mai. 'Touching him, hugging him. It's so crazy: when I see him, I have a hug and it's all the feeling about my dad. It's like feeling in real life in front of my eyes and I can feel it. This is my dad!' È stato un grande momento anche per Derek Bradshaw. 'When we picked up Ruksi from the airport he looked at me and said, 'this is the best day of my life', and sorry, I'll get emotional, but as a father of four kids, I just cannot imagine the trauma and the grief that Nige has gone through. ' Nige e suo figlio Ruksi vivono ora a nord di Warrandyte in affitto gratuito, grazie alla generosità di una coppia locale, Reg Ellery e Olive Aumann. 'Our children had left home. Nige's been living with us since 2016. He's a wonderful, wonderful man and his son's a wonderful young fellow. ' Nige e Derek Bradshaw continuano a ospitare feste tamil al 'Now and Not Yet' Café, raccogliendo fondi per il reinsediamento di rifugiati e richiedenti asilo. 'When you hear the stories and understand the atrocities that they are escaping - civil war and genocide and things that [happen] if we're in those situations, we would absolutely run and escape as well. I'm proud that this sort of sacred community space has become a space where people feel loved when they walk through the doors, that people come in here and connect with others.' Nige lavora anche nel settore dell'assistenza agli anziani mentre aspetta che venga concesso il visto alla moglie. Jana Favero afferma che il Centro risorse per richiedenti asilo sostiene già più di 7.000 persone in cerca di sicurezza. 'We need to invest in family unification so that people can be with their families. That story is extremely sad. And what's sad is that family reunion probably will be one area that is cut, which would be absolutely devastating not only for that individual but for tens of thousands of others who are waiting to be with their family. Per ora, tutto ciò a cui Nige può aggrapparsi è la speranza.
'This process takes a very long time. I don't know what's the reason. I don't know still how long I'm going to be wait. Every day is painful. But I believe one day, me and [my] wife [will be] reunited in Australia.'
Report by SBS News Listen to SBS Italian every day from 8 am to 10 am. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
41 minutes ago
- West Australian
Siriana Nair: US-Australia alliance remains strong with likes to Western Australia holding strong
'West is best' is a phrase I have said many times in my three years as United States Consul General in WA. It is true in this State's stunning vistas and wild landscapes, and in the can-do attitude of the innovators, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs here. This exploration and love of the outdoors reminds me of America's Western spirit — one characterised by the drive to forge ahead and tackle challenges with resilience and grit. Globally, the West represents a commitment to human freedom, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — the core values that pushed forward the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States as a nation 249 years ago. On this fourth of July, I am profoundly inspired by the spirit of the West — shared by America and WA. I have been fortunate to explore WA from Broome's 12m tides to the pristine white sands of Esperance. I have seen Western Australian innovation from Karratha to Kalgoorlie, and from Busselton to Shark Bay. And all along the way I have witnessed the US-Australia alliance creating jobs, building opportunity and prosperity, and making our countries — and our shared values — more secure. The past three years have been transformational for our alliance in WA. We have taken steps to integrate our defence and industrial base, strengthen our trade and investment relationship, and build secure critical mineral supply chains. Our innovation alliance has collaborated on projects from agriculture to space, encompassing everything from microbes and molecules to entire value chains and industries. Since AUKUS was established in 2021, WA has hosted seven US nuclear-powered submarines and two US Navy submarine support vessels. Most recently, the Virginia-class submarine USS Minnesota visited Perth in February. In addition to exchanging skills and knowledge, these visits have brought hundreds of US sailors ashore in Rockingham, Fremantle and Perth where they have volunteered in the community. And we have invited hundreds of WA Government, industry and community leaders onboard our submarines to learn about our technology and ask questions. Last August, coinciding with visits by the USS Hawaii and USS Emory S. Land, Australian sailors performed maintenance on a US nuclear-powered submarine, the first time in history non-US citizens have done so outside US waters. This illustrates the trust and confidence — built over 100 years — that the US has in Australia. This year, a beautiful new memorial opened in East Fremantle dedicated to the HMAS Perth and the USS Houston, sunk together defending freedom in World War II. I also met the Australian crew of the MV Stoker, which located the USS Edsall — a US destroyer missing since it was sunk off the coast of WA in 1942. It is fitting the Edsall's final resting place was discovered by our Australian friends — the people she sacrificed herself to defend. Economically, the US remains Australia's most important partner. The US is by far the largest foreign investor in this nation with a total stock of $1.2 trillion, creating jobs and opportunity. America's trade with WA has also grown significantly, and we are now the State's fifth largest trading partner. The US Government and American companies continue to invest billions in WA to secure the critical mineral and rare earth supply chains needed for industry, defence, and the technologies of the future. And, this past year, iconic US businesses like Starbucks and Cinnabon have also opened in WA. WA companies are investing in the US, too, including Woodside's US$17.5 billion liquified natural gas facility in Louisiana — the largest foreign direct investment in Louisiana's history. And WA companies are getting their start in the US, with med-tech company Orthocell receiving US Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its new nerve repair product in the American market. Our economic relationship is transformational and is based on a high level of trust. Unsurprisingly in the City of Light, the US-WA space relationship is reaching new heights, with many NASA representatives visiting WA and engaging with local students. In January, we welcomed a NASA flight crew who came to photograph — off the coast of WA — the re-entry of the SpaceX Starship rocket that will one day take humanity to Mars. While Starship did not quite reach its destination on that occasion, it is clear WA continues to be a close partner in space exploration and discovery. And our cultural connections remain strong. This year, we connected young West Australians with US country music star Kane Brown, and through the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program, welcomed former stars like Gary Payton, Bobby Jackson, and Terry Porter to WA. Visiting Native American dancers and Utah's Brigham Young University chamber orchestra shared the best of the American West with WA. But the US-Australia alliance is much more than sport and space exploration. At its core, it is a recognition that our nations' security, safety and prosperity are tied to each other, and that the US has no better partner or friend than Australia. Siriana Nair is the outgoing US Consul-General to WA.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Alan Kohler on raising the GST
Sydney Pead: The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has set his sights on tax reform, which will be the centrepiece of a meeting of the nation's best policy minds next month. But is a big shake-up of the tax system even possible in the current political climate? Today, the ABC's finance expert, Alan Kohler, on why these experts would be better off talking about artificial intelligence and even a hike to the GST instead. I'm Sydney Pead, on Gadigal land in Sydney, this is ABC News Daily. Sydney Pead: Alan, the government's economic reform roundtable is next month and no doubt you're very excited about that. Just tell me first, what is this talkfest and who's coming to it? Alan Kohler: So it's going to be in the cabinet room. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, hasn't said exactly how many people are coming, but he said that there's 25 seats around the table. So whether there's going to be some people standing up for three days behind them, I don't know. The 10 initial invitees include Danielle Wood, the chair of the Productivity Commission. Then there's four people from the ACTU, but two of them will be attending as alternates to the secretary and the president. So the secretary, Sally McManus, is coming and the president, Michele O'Neil. There's also the head of the Business Council, head of the Chamber of Commerce, head of the Australian Industry Group, and the head of the Small Business Organisations of Australia Group. So that's four people from business organisations, plus Cassandra Goldie, head of the Australian Council of Social Services. And that's the 10 so far. Sydney Pead: Right, okay. So these sessions are supposed to be focused on three priorities, productivity, budget sustainability and economic resilience. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is excited about it. He's even signalled bold tax reform could be discussed. Jim Chalmers, Treasurer: Now no sensible progress can be made on productivity, resilience or budget sustainability without proper consideration of more tax reform. I don't just accept that, I welcome that. Sydney Pead: Alan, in an ideal world, how ambitious should these participants be when it comes to fixing the tax system? How broken is it? Alan Kohler: Well, it's pretty broken. The last time we had a look at it was Ken Henry in 2010, commissioned by Kevin Rudd, and he produced a massive report on the future tax system, which was almost entirely rejected. And the only bit of it that was used was the introduction of a minerals tax, which ended up being repealed. So look, I don't think there's any kind of expectation that that sort of thing is going to happen. When Jim Chalmers talks about budget sustainability being the goal of tax reform, presumably that means more tax. Jim Chalmers, Treasurer: I am personally willing to grasp the nettle, to use an old saying, I am prepared to do my bit, the government is prepared to do its bit. And what we'll find out in the course of the next few months is whether everyone is prepared to do their bit as well. Alan Kohler: So the question from the tax reform part of the discussion, it seems to me, is going to revolve around what's going to be the extra tax. Are they going to bring in a new tax? Or are they going to increase an existing tax, i.e. the GST? Or are they going to have a go at something like an inheritance tax, which a lot of countries have, or a wealth tax, which some countries have got as well? Look, my view is that I don't think Anthony Albanese is going to let him do anything particularly bold, because the Prime Minister has made it clear that he's not interested in big shake-ups. Sydney Pead: But the government's already making some changes, right? Like its plan to increase tax for people with superannuation balances above $3 million. Alan Kohler: Look, that's pretty small. It's sort of a toe in the water of a wealth tax. And everyone's complaining that it's on unrealised gains, which is basically if the value of your super fund increases, even though you don't sell anything and haven't made cash gains, you still have to pay the tax. It's on gains that haven't been realised. And everyone's whinging like mad about that. And it's really the first time that Australia has had a go at that kind of unrealised gain tax. And Jim Chalmers is saying they're going to stick with that. They're not going to make any changes to it. And so he's kind of staring down the opponents of it at this stage. But it's a fairly small thing. You know, it's not going to raise a lot of money. It's certainly not going to get the budget back into surplus. Sydney Pead: And tax reform, it's always a tricky business because there's always winners and there's always losers. So if rewriting the tax system is a bit too hard for this roundtable, you've got another suggestion that they could be talking about instead, artificial intelligence. So why is that so important? Because there are some big moves on AI in China and the US worth taking note of, right? Alan Kohler: Well, yeah, that's right. So look, in my view, the whole, or most of the discussion about productivity needs to focus on artificial intelligence because we're in the middle of this, what's clearly a revolution in technology that China is well ahead of virtually everyone else on. The United States is also having a go at it. President Trump's having, on July the 23rd, he's having what he calls AI Action Day, which is going to be a whole series of executive orders designed to regulate or mainly promote the use of artificial intelligence in the United States. So that's happening. That's three weeks before the roundtable. I think that they should have a look at what the United States is doing and have a talk about whether we should do the same thing and what bits of that should we pick up and what shouldn't we pick up. I mean, they need to think about what does Australia have to do to get us using AI in such a way that improves productivity. Sydney Pead: And you had a couple of ideas here. One of them was to develop a national system for helping small and medium businesses get their employees to write better AI prompts. Can you just tell me about that? Alan Kohler: I'm not by no means an AI expert. But from what I understand, there are kind of two ways for companies to use AI. One is top down, one's bottom up. Top down involves the CEO deciding to bring AI in to do a function and basically replace workers. So it might be doing the call centre, it might be doing data entry, and that's basically a replacement of human beings. The bottom up way is where people who are working for the company use AI to improve their own efficiency and productivity. And a lot of that comes down to how good you are at writing a prompt for the AI. The question is, what can the government do to help small businesses to better use AI? Can the government set up some sort of prompt writing advice centre that would help people do that? Sydney Pead: Right. So it can be used more effectively. Alan Kohler: Yeah. And I thought that was pretty interesting. Sydney Pead: I guess the other issue is the fear around people losing their jobs. So one of these other ideas is to modernise the welfare safety net. Can you just tell me a bit about that? Alan Kohler: Well, so at the moment we've got a system called JobSeeker, which has a certain amount of money, which is clearly everyone says is not enough, clearly not enough. And also it has a mutual obligation system. So in order to qualify for JobSeeker, you have to keep applying for jobs. That system has been around a long time and it sort of predates AI. The question is, will AI now result in a large amount of permanent unemployment? There's a lot of opinions both ways about this. A lot of people say, well, you know, everyone will find another job. Previous technological revolutions in history have not resulted in long term permanent unemployment. And it is true that, you know, we've got a lot of robots in the world and unemployment is in Australia 4.1%. So it's not as if the robots that are there have caused a large amount of unemployment. But I think there is a fair bit of fear as to, you know, well, what happens if there is this sort of big increase in unemployment as a result of AI and so people are scared of it? And I think that's understandable. What is possible is some kind of safety net for people thrown out of work by AI. How that might work, I don't know. I mean, it's difficult. Can you sort of separate off people who lose their jobs because of AI? You probably can't. How would you fund it? Could you fund it with a tax on AI? The problem with that is that you want to encourage the use of AI. You don't want to tax it. Taxing something discourages its use. So you want to actually, if anything, you want to lower the tax on AI so that people are more inclined to use it so that productivity improves. So, you know, it's kind of difficult to get your head around. But I guess that's what you get 25 smart people in a room for. Sydney Pead: Yeah, that's right. So they could potentially strike the right balance there and improve the economy and productivity at the same time through AI. Moving on, let's talk a little bit about what other changes could come out of this roundtable. There's one change you think might be possible to try, which could balance the budget and look after more people. But a lot of people will hate hearing this from you, Alan. We should perhaps raise the GST. And by how much? Alan Kohler: Well, look, there clearly does need to be more tax revenue. We've been through this before. In 1985, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating held a tax summit because there wasn't enough tax revenue. And they went to that tax summit with three proposals. One was the GST. Another was the capital gains tax. And the third thing was fringe benefits tax. And the tax summit happened in 85. And two of those three things got up. The GST did not. Treasury also said the same thing to John Howard in 1998 and said, you've got to have a GST. And so he went back on his promise not to have a GST. So we got one in 2000 because tax revenue fell short. And now it's fallen short again. So the question is, do we come up with another new tax as we did in 85 and 2000? Or do we basically just increase the ones we've got? And everyone's agreed that we've got too much tax revenue coming out of income taxes. I'm not sure this is right. But anyway, it seems to be a consensus view. And you need to also have a lower company tax rate because company taxes are coming down around the world and you kind of lose, you lose companies. They move. The only thing left really is GST. And the average GST around the world is between 15 and 20 percent. So increasing our GST from 10 to 15 percent would not be out of line with the rest of the world. Also, we exclude a lot of stuff like food. And so the proposal would be to increase the rate and to broaden the base so that you pick up more things. The problem with the GST is that it's regressive, not progressive like income taxes. That is to say it affects poor people much more than the well-off because they tend to spend more of their income on things that are subject to GST. So how would you make it less regressive? And Richard Holden and Rosalind Dixon, who are professors at the UNSW in Sydney, came up with an idea, which is did you have a tax-free threshold of GST? They proposed 12,000 a year, 1,000 a month. So all spending up to that amount per year would be GST free. Sydney Pead: And so what, the taxpayer would then get that money back each year? Alan Kohler: Well, that was the idea. I mean, I rang Richard Holden up and said, you know, how would you do that? How can the government possibly know what each person is spending? And the answer is he said, well, you don't have to know. You just give back the GST on that 12,000, which is $1,800. He reckons it should be in two lots of 900. So every six months you get a lump of 900 bucks in your bank account. Just means that you've, you know, you're getting back the GST you've paid on the first $12,000 of your spending each year. And I think that's a very interesting proposal. Sydney Pead: Yeah. Something that they could talk about at the round table, perhaps. Alan Kohler: Well, he reckons that you'd end up with a net extra $45 billion in revenue, which you could use to cut income taxes as well as balance the budget. Sydney Pead: Okay. Many voters would say the government does just need to balance the budget and spend less. Is that an option? Alan Kohler: Well, of course they say that. And yes, that's good in theory, but really it's the community, it's Australian society that puts the demands on the government. You know, the big things are not that available to change. You know, I mean, we've got the NDIS now and it's the Australian community has decided to look after disabled people better than we have in the past. Now, I think that the growth in the NDIS is keeping the treasurer and treasury awake at night because it's growing too quickly, but no one's suggesting any big cuts in the NDIS. And they're not going to cut the aged pension and they're not going to cut, you know, healthcare in general, because apart from anything else, the population is ageing. Actually, healthcare costs are going to increase inevitably. There's nothing they can do about it. And now also there's pressure to increase defence spending. We've agreed to this AUKUS thing where we're going to spend billions of dollars on nuclear submarines. So I just think that the pressure on the budget is such that there's nothing they can do about it. Really, the only thing they can do is increase tax revenue. But I mean, all of the business group representatives, business counsellors, etc. at the roundtable will say that, oh, no, you've got to cut spending. And so they'll end up having an argument that'll last all day about that and waste, just waste time. Sydney Pead: And they should be talking about AI after all. Alan Kohler: I think so. That's right. Sydney Pead: Alan, thanks so much. Alan Kohler: Not at all. Sydney Pead: Alan Kohler is the ABC's finance expert. This episode was produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon and Sam Dunn. Audio production by Adair Sheppard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sydney Pead. ABC News Daily will be back on Monday. Thanks for listening.
Daily Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
Amazon's robotics, AI push not eliminating jobs, company says
Don't miss out on the headlines from Technology. Followed categories will be added to My News. Amazon warehouses are still a viable job option for unskilled and entry-level workers, executives of the e-commerce giant say, despite massive robotics and AI investments. Speaking to NewsWire in Japan this week, Amazon's global head of PR for robotics and AI, Xavier Chao, compared AI robots and sorting machines to offices having a coffee machine and snacks close to the desks. 'Retention is very, vitally important for us if we want to continue to manage and sustain our business and grow; we have to retain our workforce,' Mr Chao said. 'And so we think that innovation is part of the solution of creating a nice workplace that attracts people, and retains staff.' A worker in front of an item-by-item timer at their station inside Amazon's Chiba Minato warehouse in Tokyo. Picture: NewsWire / Blair Jackson Australia has eight Amazon 'fulfilment centre' warehouses; seven of these do not have Amazon's robots. The custom designed and built robots operate using AI, moving stacks of products for humans to pick and put into boxes. Australia's robotised Amazon warehouse is at Kemps Creek in Sydney, and employs about 2500 workers. With Australia's comparatively low-tech Amazon facilities - compared to warehouses in comparable countries - retraining Australian workers to fix and maintain Amazon's robots has stalled. In June, Amazon announced it would be investing $20bn in data centres in Australia, reiterating concerns about the e-commerce company's entrenchment in the Australian economy. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Amazon Web Services chief executive Matt Garman in Seattle in June as AWS announced a $20bn investment into data centre infrastructure in Australia. Picture: NewsWire / PMO Anthony Albanese faces internal pressure from high-ranking Labor MPs, The Australian reports, over accusations Amazon undermines labour laws and employs tax avoidance tactics. These criticisms are echoed by unions - the ACTU, TWU and the SDA - who claim Amazon Australia's workplace practices are unethical. Asked if operating in countries with relatively strong workplace protections was tough for Amazon, Mr Chao said 'Right now, what we're really hyper-focused on is can these systems actually benefit our frontline workers, and getting feedback from them'. He argues wide-scale automation is good for workers. 'If we can create the most innovative workplace that we possibly can, we want to try to do three things. 'Safety … Ease - all of us want to have an easier job. 'And then three, it's exposure. So a lot of people who come and work at an Amazon facility, you know, there are people from all walks of life.' *Amazon paid for NewsWire's travel and accommodation in Japan Originally published as Amazon's robotics, AI push not eliminating jobs as tech giant continues automation wave
