HWL Ebsworth chief Juan Martinez dies suddenly
Pinned post – 1.00PM
HWL Ebsworth chief dies suddenly at 64Juan Martinez, the managing partner of Australia’s largest legal partnership HWL Ebsworth, died suddenly on Monday night.
The firm’s strategy officer Russell Mailler said Juan, who has three children, was “an inestimable leader” and “a giant of the Australian legal profession”.
HWL Ebsworth managing partner Juan Martinez.
“Our thoughts and condolences are with Juan’s family, friends, and colleagues as they process this devastating news,” he said.
The firm did not release any information on the time or cause of death other than to say his death was “related to a medical issue”.
HWLE said Ross Williams, the firm’s chairman, would assume the role of acting managing partner.
“Ross will work with Kris Hopkins [chief operating officer] and Russell Mailler to ensure that the firm continues to meet the needs of its clients and to support the firm’s team members through this difficult time,” it said.
Martinez took over as managing director in 1998, when the firm had only 40 employees and a turnover of $3 million. It now employs about 1250 people and 285 partners – more than any other firm in The Australian Financial Review’s partnership survey.
HWL Ebsworth was recently a victim of Russia-linked hackers who infiltrated its computer systems. It refused to pay a ransom and took out an injunction against anyone who revealed the stolen information.
48 mins ago – 3.23PM
Telstra says ‘software change’ caused temporary outageTelstra has blamed a temporary outage of some mobile phone calls on a “software change” and said the problem, which lasted about two hours, was fixed around 2.30pm AEDT.
“There was no impact to data or triple-zero calls,” a Telstra spokeswoman said.
Telstra’s website said some business customers who used modems were also struggling with connection issues after the maintenance firmware was updated.
1 hr ago – 2.58PM
Ex-MP David Bradbury to leave OECDFormer federal Labor MP David Bradbury has announced that he will finish up as the OECD’s top tax director after nearly 10 years.
Bradbury announced the move in a post on social media on Tuesday, saying it was time to bring his family home to Australia.
“I have taken this decision with a heavy heart, but with my service at the OECD approaching 10 years, personal and family considerations have led me to this decision,” he said.
David Bradbury, deputy director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. Alex Ellinghausen
“With our four children and our ageing parents living in Sydney, my wife and I want to be closer to our family.
“It has been an extraordinary privilege to work for such an important international institution as the OECD, with such an outstanding group of individuals and to be engaged in such globally significant and impactful work.
“I am immensely proud of what we have all achieved together at the OECD in tax.”
Bradbury was in the mix to replace former ATO commissioner Chris Jordan last year. The job ultimately went to Rob Heferen.
Bradbury represented the federal seat of Lindsay from 2007 until 2013.
He will finish up in Paris in June.
1 hr ago – 2.25PM
Telstra mobile services suffer outageTelstra has told customers to use data-based communications services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Apple’s FaceTime to stay in touch while it gets a sudden mobile communications failure “sorted”.
Telephone calls between some mobile phones using Telstra’s services were not connecting early on Tuesday afternoon. Telstra said it was “looking into an issue” affecting some mobile calls.
“We’re working on a fix and hope to get everything back up and running soon,” a Telstra spokesman said.
It did not immediately provide any information on the cause of the connection problems.
3 hrs ago – 2.05PM
WATCH LIVE: Question time in parliament4 hrs ago – 1.06PM
Reveal donations for legal defence, Allan tells PesuttoVictorian Premier Jacinta Allan has called on Opposition Leader John Pesutto to reveal how much money he has received in donations, including from the state’s three surviving former Liberal premiers, for his legal defence against Moira Deeming.
“It really is incumbent on the leader of the opposition to explain why he isn’t providing that information to Victorians,” Allan said on Tuesday.
“I’ve been around this place a while and I’ve never seen the leader of a party face not one, but three, defamation actions. That is an extraordinary set of circumstances.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Opposition Leader John Pesutto. The Age
Pesutto’s leadership is hanging by a thread after an anti-transgender rights activist, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, declared she would follow Deeming, who will face the Liberal leader in court in September, in filing defamation proceedings against him.
On Monday, Keen-Minshull said she had instructed her lawyers to file defamation proceedings against Pesutto, and Angie Jones, who helped her organise a rally in Melbourne last year that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, is expected to do the same.
The Liberal leader revealed on Monday that he had received donations from 12 individuals and businesses, including three former premiers in Ted Baillieu, Denis Napthine and Jeff Kennett, but declined to say how much he got in total.
On Tuesday, Pesutto said he had complied with all disclosure requirements and dismissed speculation that his leadership was doomed. “What we’ve seen over the last five days is reporting about nothing,” he said.
5 hrs ago – 12.03PM
‘A bowl of vomit’: Ukraine lashes ABC’s Russia documentaryUkraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has criticised the ABC for broadcasting a Four Corners program about Russian troops fighting on the frontlines in Ukraine, calling it “a bowl of vomit”.
Myroshnychenko said the program “unquestioningly repeated and aired countless blatant lies, historical distortions, racist claims and propaganda narratives emanating from the Kremlin”.
“The program aired last night on Four Corners ‘Ukraine’s War: The Other Side’ was the journalistic equivalent of a bowl of vomit,” he said on social media platform X.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia. Alex Ellinghausen
“It also minimised and denigrated the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children who have been killed by Russian soldiers in an illegal and brutal invasion strongly condemned by Australia.”
The ambassador also said the ABC should be ashamed that it had put “such total garbage to air”.
“I will ask for a meeting with the managing director of the ABC and the executive producer of Four Corners to understand what process led to the airing of this pro-Putin and pro-violence propaganda piece”.
The ABC has been contacted for comment.
5 hrs ago – 11.28AM
Victoria unveils new laws to seize illicit wealthVictorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes and Police Minister Anthony Carbines say new “unexplained wealth” laws will be introduced to parliament today to help prevent organised crime leaders from hiding their assets.
Carbines said under the legislation, it would no longer be possible for organised crime bosses to hide their wealth with their partners or with others.
Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes. AAP
“Police will only need a reasonable suspicion … [of] where crime bosses are hiding their wealth, and they’ll be able to pursue them,” he said.
“This also will go to assets. Where organised crime bosses think they can have the fancy cars, the flash yachts, spend their money on hotels and strippers, you’re drawing attention to yourself.
“Victoria police will be after you. They will be able to use these laws to crack down and reclaim that stolen wealth, that ill-gotten gains.”
Symes said the laws were aimed at closing a loophole that made it challenging for police to pursue an individual even if it was “pretty well known” they were hiding wealth gained by illegal means.
“What the barrier has been is that we’ve had to demonstrate that that is connected to criminal activity,” she said.
“The onus now will be flipped under this legislation. You will have to demonstrate that you obtained by legal means.”
5 hrs ago – 11.15AM
Bowen defends Paul Keating’s meeting with Chinese foreign ministerEnergy Minister Chris Bowen says it’s “singularly unsurprising” for former prime minister Paul Keating to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Canberra.
Keating, who has at times been an outspoken critic of Labor’s China policy, will back Labor’s stabilisation of ties with Beijing when he meets the foreign minister this week.
Asked whether it was mysterious that a former prime minister would hold his own meeting with Yi, Bowen said: “Not at all. It’s singularly unsurprising that they would meet with a former prime minister.
“Former prime minister Keating is deeply respected across Asia as the man who first pointed out that Australia would seek its security in Asia, not from Asia,” Bowen said.
“Wang Yi’s visit is important. It’s a symbol of a stabilisation of the relationship which this government has fostered and which China has reciprocated – that’s important, as [China is] our largest trading partner.”
6 hrs ago – 11.03AM
Labor dismisses calls to split supermarketsEnergy Minister Chris Bowen has dismissed calls from the Greens and the Nationals to give the competition regulator powers that could split the supermarket giants.
Bowen said there were already government reviews under way into the supermarket sector, and Labor was committed to following a “normal, careful” process.
“It’s interesting that the Greens are taking a different position to the Liberals. What’s the position of the opposition? I don’t know. I’d be interested to know what Mr Dutton thinks,” he said.
“The treasurer has commissioned a review of supermarkets. We’ll go through things in the normal, methodical, careful way – not the sort of haphazard, National Party way … It’s not something we’re contemplating.”
Greens senator Nick McKim will this week introduce a private senator’s bill to parliament that would give the ACCC divestiture powers.
