Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Christinamiot with the
Speaker 1: Front's afternoon headlines. John Sedka, the former boss of the
Speaker 1: powerful Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees union, was arrested and
Speaker 1: charged by police at his Melbourne home on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: They allege Setka threatened and harassed an administrator appointed by
Speaker 1: the government in mid twenty twenty four to oversee the
Speaker 1: union's operations. That happened after it was revealed the construction
Speaker 1: industry had links to outlaw biky gangs and organized crime.
Speaker 1: A police task force targeting criminal behavior in the sector
Speaker 1: was also established to investigate the allegations. Victoria Police Assistant
Speaker 1: Commissioner Martin O'Brien said they won't tolerate intimidation and harassment
Speaker 1: of people who are just trying to do their jobs.
Speaker 1: Setka was charged with seven counts of using a device
Speaker 1: to menace, harass and defend. He'll appear at the Melbourne
Speaker 1: Magistrate's Court on January thirty. The hotly anticipated first Ashes
Speaker 1: Test is just over a week away and the Australian
Speaker 1: men's cricket team have been dealt a potentially devastating double
Speaker 1: blow pace bowler Josh hazel Wood and reserve Sean Abbott
Speaker 1: were assessed for hamstring injuries in a Sheffield Shield match
Speaker 1: at the SCG on Wednesday. Test captain Pat Cummins has
Speaker 1: already been ruled out of the first Test due to
Speaker 1: a back injury. Members of the Liberal Party have descended
Speaker 1: on Canberra for a do or die party room meeting
Speaker 1: on net zero. They're bitterly divided over whether they should
Speaker 1: persist with a net zero emissions goal or dump it
Speaker 1: from their policy platform altogether. The party's conservative faction presented
Speaker 1: a united front on Wednesday morning, while in battled party
Speaker 1: leader Susan Lee arrived alone. Check out those stories live
Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot Com dot a U
Speaker 1: and come back to the Front first thing in the
Speaker 1: morning for a look at Donald Trump's ultimatum to the
Speaker 1: BBC over its editing of one of his speeches.