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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Miles Herbert

Afternoon Update: Sydney airport chaos; ‘body’ in suitcase actually lifelike doll; and a breakfast of champions

Screengrab of a Facebook video from 9News of two planes nearly colliding at Sydney airport
Jetstar and Qatar Airways planes almost collided at Sydney airport. Photograph: 9News

Good afternoon. Sydney airport was in chaos over the weekend. On Saturday, more than 150 flights were delayed, and then on Sunday, two planes, owned by Jetstar and Qatar Airways, almost collided.

The political fallout began on Monday, when Catherine King, the federal transport minister, called in the Airservices Australia chief executive officer, Rob Sharp, for a meeting in Canberra. Two staff involved in the incident – an Airservices Australia air traffic controller and the tug driver who was towing the Qatar plane – were stood down while they completed standard post-incident drug and alcohol testing.

King has said improved staff rostering will be in place at Sydney airport from next month after the near miss and the “unacceptable” delays over the weekend.

Top news

In video

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull tells a public inquiry that the Aukus deal with the US and UK will probably result in no submarines at all for Australia. He says the US’s capacity for building submarines has remained stubbornly laggard, and that it is prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would “degrade” its own fleet.

What they said …

***

“We are still undertaking more forensic work to identify what they are. But we can identify that they’re not human.” – Supt Linda Bradbury

What appeared to be a woman’s body found in a suitcase by the side of a road near Goulburn in regional New South Wales was not in fact human remains, police say. NSW police were called to Wolgon Road in Oallen about 12.50pm on Sunday “following reports a body had been located”. But on Monday morning Supt Linda Bradbury told a press conference that police now did not “have a suspicious death of a human on our hands”.

Podcast

The gen Z investors

Are gen Z the most financially savvy generation of them all?

Economics correspondent Richard Partington charts the rise of young investors, and explores why gen Z are different from those who came before them when it comes to personal finance.

Before bed read

For 32 years, a small Scottish town has been home to the world porridge-making championship, called the Golden Spurtle.

This year, as Kat Wong reports, competitive porridge making touched down on Australian shores.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: SELL. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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