Good afternoon. A man has died after being crushed beneath a turbine blade while working at a regional Victorian windfarm.
Victoria police said the man was working at Golden Plains windfarm on Bells Road in Rokewood, about 133km west of Melbourne, when he was crushed by the blade shortly after 8am on Monday.
Danish energy company Vestas, which is constructing the energy project, confirmed a subcontractor died after a turbine blade that was on the ground was being prepared for installation, and that the site had been closed while investigations into the accident are carried out. The rotor blades used in the project are more than 80 metres long, according to the organisation’s website.
The Australian Workers Union claimed it had raised safety concerns with Vestas on the pressure facing workers due to project delays. The AWU’s Victoria state secretary, Ronnie Hayden, said delegates had recently told management “it was only dumb luck that nobody had been killed on site yet”.
Top news
‘Selfless’ soldier awarded Victoria Cross | Pte Richard Norden, a 19-year-old Australian soldier who rescued his wounded commander while seriously injured and under enemy gunfire in the Vietnam war, was posthumously awarded the nation’s highest military honour at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Canberra.
Police officer faces trial over nursing home death | Sen Const Kristian White pleaded not guilty to manslaughter over the alleged tasering of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, at a Snowy Mountains nursing home in May 2023.
Liberal senator flags opposition to social media ban | South Australian conservative Alex Antic posted on X that the Albanese government’s proposed social media ban (which has Peter Dutton’s support) was aimed at enforcing “a corporate left wing message” to prevent young Australians becoming “red pilled” and withdrawing support from Labor.
Ukraine’s MPs hopeful Donald Trump’s victory ‘not a catastrophe’ for war effort | Ukrainian politicians have expressed tentative hopes that Donald Trump’s return to the White House will not necessarily mean a rapid and humiliating forced peace, after Trump reportedly reminded the Russian president in a phone call of “Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe”.
Shooting at Alabama university homecoming event | One person was killed and 16 others were injured when a shooter opened fire at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Sunday, the fourth reported shooting at homecoming events across the US within the last three weeks.
Fears over extremist Trump cabinet picks | The range of names being put forward varies from plutocrats and technocrats to hardline ideologues on immigration and foreign policy, including 2020 election deniers, billionaire Elon Musk and vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Chinese students flock to ‘night biking’ | A night-time cycling trend that started with four Chinese students riding 50km in search of good soup dumplings blew out to a reported 100,000 people on Friday, jamming major roads, overwhelming a small tourist city and drawing the attention of authorities.
Mattel apologises over Wicked porn mishap | The toy company said it was taking “immediate action” after mistakenly printing the web address for a porn website on the packaging for dolls released to tie in with the upcoming Wicked film.
Trial to assess red grape chemical’s health effects | Researchers will assess whether a low dose of resveratrol, also found in blueberries and peanuts, could help keep bowel cancer at bay, after the chemical was found to slow tumour growth in mice.
In pictures
Sydney’s ‘little school project’ named World Building of the Year
Darlington public school in Chippendale won the major building design prize at the 2024 World Architectural festival in Singapore, beating more than 200 shortlisted entrants from towering skyscrapers, museums and major transport hubs to claim the title.
What they said …
***
“I think we should just take a deep breath on trying to be Trump-esque here in Australia” – David Littleproud
After Donald Trump’s election win, several Nationals backbenchers suggested Australia should echo the Republican’s policy of withdrawing from the Paris agreement and abandoning net zero targets. The Nationals leader has rejected those calls, saying that “the only people that will hurt out of that will be our farmers and our mining sector”.
In numbers
As world leaders gathering at Cop29 argue over how much rich countries should pay to help poor countries adapt to the climate crisis, a new report has found a gradual upward trend in the economic impact of extreme weather events. The report found the US suffered the greatest economic losses, followed by China and India. Germany, Australia, France and Brazil all made the top 10.
Before bed read
Three things with Yael Stone: ‘Please just remember – I am not talking about a vibrator’
In Guardian Australia’s weekly interview about objects, the actor turned activist tells us about her “dooga dooga” – which, we must stress, is not a vibrator – as well as childhood diaries and a long-lost cassette tape.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: MORT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter.
And check out the full list of our local and international newsletters, including The Stakes, your guide to the twists and turns of the US presidential election.
