What we learned today, Saturday 12 February
The time has come to wind down the blog for the evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s key developments:
- Thousands of anti-vaccine activists, conspiracy theorists and people from the sovereign citizen movement protested in Canberra. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he “understands” the concerns of protesters and blamed vaccine mandates on state governments.
- Morrison also urged Australian citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately as the situation there becomes increasingly dangerous.
- People in four electorates in New South Wales headed to the polling booths today, with byelections in Strathfield, Monaro, Bega and Willoughby. Soggy weather and a high proportion of postal votes made for a muted affair.
- The Australian Capital Territory’s top prosecutor warned against “officers of the court and public figures” making public comment on active cases following the furore over Morrison’s comments to Brittany Higgins.
- Australia is set to face more pressure to increase its 2030 emissions reduction targets after a new US strategy for the Indo-Pacific was released today, which calls climate change a “major challenge” for the region.
Thanks for following along!
Updated
Staying with sport, Australian skeleton racer Jaclyn Narracott is on the brink of Olympic history – she will enter tonight’s final runs in Beijing in gold medal position.
Skeleton (or as I like to think of it, scarier bobsled) sees athletes race head-first down a frozen track in a tiny sled at speeds of up to 140km/h.
Australia has never medalled in any of the sliding events at a Winter Olympics.
You can read more about Narracott here, via AAP:
Another Australian Olympian, Belle Brockhoff, has meanwhile had a rougher run.
Brockhoff, 29, was taken to hospital for x-rays following a heavy crash in the quarter-finals of the mixed snowboard cross teams event. She has been cleared of serious injury after complaining of neck soreness following the crash.
From AAP:
Brockhoff was in a qualifying position in second when she got too much speed off a jump and clipped the board of the leader, American Lindsey Jacobellis, who won gold in the women’s event.
Countrywoman Josie Baff also crashed out, ending Australian hopes of a medal in the new addition to the Olympic program.
Both Australian pairings were drawn in the second of four quarter-finals and male boarders Cameron Bolton and Adam Lambert successfully navigated the opening leg.
But with snow falling at Genting Snow Park, the luckless Brockhoff and Baff both failed to finish the second leg, ensuring that the US and Switzerland claimed the top two positions.
Updated
