What we learned; Wednesday 18 June
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines.
Aanthony Albanese was at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, meeting with world leaders and talking about renewable energy and artificial intelligence. The PM made an intervention on critical minerals, telling the summit single countries should not be allowed to control supply.
He also held talks with senior members of the trump administration at the G7 summit in Canada, a day after the US president left the meeting. Albanese may meet Trump at a snap meeting next week.
Researchers at Charles Darwin University estimated Australia’s LGBTQI+ population doubled between 2012 and 2020, increasing from 3.3% to 5.8% of adults over 15.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said nearly 2,000 Australians had registered to leave Israel and Iran amid a growing conflict between the pair over the past week.
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood said it would soon remove sexual activity wait times from its eligibility rules, opening up blood and plasma donation to most gay and bisexual men.
Western Sydney University ranked first in the world for the fourth consecutive year in the Times Higher Education rankings on community impact.
Virgin Australia confirmed some flights between Brisbane and Melbourne and Bali were cancelled today due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi in eastern Indonesia.
The CFMEU failed to overturn the Albanese government’s move to force the union’s construction division into administration in the high court.
Optus will pay a $100m penalty after it admitted to engaging in “unconscionable conduct” by selling customers phones and contracts they did not want.
Qatar Airways was named as the world’s best airline in the World Airline awards. The new partner of Virgin Australia kept the top spot from last year, followed by Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and ANA All Nippon Airways.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Updated
New ‘bendy’ buses will hit Sydney’s streets
Addition to the fleet a first in 12 years, but some locals are sceptical more than $450m in funding is enough to fix a broken network, AAP has reported.
While a bigger fleet will ease some pressure on commuters, new measures to address longstanding driver shortages are yet to be flagged ahead of next week’s NSW budget.
Independent Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby said:
It’s wonderful there’s a demonstrated commitment in this budget for the bus network.
(But) there’s no point having lots of buses in the fleet if there’s no one to drive.”
Her comments followed Labor announcing $452m to boost services, accelerate the rollout of new buses and meet rising costs for local bus operators.
The bus union welcomed the funding but remains frustrated about driver retention and privatisation.
Updated
