What we learned: Friday 01 March
And with that, I am going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:
The Australian government has said it is “horrified” by the catastrophe in Gaza and has signalled plans to announce extra humanitarian assistance in coming days.
The head of Asio, Mike Burgess, defended his decision not to name the former Australian politician alleged to have “sold out their country, party and former colleagues” after being recruited by spies for a foreign regime.
Sussan Ley has said she stands by the Dunkley byelection tweet that Jason Clare labelled “grubby”.
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has discussed a global tax on billionaires at the G20 meeting in Brazil.
The Australian housing market lifted in all but one capital city, with expectations of rate cuts later this year boosting confidence.
The Victorian Labor senator Linda White has died after a short illness.
A body has been found in a Lake Macquarie unit after a fire broke out yesterday.
Australians facing emergencies weren’t able to speak to trained triple zero call-takers for more than an hour due to an issue at Telstra.
Sydney’s Mardi Gras organisers have acknowledged the grief and pain felt by the city’s queer community ahead of tomorrow’s parade following the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
The weather bureau has warned against people describing natural disasters as “one-in-100-year events”, saying the term was misleading.
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Leonardo DiCaprio calls for end to Australian native forest logging in Facebook post
The actor Leonardo DiCaprio has taken to Facebook to call for an end to native forest logging, also slamming the Queensland government for dodgy carbon accounting.
The call comes after the Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff – who faces the electorate later this month – announced plans to open 40,000 hectares of protected forest to logging this week. The industry was banned from the area under the 2011 Tasmanian forests agreement, which ended decades of conflict.
“An independent study has found that the national carbon accounting system of Australia may be significantly underreporting deforestation in Queensland.
“In Queensland, where roughly 44% of the national cattle herd grazes and the majority of land clearing has occurred, officials have recorded deforestation at almost twice the rate of the national system used to calculate industry emissions.
“The Australian government has promised that it will prevent any new extinctions. Conservationists continue to encourage them to uphold their zero-extinction commitment.
“The only way to protect the hundreds of threatened Australian forest species, is to end native forest logging across Australia and Tasmania. Australia has the highest rate of mammalian extinctions in the world.”
He posted a similar message on Instagram.
The research, by UQ senior lecturer Martin Taylor, suggested a miscounting of deforestation in Queensland “brings Australia’s emissions reporting into question”.
Queensland conservation council campaigner Natalie Frost invited DiCaprio to come to the sunshine state “to see first-hand the impact of deforestation on our iconic koalas”.
“Deforestation in Queensland is having a devastating impact on our iconic plants and animals including the koala which is now listed as Endangered under federal and state nature laws,” she said.
DiCaprio, who starred in the green-themed film Don’t Look Up, has long been an advocate of environmental causes.
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