What we learned; Thursday 9 November
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:
Optus is facing a Senate inquiry and separate government review as well as calls for compensation after its 14-hour network outage on Wednesday.
The phone and internet provider late on Thursday said a “network event triggered a cascading failure” to cause the blackout, and that it will be offering free data to eligible customers.
The Albanese government faces a standoff with David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie over its IR legislation after the two crossbenchers successfully passed four private members’ bills in the Senate.
The stateless Rohingya man who won a high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful was released on “strict conditions”, Penny Wong said.
Two men were arrested following a large-scale manhunt after shots were fired at multiple cars travelling on the Pacific Highway in NSW.
Australia women’s cricket captain Meg Lanning retired from internationals, saying she has lost the “spark” required to compete at elite level.
And Anthony Albanese’s dance moves made a big impression on the Pacific Islands Forum.
Thank you so much for spending part of your day with us - we will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Updated
Four-day weeks and shorter days possible for school students under new Queensland policy
Schools looking to adopt flexible hours have been given new guidelines in Queensland, governing everything from starting and finishing times to four-day weeks, AAP has reported.
Four-day weeks and shorter days will be possible for Queensland students next year under a new flexible school schedule policy.
Public school principals around the state this week received a framework to change their operating hours from 2024 under the updated policy.
The education minister, Grace Grace, said it did not mean automatic approval for schools to adopt four-day weeks:
It’s an upgrade to the policy. It is definitely not a green light for a four-day week.
In fact, schools are expected to operate over the five days per week.
Under the new policy, reasons for schools making changes include teacher or resources availability, school community need or student and staff wellbeing and engagement.
Updated
