What we learned today, Friday 14 November
We will wrap up the live blog here for the night. This is what made the news today:
The Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, wouldn’t say which level of global warming she would be comfortable with when asked.
Anthony Albanese says the Coalition does not have a plan to reduce electricity prices and is “too busy fighting each other” to be taken seriously after the opposition dumped its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The former Liberal MP Keith Wolahan says debate on climate change and emissions reduction is “mostly driven by emotion and virtue signalling” from all sides of the political spectrum.
The former boyfriend of Molly Ticehurst has pleaded guilty to her domestic violence murder and made other admissions.
The driver responsible for one of Australia’s deadliest bus crashes lost his bid to reduce his jail sentence over the crash.
Yvette Berry, the ACT’s education minister, closed 10 public schools today and several others were partially closed after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a recall notice earlier this week about children’s sand products that may contain asbestos. A special school in Brisbane also closed.
The federal government will spend $37m over five years to improve working with children checks (WWWC) in early childhood and care, including monitoring changes to criminal history.
Tasmania’s contentious waterfront stadium – and attendant AFL dream – passed its first parliamentary hurdle last night but a do-or-die debate still awaits.
Until next time, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Coronary heart disease deaths down 50% over 50 years
Deaths from coronary heart disease in Australia have fallen to their lowest rate in almost 50 years, with dementia overtaking it as the nation’s leading cause of death, AAP reports.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday shows coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men and for people living in outer regional and remote areas.
The number people dying from the disease has been declining steadily for decades and reached the lowest rate since 1968, but still claimed more than 16,000 lives in the past year.
The data suggests the mortality rate for coronary heart disease has decreased by 87% over the 50 years, while the rate of dementia increased by more than 840%.
More than 17,000 people died from dementia including Alzheimer’s disease in 2024, with 62% of dementia-related deaths being women.
Dementia has been the leading cause of death among women since 2016.
Improved healthcare and medical interventions for heart disease were some factors behind the decrease, along with treatment of risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol, the bureau’s head of mortality statistics, Lauren Moran, told reporters.
Moran said the increase of dementia deaths was likely due to people living longer, which raises the chances of developing dementia towards the end of their lives.
“This is especially true for women who have longer life expectancies,” Moran said.
Updated
