What we learned; Thursday 8 August
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s a snapshot of the day’s news:
It was day five of hearings in the defamation trial by Linda Reynolds against her former staffer Brittany Higgins, with Reynolds still being cross-examined.
The parenting advocacy group The Parenthood has welcomed a 15% wage increase for early childhood educators as “historic”. The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, declined to immediately support the pay rise.
The education minister, Jason Clare, has said media reports that the federal government will seek to cap international student enrolments at 40% are incorrect.
More than 2,500 Australians have applied for permission to work for foreign militaries or government bodies under new laws designed to protect Australian military secrets.
The Qantas board decided to cut the final pay packet of the former CEO Alan Joyce by $9.26m after a self-launched review found there was “considerable harm” caused to the company under his leadership.
The embattled South Australian Liberal leader David Speirs has quit the top job after facing weeks of speculation over his future.
A 46-year-old man has been arrested over alleged aggravated assaults on six children at a school in Alice Springs.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, said the government would establish a new agency within the health department, Hospitals Victoria, after their decision to provide state hospitals with an additional $1.5bn in funding.
The seven-time Archibald finalist Angus McDonald has won this year’s Archibald prize people’s choice award for his portrait of the Aboriginal writer and academic Marcia Langton.
The man who immortalised the phrase “this is democracy manifest” while starring in what has been described as the preeminent Australian meme, Jack Karlson, has died aged 82.
Thanks so much for your company today. We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow. See you then.
Updated
Melbourne homeowner fights council order to remove fake grass
A homeowner in Melbourne’s west is fighting a council order to replace his property’s synthetic grass with a natural lawn, saying he has a “busy lifestyle” and wants a “low maintenance” front yard.
Maribyrnong city council in February ordered Fadhullah Yusof, a West Footscray resident, to rip up the artificial grass in his front yard and replace it with real lawn, saying it was a breach of the site’s planning permit.
The council says it prohibits synthetic grass in publicly visible areas of development, due to it containing petrochemicals and lacking biodiversity compared with real plants.
But Yusof said he had been unaware he had breached council’s regulations because he had never received anything in writing, prior to February, about the ban.
Read the full story here:
Updated
