What we learned today, Friday 17 November
We’re going to close the blog now, but before we do, let’s recap the big headlines:
A volunteer firefighter was killed after being struck by a falling tree in northern NSW.
Speaking about a pro-Palestine rally that gathered near a synagogue in her electorate, Independent MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel said anxiety and tension in our communities is “unprecedented”.
Thousands of students took to the streets across Australia for the latest School Strike 4 Climate. Meanwhile, the former diplomat Gregory Andrews was taken away from Parliament House in an ambulance, more than two weeks into a hunger strike that drew attention to the need for urgent climate action.
The Queensland treasurer has called the infrastructure cuts unfair.
Optus released its submission to the Senate inquiry about last week’s outage. Its CEO said the telco is “deeply sorry.” The inquiry was told hundreds of triple-zero calls during Optus outage did not go through.
South Australian schoolchildren will be allowed back in the ocean after the fear of shark attacks brought on a snap ban.
The SA police officer killed in the shooting at Senior has was identified.
The Victorian education secretary has apologised for “catastrophic failures” at the state’s sexual abuse at public schools inquiry.
TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson’s legal bid to have Network Ten pay a six-figure legal bill upfront will be heard “promptly” as she battles a defamation case launched by ex-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
Anthony Albanese said Apec leaders are “very interested” in Australia’s Tuvalu deal, amidst a busy agenda at the summit.
Workplace safety charges were laid in relation to a Tasmanian primary school jumping castle tragedy that killed six students.
Whistleblower David McBride has pleaded guilty to three offences after the ACT supreme court held certain evidence could be withheld due to national security issues.
That’s a wrap – enjoy your weekend.
Updated
Department has provided ‘clarification’ on energy guidelines, spokesperson says
A spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Environment said the guidelines for the wind energy sector were “designed to promote faster decisions, provide certainty to investors and industry and improve transparency for communities”.
Unfortunately, some stakeholders weren’t clear on one of the maps in the draft wind energy guideline currently on exhibition.
The department has provided clarification and looks forward to submissions to inform the final version of the guide.
You have until 18 December to lodge a submission, if you’re so inclined.
Updated
Clean Energy Council director welcomes changes to windfarm guideline: ‘Poor graphics, rather than poor policy’
Following on from that last post about NSW government’s wind industry U-turn, Nicholas Aberle, a policy director at the Clean Energy Council, said his group welcomed the change.
The original map appeared to suggest that the vast majority of NSW was off-limits for windfarms. We’re pleased that this has now been confirmed as poor graphics, rather than poor policy.
Regardless of the visuals, we have concerns about a range of the details in the documents, which will take some time to work through, given the complexity and the significance of these guidelines.
NSW needs to build around 1.7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity every year for the rest of the decade. It is critical that the final guidelines recognise the importance of the wind industry to energy security, energy prices and climate action.
Updated
NSW government in wind industry U-turn
Earlier this week, the Labor government in New South Wales caused a stir in the renewable energy industry by putting out a draft guideline for the wind energy sector.
As we reported here, the accompanying map declared a lot of the state to be “less suitable” for windfarms, including – awkwardly – most of two of the state’s five renewable energy zones:
Well, by Friday, with a magic marker (vaguely like Donald Trump and his hurricane mark-up), the problem has now been resolved:
Instead of “less suitable”, those designated areas are now actually “suitable”.
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‘I still want answers about the school’s involvement’, says parent of child killed in Hillcrest tragedy
Georgina Gardam, whose son Zane was killed in the Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy further said:
What I and the other families have gone through is awful. I am so sad that we have lost children and we can never get them back. There was no chance of survival for my poor son Zane.
I am glad that Taz-Zorb have been charged. I want justice for my son and the other families impacted and look forward to hearing the outcome of the criminal proceedings and subsequent coronial inquest.
I still want answers about the school’s involvement in the tragedy. It’s has been a long time coming and still not over.
Maurice Blackburn senior associate Gezime Vasic said the charges came after a long and complex investigation by WorkSafe.
We hope that a public inquest is held as soon as possible after the criminal proceedings to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring again and for the families to get the answers that they are seeking. The families want justice and to bring some sense of closure over what happened to their children on that terrible day. I would like to take this time to acknowledge the strength and resilience the families have shown throughout this ordeal.
Updated
Families of children killed in 2021 Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy welcome news of charges being laid
The families of students Zane Mellor, Peter Dodt, Addison Stewart and Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones who were killed in the 2021 Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy have welcomed the announcement that the operator had been charged.
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers have released a joint statement on behalf of the families saying:
We welcome the announcement that charges have been laid. This was a terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of our beautiful children and which has left others both physically and emotionally impacted.
We know WorkSafe has worked tirelessly in their investigation into what went wrong on that fateful day and we thank them for their hard work.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the first responders and medical staff who took care of our children. We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the incredibly brave children who ran to the assistance of their injured friends and classmates.
Updated
Australian shares edge lower as oil prices plunge
The local share market has closed slightly lower amid a big drop in oil prices, but gained for the week and finished comfortably above the make-or-break 7,000 level, AAP reports.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday finished nine points lower at 7,049.4, a drop of 0.13%, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 8.5 points, or 0.12%, to 7,261.0.
For the week the ASX200 gained 1.05%, after rising 2.2% across Tuesday and Wednesday. Last week it was flat.
Brent crude oil prices fell 4.4%, their biggest daily loss in six weeks, to dip below $US78 a barrel for the first time since July.
The Australian dollar was buying 64.64 US cents, from 64.81 US cents at Thursday’s ASX close.
Updated
Whistleblower David McBride pleads guilty to three offences
David McBride has pleaded guilty to three charges after an ACT supreme court upheld a commonwealth intervention to withhold key evidence it deemed as having the potential to jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia” if released.
Originally facing five charges, the former military lawyer pleaded guilty in the ACT supreme court to three offences, including stealing commonwealth information and passing that on to journalists at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Outside the court, McBride said:
I’ll say one thing, and that is I stand tall, and I believe I did my duty ... and I see this as the beginning of a better Australia.
McBride’s lawyer, Mark Davis, said the team was still investigating the possibility of an appeal.
Just to be precise, we still have an option of an appeal, which we are investigating. Even on a guilty plea, we have - there is an option of an appeal so we’re investigating that.
Updated
Hanson-Young: Optus ‘left costumers stranded’
Hanson-Young went on to say there is a disconnect between Optus leadership and their customers, as evidenced by executives having spare sim cards for other networks at the ready when the outage occured.
Matthew Doran:
I found it a novelty, I guess you could say, [Optus CEO] Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was saying that she, along with a number of her senior executives, had to jump onto other networks during this crisis to actually [talk] to people.
Sarah Hanson-Young:
Not just ironic but the fact that they carry with them spare sim cards in case this actually does occur. I mean, how many of us carry a spare sim card because we may be worried that our phone company may have an outage? It’s just not realistic. It’s not in touch with what their customers are dealing with and I think there’s a real disconnect there. Optus had a backup phone for themselves. And they left customers stranded.
Updated
Greens senator ‘frustrated’ by ‘lack of understanding’ from Optus over outage outrage
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the chair of the Senate committee which grilled Optus chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, says she’s walked out of the hearing feeling “frustrated” by the telco’s lack of understanding of the public mood after Optus’ handling of last week’s 14-hour nationwide outage.
Hanson Young has told ABC’s afternoon Briefing:
I don’t feel any more confident. In fact, I feel, and I think most of my fellow senators in the committee today, felt frustrated at the real lack of understanding from Optus about why customers and members of the public are so frustrated, have felt left in the dark, [have] felt dismissed with their concerns.
I think their communication strategy to their customers is woeful. For a communications company, they are not very good at it. But I’m also very concerned that, and have no confidence, that they’ve really fixed the problems going forward. If this was to happen again, it seems at this point they have learned very little.
Updated
Solar PV powers on, adding 2.5GW of new capacity this year already
We often hear about how slow it is to get approval for new solar and wind farms and the transmission lines to connect them to the grid. The part of the industry that continues to power ahead, so to speak, is rooftop solar. Data from Green Energy Markets shows Australia is adding about 250 megawatts of generation capacity a month.
As of the end of October, the country clocked up just over 2.5 gigawatts on new capacity so far this year. (That’s about double the capacity of the remaining three units of the Liddell coal-fired power plant that shut in April.)
Solar PV continues to clock up about 250MW of new capacity each month. Year-to-date, that's 2.5GW, and counting. (Source: Green Energy Markets) pic.twitter.com/hjWISCnanr
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) November 17, 2023
The 286MW added in October alone was also up almost 25% on a year earlier, Green Energy Markets said.
A hint of how that plays out in the national energy market is picked up by the OpenNem website. As of mid-afternoon, solar was provide more than half the power in the grid, with rooftop solar providing the bulk of that (and solar farms the rest).
Mid-Friday afternoon and solar PV alone is providing a third of the power in the national electricity market, and almost three-quarters of SA's power (right). (Source: @OpenNem ) pic.twitter.com/irRnkpylxh
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) November 17, 2023
We saw earlier this week that summer might see electricity demand hit 10-year highs, regulators said. When it does, also those silicon cells on rooftops might come in very handy.
Updated
South Australia announces plan to eradicate feral deer within state in 10 years
The South Australian government has announced a plan to eradicate feral deer from the state within 10 years.
The feral deer eradication plan, which was implemented in May 2022, will cost about $14m.
The SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions said feral deer numbers remain low enough across the state that eradication remained an option. There were an estimated 40,000 feral deer in the state in May 2022, and 11,000 have since been “removed”.
The Invasive Species Council’s advocacy manager, Jack Gough, told Guardian Australia the SA government had shown “fantastic leadership” – the council had previously said deer were “Australia’s worst emerging pest animal problem”. Gough said:
No other state has shown this level of ambition or committed the funding and focus needed to eradicate feral deer. It would be a monumental achievement if they can get there and set a country-wide precedent.
Feral deer are one of Australia’s worst emerging invasive species. They overgraze … cause erosion … and degrade water quality.
Meanwhile in Victoria, the Shooters Fishers Farmers MP Jeff Bourman has called for hunted deer meat to be donated to food banks and homeless shelters, to utilise surplus meat from government-controlled deer culling.
Updated
Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand apply for codeshare
Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand will apply to enter into a codeshare agreement as the Australian carrier continues growing its presence.
Today the two airlines announced they will submit an application to both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the New Zealand Ministry of Transport to enter into a unilateral trans-Tasman codeshare agreement.
If it’s authorised, it will mean Virgin Australia – which currently only flies to Queenstown in New Zealand – will be able to offer its customers direct flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
While Virgin Australia has only resumed flights to six international destinations since its pandemic-induced restructure, the codeshare agreement would expand its network reach by allowing customers the ability to earn and redeem loyalty points on these services run by Air New Zealand.
Alistair Hartley, Virgin’s chief strategy and transformation officer, said: “New Zealand is the most popular overseas destination for Australian travellers, making this a great addition to our international network offering”.
The announcement comes as Virgin Australia’s owners, Bain Capital, are understood to be readying to relist the airline on the ASX next year after delaying plans for an initial public offering earlier this year.
Updated
Charges laid over Hillcrest jumping castle tragedy
Workplace safety charges have been laid in relation to a Tasmanian primary school jumping castle tragedy that killed six students, AAP reports.
Chace Harrison, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Zane Mellor, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan and Peter Dodt died after the incident at Hillcrest primary school in December 2021. Tasmania’s workplace safety regulator today said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had filed a complaint in the Devonport magistrates court.
WorkSafe Tasmania said:
The DPP has charged Taz-Zorb, the operator of the jumping castle, with a category two offence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.
It is alleged Taz-Zorb failed to comply with a health and safety duty in a way that exposed the children to a risk of death or serious injury.
Several children were also seriously injured in the incident, in which a jumping castle being used during end-of-year celebrations became airborne. Guardian Australia has contacted Taz-Zorb for comment.
Updated
Sydney climate student protests wrap
The climate protest has wrapped up in Sydney on a high. Jeremy Phu Howard, 16, said he and fellow protesters are:
Feeling great after such an amazing protest. Lots of good energy even after the strike.
Here are some more pictures from Sydney’s rally, including from the sit-in outside environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s office:
Updated
Indigenous affairs ministers reiterate support for community in wake of voice defeat
Federal and state ministers responsible for Indigenous affairs say they will keep on listening to and working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the wake of the voice referendum defeat.
The federal minister, Linda Burney, convened a meeting of her state and territory counterparts today. Her office said in a communique after the videoconference that the meeting had “reaffirmed their support for listening and working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to improve the lives of Indigenous people”. It said:
Ministers acknowledged that many First Nations Australians were disappointed by the referendum result on 14th October.
All ministers committed to the principle that better outcomes are achieved when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are part of the solution and that communities are listened to.
The meeting discussed progress on the Closing the Gap plan, and said it was important for the framework to keep on “driving improvements”. Burney’s office said:
Next week, the ministers, Coalition of the Peaks and Australian local government association will meet at the joint council for Closing the Gap in Melbourne to discuss progress of the national agreement on Closing the Gap.
Updated
Here are some of the pictures coming in from the Melbourne climate rally, where – as you can see – the turnout is massive, with protesters marching shoulder to shoulder.
Updated
Thanks Jordyn, and congratulations one and all for making it to Friday afternoon.
Updated
I’ll now leave you with my colleague Natasha May, who will have the blog for the rest of the day. Thank you for following along, and happy Friday!
Updated
Call for renter protection after alleged landlord scam
An advocate has called for a register of homes to protect desperate renters after more than a dozen prospective tenants were allegedly scammed out of more than $60,000.
The fraud involved numerous properties across Sydney advertised on social media platforms since February 2022. Prospective renters were enticed into paying bonds for the properties in Bondi, Parramatta, Liverpool, Wentworthville and Auburn, only for contact to later cease.
Police this week arrested the alleged fraudulent landlord, a 35-year-old man, outside a Merrylands chemist. He spent Thursday night in custody ahead of a court appearance on Friday on 34 charges, including 21 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The NSW Tenant’s Union chief executive, Leo Patterson Ross, said it was important those doing the wrong thing were held accountable. He called on the NSW government to seriously consider a register of rental properties.
[Then], no matter what platform the advertisement is through, you can check if the person you are dealing with has the authority to offer you that home.
We have registration in short-stay accommodation and in many industries in part to help prevent people, both renters and the actual owners, getting ripped off.
Updated
Perth student climate strikers reach energy summit
And in Perth, school strikers say they have reached the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the state is hosting its first ever energy summit today.
The summit has met with backlash from environment groups, due to the presence of gas lobbyists at the event. Emma Heyink said students have been chanting near the entrance: “planet not profit, Woodside get off it”.
Updated
Tens of thousands of students strike in Melbourne and Sydney
Tens of thousands of students have now taken to the streets to air their frustrations at the lack of government action in tackling climate change.
AAP has an update from the School 4 Climate Strike in Melbourne, where several thousand people descended on Melbourne’s Flagstaff gardens before marching through the city centre.
Liam Cranley said he took his children Dario, eight, and Olive, 11, out of school to attend the march after they asked to go. Cranley said he believed it was important to take a stand as governments at all levels needed to accelerate action on climate change:
We’re not going to be able to live here much longer if the heat keeps going up.
A group of students from Melbourne Girls’ college attended after hearing about the rally from a teacher. Year 7 student Erin said:
I believe it’s worth missing half a day of school just to make sure that the next generation will actually get to live and have an education here on our planet.
In Sydney, hundreds of protesters converged outside the office of the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to chants of “shame”. As Australia prepares for another summer of extreme heat and bushfires, the school strikers say the Albanese government is failing on its promise of climate leadership.
Updated
Victorian education head apologises for ‘catastrophic failures’ in protecting public school students from abuse
The head of Victoria’s education department has apologised for its “catastrophic failures” in protecting children who suffered historical sexual abuse in government schools.
Jenny Atta, the department’s secretary, appeared before an inquiry investigating allegations of child sexual abuse at 24 government schools during the 1960s to 1990s on Friday morning.
She told the inquiry she was “profoundly sorry” for the “shocking abuse and injury” inflicted upon victim-survivors, saying it should never have occurred:
I deeply regret the catastrophic failures of the government school system and the Department of Education.
More on this story here:
In case you missed it earlier, here’s the update on the NSW volunteer firefighter who tragically died on Thursday:
What’s Albo been up to at Apec?
Here’s a little more on what Anthony Albanese has been up to while at the APEC summit in San Francisco.
Albanese has spoken again with Chinese president Xi Jinping, as part of the Apec summit in San Francisco.
Albanese says he met the Papua New Guinean leader James Marape, who will visit Australia next month; the PM says Marape will have “some significant announcements” to make at the time.
Albanese also met US president Joe Biden and some of his cabinet, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, the Thai prime minister, the president of the Republic of Korea and some Pacific Island leaders.
The PM also said he “had an opportunity to meet with President Xi and to thank him for the welcome discussions we had in my visit to China recently”.
Albanese said that he told Xi that his recent visit to Beijing had been “positively received” in Australia, noting relaxation of some trade restrictions with China.
Updated
Students take to Sydney streets in climate protests – in pictures
Here are some pictures from our photographer, Jess Hromas, who is following the School Strike 4 Climate in Sydney.
The marchers have stopped outside the office of Tanya Plibersek, the federal environment minister.
Updated
Albanese refuses to be drawn on Biden’s ‘dictator’ description of Xi
Albanese was asked a number of times during the press conference about US president Joe Biden telling reporters on Thursday he still holds the view that Chinese president Xi Jinping is a dictator.
Albanese said:
We have different political systems than China. As I have said consistently Australia is a democracy, China has a very different political system. They do not have democratic elections.
Updated
Albanese struck by strong message of climate change action at Apec
Albanese says there has been promising messaging from leaders about the need to act on climate change:
I was struck as I have been consistently in attending these multilateral forums of the consistency of the message of leaders, whether they be from more developed countries or developing countries, about the need to take action on climate change, about the need to listen to the science and about the need for people to be not left [behind].
Updated
Albanese says he also joined with the leaders of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework For Prosperity to discuss supply chain resilience, and the clean energy economy:
Leaders also endorsed a critical minerals dialogue to strengthen collaboration and critical minerals supply chains and to boost regional competitiveness.
Australia is in a strong position when it comes to critical minerals. We see this as an enormous opportunity for us going forward for jobs and for the resources sector to contribute economic benefit and for jobs creation as well.
Updated
Albanese says Apec leaders ‘very interested’ in Tuvalu deal
Albanese says he also took the opportunity to speak about the recent agreement made and the Pacific Islands Forum with Tuvalu, which includes allowing the country to settle up to 280 people a year in Australia.
A number of leaders were very interested in the agreement and its implications going forward.
Updated
Albanese talks with world leaders about vision for becoming renewables ‘superpower’
Anthony Albanese is speaking now from the Apec summit in San Francisco. The prime minister says he’s had the opportunity to meet with a number of major leaders, including Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
It was an opportunity to talk about Australia’s vision for becoming a renewable energy superpower for our region, to talk about the opportunity we have to work with countries like Indonesia and Singapore, to our north, in exporting clean energy but also the role we can play because of the abundance of critical minerals and rare earths that we can play in supply chain issues as we go forward.
There was a commonality in the contributions from APEC leaders about the need to deal with climate change and the challenges that clean energy economy is present. There is also a recognition that developing countries need support and industrialised countries have a responsibility to do what we can.
Updated
Perth school students march towards energy summit
At the Perth School Strike 4 Climate, students have gathered to listen to speeches at Florence Hummerstone Reserve before they make their way to Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the state is hosting its first ever energy summit today.
The summit has met backlash from environment groups due to the presence of gas lobbyists at the event.
Emma Heyink says the strike started with an “epic” welcome to country by Daniel Garlett.
Updated
Sydney students march to Tanya Plibersek’s office in climate strike
In Sydney the climate march has begun and students have made their way to environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s office, where they have stopped to listen to speeches.
Students are streaming through Surry Hills for #SchoolStrike4Climate pic.twitter.com/xTirPl7GXC
— Rafqa Touma (@At_Raf_) November 17, 2023
“We need to shift the power away from fossil fuels, and we need climate action now!”
— Rafqa Touma (@At_Raf_) November 17, 2023
Students are sitting outside Tanya Plibersek’s office in Surry Hills, Sydney, yelling “shame!” #SchoolStrike4Climate pic.twitter.com/VGojewzRqE
Updated
Adelaide students post up on parliament steps in climate strike
Back to the School Strikes 4 Climate, this time in Adelaide.
Harper Frosythe says she and a number of other students have been studying on the steps of the parliament house in South Australia since Monday.
We’re sharing books about climate science and I’ve done two [year 12] exams while on the protest.
In their time on the steps, some MPs have stopped to chat to hear their message, including SA opposition leader David Speirs, and energy minister Tom Koutsantonis after the student’s chalked messages for him outside parliament.
Forsythe says about 35 students are on the steps today, with students holding signs such as “Shift The Power”, “Climate Action Now”, and “The Wrong Amazon is Burning”.
Updated
Sports gambling company fined after targeting man on exclusion list
A recovering gambling addict who was targeted with unsolicited inducements just one day after publicly complaining about the harmful practice has welcomed action by a regulator.
Mark Kempster has repeatedly asked gambling companies not to contact him with special offers and is listed on a self-exclusion register, but his details continue to be shared with bookmakers who are eager to lure him back to betting.
In June, Kempster complained about his treatment to the Northern Territory Racing Commission, which regulates most online wagering providers in Australia:
I cannot stress enough how much this affects the recovery of myself and others from gambling addictions when we cannot trust in the self-exclusion register we are on. Anything less than the company having show cause notices issued and license suspended for a period of time will not be appropriate.
The NTRC commissioner, Alastair Shields, has now told Kempster that action has now been taken:
As a result of you bringing this matter to the attention of the commission, an investigation was undertaken and SportsChamps was found to be in breach of the Northern Territory Code of Practice for Responsible Service of Online Gaming 2019, and its license conditions.
The Commission viewed the breach as very serious and accordingly fined SportsChamps Australia Pty Ltd half of the maximum applicable penalty, amounting to $14,960.
Peter Malinauskas says South Australia will fly flags at half mast out of respect for Jason Doig.
It is important to remember that there are two other officers at the scene who demonstrated great bravery. They both deserve our thanks and our high praise to be doing everything they could at the scene. I understand that even the alleged shooter was treated and assisted by police after the incident.
I think it speaks to the extraordinary professionalism of South Australia police which could not be questioned. It cannot be questioned.
Naturally in due course I and the police minister [will reach] out to the family at an appropriate time and discuss appropriate ways that Jason Doig’s life can be recognised in terms of general arrangements and they will be worked out between state government and police at an appropriate time being driven by the wishes of the family members.
Updated
‘A good man has lost his life in service’: SA premier pays tribute to police officer
The premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, is speaking now about Jason Doig, the police officer who lost his life on Thursday night after being fatally shot on a property near the Victorian border during an investigation.
The entire policing family throughout the state of South Australia, we are so fortunate in the state to live in a safe community, a place of people can travel around without fear of their own lives being jeopardised.
It has been over 20 years in South Australia since a serving police officer has lost their life in the line of duty. It is not been since 1985 that a serving police officer has lost their life at the hands of a firearm. This is a day that we dread.
It is a great tragedy that a good man at the age of 53 has lost his life in service of our state and what would otherwise be a perfectly routine day on the job. Jason has been serving in the community for no less than 15 years and has been active in the police for many years more than that. Each and every day his life was on the line [for] his community.
Updated
Australia wants to use minerals to drive clean energy transition in region, Albanese says
At the Apec summit in San Francisco, Anthony Albanese has met with leaders from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (Ipef) to back a “comprehensive package” of agreements on supply chains, clean economy and critical minerals.
If you’re not familiar with the Ipef agreement, or that’s one more acronym you’ve not been able to keep in your head, Albanese’s office says it “brings together large and dynamic regional economies, accounting for around 40 per cent of global GDP, and includes eight of Australia’s top ten merchandise trading partners” – Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
In a statement from his office, the prime minister said a new agreement would boost trade and investment across that group of member nations, with a new critical minerals dialogue to boost cooperation on clean energy.
Albanese said:
For Australia, this will mean using our critical minerals to assist the region in transitioning to clean energy and in turn will create diverse, resilient and sustainable supply chains, building Australia’s capacity and standing as a renewable energy superpower.
Engagement in IPEF supports our region’s economic architecture, boosting trade, investment and jobs in Australia and our region.
Updated
Wilkinson’s legal spat with Ten to be heard ‘promptly’
TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson’s legal bid to have Network Ten pay a six-figure legal bill upfront will be heard “promptly” as she battles a defamation case launched by ex-Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, Australian Associated Press reports.
His claim relates to a 2021 interview that Wilkinson – then a co-host of The Project – did with former political staffer Brittany Higgins airing her claims that she was raped at Parliament House. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.
Wilkinson sued Ten in a bid to force it to pay her legal costs, estimated at more than $700,000, immediately instead of once the defamation proceedings were finished.
On Friday, NSW supreme court Justice Michael Ball said Wilkinson’s civil action would be listed for hearing on 7 and 8 December.
“It ought to be dealt with promptly,” Ball said.
Ten lawyer Zoe Graus told the court there would be “strong contest” about Wilkinson’s legal costs incurred to date.
Hearings in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Ten and Wilkinson are due to begin in the federal court next week.
– AAP
Updated
'We're fed up': school students across Australia strike for climate action
Students are beginning to gather across the country for today’s School Strike 4 Climate. We’re lucky to have some students at the strikes who’ll be sending us updates as the event unfolds.
Jeremy Phu Howard, 16, is in Sydney where the strike kicked off at midday:
I’m striking because our government has continued to worsen the climate crisis by supporting coal and gas despite the consequence of climate change being extremely dire.
Josie Bryce is in Melbourne which will begin its strike at 1pm. Bryce said:
We’re here today because we’re fed up with the state of our country’s politics and we want a just transition to renewables and for no new coal or gas projects. We want a safe and healthy planet for future generations. That’s why us students must use our voices to make a change!
In Perth, where the strike also kicked off at midday, Emma Heyink, 17, said she ws striking because “the government is not doing their job”.
They must act now to stop irreversible climate change and protect a safe future.
Updated
Greens say university student safety ombudsman needed ‘urgently’
The Greens have welcomed the idea of an ombudsman on student safety, adding the oversight body must have “real teeth” to hold universities account.
The deputy Greens leader and education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said sexual violence on campus was “widespread and systemic”.
The ombudsman must have real teeth, be properly resourced and have solid enforcement powers, so the failures of universities and TEQSA are not repeated.
I welcome the idea of a student ombudsman, but it must be made concrete urgently and have the powers to hold universities accountable for their responsibility to keep students safe. For too long governments and universities have failed students on campus, where hundreds of assaults are still occurring each week.
Student advocacy bodies including Fair Agenda, the STOP Campaign and End Rape on Campus have been lobbying the federal government for months to urgently tackle sexual violence on campus.
In September, a 121-page report into consent laws across Australia harshly criticised universities for their approach to student welfare, finding the tertiary sector had failed to provide adequate support services to those who had faced sexual violence on campuses.
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Malcolm Turnbull’s former right hand woman named RBA’s chief media officer
Sally Cray has been named the RBA’s chief communications officer. If her name sounds familiar it’s because you may remember her as the personal secretary of Malcolm Turnbull when he was prime minister. (And when we say Cray was his right hand woman, we met it – no one got through to Turnbull’s office without Cray’s knowledge, with pretty much everyone reporting to her, or her team)
And the subsequent reports about how tightly she controlled access to the prime minister. Since leaving the political arena, Cray has been in the banking and finance sphere.
And now she will lead the RBA’s communications in what has been a newly created role. Why, you may ask? Because RBA governor Michele Bullock is going to have to do a lot more media than any RBA governor before her as a consequence of the RBA review.
There will be press conference after each RBA meeting for the governor to explain the bank’s decisions. And that has seemingly created the need for a bit of a dragon at the gate.
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Climate hunger-striker at Parliament House taken away in ambulance after 16 days
The former diplomat Gregory Andrews has been taken away from Parliament House in an ambulance, more than two weeks into a hunger strike that drew attention to the need for urgent climate action.
Andrews, the former high commissioner to West Africa, had given up food in a bid to encourage the government to stop subsidising fossil fuels, phase out coal and gas exports, cease the logging of native forests, and amend the Environment Protection Biodiversity Act.
His swag, laid out on the lawns in front of Parliament House, had become a familiar sight for many on their way into federal parliament. But on Friday morning he was put into the back of an ambulance, ending the strike after 16 days.
Andrews was taken for some precautionary checks, with a witness saying he had complained of shortness of breath. Andrews’ wife told us it was the end of the strike, with her husband experiencing typical symptoms of someone who hadn’t eaten for a long time.
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University student ombudsman could be created to address sexual violence
Australia’s first national student ombudsman will be on the table at next week’s meeting of education ministers, following growing calls to reform safety on university campuses.
Education ministers will hold one of their last meetings of the year next Tuesday.
The education minister, Jason Clare, told Guardian Australia the group had been tasked with addressing the “serious issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment on our campuses”, adding one idea was establishing an independent national student ombudsman.
Next week, education ministers will hear from the Working Group on what those measures may look like to strengthen the safety of students.
The latest National Student Safety Survey, released in 2021, found one in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since starting university, and one in sex had reported being sexually harassed.
Universities Australia, the peak body for the sector, has confirmed it will hold another national survey in 2024 after backlash over its response to student safety on campus.
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Optus CEO dodges questions on report suggesting she may resign
The Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has dodged questions on an AFR report suggesting she may resign from the job as soon as next week.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson: “Ms Bayer Rosemarin, this morning there’s been a media report that you intend to resign as CEO. Is it your intention to resign?”
Bayer Rosmarin: “Senator, I’m sure you can appreciate my entire focus has been on restoring the outage issue.”
Henderson: “Can I just ask you to answer that question?”
Bayer Rosmarin: “It has not been a time to be thinking about myself.”
Henderson: “Could you address that question? Are you intending to resign?”
Bayer Rosmarin: “I thought I answered the question. My focus is on the team, the customers, the community. My focus is not on myself.”
Henderson: “So that report is not correct.”
Bayer Rosmarin: “I haven’t seen any reports today, I’ve been preparing for being here.”
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Victorian education secretary apologises for 'catastrophic failures' at abuse inquiry
The head of Victoria’s department of education has apologised for its “catastrophic failures” to protect children who suffered historical sexual abuse in government schools.
Jenny Atta, the department’s secretary, is appearing before an inquiry investigating allegations of historical child sexual abuse at 24 government schools during the 1960s to 1990s.
She says she is “profoundly sorry” for the “shocking abuse and injury” inflicted upon victim-survivors:
I deeply regret the catastrophic failures of the government school system and the department of education.
The inquiry previously heard there was evidence of the department transferring teachers to other public schools after they were accused of child sexual abuse.
Read more:
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One in two high school students say the pandemic hampered their education, Australia’s largest survey of young people has found, with warnings a “major cohort” needs to be caught up in their education.
The 10-year study, led by the Australian National University (ANU), examined the experiences of more than 18,000 year 10 students from 300 high schools nationwide.
The first wave, conducted in 2022, found 52% of students felt their learning had suffered due to Covid-19, and 59% didn’t feel prepared for school.
Lead researcher professor Ben Edwards from ANU said “unsurprisingly”, students from states and territories with the longest shutdowns – New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory – were more likely to say their schooling progress had been hampered (66% compared with 43%).
This sentiment was also particularly acute for students with disabilities living in states and territories that had high school closures, with 34% of these students saying they fell behind compared to 16% of students with no disability.
Clearly we have a major cohort of young students, who are now coming to the end of their high school education, that we need to make sure are supported to catch up in the vital learning and opportunities they missed during the pandemic.
The survey also found females were more likely to attend university after graduating, at 79% compared with 65% of males. Health professions were the most popular professions amongst women, while design, engineering, science and transportation were the leading choice among men.
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Optus could be exposed to 'national security concerns' if cyber-attack report released, CEO says
Optus could be exposed to “national security concerns” should a Deloitte report on the company’s cyber-attack be released following a court decision in the class action case last week.
CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin told the Senate hearing on Friday that the report, which the court ruled was not subject to legal privilege, “contains a forensic investigation into our cyber defences and is highly sensitive in its material.”
She said:
We are conscious that that attack is still the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation, and that the contents could be so sensitive that they expose us to national security concerns. So the team will be looking at whether they appeal that decision.
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Thousands of Optus customers have sought compensation, CEO says
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has told the Senate inquiry that 8,500 customers and small businesses have contacted the company about compensation for losses amounting to $430,000, and the company has already applied $36,000 in compensation.
She said Optus was keen to have a “broad” discussion about consequential losses as a result of the outage, noting that it would have wider implications for the NBN and other sectors for outages going forward:
We felt that this was an issue that’s much more broad … should government choose to look into this.
We’d love to be part of that conversation. But there is no precedent for telcos or other essential providers covering consequential losses, and we are very conscious that this would have far-reaching implications not just for Optus, but not just for all telcos including the NBN also for other essential services, utilities, government services, and that this needs to be a much broader conversation than us unilaterally determining how to go about that.
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Stevens:
Police were responding as a result of a report but there was nothing in the information we were able to ascertain at this point in time that would have located it was a high risk incident. It would be described as part of a daily routine.
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Stevens:
There was a report of the use of a firearm involving an animal. Police were investigating that incident. The full circumstances will be part of the inquiry and we also have major crime and forensic response at the moment at the scene and as you can imagine this will be treated very seriously and a formal investigation will be undertaken.
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Stevens:
The two officers, Michael Hutchinson and Rebekah Cass, both provided assistance to Jason and at the 26-year-old man at the scene prior to other help arriving. It goes without saying this is an incredibly tragic incident for the South Australian please and I can only imagine what family of Jason are feeling at the time.
I can only from the police and no-one is left untouched. There will not be one single police officer today who is not thinking about the sacrifice that Jason has made and the risk inherent on the role of policing that concern and care extends to family and friends are police officers as you can imagine the number of people wondering and waiting to hear whether or not it was someone they care about involved in this incident.
I can only offer my cassette condolences to Jason’s family and we hope Michael recovers quickly from his injuries.
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SA police officer killed in Senior shooting identified
The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, is speaking about the death of brevet sergeant Jason Doig in a fatal shooting at Senior, near the Victorian border:
An incident occurred last night were three police officers attended an isolated rural property about 15km north of Bordertown. On arrival, the police officers in attendance were confronted by the occupant, a 26-year-old man.
Upon being confronted, the occupant has a shot and fatally wounded the sergeant and he later died at the scene. The occupant also shot Sergeant Michael Hutchinson who received non-life-threatening injuries and he has been conveyed to hospital in Adelaide.
The third police officer was not injured during the incident. The 26-year-old man was shot by police and he is also conveyed to Adelaide and is under police guard at this time.
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Hundreds of triple-zero calls during Optus outage did not go through
A total of 228 Optus customers attempted to call triple zero and were unable to connect on their mobile phone during last week’s outage, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has told the Senate inquiry.
She said Optus has since conducted welfare checks on those 228 people “and thankfully everybody is okay”.
She noted that the issue with triple zero did not affect every customer, but the 228 were those who tried and could not connect.
Normally when a mobile network is out, customers should be switched onto another network to connect the call.
She said Optus is still investigating why it didn’t work for those customers, and welcomed the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) investigation into why it happened.
When asked whether there should be a penalty for Optus, Bayer Rosmarin said it is too early to say where the issue occurred:
The triple zero system is supposed to be able to pick up the traffic when we have an outage like this ... We don’t run the triple zero system, we participate in the triple zero system.
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Optus’s managing director of networks, Lambo Kanagaratnam, told the Senate hearing that the company ran a network outage exercise in October, but that exercise did not account for a whole network outage.
He said Optus has high levels of redundancy to keep services running, and it would be something Optus would consider for future outage exercises.
He said ultimately responsibility lays with Optus:
The outage was as a result of our defences for the change in our routing information not working as it should have been, and that’s something obviously we’ve addressed. And we’ve worked around the clock to ensure that we address all the issues that we found.
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Facing criticism from senators over Optus’s public response to the outage last week, the company’s chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company’s performance was not good enough, and “it’s highly unusual for all of these different networks that are segregated, that have multiple layers of redundancy, to be all out simultaneously”.
She also clarified that the statement put out by Singtel this week distancing itself from the outage was not a contradiction of Optus’s previous statement, but a clarification on how Optus’s statement mentioning the Singtel network upgrade was interpreted.
She said the trigger was the Singtel upgrade, but the root cause was the (Cisco) routers.
She said:
As you can appreciate, we’re dealing with a very complex technical fault here. And what we had tried to explain was that the root cause of the issue was that our Cisco routers hit a failsafe mechanism.
Which meant that each one of them independently shut down … the trigger event that led to that was the upgrade on the Singtel international peering network.
We had put out the statement which then got interpreted by various commentators as being that the root cause was the Singtel upgrade, where the trigger was the Singtel upgrade, but the root cause was the routers. So that is what has been attempted to be clarified.
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Earlier, the NSW RFS paid tribute to Captain Leo Fransen, who was tragically struck by a tree whilst fighting the Hudson Fire in the Walgett LGA.
Yesterday afternoon, Captain Leo Fransen was tragically struck by a tree whilst fighting the Hudson Fire in the Walgett LGA. After receiving initial treatment and being transported to the Lightning Ridge health facility, Captain Fransen unfortunately passed away. pic.twitter.com/J5bh6vIvTY
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 16, 2023
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Dib:
It is only November and this is the second fatality we have had on a fire ground and again it is a reminder of the dangers that these people face and it is a reminder of the challenges that we all face.
We know that this is potentially going to be a very difficult bushfire season. We stand ready to do everything we can. The 70,000 volunteers that give up their time to protect our communities are absolutely heroic this is the worst news that you can imagine through the organisation at this time.
There is probably not much more to add other than just to say once again that our deepest condolences, our deepest sympathies, our hearts and our love go out to Leo’s family, to his wife, to his children, to his brigade and to the RFS brigades in general.
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NSW minister for emergency services Jihad Dib is speaking now:
Obviously, it is an incredibly sad and solemn day for the RFS family and for Margaret and her family. These are the difficult days and a timely reminder of the heroic firefighters who are volunteers and the dangers they put themselves into protect our communities.
I am grateful to the RFS and particularly the local brigade for rendering all the assistance they could at that time and, of course, our hearts and our sympathies go out to the family and to the entire RFS family. This is a very close-knit community and it is reverberating right through the state.
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NSW RFS pays tribute to firefighter killed near Walgett
In Sydney, the RFS is giving an update about the death of volunteer firefighter Captain Leo Fransen near Walgett yesterday.
They were on the first day of a three-day deployment. They had been fighting that fire in a small mining community and they successfully defended a number of structures from being destroyed.
The Hudson fire started on 12 November and had been burning for a few days. We believe it started by a lightning strike and it has burnt more than 21,000 hectares, destroyed six buildings and there is more work to do to try and bring them under control.
Leo was struck by a tree in the late afternoon and this tree fell on him and hit him very, very hard. The local RFS crews did everything they could to support him in his condition until firefighters could arrive.
The paramedics worked tirelessly to try and save him and I spoke to the acting commissioner and I know that they did that.
I thank them very much as well as thanking the RFS cruise that were in attendance for giving Leo the best chance to survive. Unfortunately, he was transported to Lightning Ridge and he passed away there and was declared the deceased at that time.
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Optus chief says ‘strange coincidences’ at first led telco to suspect cyber-attack behind outage
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has noted there were “strange coincidences” between last week’s 14-hour outage and the cyber-attack on the company last year that made Optus assess whether the outage was another cyber-attack in the early hours of Wednesday.
She told the Senate hearing on Friday:
When we had the cyber incident was the last time the Singtel board was in town, and they were in town again. So that is a weird coincidence, and so whilst they’ve ruled out the denial of service attack, as one technical type of cyber-attack, there were other vectors of cyber malicious activity and threat intelligence that we were chasing down, and it took the team until 10.20 to be able to confirm that, but it was a very serious concern for us in those hours up until 10.20.
Bayer Rosmarin said it is “very unusual” for a CEO to appear in media at all during an outage, and the communications response had been delegated to the comms team, which fielded enquiries from media, and Optus felt that it was being covered widely at the time, so Optus customers would have been informed.
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SA education department reverses snap ban on ocean activities
South Australian schoolchildren will be allowed back in the ocean after the fear of shark attacks brought on a snap ban.
A week ago a woman suffered horrific injuries after being bitten on the head by a shark at Port Noarlunga, 30km south of Adelaide. It was the latest in a series of attacks in SA and prompted the education department to stop schools’ sea-based activities. After a backlash to the ban, the government held a swift review and promised to start shark spotter plane programs earlier than usual.
Education department chief executive, Martin Westwell, said ocean trips will resume on Monday. He said:
As State Emergency Service aerial patrols are brought forward and further additional risk measures put in place, all state government school ocean-based aquatic programs can recommence from Monday.
This follows this week’s meeting with representatives from the department for education, Surf Life Saving SA (SLSA) and the SES to discuss current processes and practices.
Given the wide range of activities undertaken across the state, each program will be required to undertake a risk assessment and implement any necessary changes. This could include updating and revising supervision requirements and reinforcing evacuation procedures to participants.
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Dan Tehan was on ABC News Breakfast a little earlier where he was speaking about the tough restrictions that will be placed on people released from detention after emergency legislation passed following the high court ruling that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
Tehan said the Coalition believes it can work with the government to further strengthen the tough measures enacted in the emergency legislation on bridging visas, which include obligations to report to authorities, which are mandatory and apply to all; curfews; and electronic monitoring in the form of ankle bracelets.
But he also reiterated the Coalition’s desire to “to make sure these people are put back into detention” despite the high court having ruled the government does not have the power to do so.
Here’s an explanation on this from my colleague Paul Karp who has been following this story:
The high court ruling is quite clear that the because of the separation of powers the executive government cannot redetain this cohort of people unless there is a real prospect that their removal from Australia will be reasonably practicable in the foreseeable future.
Dan Tehan and Peter Dutton has suggested otherwise.
They seem to be confusing the possibility of a stricter sentencing regime, such as continuing detention orders, with re-detention of this cohort.
It might be possible to enact a tougher regime for judges to apply, copying powers from terrorism laws to keep unlawful non-citizens in detention longer.It is not possible for the executive government to re-detain them though, unless it is to deport them.
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Optus CEO says she didn't immediately speak to minister because her phone wasn't working
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said she didn’t speak to the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, until 4 hours into the outage last week.
When I got up in the morning, I could see that the phone wasn’t working. And so I immediately decided to head into the office
She said she arrived at the office at 7.35am and had a crisis meeting from 7.45am until 8.30am. She said she spoke to the minister after that.
Bayer Rosmarin said her team had been in contact with the minister’s office before then, and that she assured Rowland Optus was working to restore the network as quickly as possible. At that time they did not mention that triple zero calls were not connecting on mobile devices because the company was not aware of that at the time.
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Optus chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, in her opening statement to the Senate inquiry said that the company had to perform a “hard reboot of the network” on the day of the outage at around 10.30am last Wednesday. She said it was a “brute force resuscitation of the network”.
She said while the crisis was over for customers by 4pm, it has taken the team many days to determine what caused the outage.
In response to a question about not appearing publicly sooner, Bayer Rosmarin said she had been prioritising the company’s response in terms of keeping stores open, call centres responding, and also determining whether the outage was as a result of a “malicious or ongoing attack”.
She says once this was ruled out, she began fronting the public on the issue, and says she did 11 interviews, including radio, TV and four print journalist interviews.
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Optus CEO 'deeply sorry' for nationwide outage
The Optus chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, is now fronting the Senate inquiry on Optus’ nationwide outage, and has began by apologising to customers.
As a business, we are nothing without our customers who put their faith in us and it is indisputable that on that day our performance was not acceptable. We let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry. I want to make it clear that we have taken immediate and ongoing steps to rectify any shortcomings.
We have communicated directly to every Optus customer and as you know offered them not just a heartfelt apology but additional data as a gesture of thanks for the ongoing support and patience and have committed to talking to any customer or small business who has special circumstances they would like us to consider.
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Optus releases submission to Senate inquiry
The Optus Senate hearing has just kicked off, and Optus’s submission to the inquiry about the outage has just been released.
The company has confirmed what its parent company Singtel said last night that the routine software upgrade by its parent company was not to blame. The company has instead pointed the finger at its Cisco routers’ default settings.
The company said:
It is now understood that the outage occurred due to approximately 90 PE routers automatically self-isolating in order to protect themselves from an overload of IP routing information.
These self-protection limits are default settings provided by the relevant global equipment vendor (Cisco).
This unexpected overload of IP routing information occurred after a software upgrade at one of the Singtel internet exchanges (known as STiX) in North America, one of Optus’ international networks. During the upgrade, the Optus network received changes in routing information from an alternate Singtel peering router.
These routing changes were propagated through multiple layers of our IP Core network. As a result, at around 4:05am (AEDT), the pre-set safety limits on a significant number of Optus network routers were exceeded. Although the software upgrade resulted in the change in routing information, it was not the cause of the incident.
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Albanese at Apec
We’ve got our first image of Anthony Albanese who is in San Francisco for the Apec leaders summit, where will be rubbing shoulders again with US and Chinese leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping as he continues his diplomatic grand tour.
Here he is in a prime seat next to Biden.
It’s looking as though it might be a fairly friendly atmosphere in the city of love after China praised yesterday’s “warm” meeting between Xi and Biden, in a marked shift of rhetoric after months of negotiations aimed at stabilising what has been a testy relationship.
Albanese will hold a doorstop for the media scheduled for 12.45pm.
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Greens and crossbench to fight NSW government on climate goals
An alliance of NSW crossbenchers are standing in the way of the government legislating carbon emissions targets, arguing they are not ambitious enough.
Labor’s signature bill would establish a state 2050 net-zero emissions target and an independent commission to review and report annually on the government’s progress.
It will also enshrine a 2030 goal of a minimum 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions on 2005 levels.
But MPs who will be critical to the passage of the bill will on Friday call for improvements, pointing to official projections showing the state is already on track to cut emissions by 55% by 2030.
Greens climate spokesperson and former environmental lawyer Sue Higginson told AAP:
There is genuine concern in NSW that we’re not doing what we should be. We need ambition, courage and to take a step forward.
As well as being part of Labor’s platform, a legislated target was a rallying cry for teal candidates in the last state election.
But at a minimum the Greens, the Animal Justice Party and independents want the bill amended to ensure the Net Zero Commission is free from undue influence from the fossil fuel industry and can advise on coal and gas projects.
The bill also needs to impose a responsibility on the government to reach the targets and oblige the government to act consistently with the guiding principles for climate action, the MPs argue.
NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe has previously described each target as “a floor, not a ceiling” and said the government would keep the 2035 target set by the previous Coalition government.
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Queensland treasurer calls infrastructure cuts unfair
Cameron Dick questions the federal government decision to continue funding Melbourne’s airport rail while cutting a number of Queensland infrastructure projects.
Asked whether he agrees the government needs to be cutting infrastructure to take the pressure off inflation, he says:
We’ve said and I’ve said consistently, that we understand the inflationary pressures that all governments have, including the federal.
There may be projects in other states that are boondoggles that shouldn’t be funded.
I call out the Geelong faster rail project many years ago when I was roundly criticised for that. And that hasn’t stood up to scrutiny in the end. When you’ve gone into a strong state with a strong fiscal position that was willing and ready to invest in infrastructure, then we should be looking to support those states to make sure that the infrastructure that the growth states need can be delivered.
Patricia Karvelas asks: “So you’re saying Victoria should lose money [but] you shouldn’t?”
Dick:
I’m saying look to the states who’ve got the capacity to invest into infrastructure. That’s my position as the Queensland treasurer.
I think Victoria is a good example because the Victorian government, as I understand it, from press reports has raised the airport rail link as something that they will be willing to negotiate with the federal government on in the future … They continue to fund that and we don’t understand why that would happen when our projects are being cut. And that doesn’t make any sense to us.
Here’s a breakdown of the infrastructure cuts by state:
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Now’s not the time to cap infrastructure spending, Cameron Dick says
Queensland treasurer Cameron Dick is speaking on RN Breakfast now about the infrastructure cuts his state faces after the federal government defunded projectsworth $449.5m:
We are making our position very clear to the federal government that we don’t accept these cuts.
We’re in a strong position to fund into infrastructure in Queensland and we we want to partner with the federal government. So you know, we’re in a strong position to do that. And we’re just saying now’s not the time to put an artificial cap on what you’re investing into infrastructure, particularly when the federal government itself has a big budget surplus we think should be deployed.
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School community to gather to farewell Lilie James
Students and staff will gather to farewell slain water polo coach Lilie James at a private memorial in Sydney.
The 21-year-old’s former school, Danebank Anglican school for girls in Hurstville, from which she graduated in 2020, will host Friday’s memorial.
It will also be live streamed into St Andrew’s Cathedral school – where James worked – for students and teachers to view together.
James was found dead with serious head injuries in the gymnasium bathroom at St Andrew’s last month.
A day later the body of 24-year-old Paul Thijssen – who was wanted for questioning by police and who had a brief relationship with James – was located by police in the water off cliffs in Sydney’s east.
According to the wishes of James’s family the memorial service will be held in private, with just her friends and the school community invited.
– AAP
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Torres Strait elders join School Strike 4 Climate march
Torres Strait Islander elders Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai are also in Melbourne for hearings in the landmark court case they brought against the Australian government for climate inaction and will speak at the climate strike.
Kabai said he was proud to stand with the young protesters to demand stronger climate action:
The more voices we have, the stronger our fight will be.
We are not fighting the government for ourselves – we are doing this for the Pacific, for our brothers and sisters, for our home in the Torres Strait and for all Indigenous people around the world.
So my message is – let’s all battle this together, let’s fight this climate change for our future generations to live on.
Pabai said he was happy to be supporting the school strike to help deliver a message to the government:
I say to them, “Help us.”
I say to them, “The time for politics must stop, you must take action urgently to protect us from climate change, if you don’t, we’ll lose everything.”
– AAP
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Students rally across Australia for School Strike 4 Climate
Thousands of students will be taking the streets later today for the School Strike 4 Climate.
Protests are being coordinated across Australia, with students planning actions in Sydney at environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s office, in Canberra at Labor senator Katy Gallagher’s office, at the Western Australian Energy Transition Conference at the Perth Convention Centre and in other urban and regional areas.
Let’s hear from some students about why they’re striking today:
Torres Strait Islander law student Chelsea Aniba has travelled from Saibai to Melbourne, where she will join the student protest to explain how her people are at the frontline of climate change.
It’s affecting our homes, our gardens, we can’t really grow our traditional foods like we used to any more.
The season that we usually get our geese, the seasons of our turtle and dugong they’re being affected as well.
And of course, the the main one, which is the sea levels are rising.
Min Park, 16, from Sydney, said she was striking because of Plibersek’s approval of new coal and gas projects:
She is listening to the fossil fuel lobby, instead of doing her job and taking responsibility to protect the health of the planet.
Anjali Beames, 17, has been striking from school all week, studying on the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide, alongside other students from the South Australian Youth Climate Alliance.
I am studying for my future, but I am worried that without real action on climate change my future will be bleak.
Charlotte Curtis, 16, said in her hometown of Port Hedland people were already feeling the impacts of climate change, with less rain and more extreme heatwaves.
I want my community to thrive, not suffer through more and more climate impacts.
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‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says
Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:
If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.
She continues:
At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.
I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.
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Anxiety and tension in our communities ‘unprecedented’, Zoe Daniel says
Independent Zoe Daniel, the MP for Goldstein, is speaking on RN Breakfast where she’s said she fears tensions in the community could become worse amid fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Speaking about a pro-Palestine rally that gathered near a synagogue in her electorate after Burgertory’s Caulfield store was severely damaged in a blaze last Friday morning, Daniel said:
The level of anxiety and tension in our communities right now I think is at an unprecedented level.
That protest happened at a time when people were actually about – there were people in the synagogue.
So to have that unfolding on our streets was really terrifying for people in my community, the grief and the pain is not only in the Jewish community in Australia, obviously, Palestinian communities and Muslim communities are feeling that grief and pain as well. What that creates is this real tinderbox of potential despair, overflowing into hatred and anger.
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SA police officer fatally shot
A South Australia police officer has been fatally shot after being confronted by an armed suspect.
About 11.20pm last night three police officers went to a property at Senior near the Victorian border.
The police officer died at the scene, police said, “despite the efforts of his colleagues and paramedics”.
Another police officer was shot but sustained non-like threatening injuries. A third police officer who was at the scene was not injured.
The alleged suspect has sustained life-threatening injuries after being shot by police. He was flown to Adelaide, where he remains under police guard.
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‘While these people are out in the community, it’s a disaster’
Opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared on the Today show a little earlier talking about the suite of Coalition amendments that Labor agreed to which will see tough restrictions on people released from detention.
Dutton said:
We had one hour to draft these amendments. And there would have been a lot more that we would have done. Time was not on our side yesterday. We ended up getting some changes. And I hope that gives us a chance of making the community a little bit safer. While these people are out in the community, it’s a disaster.
The deal that Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called “the Dutton tail wagging the Labor dog” include: obligations to report to authorities, which are mandatory and apply to all; curfews; and electronic monitoring in the form of ankle bracelets.
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Immigration detention explainer
As my colleague Martin Farrer mentioned earlier, last night parliament passed legislation to close a loophole in the legal treatment of asylum seekers released from indefinite detention.
There may be a political price for the Albanese government after Labor agreed to Coalition amendments that removed key legal safeguards and adding mandatory sentences.
If you’re catching up on this news, my colleague Paul Karp has broken down what the high court ruling means and how Labor responded to it:
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Flight delay compensation would stop airlines from acting like a ‘mafia of the skies’, MP says
Australian airlines are acting like a “mafia of the sky” in continuing to strategically cancel flights they never intended to operate, an MP has claimed, arguing for the urgent introduction of compensation laws so carriers are deterred by immediate penalties.
Monique Ryan, the independent member for Kooyong in Melbourne, has ramped up her calls for a mandatory compensation scheme for airline passengers, saying allegations levelled by Sydney airport this week showed such laws were needed as a matter of urgency and could not wait until the government’s aviation white paper, which is due by the middle of next year.
On Wednesday Sydney airport’s outgoing CEO, Geoff Culbert, accused Qantas – among other airlines – of continuing to strategically cancel flights out of the airport to block competition as he warned that the embattled airline was making it difficult for Australians to “fall in love with Qantas again”.
More on this story here:
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Hello
Good morning, I’m Jordyn Beazley and I’ll be taking you through our rolling live news coverage today.
As always, if you see anything that needs our attention please email me at jordyn.beazley@theguardian.com.
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Home prices surge across Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth
Almost every pocket of Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth experienced home price growth over the past three months, Australian Associated Press reports.
The three capital cities are running at high speed, according to CoreLogic’s Mapping the Market report that drills down into home values by location.
The upswing in the Australian residential market has become more widespread over the past three months. Still, performance across the major cities and regions was mixed.
The two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, kicked off the recovery from a downturn that began last year but are now growing at a more moderate pace.
Canberra markets have been fairly flat, with most unit markets in decline.
Home values in Hobart moved 0.3% higher in the past three months.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said property markets were in recovery mode despite high interest rates and weakening economic conditions:
It’s often noted that Australia is not “one housing market” and we’re currently seeing increased diversity in capital city market performance.
She said there were varying levels of supply in each market, with total listings particulaly low in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane:
“In these cities, total listings levels are low, city-wide capital growth is running a bit over one per cent per month, and migration trends from both overseas and interstate favour more housing demand.
Volunteer firefighter dies after being hit by falling tree in northern NSW
A volunteer firefighter has been killed after being struck by a falling tree in northern NSW, Australian Associated Press reports.
The man was killed while battling the Hudson fire near Walgett yesterday afternoon. Rural Fire Service members offered the man first aid until paramedics arrived.
He was taken to a Lightning Ridge medical facility before he died.
RFS commissioner Rob Rogers described the man as a dedicated volunteer who died trying to help protect his local community:
This gentleman made the ultimate sacrifice. His tragic and untimely death is a solemn reminder about the dangers faced by our firefighters.
Our thoughts are with his family, friends and firefighting colleagues at this terrible time. We are offering every assistance to his family and fellow brigade members.
The fire is at watch-and-act level and has burnt through more than 21,000 hectares.
Properties in the Glengarry area are being assessed for damage, with warnings dangerous weather conditions could exacerbate the fire.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the news in Australia. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ve got some of the top overnight stories before my colleague Jordyn Beazley steps up to the plate.
Last night parliament passed legislation to close a loophole in the legal treatment of asylum seekers released from indefinite detention. But Labor agreed to Coalition amendments that removed key legal safeguards and adding mandatory sentences. There may be a political price the Albanese government will pay for this, as party heavyweight Kim Carr joins the critics who say ministers allowed themselves to be bullied into it by Peter Dutton. The Labor veteran criticised the government’s “deeply disturbing” decision to sign up to mandatory minimum sentences. More reaction coming up.
The Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin faces senators today over the telco’s handling of last week’s 14-hour nationwide outage, and whether its data offer to customers is sufficient compensation. Rosmarin will be facing the Senate inquiry, chaired by the Greens communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, over two hours this morning. On Monday the company claimed the cause of the outage was changes to routing information supplied from an international peering network after a routine software upgrade.
Anthony Albanese is in San Francisco for the Apec leaders summit and he will hold a doorstop for the media scheduled for 12.45pm. He will be rubbing shoulders again with US and Chinese leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping as he continues his diplomatic grand tour. It’s looking as though it might be a fairly friendly atmosphere in the city of love after China praised yesterday’s “warm” meeting between Xi and Biden, in a marked shift of rhetoric after months of negotiations aimed at stabilising what has been a testy relationship. More on Apec as it happens.
