Summary
Thank you for joining us on the blog today. Here is a wrap:
Back and forth ensued over the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, comparing a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Dutton defended the comparison today (“I don’t resile from that at all”), while the federal education minister, Jason Clare, slammed it (“if you want to run the country, you can’t run your mouth”). The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said “it is never appropriate to compare the Port Arthur tragedy with anything, in any circumstance,” and the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties argued such statements “dangerously conflate unrelated issues, leading to misinformation and unwarranted associations”.
The Australian Medical Association released new analysis showing private health insurers’ management expenses and profits are the “key drivers of premium increases” for customers.
Tasmania’s Liberals formally secured minority support, after independent MP and former Labor leader David O’Byrne provided a written assurance of confidence and supply.
A 36-year old woman was taken to hospital after a reported stabbing at Bondi beach. In another reported stabbing across the state, one teenage boy died and another was hospitalised in Sydney’s west.
New data revealed two-thirds of Tafe teachers are considering leaving the sector due to the ongoing impact of nearly a decade of Coalition cuts to public vocational education and pressure from the fee-free Tafe program.
Save the Children Australia called on the Australian Government to urgently address rising starvation and malnutrition in Gaza, and avert a catastrophic famine in the occupied territory.
And women in a Victorian community rocked by three recent killings demanded an end to male violence in a Ballarat rally.
That is all for today, see you next week.
Updated
Vaping penalties should be kept in ‘civil space’ rather than criminal, police tell NSW inquiry
Assistant commissioner Scott Cook said it was not known how much money organised criminal groups made from vapes while disputing claims that gangs controlled the market.
He suggested penalties around vaping be kept in the “civil space”, such as a licensing scheme under which suppliers could be threatened with cancellations.
The last thing we want to see as police is criminalisation of vaping, particularly for young people – it will bring them into contact with the criminal justice system they will never get out of.
The illicit market around tobacco and nicotine products with import restrictions was “nowhere near the prohibited drugs illicit market”, he added.
Asked if police needed more power to control the sector, the assistant commissioner said: “no, not at all.”
In addition to sufficient search and seizure powers, police had “significantly higher priorities than doing enforcement work for vapes”, he said.
The committee’s deputy chair, Hugh McDermott, suggested those priorities were not for police to decide, adding that children as young as 11 were becoming addicted to illegally sold vapes due to a lack of enforcement.
But Cook said if that was the government’s position, then NSW Health should be resourced to do that properly.
McDermott earlier noted industry representatives declined to appear at the inquiry.
- AAP
Updated
