Bomb response unit determines suspicious item at Avalon airport a laser hair removal device
Victoria police say the suspicious item found at Melbourne’s Avalon airport this morning was found to be a laser hair removal device.
The bomb response unit conducted checks after emergency officials were called to the domestic terminal around 6am, prompting the terminal’s evacuation and closure.
Melbourne’s Avalon airport reopens
The domestic terminal at Melbourne’s Avalon airport is now reopen and operations have resumed.
A spokesperson for the airport said Victoria police have deemed the item is no longer a risk. They added:
Today’s response demonstrates the vigilance of the screening and security processes, with precautionary measures taken immediately to ensure the safety of passengers, staff and the broader community, which will always remain our highest priority.
Passengers are encouraged to chat with their airline for flight updates.
A ‘very serious outbreak of a very serious disease’, health minister says of diphtheria spread
The health minister, Mark Butler, is speaking about the diphtheria outbreak in the Northern Territory and neighbouring Queensland and WA. He said the federal government has been providing thousands of vaccine doses to be administered to remote communities, adding a booster is a highly effective way to protect yourself.
“This is a very serious outbreak of a very serious disease,” Butler said. The health minister went on:
Obviously we also need to ensure that there are adequate doses of antibiotics for those who have acquired the infection, particularly the respiratory form of the infection, because that can be a very, very serious disease as well. …
There are sufficient doses of vaccines, I’m told, in the Territory, but the need for additional workers to get out and get the needles into the arms that need them.
Back to the shutdown at Melbourne’s Avalon airport this morning
Several travellers have called into local radio this morning to discuss their snarled travel plans. David told 3AW Breakfast that he arrived on the scene before a schedule flight to Brisbane, but he couldn’t get in the terminal. He said:
There’s people queued up for miles. They blocked it off at the entrance way where the roundabout is, people actually walking out on foot from the airport. They’re sort of blocked us off.
I’d love to know what’s going on.
He went on to say “no one’s telling us a thing”, adding people had been leaving the airport on foot after it was shuttered.
Stuart said he saw similar scenes while driving past Avalon airport, telling 3AW:
I’ve just come past Avalon … there’s cars everywhere out in the front, and people have even pushed their luggage trolleys all the way from the airport … to outside the premises on the road.
Minister for Indigenous Australians speaks on the latest on the growing diphtheria outbreak
Malarndirri McCarthy, the minister for Indigenous Australians, was just on ABC’s News Breakfast program speaking about growing concerns on the worst diphtheria outbreak in decades with more than 220 cases across the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland, largely affecting First Nations communities.
The federal government announced a $7m support package to further support national and Aboriginal-controlled community health responses to the disease; McCarthy said the package will immediately support vaccination drive efforts.
“We have seen programs rolling out in places like Yuendumu in language. We know that we’ve got over 100 Aboriginal languages. We need to ensure that the communication is there, not misinformation, McCarthy said.
We certainly saw that through Covid and we need to ensure that the right information is getting out to our remote and regional communities.
The federal government and health authorities are urging those in affected areas to ensure they are vaccinated and up to date with their inoculations.
We know that the immunisation rates have been there for our children … Our call is really to adults to not think that you are immune, make sure you’re getting checked. So, it’s really important that adults also know that this isn’t just about children. This is actually all people of all ages.
Albanese leaves door open to extending fuel excise cut
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has not ruled out extending the temporary cut to the fuel excise as the Middle East conflict continues to disrupt the global oil market.
The three-month halving of the fuel excise is due to end on 30 June, as is the pausing of the heavy road vehicle user charge.
Asked on Sydney’s 2Day FM radio if the relief for motorists and truckies, which has cost the budget $2.9bn, would be extended, Albanese said:
We’ll do an assessment closer to the day. It is very costly but it has made a difference. We’re doing pretty well, I’ve got to say, compared with what the expectations were, people have stopped asking me about it (fuel supplies).
Pressed again, Albanese said:
We’ll make the assessment, like, it’s really volatile times. We don’t know when this war in the Middle East will end. We’ve got the ceasefire still going at the moment. We want it to end.
The prime minister noted the average petrol price had fallen to about $1.87 a litre – close to what it was prior to the start of the conflict in late February.
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Domestic terminal at Melbourne’s Avalon airport evacuated after suspicious item found
The domestic terminal at Melbourne’s Avalon airport was evacuated this morning after a suspicious item was found during the screening process. A person has since been detained by police. A spokesperson for the airport said:
The domestic terminal at Melbourne Avalon Airport was evacuated this morning following the identification of a suspicious item during the screening process. Victoria police attended and an individual has been detained.
The matter is now being managed by police and any further enquiries should be directed to Victoria police.
Victoria police said emergency services were called to the airport just before 6am and were conducting a safety check. A police spokesperson confirmed the building had been evacuated and the area cordoned off as a precaution while the investigation is ongoing.
The spokesperson for the airport added passengers travelling today should stay in contact with their airline:
At this stage, passengers are being advised that, due to safety precautions, delays are expected. Passengers are advised to contact Jetstar regarding their flights. We will provide further updates regarding any additional delays as more information becomes available.
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Keating lashes Coalition, John Howard and startup sector over CGT claims
Paul Keating rubbished claims from the Coalition and the startup sector that Labor’s reforms to capital gains tax will undermine entrepreneurship, insisting the changes are “marginal” and badly needed to improve housing affordability.
Amid a week-long assault on Jim Chalmers’ budget, the former Labor prime minister said wealthy individuals had been the beneficiaries of preferential treatment for investments for decades – rules he said had distorted the tax system and disadvantaged wage earners.
The proposed CGT changes – replacing the 50% tax discount on profits with a new cost-base indexation model, meaning tax on profits after inflation, and a minimum 30% tax rate imposed – have been strongly opposed by some tech founders.
Keating had this to say:
Punters with a big idea won’t be put off by some marginal change to the tax rate. The rush of entrepreneurial blood to the brain always dominates.
The simple fact is that income is taxed too heavily while capital is taxed too lightly. That is the fact of it – and has been the fact of it. And that distortion has made housing unaffordable for a whole generation.
Read more:
Rogue AI poses ‘extinction’ risk to humanity, federal minister warns
The assistant productivity minister, Andrew Leigh, will declare rogue AI or an engineered pandemic are the most likely ways the human species could end over the coming 100 years, AAP reports.
“Extinction means the complete loss of our species. No survivors, no recovery, no second act,” Leigh will tell the Tasmanian Economic Society on Thursday.
One estimate, from Australian philosopher Toby Ord, puts the odds of such a catastrophe at one-in-six over the coming century.
Policymakers could consider limits on what AI is allowed to do and how it approaches problems in a bid to reduce the risk, Leigh will say.
The danger is not only that such a system might ‘go rogue’ in the science-fiction sense. It is that a government or corporation with access to machine intelligence far beyond human level could gain a strategic advantage so overwhelming that normal forms of competition, geostrategic balancing, political correction and international negotiation cease to work.
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Federal government announces diphtheria support package
As the diphtheria outbreak spreads, the federal health minister, Mark Butler, announced a $7.2m package targeting vaccines and health worker support, particularly in the Northern Territory.
About 60% of the 230 cases are in the Northern Territory, but there are also cases in South Australia, Queensland, and a significant number in the northern part of Western Australia.
The package will support the Northern Territory government and the Aboriginal community controlled health sector, with $5.2m for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre to provide a surge workforce to administer booster vaccinations and treatments, and to procure additional vaccines and antibiotics.
A lack of health staff to administer vaccines and booster shots has slowed down the outbreak response to date.
There will also be $2m for culturally safe communications, community liaison and other on the ground public health supports. It is the biggest outbreak since national record-keeping began.
Diphtheria, which can cause either skin (cutaneous) or respiratory disease, is considered rare in Australia following a vaccination rollout that began in the 1930s.
Declining vaccination rates, overcrowding, and adults not receiving booster shots are all thought to be contributing to the spread.
Respiratory diphtheria can be deadly and a significant number of cases in the outbreak are the respiratory type, with one quarter of cases requiring hospitalisation, putting pressure on services.
Read more:
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Shadow treasurer says Australians should keep ‘reward of their work’ in calls to slash top tax rate
Tim Wilson, the shadow treasurer, said he agrees with NSW premier Chris Minns that the top marginal tax rate of 47% should be slashed to ensure Australians can “keep the reward of their work”.
Minns said yesterday the country should do more to “make sure we’re taking urgent action” when it comes to personal income taxes, adding a lot of families were getting “stung”. He took particular issue with the top marginal rate of 47%, paid for each dollar earned above $190,000 annually.
Wilson spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, a day after delivering a budget reply at the National Press Club. He added the recent changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing amounted to a “betrayal of trust”. Wilson said:
I will absolutely always focus on how we get not just the top marginal tax rate down, but every tax rate down, because there are so many Australians right now who are working harder than ever, and they don’t feel like their hard work is paying off.
The government has basically gone after a complete assault on the self-starters and small business of this country … and we are going to stand up and we are going to fight for them.
Thousands of childcare workers prepare to walk off job over federal government payment
As many as 20,000 childcare workers are preparing to walk off the job around the country in July, after the Albanese government failed to extend a key workers retention payment in last week’s federal budget.
In November, the government’s childcare worker retention payment will run out, leaving staff facing a pay cut before the fair work commission’s staged pay rise for the sector takes full effect.
A walk-off is different to a strike – it would not be a sanctioned action, and generally involves workers leaving centres at the same time during the day or afternoon.
The industry widely expected the government to fund the extension in the budget, which has increased worker salaries by 15%.
The federal government’s payment essentially brought forward pay rises for the sector ahead of the FWC’s gender undervaluation review – so instead of the workers reaching the 15% increase by 2028 or beyond, most now already have it. But if the government does not extend the payment, they face going backwards.
The government wrote in the budget that it supports undervaluation review and that “further decisions [are] expected to be finalised this year.”
The United Worker’s Union’s Carolyn Smith says most workers would face a pay cliff of between 4% and 15% if the payment isn’t extended:
We cannot go backwards. Educators fought hard for this and the government had every opportunity in the budget to finish the job. The 15% pay rise recognised that early childhood educators had been undervalued for too long.
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Job statistics to be released today by ABS
An uptick in Australia’s unemployment could scare the Reserve Bank off more rate hikes as fears grow about the impact of the Iran war on the economy, AAP reports.
The jobless rate is expected to remain at 4.3%, with another 20,000 jobs added for April, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases the results of its latest labour force survey on Thursday.
Money markets were pricing in about a one-in-10 chance of a hike at the next RBA meeting in June but had fully priced in one rate rise by November.
Minutes from the central bank’s meeting earlier in May, released on Tuesday, showed most board members still agreed fighting inflation was the priority, even though the risks to economic activity and employment were gathering. Market economists also warned of worsening impacts on the labour market the longer the Iran war drags on.
That poses a dilemma for the Reserve Bank board, which must balance the dual priorities of keeping price growth under control and targeting full employment.
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Wong condemns ‘shocking, degrading’ footage of Israeli minister taunting captured activists
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has condemned the actions of Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted a video of himself abusing bound activists captured while trying to sail an aid flotilla to Gaza.
Wong joined international condemnation of the footage, which shows Ben-Gvir waving an Israeli flag, mocking and taunting the detainees, including shouting: “The people of Israel live” in the face of one bound man.
In a statement, Wong said: “The images we have seen are shocking and unacceptable”.
We condemn the actions of Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir – who Australia has sanctioned – and the degrading actions of Israeli authorities towards those detained.
I have asked Australia’s Ambassador to Israel to make representations to Israel, reiterating our call for the release of the detained Australians and for Israel to ensure no ill treatment of any detainees and to act in line with international obligations.
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Good morning
Hello everyone, it’s Nick Visser here once again to hand down the day’s news. Here’s what’s on deck:
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has issued a sharp rebuke to Israel over footage of the country’s far-right national security minister mocking and taunting activists who were captured on the Global Sumud Flotilla this week. Wong said in a statement the images were “shocking and unacceptable”.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is set to release its latest figures on the country’s jobless rate today. Any major uptick will be closely watched by the Reserve Bank and any plans for future rate hikes.
Stick with us, we’ll have more for you soon.
