What we learned today, Tuesday 10 December
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories:
The Reserve Bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged at 4.35%, leaving stressed borrowers to wait until at least February for relief.
Queensland Labor has decided to back the Crisafulli government’s “adult crime, adult time” laws, which discriminate against children and violate human rights.
Peter Dutton has said if he is elected next year he will only display the Australian flag at press conferences, arguing that to fly the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags would be “dividing our country unnecessarily” and sending a “confusing message”.
The Indigenous Australians minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, says the opposition leader is “unfit to be prime minister” after the flags pledge.
Anthony Albanese made brief remarks to a packed crown at the Addas Israel synagogue in Melbourne, saying he’ll speak to leaders about steps forward.
An abortion gag motion passed Queensland parliament, with all 50 LNP MPs present voting to ban any debate on abortion for four years.
A Queensland man has been charged by counter-terrorism investigators after he allegedly threatened criminal damage at a community centre in Caulfield.
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher has announced he will not run for re-election at the next federal election.
A Qantas flight bound for Adelaide was forced to return to Brisbane shortly after takeoff due to an issue with the landing gear brakes.
Updated
Women’s despair after losing contraception class action
Women who suffered debilitating pain and bleeding after a permanent contraceptive device was implanted say they are disappointed a judge found it did not directly cause their symptoms, AAP reports.
Victorian supreme court justice Andrew Keogh handed down his decision on Tuesday, marking the end of a five-year class action against Bayer Australia and five other companies.
The class action, led by Victorian Patrice Turner, claimed women suffered harm as a direct result of the Essure device being implanted into their bodies.
Turner underwent a hysterectomy at 32, five years after the permanent contraceptive device was inserted into both of her fallopian tubes.
She claimed she suffered severe pelvic pain and heavy uterine bleeding, which resolved after she underwent the major abdominal surgery.
Turner and the 1,400 class action members alleged Bayer Australia and the other companies involved in Essure’s design, manufacturing and marketing breached a duty of care.
But Justice Keogh found their claims could not be made out. The judge was not satisfied they established the Essure device caused inflammation, and subsequent pain and abnormal bleeding in women.
Justice Keogh also noted while the device could migrate, be expelled from the fallopian tube or leech metal into the body, the risks were small and often associated with the insertion process.
He did not accept there was a risk the device would break down once inside the body.
Updated
