And that’s where we’ll leave you this Friday. Here’s a snippet of what we learned today:
• The watchdog overseeing the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption will conduct a formal investigation of the delay in making findings against Gladys Berejiklian and her former partner, Daryl Maguire.
• Opposition leader Peter Dutton defended Berejiklian as “not a corrupt person” after Icac found yesterday that she engaged in corrupt conduct.
• A coronial inquest has identified that institutional racism and a lack of cultural competency from health services were behind the deaths of three Aboriginal women in the remote Indigenous community of Doomadgee in north-west Queensland.
• Thousands of people reported feeling an early morning earthquake that struck Rawson, a small town about 150km east of Melbourne.
• The NSW independent commission against corruption has warned state and federal government reliance on consultancy firms can expose taxpayers to serious conflicts of interest.
• Southern states are facing a winter gas supply shortage and will rely on excess supply from Queensland.
• Wild winds in Sydney caused flight delays across Australia on Friday, with nearly 100 flights at Sydney airport cancelled just before school holidays, but the disruption follows bickering between airlines and the government provider of air traffic control over staffing levels.
• Meanwhile a Qantas flight from Sydney was turned back after smoke was reportedly smelt in the cockpit.
• The Victorian government is set to hold the nation’s first pet census to get a picture of how many people own pets and what support and services they require.
• Authorities have issued a safety plea for e-scooter users after a rider died from head injuries in inner Brisbane.
• And fans flocked to try to secure tickets to Taylor Swift’s shows in Melbourne and Sydney following unprecedented demand.
Thanks so much for your company today. See you tomorrow.
Bentley Homes goes into liquidation
Another Victorian home builder has slid into liquidation, leaving clients and creditors in the lurch, AAP reports.
Timothy Holden of insolvency firm Crouch Amirbeaggi was on Friday appointed as the liquidator for Melbourne-based Bentley Homes.
The company, in an automatic bounce-back email to customers, cited economic pressures as the reason for its demise:
Unfortunately, this leaves us in a position where we are unable to carry out any further works.
Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your new home journey.
We want to sincerely apologise for this unfortunate situation for everyone involved, we can assure you all avenues were explored to sustain the business which has been operating since 2006.
Holden told AAP on Friday he was in the early stages of gathering information about the company, and would be in a position to report to creditors and homeowners early next week.
The home builder is among several to have slid into liquidation in recent times.
Builder Porter Davis fell over in late March with about $147m debt, leaving 1700 homes in limbo in Victoria and Queensland.
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