What we learned – Tuesday 30 July
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. Here is a recap of the main news:
The stunning aurora australis may make an appearance tonight after the Bureau of Meteorology released an aurora watch notice early on Monday morning.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Rex Airlines was “important” as the carrier called a trading halt.
The government was prepared to “work with Rex”, said the infrastructure and transport minister, Catherine King, and it wanted to make sure the airline had a future.
Bill Shorten claimed the backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims had fallen 66%.
Tony Burke pushed back against the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, for misrepresenting his record as immigration minister in 2013.
The planned opening of the $21.6bn Sydney Metro project has been delayed and a new starting date has not been identified by the NSW government.
In South Korea, Penny Wong will visit the UN command buildings in the joint security area within the Demilitarised Zone.
There are now at least 33 cases of legionnaires’ disease across Melbourne, with 10 another people also suspected of contracting the infection.
Health departments nationally say no surgeries have been cancelled amid IV fluid shortage
There has been a 12% increase in reports of human trafficking and slavery to the Australian federal police in the 2023-24 financial year, according to data released as part of the UN’s World Day against trafficking in persons.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan acknowledged that the government needed to streamline the entire planning process and said the work had been under way since the release of the housing statement last September.
The numbers of dwelling approvals continue to retreat, with the ABS reporting a 6.5% drop in June alone, reversing the 5.7% rise in May, and for the whole year they were down 8.5% to about 163,000.
Updated
Aurora australis may be visible tonight, BoM says
The stunning aurora australis may make an appearance tonight after the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) released an aurora watch notice early on Monday morning.
The BoM is forecasting significant geomagnetic activity that could possibly result in visible auroras at night. The geomagnetic storm is expected to be at its strongest this evening.
The bureau said it wasn’t absolutely certain the geomagnetic activity would occur – but aurora spotters will likely be keeping watch regardless.
Updated
