What we learned: Wednesday, 10 August
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the night. Enjoy your evenings, we’ll be back first thing tomorrow with all the latest.
Here were the major developments of the day:
China’s ambassador, Xiao Qian, appeared at the National Press Club this afternoon, where he reiterated there was “absolutely no room for compromise” on the subject of Taiwan. Xiao said the use of force could never be ruled out and China would take “all necessary measures” to retain its “one China” policy.
The leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, has confirmed he will attend the Albanese government’s jobs and skills summit after receiving an invitation from the treasurer. It comes after the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, labelled the summit a “stunt” and “talkfest”.
The Australian women’s cricket captain, Meg Lanning, has announced she is taking an indefinite break from the sport for personal reasons.
The federal government contact tracing app you probably forgot about – CovidSafe – has been decommissioned after detecting a cool two Covid cases throughout its unsuccessful tenure.
And still on Covid, there were 133 deaths reported across the country today as the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners warned against pharmacists administering anti-virals over the counter for safety reasons.
Updated
Texts reveal officials’ reaction to Morrison government’s election day demand
The Morrison government’s demand that a boat interception be announced on election day was “astonishing in form and timing” and “unprecedented”, according to the public servants involved.
Messages between the Australian Border Force and home affairs department officials, produced under freedom of information (FOI) laws, shed further light on the extreme haste to publish a statement before Scott Morrison confirmed the operation.
The boat arrival formed the basis of a last-minute text message scare campaign from the NSW Liberal party urging voters to “keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today”.
Read the full story from Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst here:
Updated
WA coroner finds Aboriginal man’s death in custody was preventable
Indigenous prisoners need culturally appropriate health care given by Aboriginal medical services to prevent more needless deaths in custody, advocates warn.
The advice comes after West Australian coroner Rosalinda Fogliani recently found an Aboriginal man Mr Yeeda’s death at the West Kimberley Regional Prison in 2018 was preventable.
The 19-year-old Miriuwung and Gajerrong man died from rheumatic heart disease complications after a referral by the prison’s medical officer for him to see a cardiologist was not progressed.
Advocates welcomed Fogliani’s recommendation for the WA Department of Justice and WA Country Health to better share information and tracking on inmate health care. But they say more needs to be done to improve healthcare outcomes for Indigenous Australians in prison.
National Justice project director George Newhouse:
The Coroner has failed to address the systemic racism in WA’s justice and healthcare systems which led to Mr Yeeda’s death. Unless culturally-appropriate healthcare delivered by Aboriginal medical services is provided to prisoners, we will see more needless deaths like that of Mr Yeeda.
The Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives was critical of prison staff, saying they should have followed national protocols for rheumatic heart disease management. Rheumatic heart disease is permanent heart damage that can cause heart failure, death and disability.
Yeeda, who was serving a 14-month prison term, was diagnosed as needing heart valve replacement surgery in 2014 after he developed severe aortic valve regurgitation.
– via AAP
Updated
