What we learned, Friday 18 July
That’s where we’ll leave our coverage of today’s news. Thanks for staying with us. Here were Friday’s major developments:
Police found the body of a man believed to be the missing pilot of a plane that crashed in the Snowy Mountains earlier this week.
Independent MP Monique Ryan says she will press Labor to lower the voting age, though a government frontbencher said the government was not open to the move, as the UK moves to widen the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds.
Three Melbourne families whose children were allegedly abused by accused sex offender Joshua Dale Brown are preparing to take civil legal action against G8 Education.
The Greens accused Labor of “toxic ties to the gas industry” after a Woodside board member was invited to the federal treasurer’s economic reform roundtable.
The shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, doubled down on his call for Australia to make a “principled commitment” to Taiwan security while denying he was remaking or breaking from Coalition policy.
And the Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said the state’s Labor leader has forced Tasmanians to an election “they do not need and do not want” ahead of tomorrow’s vote.
Have a great weekend. We’ll be back next week, gearing up for the first sitting of parliament since May’s election.
Updated
Katter warns Australia has ‘no shield, no helmet’ against food insecurity as peanut factories close
Bob Katter has decried the loss of Australia’s food manufacturing capabilities after Bega announced it would close two peanut processing plants.
Bega made the announcement earlier this month that it planned to close its plants in Tolga, in Queensland’s far north, and Kingaroy, 200km north-west of Brisbane, attracting condemnation from local farmers.
Katter, the member for Kennedy, said the loss of farm processing plants was undermining Australia’s food security. He said in a statement:
We are rapidly losing the ability to feed ourselves. When the ports close, or China decides to flick the switch on exports, or international prices go up, we’ll be sitting here naked, with no shield, no helmet, and no food.
The potential loss of a domestic peanut production would follow the collapse of a string of other food and produce industries, Katter said, blaming the lack of government support for farmers’ incomes.
We are the only country on earth that sends our gladiators, our food producers, into the ring without a helmet and shield. The rest of the world? Their farmers are supported to the tune of 41 per cent of their income. In Australia? Four per cent.
You think we’re 36 per cent better farmers than the rest of the world? Give me a break.
Updated
