What we learned: Friday, 10 February
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening.
We’ve made it to the weekend just in time for a mild heatwave. Stay cool, stay safe, we’ll be back first thing tomorrow.
Here were the major developments of the day:
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has announced the government will nominate Murujuga for a world heritage listing. If it is accepted by Unesco it will be the second site in Australia given World Heritage status for its First Nations heritage – but there’s pushback from some who say the government’s support of local industrialisation is at odds with the environmental nomination.
Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle has been upgraded to a category three intensity. It is moving towards the south-east and is expected to make “a direct hit at Norfolk Island” over the weekend.
One missing Australia in Turkey has been accounted for, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, confirmed today. Two Australians remain missing after the earthquakes.
Meanwhile, Wong told reporters she asked her department to accelerate the replacement of Chinese surveillance cameras in the wake of media reporting this week.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has committed to campaigning in Aston to retain the outgoing Liberal MP Alan Tudge’s seat.
And Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, has attacked a magistrate’s decision to release children from an adult watch house, labelling it a “media stunt” that is “putting the community … in danger”. The spray resulted in him being described as a “disgrace” by the Council of Civil Liberties for breaching the doctrine of the separation of powers.
Updated
Todd Murphy takes four wickets in his debut game
Turning attention from politics for a moment to bring you some breaking news taking place over at our India v Australia live blog: Bowler Todd Murphy has just taken four wickets on his debut game.
Murphy, a 22-year-old from the great city of Moama, incidentally has the same name as my dog – Murphy the labrador.
Now I’m not a betting man, nor do I condone gambling, but this could be the first time in the history of cricket that a bowler has taken four wickets while – simultaneously – a Guardian journalist who has a dog with an identical name is liveblogging.
You cannot make this stuff up!
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