Fast-food chain temporarily changes recipe due to supply chain issues caused by floods in Queensland and northern NSW earlier this year
If you’ve noticed a twist in your Twister, or a bit more zing in your Zinger, it could be that Australia’s lettuce shortage is starting to bite.
KFC has advised customers that they are temporarily using a blend of lettuce and cabbage in stores in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, the ACT and Tasmania because of supply issues across the country.
Continue reading...Jim Chalmers responds to Reserve Bank decision to lift cash rate 50 basis points as Anthony Albanese declines to comment during Indonesia trip
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has described the Reserve Bank’s decision to hike the cash rate by 50 basis points as “difficult” news for homeowners, while warning that inflation will get worse before it gets better.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who is in Indonesia, left the government’s response to the RBA’s higher-than-expected increase on Tuesday to his treasurer as he sought to revive a Keating-era tradition of not commenting on domestic issues while travelling overseas.
Continue reading...Reports of presence at Ream base on Gulf of Thailand would significantly expand its presence in Indo-Pacific
A Cambodian naval base being constructed with the assistance of China will include a portion for the exclusive use of the Chinese military, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The Chinese and Cambodian governments have previously denied reports that Cambodia will allow a Chinese military presence at the Ream naval base on the Gulf of Thailand.
Continue reading...New Zealand PM arriving in Sydney on Thursday will be first foreign leader hosted by new Labor government
Jacinda Ardern will visit Australia later this week to meet the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, when she plans to again raise the issue of “501” deportations of New Zealanders.
The New Zealand PM will visit Sydney on Thursday – the first foreign leader hosted by the new Labor government.
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Continue reading...Toni Melrose-Mikeska said JC confided in her in 1990, after breaking up with Dawson, who has pleaded not guilty to Lynette Dawson’s murder
The murder trial for Chris Dawson has heard another version of the time the teacher and former rugby league player allegedly sought out a hitman to kill his wife, Lynette, in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence in the New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday, Toni Melrose-Mikeska said Dawson’s second wife, known only as JC, confided in her about her husband after the pair broke up in 1990.
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Continue reading...Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says
Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.
Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.
There is no simple magic fix to this.
The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.
That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.
Continue reading...Ahead of travelling to Makassar on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese tells Jakarta business leaders Australia will partner with Indonesia to drive clean energy transition
Anthony Albanese says Australia’s economic relationship with Indonesia has “struggled to keep pace” with the country’s “extraordinary economic rise” but the new government in Canberra will dig in behind emerging opportunities, including partnerships in clean energy.
Before travelling on Tuesday to Makassar, on the southern tip of Sulawesi – a region the Indonesian president wants to develop – Australia’s prime minister told business leaders in Jakarta that Indonesia was “central to our trade diversification strategy”.
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Continue reading...Previous environment minister, Sussan Ley, declined to issue emergency protection to halt $4.5bn development on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula
The incoming federal environment minister has been urged to block the construction of a fertiliser plant on a world heritage-nominated site in Western Australia, and to act swiftly to stop the multinational company behind the plans from removing Indigenous rock art.
Perdaman is planning a $4.5bn plant on the Burrup Peninsula, in the Pilbara region. The plant, which is strongly supported by the state government and was backed by the former federal government, will require the removal of Aboriginal art produced over a period starting about 50,000 years ago.
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Continue reading...Resources minister signals ‘very positive’ talks with gas corporations and suggested managing coal supply could relieve market pressures
New minister Madeleine King has asked resource companies to find more gas to direct into Australian markets as she considers pulling the so-called gas “trigger”.
However, the resources minister has also claimed more coal supply was key to combating a brewing energy crisis.
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Continue reading...Mutual obligations system will require people to complete an expanded range of activities to keep their payments
Welfare advocates have warned job seekers may have their payments suspended under a new points-based mutual obligations system because of “unnecessarily onerous” requirements.
The “points-based activation system”, to be introduced from 1 July, replaces the rigid 20 job applications a month requirement that has frustrated job seekers and employers for many years.
Continue reading...State government struck an agreement with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria to establish body with legal powers
Victoria is set to establish an independent authority to help oversee the nation’s first treaty negotiations between a government and First Nations people.
The minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gabrielle Williams, will introduce the Treaty Authority Bill to parliament on Tuesday, after the government struck an agreement with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, the body elected by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to help develop a treaty framework.
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Continue reading...Government says PLA J-16 forced Australian P-8 on routine surveillance into a dangerous manoeuvre over South China Sea
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has denounced an incident in which a Chinese fighter plane forced an Australian plane into a dangerous manoeuvre. China’s actions were “an act of aggression and a dangerous act”, Albanese told reporters in Jakarta on Monday evening.
Continue reading...Education ministers say they will demand increase in federal investment to reach 100% of Gonski funding benchmark
A fresh battle over the underfunding of public schools is brewing, with Victoria and New South Wales vowing to push the new Albanese government to lift its contributions to close an investment shortfall.
The new federal education minister, Jason Clare, said boosting the results of Australian school students against international benchmarks and revisiting the needs-based Gonski reforms that aimed to end inequities in the distribution of public money will be among his top priorities.
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Continue reading...Prime minister speaks in Jakarta after sharing bike ride with Indonesian president; Richard Marles says finding successor to Collins-class submarines is ‘No 1’ defence priority; Australia records at least 19 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed.
Similarly, on the Indigenous voice to parliament, Dutton said the Coalition is “very open to the discussion and what the government has to say”.
In principle, do we support anything that’s going to improve the situation of Indigenous Australians? Absolutely.
In Ted O’Brien we have someone with an exceptional background, a very considered person, a great communicator. And he did a report ... when he was on the backbench in the last parliament on nuclear energy. He had a particular focus on the latest generation, the small modular nuclear generation which can power up to 100,000 houses. So I’m not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear. If we want to have a legitimate emissions reduction, if we want to lower emissions reduction, that’s exactly the path president Macron has embarked on in France, it’s what prime minister Johnson is talking about in the United Kingdom ... I don’t think we should be afraid to talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices. That’s something we can consider in time. I don’t think we should rule things out simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them.
Continue reading...Brian Burston, who represented One Nation from 2016 to 2018, is suing his former leader for what he says were accusations of sexual harassment against him
Pauline Hanson sent a “spiteful” and “malicious” text message to the wife of former One Nation senator Brian Burston claiming that he considered her to be an “old bag” and was “infatuated” with one of his staff members, a court has heard.
A defamation trial brought by Burston against Hanson began in the federal court on Monday over a series of what he argues are allegations of sexual harassment made against him on social media, in interviews and in a text to his wife, Rosalyn.
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There is a long history of nuclear energy being used as a delaying tactic for acting on climate change in Australia
Last week, the Nationals’ new leader, David Littleproud, said it was time for Australia to have a “mature” conversation about nuclear energy while his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, called for a national moratorium to be lifted and argued nuclear power would be “really important” if the country was serious about reaching net zero emissions.
On Sunday, the nuclear power advocate Ted O’Brien was appointed as the Coalition’s climate change and energy spokesperson. In an interview with ABC Radio National, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he was “not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear” as the country should not be afraid to “talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices”.
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Continue reading...Australia’s quest for a historic victory over New Zealand fell short after the Wallaroos going down 23-10 in a rain-sodden Test in Tauranga.
Lining up for their first clash in the Pacific Four series, which also involves Canada and USA, the Australian women led the Black Ferns at half-time for the first time in their 20-Test history dating back to 1994. But they were unable to turn their 10-5 lead into a maiden win.
Continue reading...Minister acknowledges family of Shandee Blackburn, who was fatally stabbed in 2013 in a case that sparked calls for reform
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced a commission of inquiry into DNA testing at the state’s Forensic and Scientific Services laboratory after accusations it has been failing victims of crime.
The inquiry will be conducted by Walter Sofronoff, the president of the court of appeal, and comes in addition to a previously announced review into the state-run forensics laboratory.
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Continue reading...Tech giant and comedian Jordan Shanks may face contempt of court charges over videos published during trial
Google has been ordered to pay former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro more than $700,000 over a series of “racist” and “abusive” videos published on YouTube channel Friendlyjordies.
On Monday, federal court justice Stephen Rares ruled that Barilaro had been left “traumatised” by a campaign of “relentless cyberbullying” by comedian Jordan Shanks, who uses the nom de plume Friendlyjordies
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Continue reading...Despite a few upticks in recent weeks, the current campaign has seen, on average, the lowest crowds in a quarter of a century
Nearly 44,000 people were at the MCG on Sunday, a reasonable turnout on a stinker of a day. There were 47,000 at Optus Stadium too, but AFL crowds, on average, are the lowest they have been since 1996. Just over 30,000 watched the reigning premiers on their home ground on Saturday night, while the crowd at the Adelaide Oval was well below par.
One commentator suggested the game has become “too woke” with all its rule changes and crackdown on umpire dissent. Others believe the standard of play is driving punters away. But, arguably, the football has been far superior to that played half a decade ago, when crowd numbers peaked. West Coast’s dire year, the redevelopment of Kardinia Park, the floating fixture and a recent Arctic blast have also played a role. Here are some of the possible major contributing factors.
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