PM says Australia has cut emissions by ‘more than most of the countries sitting around this table’
Scott Morrison will use his final remarks at the G20 summit in Rome to declare climate finance must focus on adaptation and “empowerment”, not just on emissions reduction.
Australia’s prime minister will also push back at coordinated global efforts to phase out fossil fuels.
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Continue reading...International border bans are set to end on Monday with Australians able to leave the country and return home; Scott Morrison defends the Aukus deal at G20 in Rome. Follow all the day’s news live
Minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor will be speaking on ABC Insiders this morning.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is currently in Glasgow today for the UN’s climate change conference, Cop26. Australia has international faced pressure to ramp up its action on climate change. As such, over the last few weeks, Morrison and Taylor raced to secure Nationals party room support for a target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Continue reading...Swastika seen hanging from Margaret Street apartment complex in city’s CBD
Congregants at a Brisbane synagogue were confronted by the sight of a Nazi flag flying from a nearby apartment window on Saturday.
Visitors to the synagogue reported seeing the swastika symbol hanging from a UniLodge complex on Margaret Street in the central business district on Saturday morning, the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies vice-president, Jason Steinberg, said.
Continue reading...The search for the missing four-year-old has captured the world’s attention, but police have yet to make a breakthrough in the baffling case
The days are long for Det Supt Rod Wilde, the man tasked with unravelling what happened to four-year-old Cleo Smith at the Blowholes campsite in Western Australia.
With 40 years of policing under his belt, including 18 with the major crime squad, Wilde is no stranger to missing children cases or working under the glare of media scrutiny.
Continue reading...Russia reports 1,163 new Covid deaths, its highest one-day toll of pandemic; whole households to self-isolate in Wales if one person tests positive
Bulgaria has recorded another 5,178 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours. Official data shows that there are 7,553 patients in hospital, 656 of them being in intensive care.
Yesterday a meeting of health authorities agreed to transform Lozenets Hospital in Sofia into an intensive care centre for Covid-19 treatment. Deputy health minister Dimitar Petrov said the government’s intention was to open 30 new beds every 3-4 days in the next two weeks. In addition, students will not be returning to in-person classes next week, with primary school pupils expected to be back at school on 8 November.
The truth of the matter is we wish the UK Government took a more precautionary approach to international travel. But when they choose to change the rules in England, in any practical sense it’s impossible for us to do anything different in Wales, because almost everybody from Wales who travels abroad or who returns to this country from abroad comes in through English ports and airports, and then travels on to Wales. So in a practical sense, we can’t make anything different happen there, although we wish the UK Government took a different approach. What we can do, when we can do things differently, when we have decisions that we can make effectively in Wales, then we take them.
We do have opportunities to discuss this with the UK Government. I have for a number of weeks been urging them to move to Plan B. It would certainly help us here in Wales to have a single communication that says across England and Wales we are all taking this virus as seriously as we need to take it as we go into the autumn and the winter.
Continue reading...Former NSW premier faces a barrage of questions about her former secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire
Roughly a month after resigning as New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian fronted the Independent Commission Against Corruption and faced a barrage of questions about her former secret boyfriend and Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, whether she gave him favourable treatment, or failed to act on suspicions he was involved in corrupt conduct.
Bombshell is an overused word. But today’s hearing contained at least 10.
Continue reading...Australian defence minister’s claim comes as French president and PM Scott Morrison speak for first time since rift over Aukus deal
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Peter Dutton says sustained expressions of outrage from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, may be connected to the European country’s looming national election rather than the cancellation of a $90bn submarine contract.
Australia’s defence minister told the Nine network a call on Thursday night between Macron and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, had been “productive”. The conversation was the first time the two leaders have spoken since the unveiling of the Aukus pact sent diplomatic relationship between Canberra and Paris into freefall.
Continue reading...French president says Scott Morrison should propose tangible actions to heal rift, in first call since row
The French president has told the Australian prime minister that the scrapping of a multibillion-dollar submarine contract “broke the relationship of trust” and said Canberra should propose “tangible actions” to heal a diplomatic rift.
In their first phone call since Australia dumped the submarine plans, Emmanuel Macron also encouraged Scott Morrison to adopt a more ambitious climate policy, including a commitment “to cease production and consumption of coal at the national level and abroad”, according to a French government readout of the conversation.
Continue reading...Melbourne’s restrictions ease from 6pm, 29 October. Here’s what you need to know about schools, travel, childcare, retail and work
Covid restrictions across Victoria changed from 6 PM, 29 October, after the state reached an 80% full vaccination rate.
Melbourne had endured 262 days, nearly nine months, of stay-at-home restrictions that went over 6 lockdowns since March 2020.
No restrictions on travel around the state.
No masks outside.
People can return to work if fully vaccinated.
Outdoor public gatherings of 30 people allowed.
Gyms and retail reopen, subject to density limits.
Indoor and outdoor hospitality venue limits increase.
Indoor entertainment venues open at 75% capacity, as many as 1000 patrons.
Outdoor venues as many as 5000 patrons.
Indoor sport resume with density cap.
All schoolchildren back in classrooms full-time.
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Continue reading...From climate crisis to anti-racism, more and more corporations are taking a stand. But if it’s only done because it’s good for business, the fires will keep on burning
In early 2020, bushfires raged across Australia. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed, reduced to ash and rubble by the unrelenting onslaught of flames. Tragically, 34 people died in the fires themselves, with an estimated 445 more dying as a result of smoke inhalation. More than 16m hectares of land burned, destroying wildlife and natural habitats. Nearly 3 billion animals were affected. So massive were the fires that the smoke was visible over Chile, 11,000km away. The record-breaking inferno that engulfed Australia was described as a “global catastrophe, and a global spectacle”. As reported in the New Statesman, Australia had come to symbolise “the extreme edge of a future awaiting us all” as a result of the climate crisis. The Australian government’s inquiry into the bushfires unequivocally reported that “it is clear that we should expect fire seasons like 2019–20, or potentially worse, to happen again”.
If we turn the clock back to less than a year earlier, 15 March 2019 marked the day that 1.4 million children turned out at locations around the world, on “strike” from school in support of action against the climate crisis. In Australia, the strikes were especially targeted at the government’s dismal record of inaction, with many politicians being climate-change deniers. The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, was vocal in his criticism of the strikes. He wanted students to stay in school instead of engaging in democratic protest. His public statement said: “I want children growing up in Australia to feel positive about their future, and I think it is important we give them that confidence that they will not only have a wonderful country and pristine environment to live in, that they will also have an economy to live in as well. I don’t want our children to have anxieties about these issues.”
Continue reading...Prime minister is flying to Europe amid global criticism of his plan for Australia to reach a net zero emissions target. Follow all the day’s news
McKinsey, a consulting company paid to advise on the vaccine rollout before receiving another contract to advise on the government’s net zero 2050 commitment, is now being paid to advise on how to cut down on waiting times for veterans waiting for their benefits.
From estimates overnight:
To mark this new chapter, Australia will invest $154 million into our cooperation with Asean through:
· a new Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative, which will provide $124 million to support projects that address complex challenges including health security, terrorism and transnational crime, energy security, promoting the circular economy and healthy oceans, and support implementation of the Asean Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP);
Continue reading...In Covid-free SA, opening the border means letting the pandemic spread in a ‘controlled entry’
On 23 November, South Australia will open its doors to tourists, to loved ones, to residents finally returning home – and to Covid.
Other states and countries have called it “freedom day” when they emerge blinking into the light from lockdowns. But in Covid-free SA, lifting border restrictions means letting the pandemic in. Deliberately, almost. Authorities are calling it a “controlled entry”.
Continue reading...Authorities move to head off supply glut amid calls for increased donations to lower-income neighbouring countries
Almost 1,000 Covid vaccination providers are destroying expired AstraZeneca supplies, with the wastage of 31,833 doses reported despite Australian production of the vaccine continuing at near-record rates.
There are now fears more will be binned as rates of uptake wane due to increased vaccination choice and the federal health department stepping in to manage the overstock.
Continue reading...Question time tackles climate policy as PM faces mounting criticism over roadmap for reducing emissions by 2050; vaccine booster program to begin from 8 November; 16 Covid deaths in Victoria and NSW; international travel exemption scrapped for vaccinated Australians; national child abuse prevention strategy announced. Follow all the day’s news
The UN Environment Programme’s latest emissions gap report is out and it makes for sobering reading. The accompanying statement includes this:
Alok Sharma, incoming COP26 President, said the report underlined why countries need to show ambitious climate action at COP26:
“As this report makes clear, if countries deliver on their 2030 NDCs and net zero commitments which have been announced by the end of September, we will be heading towards average global temperature rises of just above 2C.
Continue reading...The Victorian government will not apply for exemptions for unvaccinated players travelling from overseas to appear at next year’s Australian Open, the state’s premier has said.
Daniel Andrews said refusing to consider exemptions for players like Novak Djokovic, who has repeatedly refused to reveal his vaccination status, was “the only fair thing to do”, given fans and people working at the tournament are required to be double-jabbed.
Continue reading...As states reopen, a national, uniform approach would ‘make everything we do in life easier’, employers say
Business groups are pushing for a uniform approach to Covid-19 vaccination mandates as states and territories forge ahead with their reopening roadmaps.
Council of Small Business Organisation Australia (COSBOA) CEO, Alexi Boyd, said a national standardised approach to vaccination mandates would offer the “clarity and certainty” small businesses had been lacking.
Continue reading...Prime minister gives press conference on Australia’s commitments to climate action; Daniel Andrews explains new measures; Victoria confirms four Covid deaths overnight, NSW one death – follow all the day’s news
The estimates hearings today cover off the same committees as yesterday:
Environmentalists say Huon deal will make it harder to regulate local industry and is ‘truly bleak news’ for the state
Brazilian meat processing giant JBS has been cleared to take over Tasmanian salmon farmer Huon by the Foreign Investment Review Board in a move environmental groups fear will make it harder to regulate the local industry.
Huon Aquaculture received final approval on Monday when the FIRB confirmed it did not object to the $500m takeover bid.
Continue reading...Andrew Shearer’s unreported meeting in April with Joe Biden’s top Indo-Pacific adviser may have been the clincher for the Aukus security agreement
It was late April when one of Australia’s top intelligence chiefs arrived in Washington for important talks with key officials in the relatively new Biden administration.
Andrew Shearer, a longtime foreign policy hawk and one of Scott Morrison’s most influential advisers on how Australia should position itself at a time of rising tensions with China, met with Joe Biden’s top Indo-Pacific adviser, Kurt Campbell, in the building next to the White House on 30 April.
Continue reading...As global heating sees a surge in wildfires, we hear from those tackling the blazes, who face injury, death and trauma, often without proper equipment or support
In Greece, fires take up a lot of resources. There isn’t enough money to recruit the number of [firefighters] needed or to buy the necessary equipment. Volunteers plug the gaps.
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