Defence minister cites activist’s tweet labelling him ‘fucken scumbag’ and ‘rape apologist’
Peter Dutton has accused refugee activist Shane Bazzi of showing malice, in the minister’s defamation suit, citing a tweet labelling him a “cunt” and a “fucken scumbag”.
Dutton is suing Bazzi over a tweet labelling him a “rape apologist”, making good on his threats to pursue social media users for allegedly false and defamatory statements.
Continue reading...Controversial vaccine to be given only by request later this year when Moderna and Pfizer will dominate
The federal government has announced it will shelve the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine by October, suggesting it will have enough supplies of other vaccines to meet “allocation horizons” for vaccinating the population by the end of the year.
The government released a revised planning document on Wednesday outlining how it intended to direct supplies over the rest of the year.
Continue reading...NSW urgently investigating four mystery cases overnight as premier Gladys Berejiklian announces Sydney restrictions. Follow all the latest updates, live
Question time ends.
There is one more of those before the winter break.
‘I’m sure there are blokes that dislike me’ - Barnaby Joyce’s response to the concerns of Nationals women.
The serious concerns these women have about Joyce’s return to a leadership position are worthy of a serious response - not one that deliberately minimises them.
Healths officials are racing to trace the movements and close contacts of visitor who toured New Zealand capital last weekend
New restrictions on gatherings have been introduced in Wellington after a Covid-infected Australian travelled to the New Zealand capital and visited a range of popular tourist locations.
“This is not a lockdown,” Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said, but indicated one could come if unconnected cases emerged in the community.
Continue reading...It’s not the first time the reef has faced the threat of an ‘in danger’ listing. But what does it mean and why is this time different?
The Australian government says it has been blindsided by a recommendation by official United Nations science advisers that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on the world heritage “in danger” list.
Australia’s ocean jewel is the world’s biggest coral reef system – celebrated and adored for its array of unique species and colourful corals, drawing tourists from around the world.
Continue reading...New Zealand suspends travel bubble with NSW over ‘several unknowns’ including unlinked case in a primary school student
New Zealand has paused quarantine-free travel with New South Wales after the state recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
NSW Health subsequently said a confirmed case had flown from Sydney to Wellington on the night of Friday 18 June and from Wellington to Sydney on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Follow all the latest updates, live
Meanwhile, while the government is crowing about Australia’s strong economy, Grogs has taken a look at inequality.
Spoiler – it’s growing
New data from the bureau of statistics shows the drop in spending by households due to the pandemic increased the level of savings, but while incomes rose strongly for low income households due to a big rise in social assistance, inequality remains worse than it was at the start of the century.
It's not enough to have progressive taxation, you also need social assistance *and* public services like health and education to reduce inequalityhttps://t.co/WMMlMdYodJ pic.twitter.com/dWOZ62Z5JX
Then there is this:
I chaired the Senate inquiry into why the Government gave the small private @GBRFoundation $444m to manage the reef. After months of hearing evidence the National Audit Office discovered the purpose of the grant was to avoid a UNESCO World Heritage “in danger” listing.
Continue reading...Australian government ‘stunned’ by recommendation and will strongly oppose draft decision, environment minister Sussan Ley says
The Great Barrier Reef should be placed on to a list of world heritage sites that are “in danger”, according to a recommendation from UN officials that urges Australia to take “accelerated action at all possible levels” on climate change.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says the world’s biggest coral reef system should be placed on the list at the world heritage committee meeting next month.
Continue reading...States and territories say more GPs will be needed to dispense Pfizer when supplies increase later in the year
Shortages of the Pfizer Covid vaccine are expected to slow Australia’s rollout through June and July, as states and territories call on the commonwealth to sign up more GPs to dispense doses when supplies increase in August.
The national cabinet met on Monday to discuss Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout in the wake of updated health advice that AstraZeneca is not the preferred vaccine for those aged 50 to 59 due to the risk of rare blood clots.
Continue reading...Marsupials introduced to Maria Island, east of Tasmania, to safeguard their numbers but have decimated birdlife
An attempt to save the Tasmanian devil by shipping an “insurance population” to a tiny Australian island has come at a “catastrophic” cost to the birdlife there, including the complete elimination of little penguins, according to BirdLife Tasmania.
Maria Island, a 116-square-kilometre island east of Tasmania, was home to 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins around a decade ago.
Continue reading...Barnaby Joyce denies he will challenge Michael McCormack for leadership of the National party as a spill is widely anticipated. Follow latest updates
So a grinning Michael McCormack, an unhappy Barnaby Joyce and an ambivalent David Littleproud walk into the Nationals party room.
Leadership. That’s it. That’s the joke.
Sarah Martin tells me that on his way in to the Nationals party room, Michael McCormack was asked how he was feeling and answered with :
Positive, as I’m always feeling”
Continue reading...Year’s shortest day and longest night celebrated in period when sun only appears for two and a half hours a day
Antarctic-based Australian expeditioners have taken a sub-zero polar plunge to mark the winter solstice, keeping an icy tradition alive.
Each year expeditioners at Australia’s three research stations in Antarctica and on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island celebrate the year’s shortest day and longest night by taking a dip in sea ice or the ocean.
Continue reading...NSW reveals three new cases on Sunday, plus one flagged by authorities on Saturday, as Queensland records one local case
Sydney residents are now required to wear masks indoors across large swathes of the city after the eastern suburbs cluster grew to nine cases on Sunday.
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced on Sunday the state recorded two cases to 8pm, including a 30-year-old man revealed on Saturday, and a further two cases since 8pm that will be officially recorded in Monday’s figures.
Continue reading...Teachers say plans by Australian universities to boost in-person classes while keeping online options will greatly increase their workload
Staff at Australian universities say plans to “ramp up” in-person learning next semester while continuing to offer the majority of online classes means they will do twice the amount of work for the same pay.
While staff and students have both welcomed the gradual return to face-to-face classes, teachers say that job cuts and pay cuts, combined with new demands for online classes, are “not sustainable”.
Continue reading...‘Fleeting contact’ spurs decision to introduce mask mandate but no other restrictions in place yet
New South Wales reported three cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, taking the total associated with the Bondi outbreak to six.
Two previously unreported cases were announced, including a woman in her 40s from the eastern suburbs who visited a number of venues in Westfield Bondi Junction. The second case, reported overnight, is a man in his 30s who lives in Sydney and also visited Westfield Bondi Junction.
Continue reading...Coalition says despite going to the World Trade Organization it ‘remains open to engaging directly with Beijing to resolve the issue’
Australia is lodging a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over China imposing anti-dumping duties on Australian wine exports, the federal government announced on Saturday.
The decision follows “extensive consultation with Australia’s winemakers”, it said, adding: “Australia remains open to engaging directly with China to resolve this issue.”
Continue reading...Understanding the connection between humans, animals and the environment is key to planning for future pandemics, experts warn
In late 2019, Kirby Institute virologist Prof Stuart Turville was looking for another job.
“The funding rates were too low to survive,” he says.
Continue reading...After more than 20 years watching from the cliffs of Botany Bay, Wayne Reynolds’ passion is having tangible results
He may have seen it tens of thousands of times before but when Wayne Reynolds spots a whale emerging from the water, he reacts with the excitement of a child pointing out a rollercoaster at an amusement park.
“Oh wow, there’s a minke and her calf,” he yells out with boyish enthusiasm from the rocky cliff at Potter Point in Kurnell, in Sydney’s south. “I just go into auto-mode, I can’t help it.”
Continue reading...Pursuit of ‘normal birth’ has sometimes compromised the safety of mothers and babies, with consequences for maternity care
When I was a medical student and junior doctor, the terms most commonly used to describe a vaginal birth without the use of instruments such as forceps or vacuum extractor were SVB (spontaneous vaginal birth) or SVD (spontaneous vertex delivery – the vertex is the top of the baby’s head).
Gradually, in the late 1980s and 1990s, there appeared in the lexicon the words “normal birth”. This was part of the reaction against the perceived high rates of interventions in pregnancy and labour, and the desire of women to take more control over their own bodies, something I support.
Continue reading...NSW premier has started dating leading Sydney lawyer Arthur Moses SC who last year represented her at an Icac hearing into her ex-lover
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has begun dating a prominent barrister who represented her during an anti-corruption inquiry into her former lover, the disgraced ex-MP Daryl Maguire.
The premier’s sister, Mary, posted a photo to Instagram on Friday night of Berejiklian and Arthur Moses SC with the caption: “After work Friday feels with these two … Glad and her boo.”
Continue reading...