National Health and Medical Research Council updates guidelines for first time since 2009 and says adults should average no more than 1.4 drinks a day
It is no longer safe to have two standard drinks a day, Australian health officials have warned.
Released just in time for Christmas, the National Health and Medical Research Council on Monday published a draft report which updated Australia’s alcohol guidelines for the first time since 2009.
Continue reading...David Bowman says Australia must retrofit houses to make them heat and smoke-proof
Australia has a “massive adaptive program” ahead to prepare for future protracted bushfires and subsequent air pollution, a professor of pyrogeography and fire science has warned, urging politicians to “tone down the ideology and start solving the problem using the skills Australians have”.
David Bowman, the director of the Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania’s school of natural sciences, said it was too late to call for action to prevent climate change and that people affected by smoke inhalation from fires should demand action to adapt to it, such as retrofitting houses to make them heat and smoke-proof.
Continue reading...It’s the worst burns incident in New Zealand history, with more than a dozen fatalities and lives still hanging in the balance. Now questions are being asked about how and why it happened. Reporters Eleanor Ainge Roy and Stephen D’Antal discuss how the week unfolded, and the long road ahead to understanding this tragedy
To learn more about this story read Melissa Davey’s piece on the long road ahead for the injured survivors, and Eleanor Ainge Roy’s reporting on how the local Maori people feel about Whakaari.
Continue reading...Concerns growing about whether emergency services are adequately resourced to respond to threat
Among the firefighters facing enormous blazes burning across New South Wales are bakers, teachers, nurses, accountants, mechanics, retirees and full-time parents.
Bushfires have been burning across eastern Australia since well before summer, amid recurring heatwaves and an intense drought. Six people have died, more than 2m hectares of land have been scorched and more than 700 homes destroyed.
Continue reading...More than 700 houses have been destroyed since the bushfire crisis began. What happens next for those who have lost everything?
One month after a bushfire burned the home they built from scratch in the northern New South Wales town of Nymboida, Stu Mackay is sifting through the rubble to find cast-iron tools. The tools are heirlooms, and the Mackays will need them to rebuild.
Theirs is one of 632 houses lost in NSW since Friday 8 November, when deadly weather conditions sent fast-moving bushfires through communities along the state’s north coast. Guardian Australia spoke to four people who lost their home or business on that first day.
Continue reading...NSW firefighters upgrade Gospers Mountain blaze to emergency as police launch investigation into fires in regional Victoria
An out-of-control bushfire has burnt through more than 11,000 hectares of land north of Perth with residents urged to leave while they still can.
It comes as New South Wales firefighters upgraded the Gospers Mountain blaze to an emergency on Saturday afternoon, and police launched an investigation into a spate of fires in regional Victoria.
Continue reading...Krystal Browitt was on White Island with father and sister when eruption occurred
Krystal Browitt, the 21-year-old Melbourne woman missing since the White Island volcano eruption, has become the first victim to be identified by police from the six bodies recovered from the island on Friday.
Browitt was on the island with her sister Stephanie and her father Paul when the volcano erupted. Stephanie is in a coma in hospital with her mother, Marie, who stayed on board their cruise ship instead of taking the volcano trip, at her bedside. Paul Browitt is being treated for burns in hospital in Melbourne.
Continue reading...Drought is not the only threat to the river system: the plan to save it is in doubt as states spar over the best way forward
The millennium drought led to the realisation Australia’s major river system would die unless there was united action to save it; the latest drought is threatening to undo the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
The basin states – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia – as well as the federal government, are due to meet on Tuesday in Brisbane amid threats from the NSW Nationals that it will walk away from the plan unless major changes are made.
Continue reading...Recovery won’t be easy for the Australians burned in the New Zealand volcano disaster, but some of the world’s best specialists are on hand to help
As families of the Australian survivors of the New Zealand volcano disaster wait anxiously on their loved ones’ prognosis, there will be a small comfort in knowing that some of the world’s best plastic surgeons and burns specialists will lead their care as they return home for treatment.
Specialist paramedics travelled to New Zealand as part of a medical evacuation team to accompany patients on their return, with 11 Australians flown to major burns units throughout the country including Concord hospital in Sydney and the Alfred hospital in Melbourne. More patients were expected to arrive on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Six bodies transferred to HMNZS Wellington by helicopter, as divers continue search for final two missing
The NZ defence force have released images of those who took part in the mission to recover the remaining bodies from White Island this morning.
We are expecting the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to hold a news conference in the next few minutes and will bring you that as soon as it begins.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison resists Thodey review recommendations for increased accountability and mandated public-sector experience
The Morrison government has rebuffed a recommendation that it establish a legislated code of conduct for ministerial advisers, professing itself happy with the status quo.
The recommendation to bring ministerial advisers into a clearer accountability framework is contained in the long awaited Thodey review of the public service, which was released by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on Friday. The review also recommended that the government set guidance for ministerial offices to have at least half of ministerial policy advisers with public service experience.
Continue reading...Exclusive: forest regrowth can reabsorb emissions from fires but scientists fear natural carbon ‘sinks’ have been compromised
Bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland have emitted a massive pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere since August that is equivalent to almost half of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Analysis by Nasa shows the NSW fires have emitted about 195m tonnes of CO2 since 1 August, with Queensland’s fires adding a further 55m tonnes over the same period.
Continue reading...Green groups say 52% vote against federal government facility should rule out region as potential site
Residents in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges have voted narrowly against having a nuclear waste dump in their region.
About 52% of the people who took part in the ballot voted against the federal government’s facility being established on land near Hawker.
Continue reading...Funding injection to National Aerial Firefighting Centre comes days after Morrison rejected calls for more help for firefighters
Australia’s aerial firefighting force has been given an $11m funding injection from the Morrison government amid growing concern about the resourcing of firefighters combating the bushfire crisis.
On Thursday the federal government announced it would nearly double the commonwealth’s annual contribution to the National Aerial Firefighting Centre, which coordinated the 140 aircraft used to battle fires across Australia.
Continue reading...Two more people have died from injuries sustained during the eruption on White Island
Two more people have died from injuries sustained during the eruption of New Zealand’s White Island volcano, bringing the confirmed death toll from the disaster to eight.
Related: New Zealand surgeons working 'non-stop' to help volcano victims
Continue reading...The new bill is designed to respond to a revolt from conservative religious organisations that forced the Coalition to miss its self-imposed deadline
On 10 December, Scott Morrison and the attorney general, Christian Porter, released the second draft religious discrimination bill.
The new bill is designed to respond to a revolt from conservative religious organisations that forced the Coalition to miss its self-imposed deadline to introduce the bill to parliament by year’s end.
Continue reading...Brutal winter, poor healthcare and limited food raises fears for welfare of infant, born to Sydney woman Rayan Hamdoush
An Australian woman has given birth to a baby boy in the al-Hawl camp in Syria, prompting revived calls for Australia to rescue 67 nationals still held in the camp.
Rayan Hamdoush, 24, from western Sydney, was pregnant when she entered al-Hawl. She gave birth to the boy on 30 November. The boy’s father, Samer Hajj Obeid, also from Sydney, is missing.
Continue reading...Company hails start of the ‘electric aviation age’ after 15-minute test flight in Vancouver
The world’s first fully electric commercial aircraft has taken its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes.
“This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work,” said Roei Ganzarski, chief executive of Australian engineering firm magniX.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Frontline’ protester alleges he was chased by group but Chinese embassy says allegations are ‘nonsense’
A “frontline” Hong Kong democracy protester who recently fled the territory in fear of his safety says he was ambushed and chased in an Australian city by a group of masked Chinese men.
“They were nearby my house and waiting for me,” Jack* told Guardian Australia. “They knew my address, they knew where I was going to be.
“I think they don’t want to hurt me, they just want to make me scared. It was like intimidation, a message that ‘we know where you are’.”
Guardian Australia has been able to confirm some elements of Jack’s story, including that he arrived in Australia a few months ago and has attended pro-Hong Kong demonstrations since arriving. He has since reported the incident to police.
Human rights advocates and China experts say the claims match a trend of intimidation and surveillance on Australian soil. Several recent incidents – including a brawl at the University of Queensland where pro-China participants were praised by the consulate – have raised concerns about the extraterritorial activities of China, including the state’s pursuit of critics beyond its borders.
Continue reading...Under increasing pressure from the public and the opposition to create a federal anti-corruption body, the Coalition has put forward a proposal for a commonwealth integrity commission. However, critics, including one Coalition MP, say the proposed watchdog is weak, and gives undue protection to politicians.
Lawyer and columnist Richard Ackland analyses the current proposal and the case for a strong federal integrity commission.