Category Archives: Tasmania

Australia live news update: Albanese meets King and UK PM ahead of Queen’s funeral; Grace Brown wins silver at Wollongong cycling worlds

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Downing Street frames conversation between Australian PM and the British leader as chat rather than formal bilateral talks. This blog is now closed

China is watching world’s response to Ukraine crisis, Marles says

Marles is asked about what the situation in Ukraine and the relationship between China and Russia may mean for the situation regarding Taiwan. Specifically, Marles is asked what will happen if China moved to reunify Taiwan with the mainland using military force.

The way in which the world has reacted to Russia … has been very impressive, but so, too, has the incredible resistance of the Ukrainian people. People fight for the homeland. It has been remarkable and more than expected.

China will be watching this, as I guess we all are.

I think it says something about where the whole conflict is at. There is a degree of humiliation for Russia in relation to this.

I didn’t imagine when the invasion first occurred that Ukraine would be able to provide the resistance that it has.

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Parts of Australia’s south-east brace for wet, cold and windy weather

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More than a dozen people rescued from flood waters in NSW while severe weather warning issued in western Victoria

South-eastern Australia is bracing for a wet and windy weekend with temperatures expected to drop in most major centres.

A deep low-pressure system is expected to fuel a number of cold fronts, with rain now likely to last into next week.

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Governor general proclaims King Charles III as Australia’s head of state – As it happened

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Anthony Albanese has set 22 September as National Memorial Service Day for Queen Elizabeth II. This blog is now closed

Howard says the popularity of the Queen was the key reason behind the republican movement failing, but that the monarchy offers stability.

I think there’s also a keener appreciation of the value of the institution and its strength. People look around the world at the moment and the alternative governance systems on offer, everyone in democracies, don’t look all that flash on occasions. I think the strength and durability and flexibility of the constitutional monarchy is something that more people appreciate than is imagined.

That is fair enough. It’s a democracy. People can argue for change. My observation is the strength of the monarchy in Australia was immeasurably increased by the personal popularity of the Queen.

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Father who survived crash caused by black ice killed moments later when another vehicle hit same patch

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Scott Roderick Glanville was waiting for help after his van rolled in 2019 when struck and killed by ute, Tasmanian coroner rules

A Tasmanian father of three who walked away from a car crash caused by black ice was killed moments later when he was struck by a ute that lost control on the same section of road, a coroner has ruled.

Scott Roderick Glanville, 46, died on the side of a road in the state’s north on the morning of 25 June 2019.

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Swift parrot recovery plan changes downplay logging threat, experts say

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Exclusive: Revisions revealed through FOI are more focused on protecting forestry industry than preventing species going extinct, scientists argue

Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats pushed for a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species to be changed to remove and downplay scientific evidence that logging was the biggest threat to its survival.

Scientists said the proposed changes to the recovery plan for the swift parrot – revealed in draft versions made available under freedom of information laws – were more focused on protecting the forestry industry than preventing the species going extinct.

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Follow the sun: where to holiday to escape Australia’s third La Niña

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Parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania are less likely to see wet weather heading into the warmer months

Australia may be about to experience a rare third La Niña this spring, but the outlook is sunnier – literally – for parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an alert on Tuesday for above-average rainfall through to December for around two-thirds of the nation, including the east coast, due to a negative Indian Ocean dipole and warmer than average waters in Australia’s north.

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Eastern Australia faces wet weather and flooding with 70% chance of third consecutive La Niña

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Bureau of Meteorology forecasts heavy rain in spring driven by negative Indian Ocean Dipole and warm waters in the north

Australia could be lashed with more rain and possible floods for the next three months with La Niña conditions predicted to return for a rare third consecutive year.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology raised the El Niño-Southern Oscillation La Niña outlook from “watch” to “alert” on Tuesday afternoon.

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‘A small step to reconciliation’: Hobart council to remove statue of William Crowther who stole Aboriginal skull from morgue

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Former Tasmanian premier mutilated body of William Lanne in 1869 and sent skull to Royal College of Surgeons in London

A statue of former Tasmanian premier, William Crowther, who mutilated the body of an Aboriginal man in 1869 will be taken down by Hobart city council.

Crowther, a surgeon and politician, stole the skull of William Lanne from a morgue and sent it to the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

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Intruder who broke into monkey enclosure in Tasmania at risk of ‘potentially fatal’ herpes

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Launceston council urges person who entered enclosure to seek medical attention urgently as monkeys can carry herpes B virus

Authorities are urging an intruder who broke into a monkey enclosure in Tasmania to seek medical attention as they may have been exposed to a “potentially fatal” herpes virus.

The enclosure, which houses macaque monkeys, was broken into on Tuesday night with the intruder causing damage to the electric fence before stealing coins from a surrounding moat.

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Launceston woman dies after nine-hour wait for hospital bed as health system faces increasing strain

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Tasmanian patient in her 70s died while ramped in an ambulance waiting to be admitted to emergency department

The death of a woman who spent nine hours ramped in an ambulance waiting to be admitted to a Tasmanian emergency department has highlighted dire staffing and resourcing issues across Australian hospitals.

A health union has confirmed a woman in her early 70s was taken to Launceston general hospital around midnight on Friday and died at 9am the following morning.

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Karen Andrews links June asylum seeker boat arrivals to Labor policy – as it happened

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Business Council calls Albanese government the most engaged she’s seen

Westacott, the council’s chief executive, told ABC Radio:

I can’t remember a more engaged government than this. I have had call after call after call from ministers.

When you add up all those little things it makes a big difference.

We need to rebrand Australia as a place we want people to come to work.

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Cost of living 2022: see how inflation has changed prices in Australia in the June quarter – interactive

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Use this data explorer to see which goods and services are getting cheaper or more expensive in different Australian cities

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed prices climbing by 6.1% in the June quarter – the fastest annual pace since 2001 – driven primarily by the increasing cost of food and fuel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up global oil and gas prices as well as food, with Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest as Russian missile strikes continue on its ports.

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Government ‘recognises concern’ over monkeypox with 44 cases recorded – as it happened

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Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke

Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.

If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.

When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.

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Calls for employers to allow working from home as 75 Covid deaths recorded – as it happened

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Victorian students aged eight and over are being urged to wear masks when indoors to help counter the Covid-19 surge.

The request comes in a joint letter from the state education department and independent and Catholic schools.

I respect the fact that people on the crossbench were elected to deliver action on climate change and our government wants to work with them to do just that.

That’s why one of the very first acts of the new government will be to legislate that higher ambition. They want more than the 43% that Labor is offering though.

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‘Not just another wave’: Australia’s Covid hospitalisations reach record levels in several states

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Experts warn of worse to come, with most states likely several weeks away from peak hospitalisation rates

Hospitals across the country are “bursting at the seams” as the number of people being admitted with Covid-19 reaches record levels in several states.

Western Australia recorded its highest number of Covid hospitalisations to date on Thursday, with Queensland also expected to surpass its January peak in coming days.

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Covid-19 Australia data tracker: coronavirus cases today, deaths, hospitalisations and vaccination

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Guardian Australia brings together all the latest on daily new Covid-19 cases, as well as stats, charts and live state by state data from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania, ACT and NT. We bring together the latest numbers on the vaccine rollout and fourth dose booster vaccination rates.

Due to the difference in reporting times between states, territories and the federal government, it can be difficult to get a current picture of the pandemic in Australia. Here we have brought together data on cases, deaths, hospitalisations and vaccinations.

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Queenslanders encouraged to wear masks as nation records 13 Covid deaths – as it happened

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On pandemic leave payments – which are coming to an end – Speers asks Butler about the decision by the government not to extend them. Butler responds that ending these payments was necessary because of the budget.

This emergency payment was designed by the former government and the state governments. It’s a co-owned scheme that came to end an on 30 June. We are one trillion in debt and at some point emergency payments of this type have to be wound up as we move to a new phase. That’s the decision that former governments took and it’s a decision we have decided to follow as well.

There’s state rules to isolate. These emergency payments have to be wound up at some point.

I accept whenever you end an emergency payment of this type it’s going to impact people. I deeply regret that. But at some point these emergency payments simply have to be wound up. We don’t have the financial capacity to keep making them forever. They were intended to wind up on 30 June, that was the decision taken by the former government, and all state governments who are co-signatories to that scheme and it’s a decision we had to continue.

Butler: In this phase of the pandemic mask mandates and things like that are best done in a targeted way. There’s mask mandates in aged care, in health facilities, on public transport, in airplanes. And if you’re in a crowded indoor space with no ability to socially distance you should give strong consideration to wearing a mask.

Speers: Again... You only need to go to the movies or a shopping centre or the footy to see how ineffectual a recommendation is. So many people not wearing masks. Wasn’t one of the lessons of this pandemic, mask mandates for a fixed period, work?

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Australia live news: Jacinda Ardern meets Daniel Andrews; NSW floods ‘far from over’ as Sydney rain continues; RBA interest rates announcement

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Jacinda Ardern meets with Daniel Andrews; Dominic Perrottet warns heavy rain forecast in NSW; federal disaster payments available to 23 flood-affected areas; RBA interest rate decision due; Victoria records 16 Covid deaths, NSW records 14, Queensland records 11. Follow the day’s news live

The federal government is making disaster relief payments available to 23 flood-affected areas in NSW, with emergency management minister Murray Watt saying the assistance would be “uncapped”.

Watt announced early on Tuesday that the federal and NSW governments were making assistance available through the commonwealth-state disaster recovery funding arrangements.

These are uncapped payments, they are demand-driven and they will be available for anyone who qualifies.

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Orange roughy: campaigners call for limit to trawling of species after breeding age of 73 revealed

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Australian fisheries management says there are regional differences and new data only applies to population in New Zealand

Ocean campaigners say that a New Zealand fishing fleet that trawls for orange roughy in waters off Tasmania should be “sent back” in light of new data about the vulnerable species.

Orange roughy is an endangered deep-sea species which, under Australia’s environmental laws, can still be fished in approved fisheries.

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