PM gives address at Asean summit in Cambodia underscoring Australia’s commitment to partners and to regional values
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Noor Bari says the situation unfolding with the Majestic Princess is serious for more reasons than many believe.
She says that despite cruise line companies upgrading their HEPA/UVC air intake systems, a critical number of cases on board can quickly overwhelm the limited facilities on board.
Continue reading...Environmental groups call on Queensland government to end exemptions, with six mining ventures already given green light
At least eight coalmining projects in Great Barrier Reef catchments and floodplains have been exempted from requiring environmental impact statements by the Queensland government, with six already gaining state environmental approval.
A coalition of environmental groups that includes the Australian Conservation Foundation, Birdlife and the Queensland Conservation Council is now lobbying the Palaszczuk government to end such exemptions.
Continue reading...Chief health officers urge people to take up protective measures as Covid hospitalisations double in some states
The number of active Covid cases has exploded across the country as Australia enters its fourth wave, prompting renewed warnings to protect vulnerable aged care residents.
Jurisdictions collectively recorded more than 58,000 new cases of Covid in the past week, with some states reporting a doubling in the number of people hospitalised with the virus.
Continue reading...Sole occupants killed after glider and another light aircraft crash in paddock near Gympie in ‘tragic incident’, police say
The sole occupants of two light aircraft have died after crashing into a paddock, as Queensland police investigate whether they collided mid-air.
Emergency crews responded to the incident involving a glider and another light aircraft at Kybong, near Gympie, at about 3pm on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Federal government paying contractor $900,000 for review of naval shipbuilding
The federal government is paying a contractor $900,000 to carry out a new review of naval shipbuilding issues with the findings due by January.
Australia has the expertise and capability. What we don’t have yet is the scale to deliver the graduates and skills in the quantities required …
I’m here to tell you today is that whatever submarine design ends up being chosen, we won’t be able to build and operate it locally unless we address the fundamental issue of Australia’s workforce capability gap.
Nuclear science should clearly be the first cab off the rank for this program, but this approach will also be necessary across the broader advanced capabilities of Aukus including in cyber and computing, engineering, space and quantum physics.
An Aukus pathways program, jointly developed with Defence, could feature a portfolio of tailored degree programs providing a pathway for students to gain qualifications in an Aukus-related field and then progress to a position in Defence working on Aukus programs.
Continue reading...Equivalent of 12 cans of mid-strength beer can be carried in Pormpuraaw, leaving just five ‘dry’ communities
Queensland has taken another step towards ending its prohibition on alcohol in remote Indigenous communities, with restrictions being eased in Pormpuraaw, on Cape York.
The community of about 600 people on the western coast of Cape York is among 15 local government areas in Queensland where alcohol is restricted and was among a handful in which it was banned entirely.
Continue reading...Australian census data shows 102,000 people left New South Wales and 10,000 abandoned Victoria
Far more people are moving to Queensland than any other state or territory, while New South Wales recorded the biggest net loss, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
There was a net gain of more than 100,000 people to the Sunshine State in the five years to 2021, according to internal migration numbers from the census.
Continue reading...Migration system review will focus on process
For those wondering, here is a little more detail on the migration review Clare O’Neil announced this morning.
Accessed the name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address for around 9.7 million current and former customers and some of their authorised representatives. This figure represents around 5.1 million Medibank customers, around 2.8 million ahm customers and around 1.8 million international customers.
Did not access primary identity documents, such as drivers’ licences, for Medibank and ahm resident customers.
Medibank does not collect primary identity documents for resident customers except in exceptional circumstances.
Accessed Medicare numbers (but not expiry dates) for ahm customers.
Accessed passport numbers (but not expiry dates) and visa details for international student customers.
Accessed health claims data for around 160,000 Medibank customers, around 300,000 ahm customers and around 20,000 international customers.
This includes service provider name and location, where customers received certain medical services, and codes associated with diagnosis and procedures administered.
Additionally, around 5,200 My Home Hospital (MHH) patients have had some personal and health claims data accessed and around 2,900 next of kin of these patients have had some contact details accessed.
Accessed health provider details, including names, provider numbers and addresses.
Did not access health claims data for extras services (such as dental, physio, optical and psychology).
Did not access credit card and banking details.
Continue reading...Proposed laws may allow access to sensitive and confidential information and could undermine public confidence, commissioner says
Queensland’s election watchdog has warned proposed law changes will have a “chilling effect” on its perceived ability to oversee free and fair elections.
A bill before the state’s parliament would allow for reviews of public entities, including direct access to premises and documents. The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) wants to be excluded from such reviews, which other statutory bodies, including the Crime and Corruption Commission and the Queensland Audit Office, are already not subject to.
Continue reading...Queensland environment group had asked federal minister to revisit decisions made going back to 2011
Federal environment officials have agreed to look again at 18 proposed new coal and gas projects after a Queensland environment group submitted requests to have the effects of climate change considered.
None of the 18 projects has been approved under the country’s environment law, but have been through a process where the environment minister determines the nature and scale of their likely impacts.
Continue reading...Industry minister says gas companies are ‘not picking up the signals’. Follow all the day’s news live
Gas supply not a problem, ‘glut of greed is’, industry minister says
Husic:
This is not a shortage of supply problem; this is a glut of greed problem, that has to be basically short-circuited and common sense prevail.
The pricing mechanism is the one that I think needs to be seriously examined.
The LNG exporters are offering gas to the domestic market at prices they couldn’t reasonably expect on the international market.
We have the ACCC looking at that [code of conduct] and that code of conduct is to help better guide the way in which these contracts get negotiated … in terms of the other areas, we want to work through that internally.
If you look at what the treasurer has said over the last few days, he is examining those type of options and again that will be in the mix of things he thinks through.
I think the bigger focus long-term is the price mechanism.
Continue reading...The 24-year-old’s body was found on a beach north of Cairns in 2018, prompting international manhunt
A $1m reward is on offer to help catch a man who police suspect may have murdered Toyah Cordingley on a Queensland beach before fleeing to India.
It has been four years since the 24-year-old was found in the dunes of Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, after what police have called “a personal and intimate attack”.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...Tenants Queensland says the hike is far more than the average increase of 35% that renters seek advice over
A Brisbane tenant has been asked to pay a 60% rent increase, as Queensland renters advocates say some landlords are hiking prices well above normal market rates.
Nicolas* moved into a two-bedroom apartment in South Brisbane earlier this year which he currently rents for $470 a week.
Continue reading...Activist among 30 people in three states and ACT to report visits from officers at request of NSW police ahead of mining forum
Counter-terror police in Queensland have visited the home of an environmental activist following a request from New South Wales ahead of planned protests at a mining conference in Sydney.
The activist is one of about 30 people across four jurisdictions to report visits from police in the past week ahead of the International Mining and Resources Conference, which starts on Wednesday.
Continue reading...We’ve been bringing you some of the news about rain causing more flooding in NSW. Here are some visuals from Wagga Wagga in southern NSW and the Newell highway in the state’s central west.
Jacinta Allan avoids question of whether families returned from Syria would be welcome in Victoria
The first group of families the wives and children of Islamic State fighters arrived in Sydney over the weekend from Syria and are now living in the community in Sydney. Will Victoria accept returnees?
I was with the premier [Daniel Andrews] on Sunday at a at a media event… where the premier was asked this direct question and I’ll give to you the answer he gave on Sunday which is these are very sensitive security matters. They are primarily the province of the federal government, it would not be appropriate -
As a matter of principle, will you accept them [in] Victoria? Or have you asked for them not to come during the election campaign?
We’ve not, Patricia. There is a … As I think we’ve seen from the media reporting around this issue, this is a very careful matter. There is a very -
Sure, but as a matter of principle, do you think returning citizens – they’re Australian citizens – should be allowed to live in Victoria?
I would really direct you to the federal government and the federal … I think you would appreciate that this is not a simple yes or no proposition because there needs to be robust and careful assessments that are not undertaken by the Victorian government. They’re undertaken by the federal government and the federal Department of Home Affairs.
And if they do all the checks and balances, should they be welcome in Victoria?
Firstly it’d be entirely inappropriate to cut across that and secondly, I am in no position to run a commentary.
Continue reading...Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board’s 2022 annual report found Maeve* took her own life after protection order issued
A Queensland woman who was raped, physically assaulted and subject to financial abuse by her partner, killed herself after being wrongly identified as a perpetrator of domestic violence by police, a coronial study has found.
The 2022 report of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board raised concern that police and support services are missing – or not adequately responding to – key indicators of lethal risk.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski allegedly pointed finger at senior elder in ‘aggressive’ and ‘disrespectful’ way
First Nations leaders claim Queensland’s second-most senior police officer became angry and aggressive during a meeting with them, pointing his finger at a senior elder and saying “you people” don’t run the organisation.
Amid wider claims of serious and systemic racism levelled at the Queensland police service (QPS) at a state inquiry, the relationship between the organisation and its formal First Nations advisory body appears to have substantially broken down.
Continue reading...People have been cleared to return to their homes as flood threat eases in Victoria, but the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of renewed flooding in parts of NSW. This blog is now closed
Chalmers on the size of government debt and making it ‘sustainable’
The treasurer is asked whether the government will consider rethinking taxes like GST and PRRT.
We have already found $22bn in savings, $28.5bn in budget improvements overall. We kept real spending growth flat across the forward estimates. We have got the debt down over the forward estimates. We have let 99% of the temporary revenue surge from higher commodity prices flow through to the budget.
That is good progress when we have shown in doing that … you can move sensibly on all fronts, restraint, trimming spending, sensible tax reform, you can make the budget more sustainable and that will be the task of the two or three budgets remaining in this parliamentary term as well.
We need to work out how do we maintain a focus on Australians with a disability and their families, how do we put them front and centre, and at the same time make sure that spending on the NDIS is sustainable and important part of that is making sure we get value for money for every dollar that is spent in what is a really important, really, really important service that we provide to Australians.
I do understand there is a substantial part of the community that would prefer that that PRRT take was higher.
We haven’t been working up an option to do that to change the PRRT arrangements but the treasury has been commissioned by my predecessor and by his predecessor to do some of this work around the taxing point in the PRRT.
We do want to make sure Australians get a good return for their resources. We need to balance that against the investment that’s been made into the sector. When I get that advice from I will engage in it a meaningful way and I will listen to it.
We have seen I think as you acknowledged in your first question, on this topic, company taxes are up quite substantially. That’s a good thing and we have let that flow through to the budget. The PRRT, there’s a modest increase. I will wait to see what the treasury advises us on the conclusion of the review that my two predecessors put in place.
Continue reading...Bulldozers were halted after activists and First Nations people held a smoking ceremony at the site
Clearing has begun on land in south-eastern Queensland upon which Indigenous protesters claim the bones of their ancestors lay and an unrecognised massacre took place.
Bulldozers on the former Deebing Creek Aboriginal reserve were halted on Friday, however, when the protesters held a smoking ceremony on the site on Ipswich’s southern outskirts.
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Continue reading...Currently, officers may not be dismissed until all criminal appeals and disciplinary action are finalised
Queensland police officers who receive a jail sentence for a crime will be “immediately dismissed” under new legislation proposed by the state government.
The police minister, Mark Ryan, said the bill would avoid the “unacceptable situation” of officers remaining in the service after being sentenced to imprisonment for criminal offences.
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