This blog is now closed
New South Wales has reported similarly high numbers, with 41 deaths and 14,953 new cases in the 24-hours to 4pm yesterday.
There are 2,176 people with Covid-19 in hospital, and 59 in intensive care. Just over 68% of people have received their third shot, despite a fourth booster now being available.
Continue reading...Deaths prompt renewed calls for attention on First Nations domestic violence victims and needs-based funding
The shooting of an Indigenous woman and her infant child should have been “all over the news”, the Northern Territory’s police minister has said, in a push for needs-based domestic violence prevention funding in the region.
The bodies of a 41-year-old man, a 30-year-old woman and a baby were found at an outstation 25km north of Alice Springs on Sunday, prompting renewed calls for more attention on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of domestic violence.
Continue reading...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.
Royal commission told NDIA services and communications need to be tailored to meet the needs of First Nations people
An Indigenous person living with disability in a remote Northern Territory community had to wait two years for a wheelchair, a royal commission has been told.
A report into National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) performance at Ngukurr, 635km from Darwin, found mainstream models of delivery were not working, and would not work in other remote areas.
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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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?
Continue reading...New South Wales and Queensland set for coastal showers with wet weather to last into mid-next week
The winter dry spell is set to end this week with the east coast of Australia set to receive a deluge leading up to the weekend, while record-breaking rainfall is expected for parts of northern Australia.
A cold front moving towards the east coast will bring coastal showers and wet weather to most of the New South Wales and Queensland coast.
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Continue reading...Rocket carrying instruments to study the evolution of the universe will be Nasa’s first launch from commercial port outside US
The first of three Nasa rockets scheduled to launch from the Northern Territory is due to take off on Sunday night, carrying precision instruments that will give scientists new data on the evolution of the cosmos.
If all goes according to plan, the rocket will take off from the Arnhem Space Centre on the Dhupuma plateau, near Nhulunbuy, at 10.44pm local time on Sunday.
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Continue reading...NSW Greens criticise ‘overreach’ of police operation against climate activists; Anthony Albanese leaving Sunday for Europe visit; protester interrupts Chinese ambassador’s Sydney address; Chris Bowen says energy market has returned to ‘normal market conditions’; report of aged care providers operating at a loss; nation records at least 46 Covid deaths. Follow the day’s news
Qantas is forecasting a loss of up to $550m this year, despite strong demand for domestic and international flights allowing it to reduce its net debt to $4bn by the end of this financial year.
That’s a $1.5bn improvement in the past six months.
We don’t want a circumstance whereby there’s risk to Australian personnel by undertaking such a visit, but we’ll take that advice and we’ll act accordingly.
We’ve formed a special bond with Ukraine. President Zelenskiy is one of the century’s great heroes, and he’s provided inspiration not only to his people but to the rest of the world as well.
I hope that we can visit in due course and if the prime minister is able to visit, if that’s the security advice he’s received, that it’s safe for him and for his delegation to visit, then I think it’s entirely appropriate that he would.
Continue reading...Families call for change as data shows Indigenous people on foot dying at a troubling rate
Kumanjayi Napurrula Dixon took the route 74 bus through Darwin’s outer south-eastern suburbs, got off at the last stop, and kept walking south along the Stuart Highway.
It was a Monday night, and the Anmatyerre grandmother was going to see her family at their camp near Coolalinga. She never made it. Between getting off the bus and making it to camp, she was allegedly hit by a car and died.
Continue reading...Patrick Carson took advantage of immature young woman who had recently arrived in Darwin, prosecutor tells trial
A police officer accused of raping a teenager exploited his position as a father figure to control his alleged victim, a Northern Territory court has been told.
Patrick Carson, aged 37 at the time of the alleged crime, has pleaded not guilty in the supreme court to raping the woman, then 19, twice in Darwin during 2020.
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Continue reading...Foreign minister says Australia ‘has ground to make up’ in Pacific region; jobless rate steady at 3.9%; nation records at least 73 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
So the below comes as both the NSW and Victorian government move to introduce an extra, free year of preschool in the next decade.
Both the NSW and Victorian premiers, Dominic Perrottet and Daniel Andrews, want to introduce a new year for four- and five-year-olds.
It will mean that, in the next 10 years, every child in Victoria and NSW will experience the benefits of a full year of play-based learning before their first year of school. At the same time, it will benefit hundreds of thousands of working families.
We want to expand our existing preschools. It’s a game changer and it’s exciting and there is big money behind it, because we have to do well for our kids.
They do an amazing job, our early childhood workforce, so this is our chance to invest in them and grow and set children up for that best start of life.
Continue reading...Open letter to festival board says Santos’ involvement threatens cultural integrity and amounts to ‘artswashing’
A delegation of First Nations people are expected to join a collective of artists and creative producers on Thursday to protest a controversial sponsorship deal between the Darwin festival and gas and oil company Santos.
The call to dump the longstanding fossil fuel sponsorship was included in an open letter sent on Tuesday to the festival’s board, chaired by former Northern Territory Airports chief executive Ian Kew, along with a petition of about 200 signatures. The protest coincides with the launch the festival’s 2022 program, running from 4 to 21 August.
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Continue reading...Ecologists say discovery of scaly-tailed possum at Bullo River Station is a sign of positive benefit of private land conservation
A rare scaly-tailed possum has been caught in the Northern Territory for the first time in what scientists say is a sign that private land conservation is having a positive effect.
The scaly-tailed possum, also known as the Wyulda, is a rock-dwelling marsupial with stout limbs and a “grippy” tail it uses to hang from branches and rock ledges to reach for seeds, fruits and flowers.
Continue reading...Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says
Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.
Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.
There is no simple magic fix to this.
The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.
That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.
Continue reading...Joshua Mason, 23, and his 50-year-old mother, Deborah Mason, likely to plead guilty after victim’s leg was found on Northern Territory highway, lawyer says
A young man allegedly fatally struck a pedestrian with his car before his mother helped load the woman’s body into a ute and the two buried it in bushland outside Darwin, a court has been told.
The discovery of the Indigenous victim’s dismembered leg on the Northern Territory’s Stuart Highway on Tuesday morning triggered a police investigation which lead to the pair’s arrest the next day.
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Continue reading...It is unknown if the leg’s owner is alive or dead as no further body parts have been found despite an extensive search
Part of a human leg has been found on a major Northern Territory highway, with police unsure if its owner is dead or alive.
A traveller discovered the lower section of leg on the Stuart Highway in Coolalinga, 30km south of Darwin, about 9am on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The animals are a crucial part of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Newhaven scheme to reintroduce 11 vulnerable native mammals
In the red centre of Australia, a ring-fenced refuge for threatened native mammals is slowly but surely expanding its population.
Earlier this week, 32 threatened greater bilbies moved in and 65 burrowing bettongs will join them before the weekend is out.
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Continue reading...Quake struck to east of Timor-Leste, with residents in Northern Territory capital reporting strong shaking
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck off the coast of Timor-Leste and was so strong it was felt in Darwin, Australia.
The quake hit at 11.36am local time (12.06pm Darwin time), according to Geosciences Australia, and prompted some people in the capital of Dili to flee buildings, though a tsunami was ruled out.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison reiterates new pitch to voters, promising a ‘gear change’, and Anthony Albanese reveals plan to boost primary healthcare. This blog is now closed
Morrison has unfurled his famous boomer dad vibes, snorting at young people using “devices”:
I still remember the mates are used to play with when I was a kid, when I used to go play sport, I used to look forward to it every Saturday and be there with mum and dad, come and be on the sidelines, it is those great
experiences of family life which creates strong families and strong communities.
And by investing in a healthy lifestyles of our children, and doing that with the highly successful sporting schools program, this means we can get more and more about into healthy lifestyles, we need to get them off those phones and get them on the field. I hear some noise from parents who know exactly what I am talking about. And sure, they can have fun with their devices, that has to be on the timing at all the rest of it, you guys struggle without as much as I am sure we all do, but we want them out there running around, we want them living healthy lifestyles.
We have had to come through and toughed it out and push through as hard as we possibly can, and as a Prime Minister and as a government we have had to do that as well.
But as we go into this time of opportunity, and that is exactly what it is, and the kids reminded me of that again this morning, as we go into that time of opportunity, as a government, we change gears, as a Prime Minister, I change gears, and we go and secure those opportunities ahead.
Continue reading...