What we learned today, Saturday 18 February
That is where we will wrap up the live blog for Saturday.
Here’s what made the news today:
Brittany Higgins wants the investigation into the Bruce Lehrmann case to look into the circumstances that resulted in her private diary being leaked to the Australian, as former defence minister Linda Reynolds claims in an interview she was the victim of “a very well-orchestrated political hit” over false allegations she covered up Higgins’s alleged rape.
New Zealand’s death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle has risen to nine as the clean-up continues.
The NSW Liberal MLC Peter Poulos has been disendorsed as a candidate in the upcoming election and banned from the Liberal party for six months following the revelation he had shared an explicit photo of a former rival five years ago.
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, says he was “horrified” and “disgusted” by the scandal.
The Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, has told a packed community forum in Sydney to “be patient” about the voice to parliament. She later said she hopes to see a “big fat yes” vote at the referendum.
Sea Shepherd and Action for Dolphins have called for shark nets to be removed at Bronte beach in Sydney after a dolphin died after getting caught in the nets.
We will be back with you again tomorrow. Have a good evening.
Updated
Polystyrene waste halves after voluntary ban introduced, Conservation Volunteers Australia says
The amount of polystyrene packaging making its way to pristine reef environments has dropped dramatically since a voluntary ban was introduced, AAP reports.
Conservation Volunteers Australia found the share of polystyrene in waste collected from urban waterways halved after the move to curb quantities of the packaging came into effect.
In March 2021, business were asked to phase out the material in packaging and food containers or face a mandatory ban.
Polystyrene accounted for more than one-fifth of litter collected from September 2020 to August 2021, the conservation group reported, the year the voluntary ban was introduced.
It fell to 11% the year after, while figures for rubbish collected between September 2022 and January 2023 show it is on track to remain at a similar level.
“Polystyrene has long been the worst offender in our waterways,” the Conservation Volunteers Australia chief executive, Phil Harrison, said.
“To see its volume halve in just 12 months on the back of a voluntary ban suggests real progress can be achieved when government, business, science and conservation volunteers all work towards common, common-sense goals.”
Conservation Volunteers Australia is part of a campaign to stop ocean litter at its source – including in creeks and rivers – before it can flow to the Great Barrier and Southern reefs.
Lightweight plastic bags accounted for about 2% of waste collected, which the conservation group said demonstrated state and territory bans were working.
Cigarette butts are now the biggest polluter of reefs.
Updated
Peter Poulos disendorsed as NSW Liberal candidate
The NSW Liberal MLC Peter Poulos has been disendorsed as a Liberal candidate for the Legislative Council for the March election and suspended from the party for six months following the revelation he shared explicit images of a rival five years ago.
It came after Poulous had resigned from his parliamentary secretary role, apologising for sharing 1980s Penthouse images of a female rival during a preselection battle five years ago.
A spokesperson for the NSW Liberal party said the decision had been made on Saturday by the state director in consultation with the state president.
The spokesperson said:
The effect of the suspension is that Mr Poulos is disendorsed as a Liberal candidate for the Legislative Council at the coming election.
While Mr Poulos has apologised for his actions to the person concerned and to the community, his conduct fell short of the standard of behaviour expected of Members of our Party.
The Party will promptly fill the vacancy on the ticket in line with the requirements of our Constitution.
Earlier today, the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he was “horrified” and “disgusted” by the scandal.
“When that situation occurred years ago, I was appalled, horrified and disgusted,” Perrottet told reporters.
Updated
Queensland government says Olympics will transform Brisbane as it faces criticism over a cost blowout
The Queensland government says the Olympics will transform Brisbane like Expo 88 as it faces criticism over the cost blowout for a key stadium rebuild, AAP reports.
More plans for the Woolloongabba precinct were unveiled on Saturday, a day after a landmark $7bn funding deal was signed for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic venues.
The precinct will have more housing, shopping and dining areas, along with a walkable travel corridor to connect the city and South Bank to the Gabba stadium, Cross River Rail and the Brisbane Metro.
The upgraded precinct will modernise Brisbane the way the 1988 World Expo did, the deputy premier, Steven Miles, said.
“It’s an incredible vision coming together for our great city,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“The place will be bustling and it will be somewhere that people come from around the city, around the region, around the state, the country, even the world to see and experience.”
But the opposition is feeling less positive about the Gabba rebuild cost.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on Friday confirmed $2.7bn had been set aside for the project – more than double the $1bn originally estimated in 2021.
The state government is solely funding the stadium rebuild, while the federal government will foot the entire bill for a new Brisbane Arena.
The deputy opposition leader, Jarrod Bleijie, said the premier needed to explain why the Gabba costs rose by nearly 300% in a year.
“How can Queenslanders trust that it’s not going to blow out again?” Bleijie asked reporters on Saturday.
“Queenslanders need accountability with an independent delivery authority overseeing the Olympic infrastructure spend because at the end of the day, it is Queensland taxpayers’ money.”
Miles said the government had gone with the best option for the Gabba after assessing different redevelopment proposals.
“They all came in at roughly similar amounts but with a far inferior outcome,” he said.
“‘So we’ve taken the decision, based on that very detailed analysis, to go ahead with a major rebuild of the Gabba.”
Updated
Dolphin drowns at Sydney beach, sparking calls to remove shark nets
Sea Shepherd and Action for Dolphins have called for the removal of shark nets on Bronte beach in Sydney following the release of footage of a dolphin found dead in the nets on Saturday.
The groups said:
This poor dolphin was left struggling for hours, desperately trying to break free and eventually drowning in their own home.
There is no justification for this dolphin’s death. The nets that cause this suffering are indiscriminate killers – not public safety – not backed by science.
The acting chief operating officer of Sea Shepherd, Emilia Michael, told Sky News there was no justification for the nets.
This dolphin would have been desperately trying to get free, eventually drowning in their own home.
Imagine the horror of the residents of Bronte and surrounds waking today to learn that one of their favourite ocean animals was trapped in these killer nets off their own coasts.
More than 30,000 people have signed a petition calling for the nets to be removed from Sydney beaches – short of the 50,000 target.
State governments across the country that still use the nets to deter sharks from populated beach locations are facing pressure to end the practice.
Updated
An update on the severe thunderstorm warning in NSW.
Severe thunderstorm warning has been updated to include parts of the #Illawarra, #SouthCoast and #CentralTablelands districts, along with #SouthernTablelands, #SouthWestSlopes, #CentralWestSlopes for DAMAGING WINDS (>=90km/h gust). Warning Updates: https://t.co/HZ5N6yRujB pic.twitter.com/NloQ9x2UYv
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) February 18, 2023
Victoria police say the body of a 61-year-old Sunshine West man was found at Altona beach on Saturday morning.
Police say a group of divers were diving in the water near Bayview street at around 9am when the man became separated from the group.
His body was discovered in the water a short time later.
A report is being prepared for the coroner.
A severe thunderstorm warning has just been issued for parts of the #SouthernTablelands, #SouthWestSlopes, #CentralWestSlopes, #ACT and #Riverina, including #Yass, #Cootamundra for DAMAGING WINDS (>=90km/h gust). Warning Updates: https://t.co/6FdZ05lhCE pic.twitter.com/faY5w3JABJ
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) February 18, 2023
Australia will host a key upcoming international naval exercise for the first time, AAP reports.
Defence forces from Australia, India, Japan and the United States have taken part in Exercise Malabar for the past three years.
The event involving military ships and aircraft is designed to promote co-operation between countries.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, revealed Australia would host the exercise as he met with India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Saturday.
Albanese is due to travel to India in the next few weeks to finalise a trade deal between the two nations and said he was keen to ramp up economic and security ties.
“Our relationship goes from strength to strength,” Albanese said on Saturday.
“Our economic relationship is important. I think we have complementary economies.
“I look forward to strengthening that as well, as well as on security issues.”
In addition to his upcoming trip to India, Albanese will travel to New Delhi in September for the next G20 meeting.
Australia will also host the annual meeting of Quad leaders in the first half of the year.
Brittany Higgins wants inquiry to look into leak of private material
Brittany Higgins will seek to raise the leaking of her private material, including the contents of her personal diary, with the current inquiry probing the handling of the Bruce Lehrmann case.
Updated
Linda Burney urges ‘big fat yes’ vote for Indigenous voice
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been mobbed by his inner west supporters as he arrived at Petersham Park on a very hot day, at a community event in support of the Indigenous voice to parliament.
A few hundred people are here to hear him call for all sides of parliament to get behind the voice and put an end to partisan politics.
He said:
This should not be the subject of partisan debate. This should be the moment where we come together as a nation, and that is my objective.
The Indigenous affairs minister, Linda Burney, then said she hoped the crowd would “vote a big fat yes” when the referendum is held sometime between October and December this year.
“Those who are not with us are looking to the past,” Burney said.
Updated
Trent Zimmerman on Lidia Thorpe
Former Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman has argued today that the decision by former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe to quit the party should not be the beginning of any change to law that would require those elected to remain in the party in which they were elected.
Zimmerman:
Requiring a senator or MP to vacate their seat if they resigned from their party means that if the party were to expel them they would also be forced from parliament. This would give party executives chilling powers over MPs and would be an assault on the freedoms, decisions and responsibilities of parliamentarians.
I am aware of such threats being made against at least one of my Liberal colleagues during the marriage equality debate and he was rightly able to tell his party organisational leaders to go to hell (that’s the sanitised version of his response).
Updated
It is being reported that David Warner will be ruled out of the remainder of the second cricket test between Australia and India in Delhi, to be replaced by Matthew Renshaw.
BREAKING. David Warner will be ruled out. Concussed. Matthew Renshaw to play.
— Peter Lalor (@plalor) February 18, 2023
Is the Sydney Mardi Gras putting corporations before protest?
With Mardi Gras/WorldPride commencing in Sydney this weekend, there’s a constant debate about the role of corporations in the parade. I’ve taken a look at the issue here.
Updated
I’m going to hand you back to Josh Taylor now. He’ll take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Perrottet pledges $1.5bn clean energy superpower fund if re-elected
New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet says his government will create a $1.5bn clean energy superpower fund if re-elected, which will improve access to rooftop solar, batteries, and big grid batteries. The fund would also help fast-track access to pumped hydro. In a statement with treasurer Matt Kean, he said:
A re-elected Liberal and Nationals government will fast-track the transformation of the NSW electricity system by setting up a $1.5 billion Clean Energy Superpower Fund, comprised of the Transmission Acceleration Fund and new funding to support the delivery of renewable energy storage and grid security projects, such as pumped hydro and batteries.
The government will also invest a further $23 million to kickstart the expansion of the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap to cover rooftop solar and small-scale batteries and to unblock local grid constraints to allow more people to produce and share energy locally.
Updated
Linda Burney calls for patience on voice to parliament
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney has told a packed community forum in Sydney to “be patient” about the voice to parliament, saying that she did not want to “get ahead” of the deliberations of the referendum working group on the voice.
Fielding questions about a treaty, she said that the government was committed to the sequence of the Uluru Statement, with the voice to come before a treaty.
She said the government has committed $5.8m to establishing a Makaratta commission to look at a process of treaty making and truth telling.
She said the government would soon announce the “first steps” to establish a Makaratta group of four senior First Nations people who will start that process.
“Treaty will be a part of this, we are very conscious of it … the commonwealth government is committed and there is an absolute commitment to that,” Burney said.
Burney, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Senior Australian of the Year Tom Calma hosted the “historic” first event of the “national week of action” on the voice at Sydney’s UTS, with an engaged and passionate audience.
Burney told the crowd they would be “the warriors of the fight” to promote a successful yes vote.
The meeting ended with rousing applause for Redfen leader Shane Phillips, who said he did not want his children to have to stand here in the future asking for the same thing.
“Please vote yes,” Phillips said.
The meeting ended with a photo to commemorate the historic first event of the voice campaign.
Updated
Anthony Albanese due to appear at ‘BBQ for the voice’ in Sydney’s inner-west today
The PM will be kicking off a week of action to support the yes campaign for the voice referendum.
AAP reports he will be joined by Linda Burney, minister for Indigenous Australians, who said during the “week of action” she would be travelling to Orange to meet with former Nationals MP Andrew Gee, who quit his party to sit as an independent over its opposition to the voice.
She would also travel to Melbourne for a series of forums and to Flinders Island in Tasmania with Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who has been pushing her party to back the constitutional change, she said.
There is much work being put into this and my hope is that once this bill is introduced into the parliament, that people will grasp the significance of this, not just for Aboriginal people, but for all Australians.
Updated
12-year-old boy in critical condition on Central Coast
A boy is in a critical condition in hospital after he was hit by a four-wheel drive on NSW’s Central Coast.
Emergency services were called to a Umina beach intersection just after 7pm on Friday following reports a vehicle and a pushbike had collided.
A 12-year-old boy, who was being carried on the bike’s handlebars, sustained multiple injuries and was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
The rider, an 11-year-old boy, was also admitted to hospital in a stable condition with leg injuries.
Neither child was wearing a helmet.
The driver of the 4WD, a 59-year-old woman, was not injured but was still taken to hospital for mandatory testing.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
- AAP
Updated
NSW premier says he was 'horrified' and 'disgusted' by explicit photo incident
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, says he was “horrified” and “disgusted” by an explicit photo scandal that has rocked the government this week, AAP reports.
“When that situation occurred years ago, I was appalled, horrified and disgusted,” Perrottet told reporters today.
Major damage was inflicted on the Coalition government’s already stuttering campaign on Friday as the Liberal MLC Peter Poulos resigned from his parliamentary secretary role after apologising for sharing 1980s Penthouse images of a female rival during a preselection battle five years ago.
The premier says he now expects the NSW Liberal party to act on the incident, signalling the MP’s future in the party could be in doubt.
The incident caused the female MP distress at the time, Perrottet says.
I expect the highest standards amongst my parliamentary colleagues.
Peter has apologised, as he should have.
There is no place for that behaviour in any workplace. I have made that very clear.
Peter has resigned his parliamentary secretary role. That is the appropriate course of action.
I expect the NSW Liberal party to act appropriately as well.
Updated
Thunderstorm forecast today (18/02): Severe storms possible in #GulfCountry # NorthWest #NorthernGoldfields & tropical east coast between #Cairns and #Rollingstone. Inc #Tully, #Ingham & #MtIsa. Risk of HEAVY RAINFALL/FLASH FLOODING. Warnings, if required: https://t.co/BLR3n8nj2u pic.twitter.com/S2mo4Qd4AI
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 17, 2023
What Birdsville can teach us about coping with global heating
The town of Birdsville, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, may just be the perfect location to test climate adaptation strategies to cope with global heating.
My colleague Joe Hinchcliffe has been in Birdsville to explore what groups like Climate Justice Observatory are doing to help ensure that people on the margins of society don’t cop the brunt of climate breakdown.
Updated
Pesutto disagrees with post-election review blaming Guy for Liberal loss
All Victorian Liberals need to take responsibility for last year’s state election loss rather than shift blame to Matthew Guy, the opposition leader, John Pesutto, says, AAP reports.
Guy was slammed in a post-election review from the party president, Greg Mirabella, who described the former opposition leader as widely disliked.
He said the public had nothing to vote for because the Coalition’s election strategy was “relentlessly negative” and too focused on Daniel Andrews, according to excerpts published in the Age.
Pesutto disagreed Guy was to blame for the November loss, instead saying all Liberals needed to take stock after the defeat.
“Any political party, in good times and in bad, must take collective responsibility and work collectively to make the most of the opportunities they have,” Pesutto told reporters on Saturday.
“There is no purpose to be served in singling people out. Matthew was leader, he was part of a team, we were all part of that team.
Updated
Food Standards issues recall alert for Inside Out oat milk
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has issued an alert stating that company Inside Out is recalling a popular unsweetened milk brand.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported this week that the company was recalling almond milk linked to the discovery of a toxin that can cause the serious paralysing illness of botulism and was potentially linked to a recent hospital admission in Sydney.
FSANZ’s alert said the recall was now expanding to include two types of oat milk. It said:
This product has been available at Woolworths nationally.
The recall is due to missing storage instructions. Products are not labelled with directions to ‘keep refrigerated’.
Failure to refrigerate this product may lead to microbial growth and biotoxin contamination which may cause illness/injury if consumed.
Updated
Perrottet pledges $23m worth of vehicles and other resources to Surf Life Saving NSW
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, says he will deliver additional resources worth $23m to Surf Life Saving NSW if re-elected, including rescue vehicles, jet skis, emergency response beacons and communications upgrades.
Our volunteer surf lifesavers are the lifeblood of our coastal communities, working tirelessly to protect people right up and down our state’s coastline.
This is the biggest investment that any state government has committed to SLSNSW in its 116-year history and will equip our volunteers with the equipment they need to continue to keep people as safe as possible.
Importantly, these new rescue vehicles and jet skis can also be used during other natural disasters like floods, providing greater protections to communities right across the state.
Updated
Death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle will rise further, NZ PM says
New Zealand’s death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle has risen to nine as the clean-up continues on the nation’s battered North Island and authorities work to find missing people, AAP reports.
The cyclone hit NZ on Sunday on the uppermost region of the North Island, before tracking down the east coast, causing widespread devastation.
On Saturday, police said they were investigating a death in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay region, on the North Island’s east coast, of a person “believed to have died in circumstances related to Cyclone Gabrielle”, taking the death toll to nine.
The clean-up from the cyclone, which cut off towns, washed away farms, bridges and livestock and inundated homes, stranding people on rooftops, continued along with efforts to located residents still missing.
The prime minister, Chris Hipkins, on Friday called Gabrielle the biggest natural disaster to hit NZ this century, and warned the death toll was likely to rise as crews made contact with hundreds of cut-off communities.
Just over 4,500 people as of Friday afternoon had been registered with police as being out of touch with friends or family since the cyclone hit.
Updated
I will now hand the blog back to Christopher Knaus for the next little while.
Where it’s not hot, there are storms. Sometimes both.
Thunderstorm forecast today (18/02): Severe storms possible in the SE, incl #SouthCoast #SouthernTablelands #SouthWestSlopes #ACT #Monaro #Illawarra #BlueMts #Nowra. Risk of damaging wind gusts (>= 90 km/h). Large hail also possible. Warning if needed: https://t.co/IFyX9jJMoj pic.twitter.com/nE6iYAbAOS
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) February 17, 2023
Alleged leaders of Sydney cocaine syndicate charged
Three men accused of leading a “dial-a-dealer” cocaine operation in Sydney’s inner west have been charged, AAP reports.
Police allege the syndicate supplied at least 375 bags of cocaine across the city, with an estimated street value of close to $115,000.
It’s alleged the syndicate was operating out of a Marrickville cafe and a motor services business.
Investigators searched two businesses at Marrickville, two Roselands homes and a third property at Arncliffe on Friday.
They arrested three men – aged 33, 24 and 31 – and seized almost $30,000 in cash and 14 grams of cocaine.
The 33-year-old Roselands man and 24-year-old Arncliffe man have each been charged with supplying a prohibited drug, directing a criminal group and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The 31-year-old man is facing two counts of supplying a prohibited drug and participating in a criminal group.
All are due to appear at the Parramatta local court on Saturday.
Updated
Hot temperatures expected in WA, parts of NSW and southern Queensland
AAP reports the Pilbara region hovered around 30C on Friday night, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning temperatures could rise to 48C in coming days.
A high fire danger rating has been issued for large parts of the state on Saturday, with residents told to be prepared.
Hot temperatures are also forecast for NSW and parts of southern Queensland, with temperatures in the low to mid 30s predicted for Saturday.
Further north in Queensland, monsoon warnings remain in place with six-hourly rainfall totals of 80 to 130 millimetres forecast for the Gulf Country and Cape York peninsula.
The heavy rain could lead to further flash and riverine flooding, with minor to moderate flood warnings in place for western Queensland and the Gulf Country.
Further south, there is a brief heatwave reprieve in Victoria after Melbourne recorded its hottest day since January 2020.
The city reached a top of 40.5C at 3.47pm on Friday before rapidly dropping to 27.6C by 4pm.
Temperatures will not exceed 23C in Melbourne on Saturday but another heatwave is forecast for the state late next week.
A hot and windy day on the way for most of NSW with Total Fire Bans now in place for the Eastern Riverina, Southern Slopes and Southern Ranges.
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) February 17, 2023
Efforts today will be on the Rosedale Fire at Currabubula (south west of Tamworth) and the Conimbla Rd Fire near Cowra. #NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/9J88rAnpE2
Updated
Three men charged with importing methamphetamine
Three men have been arrested at Sydney airport for allegedly importing around 34kgs of methamphetamine concealed in statues.
The Australian Federal Police allege Australian Border Force discovered the drugs in checking the bags of two of the Sydney men, aged 42, 47 and 44.
The two men were arriving from South Africa on 16 February, and were selected for secondary screening.
Police allege they discovered 22 resin-coated statutes in bubble wrap which, when tested, returned positive for methamphetamine.
The third man allegedly linked to the importation was located in the vicinity of the terminal.
After being arrested, police say more evidence was found on the man’s phone, and after search warrants were executed, police seized $50,000 in cash at the men’s homes.
The three men were charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely methamphetamine.
The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.
Updated
Corporate watchdog launches action over alleged price fixing
The corporate watchdog has launched legal action over alleged price fixing and tender bid rigging for entertainment services at Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group mine sites, AAP reports.
Technology company Swift is accused of making agreements with a competitor to fix technology infrastructure prices, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says.
The tenders in 2019 were for the supply of equipment and services to five mining village projects in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
This includes Rio Tinto Limited’s Gudai-Darri, West Angelas and Yandicoogina, Western Turner Syncline and Peninsula Palms sites, and at Fortescue Metals Group Limited’s Japal Village Iron Bridge site.
It is alleged Swift Networks Pty Ltd made an agreement with DXC Connect Pty Ltd and DXC Technology Australia Pty Ltd that one of them would submit a higher price than the other after a request for bids.
The commission alleges Swift and DXC acted beyond the scope of any sub-contracting relationship.
“Bid rigging and price fixing drive up prices for businesses and harms the economy, which is why cartel conduct is a serious breach of our competition laws,” commissioner Liza Carver said on Friday.
The technology infrastructure included IT, communications and audio-visual entertainment infrastructure and associated services for providing internet and media, such as free-to-air or subscription television, to the mining villages.
Bid rigging, also known as collusive tendering, happens when suppliers discuss and agree on who should win a tender and at what price, the commission said.
Price fixing happens when competitors agree on pricing instead of competing against each other.
Swift is a specialist technology company delivering technology infrastructure, entertainment and communications to the mining, aged care, and hospitality industries.
DXC is a global information technology services provider that supplies technology infrastructure to a range of industries, including the mining sector.
The commission is seeking declarations, penalties, costs and other orders.
Updated
I’m going to hand you over to my brilliant colleague, Josh Taylor, who will continue to take you through the morning’s events.
‘Australia can’t blow another decade of climate action’
Our political editor, Katharine Murphy, says the looming battle over climate action will require “maturity and dexterity” from both Labor and the Greens in coming weeks.
Key people are talking, but there is frustration in both camps. Bandt would argue Labor is more timid than it needs be – too busy fighting the last war to see that the politics have now shifted, and decisively, in favour of climate action. Albanese would argue this is naive. The politics have certainly shifted, but not uniformly in terms of geography, and parties of government have to straddle geography if they want the opportunity to change the country.
While the private punditry of a couple of party leaders remains a matter of argument, this final statement is objectively true.
Australia has blown a decade of climate action.
We can’t blow another one, and the responsibility for ensuring that doesn’t happen is a collective one for progressive forces in the current parliament, because the Coalition on these questions is no better than a laugh track; it has opted out of a core responsibility of a governing party.
Updated
Man’s body found in car submerged in SA’s Murray River
Police were called to the scene on Friday at 1.30pm after a member of the public spotted the sunken car near Hindmarsh Island in the lower Murray.
The incident has been ruled a road accident, Adelaide police said.
The 52-year-old Poorooka man’s death is the 22nd on SA roads in 2023, compared with six lives lost at the same time last year.
An investigation into the incident been launched.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
- AAP
Updated
Warning near-silent electric vehicles a danger for blind and vision-impaired people
Blind Citizens Australia has called for action to prevent injury and death caused by near-silent electric vehicles at low speeds.
AAP reports that Australia is yet to follow international examples to mandate Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems, including in Europe, Japan, China and the United States.
Australia leaves the technology’s inclusion up to manufacturers, in a move academics and industry experts warn could lead to more road accidents.
Blind Citizens Australia president Fiona Woods said the near-silent vehicles will put all pedestrians at risk but leave some groups particularly vulnerable.
I want people to know it’s a matter of life or death to people who are blind or vision-impaired.
It’s really important we have these alerting systems because we’re not opposed to electric vehicles – we want the planet to survive – but we want people to be aware of the pedestrian issues.
Updated
WorldPride continues in Sydney
WorldPride kicked off on Friday night. The event has a 17-day program of art, performances, talks, parties, sport and comedy to celebrate equality.
The festivities will amount to Sydney’s biggest “occasion” since the 2000 Olympics and are expected to draw 500,000 visitors to 300 free and ticketed events.
Happy WorldPride from Sydney! 🏳️🌈🌈 🏳️⚧️
— Sydney Opera House (@SydOperaHouse) February 16, 2023
Tonight the sails will be shining with the Progress Pride flag in celebration of @SydWorldPride. Catch our glow up from 8:30pm - 1am on Fri 17th Feb. #SydneyWorldPride #RainbowCity
📸 by Phillip Glanz; Design by Marie Schultz pic.twitter.com/C9LQkGXTj1
WorldPride CEO Kate Wickett says those attending should remember it’s a “party with purpose”.
Updated
Linda Reynolds: ‘I was just broken’
Linda Reynolds, former defence minister, said she had been “broken” by suggestions that she had covered up allegations of rape made by her former staffer Brittany Higgins. She described those allegations as false but said she was relentlessly pursued by Labor and the victim of a “political hit job”.
In her interview with News Corp, she said that prior to one question time, she had collapsed on the bathroom floor of her Senate office, before being rescued by Anne Ruston, who was in the neighbouring office. She told the Australian:
I was just broken. I was sobbing. I was inconsolable. Anne – my saving angel – bolted in … and so she just immediately took charge. She went out. I think she contacted Simon Birmingham, the [Senate] leader. It was so bad. I literally cannot remember whether I did actually get up for question time that day or I didn’t.
She said the stress had exacerbated an existing heart condition. Former heath minister Greg Hunt had noticed her poor health prior to a National Press Club address and called his own personal doctor to see her, Reynolds said.
So he came up, took one look at me, took my vitals and he said, I’m ringing Canberra hospital. You’re going down. Anyway, we went down there and we couldn’t get in.
Updated
Fears for Australian boys in Syrian detention
Australian boys held in Syrian detention camps have been warned they could be removed from their families because they have turned 12 years old.
My colleague Ben Doherty reports that UN human rights experts said at least 10 boys, as young as 12, were forcibly removed from Roj camp overnight on 31 January, and that more removals were planned. A panel of UN human rights experts said:
The pattern of forcibly removing boys who reach the ages of 10 or 12 from the camps, separating them from their mothers and siblings and taking them to unknown locations is completely unlawful.
Updated
Caste discrimination on the rise
Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan has condemned racism on the basis of caste in the country’s south Asian communities, saying he was “deeply concerned by the experiences of casteism” that were shared with him recently.
My colleague Karishma Luthria has taken a deep dive into discrimination based on the Hindu caste system in Australia.
Updated
Assessing the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle
Across the Tasman, New Zealanders are returning to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle on the North Island.
Our reporter Tess McClure was in Eskdale and spoke to locals still traumatised by the disaster as they returned to salvage belongings and rescuers continued searching for bodies.
Updated
Chris Bowen warns of potential solar technology shortage
In other news, energy minister Chris Bowen has warned that Australia is exposed to a potential shortage of solar technology due to vast global demand and concentrated supply chains.
Bowen is expected to speak on the issue later on Saturday, when he addresses the Australian Strategic Policy Institute alongside Indian minister for external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankarsays. Bowen told the Nine newspapers he will also meet with ministers from India, Japan and the United States at a Quad energy ministers meeting later this year in a bid to guarantee supply of renewable and solar technology.
Bowen told the newspapers:
The whole world is now on this transition and supply chains are already tight.
But when supply chains are so concentrated, and getting more concentrated, the risk is greater every day, so this transition now is more important to us than it ever has been.
It’s a risky matrix unless we build sovereign capability and have like-minded trading partners building capability and sovereignty at the same time.
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Linda Reynolds interviewed about Brittany Higgins
In her interview with the Australian, Linda Reynolds says she was the victim of “a very well-orchestrated political hit” that falsely suggested she had covered up allegations of the rape of her former staffer Brittany Higgins.
Among the key points from her interview are:
Reynolds said former prime minister Scott Morrison apologised to her privately and consoled her a day after publicly rebuking her for not informing his office of the allegations.
After calling Higgins a “lying cow”, Reynolds said she paid money to Higgins to make her defamation complaint “go away” and said she was in “no state to defend myself”. Reynolds said she made the “lying cow” comment in relation to Higgins allegations that her and her chief of staff Fiona Brown had not supported her properly
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Brittany Higgins's diary exposed
Good morning and welcome to our live blog for Saturday, 18 February.
It’s shaping up to be a busy news day.
Moments ago, Brittany Higgins tweeted a complaint about the leaking of contents from her diary, which were published in the Australian this morning. The diary contents showed Higgins planning meetings with journalists in March 2021.
Higgins said she had taken a photo of an old page in her diary on 7 July 2021. She said she had provided the contents of her phone to police while they investigated her allegation of rape, but that the diary material was not tendered in court.
“Therefore, no journalist should have seen the photo of my diary,” she tweeted. “Stop publishing the private contents of my phone. I entrusted police with my private information for the sole purpose that it could aid their investigation into my sexual assault, nothing else.”
I took a photo of an old page in my diary on the 7th of July 2021.
— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) February 17, 2023
It is now being referenced in an article in the Australian.
This is the third time private images, texts and WhatsApps from my phone have been published by this particular news outlet. (1/3)
The material was published alongside an interview with Higgins’s former boss and past defence minister Linda Reynolds. Reynolds told the Australian she was the victim of a political “hit job”, which was “less about an alleged rape, and almost exclusively about bringing down a cabinet minister, to damage the prime minister and bring down the Morrison government”.
Reynolds suggested Higgins was used by Labor and journalists for their own ends.
I think it was a terrible abuse of Brittany Higgins’ circumstances. She was clearly, in my mind, exploited for overtly political purposes, by Labor, and also a number of prominent journalists and female advocates who, in the #MeToo zeitgeist, had found their perfect vehicle to elevate the movement but also to bring down a senior minister to hurt the Morrison government.
In response, Higgins said she had already received apologies from Reynolds and had been through multiple reviews, a trial, mediation with the federal government and now an independent inquiry into the criminal trial.
The facts have been well-established. Any revisionist history offered by my former employer at this time is deeply hurtful and needlessly cruel.
Bruce Lehrmann consistently denied the allegation that he raped Higgins. His first trial was aborted due to juror misconduct and prosecutors decided not to proceed with a retrial because of the likely impact on Higgins’s mental health.
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