That's it for today, thanks for reading
Here are the main stories on Sunday 17 July:
- The Greens are open to backing Labor’s 43% emissions reduction target, but want a ban on new coal projects.
- Independent MP Zali Steggall is less enthused about the target, saying draft legislation is “inadequate”.
- Opposition leader Peter Dutton has defended Anthony Albanese’s packed recent travel schedule, but also claimed the PM delayed extending further funding for flood victims for the purposes of a “photo opportunity”.
- At least 30 deaths from Covid-19 across the country.
- A white whale that washed up on a Victorian beach is not the well-known albino humpback Migaloo, according to the state’s environment department.
- Intervention-era laws that imposed a blanket alcohol ban across Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have come to an end after a decade.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, we will see you back here again tomorrow.
Updated
Disturbing update from the ABC about attacks during the PNG election:
Counting centres at Markham & Kabwum in Morobe have been attacked. 5 people have been charged over ballot box hijacking in Enga. Police warn if fighting in Enga continues theyll recommend failing the election there. Media are waiting for an update from the Electoral Commissioner. pic.twitter.com/3Enj5ir66A
— Natalie Whiting (@Nat_Whiting) July 17, 2022
And here’s more on the Greens stance regarding the emissions target.
Labor’s draft emissions legislation ‘inadequate’, Steggall says
Independent MP Zali Steggall has savaged the Labor government’s draft legislation around its 43% emissions reduction goal, calling it “inadequate”.
The crossbench was last week briefed on Labor’s bill, which is to be introduced when parliament resumes next week.
Greens leader Adam Bandt appears to be the linchpin on the parliamentary maths, with Labor needing his party’s support in the Senate after Liberal leader Peter Dutton ruled out backing the climate target.
The government has the numbers to pass the legislation in the lower house, so the opposition of House of Representatives crossbenchers may not make any significant headaches for prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
But Steggall appears determined to push for alterations to the bill.
Lots of claims being made here on the merits of the Govt’s draft Climate Bill from people who clearly haven’t actually read it. In its current form, it’s an inadequate statement of intent that achieves little so I look forward to constructive discussions. #insiders #auspol
— 🌏 Zali Steggall MP (@zalisteggall) July 17, 2022
On Twitter, she said:
In its current form, it’s an inadequate statement of intent that achieves little so I look forward to constructive discussions.
Labor MP Josh Burns defended his party’s legislation, confirming the 43% target was “a floor, not a ceiling” and talking up its benefits.
It’s a floor, not a ceiling.
— Josh Burns (@joshburnsmp) July 16, 2022
The bill will also strengthen the climate change authority, require the Minister to report back to the parliament and force government funds to factor in new emission reduction targets.#auspoI #insiders
Updated
Dutton defends Albanese’s whirlwind world tour
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has defended Anthony Albanese’s packed recent travel schedule, but simultaneously claimed the prime minister had delayed extending further funding for flood victims for the purposes of a “photo opportunity”.
In an interview on Sky News from the United States – where he himself has been on leave for two weeks – Dutton was asked about Albanese’s whirlwind world tour since taking office, which has taken him to Japan, Indonesia, Spain, France, Ukraine and Fiji for various high-level meetings and international summits.
Dutton said “of course” he supported the travel, and that he “was very strongly encouraging the prime minister to go to the Ukraine”, which stood in contrast to other senior Coalition figures, including Angus Taylor and David Littleproud, who criticised the PM’s travel schedule.
Dutton:
I was supportive of that visit, and I’m supportive of the prime minister acting in our national interest in travelling where it’s necessary to do so. If it’s an indulgence, that’s a different story.
The Liberal leader went on to claim, however, that Albanese had delayed federal funding for victims of the NSW floods until he could return from Europe. Upon his return to Australia last week from the Nato summit, Albanese went straight to the flood zones the next day, announcing new support packages.
Dutton:
I was critical of the prime minister for delaying the announcement of support to flood victims in New South Wales so that it coincided with him being able to get back and have a photo opportunity. I thought that was fairly low brow, actually.
I think he could have made the announcement, provided the support, before he landed on the ground – and if there’s a criticism, that’s where I would level it.
Labor made similar criticisms of former PM Scott Morrison following the Lismore floods in March. Morrison caught Covid-19 at the time and was forced into isolation, and some members of the then-opposition claimed the government had waited until the PM could physically visit the disaster zone to announce further funding.
Updated
Australian-born astronaut’s ashes fulfil dream
Nearly 50 years after his mission into space was aborted – and a year after his death – Australian-born astronaut Phillip K Chapman is to finally fulfil his life’s ambition, AAP reports.
Some of his ashes, sealed in a little capsule, will be taken on a memorial flight into orbit where they will briefly experience weightlessness of space before returning safely to Earth.
The flight is scheduled for 30 November.
Chapman’s remains will then be flown again on a permanent deep space mission.
His wife, Marie Tseng, says she is pleased he is finally getting to live out his boyhood dream of getting off “this little rock” and exploring the vastness of space.
He was an adventurer and was committed to supporting commercial space businesses so the Celestis flights resonated well with his life goals and personality.
He would be sorry that his living self will not be flying because he would want to conduct scientific experiments and revel in the experience.
The joyful and exciting Celestis flights are wonderful ways for us, the survivors, to commemorate Phil.
Born in Melbourne in 1935, Chapman spoke of his intergalactic dreams from the age of 12 and dedicated his life to advancing space exploration and civilisation.
He trained as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force before joining the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions for a winter on the frozen continent to experience living in isolated and difficult terrain.
Eager to get to the US, he joined MIT’s Experimental Astronomy Lab and in 1967 became Nasa’s first foreign-born scientist-astronaut.
He was the mission scientist for Apollo 14 – one of the six that landed humans on the moon – and claimed to be the man behind the televised “feather and hammer” experiment, where moon walkers tested the three-centuries-old Galileo Galilei theory that all objects fall with equal speed in a vacuum.
Chapman himself was slated to rocket into space in 1975 as part of the SkyLab B mission but in 1972 it was aborted, with then-president Richard Nixon deciding not to put more money into such projects.
Chapman resigned from Nasa later that year but never gave up on his passion.
Updated
Since the 1960s, Tasmania’s giant kelp has all but vanished
The thick underwater forests off Tasmania’s east coast used to be so dense they were marked as shipping hazards on nautical charts. Thriving stands of giant kelp, which grows up to 40 metres high, once provided habitat for fur seals, seahorses, weedy sea dragons, rock lobsters, abalone and fish.
Since the 1960s, Tasmania’s giant kelp has all but vanished. Despite the rapid speed at which the brown algae grows – up to half a metre a day – around 95% has been killed off by warm waters pushed southwards by the east Australian current.
“Coral reefs and the Great Barrier Reef get a lot of attention, and a lot of funding,” says Dr Cayne Layton, of the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies. “Kelp forests and many other temperate, or cold water, marine ecosystems really suffer from an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ kind of mentality.”
In addition to supporting complex ecosystems, kelp has “a really important job in maintaining water quality in coastal areas”, he says.
For the last two years, Layton and his colleagues at IMAS have been working on restoration projects at several sites off the Tasmanian coast. The team has grown and planted giant kelp that is naturally more tolerant of warm water – up to 4C more heat-resistant than average.
“Tasmania is not only getting warmer, our coastal waters are also declining in nutrients. It’s hard to unpick exactly which of those factors is more important,” Layton says. He hopes the heat-tolerant plantings could be more resilient to low nutrients.
For more on the conservation work underway to resurrect Tasmania’s giant kelp forests, read the full story from Guardian Australia’s science reporter Donna Lu.
Updated
‘I am sick and tired of killing animals and leaving them’
On a farm in Tasmania’s central midlands, Scott Chorley crouches in the short grass. He fires a single shot. It rings across the flat pasture, hitting a fallow deer clear between the eyes. It’s his 50th for the evening – and almost 400th this year. Every year, Chorley, one man in a team of seven commercial hunters, shoots about 900 deer. He then leaves them to rot.
“I just kill them and leave them on the ground,” he says.
Chorley can take some meat for personal use, but because of a law protecting the deer, he is not allowed to sell any of it. As a result, an estimated 15,000 deer are shot in Tasmania each year and their carcasses are left in pits.
To shoot deer in Tasmania, landholders need to apply for a crop protection permit and hunters have to have a game licence – which only allows them to shoot through a limited season. Otherwise they are considered a protected species.
“I am sick and tired of killing animals and leaving them,” Chorley says. “I commercially sell our native animal, [the] forester kangaroo. No one complains about that. The forester kangaroo is only in Tasmania.
“The deer has been introduced 190 years ago, and it is all over the world; forester kangaroo isn’t. I can go out and shoot 50 tonight and sell them, but I can’t sell one ounce of venison – it makes no sense.”
Environmentalists, farmers and hunters are not often bedfellows, especially in Tasmania. But on this they agree – there are too many deer.
For the full details on Tasmania’s efforts to control feral deal populations, read the full story by Guardian Australia reporter Cait Kelly.
Updated
$66bn lost through poker machines in Victoria in three decades, analysis suggests
An analysis by the Alliance for Gambling Reform suggests $66bn has been lost through poker machines in Victoria since their introduction 30 years ago.
The first poker machines were introduced on 17 July 1992 at the Dorset Gardens hotel in Croydon, marking the 30th anniversary on Sunday.
The alliance’s chief advocate Tim Costello said what has happened since is a “tragedy” that has inflicted “profound damage” on “people, families and communities”.
Back then Victoria started with 10,000 machines, today there are almost 30,000 poker machines and despite mandatory closing laws, operators have found loopholes to provide gambling access 24 hours a day – and in some of Victoria’s most vulnerable communities.
The $66bn loss figure comes from analysis completed by the alliance using publicly available information from the regulator, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission. It was based on the annual and monthly data available which highlight the yearly electronic gaming machine expenditure since 1992.
As data was not available for June 2022 up to 17 July, the organisation used a “conservative estimate” of losses for that period totalling $250m for June and $125m for the first half of July.
The alliance is calling for uniform, mandatory closing hours on all venues between 2am and 6am, the introduction of universal pre-commitment on all machines and the lowering of maximum bets to $1.
Updated
Western Australian researchers home in on dark matter
Australian researchers have taken a step closer to solving one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.
While science may still be in the dark about what dark matter is, it now has a better idea of what it isn’t thanks to the University of Western Australia’s ORGAN Experiment.
After four years of preparation, the country’s first major foray into so-called antimatter or dark energy detection has completed a substantive search for hypothetical elementary particles known as axions.
The result, according to PhD student Aaron Quiskamp, means science’s leading minds can rule out a popular theory about the nature of dark matter, narrowing the possibilities for what it could be.
Although we didn’t find any, it’s very exciting because it’s Australia’s first large-scale, long-term direct dark matter detection experiment.
It’s also given us useful information about what axion dark matter isn’t, which tells future axion searches across the globe where not to look.
From AAP
Updated
National Covid summary
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia on Sunday, as the country records at least 30 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 956
- In hospital: 167 (with 6 people in ICU)
NSW
- Deaths: 12
- Cases: 10,198
- In hospital: 2,057 (with 63 people in ICU)
Northern Territory
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 463
- In hospital: 42 (with 1 person in ICU)
Queensland
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 5,989
- In hospital: 876 (with 20 people in ICU)
South Australia
- Deaths: 1
- Cases: 3,358
- In hospital: 288 (with 10 people in ICU)
Tasmania
- Deaths: 1
- Cases: 1,410
- In hospital: 152 (with 1 person in ICU)
Victoria
- Deaths: 16
- Cases: 9,630
- In hospital: 760 (with 7 people in ICU)
Western Australia
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 5,933
- In hospital: 377 (with 17 people in ICU)
Updated
Australian government wrongly cancelled citizenship of man on death row in Iraq, family claim
The former Coalition government wrongly cancelled the citizenship of an Australian man on death row in Iraq, leaving him stateless as he awaited hanging on terrorism charges, his family and lawyers claim.
Ahmad Merhi, originally from Sydney, travelled to Syria in 2014. He was captured in the country in 2017.
Merhi, 30, was then transferred by US forces to Iraq, one of a series of prisoner transfers that has concerned human rights groups.
In Iraq, Merhi says he was coerced into confessing to terrorism charges and in November 2018 he was sentenced to death by hanging.
According to a translation of Iraqi court documents, the charges included that he was an Islamic State member being paid a monthly bond, that he completed weapons training, and was assigned to its “Health Bureau”. Merhi claims he was wrongfully convicted.
Merhi says he was informed by letter after his sentencing that his citizenship had been cancelled. He is eligible for Lebanese citizenship, but says he has never held it.
Merhi’s family and Australian lawyer are urging the Albanese government to overturn the cancellation, citing obligations under international law regarding statelessness and a recent high court decision.
Full story here:
Updated
One new Covid death in Tasmania
One person with Covid-19 has died in Tasmania overnight.There were 1410 new cases, with 152 people in hospital and one in ICU.
17 July 2022
— COVID Tasmania (@CovidTasmania) July 17, 2022
Stats page updated in last half hour
New cases as previously reported
Sadly 1 death
Hospital ⬆️
ICU ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/aiM5hOxjtu
Updated
ACT records 956 new Covid cases
There are 167 people in hospital, with six in ICU and three requiring ventilation.
(1/3) ACT COVID-19 update – 17 July 2022
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 17, 2022
🦠 COVID-19 case numbers
◾ New cases today: 956 (508 PCR and 448 RAT)
◾ Active cases: 7,165 (4,045 PCR and 3,120 RAT)
◾ Total cases since March 2020: 178,007 (106,071 PCR and 71,936 RAT) pic.twitter.com/hPPiKZESkg
Updated
No new Covid-19 deaths in Northern Territory
No people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Territory overnight, with the state recording 463 new cases on Sunday morning, 42 people in hospital and one person in ICU.
RBA chief and treasurer meet for digital currency panel in Bali
Reserve Bank Australia governor, Philip Lowe, will take part in a panel discussion at a G20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting side event in Bali on Sunday afternoon
Lowe will be joined by treasurer, Jim Chalmers, to discuss the issue of digital currencies and crypto assets. The meeting comes ahead of a raft of economic data that is expected to be released next week.
On Tuesday the RBA will issue the minutes of its July 5 board meeting at which it hiked the cash rate by 50 basis points to 1.35% and ANZ-Roy Morgan will also release the weekly consumer confidence survey.
RBA deputy governor Michele Bullock will deliver a speech on Tuesday at the Economic Society in Brisbane, which will be closely scrutinised for indications of the size of the next rate hike widely expected to be announced on August 2.
On Wednesday, Lowe and Chalmers will deliver speeches at the Australian newspaper’s Strategic Business Forum in Melbourne and the National Skills Commission will release figures from the Internet Vacancy Index and Vacancy Report.
Westpac will also on Wednesday issue its leading index for June.
On Thursday, OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann will address an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce event in Perth.
S&P Global will shed light on Friday on business activity with the release of its July advance results of surveys of purchasing managers.
Updated
One new Covid death in South Australia
One person with Covid-19 has died in South Australia overnight, with the state recording 3,358 new cases on Sunday morning, 288 people in hospital, and 10 in ICU.
South Australian COVID-19 update 17/07/22.
— SA Health (@SAHealth) July 17, 2022
For more information, go to https://t.co/XkVcAmeZ6V pic.twitter.com/RnKG1jXT7n
Updated
The cold reality for victims of Queensland’s social housing crisis
During her 14 months on Queensland’s bulging social-housing waiting list, Sarah Paasi has learned that warm places to pass a winter’s night include car park staircases, storm drains and tunnels.
But the most pressing problem for the 26-year-old Brisbane woman on the nights she sleeps rough is what to do with her baby boy, Marcus.
“He’s a fucking genius,” Paasi says. “I gotta tell you man, he’s the smartest one-and-a-bit-year-old I’ve ever met. And he’s a really well-behaved baby.”
On the nights she has to sleep rough, Paasi tries to leave Marcus with his paternal grandparents. However, it is often too uncomfortable for her to stay because Marcus’s father, Paasi’s partner of almost a decade, spends much of his time there.
“Our relationship fell apart because we were so stressed and broke and homeless,” Paasi says. “Homelessness has literally fucked my whole life.”
Paasi is one of thousands of Queenslanders approved for social housing who have no house to go to.
A report released this week by Queensland’s auditor general, Brendan Worrall, found 30,922 households – more than 50,000 people – on the state’s housing register, a figure which has grown by 78% since 2018.
That figure might be inaccurate – which is only compounding the problem. Worrall found the state government was failing to keep an accurate waiting list and manage its existing stock.
The biggest problem, though, is that they are not building enough homes.
For more about how Queenslanders are struggling to house its most vulnerable, get the full story from Guardian Australia reporter Joe Hinchliffe.
Updated
Ukraine conflict painful reminder of downing of flight MH17 eight years ago, Marles says
Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine is a painful reminder of the tragic downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, says deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, on the eighth anniversary of the disaster.
On its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the Boeing 777 airliner was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew including 38 Australians and 193 Dutch travellers.
Australia’s legal proceedings against Russia over the affair are being made alongside the Netherlands to the International Civil Aviation Organisation in a bid to force the payment of reparations.
As part of the action, the two countries are seeking a declaration Russia broke the international civil aviation convention, known as the Chicago Convention.
Marles says Australia is steadfast in its commitment to seek truth, justice and accountability for the victims of the downed flight.
Our thoughts remain with those who lost their lives, their families and loved ones.
Since 2018, Australia has maintained that the Russian Federation is responsible under international law for the downing of Flight MH17.
This is based on the strong body of evidence presented by the Joint Investigation Team.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU’s top diplomat has also issued a statement expressing sympathy over the tragedy.
The European Union reiterates its full support for all efforts to establish the truth, achieving justice for the 298 victims of the downing of Flight MH17 and their next of kin and holding those responsible to account.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands have requested life sentences for four Russian and Ukrainian men on charges connected to the downing of the jet with a Russian-made Buk missile.
Updated
No new Covid deaths in Western Australia
No one with Covid-19 has died in Western Australia overnight, with the state recording 5,933 new cases on Sunday morning, and 377 people in hospital and 17 in ICU.
Media statement: COVID-19 update 17 July 2022 https://t.co/GxFPwO3ncC
— WA Health (@WAHealth) July 17, 2022
Updated
Important research to be undertaken on Mallacoota whale
Although we now know the whale that washed up in East Gippsland this week is not Migaloo, there’s still important research that should be carried out, a marine scientist says.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta told the ABC that research could determine whether the whale was in fact an albino, like Migaloo, or whether its skin pigmentation had been whitened after exposure to weather.
She said it was unclear how many albino whales there were in the wild.
That’s why I think Migaloo is so famous because ... it’s not every day you hear of or see a white whale. So the mystery continues though because now the question is, well, where is Migaloo, who is this? What has happened to this whale?
Samples will be taken, measurements more for metrics of how long the arms are, the flukes, and then the initial assessment.
The carcass would then have to be moved from the beach for further testing, which could prove a logistical challenge, Pirotta said.
Updated
A lot of families ‘in for a tough time’, treasurer warns
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned families will be in for a tough economic time in coming months, ahead of an expected rise in inflation.
Inflation levels are set to rise when the latest consumer price index figures are released later this month.
In an appearance on Sky News on Sunday, Chalmers said that while inflation was set to flatten some time next year, there would be hip-pocket pain for Australians in the near future.
Unfortunately, we expect this inflation challenge to get worse before it gets better, but it will get better.
We expect inflation to moderate next year, but we’re in for a tough time for a lot of families.
Inflation is currently sitting at 5.1%, the highest level for two decades.
Chalmers said the increase in inflation would also likely have a flow-on effect to the official interest rate.
The Reserve Bank of Australia will next meet on 2 August, with a further rates rise expected.
– From AAP
Updated
Victoria redeploys hospital staff in response to Covid surge
An extra 400 staff will be deployed across Victorian hospitals to ease pressure on the state’s ailing health system amid rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations, AAP reports.
A $162m package to respond to the emergence of the Omicron BA.4 and 5 variants causing a rise in hospitalisations and sick healthcare workers has been unveiled by the Victorian government.
It will fund 400 additional specialist staff at 12 major hospitals across Melbourne and Geelong.
Among the staff will be offload nurses for ambulances, triage doctors responsible for assessing patients and discharge coordinators to focus on the timely transition of care from the ward to home or another healthcare facility.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said some of the health workers will be recruited and others redeployed from their current roles as their jobs are backfilled.
They’re all funded ... money’s not the issue. It’s a matter of moving people around the system so that patients can move through the system better.
Stage 3 of Victoria’s winter response plan has also been triggered, unlocking private hospital capacity for public patients and converting more hospitals to tier 1 streaming services.
Other newly announced measures include setting up new paediatric GP respiratory clinics at the Royal Children’s and Monash Children’s hospitals, and a trial to use some private hospital EDs and acute beds to treat public patients.
Since 22 June, Victoria has experienced a 99% rise in people in hospital with Covid, a 60% increase in Covid-related ICU admissions and a 47% spike in workforce furloughs.
More than 10,000 Victorian health staff were off work sick over the first week of July alone, the state government says.
Updated
What one jobseeker is forced to do to keep her benefits
A 63-year-old woman from regional South Australia needs to make a 250km round trip to meet her mutual obligations and keep her benefits under the new $1.5bn-a-year Workforce Australia program.
Michelle (name changed), who lives in Yorketown, on the Yorke Peninsula, has been referred to a job agency in Kadina, about one and a half hour’s drive or 125km from her home.
Under the mutual obligations system, jobseekers who are connected with a job agency must attend appointments with case workers at an employment services provider to keep their payments. However, these appointments do not count towards the new points-based activation system that requires jobseekers to complete various tasks to get enough points to keep their welfare payments.
It comes after another jobseeker told Guardian Australia this week he would need to travel 60km by bus to his appointment after the job agency in his town closed.
For all the details on how people are grappling with the latest overhaul of the social security system, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s social affairs and inequality editor Luke Henriques-Gomez.
Updated
No new Covid deaths in Queensland
No people with Covid-19 have died in Queensland overnight, with the state recording 5,989 new cases on Sunday morning, 876 people in hospital, and 20 in ICU.
Today we have recorded 5,989 new COVID-19 cases.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) July 17, 2022
Death numbers are not reported on Saturday and Sunday.
Full details➡️https://t.co/rKHIwroZeI pic.twitter.com/uGnSjhCtRq
Queensland to roll out EV charging stations into outback
Electric vehicle drivers will soon be able to travel through the Queensland outback, with dozens of new charging stations set to be rolled out, AAP reports.
The state’s energy and renewables minister Mick de Brenni said on Sunday that Queensland’s “Electric Super Highway” will expand inland to mining town Mount Isa in the north and Cunnamulla near the NSW border, with 24 new stations planned.
The first charging station to open as part of the phase 3 will be at Kingaroy in August. Other stations including Longreach, Cloncurry and Stanthorpe will open in the coming months.
De Brenni said the rising cost of fuel and supply chain challenges had increased the urgency for more affordable and clean energy options.
Queenslanders are acutely aware of the current global challenges driving up the costs of transport, so developing Australia’s sovereign energy independence through more locally made energy is making more economic sense than ever.
Charging stations already stretch along the state’s coast, allowing electric vehicle drivers to travel from Coolangatta near the NSW border to Cairns in the tropical north.
The phase 3 rollout will make the charging network almost 5,400km long.
It comes as Queensland’s electric vehicle fleet grows to 10,161 cars and buses, up from 525 in 2017.
More than 10,000 electric vehicles have now been registered in Queensland 🚗⚡
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 16, 2022
Updated
Authorities confirm white whale is not Migaloo
A white whale that washed up on a Victorian beach is not the well-known albino humpback Migaloo, according to the state’s environment department.
The carcass of an albino whale was found at a beach in Mallacoota in the state’s far east this week, sparking concern it could be Migaloo, who was first spotted off Byron Bay in 1991.
But Peter Brick, of Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP), said images of the carcass that had been viewed by officials proved it was not Migaloo. He told AAP:
DELWP officers have examined images of the dead humpback whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female. Migaloo is a male.
Updated
Victorian Coalition would legislate a 50% emissions target
The Victorian opposition is promising to legislate an emissions reduction target of 50% by 2030 if it wins the November state election.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy on Sunday unveiled the policy, which matches Victorian Labor’s target and is higher than the 43% goal set by the federal government.
The Victorian government has already committed to slashing emissions 50% by the end of the decade, but has not legislated the interim target.
Under the Coalition’s plan to reach the 2030 target, it has pledged to establish a $1bn hydrogen strategy, upgrade transmission infrastructure in western Victoria to unlock renewable energy and set up a “Fixing Victoria’s Grid” taskforce.
It will also legislate a local gas guarantee for new supply, a policy first announced in 2017, within the first six months of taking office.
Guy said it showed the Victorian Liberals’ and Nationals’ commitment to climate change action says it will “send the strongest possible signal that action on climate change is a priority”.
– with AAP
Updated
Severe weather warnings across NSW
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast rain across much of southern Australia and severe weather warnings across New South Wales for Sunday that will ease into this evening.
⚠️ Severe Weather Warning re-issued for damaging winds. These conditions are expected to persist today (Sunday), but will ease below warning thresholds later tonight. Further details see: https://t.co/EIDIQ8QOID pic.twitter.com/X0ZxiqhOtN
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) July 16, 2022
Updated
White whale not Migaloo
Authorities appear to have confirmed the white whale on Mallacoota beach is not Migaloo.
BREAKING: The whale that washed up dead on a Mallacoota beach is NOT Migaloo.
— Callum Godde (@calgodde) July 17, 2022
"DELWP Officers have examined images of the dead Humpback Whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female. Migaloo is a male," DELWP's Peter Brick says @AAPNewswire
Full details yet to come.
Updated
Chalmers dismisses criticism over pandemic leave payments
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has brushed off criticism the government was too slow to act in reinstating the pandemic leave payments in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases, AAP reports.
The $750 pandemic isolation payment, which ended on 30 June, was extended to the end of September following a national cabinet meeting on Saturday.
The government had previously ruled out bringing back the payments due to budget pressures.
Acting opposition leader Sussan Ley said the government had been dragged “kicking and screaming” to reinstate the payments, but Chalmers described the criticism as ridiculous.
It was her government a little over eight weeks ago that designed this program to end at the end of June.
We will get on with our work, working with the states and territories, led by premiers and chief ministers of both persuasion.
The treasurer said there would be an increase in Covid cases across the country in coming weeks.
Clearly for us, we’re about to have another spike in cases.
A new telehealth program will start next week, allowing GPs to spend longer with patients to assess their suitability for Covid-19 antiviral treatments.
Updated
Dutton calls for Aukus submarine process to be sped up
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has called on the government to speed up the process to acquire nuclear submarines as part of the Aukus security pact.
Following growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, Dutton said it was critical the timeline be condensed surrounding the vessels.
It comes after defence minister Richard Marles flagged an announcement on whether Australia would acquire US or UK-made submarines as part of Aukus during the first quarter of 2023.
A decision would then be made on when the new vessels would become operational.
Dutton said it was important for cooperation to be sped up on the issue:
The agreement was struck under the Coalition government, we really fought hard, we negotiated a very difficult discussion.
We got, I think, the best possible outcome and it’s laid out for the Labor party now to implement, and hopefully they don’t get in the way of it.
I hope that they can really condense the timelines, because the very clear sense that I’ve got out of our discussions with the [US] administration here is that things are deteriorating in relation to China.
The comments come as Dutton attended the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in Washington.
The bipartisan event was also attended by Marles, with Aukus key among the topics discussed with American officials.
From AAP
Updated
Dutton: possible war in Europe reason for opposing 43% target
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has appeared on Sky News from Washington this morning, where he raised the prospect of war in Europe as a reason for opposing the government’s effort to lock in a 43% target:
If our trading partners or an ally like the United States or others in Europe decided to adjust their emissions, if Europe went into a broader war, then – and there was a severe economic downturn, would the government want to have a legislated 43[%]? Or would they want to adjust and deal with the reality of the times?
A report by InfluenceMap, a European thinktank that tracks lobbying by fossil fuel companies, found in May that the war in Ukraine has become a key talking point in the US oil and gas sector to slow efforts to combat climate change:
The industry appears to be using a number of key narratives to push its pro-fossil fuel agenda, many of which appear to include misleading claims or misinformation.
These narratives are being used to push for a long-term role for oil and fossil gas in the energy mix and appear to be targeted towards specific policy demands. These include advocating for policies which encourage new and/or increased oil and gas production, and rolling back previous climate policy decisions that limited the production of oil and gas or required climate considerations in new projects.
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Greens want to negotiate on emissions targets
And that’s a wrap! Just to recap, Greens leader Adam Bandt was at pains to point out the Greens want to negotiate on emissions targets and were trying to push back on the “take it or leave it approach” so far adopted by the federal Labor government.
While this may help Labor frame itself as a moderate government, it also risks alienating those constituencies that voted for stronger climate action with the Greens and independents.
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Bandt: ‘Labor is hellbent on opening new coal and gas projects’
The conversation then moves on to new fossil fuel projects. Bandt makes the point that Australia’s environmental laws allow approvals without any consideration of how they will contribute to climate change. Bandt uses the example of WA and NT:
Look at what happened in Western Australia under a Labor government. The Environmental Protection [Authority] came out and said if we’re going to open up new gas projects, it’s all got to be offset and it’s all got to be carbon neutral, and the Labor government came in and said, ‘nah, we’re going to override that, we’re going to give you a free pass, and you can keep on polluting and open up the new projects’.
The Northern Territory Labor government since the election has already come with its handout to the federal government, saying can we have public money, taxpayers’ money, used to open up the Bedaloo? That will be a test for the federal government as well.
Bandt then sums up the Greens’ assessment on Labor’s current approach:
What we’re learning clearly is Labor is hellbent on opening new coal and gas projects. Part of the Greens’ job is to try and push them and say if we are in a climate emergency – and we are, and the government has just agreed to this this week, in an emergency – you don’t make the problem worse.
You don’t put the fire out while you’re pouring petrol on it.
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‘Our strong preference is to work with the government,’ says Greens leader
Bandt is trying to be really clear about what the Greens want out of this term of parliament:
I think the message from this election is take action on climate and people want us to work together to take action on climate.
Our strongly preferred approach is to improve and pass. But if the government says it’s our way or the highway, then we’re going to have to respond to that.
Our strong preference is to work with the government to get good climate legislation passed. And if the government’s willing to sit down and talk, we are too.
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Bandt: ‘Labor’s vote went backwards’
Speers asks Bandt about Labor’s mandate and suggests this shows Australians do not support a legislated 43% target. Bandt’s response is that the Greens vote also massively increased:
Labor’s vote went backwards. The Coalition’s vote went backwards. The parties and independents whose vote went up were the ones who said we’ve got to stop opening coal and gas. The government – we now have a situation where less than one in three people in this country voted for the government, OK?
[...] A number of people voted for the Greens and preferenced them. That’s a clear message. Do better on climate.
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Greens’ questions for the government
Bandt lays out what the Greens want to know from the government: 1) any emissions target can’t be a ceiling; 2) a genuine floor on the emissions target; 3) no ability for governments to backward; and 4) what is the target going to make the government do?
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Labor adopting ‘take it or leave it’ approach, says Bandt
Bandt warns the government is adopting a “take it or leave it” approach to negotiating climate legislation, when there are real issues to address, such as the extent of climate ambition and how to phase out fossil fuels.
We’re saying that’s not our position. We’re saying we’d be willing to have discussions with the government but these are the things that have to be on the table. We’re not going into it with ultimatums.
I’m not talking about bottom lines and ultimatums but you can’t even have this discussion if the government is saying it’s my way or the highway, which is with where, with respect to the target, where they’re at at the moment.
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Bandt: just one coal project could ‘blow 43% out of the water’
Bandt also talks about Labor’s plans for opening up new coal and gas projects and how this is of concern with the current legislation, making the point that just one project – such as Woodside’s $16.5bn Scarborough gas project – would blow the 43% emissions figure alone.
If we’re negotiating climate legislation, then this government, now they’re in power, has to grapple with the question of are they going to open up more coal and gas projects that could potentially blow 43% out of the water? Just one of those projects could do that.
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Greens leader: 43% ‘stuck in law’
Speers follows up about the comments from Bandt that the legislation creates a ceiling not a floor. Bandt unpacks this, saying it locks in 43% in law and that this figure remains “stuck in law”.
You’d have to come back to parliament to change that 43%! Which you could do. But what if there’s a new Senate this government didn’t have to come to parliament to announce its target?
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Bandt: new legislation needs to be ‘Dutton-proofed’
Bandt says the Greens have seen the legislation that has been proposed by the new Labor government and that it contains several issues, including a “ceiling” on action. Bandt says any legislation needs to be “Dutton-proofed”.
It potentially puts a ceiling on the ambition so it means potentially if a future government wanted to lift the 43% target they might have to come back to parliament. Imagine a change of Senate that gives Pauline Hanson in the future veto over a future government.
A future government might actually be able to put in a commitment to the Paris agreement that’s lower than 43%. So if you’re going to legislate, you want to Dutton-proof it.
As some commentators have said, it doesn’t actually compel the government to do anything. There’s nothing in there that says this is how we’re going it cut pollution.
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Adam Bandt on Insiders: ‘too early’ for 43% target support
Adam Bandt is speaking to ABC Insiders’ David Speers now and the first question off the line is whether the Greens will support the governments 43% target?
Bant says it’s “too early to tell”.
We’ll wait and see what the ultimate legislation looks like. We’ve seen some leaked legislation this week and there’s some problems with that that we’ll get a chance to talk about. We’ve got a number of senators who have only just taken up office 1 July. We’re getting together as a group for the first time next week to sit and we’ll start discussing, including this legislation. And we still haven’t had parliament sit yet. There’ll be a Senate inquiry and so on.
It’s going to take two to tango to get legislation through the parliament and so we want to have some good-faith discussions with the parliament.
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Sixteen new Covid deaths in Victoria
Sixteen people with Covid-19 have died in Victoria overnight, with the state recording 9,630 new cases on Sunday morning, 760 people in hospital, 37 in ICU and seven on ventilation.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 16, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/OCCFTAcOZP#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/MWnqLaaVB6
3 doses (16+): 68.8%
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 16, 2022
2 doses (12+): 94.7%
Doses total: 6,297,247
Hospital: 760
ICU: 37
Ventilated: 7
Lives lost: 16
New cases: 9,630 (Rapid antigen test cases: 7,089, PCR test cases: 2,541)
PCR tests: 13,775
Active cases (all): 63,321
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Twelve new Covid deaths in New South Wales
Twelve people with Covid-19 have died in New South Wales overnight, with the state recording 10,198 new cases on Sunday morning, 63 people in hospital and 2,057 in ICU.
COVID-19 update – Sunday 17 July 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 16, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 96.7% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 95.2% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/Lwu9Aisjyb
- 68.5% of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine*
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 16, 2022
- 82.6% of people aged 12-15 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 78.9% of people aged 12-15 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 49.7% of people aged 5-11 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 2,057 hospitalisations
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 16, 2022
- 63 people in ICU
- 12 lives lost
- 10,198 positive tests: 4,810 RAT & 5,388 PCR
*Includes both immunocompromised people who have received a third dose and all eligible people who have received a booster.
More info: https://t.co/Q2V9OB88qc
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Dark patch suggests whale not Migaloo, says expert
Dr Vanessa Pirotta from the White Whale Research Centre told the ABC this morning that researchers were 50% certain a dark patch of skin suggested a whale that washed ashore in eastern Victoria was not the famed white whale Migaloo.
Pirotta said the team could not be certain until genetic testing was performed but warned the public not to approach the carcass as it “could carry a number of diseases that could be problematic” and other risks.
It’s really important to note if you have an animal like this on a beach 40,000kg potentially of blubber and whale, that could naturally, as it decomposing, leak juices into the area which would bring upon other animals that are part of the natural ecosystem, like sharks, to help break down this animal over time.
Additional photo assessments made based on the available information we have re the #whitewhale. Follow @Migaloo1 for additional updates. #Migaloo #victoria #australia https://t.co/pO7joTYncf
— Dr. Vanessa Pirotta (@VanessaPirotta) July 16, 2022
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Northern Territory lifts intervention-era alcohol ban
Intervention-era laws that imposed a blanket alcohol ban across Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have come to an end after a decade.
Commonwealth laws banning alcohol in remote Aboriginal communities expired at midnight on Saturday, meaning liquor may be legally available for the first time in 15 years in some places.
The Northern Territory government amended its own liquor laws in preparation to the ban ending, but the process in which an “opt in” system was created raised significant concern. However, the government has been criticised for a lack of consultation with communities about the end of these restrictions.
Author Thomas Mayor says the situation shows the importance of an Indigenous voice to parliament:
The deficiency in the way that the Northern Territory government has consulted, that can be addressed with a strong voice, to be able to say to the government ... this is how you need to consult in the future
An advocate for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Mayor said the blanket federal policy had been a failure:
One of the effects was that people just moved out of community to to access alcohol (and were) on the roads putting themselves and others in danger
It just created more opportunities for Indigenous people to be incarcerated ... and basically was in ignorance to the real causes of alcohol problems in communities
About 100 communities that were already under other NT liquor restrictions before the commonwealth law came into force in 2007 will revert to the previous controls.
The Howard government’s intervention in 2007 was an attempt to address violence, abuse and poverty in Indigenous communities.
The alcohol ban it introduced was continued by the Gillard government in 2012 with the Stronger Futures Act.
– from AAP
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Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
State and territory leaders are urging Australians to wear masks as the federal government has backtracked on a decision to end Covid-19 isolation payments for casual workers this month. With most government restrictions now lifted and new variants of Covid spreading, the growing number of cases is putting pressure on the country’s hospital systems.
A white whale has washed up on a beech in Mallacoota in far eastern Victoria, raising questions about whether it is the body of a well-known white whale Migaloo, a regular along the Australian coast since 1991.
Greens leader Adam Bandt will be appearing on ABC Insiders this morning. We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, and I’ll be taking the blog through the day. It’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started ...
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