The day that was, Sunday 24 September
We are going to wrap up the live blog for Sunday. Here’s what made the news today:
The Northern Territory chief minister, Natasha Fyles, was allegedly assaulted at the Nightcliff markets in her electorate on Sunday. The ABC reports Fyles was distressed after a person shoved a cream pancake into her face.
A new poll shows about nine in 10 voters rank the cost of living as one of the top five issues the government should focus on, while only 15% included the voice to parliament.
Timor-Leste has become the first fossil fuel-producing country to join a call for an end to oil, gas and coal production.
The minister for emergency management, Murray Watt, said Australia ‘is “much better prepared for this coming season” than the country was heading into the black summer bushfires.
A new federal government plan will investigate the creation of an Australia-wide system for connecting workers with specialised skills and training to employers with jobs
We’ll be back with you tomorrow morning to bring you all the latest developments. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Man in critical condition after e-bike crash in Sydney
A 28-year-old man has been injured in a crash involving an electronic bike in Watsons Bay, in Sydney.
Emergency services were called out to Old South Head Road at 1.30am after reports of a crash involving an electronic bike, NSW police said.
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the cyclist before taking him to St Vincent’s hospital in a critical condition.
A crime scene has been established and police have requested anyone who might have information or dashcam footage to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Updated
A crypto firm sent a disability worker $10m by mistake. Months later she was arrested at the airport
Thevamanogari Manivel had a one-way ticket to Malaysia and close to $11,000 in cash when police arrested her attempting to board a plane at Melbourne airport in March 2022.
Almost a year earlier, Crypto.com accidentally transferred more than $10m into the 41-year-old disability support worker’s Commonwealth Bank account. The cryptocurrency exchange had not picked up the error at the time – and only noticed seven months later during an audit.
Updated
Hybrid vehicles not best of both worlds
Hybrid electric vehicles might not be the green machines consumers think they are, with research finding major car brands are making potentially misleading claims about the technology.
Questionable marketing tactics included calling plug-in hybrid vehicles “the best of both worlds” and calling hybrids “self-charging cars” despite both vehicle types relying on petrol, the report found.
The research, released by the Environmental Defenders Office on Sunday, also questioned net zero pledges by major car brands when many had yet to commit to ending the production of petrol cars by 2035.
The study, called Driving Change or Just Filling Up the Tank, comes six months after the group raised concerns about Toyota’s marketing with Australia’s consumer watchdog, and after electric and hybrid vehicles recorded record sales in the country.
EDO safety climate managing lawyer Kirsty Ruddock said the group analysed claims from major car manufacturers to determine whether they overstated positive impacts made by their products or sought to mislead buyers.
She said “greenwashing” claims could be particularly harmful in the automotive industry as transport accounted for 23% of global carbon emissions.
Information that’s misleading may delay people’s decision-making and provide not enough information for people to really make the best informed choice.
The risk is they are misleading people and consumers are buying products that may not be as sustainable as they think.
The study found plug-in hybrid vehicles were often marketed as having “all the benefits of an electric vehicle” without charging challenges, even though research showed they used petrol engines almost twice as often as expected.
– AAP
Updated
Historic brewery site to be redeveloped
More than 1,000 new homes will be built on the site of the iconic former West End brewery in Adelaide’s inner-west after its sale was finalised.
The state Labor government will spend $61.5m on purchasing the 8.4-hectare site in Thebarton from Japan-owned brewing giant Lion.
It is planning a mixed-use development led by Renewal SA which will include at least 20% affordable housing as well as commercial, hospitality and retail opportunities.
Beer was first brewed on the site in 1886 when the Torrenside Brewery was founded.
It underwent significant developments and several name changes over the years before West End closed its doors in 2021.
An archaeological dig on the site in 2022 revealed remnants of the homestead of Adelaide’s original planner, Col William Light.
The premier, Peter Malinauskas, said historic structures on the site would be preserved and commercial opportunities would be balanced with community needs.
The state government is serious about delivering more housing for South Australians and the former West End Brewery site represents an incredible opportunity to develop a prime site near the city.
Construction is set to start in 2025 with residents moving in by 2027.
– AAP
Updated
Optus lobbying for funding from Netflix and other streamers to upgrade infrastructure
Optus has said 80% of its network traffic in peak hours is streaming video, as the company lobbies to get streamers like Netflix to pay telcos through a news media bargaining code-style arrangement.
As we have previously reported, there’s a push in a number of parts of the world from telcos to get Netflix and others to help fund infrastructure upgrades for telecoms companies to keep up with the demand placed on their networks due to the rise of streaming video.
In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry examining the influence of international digital platforms, Optus said streaming video had caused networks to strain:
This exponential growth in traffic from these services has placed a massive strain on the communications infrastructure with the telcos having to make huge capital investment to meet this increasing demand. Up to 80 per cent of the peak network traffic relates to these content services.
The telco argues that streamers should pay “fair share” contributions to the industry, and suggests it could be in the form of a digital levy, or alternatively through a negotiated settlement of costs between individual streamers and individual telcos, similar to how news media were paid by Meta and Google under the news media bargaining code.
Updated
Man seeks treatment for gunshot wound
A Victorian man has sought medical treatment for a suspected gunshot wound after an unusual plea from police.
Anthony Scott, 37, is believed to have been shot in the upper body during a violent altercation in Narre Warren in south-east Melbourne about 12.45am on Saturday.
Police responded to the incident but he and another man had already left the scene.
He was last seen in Forest Hill about 3am the same day.
Police issued a plea on Sunday morning for Scott to seek medical treatment for his injuries and have since confirmed he had done so after being located.
There is no suggestion Scott is wanted in connection with a crime.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are yet to be determined but police believe it was a targeted attack.
– AAP
Updated
NT chief minister allegedly assaulted at Nightcliff Markets
The chief minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles, has allegedly been physically assaulted at the Nightcliff Markets in Darwin on Sunday morning.
Guardian Australia has confirmed the incident allegedly took place at around 11.40am on Sunday at the markets.
NT police said in a statement that they are investigating the incident.
The ABC reported that Fyles was left shaken by the alleged assault.
The chief minister’s office has yet to comment on the incident.
Updated
Program getting Indigenous teens into workshop
An innovative program in north Queensland is hoping to encourage young First Nations people to take their love of cars to the workshop rather than the streets.
The Deterring Drivers program ran for six weeks in Townsville and combined education sessions on the dangers of joy-riding and the legal consequences of car theft with hands-on activities including panel beating workshops.
Seven Indigenous boys aged 13 to 16 took part in the Australian Catholic University pilot program, which aimed to reduce car thefts and encourage youths to engage in more social activities.
When asked how they first became involved in joy-riding, participants – whose real names are not being used – cited peer pressure, boredom and the enjoyment they gained from driving as well as a need to escape their circumstances.
Lead researcher and Australian Catholic University criminology lecturer Shannon Dodd said the public often heard the best response to youth offending was the court system, which could mean detention centres.
Research suggests that young joy riders often are really interested in cars and certainly some of the young people told us they were obsessed with cars or wanted to be mechanics when they were older.
Many of the cars at the workshop were there because they had been damaged through joy-riding and so they got to see the end result of joy-riding, to hear about how long the repairs take, how much it costs to repair and how long drivers would be without their vehicles for.
– AAP
Updated
Police recoup $45m as cybercriminals target businesses
Cybercriminals in Africa and eastern Europe are among those targeting Australian businesses as police manage to recoup $45m from online thieves.
The money, which the Australian federal police has returned to businesses in the past three years, represents almost half of cybercriminals’ haul from scamming businesses via email in 2021/22 alone.
That year, businesses reported losing more than $98m – or an average loss of $64,000 per successful breach – to email compromise scams, whereby criminals either hack into a legitimate email account or use a fake email account to steal money.
Cybercriminals were able to hack into businesses’ email accounts and alter the bank and contact details on invoices before they were sent on to customers, the AFP said.
They also impersonated the business to start a fake transaction with a customer, redirect salaries into their own bank accounts or trick workers into revealing sensitive business information.
Cybercrime operations commander Chris Goldsmid said local criminals and criminal groups along with those in Africa and eastern Europe were among the thieves targeting Australian businesses.
Businesses, especially mum-and-dad businesses, are the engine room of Australia. Business owners work hard and the AFP is working hard to protect them from the cybercriminals looking for an easy payday.
Cybercrime is the break-in of the 21st Century … and for many in the community it is reimagining what a crime scene looks like.
-AAP
Updated
Police charge 140 people for weapons in NSW blitz
Police have seized five firearms and 61 knives in a blitz targeting antisocial behaviour across New South Wales.
NSW police conducted Operation Foil II from Thursday until Saturday night in a crackdown on knife crime throughout the state.
At the end of the operation, 140 people were charged with weapon-related offences, drug detections, outstanding warrants and breaches of bail.
Det acting Supt Glen Parks, operations manager of the north-west metropolitan region, declared the operation a success but said the number of confiscated weapons was concerning.
Nevertheless, it is still concerning that we still have a portion of the community who chose to carry knives; and it’s particularly concerning that a large number of these are young people.
We see time and time again that carrying knives and other weapons can lead to an increase in violent confrontations.
But rest assured, we will continue to run these operations in the future, so if you plan on carrying a weapon, expect to be caught.
During the operation, officers arrested a 46-year-old man found in possession of a set of knuckle dusters, a man 31-year-old man found in possession of a large quantity of drugs and housebreaking equipment, and a 29-year-old woman who was driving disqualified after her car was stopped by road spikes when she attempted to run from police.
Updated
Police urge man to seek medical treatment for gunshot wound in Melbourne
Police are calling on a Victorian man to seek medical treatment for a suspected gunshot wound.
Anthony Scott, 37, is believed to have been shot in the upper body during a violent altercation in Narre Warren about 12.45am on Saturday, AAP reports.
Police responded to the Warrington Close incident but he and another man had already left the scene.
He was last seen in Forest Hill about 3am that same day.
Police say their priority is ensuring Scott receives medical attention for his injuries and to establish if anyone else needs help.
There is no suggestion he is wanted in connection with a crime.
Police say he might have a firearm in his possession so anyone who sees him should not approach him and instead contact triple-zero.
The circumstances surrounding the Narre Warren incident are yet to be determined but police believe it was a targeted attack.
- AAP
Updated
PM says ‘hope and optimism’ will win at voice referendum
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he wants there to be as broad support as possible in the event of a yes vote, and has reached out to leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, about his plan for a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
The PM said he had given a courtesy called to the opposition leader who thanked him for informing him and gave him permission to share details of their conversation publicly.
“It’s important that people be able to talk constructively,” Albanese said.
He also said that he has faith “hope and optimism” will win out over a “great deal of fear” at the referendum saying “there’s nothing to fear from this proposal”.
Updated
‘Vote for no is a vote for what we have now’: PM on voice referendum
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has delivered an address at Ashfield Uniting church for the launch of the Uniting Church’s Yes23 Campaign.
The PM used the appearance to announce that if Australians vote yes, a joint parliamentary committee with co-chairs from Labor and the Coalition will be created to oversee the development of legislation for the Voice Advisory Group.
Albanese said that “nowhere is the gap more clear than the gap which remains between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians” saying “a vote for no is a vote for what we have now, the same, to not change, to not search for something better.”
We know that we need to do better.
He also noted how those who drafted the Australian constitution did not include any provisions “acknowledging the full history of this country”.
[…] This should not be about politics.
This is about life itself, as Bill Crews has said.
The fact that voting for an Indigenous agency on matters affecting them, will also mean greater responsibility that Indigenous Australians will have for the outcomes.
And that’s why we see such broad support.
No downside for any of us, only upside.
Nothing for Australia to lose but there is so much for us to gain.
We gain 65,000 years of history, we gain the inspiration of the world’s oldest living culture, we gain the hope that the next generation of Indigenous Australians are going to have an equal chance to make a good life for themselves.
And while fear may be a powerful emotion, it is no match for that.
Fear never takes a country forward.
Only hope and optimism and a vision for a positive future can take us forward.
Saying no gets us nowhere.
Updated
Auction activity continues to rise
Auction activity has risen once again this weekend with 2,550 auctions undertaken.
This is higher than the 2,314 auctions held last week and almost double the 1,316 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 72% across the country, which is higher than the 70.1% rate recorded last week and the 64.4% actual rate on final numbers.
Across the capital cities:
Sydney: 777 auctions with a clearance rate of 74.4%
Melbourne: 838 auctions with a clearance rate of 70.5%
Brisbane: 148 auctions with a clearance rate of 70.3%
Adelaide: 82 auctions with a clearance rate of 84.1%
Canberra: 70 auctions with a clearance rate of 57.1%
Tasmania: One auction has been held
Perth: 17 of 20 auctions with a clearance rate of 29.4%
Updated
High petrol prices to fuel inflation
Inflation has come off its highs but the road back down is proving bumpy.
A jump in petrol prices is expected to show up in the monthly consumer prices index when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases the August report on Wednesday, AAP reports.
In July, the monthly indicator recorded a substantial slowdown in inflation to 4.9% from 5.4% in June.
The consumer price index will also include important markers of services inflation, which has been a source of concern for the Reserve Bank.
The central bank has been lifting interest rates to bring inflation down and a re-acceleration of inflation could complicate matters.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the inflation figures could swing around month to month but the overall direction of travel was down. Speaking to reporters on Friday he said:
Getting from A to B on inflation is not necessarily a straight line.
The nation will also get an update on its consumption habits with the ABS due to release retail sales data for August on Thursday.
The dataset will be of interest to the RBA as it looks to get a handle on the health of the household sector.
Other points of interest include finance and wealth data for the June quarter, to be released on Thursday, and lending data on Friday.
The assistant RBA governor, Brad Jones, is due to appear on a panel on Monday.
- AAP
Updated
Doctor indecently assaulted by senior colleague speaks out
When Dominique Lee got the results of the toxicology report confirming she had been drugged by an eminent doctor before he indecently assaulted her, she resolved to go to the police, even if it meant her career as a radiation oncologist would be over.
“It was clear I was harmed with intent,” Lee says, speaking publicly for the first time since Prof John Kearsley, the then director of radiation oncology at St George hospital in Sydney, was convicted of indecent assault. It remains the only time a junior doctor in Australia has won such a case against a senior doctor.
It was premeditated, and I was 100% sure that if it had happened to me, it had happened to others. And it would continue to happen if I didn’t do anything about it.
At the time of the assault in November 2013, Lee was in her final year of training. She knew that as a trainee accusing her mentor, the odds of a successful prosecution were stacked against her.
The specialty is a pretty small field, as so I thought at the time that everybody would find out, and then I would be labeled a troublemaker. This person was such a celebrated professor. I thought I had no chance of continuing in my job, basically.
According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, sexual offences are among the most difficult to successfully prosecute, and it can be even harder in professions such as medicine, where perpetrators often have significant social standing and institutional power.
For more on this story, read the full feature by Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey:
Updated
Victorian premier defends axing of family violence reform jobs
Dozens of jobs are being axed at the government agency that’s charged with reforming how Victoria handles family violence but the premier, Daniel Andrews, says it won’t affect frontline services, AAP reports.
Family Safety Victoria was set up within the Department of Health and Human Services in 2017 after the royal commission into family violence.
It was established to roll out reforms after the 2016 royal commission made 227 recommendations.
The agency is slated to have almost 80 roles axed, raising questions about how the Premier justified the cuts.
Because we’ve invested $6bn in family violence prevention – [it] might even be more than that now.
There’ll be no impact on frontline services.
We are just as urgent, just as active today as we’ve ever been and we are more so than any other jurisdiction in the country.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing has been contacted for comment.
- AAP
Updated
WA Libs pledge to expand GPS tracking of offenders
The Western Australian opposition has pledged $100m to stockpile GPS tracking bracelets for violent offenders who breach restraining orders, AAP reports.
The Liberal party has committed to securing 300 more of the bracelets if elected in 2025, with the opposition leader, Libby Mettam, pointing to a “spike” in restraining order breaches.
Under our policy, if you are a serious offender who deliberately breaches a violence restraining order and you are not sent to jail, then you will be tracked.
Breaches of family and domestic violence orders alone is up 22% in the last year, yet time and time again we are seeing these violent offenders re-offending upon release, often with tragic outcomes.
The opposition accused the Labor government of an “ad hoc approach” to the issue, saying it had dropped the ball on law and order.
The extra 300 bracelets – along with associated requirements, added services and preventive community education campaigns – would cost $25m a year, or $100m over four years, the opposition said.
The Labor government in 2019 promised a major expansion of electronic monitoring in the justice system, with the attorney general, John Quigley, saying capacity would allow for 500 people to be monitored at any given time.
The government launched a two-year $50m trial tracking 100 high-risk offenders in 2020.
As of August this year, about 260 people in WA were fitted with ankle bracelets, the West Australian reported.
The government has said it is up to the courts determine who should be fitted with tracking bracelets.
-AAP
Updated
Julian Leeser delivers speech on ‘the importance of empathy’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Julian Leeser have appeared at a Yes23 church event in Ashfield on Sunday.
Leeser, whose family survived the Holocaust, has delivered a moving speech on the Indigenous voice to parliament where he spoke at length about “the importance of empathy in our national life”.
Empathy […] is more than having a feeling of connection with people ‘just like us’. That is not an understanding or a reckoning with difference, it’s not true empathy.
Empathy is bigger. It’s not about accepting and embracing people because we can see ourselves in them. It is about standing with people and their right to dignity, freedom and self-expression when we can’t see the similarities.
[…]
Friends, tonight in my tradition is Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. For Jewish people, this past week has been a time of reflection. It is a sacred time. A time to right wrongs, and recommit to making the future better than the past.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about. Australians aren’t a perfect people, no people or nation is. But Australians are a good-hearted people. As a people, and as individuals, we have been on a journey – of knowing, of understanding and of reconciliation. Of moving from being strangers from each other to being siblings of this great land.
Yes, it’s been a long, slow and hard journey, particularly for our Indigenous brothers and sisters.
But it’s worth it.
Updated
Man charged after sword attack in Sydney
A man has been charged after repeatedly stabbing a 25-year-old with a sword in Lidcombe on Saturday night.
Police responded to reports of an assault but on around found a 26-year-old man with stab wounds in his arms and legs.
He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to Westmead hospital in a serious, but stable condition.
A 25-year-old man was arrested at the scene before being taken to Auburn police station where he was charged with wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta local court on Sunday.
Updated
Pesutto to rally Liberal party after division
The Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, will address members at a state council meeting in Melbourne months after dozens staged a walkout at the same event in Bendigo, AAP reports.
Sunday’s speech comes after the former upper house MP Philip Davis was elected as the party’s next Victorian president and the federal leader, Peter Dutton, issued a plea for unity.
We need to present in a united way to the public of Victoria.
If we can do that with the talent we have, adhering to our values, standing up for our principles, then we can win the next state election, win it well and we can get Victoria back on track.
Pesutto will be introduced by the newly elected Warrandyte MP, Nicole Werner, whose victory has been trumpeted as a changing of the guard for the beleaguered Liberals despite Labor not running a candidate in the seat.
At May’s state council meeting in Bendigo, dozens of members staged a walkout and heckled Pesutto as he rose to give a speech.
The behaviour was sparked by the expulsion of the first-term MP Moira Deeming from the party’s parliamentary team after she threatened Pesutto with defamation action over comments regarding her participation in an anti-trans rally gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Pesutto and Deeming were part of a three-hour mediation session earlier in September but it failed to reach an outcome.
There was no sign of unruly behaviour on Saturday as Dutton warned the Victorian party must do more to win the next state election.
Deeming attended Saturday’s event but was not scheduled to speak.
- AAP
Updated
Poll suggests Indigenous voice to parliament low priority
A new poll shows about nine in 10 voters rank the cost of living as one of the top five issues the government should focus on, while only 15% included the voice to parliament.
The RedBridge Group survey of 1,500 voters also found nearly two in three voters have seen an advertisement for the yes campaign, but just a third have seen one for the no campaign.
It also found there were 44 “very certain” no voters, and 21 very certain yes voters. Once the less certain votes are included, 62% are in the no camp, and 38 in the yes camp. RedBridge Group director Kos Samaras said:
It just tells you, what’s going on here is that the yes vote is struggling because it’s not a top issue or priority.
Samaras said other themes apparent in the data included that university educated, young and diverse voters were stronger supporters of a voice to parliament, while low income Australians were more likely to vote no. He said:
There’s a lot of status anxiety going on here. They don’t have much social capital … and their identity’s being challenged, and that’s all they’ve got left.
The yes vote is ahead in those aged 18 to 34. It is at 50% for those with a university degree, and just 22% for those who didn’t finish year 12. Some 59% of people who speak a language other than English at home support the voice, while 37% of those from English only households do.
Some 42% of New South Wales voters are intending to vote yes (including those who are “not at all certain”), compared to 32% in Queensland, 41% in Victoria and 34% across the other states and territories.
Updated
Timor-Leste calls for end to oil, gas and coal production – the first fossil fuel-producing country to do so
Timor-Leste has become the first fossil fuel-producing country to join a call for an end to oil, gas and coal production.
The president, José Ramos-Horta, announced his country would join a bloc of six Pacific nations calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, alongside the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
The country is uniquely exposed to the effects of climate change, but oil and gas dominates Timor-Leste’s economy accounting for more than 90% of its total exports.
Speaking on the main stage of the Global Citizen Festival in New York, Ramos-Horta said the fight against climate change “demands collective action”:
Fossil fuels are the chief culprits, so the world must move away from them.
The climate crisis does not share blame equally among nations. Timor-Leste and fellow developing nations contribute the least to climate change, yet we bear the brunt of its immediate environmental and economic impacts.
Timor-Leste stands in solidarity with Pacific nations and is formally joining the call for the negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
Its mission is simple — to halt new fossil fuel ventures, phase out existing ones and fund a fair shift to clean energy. It is more than a climate agreement between nations — it is a health, development and peace accord that can foster genuine well-being and prosperity for all.
Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said that becoming the first Caribbean nation to join the call sent a clear message.
The climate crisis is the most existential threat facing all humanity. It doesn’t distinguish between European forests and Caribbean waters. Some carry the burden more than others, as in the case of small Islands developing states.
Updated
National Skills Passport ‘policy plagiarism’: Coalition
The deputy leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley, has accused the federal government of lifting its policy proposals from the Coalition with its announcement of the National Skills Passport.
Responding to the announcement, Ley said Australians would already have the program had the Coalition been returned to government.
Yet again, Labor have tried to spin Coalition policy as their own work.
If students at our Tafes or universities were found guilty of such plagiarism, they would suffer the consequences for blatant academic misconduct.
This policy plagiarism from the treasurer and the ministers for skills and education tells the Australian people everything they need to know about this bad Albanese government.
If this is the biggest news just a day before the Employment White Paper, this does not bode well for Australia.
It is tricky and deceptive, just like their actions on the voice, Qantas and the Covid inquiry.
Just like on Qantas, the voice and Covid, Anthony Albanese is not meeting the standards that Australians expect.
Updated
Fire crews backburning in Coles Bay to help control blaze
Fire crews will be backburning near a Tasmanian tourist hotspot in an effort to keep a still smouldering bushfire under control, AAP reports.
Campers and tourists were told to evacuate or seek shelter on Tuesday night as the fire took hold at Coles Bay on the state’s eastern coast.
The Tasmanian Fire Service incident controller, Mark Klop, said crews set up control lines around the blaze but it’s continuing to burn on Sunday, with people in the Coles Bay, Swanwick and Friendly Beaches areas told to monitor conditions.
There will be increased smoke in the Coles Bay area.
Strong north easterly winds today may push smoke inland.
About 1,200 hectares (2,970 acres) of national park and 700 hectares of private land are being backburned.
Coles Bay Road and the Tasman Highway might be impacted by smoke on Sunday, leading to potential traffic delays.
People with medical conditions should have a personal plan for avoiding smoke from the burn, Klop said.
Our aim is to consolidate the bushfire as quickly as possible and provide future protection for the community and critical infrastructure.
The best defence against bushfire is being prepared, staying informed, and keeping up to date with current information to keep safe.
- AAP
Updated
Government to continue case on wine tariffs at WTO
Watt is asked about a decision by China’s commerce ministry to consider dropping tariffs on Australian wine exports if Australia considers changing its approach to the importation of wind turbines, railway wheels and stainless steal sinks.
Watt says the government “will continue our case” at the World Trade Organisation regarding the tariffs applied to Australian wine – worth “about a billion dollars”.
We will continue our WTO case when it comes to wine and we will continue to defend the case when it comes to steel, but we hope that all of these thing also be resolved by dialogue.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
Watt suggests royal commission not appropriate for Covid
Senator Watt has defended the government’s approach to the Covid inquiry saying it is not feasible to have a royal commission into every issue as those processes are typically reserved for when something goes wrong.
The government is about trying to understand lessons from the past, rather than trying to engage in political point-scoring. Typically royal commissions have been used for areas where you’ve had maladministration, potential corruption, potentially referrals such as robodebt.
Watt says a “long-running” process would “never end if it looked into every single decision that every jurisdiction made.”
On whether the inquiry will look at school closures, Watt said “that will be a matter ultimately for the inquiry”.
Updated
Government will not force people to join firefighters: Watt
Watt says the government is not interested in “obliging people or forcing them” to commit to joining firefighting brigades.
I do think we need to be cautious about having the federal government overstep its area of responsibility. This is an area primarily led by states and territories. We don’t want to duplicate services they have in place. But the fact is we are facing a difficult changing climate and we need to be ready and thinking differently.
However, the senator said efforts will be made to meet the mental health needs of volunteers who go through traumatic situations.
Updated
Semi-professional firefighters being considered: Watt
Watt is asked about whether Australia can continue to rely on a volunteer firefighting force to respond to increasingly larger and more threatening fires as a result of climate change.
The minister says the Department of Home Affairs is currently investigating “what we will need at a federal level in the future to be able to respond to disasters in a personal sense and in a equipment sense.”
That work will carry into the new year and I don’t want to pre-empt those recommendations but as I say, we are taking short-term steps in the meantime by investing in those kind of groups like Disaster Relief Australia. But it is possible in the future that we will have the need of turning to semi professional firefighter services like they have in California, where people can be paid just for the fire season, rather than the entire year. There are all those sort of options under consideration at the moment.
Updated
ADF a ‘last resort’ in natural disaster response: Watt
Asked about the future role of Defence in responding to national disasters, Senator Watt says more care needs to be taken when deciding about where and when the Australian defence force is called upon to respond.
We do live in a more uncertain strategic world than we have in the past and it is important that the ADF can be focused on their core mission, with is the defence of the nation, and the reality is that every time we do call on the defence forces to assist in a disaster situation, that is taking them away from their training and their preparedness for their core duty.
However, Senator Watt says the government will look to call on the ADF as a “last resort”.
I think in a situation like we faced in Lismore and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, there is no doubt you would need the ADF deployed for that kind of thing and in the recent floods in the Kimberley, we were bringing people from across from Townsville, aircraft in Townsville and getting the But it is about making the balance right and not over-relying on them.
Updated
Government doubles funding for aerial firefighting
Senator Watt is asked about the royal commission recommendation that Australia establish a sovereign aerial firefighting capability.
He says there are “different interpretations of what a sovereign aerial firefighting capability means”:
Some would argue that we already have that because already about 95% of the aerial fleet that we use, whether it be those big air tankers, helicopters or smaller planes, about 95% of them are actually based in Australia all year round anyway.
As I say, we now have one more large water-bombing plane than we had back in black summer. A couple of the states have also taken on their own as well, but the reality is as we do face longer fire seasons both here in Australia and overseas, we do need to be thinking about whether we will have access to the planes and other aircraft that we need to the future, but what I can tell you is that all of the state authorities have assured us that the capacity that they have online for this year is going to be enough to deal with this year.
Senator Watt says there are 500 aircraft “overall, nationally” available for this fire season which is “more than Australia has ever had before”. He also says the federal government has doubled funding for aerial firefighting.
Updated
Labor flags more cooperation between governments on bushfires
Watt says that, going into this bushfire season, there will be “a lot more cooperation between federal, state and territory governments”.
The government will also be holding a bushfire summit in Canberra this week. This meeting will bring together up to 300 people involved in combatting bushfires from every state and territory, the community sector and the private sector.
Obviously when we face bushfires or any other form of natural disaster, it is our fire authorities or our disaster authorities who are on the front line, but the community sector plays an incredibly important role in recovery, providing relief to people, and also the private sector need to get involved when you have supply chains interrupted and things like that that we’ve seen in the past.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will be speaking at the event, and Senator Watt says the second day will be a scenario test to war game “a possible situation that might occur this year, to put everyone through their paces”.
We would rather find any gaps that might exist in the system before we get to this summer, rather than learn about them when they are actually happening.
Updated
Australia ‘much better prepared’ for summer bushfire season: Murray Watt
The minister for emergency management, Murray Watt, says Australia ‘is “much better prepared for this coming season” than the country was heading into the black summer bushfires.
He says the government has implemented “almost all of the recommendations of the bushfire royal commission”.
They include establishing one coordinated national emergency management agency, rather than two separate organisations under two separate ministers which existed before. We will actually have more aircraft available for firefighting than we ever have had in this country, including one extra large water bombing aircraft and plenty more helicopters than we’ve had before, and I know that the states have done everything they can when it comes to hazard reduction, given the incredibly wet circumstances we’ve been in over the last couple of years.
Updated
Covid inquiry to be ‘broad and comprehensive’: Chalmers
Chalmers has defended the scope of the Commonwealth’s covid-19 inquiry, which has been criticised for excluding “unilateral” actions of the states and territories.
Asked if the inquiry should look at border closures, Chalmers acknowledged the issues were “contentious” and that there wasn’t a “unanimous view about the best way forward”.
He said:
But I’m really confident that the review that we have set up will be broad and comprehensive and it will take into consideration all of those commonwealth responsibilities. We focused on the commonwealth responsibilities because we’re a government that takes responsibility for the things that are in our wheelhouse. And that’s what the review is largely about.
But also and this goes directly to your question, you know, there is nothing preventing the states and territories participating in this review, We’ve said that now for some time for some days, since the review was announced, there’s nothing preventing those issues being considered.
But our primary focus here is on commonwealth responsibilities, learning the lessons from the past so that we can do things better in the future in anticipation, that that won’t be the last pandemic or the last crisis that we go through as a country.”
Updated
Employment white paper to feature nine new policies
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has revealed there will be nine new policies in Monday’s employment white paper - including the national skills passport announced this morning.
Chalmers told Sky News:
The emphasis is on action. Something like 70 policies, already implemented, another 80 or so underway but will sketch out 31 future reform directions as well. And as part of all of that there will be nine new policies.
So some analysis, but an emphasis on action and what the employment white paper is all about is a more dynamic and more inclusive labor market in a country where our workers and our employers are beneficiaries of the big changes underway in our economy and our society.
And so I think what people will see when we release the white paper is really putting workers and employers front and centre, seeing how we can work together to create the kind of labour market where our people are the major beneficiaries of the big changes that are under way.
Updated
The minister for Emergency management, Murray Watt, will be speaking to the ABC Insiders host, David Speers, ahead of what is expected to be a heady bushfire season.
Join me tomorrow for a chat with @David_Speers about our preparations for the coming bushfire season. We’re better connected, better coordinated & better prepared than we were in Black Summer. Tune in to find out more. #Insiders pic.twitter.com/uDO9fznwfS
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) September 22, 2023
Meanwhile, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, are speaking to Sky News.
We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.
Updated
Skills initiative to target building more agile economy
A new federal government plan will investigate the creation of an Australia-wide system for connecting workers with specialised skills and training to employers with jobs.
The government has set aside $9.1m to help build a business case for the National Skills Passport which was outlined in a white paper due to be released on Monday.
This system will help workers advertise their full range of qualifications, micro-credentials, prior learning, workplace experience and general capabilities.
The government will consult widely with business, unions, and tertiary institutions, states and territories, and students.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the initiative will help workers as they seek to retrain and reskill over their working life.
Our goal is to make it easier for workers to have their qualifications recognised and easier for employers to find the well-trained, highly qualified workers they need.
It’s vital that we build a more agile and adaptable labour force. Our economy is rapidly changing, and the demands on workers and employers are changing too.
We want to make it easier for more workers in more industries to adapt and adopt new technology and to grab the opportunities on offer in the defining decade ahead of us.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, says the system will make it easier for workers to show their skills and give employers the confidence they are hiring the best person for the job.
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
The surviving victim of a suspected mushroom poisoning in Victoria has been released from hospital two months after he became critically ill following a family lunch. Ian Wilkinson was one of four people who fell ill after eating a beef wellington suspected to have contained death cap mushrooms. The 68-year-old pastor’s family said they were relieved at his recovery and thanked hospital staff for their efforts.
The Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, will have another go at rallying the party faithful when he speaks to a state council meeting in Melbourne on Sunday. The speech comes months after dozens staged a walkout at the same event in Bendigo, and after calls for unity from the federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started ...
Updated
