Good morning, it's Tuesday, July 19. Here's what you need to get going today.
One thing to know right now: Australia's environment is not in a good way
Here's the lowdown from science, technology and environment reporter Michael Slezak:
- The latest State of the Environment report has found Australia's environment is in a "poor and deteriorating state"
- Climate change, mining, pollution, invasive species and habitat loss are outlined as the main causes in the five-yearly report
- Every category except urban environments was classified as having deteriorated since the last report was written in 2016, including inland water, coasts, air quality and extreme events
-
The report was handed to the Morrison government in December 2021, but the Coalition didn't release it before the election. A Coalition spokesperson has noted there was no legal requirement for former environment minister Sussan Ley to release the report before the election
-
Environment Minster Tanya Plibersek described the report as a "shocking document". She will address the report at the National Press Club at 1pm AEST today
News while you snoozed
Let's get you up to speed.
-
Former New South Wales Labor ministers Eddie Obeid, Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly have been hit with criminal charges after a 2017 investigation by the state's corruption watchdog. They're charged with "misconduct in public office" arising from the ICAC probe known as Operation Credo
-
London's Luton airport was forced to suspend flights because extreme heat caused a "defect" on the runway. Engineers were brought in carry out repairs on a section that had lifted due to the high temperatures. The airport was fully operational after a couple of hours. Luton is the fifth-busiest airport in the UK and it serves as the base for budget airline Easyjet
The news Australia is searching for
New Zealand inflation: The latest second-quarter inflation data from New Zealand showed bigger price increases than economists expected, at 7.3 per cent over the past year.
Australia's CPI for the same period is expected to be above 6 per cent.
At a press conference yesterday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned Australians to brace for next week's "confronting" budget update.
"The world economy is [in] a difficult, if not dangerous, place right now," he said.
One more thing: Could a 'universal' COVID shot replace boosters?
A new vaccine that could potentially slow or even prevent human-to-human transmission of future variants of COVID-19 is showing promising signs in animal trials.
David Martinez, a viral immunologist at the University of North Carolina, told the ABC News Daily podcast his team was closer than ever to a "universal" vaccine that could end the need for regular booster shots.
He said early data suggested a vaccine that slowed or potentially prevented transmission of COVID-19 was "theoretically" possible.
You can listen to the podcast with Dr Martinez here.
That's it for now
We'll be back later on with more.
ABC/wires
