Hello. It's Thursday, February 17 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Let's start here
COVID vaccine mandates: They're well and truly here, we all know about them and they've caused their fair share of debate over the past year or so.
Unvaccinated Aussies are banned from a variety of venues in multiple states — but fake vaccination certificates are gaining prominence in online forums among people opposed to the rules.
Some users are even bragging about them on social media, telling their followers how and where they managed to get around the mandates.
In Australia, some of the strictest mandates are in WA — multiple people there have already been charged so far in relation to proof-of-vaccination laws.
What else is going on
- Singing and dancing will be permitted again in NSW from tomorrow, with Premier Dominic Perrottet citing the "efforts people made across the state" as the reason for the slightly early easing of restrictions — they were originally flagged to be lifted on February 28. Density restrictions will also be scrapped in the state and more people will be able to return to the office
- Peter Vickery, QC, has named himself as the Victorian judge found through an investigation to have sexually harassed and discriminated against two women working as judge's associates. Mr Vickery released a statement apologising to the victims "for any distress unknowingly caused", but says he "never for a second believed that anything I did may have hurt two of them"
- A 35-year-old man from Sydney's south has been named as the victim of yesterday's fatal shark attack. Certified scuba diving instructor Simon Nellist was swimming at Little Bay when he was attacked
What Australia has been searching for online
- Eraring power station. Origin Energy is seeking approval to shut Australia's largest coal-fired power plant years earlier than originally expected, by August 2025. NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean said Origin's decision to close Eraring was months in the making, but others say the news came out of the blue
- Dr Michiaki Takahashi. If you've used Google recently, you might have noticed today's Doodle — it's a tribute to the Japanese doctor who developed the first chicken pox vaccine. It would have been Dr Takahashi's 94th birthday today but he passed away in 2013.
News alerts you might have missed
- Police say a prominent anti-vaccination advocate has been arrested for travelling to Arnhem Land in breach of COVID-19 public health orders
- Australia will list the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, including its political wing. It brings Australia in line with the US and UK.
If you're not signed up for ABC News alerts yet, you're absolutely missing out. Head to the ABC News app homepage ➡️ Settings ➡️ Notifications and tailor your alerts to what you want to know.
One more thing
This is Elijah:
He's become the first child to be named an ambassador for not-for-profit citizen science program CoralWatch, mostly because he absolutely loves the ocean, but also because he managed to get Billie Eilish — yes, the Grammy-winning international superstar — to lend one of her first hits to the cause.
Elijah, 9, says he sent a message to Billie about a year ago asking for her permission to use her song, Ocean Eyes, as part of a CoralWatch campaign, and "somehow it got through to her".
""We chose this song because it's exactly what we need from everyone — we need everyone's Ocean Eyes to look out for the Great Barrier Reef," Elijah says.
"It's an amazing ecosystem for many creatures, coral, sharks, manta rays, sea snakes and loads of others. I've lived beside the beach and the ocean my whole life and every time I go snorkelling it blows my mind."
Elijah's mum, Kerry, says the Richardson family had "hoped" Eilish would respond but kept Elijah's expectations in check over the past 12 months.
"We have always told him anything was possible and, if you want something, you have to go out and work hard for it. In this case it's worked out," she says.
You're up to date
Thanks for reading.
ABC/wires
