Hi there. It's Thursday, November 3 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Let's start here
Did you get a bonus at work last year?
A lucky select few at organisations such as NBN Co, Australia Post and Snowy Hydro certainly did, some bagging more than $1 million all-up in salaries and bonuses.
The scale of payments has alarmed Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who have both written to the organisations.
If you missed it, you can read the full story — including responses from Australia Post and NBN Co — here.
What else is going on
- COP27 (or the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference) is coming up, and lots of high-profile global leaders will be there. However, teenage activist Greta Thunberg says climate summits like COP27 "serve as an opportunity for big polluters to greenwash themselves" — and says she hopes "more people realise what a scam it actually is"
- Hillsong founder Brian Houston has taken aim at the church's board during a speech streamed live to his 340,000 Facebook followers, saying he was "squeezed out" as senior pastor after being charged with covering up his father's child sexual abuse
- New South Wales' chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has warned of a likely increase in COVID-19 infections in coming weeks as case numbers rise and new variants circulate. Victoria's chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, and Deakin University chair of epidemiology Catherine Bennett have also said recent data indicate that we're looking at another surge in cases.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Cassius Turvey. Thousands of people gathered at vigils all around the country yesterday and last night, to mourn the teenager and, this morning, news broke that a serving Indigenous WA Police officer believes the state's police commissioner should offer a formal apology to the community for his comments regarding the 15-year-old's alleged murder
- Toyah Cordingley. Police in Queensland have announced a $1 million reward — the biggest of its kind in the state's history — for information leading to the location and arrest of 38-year-old Rajwinder Singh, the prime suspect in the 24-year-old's murder at Wangetti Beach in 2018.
You're up to date
See you tomorrow.
ABC/wires
