That's it for today, thanks for reading
Here are the main stories on Tuesday, 30 April:
Airline Bonza cancelled all flights across Australia and entered into voluntary administration;
Police are investigating the death of another woman in NSW amid an ongoing national crisis of gendered violence;
A man released after the NZYQ high court decision has allegedly assaulted a woman during a home invasion in Western Australia;
David Sharaz says Linda Reynolds will not settle her defamation case against him and Brittany Higgins;
X lodged appeals against orders to remove content issued by the eSafety commission; and
Weekend flooding is possible on Australia’s east coast, BoM say.
We will see you back here for more news tomorrow.
Updated
Sharaz says Reynolds will not settle defamation case
David Sharaz, the fiance of Brittany Higgins, says senator Linda Reynolds will not settle her defamation case against the couple, potentially exposing Higgins to another trial.
In a statement posted on X on Tuesday afternoon, Sharaz said:
Despite our best efforts Linda Reynolds has not accepted attempts to resolve this matter through mediation and Brittany may now be exposed to another trial. It will be her third.
I cannot afford to pay legal costs to defend myself over a 6 week trial. As a result I have today informed the court that I will not fight Reynolds’ legal action any more.
I now appeal for Senator Reynolds to settle her litigation against Brittany, a rape victim, by agreeing to disagree and putting all of this behind them. It’s time to move on. It’s time to let Brittany heal.
Reynolds, a Liberal senator from Western Australia, is suing Higgins, her former political staffer, and Sharaz over a series of social media posts that she says damaged her reputation.
Reynolds was approached for comment about Sharaz’s statement.
The case is before the Western Australian supreme court, which had previously ordered the parties into mediation. A trial was expected to start in July.
Russia parades seized Bushmasters: report
Russia has reportedly put seized Bushmaster vehicles on display in central Moscow.
The Nine newspapers have reported that the armoured vehicles - supplied by Australia to Ukraine - are on display in an exhibition in Moscow’s Victory Park district. The report says British and American equipment have also been displayed, with signs reading: “Our victory is inevitable!”
Comment has been sought from the Australian government. The defence minister, Richard Marles, visited Ukraine last weekend and announced a further $100m of assistance, saying Kyiv must be “empowered to resolve this on their terms”. Australia has now pledged or provided more than $1bn worth of support to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion by Russia in early 2022, including 120 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles.
Victorian nurses union agree to industrial action
As many as 60,000 nurses and midwives working in Victorian hospitals and aged care centres may refuse to work overtime from next week after voting to start industrial action.
Public sector nurses and midwives will start protected industrial action on 7 May in response to a failure of the government and their employers’ to offer sufficient improved wages and conditions, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Victorian branch said.
A statewide union members meeting held on Tuesday voted to start stage one of industrial action next week, including wearing red campaign T-shirts, refusing to work overtime, talking about their campaign to patients, stopping work to post campaign messages on social media, bans on administrative paperwork and messages on work car windows used by hospital in the home and community nurses.
Stage two industrial action, which would include the closure of one in four beds and the cancellation of the same percentage of election surgeries, was delayed until 17 May, the union said.
Updated
X lodges appeals against eSafety orders
Elon Musk’s X Corp has filed two appeals for decisions ordering the removal of content from the social media site by Australia’s online safety regulator in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)
While the focus has been on the federal court, where the eSafety commissioner is seeking to force X to remove 65 tweets containing video of the stabbing of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, X is challenging that ruling through the AAT initially, as well as another ruling that eSafety demanded X remove a tweet targeting an Australian trans man.
The cases were filed on 15 and 17 April by the law firm X has engaged in Australia, Thomson Geer. Musk had posted on X that the company intended to challenge the validity of the decisions in both cases.
There have been no dates set for the AAT cases, meaning that the federal court will have its say first on the video posts, next due to hear the eSafety case on 10 May.
X had been ordered by the federal court on Monday last week to hide the 65 tweets from view globally, but had only made them inaccessible to users appearing to be in Australia. This was extended until the May hearing on the Wednesday.
The company said on Thursday it believed this was in compliance with the notice issued by eSafety and with Australian law.
Updated
The latest on the Faruqi v Hanson case
Pauline Hanson is asked whether she knows the history of the phrase “It’s OK to be white”.
Hanson says: “I had felt insulted because some comments had been made, it’s OK to be – to be black.”
(This is in reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. Hanson says she believes “all lives matter”.)
Holt tells Hanson she didn’t make up the phrase, which Hanson agrees with because her “staff brought it to me”.
Faruqi’s counsel asks whether Hanson was aware “that it’s a phrase that was developed by white supremacists for white supremacy purposes”.
Hanson: “I don’t because that’s [what is] going on YouTube and that Twitter and I don’t follow it.”
Saul Holt: “OK, so you literally just said it’s OK to be white without knowing anything of the modern history of that phrase?”
Hanson says no. Holt brings up its history: that it had been used by the white supremacy movement, including by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Hanson says she has heard of Duke, but she did not know that was the history of the phrase.
Hanson is excused as a witness. Final submissions may be presented tomorrow.
Updated
As parts of Australia’s east coast gear up for a week of showers and rain, here’s how April and the first four months of 2024 shaped up, rainfall-wise:
Australia's April was relatively wet in parts of the east, but still very dry in the south-west and parts of the south. (Via @Bom_au) pic.twitter.com/nmZo0NWqqC
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) April 30, 2024
and:
For the year to date, the north has seen some areas of record rainfall. Coastal regions in WA, SA and Tasmania, though, have been relatively dry (if not the driest on record). (Source: @Bom_au) pic.twitter.com/eRqLy8Xuie
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) April 30, 2024
The latest on the Faruqi v Hanson case
Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt asks why, out of all the tweets that day, it was Faruqi’s tweet that Pauline Hanson responded to.
Holt: “You’re actually saying that it’s just a coincidence that the only person that you chose to respond to on this day in this way, was a Muslim migrant.
Hanson:
I have explained to you this tweet was brought to my attention by my staff member. I wasn’t made aware of other tweets that were put out at all. It had nothing to do with whether … she’s female, Muslim, or what. I was affected, and I was upset. I was offended by her tweet, as many of other Australians were.
Holt then moves to some comments Hanson made earlier this month, in a Sky interview on 18 April this year. Hanson said at the time:
Now we’re heading down the path of what England looks like now. England has a lot of areas there that … no one will go into. It’s all Muslim dominated. They actually control the areas. You’ve got over 1,000 sharia law courts.
We have Muslims in this country, getting married, getting on our welfare system, breeding, and we are paying for this; yet the politicians turn a blind eye.
Asked why she chose the word “breeding”, Hanson says she couldn’t think of another word. Holt puts to Hanson that she was trying to make Muslim people sound like “animals” and Hanson says that was not her intention.
Hanson is asked about a statement she put out after the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. Hanson says she does not recall.
Asked whether she put out a statement in response to the Bondi Junction attack, or the Christchurch attack, or the Wieambilla shootings, Hanson said she cannot recall.
Updated
Hanson tells court she ‘probably’ has told white or Australian-born people to leave Australia if they are unhappy
Pauline Hanson has been shown at least three videos of herself speaking, where she says “go back to where you came from” or words to that effect. Hanson says in “context” people will understand why she said it.
Asked by Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel whether she has ever said “Go back to where you came from” to an Australian-born, Australian or white person, Hanson says she has heard of “whinging Aussies”, and that she “probably” has said that if someone white or Australian-born says they are unhappy in Australia, they should find elsewhere to go. However, she cannot give a concrete example.
Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt then moves on to Hanson’s X/Twitter account. Hanson says it is run by her staff, not her. Asked about the disclaimer on the account that tweets ending with “PH” are dictated by her directly, Hanson says that is a recent development (from this year). Hanson says she doesn’t have Twitter on her phone or her computer as she is a “paper girl”.
She said her staff had rung her to tell her about Faruqi’s tweet when the queen died, and she dictated a response. “I was incensed, I was insulted, it was terrible,” Hanson said of Faruqi’s tweet.
Hanson said she did not give “any thought” to the response her tweet received from other Twitter users. She said her staff had told her about some of the responses, but she never looked at the responses herself.
Updated
‘We have to have’ debate on social media algorithms and misogynistic content, PM says
PM Anthony Albanese says cracking down on misogynist influencer content online is “a debate we have to have”, after the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the government was exploring further regulation on how social media algorithms serve up such posts to young people.
Guardian Australia’s Eden Gillespie has asked Albanese at a press conference in Brisbane whether the government would consider changing rules to force social media companies to not show that kind of content to youths. Albanese said he hadn’t seen Rowland’s comments, made at a press conference earlier today, but said influencers like Andrew Tate were “symptomatic of … a global problem that we’re dealing with”.
We need to be very conscious about what is online and about the impact that it is having. Now that is something that is a role for government, but it’s also a role for public discourse.
I think we need to have a real discussion about the impact and I know when I talk with parents, they’re very concerned about what their young sons and daughters are getting access to, about the impact that it has, including just making things [normal] which should never be normal.
The use of algorithms that can push that sort of material towards people as well, is of great concern. It’s something I know that Michelle [Rowland] is concerned about … certainly it’s the debate that we have to have.
Albanese said he wouldn’t “pre-empt the discussion” tomorrow at national cabinet on wider domestic violence issues, but said any reforms would also require “attitudinal change” as well as “practical immediate measures and responses”.
Updated
Repossession of Bonza aircraft ‘was a surprise’ to airline’s CEO, internal note shows
The low-cost airline Bonza entered voluntary administration on Tuesday, hours after abruptly cancelling all of its flights following the repossession of its entire fleet that caught its CEO by surprise.
Passengers were left stranded at a handful of airports when Bonza “temporarily suspended” all services due to be operated on Tuesday with no notice, as the airline’s owners considered the viability of the business’s future.
On Tuesday, Bonza appointed firm Hall Chadwick for the administration process of its operating and holding company, documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) showed.
Bonza’s board held an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the airline’s next options.
In an internal note seen by the Guardian, Bonza’s CEO Tim Jordan acknowledged to staff that the airline’s fleet was repossessed by AIP, the effective lessor of the aircraft, on Tuesday morning.
“This was a surprise to both ourselves and 777 Partners,” Jordan said, referring to the airline’s Miami-based private equity owners.
Updated
Questioning of Hanson over tweet directed at Mehreen Faruqi continues in court
Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt then moves to the Pauline Hanson tweet which has formed the basis of Faruqi’s case. Hanson agrees, as per her affidavit, that she was “angry, distraught and upset” when she dictated the tweet, as she was so incensed by Faruqi’s critique of colonisation on the day of the Queen’s death.
As the questioning continues, and Holt refers to previous interviews and statements Hanson had made, Hanson says (not for the first time) that she has not read the materials which have been filed in the case.
Asked by Holt whether it crossed her mind when drafting the tweet that telling a migrant person who had migrated to Australia to “piss off back to Pakistan” would be something that was hurtful, Hanson said she doesn’t recall (thinking) that.
Updated
Hanson tells court she did not know Faruqi was Muslim when tweeting about her
Pauline Hanson has told the court that at the time she sent her tweet, she did not know the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi was Muslim.
Hanson says she had never turned her mind to it and had not asked Faruqi (or anyone) what her religion was.
Hanson says she “knows now”. Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt says Faruqi’s religion was highly relevant to the case, and the affidavit that Hanson signed.
There is a back and forth over when Hanson said she learned about Faruqi’s religion, and Hanson repeatedly denies that she knew at the time of the tweet.
Holt asks if Hanson knew that 97% of people in Pakistan were Muslim. She says she didn’t know. Holt asks if she ever noticed Faruqi wearing Muslim garb. Hanson says she did not.
Holt asks her how many senators there were (76) and whether she truly had no idea that at least one of the senators were Muslim. Hanson says she didn’t know.
Holt puts it to Hanson that she is lying under oath. Hanson denies it.
Updated
Latest on the Faruqi v Hanson case
Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt is asking Pauline Hanson about her previous comments regarding Muslim people.
He asks her if she accepts that in 2018 she published a book called Pauline, In Her Own Words. Hanson does not accept that.
Holt says she is listed as a co-author. Hanson accepts that. Asked if she takes responsibility for its contents and accepts the book as containing her views (at least at the time), Hanson says yes.
Holt then moves to an interview Hanson gave to Mark Latham on Sky News in 2017, where Hanson was asked by Latham whether it was fair to include all Muslims in her warnings (Latham was specifically speaking on the Fijian Muslim community). In the interview, Hanson says:
I hear what you’re saying. But then again, when war was called … you know, Germans and Japanese and different ones didn’t wait.
It was happening around the world because you didn’t know whether you could trust them where their loyalties lie. It’s a thing that happens in our country when people are in fear.
Holt asks whether or not Hanson still holds the views she expressed in that interview and Hanson says yes.
The questioning goes on, and Hanson denies that a Muslim ban is One Nation policy as it is not in her party policy booklet.
Told it is her own views which are being asked about, Hanson says: “That might be my own personal opinion.”
Updated
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today; Nino Bucci will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care.
Updated
Man assisting police with inquiries after woman, 19, found dead in North Bondi
A man has been arrested after a young woman’s death in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, AAP reports.
The 32-year-old man had an outstanding warrant and was arrested at a unit on Hardy Street at North Bondi where a woman, believed to be aged 19, had been found dead on Tuesday morning, NSW police said in a statement.
A crime scene has been set up as the circumstances are investigated, with the woman’s cause of death yet to be identified.
No charges have been laid over the woman’s death.
Updated
More from the Faruqi-Hanson court case
Pauline Hanson can only be asked questions about comments she has made outside parliament, with the court having previously ruled that anything said in the parliament is protected speech under the law.
Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel, Saul Holt, is asking Hanson about some of her previous comments regarding Muslims and Islam in interviews.
Hanson says she does not believe Australia and Australians are Anglo-Celtic. Hanson also says that previously, she was referring to “fundamentalist” Muslims.
Holt moves on to comments Hanson has previously made that “it’s not possible to tell, is it, between a good Muslim and a bad Muslim?”
Hanson says she “does not recall”.
Asked if she had previously said all Muslim immigration should be banned, Hanson says that is not her view.
Holt reminds Hanson she is under oath and Hanson says she doesn’t recall saying it.
Holt is now playing interviews where Hanson has said it is impossible to tell the difference between “a good Muslim and a bad Muslim”.
Asked if it is still her view, Hanson says “I don’t know”.
Holt is playing more past interviews with Hanson speaking about her views on Muslims.
Updated
University of Sydney students and staff rally to demand cutting of ties with Israel
About 200 students and staff from the University of Sydney’s Gaza encampment rallied this afternoon, demanding the university cuts ties with Israel.
Speakers included Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, and Yaakov Aharon from the Tzedek Collective and Jews Against the Occupation ‘48, who told the crowd to “keep holding on to your rage and enthusiasm”.
Students set up the camp last Tuesday and say they will occupy the university until their demands are met. Up to 60 protesters are camping beside the university’s historic click tower.
“We’re going to keep fighting until Gaza is free,” organiser Shovan Bhattarai told the supporters.
“Free, free Palestine,” the crowd chanted back, before bursting into the main road and momentarily blocking traffic.
The Gaza encampment movement has spread from the US, with camps now established in four Australian universities.
Updated
Pauline Hanson questioned in court about past statement on not selling her house to a Muslim person
The federal court hearing the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi’s racial discrimination case against Pauline Hanson has resumed and after a little bit of housekeeping over the labelling of documents, Hanson has stepped up to give evidence in her defence.
Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt KC is asking Hanson some opening questions, including whether One Nation had a YouTube channel called ‘Pauline Hanson Please Explain’. Hanson says she “she believes so”. She does agree that the “tagline” is “we’ve got the guts to say what you’re thinking”. Hanson also agrees that she states the truth.
Holt then moves to a statement Hanson made to the Sunrise program in April 2010.
Hanson says she does not recall. Holt plays the tape where she is asked whether she would sell her house to a Muslim person. Hanson said she would not and says on the tape:
Because I don’t believe that they’re compatible with our way of life or culture. And I think that we’re going to have problems in this country further down the track. So I have no intentions of selling my home tour to Muslim.
Asked by Holt if she meant what she said in 2010, Hanson says it is “irrelevant” because she did not sell her house. That leads to this exchange:
Holt: “When you said you would not sell your house to a Muslim. Did you mean it?”
Hanson: “I don’t know.”
Holt: “I thought she was someone who had the guts to say what other people are thinking. So if you said I would not sell my home to a Muslim, but we take it you meant it.”
There is an objection here from Hanson’s counsel, but Justice Stewart allows the questioning.
Holt: “When you said that you would not sell your home to a Muslim. Did you hear that? Did you hear yourself saying that?”
Hanson: “I did.”
Holt: “Let’s try this way. What did you mean?”
Hanson: “I said that – let’s say the house was not sold. So the decision didn’t have to be made.”
Holt: “But you were asked a question based on a hypothetical and that’s not unusual. If you were selling your house and a Muslim came to buy it, … the thing you were expressing in that video was that you would not sell it to the Muslim right?”
Hanson: “I did say that.”
Holt: “And did you mean it?”
Hanson: “Probably not.”
Updated
Swinburne admits to $2.85m of ‘unintentional underpayment’ for casuals
Swinburne has become the latest university to be embroiled in wage theft after admitting to “unintentional underpayments” totalling $2.85m towards casual employees.
The National Tertiary Education Union said the revelations pointed to the need for major changes to university governance, flagged at the most recent education ministers meeting.
Federal and state ministers met with the NTEU on Friday to discuss reform on university compliance, with the higher education wage theft tally now exceeding $170m.
The underpayments, which Swinburne reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman, affect about 1,800 academic staff employed at the university and the part privately owned Swinburne College between 2017 and 2023.
The vice-chancellor of Swinburne, Prof Pascale Quester wrote to all employees today sincerely apologising for what had occurred. In the letter, she said the underpayments “should not have occurred”, adding full remediation would be paid to those affected, together with interest and superannuation.
NTEU Swinburne branch president, Dr Julie Kimber, said the union had raised several issues over Swinburne’s wage practices and had requests for an audit of its payroll system rejected.
Given this wilful inaction, those responsible must be held to account. A voluntary self-report should not be a get-out-of-jail free card.
NTEU national president, Dr Alison Barnes, said the “explosion” of insecure work and a “broken governance system” was fuelling systemic underpayments.
Updated
Albanese says ‘practical, immediate measures’ needed to address men’s violence ahead of national cabinet
Anthony Albanese has been speaking to the media from Brisbane. Asked about tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting on men’s violence against women, Albanese was asked what he hopes to walk away with.
He didn’t “want to pre-empt” the discussions that will take place tomorrow, but said:
One of the things I know from speaking with state premiers is that they want to have the discussion at a national cabinet, is ways in which best practice can be replicated.
So what are the lessons, for example? Victoria has already had a royal commission and part of the agenda tomorrow will be the premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allan, reporting on those issues as well, and how that’s gone.
In addition to that, [South Australian premier] Peter Malinauskas chairs the federation body of all the chiefs and they’re preparing a paper which will be presented tomorrow.
So we need to acknowledge that this is an issue which is long-term, does require attitudinal change, does require a whole range of measures, but we also need practical, immediate measures and responses as well. And I look forward to a constructive discussion tomorrow morning.
Updated
Crossbench pens letter to PM urging action to target domestic violence
The crossbench has penned a joint letter to the prime minister, calling for urgent action to tackle family and domestic violence.
The letter was signed by 11 MPs, including Zali Steggall, Zoe Daniel, Kylea Tink, Allegra Spender, Kate Chaney, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Helen Haines, Andrew Wilkie, Andrew Gee and Rebekha Sharkie.
It states that a “robust national effort” is needed to “improve risk identification and justice system intervention in cases of male violence against women”.
We need to treat gender-based violence with the same level of urgency we show acts of terrorism, and at a rate of a woman every four days, it is killing more Australians.
The MPs say the desire for a royal commission into the issue is “well intentioned” but they question: “what would it uncover that we don’t already know?”
Instead, they are calling for immediate actions, next steps and long-term cultural change.
Immediate action would include a sentencing review, and a nationally coordinated mechanism to count and analyse the deaths of these women. And next steps would target exacerbating factors like violent pornography, misogynistic social media influencers and problem gambling, the letter said.
You can read the letter in full online.
Updated
Lifeline records busiest day on record after emotional fortnight
Demand for Lifeline Australia has spiked to an all-time high as high-profile deaths of women and demands for action on domestic violence bring emotions to the fore, AAP reports.
The crisis support service received 4,371 calls, messages and webchats on Sunday, making for its busiest day on record and 20% above the yearly average.
Analysis of the types of matters received on Sunday was not available. But Lifeline domestic violence sector manager Angela Lynch said a link could be drawn to the wall-to-wall media coverage of domestic violence and sexual violence:
More in the community are hurting and for those who are or have been directly impacted by either domestic violence or sexual violence, those conversations can land in a very different and very personal way.
They could have general feelings of anxiety or being unsafe and it can bring up personal issues of what they lived through and the injustice perhaps of what they’ve encountered.
Rising living costs and the national housing crisis have compounded stresses on the community, Lifeline said.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Updated
Commonwealth Games interim report: investigation ‘hampered’ by state blocking access to key documents
A Victorian parliamentary committee probing the government’s shock cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games says its investigation was hampered by the state blocking access to key documents.
The committee has handed down its interim report into the Victorian government’s cancellation of the major sporting event, after it cited major cost blowouts.
The report says the committee “exhausted most avenues open to it” to obtain the documents from the Victorian government, after it made a claim of “executive privilege.”
It also found the timeframe for the Victorian government and Commonwealth Games Federation to negotiate the axed 2026 event was too short and initially enabled consultants only six weeks to create a business case.
Updated
Qantas offers free seats to stranded Bonza customers
Jetstar and Qantas have said they will provide flights at no cost for stranded Bonza passengers, where seats are available and where routes overlap.
This follows a similar offer from Virgin Australia earlier today.
In a statement, Qantas noted “today’s news about Bonza will have a significant impact on many people’s travel plans” and said:
For Bonza customers who are due to travel today or who are stuck away from home, Jetstar and Qantas will assist by providing flights at no cost where there are seats available.
Qantas said of Bonza’s 36 routes, only six overlap with Jetstar or QantasLink.
Qantas said if there is another close alternative route that it operates, customers booked to travel today or stuck away from home “can also travel at no cost”. Bonza customers can contact Jetstar on 13 15 38 or Qantas on 13 13 13.
Updated
Australia undercounting methane emissions by at least a factor of two, report finds
Australia has made much of its emissions reduction efforts, at least compared to the inflated baseline of 2005.
That year, not coincidentally, was when land-clearing and other carbon pollution was near a peak, so not doing very much meant it looked like Australia was emitting less. (That the land sector somehow manages to remain a perennial carbon sink despite weaker land-clearing laws is itself a dubious result.)
Anyway, The Superpower Institute has published analysis today suggesting that Australia’s emissions of methane – a potent greenhouse gas that has been the largest source of global heating in the past decade – is much higher than reported in the official national inventory.
Major emitters, such as coalmines and gas fields, may be polluting at twice the rate reported.
Rod Sims, formerly chair of the ACCC and now the institute’s chair, called the findings “simply astounding”.
Most problematically, these estimates to the national inventory are never externally verified. This leaves huge questions about the veracity of these estimation methods, but more importantly about the actual volume of greenhouse gas emissions from different sites and facilities and therefore the national inventory as a whole.
Peter Raynor, the institute’s chief scientist and an emeritus professor, said the group’s Open Methane tool indicates the government should fund a minimum of 12 new monitoring sites around Australia that can be calibrated with satellites that are also detecting these emissions.
Cutting methane is our single best strategy to combat global heating this decade while we make the changes needed to reduce Australia’s emissions to zero. But methane emissions are not being credibly measured.
Separately, our colleague Adam Morton has this clear-eyed look at how one of Australia’s biggest methane polluters, Woodside, are offering little more than rhetoric when it comes to climate action:
Updated
Hotline for stranded Bonza customers launched
The government has opened a hotline for Bonza passengers stranded across the country after the budget carrier abruptly cancelled all services today, amid discussions about its ongoing viability.
The hotline number is 1800 069 244.
Transport minister Catherine King said her department had been in contact with Bonza “and our expectation is that they keep passengers informed of their options and their consumer rights”.
King said:
I am aware of reports this morning of Bonza flights being cancelled. I have spoken to Qantas and Virgin CEOs this morning and both airlines stand ready to assist stranded passengers needing to get home.
Updated
Airline passenger numbers still ‘well below’ pre-pandemic levels, new report says
Meanwhile, the Australian Airports Association (AAA) has also noted a new report stating passenger numbers remain “well below” pre-pandemic levels.
The annual ACCC airport monitoring report for 2022-2023 shows passenger numbers have seen a year-on-year increase of 127.4% but remain below pre-Covid levels.
Chief executive James Goodwin said:
While domestic aviation has led the recovery 2022-23 passenger levels are still 10.4% lower than 2018-19. International operations have been slower to recover, remaining at 31% below pre-Covid levels.
Goodwin said the reason for the incomplete recovery is constrained airline capacity, “particularly from the two main domestic carriers”.
The rebound in airport revenues simply reflects the increased number of travellers, with the reporting period the first without Covid border or travel restrictions.
Airports association monitoring Bonza situation, it says
The Australian Airports Association (AAA) says it is monitoring budget airline Bonza’s current situation closely.
As Elias Visontay reported earlier, Bonza has cancelled a raft of flights across the country, and sources told the Guardian that its fleet of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft had been repossessed.
In a statement, AAA chief executive James Goodwin said:
Airports worked to support Bonza to enter the Australian market and we are monitoring the emerging situation closely while we assist affected passengers at terminals across Australia.
Updated
Sarah Hanson-Young calls on Plibersek to halt Darwin land clearing
Continuing on from previous post:
The clearing has drawn condemnation from conservationists, Darwin community members and independent and Greens MPs.
The Greens environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young called on the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to urgently protect the site, which was habitat for significant species such as the critically endangered eastern curlew:
The Minister recently made a big splash about saving Eastern Curlew habitat in Toondah [Harbour] in Queensland, but that same critically endangered bird deserves protection in Lee Point Darwin as well.
The independent senator David Pocock tweeted that the clearing was an example of Australia’s broken system of environmental protections.
The clearing comes a month after the developer, Defence Housing Australia, was given the green light to start the development, which it had paused for several months while Plibersek considered an emergency application by Larrakia traditional owners for protection of the site on cultural grounds.
Plibersek notified the applicants late last month that after considering the evidence she was not satisfied that the specific area that would be developed met the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Act requirements for a “significant Aboriginal area in accordance with Aboriginal tradition”.
Updated
Destruction of woodlands begins for defence housing development in Darwin
Destruction of woodlands that are habitat for hundreds of bird species, including the endangered gouldian finch, has commenced at the site of a planned defence housing development at Lee Point/Binybara in Darwin.
Footage released by the Environment Centre NT shows bulldozers knocking down trees at the much-loved site that a community campaign had fought to protect.
Darwin community members who arrived at the site this morning were met by police and security guards:
The bulldozers destroying habitat for endangered Gouldian Finches, black-footed tree rats and over 270 bird species at Binybara/Lee Point.
— Dr Kirsty Howey (@kirsty_howey) April 30, 2024
This is a place beloved by thousands of people across Darwin. Its loss is a failure of our environment laws, and deeply upsetting. pic.twitter.com/uvZEPXpBPq
Updated
Second academic questioned over racism impacts during Faruqi-Hanson court case
The federal court hearing Mehreen Faruqi’s racial discrimination case against Pauline Hanson has just finished hearing from the University of Melbourne academic, ProfKate Reynolds.
Reynolds also prepared a report which forms part of Faruqi’s evidence on the impacts of racism on health and wellbeing. Reynolds has a PhD in psychology and told the court:
I come from a discipline of social psychology, where we spend a lot of time trying to understand the role that people’s group memberships play in shaping their attitudes, their behaviour, and their wellbeing.
Reynolds says people can experience things as part of a group, or as an individual.
Hanson’s counsel, Sue Chrysanthou led most of the questioning of Reynolds, which centres around whether there was enough information to assess whether people experienced the Hanson tweet as racism. Reynolds:
What this expert opinion says based on the evidence that is available and discussed is that is that marginalised group members are likely to experience a tweet such as this as racist. And when that occurs, there’s a flow on effect to poorer physical and mental outcomes.
Reynolds had also reviewed the body of work around the health and wellbeing impacts of racism, which included international and domestic studies. Chrysanthou’s questions centre around whether negative outcomes are “possible” or “likely”. The difference, as Chrysanthou lays out is “likely is more probable than not. And possible is something less than that”.
Reynolds says in the expert opinion provided to the court, it is “likely”.
Reynolds says she has not interviewed, studied closely or examined the individuals involved in the case – and that she is showcasing the “high quality” evidence which is available, which “speaks to the relationship between experiences of racism and negative outcomes”. Reynolds:
I think likely is the word I would use to describe my assessment of this literature in the context of these kinds of instances.
Reynolds is excused from the court, which is now on break until 2.15pm. Hanson is expected to give evidence later this afternoon, once the court resumes.
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Australia’s public service commission introduces CALD targets for public service
People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds hold only one in ten senior executive positions in the federal public service, despite making up one in four Australians.
Now the government has promised to lift representation from the current average of 11% across the senior ranks of the public service to 17% by 2030 and subsequently to 24%, approximately in line with the national population.
The industry, science and resources department has the lowest CALD representation at the senior executive level at 4%. Three other leading government departments have only 5% of senior positions filled by CALD employees, while even the most representative department (foreign affairs and trade) has only 19%.
The targets are for the public service on average, and individual agencies will set their own benchmarks and plans to support the sector-wide target.
The Australian public service commission has announced the targets as part of a CALD employment strategy, which also includes improved training, recruitment and promotion processes to reduce discrimination within the public service.
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Teen arrested after alleged stabbing in Melbourne
A teenager has been arrested following an alleged stabbing in St Albans this morning, in Melbourne’s north-west.
Emergency services were called to reports a 37-year-old man was located injured in a fast food outlet car park on St Albans Road about 6am. It is alleged a dispute occurred between the victim and another man before the victim was stabbed.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested at a Keilor Downs address today. It is further alleged he was involved in a stabbing at St Albans railway station yesterday.
It is alleged the victim was chased by three males before being stabbed. The 21-year-old Tarneit man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigations into the incident remain ongoing.
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Queensland health warns of record-breaking Ross River detections
A spike in Ross River virus cases has coincided with a record-breaking number of detections in mosquito traps this summer season in Queensland.
Acting chief health officer Dr Catherine McDougall said in the year to date 2,065 people have had Ross River virus, which is the highest number of cases since the last significant outbreak of the virus.
Half of those cases were in south-east Queensland, which has seen case numbers between six to eight times higher than average this summer season (from November to April), McDougall said.
Cases peaked during the second week of March with 333 weekly cases recorded, she said.
Hospital and health service regions with the largest increases in Ross River virus cases compared to previous years were Sunshine Coast, Metro North, Metro South, Gold Coast, and Wide Bay.
Ross River virus is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes, with symptoms including fever, rash and joint pain. There is no treatment available but most people feel better in a few weeks.
The last time there was a significant Ross River virus outbreak in Queensland was in 2020, when 3,381 annual cases were recorded.
The health department’s collecting and testing mosquito samples helps assess risk. They say the highest number of mosquito trap tests returned a positive result this summer since the surveillance program started in 2016.
Out of more than 1,225 mosquito traps tested for Ross River virus a record 116 traps have returned a positive result McDougall said. It is the latest warning from health authorities following previous notices of rising cases:
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Man charged after alleged stabbing in Sydney’s west
Members of the public detained a man who had been chasing people with a knife in Sydney’s west on Monday afternoon, police say.
New South Wales police said in a statement that a 25-year-old had been charged with multiple offences after allegedly stabbing a man and chasing other people at Heber Park in Hebersham about 5.45pm.
When police arrived at the park, they found a man had “been detained by members of the public”, according to the statement.
NSW police said:
Police were told he allegedly chased several members of the public and stabbed a man in his 20s before bystanders disarmed and restrained him.
The injured man was treated for wounds to his neck and head before being taken to Nepean Hospital in a stable condition, police said.
The alleged offender was also taken to hospital for assessment, but was later released and charged at Mount Druitt police station with two counts of stalking or intimidation with intent to cause fear or physical harm, common assault and wounding person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was refused bail to appear before Mount Druitt local court on Tuesday.
NSW police expect to speak to the media about the incident at 1pm on Tuesday.
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Truckie in B-Double driving more than 50 km/h over the limit: police
A truckie has been fined and had his licence suspended after police detected him driving his B-double at 114km/h in a 60 km/h hour zone near a New South Wales country town.
NSW police said in a statement that the 25-year-old Queensland man was detected about 11am on Monday driving through roadworks south of Coonabarabran.
He was tested for drugs and alcohol but returned a negative result.
Police issued the man an infringement notice for exceed speed by more than 45 km/h and his licence was suspended.
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Parliamentary group call for nuclear ban
A cross-party group has renewed calls for Australia to join a treaty that imposes a blanket ban on nuclear weapons, saying “history is calling”.
In a video message released today, members of the Parliamentary Friends of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons say Australia should join the 93 countries that have already signed up to the relatively new treaty.
The treaty, known as the TPNW, is opposed by all of the countries that have nuclear weapons, including the US.
But the treaty “has given countries, and citizens, across the world hope, and a new and promising pathway towards the abolition of these weapons”, according to MPs and senators including Labor government backbenchers Josh Wilson, Susan Templeman, Sam Lim, Louise Pratt, Sharon Claydon and Josh Burns.
Others to appear in the video are Russell Broadbent (former Liberal now independent), Jordon Steele-John (Greens), Lidia Thorpe (independent) and Monique Ryan (independent). The group says:
As members of the Parliamentary Friends of TPNW, we’re working together to see the nuclear weapons ban treaty signed and ratified.
We are proud of our country’s commitment to getting rid of other inhumane weapons, like landmines, cluster munitions, biological and chemical weapons.
We welcome Australia’s engagement with the TPNW under the Albanese government, and we pay tribute to the community activism being undertaken in support of Australia joining this treaty.
The acting director for International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Australia, Jemila Rushton, welcomed the video as as a “joint message of hope” at a time of “incredible global insecurity”. Rushton called on Labor to sign the treaty “without delay”.
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Faruqi-Hanson court case continues
Sue Chrysanthou SC has finished her questioning of Prof Yin Paradies, so Mehreen Faruqi’s counsel Saul Holt KC has taken the opportunity to ask Paradies about Britishness as an ethnicity and whether criticising the colonial empire could be considered being racist to British people.
Holt is re-examining Paradies after Chrysanthou’s questioning yesterday in the first day of the hearing about whether it was possible to be racist against white people.
Paradies says from the research, “racism experienced when you’re white, has a weaker association between a weaker association with health outcomes. So you have to map it differently”.
Paradies then turns to another issue:
There is also of course, the issue of what is sometimes called white fragility.
And in these cases people who experience racism can be particularly perturbed by the experience as they don’t really have much history of being subjected to the experiences themselves.
On the idea of Britishness as an ethnicity, Holt asks about the idea of Britishness including a colonial history and whether “to criticise a colonial history is to criticise the ethnicity of modern British folk”.
Paradies:
There were many nation states that engaged in colonisation, Britain was certainly one of those. And yes, some people certainly feel people of British descent certainly feel a kind of a guilt over that coloniality but in the end, people are not institutions.
And so to critique the British Empire is not to critique any particular British person.
… So I think there’s a difference between critiquing colonisation and being racist to British people.
Paradies is excused by the court.
See the full background to the case and yesterday’s hearings here:
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Retail trade falls 0.4% from February to March as consumers continue to feel cost-of-living pressures
Australian shoppers cut back a little more than expected in March, with retail trade falling 0.4% from February.
The figures surprised markets, which had expected trade to pick up 0.2% over the month, a little below February’s monthly increase of 0.2% (which itself was revised below its previous 0.3% estimate). Today’s data from the Australian Bureau of statistics also showed NSW shoppers cut back the most, by 1.1%.
A key indicator of cost-of-living pressure on Australian customers, household goods trade, has now resumed its downward slide, falling to $5.61bn in the month compared to a $5.8bn trend at the end of 2023.
The figure has been slipping since the end of 2022, as steeper prices and interest rate rises ate away at the savings households would have spent on fridges and furniture.
Expect the sector to keep sliding as price rises prove hard to curb, after Australia’s inflation rate slowed less than expected in the March quarter. That led markets to fear the Reserve Bank could still hike interest rates further before the end of 2024.
But Sean Langcake, head of macroeconomic forecasting for Oxford Economics Australia, said today’s data confirmed rising costs were “still putting the squeeze on household budgets”.
Last week’s CPI data spurred concerns that the RBA may yet need to raise rates again to rein in inflation. But these data are a further confirmation that consumer demand is very restrained at present.
We’ll get a better sense of how the RBA views the data after its meeting next week.
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CBA joins Westpac in pushing back first RBA rate cut to November
CBA, Australia’s biggest bank, had been the most “dovish” about official interest rates, previously forecasting three cuts in the final three meetings this year starting from September.
Not any more. Today CBA pushed back the timing of when the RBA will move to November, and now it forecasts just the single 25 basis-point cut to 4.1% for the cash rate in 2024.
CBA joins Westpac in delaying the first cut to November, with ANZ and NAB still also looking at just the one cut, and in that month.
Gareth Aird, head of CBA’s Australian economics, said the “near-term risk sits with an interest rate hike” but the bank expects the RBA to hold its cash rate steady as the economy is shrinking on a per-capita basis.
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Coles revenues rise as shoppers search for cheaper groceries
Strong sales of Coles’ private label groceries have underpinned a bump in quarterly revenues, as shoppers turn away from more expensive branded goods amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Australia’s second biggest supermarket chain recorded a 5.1% lift in sales revenue from its supermarket division in the March quarter to $9.1bn, the company announced today.
Revenue from exclusive brand sales, which includes its own labels, jumped 8.8%. Coles chief executive Leah Weckert said:
We know that one of the key things that customers do when they’re trying to manage their budget is that they will look to trade in some more affordable brands and our own brand is definitely one of those.
We also know that more customers are willing to drive further and shop across multiple retailers to manage their budgets.
Relentless increases in food and drink prices have sparked changes to buying habits, with Coles disclosing that shoppers are shying away from expensive alcoholic beverages like spirits and champagne.
People are moving back into beer because beer tends to be a category where it’s a cheaper cost per serve.
Coles and rival Woolworths have been under intense public and political scrutiny as they continue to print healthy profits during a period of fast-rising grocery prices.
A Senate inquiry is investigating how the major chains set prices for shoppers and use their market power when dealing with suppliers. Separately, the competition regulator is conducting a 12-month price probe into their practices.
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Dingo bites boy in latest attack on K'gari
A dingo has attacked a 10-year-old boy in the 10th incident of this kind in as many months on K’gari, formerly Fraser Island, AAP reports.
Wildlife officers said two boys were washing off in Awinya Creek on the western side of the island when a dingo ran at them. The boys screamed and ran towards their parents.
The environment, science and innovation departmentsaid in a statement:
The dingo bit the 10-year-old on the back of his leg, leaving minor injuries including a scratch and bruising to his lower right calf muscle.
The parents treated the injury and the boy did not require further medical assistance. The incident occurred on 23 April but rangers were not advised until yesterday due to phone reception issues on the island. The department said:
Rangers believe they have identified the dingo, and patrols have been increased in the area.
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Pauline Hanson’s counsel questions academic’s own views on colonialism: federal court hearing
Pauline Hanson’s counsel Sue Chrysanthou is now asking Prof Yin Paradies, about his own views on colonisation and Hanson’s own politics.
Chrysanthou asks about a tweet Paradies sent on 26 January 2023, which said:
On this date in 1788, the vanguard of what was and continues to be the most backward ignorant, primitive infantile, selfish, deluded, egoistic, second punishes mono culture that has ever existed, invaded and commenced annihilating one of the oldest most ineffably complex, lucid, wise evocative primal and balanced society in the earth’s history.
The vicious obliteration of this impossibly beautiful culture and the profound devastation of country by patriarchal colonial capitalists so called civilization in inverted commas, continues unabated in 2023, as it has for the last 235 years.
Paradies says that he remembers that tweet and those are his views. Asked about his opinions on Hanson’s views of colonisation, which are very different to his own, Paradies says:
Honestly, I’m not overly familiar with your client’s [views]. I don’t read the news.
Chrysanthou asks whether Paradies thinks he should have declared his views on colonisation ahead of submitting his report to the court on the impacts of racism on health. Paradies:
No, I didn’t think so.
Chrysanthou references a similar tweet Paradies sent on 26 January 2022 and says:
The fact of you holding those views that I’ve read out to you, as expressed on your tweet on 26 January 2023, has affected your approach to answering the questions about my clients conduct, hasn’t it?
Paradies responds:
I don’t think so.
Updated
Academic suggests tweet at centre of federal court hearing ‘likely to have negative impact on somebody’
Back to the federal court, and Pauline Hanson’s counsel Sue Chrysanthou is still questioning Deakin academic Prof Yin Paradies (see earlier post). Chrysanthou has taken Paradies through some of his research and reports on the impacts of racism on health and the body.
Chrysanthou:
I want to suggest to you having regard to the material you’ve read and your experience, that there’s no basis to conclude that the tweet published by my client [Hanson] would have a likely negative [health] impact as you’ve described at paragraph 27 [of your report].
Paradies:
Well, this seems to be the part that we don’t agree on. I would say that, given the literature and the evidence to date, that form of racism applied to people who have at least one of those group attributes is likely to have a negative impact on somebody like seriously, because a fairly strong form of racism [is] very exclusionary, and it’s very much about who belongs and who doesn’t belong.
Chrysanthou asks if he is speaking about “vicarious racism as opposed to direct racism” to which Paradies responds in the affirmative.
Part of Mehreen Faruqi’s evidence includes tweets from other people who said they were impacted by Hanson’s tweet, which told Faruqi to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Chrysanthou says that Paradies is unable to say for certain whether those people met the criteria for someone who would have a negative impact from racism, based on his research. Paradies says:
Information always insufficient. And that’s the thing about racism is that we need to consider it as a pattern that’s formed over evidence and experience and what we’ve seen happen before, essentially, and so on could always say there’s not enough information and yet at the same time, make an assessment of some sense of likelihood in a particular instance, given the characteristics of that instance, in comparison to other instances, and the patterns that form there in it racism is inherently comparative.
So you need to compare between racial groups, between contexts over time, and so it is possible to form an opinion on a particular instance without all the information that could be theoretically gleaned from that instance.
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Seems to be cultural problem within Labor party, Victorian opposition leader says
Asked whether there was a cultural problem amongst male MPs, John Pesutto said it appeared to be an issue within the Labor party, noting the MP for Ringwood, Will Fowles, was also expelled last year after the alleged assault of a ministerial staffer. Fowles maintains his innocence.
Pesutto told the media:
I think what we’ve got to realise is in the term of this parliament, we’ve had two Labor MPs, who are now disgraced and sit in the chamber, unable to serve the constituents who live in their seats, whether it’s Ringwood or South Barwon.
He said if their presence in the Labor party room was a safety concern, then questions should be asked about them remaining in the chamber:
We can only go on what premier Jacinta Allan has been saying. I do, as the alternative premier, wonder why if it’s not safe for either of those gentlemen to sit in the outer ministry, if it’s not safe to sit in the Labor caucus, it’s safe for them to be anywhere else in this precinct? And that is a legitimate question, but we can’t answer that, only premier Jacinta Allan can answer that question.
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Victorian opposition calls for Cheeseman to quit politics altogether
Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto says South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman, who has been dumped from Labor’s party room over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, should quit altogether.
Speaking outside parliament today, Pesutto said:
Mr Cheeseman, who remains a member of the Labor party, has been disgraced by these allegations. My own view is that he should resign from parliament, but that’s obviously a matter for him.
My main concern is one – the reputation of the parliament – and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is whether the people of South Barwon can be adequately represented by Mr Cheeseman.
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Nationals MP to ‘urge strong action’ from PM ahead of Wednesday’s national cabinet
Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, says he will be writing to the prime minister and urging “strong action” ahead of tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting.
In a post to X, McCormack said he received “hundreds of letters” from the Wagga Women’s Health Centre, compiled on behalf of local residents, “calling for more to stop domestic [and] family violence”.
I’ll be writing to the prime minister [and] minister for women today ahead of tomorrow’s national cabinet to urge strong action.
At the weekend dozens of rallies were held across the country calling for an end to men’s violence against women, with a rally held in Wagga Wagga– where Riverina MP McCormack resides.
Received hundreds of letters from the Wagga Women’s Health Centre on behalf of the region’s residents calling for more to stop domestic & family violence.
— Michael McCormack (@M_McCormackMP) April 30, 2024
I’ll be writing to the Prime Minister & Minister for Women today ahead of tomorrow’s National Cabinet to urge strong action. pic.twitter.com/biql37Rkxw
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Transport Workers Union seeking urgent meeting with Bonza after cancelled flights
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) says the uncertainty of budget airline Bonza’s future points to a “broader issue of instability in aviation” and the need for regulatory oversight.
As Elias Visontay reported earlier, Bonza has cancelled a raft of flights across the country, and sources told the Guardian that its fleet of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft had been repossessed.
A statement from the TWU said it is seeking an urgent meeting with Bonza to “ensure workers are prioritised at this difficult and uncertain time”.
TWU’s national secretary Michael Kaine said this was an “extremely distressing time for workers and stranded passengers”.
Bonza and any other airline attempting to enter the Australian aviation market has little chance of survival … this is an industry dominated by aggressive competition and unchecked corporate greed that will squeeze out any new entrant …
We need a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to provide independent oversight and set standards for aviation. Australia needs a reliable aviation industry with good, secure jobs at its core. Now is the time to stabilise this industry before more hell breaks loose.
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Academic questioned over definition of ‘migrant’ during federal court hearing
In the federal court, Pauline Hanson’s counsel Sue Chrysanthou SC is questioning Deakin academic, Prof Yin Paradies, over his research into racism and what he considers to be the definition of “migrant”.
Chrysanthou:
Can you clarify for us the answers you gave earlier, my understanding was that your personal definition of migrant background or migrant would mean any person who’s not Indigenous?
Paradies:
Not exactly – what I’m saying is that you can take migrant heritage as a very, a very broad term. If you wish to encompass anyone whose ancestors migrated to Australia, which would also include Indigenous people.
How did Paradies take it?
I took it to generally mean the people who it’s sort of like first, second, third generation Australians who very much aware of in touch with their migrant parents or grandparents or great grandparents, perhaps. And so the general use of the term is what I took it to mean as in a fairly recent intergenerational sense, migrant heritage.
Paradies research goes into possible health outcomes from racism, and has been put forward by Mehreen Faruqi’s team as part of her evidence. Chrysanthou, acting for Hanson, is trying to determine how broad the definition of “migrant” is, given Australia’s colonial history.
Updated
Good morning – Amy Remeikis here and I’ll be covering the second day of the racial vilification federal court case Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has brought against One Nation senator Pauline Hanson.
Karen Middleton covered yesterday’s proceedings here:
Hanson is expected to appear today – we will bring you what you need to know.
NSW government close to extending Australia’s biggest coal-fired plant for four years
The Minns Labor government in New South Wales will agree to extend the life of the Eraring power station for as much as four years, so we’re hearing this morning.
The expenditure review committee will have to sign off on the deal, including what looks like being a hefty subsidy – dependent on the coal price.
At 2880 megawatts of capacity, the Origin Energy-owned power station is Australia’s largest (and hence, one of the biggest carbon emitters).
Both the government and Origin are saying they are still in talks but it looks clear the deal is all but inked, and the pen is hovering.
The previous government was told the cost of operating Eraring would be $1.6bn to the state’s taxpayers for just 18 months. That subsidy has subsided along with the coal price but a sum in the $100m-plus a year looks likely.
Here’s the first take of a developing tale:
Fifth pro-Palestinian university encampment expected to begin tomorrow
Four pro-Palestine encampments have been established at universities across Australia, with a fifth expected to begin from tomorrow.
Yesterday, students at the University of Queensland and Australian National University both established pro-Palestine encampments on campus. This follows the first encampment established at the University of Sydney, and one at the University of Melbourne.
Students for Palestine organiser Shovan Bhattarai from the University of Sydney said in a statement last night that a “national movement” is occurring, inspired by students at Columbia University in the United States.
Bhattarai argued that universities across the country have ties to arms dealers and weapons research. She pointed to the University of Sydney partnering with Thales as one example. She claimed this “deeply implicated” the institutions in Israel’s actions in Gaza.
A fifth encampment is expected to begin at Curtin University on Wednesday, the statement said.
You can read more about the broader movement, which started at universities in the United States, below:
Incident in Boolaroo appears to have been ‘completely out of the blue’, police say
Asked if this incident could be related to mental health, Det Supt Daniel Doherty said he could not say because the matter is before the court.
But he said the incident appears to have been “completely out of the blue”:
There is no indications from the information we have at the moment to indicate why this occurred. This is completely one of those incidents that’s happens, as far as we know, completely out of the blue.
Anything in relation to the background of not only the victim but also the person who is alleged in the perpetrator, that will be looked at through the investigation. It will play out through the court …
My thoughts then go out to the mother who is at home having lost a 10-year-old, tragically lost a life and now has another, her other daughter is facing court allegedly responsible for killing the 10-year-old. This is a terrible situation for her to be in.
Doherty could not comment on the family dynamic, but said the two girls were the only children in the house.
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Detective notes large number of violent acts resulting in death of women this year
Det Supt Daniel Doherty said this alleged stabbing incident is “independent [and] isolated” from other stabbings across the state.
He said the alleged incident in Boolaroo was not a reflection on the individual community, but society in general:
We have seen for at least the start of this year, a large number of acts of violence that resulted in death and a lot of them have been females. So it’s a reflection not on this community, it is a reflection on society in general and, again, we’re not politicians, we have to be mindful what we can say. However we are investigating the aftermath of another what will be alleged as a violent act and it is also a tragic incident. It is very hard to imagine, it is unthinkable that this could happen to a 10-year-old.
But the wider issues around knives in the community are being looked at by the government and other policy makers and obviously NSW police force will be at the table provide advice and our views are necessary.
But this is, again, isolated from those other events we have seen in recent days, weeks and months.
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Alleged teen offender and 10-year-old girl sisters, police confirm
Supt Tracy Chapman from the Lake Macquarie police district confirmed the teenage girl and 10-year-old were members of the same household and sisters.
Chapman said police were not aware of any injuries to any other people during the incident in Boolaroo. The 10-year-old suffered “multiple stab wounds to the upper body area”.
There are no records of police being involved with the family previously “for matters such as this”, Chapman said.
Police attended the scene because of a triple-zero call, but would not say who it was from.
Chapman could not say whether the incident was pre-meditated.
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Police will allege teenage girl ‘solely responsibly’ for death of 10-year-old
New South Wales police Det Supt Daniel Doherty is speaking to the media from Belmont, after a teenage girl was charged with murder (DV) over the death of a 10-year-old girl, who she allegedly stabbed.
Doherty told the media:
There is a family at home still grieving, trying to come to terms with what happened to the 10-year-old family member and their loved one.
It is important to note the sensitivity around this. Our thoughts are with the family … Support services will be provided to them. Homicide victim support groups have been notified to help support them as well.
But the 17-year-old is before the court at the moment. The circumstances will come out through the investigation but we will allege that she was responsible, solely responsible, for the death of the 10-year-old.
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More details on infrastructure funding announced for schools
The federal government has released the latest allocation of funding to public school infrastructure projects in South Australia and the Northern Territory, with pressure growing on Labor to make school upgrades a permanent fixture of funding.
Under the latest round, South Australia will receive around $17m to be allocated to 18 public schools across the state. The Northern Territory has received $8m in funds, to be directed to 12 public schools based upon need.
Funding projects include upgrading old classrooms, installing new playground equipment and resurfacing and upgrading sporting facilities.
The minister for education, Jason Clare, said the program was “another important step” in building a better and fairer education system.
South Australia’s minister for education, Blair Boyer, said the average age of school buildings in the state was 44 years – and even older in regional schools.
Regional schools in particular are in great need, and we look forward to further federal investment into facilities in the future.
The building grants program was introduced by the federal government in the 2023 budget and is due to expire. The Australian Education Union is calling for commonwealth infrastructure projects to be a permanent fixture of public school funding, pointing to the vast discrepancies between private and public facilities.
Man in Victoria charged with alleged visa breach
A Sudanese-born man has been charged with allegedly failing to comply with his visa-mandated curfew and maintaining a monitoring device.
The AFP arrested and charged the 45-year-old man yesterday in Melbourne. He appeared before the Melbourne magistrates court yesterday and was granted bail.
It is alleged the man breached the conditions of his commonwealth visa on three occasions between 20 and 29 April by failing to adhere to curfew obligations and maintain a monitoring device.
He has been charged with three counts of failing to comply with a curfew condition and one count of failing to ensure his monitoring device remains in good working order.
These offences each carry a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine. The man is expected to return to the same court on 22 May.
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PM says Alice Springs youth curfew ‘made a positive difference’
Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference in Alice Springs:
The prime minister was asked about the results of a recent youth curfew. As we reported earlier, he met with the local mayor last night to discuss this. Albanese told the media:
The feedback I have had is it was an enormous success, it was a circuit breaker that was needed.
People across the board I spoke with – I spoke with a youth worker earlier this morning who was saying that she was very positive about the impact that it had had, that was certainly the feedback from the council and from advocates as well …
We need to not be idealogical about this. We need to look at what works and if it works we’re up for it. It is as simple as that. Quite clearly, this has made a positive difference.
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Government considering pilot study into age verification technology, communications minister says
Tech platforms need to do more to help young people who “may inadvertently be seeing pornography”, communications minister Michelle Rowland says, as part of the government’s response to violence against women.
Rowland says the government is looking at running a pilot study into age verification technology, which could be used to bar young people from accessing inappropriate content or even signing up for a social media account until they reach a certain age. She has also taken aim at social media recommender engines and algorithms serving up “misogynist rubbish” to young men, hinting the government may pursue action on that area.
Rowland told a press conference today:
The opaque nature of the algorithms make this difficult to identify and regulate. However we are determined to make positive changes in this area. People are very frustrated by the power of the platforms’ recommender systems, that are pushing misogynist rubbish to young boys.
As national cabinet tomorrow will consider reforms to domestic violence issues, the minister said the government was also working on a range of reforms in the tech sphere in a bid to increase safety – including a code of conduct for dating apps, work on tech-facilitated abuse, and broader issues around misinformation.
She said the government’s contentious misinformation bill, which was pulled from the agenda last year after strong criticism from some sectors, would be returned to parliament this year – but didn’t give a date, saying her department was still conducting consultation to smooth out issues.
“It would be helpful for the social media platforms to do more,” Rowland said, when asked about the national cabinet agenda tomorrow.
They currently have terms of service about what kind of content is able or not warranted on their networks. The question has been around enforceability. More needs to be done in order to assist, particularly young people who may inadvertently be seeing pornography.
Updated
PM announces extra $8bn public school funding measures for Northern Territory
Today the government announced an additional $8m for public school infrastructure upgrades in the NT, with each school to benefit from at least $250,000.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to the media from Alice Springs. He is speaking from a local school, which he said is benefiting from a previously-announced $1bn commonwealth investment.
You can read about this below:
Albanese said:
This school is just one of 46 schools across central Australia that has benefited from the package that we have put forward. We have seen that and heard first-hand the benefit that that has produced. Just to give one example: the flexi-engage program that provides [an] opportunity for people who could very easily drift out of the system, attendance is up 37%, a remarkable figure in a short period of time.
Updated
Virgin Australia offering complimentary seats to Bonza customers stranded mid-journey
Virgin Australia has released a statement after news that a raft of Bonza flights had been cancelled, amid uncertainty about its financial situation and future.
Virgin Australia said it would “immediately support” passengers stranded mid-journey by offering complimentary seats:
We are aware of the temporary suspension of Bonza flights. We will immediately support any passengers stranded mid-journey by offering complimentary seats on Virgin Australia-operated flights to the airport nearest to their final planned Bonza destination.
For those Bonza guests at an airport, please see a Virgin Australia customer service representative or call our Guest Contact Centre on 13 67 89.
Updated
Darren Cheeseman asks for privacy after resignation from Labor party
South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman says he intends to sit in parliament as an independent after Victorian premier Jacinta Allan asked him to resign from the party room due to allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
In a short statement posted on Facebook, he said:
A short while ago, I received a call requesting my registration [sic] from the Parliamentary Labor Party. I have provided that registration [sic]. I will continue to serve the people of South Barwon as their MP. This is an incredibly distressing time for me and my family and I ask our privacy to please be respected.
Updated
Tributes laid at Westfield Bondi Junction to be moved from tomorrow
Flowers and tributes laid inside the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in honour of the six stabbing victims will be respectfully moved from tomorrow evening.
In a statement, Scentre Group CEO Elliott Rusanow said the tributes would form part of the official condolence record for families of the victims.
The statement, posted to Instagram, reads:
We are grateful for the support our community has shown each other throughout this very difficult time for the victims’ families, victims and people impacted by the attack on 13 April.
The flowers and tributes laid on level 4 of the centre are a symbol of this outpouring of emotion.
From the evening of 1st of May, the tributes will be respectfully moved, and the messages collected, to form part of the official condolence record for the families of the victims.
Thank you for your support.
Darren Cheeseman to sit in Victorian parliament as independent
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said Darren Cheeseman has resigned from the Labor party room – so he will sit in the parliament as an independent.
Asked if the wider party will remove him as a member, she said:
That is a matter for the Labor party.
Last year Ringwood MP Will Fowles was also forced to resign from Labor’s parliamentary party in August, over the alleged assault of a ministerial staffer. Fowles maintains his innocence.
Asked if there was a cultural problem in the Labor party, Allan said:
We have a responsibility to behave to the highest of standards and whether it’s as ministers, members of parliament of all political parties or independent members of parliament, that is our obligation to the communities that we serve.
Allan also said police are not involved: “The allegations are of a nature that don’t require the involvement of Victoria police.”
Updated
Jacinta Allan said she would not go into the details of the allegations, but described it as “persistent and inappropriate behaviour” towards two staff members. She said:
I’m simply not going to go into any matters that compromise the safety of staff. They deserve the right to a safe workplace. They also deserve the right for their privacy to be respected.
Victorian premier asks Darren Cheeseman to resign from Labor party
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference in Macleod, in Melbourne’s north-east, after she released a statement last night announcing she’d asked for the resignation of South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman.
It comes after she asked Cheeseman to stand down from his role as cabinet secretary for education due to alleged inappropriate behaviour to a staff member.
In the statement issued last night night, Allan said she had “received new information about further allegations of persistent, inappropriate behaviour” by Cheeseman to another member of staff.
Today, she told reporters she received the second complaint and was unable to act until the evening as she had spent the day appearing before the Yoorrok Justice Commission:
As you’re aware, I spent pretty much all day yesterday at the Yoorrok Commission and it was following my appearance, that I received information from my office that there had been a further allegation made of repeated inappropriate behaviour.
And it was following the receipt of that information that I had discussions and consultations with colleagues, [after] that I asked for the member to resign [from] the Labor party because there’s simply no tolerance of this sort of behaviour in the government.
Updated
Government establishing hotline for stranded Bonza customers
Transport minister Catherine King has responded to the grounding of all Bonza flights, with her department establishing a hotline to help stranded passengers booked on the budget airline to fly with alternative carriers.
This morning, King said:
I am aware of reports this morning of Bonza flights being cancelled. I have spoken to Qantas and Virgin CEOs this morning and both airlines stand ready to assist stranded passengers needing to get home.
My Department has reached out to Bonza and our expectation is that they keep passengers informed of their options and their consumer rights.
My Department is in the process of establishing a hotline for stranded passengers and we will get that number out to media as quickly as we can.
Updated
Bonza planes repossessed, future uncertain
Fledgling low-cost carrier Bonza is considering the ongoing viability of its business, as all of its services are suspended and planes repossessed.
Bonza CEO Tim Jordan said the airline had temporarily suspended all services due to be operated today “as discussions are currently underway regarding the ongoing viability of the business”.
Jordan said:
We apologise to our customers who are impacted by this and we’re working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian domestic aviation market.
Aviation sources told the Guardian that Bonza’s fleet of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft had been repossessed. Bonza did not address this claim when contacted by The Guardian.
Updated
‘Difficult to make profit’ for Bonza routes, aviation analyst says
Sticking with the Bonza news for a moment: Aviation analyst Keith Tonkin spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier and described the airline’s business model:
The model for the airline was to service routes that weren’t serviced by those other main line operators of Virgin and Qantas and more recently Rex, and there was some discussion during that process that they might find it difficult to make a profit on those routes, simply because they had relatively thin margins and there has been other difficulties in financing the aircraft …
Where there is a will there is a way, but Bonza’s model seemingly has proven to be difficult to sustain.
Tonkin acknowledged the cost-of-living crisis is a consideration, but said domestic and international passenger numbers had returned to pre-Covid levels:
[Bonza] started in the most difficult of circumstances and things are probably looking up better than they were at the start of their operation in that space.
The ABC also did a live cross to Melbourne airport, and said check-in screens which usually display Bonza signage simply read ‘Melbourne Airport’.
Bonza was launched in early 2023 as a budget carrier offering ultra-low-cost air fares. You can read this story from the launch below:
Updated
Raft of Bonza flights cancelled amid uncertainty
Budget airline Bonza has cancelled a raft of flights across the country amid uncertainty about its financial situation and future.
Scores of flights have been cancelled at short notice, including several out of its Sunshine Coast base. However, other Bonza flights are still scheduled to operate today.
Bonza’s private equity owners, US firm 777 Partners, own the airline’s fleet of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft. The parent company also part owns Canadian low-cost carrier Flair, and leases its aircraft assets between the airlines.
Flair had some of its aircraft repossessed at short notice in 2023, and Bonza has been operating aircraft leased from Flair in recent months.
The Guardian contacted Bonza for comment on the cancellations.
Updated
Man charged with murder over death of woman known to him
Western Australian police have charged a man with murder over the death of a woman who was known to him.
Police will allege the 54-year-old man murdered the 78-year-old woman, who is known to him, sometime between 27 and 29 April.
Police were called to an address in Yangebup yesterday where they located the woman deceased.
The man has been refused bail to appear in Fremantle magistrates court today.
Updated
Optus apologises again as network outage report is released by government
In response to the government releasing the report into last year’s Optus outage that we mentioned earlier, the company’s interim CEO, Michael Venter, apologised again to customers for the 8 November outage and said changes have been made to prevent it occurring again.
He said:
This includes, reconfiguring our routers to handle significant changes in IP routing addresses and enhancing our processes to allow us to restore our network faster remotely.
We are also reviewing the way triple zero call failures are captured and processed in our network.
Since the outage we have also strengthened our ability to remotely force wilting of the 3G radio network if any situation arises where we may need to do this in the future.
Updated
Teen charged with murder after alleged Lake Macquarie stabbing
A teenage girl will face court today, charged with murder after the alleged fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old girl yesterday.
About 3.45pm yesterday, emergency services responded to reports of a stabbing in Boolaroo, around 20km south-west of Newcastle.
Paramedics treated a 10-year-old girl for multiple stab wounds, but she died at the scene.
Officers arrested a 17-year-old girl at the home before she was taken to Belmont police station. She has been charged with murder (DV) and refused bail to appear at a children’s court today.
Updated
For women experiencing domestic violence it is ‘terrorism, control’: Anne Aly
Speaking to ABC RN, Anne Aly was asked for her thoughts on the comparison between domestic violence and terrorism.
She said that for some women in domestic violence situations, “it is terrifying and it is terror”.
Of course [there is] a difference between the legal definition of dissident terrorism, to come at it from a kind of an academic perspective. But I think there are differences in kind of organisation, mobilisation, the motivations and the causes, but I think it’s important to recognise that for the women who are being terrorised, it is very much violence, terrorism, control …
If your listeners could just imagine for a moment, if you’re going to go to the shops, to the supermarket this afternoon, walk down the aisle of any supermarket. You might pass four women. Remember that one of them, one of those four women is going home to a situation where she’s absolutely terrified, where she does not feel safe, and it could be any one of those for women. Because this is a kind of violence that does not discriminate.
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Anne Aly discusses personal experience as victim-survivor and how this informs her work
Labor frontbencher Anne Aly just appeared on ABC RN, speaking about her personal experience as a victim-survivor of family violence. She described how this has informed her approach to the current national debate:
I often describe it as a tiny little crack in the bone somewhere in your body, that like, you know, you can move on from that situation – as I have, you can go on to achieve a lot of things as I have been blessed and fortunate to be able to do – but there’s always a piece of you that you carry with you through your life, and these past few months have been incredibly difficult.
And I know that, you know, for anyone listening who themselves is a victim-survivor, they’ll recognise when I say every single death re-traumatises you and it’s just really gut wrenching and heartbreaking.
As the minister for youth, Aly said she channels her experience into developing programs and policies, pointing to a youth advisory group on the prevention of gender-based violence.
I recognise that it took me 20 years to start talking about my experiences that’s how traumatising it is for a lot of women … These figures show us [that some women] are living in fear, walking on eggshells, fearing for their lives in their own homes, when some of our women are being tracked, surveilled, threatened, they have perpetrators turning up at their work.
Updated
Billie Eilish announces world tour, including 12 Australian shows
In some entertainment news from overnight: Grammy-winning pop star Billie Eilish announced her world tour overnight, which includes 12 shows across Australia’s east coast next year!
But in sad news for our friends across the ditch, there are no New Zealand dates on the lineup.
Eilish is set to perform four shows in Brisbane (February 18, 19, 21 and 22), four shows in Sydney (February 24, 25, 27 and 28) and four shows in Melbourne (March 4, 5, 7 and 8).
The tour is for her upcoming album Hit Me Hard and Soft, scheduled to be released on 17 May.
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR
— billie eilish (@billieeilish) April 29, 2024
Tickets on sale May 3rd. Pre-sales in select markets April 30th-May 1st, including early access for @americanexpress Card Members. Pre-sale access does not guarantee tickets. Terms apply. Supply is limited.https://t.co/D172RG7UjO pic.twitter.com/dzZL4YvFMb
Updated
Alice Springs mayor touts 'positive impact' of curfew measures but domestic violence still a 'calamity'
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, met with the mayor of Alice Springs last night to discuss the results of a recent youth curfew.
A two-week curfew for young people was announced in March, and later extended by six days, after violence outside a town pub the day prior.
Mayor Matt Paterson told ABC RN he had a one-on-one meeting with the PM who “didn’t say much [but] did a lot of listening”.
Paterson suggested there was a “calamity of issues” where police are spending 80% of their time responding to domestic violence related incidents, rather than doing “proactive policing”.
That’s one of the issues that I spoke about with the prime minister that we need to address … I know there’s a national conversation going on about that at the moment, but the extra resources at the moment are clearly having a positive impact in the community.
Paterson said the local crime level is down when compared to before the curfew, and attributed this to the extra resources – with a large police presence in Alice Springs until the end of June.
I think there’s a bit of a different feeling within the community [like] everyone’s taken a breath and feels a little bit more safer.
Updated
Should Australia go nuclear? Why Peter Dutton’s plan could be an atomic failure
Year in, year out, there’s a good chance someone in politics has suggested nuclear power as an answer to Australia’s energy problems. Guardian Australia’s Matilda Boseley explains why in this new video below.
Modern-day nuclear energy is climate friendly compared with coal and gas. But going nuclear isn’t practical for Australia – and it’s an idea that’s more than likely coming directly from the Coalition’s “delaying action on climate change” handbook.
Updated
‘This absolutely is a national crisis’: Ed Husic on violence against women
Ed Husic also spoke about measures the government is taking to address violence against women, following national rallies at the weekend.
An urgent national cabinet meeting has been called for tomorrow to discuss the issue. Husic told ABC News Breakfast it was important for federal, state and territory leaders to come together on this:
I think the bigger thing is, as a nation, you are seeing people say that they don’t accept, won’t accept and shouldn’t accept the continuing violence that’s leading to death with women, and that men need to take accountability and stand up on this.
This absolutely is a national crisis. Too many women have not only lost their lives this year but in previous years as well, every year I recall my colleague, the member for Newcastle, Sharon Clayton, who reads the names of women who have lost their lives as a result of domestic violence in the parliament and it is a shameful roll call and we all need to step up.
It is not just about governments or me being here as a politician rattling off different elements of things that are being done at a government level, we all have to work together on this and end this shameful roll call and everyone deserves to be able to live in peace in our community.
Updated
Australian researchers to return home after quantum computing work overseas
Ed Husic has been making the rounds on breakfast programs, also speaking to ABC News Breakfast about the $1bn quantum computing investment for Brisbane.
He went into more detail about the work of PsiQuantum co-founder Jeremy O’Brien:
This is a firm that [had] its start effectively in the work that was done by its co-founders at the University of Queensland, Professor Jeremy O’Brien in particular – some of his work is the most cited in quantum research on the planet.
They left our shores, because effectively they didn’t think we had an interest or a desire to back this type of technology. They have now set up a firm considered a global front-runner in the race to build the world’s first fault-tolerant computer. These Australians want to come home to ensure that we can become a tech manufacturing powerhouse now. It is huge.
Husic said the company would keep its IP and maintain its presence in the US. He said quantum computing technology would unlock potential “to create new medicines or to optimise the way energy networks operate in the transition to net zero”.
Updated
Minister says investment for $1bn quantum computing to be released in batches
Industry and science minister Ed Husic just spoke to ABC RN about the $1bn quantum computing company to be built in Brisbane. Daniel Hurst had all the details about this announcement earlier in the blog here.
He said the precinct in Brisbane will allow Australian founders – like Jeremy O’Brien who did a lot of his research work at the University of Queensland – to come home and “set up the world’s first fault tolerant quantum computer on Australian soil”.
What it will mean longer term, not just from the jobs that are instantly created … is what it does to the whole quantum ecosystem in this country, what it’ll enable broader Australian industry to do.
And the other big thing out of this is we are sending a signal to the rest of the world that we want our nation to be a centre for quantum growth, a frontier technology that will be important for the global economy as well.
Husic admitted this was a “frontier technology” and “there are never guarantees with frontier technology”, with the “finish line in this global race … estimated to be 2026-27”.
So if there aren’t results by 2026-27, will the government pull the plug?
We’ve set this deal up, but we [have] conditions along the way, expectations about performance milestones, as we release the investment in batches depending on performance.
So we’ve tried to get the balance right to manage the protection of taxpayer dollars with the investment in our economic and industrial capability long term.
Updated
Discovery brings universal flu vaccine one step closer
A vaccine that can fight off all forms of influenza is one step closer to becoming a reality thanks to a discovery in Melbourne, AAP reports.
Scientists at the Doherty Institute have identified nine new similarities between different types of the influenza B virus, which can be particularly dangerous for children.
Killer T-cells in the immune system each reacted strongly to those nine fragments, which lead researcher Katherine Kedzierska likened to a “target” for future vaccines that aim to fight off all forms of the flu:
The findings are significant as they pave the way for the design of potential vaccines.
She said identifying parts of the virus that did not change was the “ultimate goal in the quest for a universal influenza vaccine”.
Such vaccine would potentially not require annual reformulations or vaccinations, although occasional boosts may be needed as we age or for those with underlying health conditions. We would perhaps not need to get vaccinated annually but periodic boosting every five or 10 years.
The study was published in prestigious journal Nature Communications today.
Authorities have recorded 42,000 laboratory confirmed cases of the flu in Australia so far in 2024 and more than 289,000 cases in 2023.
Triple zero emergency hotline access to be strengthened
In response to the Optus network outage late last year that left millions without mobile coverage and thousands unable to make triple zero calls, the federal government will establish a new custodian to set industry rules on network outages and testing regimes to avoid repeat issues in the future.
The announcement came in response to 18 recommendations made by the Richard Bean review into government lessons from the outage, released today.
The new rules will set out how, what and when telcos communicate with customers during and after an outage, and will require the companies to have plans in place and explain to the regulator what they will do in the event of a major outage.
The government will also review and update legislation regulating triple zero.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said:
Australians need to have confidence in our telecommunications services, particularly when it comes to Triple Zero. Last year’s Optus outage and the Telstra Triple Zero fault earlier this year highlights vulnerabilities in the system.
This review is the most comprehensive examination of the Triple Zero ecosystem in over a decade. It means we have a workable blueprint to implement changes that will help improve the resilience of telecommunications in this country.
The Review identified opportunities every part of the system need to do better, and these recommendations will help us do just that.
The review highlighted that the cause of triple zero calls failing to connect to other mobile networks during the outage was related to Optus’s 3G network. While Optus has since fixed the issue, the report noted that the end of 3G later this year will also resolve that issue.
Good morning
And happy Tuesday! Thanks to Martin for kicking things off. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll take you through our rolling coverage today.
See something that needs attention, or have a question about the day’s news? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.
Let’s get started.
Police investigate death of woman near Perth
Police in Western Australia are investigating after a woman was found dead in her home south of Perth.
At about 7.15am on Monday, police responded to a call at an address in Yangebup, a suburb about 25km south of central Perth, where they “located the woman deceased”.
A 54-year-old man is assisting police with inquiries.
Police said the man and woman are believed to be known to each other, and that there is no ongoing threat to the public.
The investigation is ongoing.
A neighbour told WA Today the woman was in her 70s and her son moved out of the home.
Updated
Quantum computing set for Brisbane has been a decade in the making
Let’s bring you some more reaction to the announcement of nearly $1bn in federal and Queensland government support for a quantum computing company to set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Brisbane:
The CEO and co-founder of PsiQuantum, Prof Jeremy O’Brien, said a utility-scale quantum computer would be an invaluable tool for Australia’s critical industries, “from revolutionising the processes and tools the pharmaceutical industry uses to develop new drugs to designing vastly more efficient batteries for electric vehicles to enhance the economics and efficiencies of the EV industry”.
O’Brien said:
We founded this company on our shared conviction that quantum computing is the most profoundly world-changing technology that humans have discovered, and that to deliver on the promise of quantum computing you need a utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
I’ve held this belief since I was a professor at The University of Queensland over 20 years ago, and our team at PsiQuantum has been working towards this goal for nearly a decade.
Updated
$1bn quantum computing to be built in Brisbane
A leading quantum computing company will set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Brisbane as part of a nearly $1bn deal to be announced by the federal and Queensland governments today.
A quantum computer is a new kind of experimental device which uses the bizarre properties of subatomic physics to do some kinds of calculations much more quickly and easily than a standard, silicon-chip computer – potentially doing things such as cracking encryption.
Quantum computing is expected to deliver immense data-processing power, helping to drive advances in areas like new medicines, AI and the net zero transition.
The two governments say the deal will create up to 400 new highly skilled ongoing jobs and will enable the company - PsiQuantum - to “build the world’s first fault tolerant quantum computer in Brisbane”.
Such a computer will be able to perform a large number of calculations with extremely low error rates. PsiQuantum, which is based in Palo Alto in California, has already attracted support from private investors, but will now also have access to $470m in equity and loans from the Australian government and the same from the Queensland government.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the government must “make bold investments today if we want to see a Future Made in Australia” - an emerging major theme of next month’s federal budget.
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, whose Labor government is well behind in the polls with a state election due in October, said the announcement was “as significant for Queensland and the nation as the first silicon microprocessors were to California that established Silicon Valley”.
Updated
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer bringing you the top overnight stories before my colleague Emily Wind takes up the strain.
The rate of women killed by an intimate partner in Australia increased by nearly 30% in 2022-23, compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Australian Institute of Criminology last night. More than $300m additional annual government funding is needed to meet demand for legal aid services related to family violence, the national peak body has warned, as Australia grapples with a crisis of murdered women. The stories come as a woman has been found dead in her home south of Perth. A man is assisting police with their inquiries. More coming up.
The Assyrian bishop who was stabbed in a terrorist act at his Sydney church earlier this month has spoken of how he has lost the use of his right eye after the attack. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel referred to the attack while he was speaking at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley during an evening mass on Sunday, almost two weeks after he was allegedly stabbed by a 16-year-old. Meanwhile, the boy’s parents appeared on ABC’s 7.30 last night. We’ve got details of what they said coming up.
BHP has said it hopes to secure a $40bn settlement over the 2015 Samarco disaster, when the collapse of a dam left at least 19 people dead, 700 homeless and spread unprecedented levels of pollutants across the rivers and landscape of Brazil. BHP said it had offered the settlement to the Brazilian authorities in partnership with fellow miner Vale, its 50:50 joint venture partner in a local subsidiary, Samarco. More coming up.
And today the federal and Queensland governments will announced $1bn in funding that will see a quantum computer built in Brisbane. What’s a quantum computer? We’ll tell you soon.
