Australia renews calls for Israel and Hamas to agree ceasefire
Daniel Hurst
The Australian government has reiterated that “what is occurring in Gaza is horrific” as it renewed calls for Israel and Hamas to agree to the ceasefire proposal pushed by the US president, Joe Biden.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told ABC News Breakfast earlier today:
We’ve been very clear about our position, whether it’s in our engagement with Israel, whether it’s in our voting position in the United Nations, whether it’s in my public statements or the prime minister’s public statements … and what we ‑ what I say is this: President Biden has put out a ceasefire plan, but all parties should agree to it, we should have a ceasefire, hostages should be released, aid should flow and civilians should be protected.
The cost of this conflict has been catastrophic, and what is occurring in Gaza is horrific, and we have to find a pathway out. The American president has put on the table a pathway out, and all parties should back it in.
Late last month, Biden publicly announced a staged ceasefire proposal that would include the release of hostages and lead towards a permanent end in hostilities, and it subsequently gained the support of the UN security council. While Biden described it as an Israeli proposal, it soon became clear that there were divisions and scepticism within in the Israeli government about the plan. Last week the US accused Hamas of proposing unworkable changes to the ceasefire proposal.
Key events
Karen Middleton
Albanese labels Coalition nuclear policy an ‘economic catastrophe’ that no investor ‘would go anywhere near’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has labelled the Coalition’s nuclear power proposal “economic catastrophe” and “farcical” because nuclear power is expensive and no investor would be willing to back it.
Albanese has told Sky News that the Coalition has been unable to say how its policy would reduce power bills or to substantiate its claim that nuclear power was cheaper than renewable energy, when energy experts say the opposite.
When we look at the cost of nuclear what we know is that it’s the most expensive form of new energy. My government is providing $300 off energy bills in two weeks. The Dutton opposition are saying: ‘In two decades, we’ll give you the most expensive form of energy that there is – new energy – and what’s more, we’ll have government ownership and send all the bills to the taxpayers’… Not a single private bank or financier in this country would go anywhere near this because it’s such a risky economic proposition.
He said Australia’s energy advantages lie elsewhere, including in solar power.
“If you go outside in Australia, you can fry an egg on the footpath in the summer. We have the best solar resources in the world.”
Karen Middleton
Shadow energy minister unable to say how proposed nuclear policy will bring down power prices before plants are online
The shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, says the cost of building and running seven nuclear reactors is “just one part of the equation” in the introduction of nuclear power to Australia and the key was the benefits it delivered in cheaper power.
But the Coalition has been unable to say yet exactly how its proposed nuclear-power policy would bring down power prices in the 11 to 15 years it could take to establish a nuclear power industry.
O’Brien has told Sky News that the Coalition has costed its nuclear policy but is not prepared to share details publicly yet. He also declined to say publicly what percentage of Australia’s overall energy mix the seven nuclear reactors would contribute.
He said the Coalition would release separate policies on renewable energy and gas and that the renewable energy policy would be “leaning into the importance of storage” including batteries:
We are wanting to focus right now on the nuclear part of our policy but we are yet to release the renewables and the gas. Only once you do that, then you can say ‘this is the full mix’.
O’Brien insisted the Coalition could have nuclear power entering the grid via small modular reactors – which are still under development – by 2035 and by 2037 via large-scale modern reactors. He said it would take independent advice on the best technology.
Investigation launched after bones discovered in Sydney’s Northern Beaches
Bones have been found at a garage on Sydney’s Northern Beaches yesterday morning, sparking a police investigation.
The bones were found during excavation work being done at a mechanic’s business in Cromer.
In a statement, NSW Police say they have yet to determine if the bones are human or animal.
They have asked for people to refrain from speculating on whether the bones are related to any ongoing investigations.
Australia renews calls for Israel and Hamas to agree ceasefire
Daniel Hurst
The Australian government has reiterated that “what is occurring in Gaza is horrific” as it renewed calls for Israel and Hamas to agree to the ceasefire proposal pushed by the US president, Joe Biden.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told ABC News Breakfast earlier today:
We’ve been very clear about our position, whether it’s in our engagement with Israel, whether it’s in our voting position in the United Nations, whether it’s in my public statements or the prime minister’s public statements … and what we ‑ what I say is this: President Biden has put out a ceasefire plan, but all parties should agree to it, we should have a ceasefire, hostages should be released, aid should flow and civilians should be protected.
The cost of this conflict has been catastrophic, and what is occurring in Gaza is horrific, and we have to find a pathway out. The American president has put on the table a pathway out, and all parties should back it in.
Late last month, Biden publicly announced a staged ceasefire proposal that would include the release of hostages and lead towards a permanent end in hostilities, and it subsequently gained the support of the UN security council. While Biden described it as an Israeli proposal, it soon became clear that there were divisions and scepticism within in the Israeli government about the plan. Last week the US accused Hamas of proposing unworkable changes to the ceasefire proposal.
NSW health minister says Hawkesbury bird flu outbreak is being managed
The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, has said the government is “comfortable” with the current handling of the bird flu outbreak at an egg farm in the Hawkesbury.
NSW Health is currently working with the NSW Department of Primary Industries to conduct health risk assessments for people who have potentially been exposed to the avian influenza virus.
Park said the virus doesn’t “transmit easily between people” and that “we’ve got to stay calm about this”:
We’re comfortable where it is at the moment. Everyone who is linked to that farm has been or will be contacted now by New South Wales Health, to give them some advice, carry out an assessment and make sure they know what to do.
And this presents like many other flus and provides those sort of flu-like symptoms that people get. It’s a flu that… doesn’t transmit easily between people. It doesn’t transmit easily from animal to human. We’ve got to just stay calm about this.
New South Wales Health and [the Department of] Primary Industries are working together on situation
Parts of Cape York listed on tentative Unesco world heritage list
Andrew Messenger
Parts of Cape York in far north Queensland have won a place on the Unesco world heritage tentative list. The tentative list is submitted to Unesco by countries, and is the first step to full international protection and recognition.
The premier, Steven Miles, announced the decision on ABC News Breakfast this morning.
“This is a very special announcement and Cape York is a very special place,” Miles said. “It’s something I’ve worked on since I was the environment minister nearly 10 years ago and to get to this point is quite monumental.”
A location needs to be on the list for a year before the nominating nation can submit them to Unesco for full protection.
“There are people around the world that use the world heritage list to determine their bucket list,” Miles told the ABC. “We worked really closely with the traditional owners to identify those areas that they consent – that they support us having listed on the World Heritage list.
The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is travelling to Cairns to make the formal announcement later today.
Miles said it could take several more years before Cape York wins full protection. World heritage listing grants sites international legal protection because they have “cultural and natural heritage … considered to be of outstanding value to humanity”.
Australia currently has 20 world heritage sites, five of them in Queensland – K’Gari (formerly Fraser Island), the Gondwana Rainforests, the Great Barrier Reef, the Riversleigh fossil mammal sites and the Wet Tropics in north Queensland.
Daniel Billings appears in court
Tamsin Rose
Molly Ticehurt’s accused killer, Daniel Billings, remained silent when he appeared before a magistrate in the Parkes local court on Thursday morning.
Billings appeared via video link and wore a green during the brief appearance before Magistrate Brett Thomas.
Thomas ordered the public prosecutor to produce the brief of evidence by 15 August ahead of Billing’s next court date on 22 August.
Ticehurst was found dead in her home early in the morning on 22 April. Billings was then charged with her murder.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier denounces graffiti at Trades Hall
Allan has condemned another incident of vandalism overnight, this time at Trades Hall, which was graffitied overnight with statements including “cops defend genocide”, “free Palestine” and “ACAB”.
She says:
For more than 100 years Trades Hall has stood in solidarity with people from a whole range of different backgrounds, supporting peace and cohesion here in our state. And within its walls, it’s fought for a fair go for everyone across the state. And the disgraceful, violent behaviour that vandalism we’ve seen at Trades Hall overnight, just flies in the face of that centuries old tradition of fighting for what’s right, for peace and harmony, but doing it in a respectful way. I want to make this message absolutely clear.
I’ve said it a number of times – violence in Victoria does not solve and address the violence that we’re seeing in the Middle East. So if you want peace, start acting like it. If want to have a peaceful community, a peaceful society, make sure you are living those values here on the streets of Victoria, because this sort of disgraceful, violent anti-semitic behaviour is doing not one thing to stop the violence we are seeing in the Middle East.
Andrew Messenger
Man charged with murder after shootings in South Mackay
Queensland police have charged a man with murder after allegedly shooting a women sitting in a parked car in South Mackay yesterday.
The 31-year-old man is also accused of shooting a 66-year-old man, outside a home on Robb Place, in central Queensland, after he approached a short time later.
Two children were in the vehicle at the same time the 34-year-old woman was shot, but fled the scene for help without being injured.
A police spokesperson said the five people involved didn’t know each other, but lived on the same street.
The alleged murderer fled the scene in a silver Mitsubishi Triton prior to police arrival, the spokesperson said. He was later arrested at a petrol station on the Bruce Highway near Hilton Street.
Police charged him with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. He is due to appear at Mackay Magistrates court today.
The 66-year-old man was treated at Mackay Base Hospital for wounds to the hand and sternum and is reportedly in a serious but stable condition. The 34 year old died at the scene
Benita Kolovos
Allan: Dutton and LNP ‘have a choice’ on nuclear
Asked if she considers nuclear “dangerous and deadly”, Allan replies:
“You just have to look at the experience internationally … [Former Victorian Liberal leader] Matthew Guy has spoken about this pretty powerfully in the Victorian parliament about his own family’s experiences with nuclear energy that has gone wrong in many different parts of the world. So we have to learn from that but the important point I want to make this morning is we have a choice. Australia has a choice.
We are blessed with a choice. We can continue on the pathway that Victoria has led with our strong renewable energy focus and its delivery. We already have close to 40% of our energy mix here in Victoria, being sourced from clean, secure, cheaper, renewable energy that is driving the transition, and most importantly to is providing secure jobs for our state.
Frankly, Peter Dutton and his federal Liberal National party colleagues have a choice. They can continue to work with us. I would love to work as we are working with the federal Labor government, any government that wants to work with us on continuing to drive that renewable energy transition.
Benita Kolovos
Jacinta Allan reiterates opposition to nuclear reactors in Victoria
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is speaking outside parliament about the letter she wrote to the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, telling him she would not negotiate on nuclear reactors in the state.
She says:
I made Victoria’s position yesterday absolutely crystal clear to the federal Liberal National party leader Peter Dutton and his colleagues that I will stand with the Victorian community, particularly with the Gippsland community, and oppose him bringing toxic, risky nuclear energy reactors to the state of Victoria.
I’m making this clear for … simple and straightforward reason.
When you think about the future of our state, when you think about the future we want our kids to grow up in … I want it to be a state where the energy source is clean, it’s secure, and it’s cheaper energy. And what’s really important about our pathway that we’re already on with renewable energy is that we know that it works.
We have the lowest wholesale prices here in Victoria in that nation. We also to know that we are on this pathway to renewable energy transition. We have a choice within get on and keep going on this pathway that supports jobs in Gippsland, jobs across regional Victoria [and] delivers cheaper, more secure and cleaner energy source.
What the Liberal National party is saying to Victoria and the nation, they want to reject that evidence, they want to reject that future for our state and our country. They want to bring toxic, risky and expensive nuclear energy to our country and we just will not stand for that.
SA premier joins objections to Coalition nuclear policy
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has joined the chorus of premiers objecting to the Coalition’s nuclear plan, saying his major concern was costs.
Malinauskas was on Sky News earlier, where he questioned why the opposition leader has yet to release the potential cost of the policy:
I don’t know how Peter Dutton completely defies market economics, science and evidence.
Unless Peter Dutton has bought some new technological solution around nuclear power, which of course he doesn’t, because if he did the rest of the world would know.
So in the absence of that, we’ve got to go on the evidence that’s before us.
My concern is exclusively around cost. What we know from all the independent research that is out there is that nuclear power in the context of the Australian energy market is actually going to drive up prices rather than driving down.
There’s only one or two things that have happened. Either Peter Dutton knows how much the cost is and he’s refusing to tell us – or, even more scary, he’s announced a policy without even knowing how much it’s possible.
AMA says not supporting vapes reform is ‘betrayal of a healthier, safer and cleaner future’
The Australian Medical Association has issued a warning that vapes are a “toxic threat to our health, environment and future.”
The association urged all members of parliament to consider the health impacts of vaping, with the Senate to soon consider the government’s vaping reforms.
The AMA said material used to make vapes also comes at a cost to the environment with deforestation and destruction of habitats from mining for materials and carbon emissions from their manufacture and transport.
The association’s president, Prof Steve Robson, said that anything other than support for the reforms was “a betrayal of a healthier, safer and cleaner future for our kids.”
If you care about the health of our children, and the health of our environment, then the choice is clear on vaping – support the reforms before the parliament.
Anything less is a betrayal of a healthier, safer and cleaner future for our kids.
Vapes are classified as hazardous waste around the country but most vapes are being thrown away in the garbage, or worse – dumped as litter – which is terrible for the environment.
The plastic waste from the device body and pod never fully decomposes.
The electronic waste or lithium-ion battery waste can corrode and the metals and chemicals – like lithium – leak into the ground, polluting the soil and water long into the future.
We know liquid nicotine is also an acute hazardous waste that is toxic to humans if consumed.
Steven Miles says Queensland would oppose Coalition nuclear policy
Queensland’s premier, Steven Miles, has flagged his state would oppose the Coalition’s nuclear policy plan, raising issue with the cost and the potential waste management.
Miles was on ABC News Breakfast, where he said Queensland just “didn’t need it” and that opposition leader Peter Dutton has a problem in that the state government owns the two sites picked for a potential nuclear reactor:
Well, quite simply we disagree with them. The two big problems with this plan is that the cost and how the waste will be managed. We know this will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and that will mean people’s electricity bills will be higher and I’m concerned about the future generations of Queenslanders who will need to manage this dangerous radioactive waste forever.
We just don’t need it. We have a detailed, costed plan to get to net zero emissions in our energy system through renewable, through solar and wind and pumped hydro storage in particular, and that’s the plan we’re pursuing here.
The other big problem for Peter Dutton is he’s chosen sites we own. We still own those generators and we own that land and we own the transmission network from there and so without our cooperation it’s very hard to see how he can do it. You got to assume he’s counting on an LNP state government cooperating with him.
I tell you what – if Labor is in government we will do everything that we can to block his plan to build expensive nuclear reactors on sites we own here in Queensland.
Cait Kelly
Domain predicts house prices will continue to rise
Home prices will continue to rise across Australia, with most capital cities expected to reach new record highs for both houses and units, Domain’s FY25 price forecast report has predicted.
Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief of research and economics, said:
We predict that population growth, construction challenges, and borrowing power will be the key drivers behind the price growth. Demand has risen as housing composition changes, demographic shifts, and robust population growth. We have seen an increase in single-person households and a decrease in household size in general (fewer people, on average, living in each household), both amplifying housing demand, further compounded by migration.
Home building has also struggled to keep up with population growth due to the scarcity of land, weak building approvals, and high construction costs, exacerbating the existing structural undersupply. This will lead to an ongoing limited supply of new homes on the market.
Cait Kelly
Half of 4,000 interveiwed migrant workers being underpaid, research shows
A new report from Migrant Justice Institute has revealed just how widespread underpayment is. Of the 4,000 migrant workers interviewed, over half were underpaid. Most knew this, but 9 in 10 did nothing. One went to court – but recovered none of their wages.
It is not clear that wages claims are being systematically resolved via other legal forums or by the Fair Work Ombudsman, the report said.
For these migrants, the risks and costs of taking action substantially outweighed the marginal prospect of success. However, 45% of these participants indicated that they were open to trying to recover unpaid wages in the future.
Associate Prof Laurie Berg said:
The court processes must be reformed to deliver migrant workers the wages they’re owed. It is currently almost impossible for many migrant workers to make and pursue wage claims without legal support.
The report called for a new pathway for wage claims at the Fair Work Commission, and potentially establishment of a new fair work court, more funding for legal assistance and a new government guarantee scheme so workers get paid when the employer disappears, liquidates or refuses to pay.
Migrant Justice Institute’s previous survey found that out of 4,000 migrant workers, at least a third earned less than $12 an hour.
PM: Coalition nuclear policy has ‘no serious timeframe’ and ‘no details’
Albanese went on to say the policy had “fallen apart within 24 hours.”
He said there had been “no costings. There’s no serious timeframe. There’s no proportion of how much nuclear will be as part of the energy system. There’s no details on what type of reactor they will build.”
And the absurdity of Angus Taylor speaking about hypotheticals. Well, is that hypothetical or is it real? The seven sites going to get nuclear reactors imposed on them, it must be said, [are] some time two decades away. But still, that’s what they’re saying. Is the consultation just just going through the motions? They can’t say if they’ll provide a real consultation or not.
Post a Comment