Health News at Your Fingertips

A reporter asks whether, given the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia has said he would like to see more Bushmasters and armoured personnel carriers, would the Albanese government commit to providing those?

Marles:

In relation to the Ukraine, we are looking at continuing to look at the ways which we can help. I think as it stands now, we are closing in on almost $300 million worth of assistance to Ukraine. Not all of that has been delivered and we are continuing the process of delivering it. But we’re also looking an additional way in which we can support Ukraine.

The reason for that is that while Ukraine is a long way from Australia, we really do see that the principles which are at stake in that conflict, which is essentially that the global rule-based order that Australian stands for and has helped build and protect needs to be protected everywhere. In eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific as well.

While this is a conflict a long way away, we see it as one that very much engages Australia’s national interest and therefore stand with Ukraine against the aggression of Russia and we will continue to look at ways to support them.

The second half of the question was, could we see two nuclear submarines by 2030 from the US as part of the arrangement? Marles says they are “evaluating options”.

A reporter asks, when will the military have a female service chief?

Marles:

It is a really good question. Again, yes, there is consideration. Ultimately … the decisions have been made against the backdrop of who we believe are the most capable people to fill these roles. It is a really relevant question.

It is very important that the Australian Defence Force looks like Australia in terms of its diversity. I know that in general Campbell’s time, there has been a real emphasis on improving the diversity of the Defence Force so that it … look[s] more like Australia. But there is a way to go.

There is not gender equality in terms of the number of representatives in the Defence Force right now. Having said that, there are rising number of women within the Defence Force.

Marles is asked about the “complex strategic environment” in which he’s making this announcement, especially in relation to “defence acquisition” – think submarines.

Marles says:

We have seen a number of key procurements fall behind. We do have … capability challenges facing the country. Most significantly, delivering the next generation of submarines.

To that end, it really is important we have some continuity in respect of how we manage that through and particularly, as chief of defence force admiral Johnston and the investment committee has a really such a role in respect of that, and that continuity will serve us well [in] making sure we can deliver those as quickly as possible, because we cannot afford any more delay in terms of delivering Australia’s new submarine capability.

He doesn’t miss the opportunity to take some swipes at the previous Morrison government:

Governments procure. Governments govern, or they don’t, and the former government did not. It is the responsibility of the former government that we have seen that procurements fall behind and it is governments that procure. This new government, the Albanese government, intends to govern.

Marles is speaking to the media, and he says the new appointments and term extensions are being made at “a time when our nation faces great challenges”.

He’s asked about the Brereton Report:

The report dealt with really difficult matters that face our defence force. These are matters that are incredibly important … and the country is asking us to deal with them.

I also say that we have been very lucky to have general Campbell in place while this really difficult issue has faced our country. There remains work to be done in terms of the report and we will continue working [on that]. And to that end, the extension of general Campbell’s term, I think, is completely appropriate and will serve the nation well in the full implementation of those recommendations.

Daniel Hurst

The government has also asked the chief of the ADF to extend the term of the chief of joint operations, Greg Bilton, for two years.

And he’s announced three new appointments:

• Chief of navy: Mark Hammond
• Chief of army: Simon Stuart
• Chief of air force: Robert Chipman

They replace the outgoing service chiefs Michael Noonan (navy), Rick Burr (army), Mel Hupfeld (air force), whose terms were due to expire soon.

Australian Defence Force chiefs will have terms extended

Daniel Hurst

The chief of the ADF, Angus Campbell, will have his term extended by two years, the defence minister, Richard Marles, has announced.

Marles has also announced that the vice chief of the ADF, David Johnston, will have his term extended by two years. Marles said:

We arrive at a time which is as strategically complex as any since the end of the second world war in terms of our national security and the needs of our defence procurement.

He has also announced new chiefs for navy, army and air force. More details soon.

Who is the average Australian? The answer might surprise you. Dickenson says according to the census, it’s:

A female aged 30-39 years, living in a coupled family with children in the greater capital city area with an average weekly family income of $3,000 or more. That is our average Australian.

And here’s Dickenson talking about some of the data on – my favourite topic – housing:

The 2021 Census showed just over a third of dwellings occupied on census night were owned with a mortgage, just under a third were rented and just under a third were owned outright.

The NT had the highest percentage of renters in Australia, with renters making up 46% of the housing market there.

The number of homes owned either outright or with a mortgage hasn’t changed significantly since 1996; however, the share of homes which are owned with a mortgage – rather than outright – has been growing.

Over the last 25 years the number of homes owned outright has increased by 10%, while the number owned with a mortgage has doubled.

Dickenson continues, discussing religious affiliation (which we summarised below), migration and housing.

Here’s what she had to say about migration:

While the pandemic has impacted the flow of people into Australia, the Census shows there was still over a million migrants arriving in Australia since 2017. 850,000 of those arrived before the end of 2019.

The number of us who are first generation Australians, those born overseas, and second generation Australians, those with one or both parents born overseas which includes me, has grown and is over half the Australian population now.

From Census data we can see emerging communities. Our population from Nepal has more than doubled since the last Census and this change can be seen with Nepali being one of the top five languages in Canberra and Tasmania.

We have seen the largest increase in country of birth outside Australia being India, with 220,000 additional people counted, making India now the second-highest overseas-born population after England, and leapfrogging China and New Zealand.

Theresa Dickenson, the senior responsible officer for the 2021 Census and Deputy statistician at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has talked about some more of the insights from the census data:

Australia is undergoing a generational shift. While Australia is an ageing country, the 2021 Census has seen the number of millennials, those born from 1981-1996, catch up to the baby boomers. The baby boomers and millennials each have over 5.4 million people. The number of millennials is increasing through migration, while the number of baby boomers is decreasing.

The census highlights a variety of differences between baby boomers and millennials, including their propensity to volunteer, religious affiliation and needs for assistance of tasks with daily living.

Dr David Gruen, chief statistician at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has been speaking at a media event officially launching the census. He’s noted some of the interesting shifts in population movements we’re seeing in the data:

The 2021 Census provides a unique snapshot of Australia and impacts of Covid-19. The 2021 Census counted 2 million more people at home on Census night than in 2016, with half a million fewer of us travelling overseas and also fewer people away from home within Australia.

In terms of people moving in the other direction – that is, into Australia – these were just over 60,000 international visitors during the Census, far less than the 300,000 we counted visiting in 2016. Areas like the Gold Coast saw the impact of international travel restrictions with a significant drop in people at hotels and motels.

Charts! Josh Nicholas, one of Guardian’s data journalists, has been making some pretty pictures out of the census data. Here’s one, on population growth by state:

Bees. They’re having a hard time. If you were plugged into the news machine yesterday you would have heard that varroa mite, a major honeybee parasite, has been found at the Port of Newcastle.

It’s in pretty much every other country that has honeybees but hasn’t established itself in Australia before – and it’s bad news for bees. So the government is trying to eradicate it.

My colleague Donna Lu has written this great explainer on the mite and what it might (mite) mean for Australia’s bees.

Some images are coming through on the wires from the Blockade Australia protests this morning.