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It’s looking increasingly like the upcoming press conference called by prime minister Anthony Albanese is going to be a big one with a lot on the agenda.

Beach Energy cashed up for gas expansion

Oil and gas company Beach Energy has reported increased earnings and cashflow on rising gas prices and high demand, giving more fuel to expand.

The company on Monday reported an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $504m, up 39%, on higher prices and revenue, reduced depreciation from lower production, and “minimal” exploration expensed.

Total revenue rose 13% to $1.8bn and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 17% to $1.1bn.

Beach, which has its headquarters in Adelaide, is planning several gas projects including in the Otway Basin, offshore South Australia and in Victoria near the Twelve Apostles.

-from AAP

Peter Hannam

A traveller’s view of Sydney airport chaos

Those waiting in queues at Sydney domestic airport on Monday morning might be wondering if they had been better served by turning up early – but not so according to Guardian Australia economics correspondent, Peter Hannam, who dove into the weeds:

On Friday morning I rocked up for a Melbourne flight on Rex, departing at 7am. I was at the airport a bit over 75 minutes prior to the flight, figuring that there wouldn’t be a big crowd so early on.

When I arrived, the overflow room, that now looks a little like a cattle yard, was pretty much empty.

But as soon as you joined the main column of passengers, you found airline staff walking up and down, pulling people out as each flight departure time neared. They held signs and called out: “All passengers on flights at 6.30am or earlier, come forward now.”

In other words, there was no real advantage in turning up early as latecomers were continually extracted from the main line and given express treatment at security. There was also only an occasional check to see if queue-leapers were actually on a flight at that time.

Turn up early and you’re likely to spend a long time queuing. Chance your luck and you’ll get an easy ride as airlines can’t afford to have constant delays (that cascade through the day).

It’s not clear what the solution can be except more surge capacity at security – or more bumped passengers.

(My Rex flight took off a couple of minutes early, or so the pilot said, so the passenger management system worked at least for that one … )

Anthony Albanese is expected to give a press conference this morning about 10am on the east coast. We will bring you the latest as it develops.

Police fear revenge attacks after Sydney shooting

Police are bracing for revenge attacks after two women were killed in a targeted shooting on Saturday evening.

Speaking to 2GB, homicide squad commander Danny Doherty said the killing broke an unwritten rule that protected women and children from attacks:

It’s been long held, in the past that you don’t target children and women and family.

If there’s a conflict between two criminal networks they will target each other.

In this case we’ve just seen the rule book completely ignored and thrown out the window.

Doherty said police were now bracing for more violence as they expect retaliation:

There’s always a fear of … some type of retribution.

Burnt-out cars were found in nearby suburbs in the hours after the attack and police are investigating if they are linked to the shooting.

The victims have been identified in reports as 48-year-old mother of two Lametta Fadlallah and Amy Hazouri, 39.

The women were killed on Saturday night when the car they were sitting in was sprayed with bullets. A 16-year-old girl and a man, 20, were also in the car and police say they were “very lucky they were not killed as well”.

There have been more than a dozen fatal shootings in Sydney over the past two years as gangs feud over turf and drugs.

– from AAP

Michael McGowan

Matt Kean labels David Elliott ‘embarrassing’

The NSW treasurer Matt Kean has labelled his cabinet colleague David Elliott “embarrassing” in the latest public spat between the two ministers.

Elliott on Monday launched an extraordinary attack on Kean, accusing him of harming negotiations between the government and rail union in its long-running industrial campaign.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the transport minister said of Kean’s involvement in the negotiations:

No wonder the union is sceptical of us. Hard to put the genie of distrust back in the bottle when it’s so freely moving amongst us.

It’s very hard for me to look [the unions] in the eye and expect them to believe me after I had the rug pulled out from under my feet last time, but that’s what you get when you send a boy in to do a man’s job.

Speaking on the ABC on Monday, Kean labelled Elliott’s contribution “embarrassing”:

David Elliott is the transport minister, he has responsibility for that area of government. I’m not going provide a running commentary on these embarrassing outbursts.

Kean and Elliott have been involved in a number of clashes. In the lead-up to the election of a new deputy Liberal party leader, Elliott threatened to strip Kean of his treasury portfolio if he were elected to the job.

Elliott eventually decided not to run for the role and Kean was elected unopposed.Premier Dominic Perrottet told both ministers to focus on “unity”.

Kean today refused to say whether he still supported Elliott maintaining his transport ministry saying:

That’s a matter for the premier … I’m focused on my responsibilities.

How quickly things change …

Heavy rainfall has led to rising rivers and a major flood warning in Victoria’s Gippsland region.

Up to 90mm of rain has been recorded in the Latrobe River catchment over the past 24 hours to 4am today, with 10mm to 20mm forecast across the area for the rest of the day.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning for the Moe River at Darnum, east of Warragul, after it exceeded the major flood level early this morning. The river level is now at 4.64 metres and rising, the bureau says.

Minor flooding has eased in the Morwell River catchment but it could develop along the Latrobe River at Rosedale on Tuesday.

Other minor flood warnings are active for the nearby Traralgon Creek, and parts of the Murray and Kiewa rivers to the north of the state.

– from AAP

Six people with Covid-19 have died in NSW overnight, with the state recording 5,490 new cases this morning, 2,178 people in hospital, and 59 in ICU.

Fifteen people with Covid-19 have died in Victoria overnight, with the state recording 3,648 new cases this morning, 571 people in hospital, 27 in ICU and seven on ventilation.

First Nations group fights SA nuclear waste dump plan

A First Nations group fighting to stop a nuclear waste dump being built on their traditional country in South Australia are due to appear in court today.

The Barngarla are seeking a review of a federal government decision choosing the regional town of Kimba as the site of a storage facility for low- and medium-level nuclear waste.

Former minister Matt Canavan made the decision to choose Kimba as the site after a campaign to secure community support.

Today’s hearing concerns a fight over documents the Barngarla are seeking through discovery that the government has so far refused to provide.

Jason Bliney, chair of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation, said yesterday that he hoped the new government would reconsider plans for the facility:

We hope the new Government will quickly realise how badly the former government mishandled this project and withdraw the declaration.

We fought 21 years to win our native title and if we have to fight 21 years to stop this nuclear waste dump damaging our country, then we will have to do it.

Another snap from Sydney airport check-in:

Aged care workers doubt reform goals can be met

Aged care workers are sceptical the federal government’s ambitious planned reforms to the sector can be achieved, a survey suggests.

About half of the 1,100 workers canvassed shortly after the May election said they planned to leave the sector within the next three years, according to the report published today by aged care service consultants CompliSpace.

More than half believed it would be impossible to achieve new minimum care mandates in the proposed timeframes.

The Albanese government has introduced legislation requiring all aged care facilities to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day. They will be required to provide residents with a minimum of 215 minutes of care a day from October 2024 under a planned $2.5bn overhaul of the sector.

CompliSpace chief executive David Griffiths said the increase in care was needed but could not be achieved under existing staffing levels. He said increased funding was needed to maintain the existing workforce and attract up to 50,000 additional nurses and support staff.

– from AAP

Australia’s latest wave of Covid-19 infections may be nearing its end but new subvariants could soon bring a further spike in cases, an epidemiologist warns.

Yesterday’s tally of 15,728 new cases was the lowest reported since 28 December.

The seven-day average for case numbers in Australia has dropped to the lowest level since mid-February, according to Johns Hopkins data.

University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says while the wave of cases linked to the highly infectious BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants appears to have reached a trough, new subvariants continue to emerge:

We’re seeing a wave [of infections] due to new subvariants every three to four months, and we have done for the last eight months. So if the same pattern continues, we might expect a new wave from a new subvariant around November. And there’s already a couple on the horizon.

Esterman said the BA.2.75 variant was taking over as the dominant strain in India, while BA.4.6 had begun to take hold in parts of the US.

Those strains were almost certainly already in Australia but it was too soon to know whether they would become dominant or whether a subvariant that caused more severe infections would assume their place, he said:

There’s absolutely no guarantee that the next wave that comes along isn’t going to be incredibly severe. We simply don’t know.

States and territories have largely rolled back protections including mask mandates.

But Esterman said the persistence of the virus meant there was a need for more public health measures including greater education about mask-wearing and the importance of booster shots:

More important than the peaks of the waves is the height of the trough in between them. That’s staying relatively high, and that means that there’s constant pressure on our hospital systems and there’s constant pressure of people getting long Covid.

– from AAP

Meanwhile, Sydney airport is once again in chaos with long queues and long waits.

Walt Secord stands down from NSW shadow ministry

Tamsin Rose

NSW Labor frontbencher Walt Secord has stood down from the shadow ministry after last week admitting he had been “too blunt and too direct”.

He released a statement this morning saying he did not want to be a distraction from the “important work that needs to be done” in implementing the recommendations from the Broderick report into Parliament House culture that was released last week:

After long reflection and with more than 30 years in the Labor Party, I have asked NSW Labor leader Chris Minns to let me stand aside from the shadow ministry.

Chris, myself, and the NSW Labor Party have committed to adopting the recommendations of the Broderick review and working across party lines to make the NSW Parliament and NSW politics a workplace we can all be proud of.

I fully support the Broderick Review and the change it will hopefully lead to. But my remaining in the shadow ministry at this time has become a distraction from these major revelations and the important work that needs to be done.

Guardian Australia understands that multiple former staffers made submissions to the Broderick review in relation to Secord’s past behaviour. They relate to accusations of bullying of staff outside his own office.

Last week he said while he did “not have the same recollections from the staff in the former leader’s office – especially in relation to raised voices in the workplace”, he accepted “that I can be too blunt and too direct in a fast-paced workplace”.

Greens propose shutting down Victoria’s coal plants within eight years

Victoria’s last coal-fired plants would be shut down over the next eight years under a plan by the Greens which will be introduced to parliament this week.

The energy legislation amendment (transition from coal) bill 2022 is expected to be introduced tomorrow. It proposes that Victoria’s three remaining coal plants be shut down by 2030, ahead of the planned 2046 timeframe.

The Greens are releasing the bill alongside a climate policy package for the November state election. It is expected to be debated and voted on next month, with the party also pitching a job-for-job guarantee for coal workers.

Victorian Greens acting climate spokesman Dr Tim Read said the “writing is on the wall” for Victoria’s brown coal plants:

They’re old, unreliable and spew toxic pollution that is harming the health of local communities.

Under the bill, the deadline for Yallourn’s closure would be set for 2024, compared with the 2028 timeframe.

Loy Lang A would shut in 2027 under the legislation, as opposed to by 2045, and Loy Yang B’s closure would be shifted from 2046 back to 2030.

The Greens’ bill would also increase Victoria’s legislated renewable energy target to 100% by 2030, a move it says would be supported by a $10bn investment into renewables.

Along with the job guarantee for coal workers, the Greens want secure funding to 2035 for an independent Latrobe Valley authority.

Under their pitch, the authority would be tasked with the power plants’ closure, and developing new industries in the region including offshore wind, clean manufacturing, and mine site rehabilitation.

from AAP