Health News at Your Fingertips

Biloela residents prepare Nadesalingam family’s new home

SBS has snapped this picture of Angela Fredericks who has been setting up the Nadeslingam family’s new home. Looks like she was picking up some essentials before the family’s arrival back to Biloela.

With that I am going to leave you in the capable hands of Josh Taylor, who’ll guide you through this afternoon.

Queensland police culture in spotlight at domestic violence inquiry

From AAP:

Queensland police officers spend nearly half their time responding to and investigating domestic and family violence, but it is not clear their training has led to necessary cultural and structural changes, a judge says.

Judge Deborah Richards is heading an independent commission tasked with examining whether “cultural issues” within the Queensland Police Service negatively affect how they respond to domestic and family violence.

Speaking at the inquiry’s first sitting in Brisbane on Friday, Judge Richards said statistics from last year found Queensland police spent about 40 per cent of their time responding to and investigating domestic and family violence.

“This must mean that frontline police and those manning the counters and phones at police stations around Queensland make up the public face of the police services that deal with the victim survivors who are the subject of this insidious form of violence,” she said.

Officers have been trained, but Judge Richards said it is not clear initiatives are resulting in cultural and structural changes necessary to enhance public confidence in the police response to domestic and family violence.

Priya, Nades and their two daughters Kopika and Tharunicaa are almost home! They will be holding a press conference later this afternoon so I will bring you that when it happens.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific has responded to the news that AGL’s Loy Yang A coal-burning power station will be offline until September, on top of additional outages at its Bayswater and Liddell stations.

Senior campaigner Glenn Walker says it shows the need for AGL to rapidly embrace renewable energy.

It comes as fallout from AGL’s demerger continues, with the energy company today revealing the resignation of Christine Corbett.

Walker:

Today’s news shows AGL’s disastrous mismanagement has gone from the company’s boardroom to the living rooms of their customers … Coal is the dirty rat eating away at household wallets, and if AGL had their way, we’d have a plague.

Rather than act in line with the energy transition, AGL instead wasted years and millions of dollars on a dodgy demerger which was never going to work. The results are now plain to see – crumbling assets which cannot deliver the energy Australia needs, and a delay in embracing cleaner, cheaper renewable alternatives.

AGL has a clear mandate to seize the urgent and enormous opportunity of the energy transition. The company must appoint new board members that will bring clarity and action, helping to steer AGL into a brighter and greener future.

Not a lot seems to be breaking in the new federal government’s favour when it comes to energy.

This morning we learned from AGL Energy that one of its four units at its 2,210 megawatt Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley will be offline until the second half of September.

“The outage extension is driven by global supply chain issues and the availability of specialised materials,” the company said in a statement.

Unit 2 has been offline since an electrical fault was detected on 15 April. It turned out to more complex and so a predicted 1 August restart date of the 550MW unit turned out to be optimistic.

It’s notable, too, that the company won’t be able to claim insurance back from the breakdown.

As it happens, AGL is having problems with its two other coal-fired power plants, both in NSW’s Hunter Valley.

Liddell, already down to three units ahead of its planned closure next April, has one of those three offline for repairs. What was a 1680Mw plant is not at half that capacity.

Up the valley, partner plant 2,640MW Bayswater plant is also struggling. One of its four units was offline for maintenance, and now we hear that two of the remaining units are down in an unscheduled outage.

That makes five of AGL’s 11 units offline today. No wonder, then, that wholesale prices are high and supply remains tight across much of the national electricity market. Those talking up coal as “reliable baseload” might also reconsider whether those words still work together well.

Hello everyone, this is Cait Kelly – I will be with you for lunch. If you see anything, ping me on Twitter at @cait__kelly. Let’s get going!

With that, I will pass you into the capable hands of Cait Kelly. Have a lovely weekend, see you next week.

Ben Butler

WA casino authority signs off on Blackstone’s takeover of Crown

Private equity group Blackstone has received approval for its takeover of Crown Resorts from WA’s casino authority, completing the trifecta of regulatory approvals it needed to go ahead with the deal.

In a statement to the ASX, Crown said it “has been advised by the Western Australian Minister for Racing and Gaming, and the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia (GWC), that Blackstone’s proposed acquisition of Crown by way of the scheme has been approved”.

This follows approval this week from the Victorian and NSW authorities.

All that’s left now is approval of the takeover scheme by the federal court, which will hear Blackstone’s application next Wednesday.

Shareholders, including Crown’s biggest, James Packer, approved the takeover last month.

‘We’re done! Excellent!’

Jacinda Ardern points to another New Zealander to ask a question, asking:

Is that correct or have I miscounted? I would get in a lot of trouble if we didn’t have even numbers from each side.

Anthony Albanese replies he thinks there have been three questions from each.

Ardern:

Forgive me. We’re done! Excellent!

Albanese:

I’ve just been through an election, so I can count!

And the press conference ends.

NZ can have input to the Quad, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese provides his view:

You can have separate agreements, which we do … there’s no proposals to expand beyond the Quad. But that doesn’t mean that our friends and allies can’t have input through that process. And the relationship between New Zealand and Australia is so strong.

He says something that struck him during yesterday evening’s discussion was that across a range of issues, the pair were talking about solutions:

How do we have open dialogue about what the challenges are? How do we talk about a common interest?

Together, I think Australia and New Zealand, acting as one, produces an outcome that’s greater than the sum of the two. And it’s that perspective that I certainly take forward. And I really appreciate the prime minister’s openness and preparedness to have this dialogue.

Pacific leaders need more chances to speak for themselves, NZ PM says

Both leaders are asked about their positions on security challenges in the Pacific. Is there greater urgency for New Zealand to join groupings like the Quad or Aukus?

Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s perspective is simple:

We have seen over time new arrangements that have emerged … as long as these arrangements follow the values which we hold dear, are transparent, and have at their core peace and stability, then we see those as welcome.

From New Zealand’s perspective, we have strong bilateral relationships in the region, we have obviously our strongest relationship being with that of Australia, but we want to see an increasing elevation of the Pacific Island voice within our region. That’s where the forum becomes so important. And our approach in raising that voice will be collaborative and one of partnership. We’ve heard a lot of dialogue about the Pacific, not much of a chance for the Pacific to speak for themselves on these issues.

Ardern stresses deportation policy needs amending, not scrapping

Jacinda Ardern returns to the issue of deportations of New Zealand citizens. She reiterates that New Zealand is not asking for Australia to remove its deportation policy, just to amend it:

I frequently see New Zealand’s ask mischaracterised – often, I imagine, for domestic political reasons. What we have simply asked is that there’s greater reciprocity. New Zealand, of course, deports individuals who have been in New Zealand for a short time and who have acted outside our expectations for anyone who chooses or wishes to stay as a resident.

But there are who are being deported from Australia who, for all intents and purposes, are Australian. Often zero connection to New Zealand. Sometimes not even having stepped foot there. That’s the place that we’re asking for that consideration to be given. So, anyone who claims that is somehow going to make Australia less safe, that is not true and it is not fair.

Jacinda Ardern says she believes the election of Anthony Albanese signals a “reset” for relations:

I do see this as an opportunity for a reset because there were obviously some points of friction.

There’s obviously still issues to be worked through. But the ability that we have to have those conversations in an open manner, to be able to talk frankly about, of course, the mindfulness that we need to play to domestic issues as well, but just demonstrating that understanding of where that tension has come from and the fact that there are areas where we can find some resolution. Obviously, there’s some work to do. But in my mind, yes, this does represent a reset.

Two nations in ‘lockstep’ over China’s influence in Pacific, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese says New Zealand and Australia are in “lockstep” on China’s growing influence in the Pacific, and on climate change:

At the Pacific Island Forum, I very much look forward to working not just with New Zealand but our other Pacific partners on making sure that we defend national sovereignty … that we look at ways in which we can increase development. We had a very comprehensive plan we took to the election that includes over half a billion dollars of foreign aid, it includes planning to train for defence, it includes our climate and infrastructure partnership, including funding.

But, importantly as well, the position on climate change … we are taking seriously now. You can’t have circumstance whereby you have the former defence minister, now leader of the opposition, standing around and people making jokes about people drowning. Our Pacific neighbours and partners don’t think that’s funny. What they do is see that Australia wasn’t stepping up in a way that’s appropriate and treating them with respect that they deserve.

We’re ‘out of the naughty corner’ on climate, new PM says

Anthony Albanese says Australia has been in the “naughty corner” on the international stage for nine years:

When I have met with international leaders, including prime minister Ardern, it’s like Australia has gone out of the naughty corner. We’ve been in the naughty corner for nine years. And the consequences of that, we are feeling right now with the energy crisis that is here in this country. With the failure to invest in renewables, with the failure to actually deliver on the change that is required.

And the result of that is pressure on cost of living, less jobs, less economic activity as a result of the failure to invest, which is a direct result of the fact there’s been no policy certainty when it comes to climate change and what is necessary.