Health News at Your Fingertips

Appointment disclosure should change: GG’s office

Paul Karp

A spokesperson for the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor General has defended its role in non-disclosure of Scott Morrison’s ministerial appointments.

The spokesperson said:

There is a difference between the governor general swearing-in a minister to hold office and approving an existing minister to administer a department. The instances in question are examples of the latter. They are neither the first nor the last examples.

How these appointments are communicated is the prerogative of the government of the day. The Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor General is not responsible for publishing these sorts of administrative appointments. As such, they are not and have not been included in the Office’s annual reports, nor would the act of signing an instrument approving an administrative appointment be included in the governor general’s program on the website.

In response to current media commentary, there is no secret or conspiracy in the office’s reporting. The office routinely publishes details of swearing-in ceremonies and gazettes the details of when the governor general has directed a minister to hold office. However, the office is not responsible for publishing changes to the administrative arrangements for departments. Again, that is the prerogative of the government of the day. There has been no deviation by the office from past practice.

Acknowledging that the administrative appointments were not communicated – as expected, by the government of the day – the office supports a more transparent process to ensure that any appointments made under section 64 are made public. Noting that these reporting responsibilities are the prerogative of the government of the day, the office will await the recommendations of the current process before commenting further.

Global stars feature on Melbourne’s virtual art trail

A new augmented reality art trail has seen giant worms, skulls and spiders installed in Melbourne’s public spaces – virtually, of course, AAP reports.

AR. Trail, which can be viewed through a smartphone app, features some big names in global contemporary art, including KAWS, Olafur Eliasson and David Shrigley.

With constant phone use becoming the norm, it’s hoped the virtual exhibition will attract new audiences that may find museums and galleries intimidating, Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation chief executive Katrina Sedgwick told AAP.

It’s your perfect selfie paradise because you’ve got these works, you and your friends can hop in there and you can take those images, it’s already beautifully set up on the screen.

The free show stretches from Federation Square down St Kilda Road to NGV International, and people can use a QR code to access an app, enabling them to see the works on the camera screen of their phones.

It also includes commissions by celebrated Australian artists Reko Rennie and Ron Mueck, and the first virtual reality work by Patricia Piccinini.

Cold front moving over Victoria

Victoria will see showers today before a cold front moves in tomorrow.

Farmers warned cold temperatures to affect sheep and lambs

Did you know the Bureau of Meteorology has a special warning to farmers to keep their sheep warm amidst frosty conditions?

One has just been issued for sheep graziers across NSW, as cold temperatures, rain and showers and southwesterly winds are expected during later today and into Tuesday.

The bureau says:

There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions.

The warning is in place for the Mid North coast, Hunter, Northern Tablelands, Illawarra, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North West Slopes & Plains, Central West Slopes & Plains, South West Slopes, Riverina, Upper Western, Lower Western, Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory forecast districts.

One-in-100 year weather events becoming more frequent: Ardern

The prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern has travelled to the South Island city of Nelson, where residents are still recovering after a huge week of rain brought flooding and destruction.

You can hear what she had to say, reflecting that these events would become more frequent.

Northern Territory hospitals carry on after supplies fire

Health officials in the Northern Territory continue to assess the effect of a weekend warehouse fire in Darwin that destroyed crucial hospital supplies, with early estimates putting the damage bill at about $30m, AAP reports.

The blaze has left hospitals in Darwin, Katherine and Palmerston with about three days’ worth of some items including theatre consumables, disposable sheets and gloves but officials say there will be no effects on services or patient care.

Supplies of most items are also kept in other facilities.

Nursing and emergency medicine director Kylee St George said all services, including theatre procedures, would be uninterrupted.

She said there would be a full system review of what stock is on hand and what is available and where the vulnerabilities are. She said:

So we have until Wednesday to put in contingency plans on ensuring our current position that no patient care or staff ability to perform their duties will be affected.

NT chief minister Natasha Fyles said some fresh supplies would arrive on Wednesday and work was continuing to identify what gaps might remain.

The chief minister said there was no information to suggest there would be issues or delays with restocking, though checks were being made to determine if sourcing some specialised equipment could take longer.

Cold front coming for NSW and ACT

Cold temperatures, rain and southwesterly winds starting later today and continuing tomorrow are being predicted for NSW and the ACT by the bureau of meteorology.

Independent MP calling for sanctions on the Myanmar junta

Independent MP for Goldstein and former ABC South East Asia correspondent, Zoe Daniel, is calling on Australia to introduce sanctions on the Myanmar junta who took over the country in a military coup eighteen months ago.

Daniel is urging for Australia to follow the lead of the US, UK, the European Union and India who have all imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar individuals and businesses.

Daniel is calling on sanctions for the two largest military-owned conglomerates and their subsidiaries in order “to cut off vital foreign revenue to the junta.”

Star Entertainment says $198.6m loss largely due to Covid closures at casinos

Star Entertainment Group has posted a full year loss of $198.6m as Covid-related closures during the year and a writedown against its flagship Sydney casino hit the casino operator, AAP reports.

Australia’s second-biggest casino operator today said it has slashed the value of goodwill for the Star Sydney property by $162.5m “due to regulatory and other uncertainties”.

There were 786 new cases in the last reporting period, and eight people are in intensive care.

Albanese says services for long-term unemployed need examination

The PM was also asked about jobs again, and he made an interesting comment about employment services – interesting particularly in the wake of my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes’ ongoing coverage of jobseekers’ “mutual obligations”.

For a lot of long-term unemployed who have been shut out of opportunity, with the tight labour market, it may well be that those opportunities open up to them again. Some of that means you need one on one support. We need to look at employment services in the way that it has been operating as well because the advice from both long-term unemployed but also from employment services providers is that the structure that said if you have made 20 phone calls a week and ticked those boxes, that is what it is about. If it hasn’t advanced the opportunity for you to get into employment, then that’s just a paper shuffling exercise.

Albanese says government will release report on Darwin port

Just circling back to the end of that press conference with the prime minister this morning. He was asked about the current status of the review into the lease of the Darwin port by the Chinese-owned company Landbridge, which was considered a security concern by the Labor party.

Anthony Albanese:

I have said that we will be reviewing the Darwin port ownership of the lease. People would be aware that it was leased out to a company connected, very directly, with the government of the People’s Republic of China. We opposed it and I was the shadow minute at the time and we were concerned about that. We expressed our opposition. I have asked for advice and when we receive it, we will make it public.

The hearse carrying Archie Roach paused outside Charcoal Lane for a minute’s silence.

Images from the late Archie Roach’s final journey past Charcoal Lane in Melbourne have started to come through from Guardian Australia photographer Ellen Smith.