Health News at Your Fingertips

Nino Bucci

Senior Australian Anglican bishop laments establishment of breakaway conservative diocese

The senior bishop of the Anglican Church in Australia has rued the establishment of a breakaway diocese, saying it was founded on “perplexing” beliefs and could confuse congregations in a “tragically divided world”.

The Most Reverend Geoffrey Smith, the archbishop of Adelaide and primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, said in a statement released on Thursday that while the newly launched Diocese of the Southern Cross may “mirror” the characteristics of an Anglican diocese, it should be considered a new denomination.

The diocese was formally launched this week, with the former Anglican archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, appointed its bishop.

It is part of the global Gafcon movement which has divided the church.

Smith said in his statement:

It is unfortunate that confusion may well result from the establishment of this organisation among existing members of the Anglican Church of Australia and among people wishing to connect with the Anglican Church of Australia.

The meeting of the General Synod held in May this year clearly affirmed the view that marriage is between a man and a woman, and declined to affirm same sex marriage.

It is perplexing therefore that the leaders of this breakaway movement cite the reason for this new denomination as the failure of General Synod to explicitly express an opinion against the blessing of same sex marriages.

Smith also appeared to claim the new diocese was turning against God’s call, saying:

It is always easier to gather with those we agree with. But in a tragically divided world God’s call and therefore the church’s role includes showing how to live together with difference. Not merely showing tolerance but receiving the other as a gift from God.

My conviction is that the Anglican Church of Australia can find a way to stay together, graciously reflecting God’s great love, with our differences held sincerely. This week’s announcement makes achieving that end more difficult but not impossible.

You can read more about the new diocese here:

Fatal house fire in NSW northern rivers

A woman has died following a house fire last night at Goonellabah in NSW’s northern rivers district.

Fire and Rescue NSW say they are in the process of determining the cause of the fatal fire.

In a statement the authority said:

Nine fire trucks, from Goonellabah, Lismore, Alstonville and Coraki fire stations arrived at the Dudley Drive address just after 6.30pm and found the home fully involved in fire.

Flames, heavy smoke and a collapsing roof initially prevented firefighters from entering the house.

As soon as crews gained control of the blaze, firefighters forced their way inside and located the body of a woman.

Fire Investigation and Research Unit (FIRU) experts are working at the scene of the blaze today, trying to confirm how the fire started.

They will also try to determine whether a smoke alarm, possibly compromised by the roof collapse, activated during the fire.

The number of people killed in residential fires in NSW this winter now stands at 15 from 12 incidents, 11 more fatalities than the total for winter last year.

Peter Hannam

Covid and flu takes its toll on jobs

More on the jobs data that are not so positive on second blush – and that would mean the RBA on the margin would be relieved by these figures even though the jobless rate fell again.

While there were almost 41,000 fewer people in jobs last month, the numbers in full-time work actually retreated by more than double that, at 86,900.

(Part-time workers rose by 46,000, but you only need to work one hour to make that measure.)

The reduction in employment was the first since October last year.

Covid and flu continued to take a toll.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said:

In addition to people taking annual leave around the winter school holidays, there were also around 750,000 people working fewer hours than usual due to being sick in July 2022, around double the usual number we see during the middle of winter.

Given the extent of sickness within the community during July, some people who were on annual leave over the school holidays may have also been sick or caring for others.

There were 3,060 new cases in the last reporting period, and 21 people are in intensive care.

Peter Hannam

Unemployment lowest since 1974

More on those jobs figures, with the 3.4% rate the lowest since August 1974, the ABS said.

The decline, though, came from a drop in the participation rate (those in the job market) by 0.3 percentage points in the month to 66.4%. That decline in the overall workforce masked a fall of 40,900 people in work, so the picture is a bit nuanced.

Hours worked also sank 0.8% to 1.84bn, another down arrow.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said:

With employment falling by 41,000 people and the number of unemployed people also decreasing by 20,000, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points, to 3.4%.

The unemployment rate fell for men (down 0.2 percentage points) to 3.4%, and remained steady at 3.4% for women.

The underemployment rate decreased slightly from 6.1% to 6.0% in the month.

Josh Butler

Government promises innovation in aged care sector

Aged care minister, Anika Wells, says the Labor government needs to bring “ambition” to the sector, as she ran a roundtable meeting with more than 20 experts ahead of the jobs summit next month.

The government has committed to major reforms in the sector that will require huge numbers of new staff, including promising registered nurses in aged care homes on a 24/7 basis and mandating greater amounts of direct daily care for residents. Aged care homes have raised concerns about how they will find the staff to meet those rules, which feeds directly into the jobs summit’s focus on expanding Australia’s workforce.

The three-hour roundtable at Parliament House – including unions, universities, aged care providers, seniors advocates and health professionals – looked at plans to “boost job security, making aged care an attractive place to work, access to education and training, the role of migration in aged care and creating innovation in the industry”.

Wells said:

Aged care reform needs to be done once and done well, and that’s why consultations like today’s aged care workforce pre-jobs summit roundtable are crucial.

We need ambition for aged care. We need to be innovative and have thought leadership.

We must work together to improve the lives of aged care workers and care recipients who have been neglected after successive liberal governments ignored their plight.

Unemployment rate falls from 3.5% to 3.4%

Peter Hannam

Australia’s jobless rate for July has come in at 3.4%, the ABS has just said.

The market was expecting 3.5% or thereabouts, so we remain at the lowest level since the mid-70s.

More to come.

Man arrested for alleged murder of Sydney teenager in 1998

A man in Brisbane has been arrested for the 1998 alleged murder of Sydney teenager Arthur Haines.

The 13-year old was sleeping over at his friend’s house when it caught fire and he became trapped on the top floor. He managed to escape and was taken to the children’s hospital at Westmead with severe burns.

He died 11 weeks after the fire, and a subsequent forensic examination of the home found the fire had been deliberately lit.

NSW police have now released a statement:

Despite exhaustive inquiries, the matter remained unsolved, and was referred to detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad for re-investigation under Strike Force Belemba II in January 2020.

Following extensive inquiries and numerous public appeals for information, strike force detectives applied for and were granted an arrest warrant for a 55-year-old man, who was believed to be interstate.

The man was arrested by detectives from the Queensland Police Service Homicide Investigation Unit at a Brisbane home about 11am yesterday (Wednesday 17 August 2022), before the warrant was executed.

NSW Police detectives have since travelled to Queensland, where they will apply for the man’s extradition to NSW at Brisbane Magistrates Court today (Thursday 18 August 2022).

Further information will only be made available after the extradition has been granted and completed.

Albanese asked to DJ at Brisbane music festival

Josh Butler

We didn’t really think the week could get any weirder, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has suggested he could DJ on stage for American rapper Fatman Scoop at a music festival in Brisbane.

Take a second to read that sentence again.

Albanese appeared on B105 FM radio this morning, where he was surprised with a dial-in from the rapper. The radio hosts began the segment by telling Albanese “we’ve got a job for you”, before Fatman Scoop joined the line.

The rapper asked:

I need you to come down and here’s what we’re going to do: you’re going to DJ while I perform. Can you do that, sir?

Albanese responded:

That sounds pretty good.

Albanese said “if I can, I will” and added: “I don’t know what I’m doing on the 11th of November.” That is, of course, Remembrance Day – so we imagine the PM may actually have some official duties on that day.

Before you ask, Albanese’s office sent an official transcript on the chat, and we’ve confirmed that it is indeed legit and not an elaborate practical joke.

If Fatman Scoop rings any bells for dedicated Auspol tragics, it may be because of an immortal Scott Morrison moment from his early days as PM. In 2018, the freshly-minted Liberal leader posted a video on his social media from Question Time, where he asked his MPs to raise their hands – with the clip soundtracked by Fatman Scoop’s song, Be Faithful.

That song featured the lyrics “get your hands up”. It also features some other lyrics which are definitely not appropriate for a PG-rated audience, and the clip was deleted.

Fatman Scoop referenced that moment in the radio chat, saying:

I have a pattern of dealing with prime ministers in this country. So you’re now the second prime minister that I’m on the phone with.

Scomo, not working out so well. I don’t think he’s gonna answer my phone calls right now. Doesn’t feel like the right time.

Flooding hits New Zealand’s South Island

Hundreds of South Island residents have been evacuated and are waiting to learn the severity of flood damage to their homes as New Zealand’s big winter wet continues, AAP reports.

An “atmospheric river”, as described by forecasters MetService, from the north has brought widespread rains to the country this week.

The worst-hit city so far is Nelson, where rainfall has destroyed roads and a state of emergency has been declared.

Authorities ordered 233 homes in Nelson East to evacuate overnight as the Maitai River swelled.

On Tuesday, MetService issued a rare red warning, saved for the most damaging weather events, for Buller and Westland on the west coast of South Island.

In the often-soaked Westport, which received 70mm on Wednesday, about 160 households were encouraged to “self-evacuate as a precaution” by civil defence.

Another front is due to arrive on Friday.

Inquiry hears Queensland police commissioner threatened with summons to appear

The final public hearing for the commission of inquiry into police responses to domestic violence in Queensland is taking place today, with the state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, appearing.

It had been reported the state’s commission of inquiry backflipped on a previous decision not to call her to give evidence. However, the inquiry has heard the commissioner only agreed to appear after being asked if she’d need a summons.

This information comes from Guardian Australia’s Queensland state reporter Eden Gillespie at the hearing.

Nino Bucci

Former Channel 7 sports reporter Josh Massoud loses court appeal

The former Channel 7 sports reporter Josh Massoud has lost a court appeal in his claim against multiple media outlets he alleges defamed him in stories about his departure from the network.

Massoud sued Sydney radio station 2GB and Nine Digital, Fox Sports Australia, the Daily Telegraph, and radio station KIIS 1065 for defamation in the NSW district court, but was unsuccessful.

He appealed to the NSW court of appeal, but the appeals were dismissed today.

Massoud sued the media outlets after they reported that he had been stood down after threatening to slit the throat of a junior colleague. He had claimed the stories incorrectly attributed a phrase to him and offered no context.

However, the court of appeal held that the primary judge was correct in finding that the defamatory imputations were substantially true.

Dutton says colleagues ‘rightly angry’ over Morrison’s secret portfolios

Josh Butler

Opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says Scott Morrison made “the wrong call” by secretly swearing himself into five ministerial portfolios, but says the member for Cook has no reason to resign.

Dutton also joined calls for Morrison to personally apologise to former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, who says she is yet to hear directly from the man who was covertly sworn into her portfolio.

Speaking on 2GB radio, Dutton said it was “inappropriate for him to be assuming these powers”.

The radio station put the question to Dutton:

Former nationals cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie calling on Mr. Morrison to apologize to Ms Andrews saying it was the right thing to do. She also says Mr. Morrison’s actions were a breach of the standing coalition agreement. Is Ms. McKenzie right?

Dutton replied:

My colleagues are rightly angry and aggrieved and I understand that. Scott has made the wrong call … and if he hasn’t spoken to Karen [Andrews] then I believe he should.

He’s apologised for it, he’s no longer occupying the office and there’s not much more, you can continue to trail over it but it’s all out there now.

Earlier, Andrews had told Sky News she still backed her previous calls for Morrison to resign, and said he hadn’t gotten a call from Morrison.

I understand that he’s made a broad apology to his colleagues and I’m entirely fine with that, so it’s not an issue with me …

He hasn’t spoken to me. The last discussion that I had with Scott Morrison was during the last sitting week in Canberra.

Dutton called for the discussion to “move on”, claiming focus should return to issues like cost of living.

Final hearings taking place for inquiry into Queensland police domestic violence response

The final public hearing for the commission of inquiry into police responses to domestic violence in Queensland is taking place today.

The state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, is due to speak after the state’s commission of inquiry backflipped on a previous decision not to call her to give evidence.

Carroll will discuss the organisation’s capability, capacity and structure to respond to domestic violence, as well as cultural issues within the force.

Guardian Australia’s Queensland state reporter Eden Gillespie is at the hearing.

Peter Hannam

More jobs data to be released

Labour data will feature prominently today again after yesterday’s wage price index posted a softer than expected increase in the June quarter.

The gap between the WPI and consumer price inflation is now wider than it has been since the late 1990s when the ABS started releasing such data.

The past few years have been notably bad for real wages and the tide is going to turn it, as Greg Jericho underscored comprehensively in his weekly column here.

Today’s flurry of figures will include the July jobless rate, with economists expecting it to hover close to its near-half century low of 3.5%.

Sean Langcake, an economist with BIS Oxford Economics, said:

Considering the labour market is running at or likely beyond capacity, we expect to see relatively weak employment growth in July of around 5-15,000.

It would be surprising to see the unemployment rate track lower than 3.5% without a fall in the participation rate – we expect both of these numbers to be reasonably steady in July.

A big gain in jobs, though, particularly if it comes with a further increase in the participation rate will foster talk about a “tight-as-a-drum economy” and whether the RBA might have to continue its recent series of interest rate rises to induce some slack.

Also out today, though, will be the six monthly reading from the ABS on average weekly earnings, bringing the data up to May.

Yesterday’s meagre rise in the WPI of 2.6% for the June quarter was barely above the 2.4% annual pace set in the January-March period. Expect more head-scratching about why the signs of staff shortages everywhere aren’t leading to higher wages if those weekly wage numbers also disappoint.

Queensland defends coal royalties tax

The Queensland state government is defending the changes it made to the coal royalties scheme after BHP paused development of a $1bn coal mine that was due to open in 2029.

The mining giant says the new royalty regime announced in June would discourage investment.

Cameron Dick, Queensland treasurer, appeared on ABC radio this morning and said he would not review the regime, which has received bipartisan support.

Dick highlighted the record profits being recorded and said BHP’s decision is not a concern:

We’re not concerned about that, it’s about Queenslanders getting their fair share of a non-renewable resource.

Wage growth to be a key focus at jobs summit

Tony Burke, the employment minister, is speaking to Sky News following the release of latest wages figures which showing Australians’ real wages are the lowest in 20 years.

Burke says Australians will see real wage growth when there is a “crossover point as inflation starts to fall that wages move forward”.

He says the pay equity gap for women needs to be addressed, which feeds into the government’s case for raising aged care wages.

As for who will be attending the government’s upcoming jobs and skills summit, Burke confirms the Nationals leader David Littleproud will be in attendance in addition to “big representation” from business and union movements.

‘Good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain

Researchers from Curtin University are turning preconceived ideas about posture and back pain on their head in an article published today in the Conversation.

Peter O’Sullivan, Leon Straker and Nic Saraceni say having ‘good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain, and ‘bad’ posture doesn’t cause it. They write:

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

…There is a common belief that “good” posture is important to protect the spine from damage, as well as prevent and treat back pain.

Conversely, “slump” sitting, “slouch” standing and lifting with a “round back” or stooped posture are frequently warned against. This view is widely held by people with and without back pain, as well as clinicians in both occupational health and primary care settings.

Surprisingly, there is a lack of evidence for a strong relationship between “good” posture and back pain. Perceptions of “good” posture originate from a combination of social desirability and unfounded presumptions.