Health News at Your Fingertips

Greens want to keep ‘coal and gas in the ground’, Shoebridge says

Greens senator David Shoebridge was also just on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, and after an initial chat about senator training and doing politics differently, he was asked what the Greens want from the Labor government on climate.

Shoebridge was direct, saying the party wanted to keep “coal and gas in the ground”:

We want a bill that keeps coal and gas in the ground. That’s what our focus is on. Whatever shape this bill is as it works through parliament, we’re not here to pass a bill and feel good and have some confetti drop from the ceiling.

We’re here to pass legislation that keeps coal and gas in the ground and keeps future generations as safe as we possibly can. And that will be our test for whether or not this bill is working.

I just wanted to return to nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who had earlier mentioned she would personally cleaning people’s shoes upon their return from Bali.

McKenzie was apparently not joking and expanded her offer to “any and all”:

Taking a quick break from the news, I wanted to just share this great piece from Caitlin Cassidy about a mysterious pink light in Mildura.

As she writes, was it alien invasion? Season five of Stranger Things? A portal to the timespace continuum?

You will have to read it to find out (and yes I do realise the headline gives it away, but we can also collectively imagine it is a mystery):

Urgent clarification on FMD threshold needed, Littleproud says

Shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud was just on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, and was asked what he thought of measures to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

While he stopped short of directly calling for border closures, he also did not actually outline what he thinks should be done, beyond saying the government should have a road map of trigger points towards a border closure with Indonesia.

Here’s what he had to say:

Well, in light of the fact that it’s not contained and it’s increasing the spread across the country, I think if we haven’t hit that trigger point, then what is that trigger point? I think that’s the important thing now. I was shocked that it hadn’t been contained to the extent I thought it had and was led to believe.

So it’s important that we continue to be transparent, with us and the Indonesians, about the threats it poses to us and what are the steps taken, so we are working collaboratively with the Indonesians in trying to isolate this.

But there has to be a threshold question that needs to be answered to us and the Indonesians. And we must be getting dangerously close to that … if we have not even crossed it.

The Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has said the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, has been “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to dealing with foot-and-mouth disease.

McKenzie added that she believes it was possible to stop the spread of the disease at the border with the use of “the right measures” but failed to actually say what those measures would look like, apart from saying she would clean people’s shoes:

I don’t believe we need to close the border with Indonesia, I believe this government needs to be serious about stopping foot-and-mouth at the border.

Systems at the border need to respond to the crisis as they occur. Decisions needed to be made weeks and months ago.

The fact we have only foot mats going into Darwin and Cairns when you have 16,000 Australian returning from Bali a week, the risk is huge.

If Murray Watt can’t have foot baths for Sydney and Melbourne airport to get the thousands of people coming from Bali waived through by security washed down, not just on their feet but in their backpack, I am very happy to offer my time to hand-wash those shoes myself.

Lambie calls on Coalition to support climate bill

The Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie has called on the Coalition to support Labor’s climate bill to ensure the Greens don’t “play” with it in the Senate.

Speaking on Sky News earlier today, Lambie seemed to be referring to the Greens blocking the proposed emissions trading scheme put forward by the Rudd government in 2009.

Here’s what she had to say:

First of all we need to set a target. So if the Greens want to play up like silly little buggers let them go play up.

I can only hope the Liberals come to some sense and actually set a target. We’ve got to be ambitious and we need to set something.

But, once again, you can’t turn coal and gas off overnight. It just doesn’t work like that. Let’s be realists.

AMA in WA calls for mask mandate as Covid cases surge

The head of the Australian Medical Association in Western Australia has directly called for a mask mandate as Covid cases continue to surge across the country.

Dr Mark Duncan-Smith said the pressure hospitals are under could be eased by mandating masks indoors, adding that relying on people to do the right thing was not enough:

Relying on citizens to just do the right thing [has led to] where we are now.

This is to avoid stricter restrictions down the road. We do need the government to step in and protect society.

We need to control this outbreak rather than [maintain] a ‘let it rip’ approach.

Mostafa Rachwani

Good afternoon, and thank you Natasha for another solid shift this morning. Mostafa Rachwani with you this afternoon, with much still to come.

Natasha May

Thanks to everyone following along with me today, I am handing you over now to my colleague. Take it away, Mostafa Rachwani!

NT Health has identified one case of monkeypox in the Northern Territory, but says the person presents “no transmission risk to the community”.

The authority says the case is a returned overseas traveller who is currently in isolation in the Top End region.

In their statement NT Health said:

Monkeypox was first reported in Australia on 20 May 2022 and to date 41 cases have been confirmed.

Monkeypox is a viral disease transmitted through very close contact with an infected person or contaminated objects such as bedding, towels or clothes.

Initial symptoms of monkeypox include fever, swollen lymph nodes, headache and body aches. These symptoms are usually followed by a distinctive rash (lesions that look like blisters) that may appear on the face, genitalia, inside the mouth, palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

While the transmission risk of monkeypox in the NT is currently low, it’s important anyone with symptoms seek immediate medical advice.

DIY celebrations for Miles Franklin winer

With so much disease-related news today, here are some delightful images the winner of the Miles Franklin award winner has shared of her family celebrations.

Jennifer Down’s parents rolled out a DIY red carpet wearing specially printed t-shirts to be sure no one was in doubt of who their daughter was.

Is Covid changing more rapidly than other viruses? And what is the latest variant?

Guardian Australia’s medical editor Melissa Davey has your coronavirus questions answered.

Government won’t yet close border with Indonesia amid biosecurity fears

Josh Butler

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, says Australia will not yet close the border to Indonesia over foot-and-mouth disease concerns, despite calls from the Coalition opposition for tighter biosecurity controls over the devastating livestock disease.

Fragments of the disease were found in pork products on sale in Melbourne imported from China yesterday, while the Adelaide Advertiser reported that fragments were found in undeclared beef products at Adelaide airport. Guardian Australia has contacted Watt’s office and the agriculture department for comment.

The Coalition’s home affairs spokesperson, Karen Andrews, and the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce have called on the Labor government to close Australia’s border to Indonesia, which is currently experiencing an outbreak. Watt said on Sky that this was not under consideration at the moment.

Watt, speaking on Sky News, called on travellers to do the right thing.

If we do the right thing I do think we can keep foot-and-mouth out.

Government to move on closing down tax loopholes ‘as speedily as possible,’ assistant minister says

After the news of Rio Tinto’s tax settlement, the Labor MP Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for competition and Treasury, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring multinationals are paying their fair share of tax on Sky News.

We went to the election with a package of plans to tackle multinational tax avoidance, to implement the OECD/G20 two-pillar agreement as speedily as possible, to move on closing down loopholes around royalty payments and debt deductions.

It is really important for business fairness … If you’re a local small business going up against a multinational, then you’re fighting with your hands tied behind your back, if they’re routing their tax payments through low or no-tax jurisdictions.

Government to crack down on offshore tax avoidance, assistant treasurer says

Rio Tinto agreed to one of the biggest settlements in Australian tax history today.

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said this comes as a “good news for all Australians” and that the government will continue to close the loopholes of tax avoidance, appearing earlier on the ABC:

When a large multinational like Rio Tinto has been avoiding their tax, hasn’t been paying what’s due, it places a greater burden on every other taxpayer in the country and it’s money we don’t have for Medicare, for the NDIS, to pay for our defence force.

Jones said it’s also “important for the integrity of the system as a whole” because people are more likely to want to cut corners themselves if they think others aren’t paying their fair share.

He also said it’s important for business “that there’s a level playing field”.

He spoke about the government’s commitment to continue to address multinational tax avoidance:

My colleague Andrew [Leigh] is doing a great job working on a project of reforms around multinational tax avoidance to ensure that we can strengthen our rules, strengthen our laws and our enforcement capacity to not only crack down on companies like this one that have reached a settlement after doing the wrong thing, but looking right around our economy to ensure that if businesses are doing their business here, making big profits here, they’re not using sneaky loopholes and accountants tricks to move the economic activity on paper offshore to avoid tax.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 89 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 1
• Cases: 1,407
• In hospital: 165 (with 3 people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 25
• Cases: 13,829
• In hospital: 2,210 (with 55 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 669
• In hospital: 70 (with 1 person in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 10
• Cases: 11,687
• In hospital: 1,034 (with 21 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 7
• Cases: 5,054
• In hospital: 354 (with 12 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 2
• Cases: 1,684
• In hospital: 52 (with 2 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 37
• Cases: 14,312
• In hospital: 875 (with 46 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 7
• Cases: 6,960
• In hospital: 459 (with 22 people in ICU)

More foot-and-mouth disease fragments have reportedly been detected in undeclared beef at Adelaide Airport.

The Adelaide Advertiser is reporting comments today from the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, that viral fragments were picked up “in recent days” through a detection system at Adelaide Airport.

The reported detection comes only a day after Watt revealed that fragments of the disease had been found in imported meat products in Melbourne.

The Guardian is looking into this story and will have more for you soon.