Health News at Your Fingertips

Dutton ‘just a different kind of bulldozer’: Chalmers

Daniel Hurst

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the Labor government wants to work collaboratively across the parliament but intends to implement the climate policy it took to the election.
Chalmers told Sky News the government wanted to work with anybody across the parliament who shared the objective of increasing the uptake of cleaner, cheaper energy.
Labor’s medium-term target is a 43% cut in emissions by 2030, against 2005 levels – compared with the former government’s formal target of a 26% to 28% reduction.
Chalmers said he suspected the new opposition leader, Peter Dutton, borrowed from the Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott “playbook” on emissions reduction, it would show the Coalition had “learned absolutely nothing” from the election results.
Here’s what he said about the prospect of the Coalition respecting Labor’s electoral mandate:

I hope so, but to be blunt about it, I think Peter Dutton is just a different kind of bulldozer. He’s a different bulldozer with a different coat of paint.

(That’s a reference to Morrison’s election-eve confession/line that the then prime minister could be “a bit of a bulldozer”.)
Chalmers said Labor wanted to work with the whole community, including different parts of the parliament.
He said an obstructive approach by the Coalition would be “bad fo the country.
Chalmers said the prime minister, Anthony Albanese “had indicated that “this is Australia’s opportunity to come together around these big challenges”.
Chalmers added:

It would be a shame to waste this opportunity.

Meanwhile, Chalmers said the mood in the Labor caucus room this morning was “buoyant”.

It’s snowing in central Victoria, apparently. Trentham is about 90km north of Melbourne.

Chalmers looks to ‘trim’ spending

Daniel Hurst

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has warned that there are “no shortage of economic challenges” and suggests the new government will look to “trim” spending in the October budget.

Chalmers is due to give an economic statement when parliament sits in July. He told Sky News that would be an opportunity to speak “bluntly” and not “tiptoe around” the big economic challenges the nation faced. He said he would use the statement to give Australians “our sense of expectations for the economy”.

Chalmers said he would then deliver a budget in the second half of October. He said Labor would deliver its election promises, but added a word of caution:

We’ll implement our commitments but people should expect there will be more trimming of spending, the spending that we inherited.

He said the new government’s priority was to focus spending on “more productive investments”, and it had not been contemplating a budget repair levy.

Man accused of Victorian camper murders in court

The case has been delayed, AAP reports:

The case of an airline pilot accused of murdering the Melbourne campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay has been delayed so prosecutors can continue to build their case.

Gregory Stuart Lynn, 55, remained quiet as he faced Sale magistrates court via videolink on Tuesday afternoon.

Lynn is accused of killing Hill and Clay at a remote Wonnangatta campsite in the Victorian alpine region in March 2020.

Lynn was arrested late last year following a long-running police investigation into the case, and detectives found the bodies of Hill and Clay in remote bushland outside Dargo, Victoria in February.

Prosecutor Angela Liantzakis on Tuesday requested a long adjournment so the prosecution could obtain more transcripts and other material.

Lynn’s lawyer, Chris McLennan, also sought an adjournment so Lynn could review a hard copy version of the brief in prison.

Lynn will remain behind bars until the case returns to court on 23 August.

NSW SES issues wind warning

Be alert and prepared, the NSW SES is warning, as violent winds cut through the state. It has had almost 1,000 calls for assistance in the past 24 hours.

It says in a statement:

New South Wales State Emergency Service (NSW SES) is warning the community to be alert and prepared, as damaging winds at speeds of more than 90km/hour continue to lash the state, off the back of a cold front which first hit NSW yesterday (Monday 30 May 2022).

With severe winds expected to continue throughout the afternoon and into the evening, people are being urged to take preventative measures to ensure the safety of themselves and their property.

Over the past 24 hours, the NSW SES has responded to just under 10,00 (956) requests for assistance. Of these requests, over 700 included trees falling on homes, powerlines and roads.

The worst hit areas overnight were Newcastle, Maitland, Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, and Armidale. Damaging winds have been forecast to hit the Sydney metropolitan area this afternoon and continue into this evening.

Thunderstorms are possible later in the day across south-eastern parts of the state and power outages are still occurring in some storm-affected areas.

The NSW SES deputy commissioner, Daniel Austin, is encouraging members of the community to proceed with caution while outdoors.

“Recent rainfall has saturated the ground, increasing the risk of trees and branches falling in the wind,” said Austin.

“Reconsider whether it’s necessary for you to be on the roads, and if it is, drive to the conditions. Consider that powerlines may be tangled in fallen trees. If you’re at home, secure any outdoor furniture and avoid parking your vehicle under trees.”

“Our volunteers are trained and ready to assist the community, but we are urging you to not put yourself and our volunteers at risk. Communities have already been impacted by extreme weather conditions this year and we thank you for your efforts to be prepared for storms and floods,” he said.

Updates from Can-brrrrrrr.

In which the Australian Electoral Commission suggests some people used telephone voting because of Covid asked the operator who filled out their ballot to draw a penis on it:

Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes resigns

Nine newspapers are reporting that Karen Hayes, the chief executive of Guide Dogs Victoria who appeared in promotional material for Josh Frydenberg during the election, has resigned.

Queensland earthquake
An earthquake has reportedly been felt in south-east Queensland.

The independent member for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, has shared this quite lovely note from a volunteer on her campaign:

Remains found near busy NT highway

Police are on the scene after human remains were found, AAP report.

Human remains have been found beside a busy Northern Territory highway, where police have established a crime scene.

The remains were discovered on Tuesday morning on the Stuart Highway in Coolalinga, 30km south of Darwin, police said.

Forensic officers have been searching the nature strip and the highway is closed in both directions.

NSW Health has just released a statement saying that a sixth case of Legionnaire’s disease has been identified in a person who spent time in the area in the past fortnight.

The people involved independently visited locations between Elizabeth Street, Clarence Street, Park Street and Martin Place in the 10 days prior to their onset of symptoms.

The statement says:

Five cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported in a public health alert on Thursday May 26, all in people who had also spent time in the CBD area.

While no single source of the cases has been identified, and it is possible the cases are unrelated, NSW Health environmental health officers have worked with the City of Sydney to inspect and sample 124 high priority cooling towers in the area.

Additionally, owners of six towers have been directed to undertake immediate measures to rectify identified defects. Microbial sampling results are expected later this week, to determine if any of these towers are a potential source of the infection.

All six people have been identified with the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, which is often associated with contaminated cooling towers of large buildings. People can be exposed to the bacteria if contaminated water particles from the cooling system are emitted into the air and breathed in.

The six people, two women and four men ranging in age from their 40s to 70s, independently visited locations between Elizabeth Street, Clarence Street, Park Street and Martin Place in the 10 days prior to their onset of symptoms. All six people were admitted to hospital for treatment of their pneumonia, with one person now discharged.

Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease can develop up to 10 days from the time of exposure to contaminated water particles in the air and include fever, chills, a cough and shortness of breath and may lead to severe chest infections such as pneumonia.

Here are the latest coronavirus case numbers from around Australia on Tuesday, as the country records at least 56 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 1
• Cases: 673
• In hospital: 93 (with 4 people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 19
• Cases: 7,342
• In hospital: 1,185 (with 36 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 265
• In hospital: 15 (with 1 person in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 11
• Cases: 4,397
• In hospital: 359 (with 4 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 2,689
• In hospital: 232 (with 6 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 1
• Cases: 829
• In hospital: 48 (with 1 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 20
• Cases: 9,595
• In hospital: 527 (with 31 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 4
• Cases: 8,201
• In hospital: 318 (with 10 people in ICU)