Health News at Your Fingertips

My colleague Ben Smee has the story on the harrowing detail coming out of the Queensland inquest into the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children at hands of her estranged husband.

Another update on the Gold Coast death – a man has now been charged. Story via AAP:

A man has been charged with murder after the body of a 74-year-old woman was found in a Gold Coast home.

The 50-year-old man is due to face Southport magistrates court on Monday and police will allege the pair were known to each other.

Earlier, acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman said the woman’s death was not being treated as domestic violence.

The man and woman were not related but both were allegedly staying at the Molendinar property, he told reporters on Monday morning.

The residence had not previously raised red flags with police.

“This whole incident has taken us very much by surprise,” Wildman said.

Emergency services were alerted after the man allegedly went to a neighbouring home to ask for help before officers found the woman’s body at about 8.40pm on Sunday.

Indigenous people are dying of suicide at more than double the rate of non-Indigenous Australians and it is a national tragedy, the federal government says.

AAP reports the commonwealth and the Northern Territory government will spend $43m over the next five years to help prevent suicide in the territory.

David Coleman, the assistant minister to the prime minister for mental health and suicide prevention, says the support aims to reduce the heartbreaking suicide rate in remote communities.

“Indigenous Australians die of suicide at more than double the rate of the non-Indigenous population,” he said on Monday.

“This is a national tragedy.”

The NT’s health minister, Natasha Fyles, said mental health was one of the biggest challenges confronting people in the NT.

“The mental health needs in the territory are incredibly complex and vastly different to those in other jurisdictions,” she said.

The funding includes $15.4m for two new Head to Health adult mental health satellite clinics, $9.1m for a new Head to Health children’s hub and $9.3m for aftercare services when patients are discharged from hospital following a suicide attempt.

The minister for health and aged care, Greg Hunt, said the funding ensured Territorians had access to additional mental health support when and where they needed it.

• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978.

Qantas is getting into NFTs.

There are many many reasons why this is a bad idea, but fads and all that.

The airline says it’ll be using low carbon platforms and offsetting, but on environmental grounds alone it’s probably not great for an airline to be adding even more for something like NFTs.

More Victorians are returning to public transport, AAP reports.

New transport department data shows the network last week experienced its sharpest increase in activity since March 2020, with usage at 63 % of the pre-Covid baseline.

The 1.412m total trips recorded on Thursday was a 9% increase from the same time a week earlier.

The state’s transport infrastructure minister, Jacinta Allan, said on Monday the numbers were unsurprising as more Victorians returned to normal life:

No doubt some people will be making their choice on returning to public transport based on the pressures at the petrol pump.

But we always did anticipate we would see [this] as life begins to return and people get back into the returning to work pattern.

A court battle between the Northern Territory government and the commonwealth over claims Parks Australia illegally disturbed an Aboriginal sacred site in Kakadu National Park has started in Darwin, AAP reports.

The NT’s Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) filed a criminal charge against Parks in 2020 for carrying out uncertified work at Gunlom falls – a cascading waterfall that appeared in the movie Crocodile Dundee.

It alleges Parks built a walking track to Gunlom’s top pools without permission from the Indigenous custodians.

Parks has agreed to remove the offending section of track and apologised to traditional owners for the distress the work caused.

But it has pleaded not guilty to the charge, which triggered the court case being fought on Monday before a full bench of the NT supreme court.

The case is not about the walking track, but rather to address constitutional issues arising from the criminal charge and whether the director of Parks is liable.

Parks has previously urged the AAPA to drop the criminal charge but it refused.

AAPA has previously alleged the track was constructed close to a restricted ceremonial feature against the wishes of the World Heritage-listed park’s traditional owners and without an authority certificate, which is issued after consultation.

Before AAPA issues a certificate, it consults traditional owners about the sites to understand how they should be protected and what restrictions and conditions should be applied to the proposed works.

Parks has since sought and obtained a certificate and negotiated with traditional owners about the realignment of the track.

The National Parks acting director, Jody Swirepik, has previously said Parks was ordered to plead not guilty by the commonwealth attorney general so the constitutional issues could be addressed.

The maximum penalty under NT law for carrying out work on a sacred site without a certificate is $314,000.

The hearing continues.

We are just waiting for that PM Scott Morrison and Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk press conference to start. Should be soon.

Just a bit more on the Gold Coast death, via AAP.

The death of a 74-year-old woman in a Gold Coast home is not being treated as domestic violence as police continue to question a man about the incident.

Acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman clarified the 50-year-old-man in custody was not related to the woman, but both were staying at the Molendinar property.

The residence had not previously raised red flags with police.

“This whole incident has taken us very much by surprise,’ he said on Monday.

“These two persons, the 74-year-old woman and the 50-year-old male, are known to each other. However, this matter is not being treated as a domestic violence incident.”

Emergency services were alerted after the man went to a neighbouring home to ask for help before officer’s found the woman’s body at about 8.40pm on Sunday.

The man has not been charged.

With that I shall hand you over to the amazing Josh Taylor who will take you through the afternoon’s news.

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

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 898
• In hospital: 39 (with four people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: four
• Cases: 14,970
• In hospital: 1,163 (with 34 people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: two
• Cases: 6,206
• In hospital: 243 (with 14 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 7,531
• In hospital: 248 (with 20 people in ICU)

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has tweeted ahead of recently passed Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s funeral today.

A reminder that if you want to find out more about those proposed tax cuts you can read the amazing Josh Butler’s article below:

The federal government has promised a “major tax break”: for carbon-abating farmers.

Agriculture minister David Littleproud has tweeted that there will be $100m in tax changes.

The new SA premier says there will be some changes to Covid rules but there won’t be an overhaul of the health settings.