Health News at Your Fingertips

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories from the day:

We will see you back here for more action from parliament tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

NSW shark nets are catching threatened animals, report shows

The vast majority of animals caught in New South Wales shark nets last season were not target species and just over a fifth were threatened species, new government figures show.

Of the 376 marine animals caught in the eight months to April, 325 were non-target species.

They included 14 critically endangered grey nurse sharks, 19 vulnerable green turtles, 16 endangered leatherback turtles, and four endangered loggerhead turtles.

The full story is here:

Alcohol abuse must be tackled in Indigenous communities, Labor’s Marion Scrymgour says

Josh Butler

The new Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has called for the federal and Northern Territory governments to take more action on alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities, including a weekly “grog-free day” in regional towns including Alice Springs.

Giving her first speech in parliament on Wednesday evening, the new MP for Lingiari said she was concerned that the recent end of the NT’s Stronger Futures program – which set out jobs, education and social measures for Indigenous communities – was not accompanied by transition measures for the end of alcohol restrictions.

Scrymgour said:

You can agree or disagree with the town camp alcohol restrictions which were in place … But you need to bear in mind that the special measure was left in place for about 14 years. When a government puts a protective regime of that kind in place, and leaves it in place for that long, you can’t just suddenly pull the pin on it without any protection, sanctuary or plan for the vulnerable women and children whom the original measure was supposed to protect.

To do that is more than negligent – at the level of impact on actual lives it is tantamount to causing injury by omission. It’s like pulling your forces out of Afghanistan but leaving your local workers and their dependants in harm’s way on the ground without an escape plan.

Scrymgour said the federal government wasn’t able to reinstate the legislation, but that harm minimisation measures should have been implemented 12 months ago. She raised concerns about domestic violence, and children being exposed to alcohol abuse at home, saying:

What is at least needed is for both governments, federal and Northern Territory, to work out a plan to protect the innocent victims who are being swamped by waves of violence, now that takeaway alcohol is getting let back into town camps.

Scrymgour said she’d spoken to the NT Labor government’s chief minister and attorney general in recent days, and proposed “a weekly weekday grog-free day in our regional towns, including Alice Springs”, adding:

This is not much, but will no doubt raise objections from alcohol consumers who have not previously been inconvenienced. It could at least give a few teeth to the often recycled Northern Territory anti-alcohol abuse call “Enough is Enough”.

As someone who now lives in an old house in Footscray the next mystery I wish to uncover is whether I am living in Somerton man’s house:

Pauline Hanson sits during standing ovation for Aboriginal senator

Coalition members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as senators from other parties including the UAP’s Ralph Babet, stood and applauded Labor senator Jana Stewart after she delivered her first speech in the Senate this afternoon. But as this wonderful pic by Mike Bowers shows, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson stayed in her seat.

Stewart is the party’s first Aboriginal senator in Victoria and is 35 weeks pregnant with her second child!

Kylea Tink gives first speech: ‘refugees deserve our compassion’

Paul Karp

The independent MP for North Sydney, Kylea Tink, the former chief executive of the McGrath Foundation, is giving her first speech.

First thing’s first: it’s pronounced the same as Kylie, it’s not Ky-lee-ah. Tink presents herself “not as a politician per se but as a proud parliamentarian, elected by the people of North Sydney to ensure our community’s voice is heard loud and clear”.

She says it was “notable” that “nowhere in [the constitution] was there any use of the word ‘party’”.

Tink said that for too long the North Sydney community’s desire for policies including greater green space have been written off as those of “pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies” or “inner-city raving lunatics”. She said:

Criticisms that we initially found curious but which we ultimately realised were indicative of a far greater level of disconnect and basic disdain for our community. Hear me when I say: the people of North Sydney want politics done differently. I stand before you today as the elected representative of a vibrant and diverse community that draws in people from all backgrounds and ages … We recognise we are at a tipping point – on climate, integrity, equality and fundamentally in politics and we can see the potential to do better.

In particular, Tink cited treatment of refugees as an area we can do better:

It is not enough for us to continue to spruik the idea of Australia as the lucky country: not when 30,000 people continue to reside here as part of an appalling “illegal immigration legacy caseload”. Our current laws are preventing these people from planning beyond five- or three-year intervals. They cannot be reunited with the family they may have left behind, and yet the children that came with them know nothing of life in any other country. Indeed, they are Australian in every way, yet because of the decisions of past governments they are currently told they will never qualify for Australian citizenship. We have already heard much talk about the extraordinary gift that is Australia’s multicultural reality and of the courage it takes to run with your family from imminent threat. I would challenge us as a parliament to strive to truly do better in the area of human rights. True refugees deserve our compassion, not our disdain.

Tink spoke about the need to do more for young people and mental health:

We must also look beyond what has been done to date to identify underlying systemic issues driving phenomena like the unprecedented levels of mental distress across our country. Recent studies indicate that approximately one in five teens suffer from at least one diagnosable mental health disorder, and that the teen mental health crisis continues to grow … We must do everything we can to build resilience in our children from their earliest ages and teach them how to ask for help. At the same time, we must build up support for those that are currently seen as the missing middle: perhaps struggling but not acute. We can and must do better.

WA police call off search for missing fisher

The West Australian police will call off the search for a missing fisher, the force confirmed in a statement.

Ian Gray, 46, went missing while fishing off Green Head near Geraldton on Sunday.

In a statement, WA police said the search would be suspended at 5pm today WA time, pending further information.

The statement said:

During the four day search, approximately 3,900 sq nautical miles was searched on multiple occasions by air, land and sea assets.

The search area extended from Leeman to Guilderton and out to approximately 50 nautical miles offshore.

A report will now be prepared for the coroner.

This not insignificant milestone was reached today:

Pauline Hanson opposes First Nations flags in Senate

Somewhat lost among the rest of her stunts today was the fact the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, was opposing this motion.

See how inflation has changed prices in Australia in our interactive

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed prices climbing by 6.1% in the June quarter – the fastest annual pace since 2001 – driven primarily by the increasing cost of food and fuel.

We’ve brought together all the data that goes into Australia’s headline inflation figures, broken down into the most detailed goods and services categories available, and put it all in this fancy interactive:

This is a bit of a change of pace, but worth a read nonetheless:

Thanks again for your sure hands at the wheel Amy Remeikis! Let’s go and have a look at what other news is about today shall we?

Paul Karp

Greens MP Stephen Bates gives his first speech to parliament

The Greens MP for Brisbane, Stephen Bates, is speaking about his experience as a retail worker.

Bates says:

I have spent my life up until this point working in frontline retail and hospitality and have been proud to have been a member of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union during my time in retail.

There have been two pivotal moments for me that have shaped who I am and my politics; my experiences of working poverty-wage jobs, and my coming out as gay. Both impacted me deeply and forever changed how I saw the world.

On sexuality and the importance of representation in politics, Bates says:

I spent much of my teenage years knowing I was gay and doing everything I could to hide it. I told myself I would force myself to get married to a woman, have kids and live in the suburbs.

Because that is what I had to do. I was lucky enough to have a very supportive family to come out to but I spent years hiding myself because I could not see anyone in my world that was openly gay.

I made a promise to myself once I came out. That if I ever found myself in a public role that I would be open and proud of who I am – hence the rainbow gear. That I would be that person that I never saw growing up because if I can even help one person out there then this life will have all been worth it.

I was lucky enough during the campaign to have received an email from a mother who told me that after receiving a letter from me in her mailbox – that just happened to mention my partner Scott’s name – her 14-year-old son wanted to donate some of his pocket money to our campaign.

When she asked him why, he said he had read the letter and wanted me to win. If you cannot see it, you cannot be it. It is not enough to wave a rainbow flag when it is politically convenient, our community deserves tangible legislation that protects us from discrimination, and empowers us to be who we are.