Health News at Your Fingertips

Where to start, summarising today? I didn’t even get to tell you about the mystery box jellyfish. Here are just some of the headlines:

I am off for a nanna nap before getting up in the wee hours to (hopefully) spot the Eta Aquariids meteor shower, but I’ll be back for Sunday night’s leaders’ debate – and the team will keep you up to date all weekend. Have a cracker!

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has been in Parramatta this evening – the candidate there is Andrew Charlton, and Labor has been accused of parachuting him in to the seat. Here’s the background to the story.

AAP reports that Charlton, who recently moved from a $16m mansion into the seat, has defended himself against that claim.

He said:

Lots of these communities have an aspiration for hard work, to support their families, to build a better life for their kids and in many cases to build a business.

That’s what I’ve spent my whole life doing.

I understand what it takes to build a business and create jobs. And so those aspirations that many people in this community have fit well with my experience.

He said cost of living pressures were front of mind in the seat:

I’ve knocked on hundreds and hundreds of doors, I’ve been in every single train station, meeting as many people as I possibly can.

I can tell you what those concerns are, the cost of living. They’re talking about how hard it is to make the family budget work, they’re talking about small businesses.

At the Hindu community gathering, Albanese said:

You’re a growing community that’s respected for your diligence, for your hard work, for your commitment to Australian values.

We need to continue to provide opportunity. To make sure we go forward (and) as we go forward, we remain a country of aspiration and a land of opportunity.

It’s Friday night. What better time to get started on your election night party planning? First Dog takes his stick to the election piñata:

AAP reports that three Star executives have resigned amid an ongoing inquiry into its Sydney casino:

Star Entertainment posted a statement on its website on Friday evening saying the board had accepted the resignations of chief financial officer Harry Theodore, chief casino officer Greg Hawkins, and chief legal and risk officer and company secretary Paula Martin. The ASX-listed company said:

The three executives will work with the executive chairman to transition their executive responsibilities in an orderly manner.

Liquor and Gaming NSW is examining the fitness of Star to hold a Sydney casino licence, prompted by reports the company allegedly enabled suspected money laundering, organised crime, fraud and foreign interference.

The announcement of the high-profile departures came after the market closed on Friday and follows the resignation of chief executive Matt Bekier in March.

Star’s shares finished down 2.6%, to $3.04, during a sour day for the market, and are down 17.4% so far this year.

Hawkins was quizzed in April over whether he knew of an alleged practice at the Sydney casino of switching local players to international rebate programs for tax breaks.

Bekier took the stand on Monday, conceding there were “shortcomings” within Star’s international arm.

These included its China Union Pay debit card scheme between 2013 and 2020, assessment of junket operators, and problems in its exclusive gaming room Salon 95.

There has been evidence the Sydney venue used CUP cards to disguise the purchase of gaming chips as hotel accommodation in breach of rules.

About $900m flowed into the casino until the CUP process was stopped in 2020, the inquiry has been told.

On Tuesday, Bekier sought to shield the board from the regulator’s ire, blaming management for the company’s poor culture. He said:

It’s management that sets the culture … the board is only there 10 days a year.

Elias Visontay has put together this handy precis of the election campaign so far – from polls to poultry:

Albanese is now at a Hindu community dinner in Parramatta:

Daniel Hurst wrote about this earlier, and now he and Paul Karp have fleshed it out – Scott Morrison weaponising Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s Covid infection:

Satanism will not be taught in Queensland schools, AAP reports.

The Noosa Temple of Satan had challenged a state government decision that the temple “was not a religious denomination or society”. The group had said it aimed to:

Provide students with information about the religion of Satanism, including belief in Satan as a supernatural being, the canons of conduct and the tenets … [and] to help students analyse the information and critically evaluate the religion of Satanism.

The temple was started in response to the federal religious discrimination bill, and temple leader, Trevor Bell, said it was their view that no religion should be allowed in state schools.

Brisbane supreme court judge Martin Burns said the bid to teach Satanism was “nothing more glorified than a base political stunt”. Burns found part of an affidavit submitted by temple founder, Robin Bristow, under the name Brother Samael Demo-Gorgon, was “entirely false”. He dismissed the temple’s application and ordered Bristow to front court over the affidavit.

Some good news from Queensland. Three-year-old Nevaeh Austin is recovering well:

Today’s election briefing is in. Josh Butler has corflute-gate, the gatecrashing kid, the tooth fairy, and more:

Daniel Hurst

Australia should double foreign aid for health programs and craft a long-term Indo-Pacific regional health policy, according to a pre-election policy brief backed by development and health experts.

The chief executive of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Ian Wishart, said strong health systems improved health equity, making them more resilient to severe events like pandemics. Wishart said:

Australia’s relationship with the Indo-Pacific is inextricably linked, and without resilient health systems in the whole region, our security and prosperity are at stake. We are, quite literally, in this together.

The chief executive of the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid), Marc Purcell, added:

This is about building a healthier world, and we know it starts by recognising the strong cultural, economic and trade ties we have to our closest neighbours in the Indo-Pacific.

The comments follow the release of a policy brief by Acfid, which says the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of health care systems across the region, affecting “already marginalised people most significantly and created secondary impacts worse than the pandemic itself”.

The policy brief says a re-elected or incoming Australian government should commit to a long-term regional health policy for the Indo-Pacific, with assistance focused on a range of areas including improving the quantity and quality of the health workforce, particularly at the primary care level.

The seven recommendations also include an increase in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). The policy brief says the Australian government should “reflect the importance of health in regional recovery from Covid-19 and growing secondary impacts by doubling Australia’s health ODA over the next five years”.