A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu. Read this explainer on why the avian influenza outbreak has left egg shoppers and farmers shell-shocked.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has approved a 54-turbine wind farm to be built 10km east of Muswellbrook in the Hunter region of New South Wales.
She said the approval of the 347 megawatt Bowmans Creek Wind farm, a project from South Korean-owned Ark Energy, came with “strict conditions” to protect threatened regent honeyeaters, swift parrots and koalas. She said:
We want to unlock Australia’s potential to be a world leader in renewable energy. I’ve now ticked off 55 renewable energy projects which will power over 3 million homes.”
Preschool educators say low wages leading to staffing ‘crisis’
Preschool educators demanding a pay rise have spoken out about a sector-wide “crisis” as colleagues leave in droves.
“We’re finding it hard to recruit and retain staff,” teacher Jodie Cox told AAP. “That impacts on the quality of care for children.”
Teachers in the Independent Education Union’s NSW branch gathered outside the Fair Work Commission’s Sydney office on Friday morning.
The union has applied to the commission to lift pay by 25% at more than 100 preschools across the state.
Preschool teachers Jodie Cox, Lisa James and Janene Rox (left to right) were among those protesting outside the Fair Work Commission demanding a pay rise. Photograph: Nyk Carnsew/AAP
Low wages across the sector have led to a shortage of teachers, fellow teacher Lisa James told AAP. “They’re having to cap numbers because they can’t accept more children because they don’t have the staff,” she said.
Some preschools can only afford to open two days a week. The pay rate makes the sector unattractive to graduates with education degrees equally qualified for higher-paying jobs in primary schools.
Albanese government rejects call to ban WeChat from government devices, force TikTok breakup
The Australian government has quietly rejected a parliamentary committee’s call to ban WeChat from government devices, and a call for Australia to follow the US in forcing TikTok’s local operations to divest from the China-based parent company.
In a government response dropped on Friday to recommendations of an inquiry examining foreign influence on social media – which we covered earlier this year – the government rejected a suggestion to ban the Chinese communications app WeChat from government devices as it had with TikTok, instead “noting” the recommendation and saying the government “continues to assess technologies that may pose a risk and will take further action if required”.
The government rejected a suggestion to ban the Chinese communications app WeChat from government devices as it had with TikTok. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The government also noted a recommendation that should the US force ByteDance to divest its stake in TikTok (as is currently underway) then the Australian government should also consider whether TikTok Australia should be separated from ByteDance.
The government said a decision by the US government is a matter for the US government, and risk assessments continue to take place in consultation with international counterparts.
The committee also recommended large social media platforms be required to have transparency over state-affiliated media, number of takedowns, government directions over content, and a public library of advertisements. The government indicated this would be addressed in the long-awaited misinformation and disinformation bill, currently under revision from its draft and yet to be entered in parliament.
Dutton says ‘Australia can learn’ from new UK PM’s nuclear stance
Peter Dutton has congratulated Keir Starmer on being elected as British prime minister, and claimed Australia can learn from his policy on nuclear power.
Dutton released a statement on Friday afternoon stating “our bilateral relationship is a strong partnership untarnished by the passing of time, undiminished by distance, and unsullied by changes in government”.
Dutton said:
In these precarious times, there is no more important endeavour for our two nations than injecting speed and resolve into our defence objectives and partnership under the AUKUS agreement.
I take this opportunity to commend Sir Keir Starmer and the UK Labour Party for their goals to make Britain ‘a clean energy superpower’ and to achieve ‘energy independence’.
The new British Government’s plan includes building new nuclear power stations and small modular reactors to help the UK ‘achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.’ There is much Australia can learn from the British experience.”
Dutton also thanked the British Conservative Party for its “unwavering commitment” to the bilateral relationship over its more than 14 years of government.
Council may face prosecution as Gold Coast sewage spill revealed to be worse than first thought
Already described as Queensland’s biggest sewage spill, an independent report now reveals the Gold Coast leak was worse than first reported.
A number of factors led to a burst sewage pipe spilling about 450 megalitres of effluent into the Albert River, south of Brisbane, the report said.
The figure is 100 megalitres more than what was first reported when the state government launched its own investigation into the leak. About five megalitres a day spilled from the Gold Coast city council sewerage system into the river from 11 January to 8 April.
Corrosion caused the pipe leak, while the Gold Coast council’s reliance on the public and another local government to detect spills contributed to why it took so long to identify, the report said.
“The extent of the spill was confirmed on April 12 with a total calculated spill volume of approximately 450 ML,” the independent report commissioned by the Gold Coast council said.
The council may face prosecution after the state government announced it would also investigate the “catastrophic failure” back in April. “We haven’t seen a spill of this magnitude in Queensland to my knowledge,” the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation said at the time.
The state government probe is ongoing.
Local prawn farms had been forced to stop their operations while the leak was contained and anyone who caught seafood in the river was urged not to consume it. More than a month after the spill was first reported, the Gold Coast council reopened the river for commercial and recreational fishing.
Many thanks for joining me on the blog, Elias Visontay will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care, and enjoy your weekend.
Ed Husic hits back at Dutton over 'Muslim candidates from Western Sydney' comments
Josh Butler
Cabinet minister Ed Husic has also taken a swipe at Peter Dutton’s claims about “Muslim candidates from western Sydney” at the next election, pointing out there are already “two of us who serve as ministers”.
One of those, of course, is Husic himself, the minister for industry and science. The other is Anne Aly, the minister for early childhood and youth.
“Um, Pete? Newsflash. There’s not only been a Muslim candidate from western Sydney for more than a decade now, there’s also two of us who serve as minister …” Husic wrote in a post on Instagram.
Maybe try showing some leadership and bring people together rather than tear them apart … it’s been done before.
Ed Husic, the member for the western Sydney seat of Chifley. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Husic, the member for the western Sydney seat of Chifley, was responding to Dutton’s comments yesterday about defecting Labor senator Fatima Payman.
Dutton claimed Labor would fall into minority government in the next term of Parliament, and would govern with an alliance that “will include the Greens, it’ll include the Green-Teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney, it will be a disaster.”
“If you think the Albanese Government is bad now, wait for it to be a minority government with the Greens, the Green-Teals and Muslim independents,” Dutton claimed.
Albanese congratulates new UK Labour prime minister
Anthony Albanese has congratulated the new UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in a post to X. Albanese wrote:
Congratulations to my friend and new UK Prime Minister [Keir Starmer] on his resounding election victory – I look forward to working constructively with the incoming [UK Labour] Government.
Congratulations to my friend and new UK Prime Minister @Keir_Starmer on his resounding election victory - I look forward to working constructively with the incoming @UKLabour Government
NSW preschool teachers call for pay rise up to 25%
Preschool teachers are demanding more money to attract and retain staff amid subsidies aimed at boosting enrolment, AAP reports.
The Independent Education Union has applied to the Fair Work Commission to lift pay by up to 25% for staff at more than 100 community-based NSW preschools.
Staff shortages in education were even worse in the early learning sector, the preschool teacher Janene Rox told reporters outside the commission today.
Paediatric doctors are not paid any less because they are supporting the youngest in our community, so why is it different for our teachers?
Early-career schoolteachers annually earn almost $15,000 more than colleagues in preschools, while experienced teachers can earn almost $32,000 more, the union’s secretary, Carol Matthews, said.
Lifting wages in the highly feminised preschool sector could also narrow the gender pay gap, while assisting parents juggling carer responsibilities, she said.
The education and early learning minister, Prue Car, said the NSW government was not directly involved in negotiations, but supported the process and would monitor the union’s application.
In a statement, the group says the former Socceroo and human rights activist Craig Foster will speak at the assembly in Surry Hills, urging the federal government to “show a red card” to fossil fuel companies.
The group has also flagged that on Sunday a group of kayaks are set to paddle across Sydney Harbour and deliver a message to the PM at Kirribilli House – a scroll with “thousands” of signatures of people pledging “resistance to end coal exports from Newcastle by 2030”.
The Newcastle law student and Splash organiser Zach Schofield says:
If the government won’t take on the fossil fuel industry, we will … The People’s Climate Assembly is a great way for all of us to come together and realise we’re not alone, there are many of us who feel the same way and are prepared to take action for a better future.
Person rescued from long drop toilet in regional Victoria
Every Australian child’s worst nightmare has come true for one person, who was rescued after becoming stuck in a long drop toilet in regional Victoria.
The Country Fire Authority assisted Ambulance Victoria with the incident at about 2.13am today, after reports a person was stuck in a drop toilet on McSweens Road in Indigo Valley.
Crews worked to “remove structure around the person” and safely extricate them, before handing them over to paramedics.
The incident wrapped up just before 3am, a CFA spokesperson said.
Second case of bird flu in ACT detected in back yard chickens
A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu, reports AAP.
ACT authorities on Friday confirmed a group of chickens kept at the home had tested positive to the virus, the territory’s second site to be affected.
The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra’s north detected the virus last week. Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in NSW have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading.
The ACT environment minister, Rebecca Vassarotti, praised the home’s residents for preventing further spread of the virus to the broader bird population.
Vassarotti said:
While disappointing to have a second case, it is not unexpected. Like jurisdictions across the country this is unfortunately the reality of such a highly transmittable virus.
Avian influenza is very easily transmitted by moving sick birds from property to property, as well as from contaminated boots, equipment and vehicles if proper biosecurity measures aren’t in place.
The spread of bird flu has prompted supermarkets to introduce limits of two cartons of eggs per customer. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
More than 1 million chickens and ducks have been culled due to the outbreaks.
The spread of bird flu has prompted major supermarkets in NSW, Victoria and the ACT to introduce limits of two cartons of eggs per customer. Fast-food chain McDonald’s has also been forced to shorten its breakfast hours due to egg supply issues.
You can read Guardian Australia’s explainer on the egg shortage here:
