Images of yesterday’s fire at NSW waste depot released
A fire occurred yesterday at a waste depot in New South Wales. Fire and Rescue NSW has just released images of the damage.
Emergency response crews say they were “confronted with large amounts of burning waste that may have contained unexploded ammunition”.
Yesterday, #NSWRFS and @FRNSW crews responded to a fire at a waste depot. On arrival crews were confronted with large amounts of burning waste that may have contained unexploded ammunition. Machinery was used to spread out the material, allowing firefighters to extinguish it. pic.twitter.com/x1WT7YLV3e
Assistant treasurer responds to Commonwealth Bank’s nearly $10bn profit
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has been asked on Sky News about the almost $10bn cash profit the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced this morning, and whether this is where increased mortgage payments are going.
Jones says the CBA has a huge slice of the mortgage market, and a significant slice of the business market and while he wants banks like CBA to be lending, “we want to ensure they get the balance right.”
He says the government want to ensure the CBA and others are passing on profits to their customers.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has released its submission ahead of the government’s jobs and skills summit, saying the Reserve Bank of Australia is focusing too much on inflation and it should be giving more attention to full employment and secure employment.
Jones is asked if he would consider implementing them but the connection is lost leaving us hanging.
Animal activists lose high court case against NSW secret recording laws
Christopher Knaus
Activists have lost their high court case against New South Wales laws criminalising the use of secretly recorded vision of animal cruelty and abuse.
The state’s Surveillance Devices Act criminalises the use of footage or audio that was obtained using a listening device or hidden camera, but, unlike other states, gives no public-interest exemption.
The Farm Transparency Project, an Australian animal advocacy group, launched a case last year arguing the laws were an unfair burden on freedom of political communication.
The laws have been used to pursue activists on criminal charges and have prevented media outlets from using footage depicting cruelty or abuse in abattoirs and knackeries across the state.
Prior to the high court case, the laws prevented the Guardian from showing secretly recorded footage of ex-racehorses being sent for slaughter at NSW pet food factories, a clear breach of industry rules.
The high court on Wednesday morning ruled that the laws do not pose too great a burden on speech. The laws were upheld and the Farm Transparency Project ordered to pay costs.
The case split the court. Three high court justices dissented from the majority ruling.
The minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs, Andrew Giles, has shared this morning that he begun community consultations on Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program yesterday.
Yesterday I began community consultations on Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program.
This discussions are so important, bringing together evidence, experience and understanding to inform an approach that is non-discriminatory, and focused on meeting the greatest needs.
Acting PM wants to see China relationship ‘in a better place’
Circling back to the defence minister and acting prime minister, Richard Marles’ appearance on ABC News Breakfast, as tensions continue to rise with China’s military drills around Taiwan.
Marles was asked if he is worried now that “relations between the two countries are now well and truly back in the freezer”:
I’m not going to speculate on that. What we can do is control our side of the equation and what we will do is have a different tone to the former government.
We’re going to engage with the world, including with China, on a respectful, professional diplomatic basis. We believe in the power of diplomacy. We want to have – and we value – a productive relationship with China and we would like to see the relationship in a better place.
China is going to say what China says. We control our end of this equation. And in describing that end, it’s this. We will engage with the world with respect, with professionalism, with sobriety. With a faith and diplomacy. We will continue to do that. While the Government has changed, our national interest hasn’t. We will also speak to our national interest and we will speak to it with vigour.
Victoria records 52 Covid deaths and 610 people in hospital
Victoria has recorded 5,898 new Covid cases in the last reporting period and 52 deaths, with 610 people in hospital and 30 in intensive care.
Victorian Health said: “Of today’s 52 reported deaths, 40 occurred in the past week, 10 occurred in the past fortnight and 2 deaths occurred in late July.”
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
The opposition has declined Labor’s invitation to the jobs and skills summit, which was extended to the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, last night.
The deputy leader, Sussan Ley, has said this morning no one from the coalition, including Dutton, will go.
Members of the coalition including the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, had previously said the Coalition should be represented at the summit.
Angus Taylor, July 11: “If the government is serious about building genuine consensus behind the summit… they must ensure parliamentarians from all parties, including the opposition, have a seat around the table” https://t.co/hQPXK7TGV2
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, has said on social media the opposition’s stance indicates “they don’t want to be part of the solution” the summit is setting out to create.
After 10 years of creating the problems, they don’t want to be part of the solution. https://t.co/XimlZ9CcbZ
Coalition calls Labor's jobs and skills summit a 'stunt'
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, will skip the Albanese government’s jobs and skills summit, which has been branded a “stunt” and a “talkfest” by the Coalition, AAP reports.
The summit – a Labor election promise – will aim to address Australia’s economic challenges and will bring together about 100 representatives from the business, union, and community sectors.
The Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley, said no one from the coalition, including Dutton who was invited by the government, will go. She told Sky News today:
It’s just a stunt.
All this is going to be is a talkfest designed to look after union mates.
The Labor party dropped the invitation to the media ... they briefed out the story first, which just goes to show their level of insincerity about it.
Police call for help to identify man hit by train in Victoria
An unidentified man has been laying in hospital for more than a month after being hit by a Melbourne train, AAP reports.
The man was struck between Royal Park and Jewell railway stations in Brunswick on 7 July, and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and remains in a serious but stable condition.
No phone, wallet or cards were found on the man at the time and police haven’t been able to identify him despite extensive inquiries.
From his hospital bed, the grey-haired patient has mumbled the names “Roy and Ryan from Coburg” but it is unclear if he is referring to himself or someone he knows.
A facial composite image of the man, believed to be 65 to 75 years old, has been released in the hope someone will recognise him and contact Crime Stoppers.
A supplied composite image obtained on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 shows a man who has not been able to be identified after being hit by a train in Brunswick in early July. The man is believed to be around 65 to 75 years old. (AAP Image/Supplied by Victoria Police) Photograph: Victoria Police/PR IMAGE
He is described as white, about 175cm tall and of medium build with a prominent mole below his left eye, and no identifying scars or tattoos.
Chair of NSW flood inquiry calls for government to release full report
The NSW Labor MP who chaired the inquiry into the Northern Rivers flooding, Walt Secord, spoke to ABC radio, after findings of serious failures by agencies during the devastating floods earlier in the year.
The full report is yet to be released but the parts which have been leaked were scathing.
Secord said the members of the “tinny army” – the men and women who jumped into boats, surf boards, to rescue neighbours – did so against the orders of state officials.
But he said, “if they didn’t things would have been a lot worse”.
He said the want to see SES engaging with more local volunteer recruitment and is calling on the government to release the full report.
You can read the full story about what the flood inquiry found from my colleagues Tamsin Rose and Josh Butler:
