AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 20 at 1930
Flu (SYDNEY)
Fears are growing a deadly avian disease that has killed millions of animals worldwide has reached the Australian mainland after the discovery of a suspected case of bird flu.
A single migratory wild seabird potentially infected with the disease had been found in Western Australia, the federal government confirmed on Friday.
"If it is confirmed to be the H5 bird flu, this will be sobering, but not unexpected given the spread globally," Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said.
Test results expected on Saturday will confirm whether it is the H5N1 strain that has killed millions of birds globally.
Mainland Australia is the only continent yet to detect the killer strain.
"There is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time, nor is there any evidence of infection in poultry," Ms Collins said.
Helicopter (CANBERRA)
The work health and safety regulator is recommending the Australian Defence Force face prosecution over an army helicopter crash that killed four soldiers.
The grieving families of the victims have told a parliamentary inquiry of the "incredibly hurtful" treatment they received from the military their loved ones died serving.
Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs were killed when their MRH-90 Taipan chopper crashed into waters off Queensland's Whitsunday Islands during Exercise Talisman Sabre on July 28, 2023.
The regulator Comcare has referred two briefs of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions relating to fatigue management and the TopOwl helmet-mounted display system worn by the pilots, chief executive Colin Radford told the inquiry on Friday.
Flu (SYDNEY)
A deadly avian disease that has wreaked havoc on wildlife across the world has been confirmed on mainland Australia for the first time.
Detection of the H5 strain of bird flu was announced on Saturday after a sick brown skua was found on a remote beach in Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance, about 700km southeast of Perth.
This strain has already killed millions of animals and could threaten Australia's native wildlife and farmed animals but Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government had been planning for its spread.
"We all knew that we couldnt be (H5) bird flu free forever," she told reporters.
"Whilst disappointing, this is not unexpected given the global spread of the H5 bird flu virus.
UK Vote (LONDON)
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out plans to quit Downing Street over the weekend after Andy Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election.
The British prime minister has repeatedly vowed to fight any leadership challenge, insisting he will not "walk away".
But Burnham's by-election victory has prompted more backbenchers and Labour grandees to call for Starmer to stand down.
Some MPs who had signed a statement rejecting calls for a leadership election in May have now reversed their position while former home secretary Alan Johnson told LBC his message to the prime minister would be: "It's over, Keir."
Starmer is understood to have spoken to a number of cabinet ministers on Friday, some of whom are reported to have told him he should set out a timetable for his departure.
KPMG (SYDNEY)
Australians are being told they have a right to be deeply suspicious about trusting big accounting firms after a second consultancy scandal.
KPMG Australia executives were grilled by members of a parliamentary committee in Canberra on Friday over allegations the company misused confidential documents from its client Lendlease to develop audit pitches for Westpac and Dexus.
The hearing comes after another major accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC), was found to have leaked secret Australian government tax plans to corporations to help avoid a law PwC had helped write.
"Two of the big four firms have the dubious honour of having united the Australian parliament across all political divides around the failure to be honest and to act appropriately," Greens senator Barbara Pocock told KPMG Australia's former chief executive Andrew Yates at a hearing on Friday.
BudgetNSW (SYDNEY)
Despite the World Cup match playing in his office, Daniel Mookhey is more comfortable trying to balance his state's budget than a soccer ball.
The NSW treasurer will be delivering his fourth budget for the nation's largest state economy on Tuesday - and potentially his last, pending the outcome of the election scheduled for March.
It comes at a time of multiple economic headwinds, including rising interest rates and a stalled property market, and the fallout from the war in the Middle East putting a further brake on the already sluggish Australian economy.
While the NSW economy was expected to grow by 2.5 per cent in the coming financial year, that forecast has been downgraded to a meagre one per cent, Mr Mookhey revealed in a recent speech.
NDIS (CANBERRA)
Disability advocates are calling on the Albanese government to pause its plan to rush through an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme after a major report into the changes was again delayed.
A parliamentary inquiry was due to hand down its report on June 16, before its deadline was moved forward by three days.
The report isn't expected to be published until June 23.
Labor is trying to land a deal with the Greens, which would extend the inquiry into the proposed reform in exchange for the minor party's support for the government's tax changes announced in the federal budget.
Under changes to the $56 billion NDIS, the government would kick 160,000 people off the scheme to rein in spending.
Ebola (BUNIA)
At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, and, because of the symptoms, could indicate Ebola is spreading fast there.
It was not possible to confirm the causes of death because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia - the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo - had until Thursday refused testing the living or dead, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.
However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola, a camp spokesperson, a bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society leader told Reuters.
"People didn't just die like this before," camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.
In finance ...
Markets World (LONDON)
Global shares have fallen and oil prices have received a boost after US and Iranian negotiators called off peace talks, while the risk of official Japanese intervention mounted as the yen traded on the brink of a 40-year low.
The dollar headed towards its strongest weekly gain in a month, mostly at the expense of the yen, which has fallen for five out of the past six weeks to trade close to its weakest since late 1986, prompting a volley of warnings from officials in Tokyo that intervention is an option.
The MSCI All-World index was down 0.14 per cent on Friday, flipping into negative territory after US Vice-President JD Vance pulled out of a planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators in Switzerland on Friday.
In entertainment ...
Arts Beetlejuice (MELBOURNE)
The juice is no longer on the loose after rising costs forced a major musical to end its Australian run early despite rave reviews.
Beetlejuice The Musical will play its final show on July 5 at Brisbane's QPAC Theatre, with all remaining dates of the national tour in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney cancelled.
The call comes amid high costs, despite a stellar cast, outstanding production values and excellent reviews, a Michael Cassel Group spokesperson told AAP.
"For a production of this scale, the current logistical realities of touring across vast distances between Australian cities have created increasing cost pressures that ultimately made continuing the run unsustainable," the spokesperson said.
"While audience enthusiasm for the show has been encouraging, a more cautious consumer environment combined with the economics of moving a production of this magnitude could not be justified.
Arts Impressionists (MELBOURNE)
It seems hard to believe these days, but impressionists such as Claude Monet were once reviled by critics and their paintings were impossible to sell.
But one art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, championed the likes of Monet, Renoir and Pissarro for decades, ultimately transforming artistic taste in Europe and the United States.
"Without Durand, we would have died of hunger, all of us impressionists," Monet is quoted as saying.
"We owe him everything."
"He was stubborn and relentless, risking bankruptcy a dozen times in order to support us."
At Geelong Gallery, Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art Dealer Among the Artists, features more than 70 paintings, the majority from private collections in France.
With eight artworks by Monet, the show marks the centenary of the painter's death, as well as Geelong Gallery's 130th anniversary.
In sport ...
AFL Crows (ADELAIDE)
Adelaide, the AFL's great escape artists, have come from behind to pip Melbourne by 17 points and climb to fifth on the ladder.
The Crows, after trailing for most of Saturday afternoon's thriller at Adelaide Oval, booted the last two goals for a precious 11.13 (79) to 9.8 (62) victory.
With a fourth win by 17 points or less this season, Adelaide stole fifth spot from the Demons, who slip to sixth.
Melbourne led at the quarter breaks by eight, one and two points, but key Crow Riley Thilthorpe kicked the go-ahead goal 22 minutes into the final term.
And Josh Rachele slotted his third major on the final siren to steer the Crows to a 9-5 win-loss record - the same as the Dees.
Cri Aust (LONDON)
Matt Renshaw has been left celebrating what he sees as an "important innings" in his uneven international career after guiding Australia to a T20 series victory over Bangladesh in Chattogram.
The 30-year-old left-hander's unbeaten 89 off 52 balls, which rescued Australia from another poor start in the second of the three-match series, ended up being the key in his side's seven-run victory on Friday which handed them an unassailable 2-0 lead.
It came after Renshaw had been going through a torrid time with the bat, having scraped together just 24 runs in his previous five innings in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Australia's three-format batter was not about to hide how key the career-best T20 knock was in boosting his confidence again.
Ends Bulletin
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