Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
The broadcaster and saxophonist James Valentine has died three months after retiring from ABC radio, where he hosted Sydney’s Afternoons program for 25 years.
Valentine, 64, had been a fixture on the public broadcaster since he joined as host of the Afternoon Show for kids on ABC TV in 1987 after a decade of playing in bands including the Models.
In 2024 he revealed live on ABC radio that he had oesophageal cancer. The Valentine family, including wife Joanne and their two children, Ruby and Roy, said the broadcaster made the choice to use voluntary assisted dying.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told ABC radio that Valentine “was such a voice and therefore a figure in Sydney”.
“He was someone who was always worth listening to. He was interesting and he was so full of life, but he had a very difficult recent period.”
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In pictures
In December, the UN officially designated Jakarta the world’s largest city, hosting a staggering 42 million inhabitants. Michael Neilson speaks to several people who call the “big durian” home about its positives and negatives – and how community and the city’s infamously dry humour get them through.
What they said …
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Nadi “must not become the Pacific’s ashtray” – Fiji’s ambassador to the UN, Filipo Tarakinikini
A fashion entrepreneur and an Australian billionaire want to build a port and waste incinerator within 15km of Fiji’s tourism gateway Nadi. The duo have told Fiji’s government the project could meet 40% of the small country’s electricity needs, cutting its reliance on diesel, but Fiji’s UN ambassador said the plan amounts to “waste colonialism”.
Podcast
Nearly 15 years after Julia Gillard introduced the national disability insurance scheme, the Albanese government on Wednesday announced sweeping reforms to the scheme. It’s expected that the billions of dollars in budget savings will mean at least 160,000 participants will no longer be able to access the scheme within the next four years.
The minister for health and disability, Mark Butler, speaks to political editor Tom McIlroy about how the cost of the NDIS became “not sustainable” and how the reforms will affect participants. Butler’s announcements have been widely criticised in light of increased defence spending last week.
Before bed read
The critic and advocate Clem Bastow writes that Mark Butler’s NDIS cuts will force people with disabilities like her’s to withdraw from society, saying the inclusive world thatadvocates fought so hard for is being torn apart by ruthless, ableist bureaucrats.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: PLOY . You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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