What we learned: Friday, 31 October
We will be leaving it there, thanks for joining us. Here’s what we covered today:
AGL Energy is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs amid a wide-ranging restructure of the electricity company
Dan Tehan has all but confirmed nuclear will play a role in the party’s energy policy
Death data shows the flu is killing more people than Covid-19 for the first time since the height of the pandemic
Australia’s first treaty with traditional owners passed the Victorian parliament to cheers and tears in the public gallery.
Former New South Wales MP Gareth Ward has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after he was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men.
The former Treasury secretary Ken Henry says “a conga line of developers” would lobby the environment minister for special carve-outs unless the Albanese government clarifies the types of projects that could be granted exemptions under its new nature laws.
And BoM’s decision to reinstate its old rain radar colour scheme has been greeted as a “sensible step” by the assistant health minister.
Thanks so much for your company today.
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Queensland education minister says vote down by teachers union ‘disappointing’
Queensland’s education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, says the state government will take the teacher’s union to arbitration, after members voted down a pay offer.
Langbroek said the vote was “disappointing”:
This deal would have seen every teacher in a classroom paid over $100,000 by the end of the agreement and while it now falls to the QTU to explain why this deal was not accepted, the government will now start progressing to arbitration within the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission to ensure we can reach an agreement.
The union says just under 29,000 of 51,500 members voted in this week’s ballot on an 8% pay offer over three years. 32.4% voted to take the deal, with 67.6% voting against.
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BoM says more changes possible
The Bureau of Meteorology’s acting chief executive, Peter Stone, says there will be more changes to its website soon:
We’ve listened to your feedback and have restored the previous radar colour scheme.
We will continue to assess options for further updates and improvements at the same time as pushing on with our efforts to help the community become more familiar with the new website.
So, more changes are in the pipeline.
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BoM decision to reinstate radar colour scheme ‘sensible step’, assistant minister says
Speaking of the BoM ... The assistant health minister, Rebecca White, says its decision to reinstate its previous colour scheme on its rain radar is “a sensible step”.
We need to make sure information shared through the bureau is clear and that people can understand it. And it seems like this launch hasn’t gone as well as anyone would expect.
So, while they make some improvements, it’s sensible to move back to what we had before because people understand that and it can sometimes make the difference between someone choosing to leave an area if there’s a storm, it may impact on them, or not.
We need to make sure there’s clear information provided through the bureau and I’m pleased to hear they have taken this step.
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Thunderstorm warning issued for south-east Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology – which has had a bit of a week – has told residents of south-east Queensland to prepare for possibly “giant” hailstones over the next few hours.
Here’s the alert:
VERY DANGEROUS THUNDERSTORMS are likely to produce large, possibly giant hailstones, damaging, locally destructive winds and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Toowoomba, Maroochydore, Gympie, Ipswich, Kingaroy, Gatton, Caboolture, Noosa Heads and Maryborough.
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Sydney Uni scientists develop new roof coating that can reduce surface temperatures
Australian scientists have developed roof coatings that can passively cool surfaces up to 6C below ambient temperature, as well as extract water from the atmosphere, which they say could reduce indoor temperatures during extreme heat events.
Heatwaves are becoming more intense, more frequent and more deadly due to human-caused global heating.
One coating made from a porous film, which can be painted on to existing roofs, works by reflecting 96% of incoming solar radiation, rather than absorbing the sun’s energy. It also has a high thermal emittance, meaning it effectively dissipates heat to outer space when the sky is clear. Its properties are known as passive radiative cooling.
Read more here:
Albanese asked about Coalition’s net zero discussion
Anthony Albanese was also asked about the Coalition party room’s meeting to discuss the net zero emissions policy earlier today.
Here’s his response:
The world is getting on with the transition to net zero. Overwhelmingly the world sees that the transition to net zero, that climate change is real, and I’m not going to comment on domestic matters back home.
I’ll let people watch that circus and to make their own decisions. But what we’re about is seizing the opportunity which is there.
Change is always not smooth and not straightforward. It represents a challenge. But it represents an opportunity.
After the meeting, the Coalition frontbencher Dan Tehan said “everyone is absolutely committed that our number one focus and number one priority has to be addressing energy costs”.
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Strict secrecy over parole review of South Australia’s Snowtown killer
Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis has appeared at a hearing to set a date for a review of a decision to release him on parole, AAP reports.
But parole administrative review commissioner, Michael David KC, has ruled the review hearing will be closed to the media.
Vlassakis, who is aged in his mid 40s, appeared via videolink on Friday at a directions hearing in Adelaide.
South Australian attorney general, Kyam Maher, has requested a review of the SA Parole Board’s decision in August to grant parole to Vlassakis, who pleaded guilty to four of the 11 murders between 1992 and 1999.
If freed, it is believed he will be the first serial killer released on parole in Australia.
Counsel for media, Peter Campbell, told David there was significant public interest in the review proceedings, and reporting on the details was important to “preserving confidence in the parole board and the process” and general principles of open justice.
Commissioner David made it clear that under law, proceedings for the review “must be heard in private”.
You can read more about this case:
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Albanese declines to comment on Prince Andrew
Anthony Albanese has declined to comment on King Charles’s decision to strip royal titles from his brother Prince Andrew and kick him out of the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
Here’s what he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Apec summit earlier today.
I think His Majesty King Charles can make decisions without the benefit of my advice, is probably the correct answer to that.
And they work through those things. We respect decisions that are made by the royal family.
You can read about the story here:
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AGL Energy to shed hundreds of jobs
AGL Energy is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs amid a wide-ranging restructure of the electricity company.
The company said in a statement today it has proposed “changes to our organisational structure” and is reviewing costs to improve productivity.
The company said:
We understand this may be a difficult time for our people and we’re committed to communicating with transparency and respect and providing support throughout the consultation process.
It is understood that about 300 roles will be affected, which includes the removal of vacancies. This could result in about 200 workers being affected, although no final decisions have been made.
The expected job losses were first reported by The Australian.
Australia’s largest electricity and natural gas supplier is also the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, due to its two large coal-fired power generators, located in NSW and Victoria.
Billionaire investor and shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes is among those who have urged the company to speed up its transition to renewables.
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Albanese meets Xi on Apec sidelines
Anthony Albanese has met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea.
Good to meet informally with President Xi at the APEC Summit in South Korea today. 🇦🇺🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/MU3fL3AmHi
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 31, 2025
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ANZ takes $1.1bn hit to bottom line amid fines and redundancies
ANZ has flagged a $1.1bn bottom-line hit tied to its recently announced mass job cuts and the biggest settlement ever with the securities regulator, AAP reports.
The big-four bank will take an after-tax charge of $414m for the 3,500 staff redundancies announced in September, it said on Friday.
The bank will also take a $271m charge for a $240m fine from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the largest punishment the regulator has handed to a single entity.
As part of that settlement, ANZ admitted mishandling a $14bn bond deal for the federal government and failing to respond to hundreds of notices about customer hardship, making false and misleading statements about its savings interest rates and failing to pay those amounts to customers.
It’s also recognising a $68m charge related to costs associated with accelerating its integration of Suncorp Bank, a $281m write-off of its investment in an Indonesian bank and a $78m write-off of Cashrewards, a digital coupon business that ANZ is shutting down.
The impairments will impact ANZ’s statutory and cash profit, which the bank will announce on 10 November.
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Major NT gas reserves could help save projects like Tomago, chief minister says
Lia Finocchiaro, the chief minister of the Northern Territory, says large gas reserves in the Beetaloo Basin could be a lifeline to projects like the Tomago aluminium smelter in New South Wales.
Rio Tinto, which owns the smelter, said recently it may cease operations in Tomago after the enterprise has struggled with high power prices, making its commercial viability difficult.
Finocchiaro told Sky News the Beetaloo project should start producing gas by the end of 2025:
We have 200 years of gas in the Beetaloo Basin which is expected to come into production early-to-mid-next year and we’ve been really giving gas the green light here in the Territory …
We can have a secure, reliable, affordable energy source right here at home, well-regulated in our own backyard and deliver the opportunities for that Australian-made focus.
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More on Australia’s first formal treaty with traditional owners
My colleague Benita Kolovos has a more detailed report on Australia’s first formal treaty with traditional owners, which passed in Victoria’s parliament earlier today.
First Peoples’ Assembly co-chair Ngarra Murray said after the vote it was a “historic moment for our people”, adding:
We will tell our children about today, and they will tell their children, passing down to future generations the story of how decades of Aboriginal resilience and activism led to Australia’s first treaty.
Treaty marks the beginning of a new era, one where First Peoples’ 60,000 years of knowledge and culture is respected and celebrated. It’s an opportunity for all Victorians to acknowledge our shared history, heal and move forward together.
Read more from Benita here:
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How the EU and Nato are countering a new type of warfare – Australian Politics podcast
From cyberattacks to disinformation campaigns, hybrid warfare is reshaping global security.
Guardian Australia’s political editor, Tom Mcllroy, spoke with Teija Tiilikainen, the director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, about how the EU and Nato are confronting covert interference from Russia, China and other non-democratic countries – and what Australia can learn from Europe’s approach.
Take a listen:
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Former NSW MP Gareth Ward sentenced to almost six years in prison for sexually abusing two men
Former New South Wales MP Gareth Ward has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after he was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men.
Ward was sentenced by judge Kara Shead on Friday in the Parramatta district court. Ward, who had been remanded in custody while he awaited sentencing, appeared via video link from Cessnock prison.
Shead sentenced Ward to a maximum term of five years and nine months with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.
The sentence was backdated to late July 2025, meaning he could be released in April 2029.
Read more here:
Dan Tehan all but confirms nuclear to be part of Coalition energy plan
More from that Coalition climate meeting: asked whether nuclear energy would feature heavily in their power plan, Dan Tehan all but confirmed it would play a role.
“I think I would be speaking for pretty much every single one of my colleagues, we don’t think Labor is serious about reducing emissions if they won’t look at nuclear technology,” he said, adding:
Chris Bowen and the Labor party are absolute relics when it comes to their views on nuclear energy, because the rest of the world is seeing it as a key way that we’re going to be able to reduce emissions.
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Coalition overhaul of net zero commitment continues
The Coalition meeting on climate and energy has finished and, as expected, there’s been no formal change to policy on net zero – yet. But shadow energy minister Dan Tehan has made stronger indications that the Coalition could be edging away from its net zero commitment made in 2021 under the Morrison-Joyce government, and at least making big changes to the policy.
As Krishani brought you earlier, around 30 Coalition members attended and were invited to make contributions to the meeting. It was the latest in a series of regular meetings by Coalition backbenchers on energy and the economy, and though no final policy outcome was expected today, many Liberals are itching to have the issue resolved one way or another.
Tehan, speaking after the meeting, said there was “really constructive discussion” which was “incredibly respectful”. He said the policy review he’s undertaking had been slated for a six to nine month timeframe – indicating a final position could come by the end of this year or early 2026.
He wouldn’t commit to keeping or dropping net zero by 2050, but said the guiding markers for the party room were “everyone is committed to us reducing emissions so that we’re playing our part when it comes to climate change” but also “our number one focus and number one priority has to be addressing energy costs.”
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Six people now caught in Queensland rat poisoning cluster
A sixth person has been found to have consumed rat poison in a cluster case in south-east Queensland, with homemade dough revealed as another vector in the poisoning alongside a homemade chilli paste.
The dough, along with capsicum and chilli paste and marinated eggplant, were made in a home kitchen and were gifted or sold locally in the Logan area from mid-September, Queensland Health has said.
The sixth person was a relative of some of the other five previously found to be exposed to brodifacoum, the active ingredient in rat poison. All six are well and receiving treatment at home, Queensland Health has said.
The state’s chief health officer, Dr Catherine McDougall, said there was not believed to be an ongoing risk to the broader community. No further cases outside the family clusters have been identified and the products were not still being made or distributed, she said.
Authorities were still investigating how the foods tested positive for brodifacoum and asked clinicians to watch for symptoms that may indicate brodifacoum poisoning, particularly those related to bleeding.
You can read more about the cluster here:
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Jacinta Price says Victoria’s treaty with traditional owners a ‘defiance of democracy’
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has accused the Victorian government of a “defiance of democracy” after the state parliament passed the country’s first treaty with traditional owners on Thursday.
The treaty will establish the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent representative body to provide advice to government, under a new statutory corporation called Gellung Warl. It will also include a truth-telling and accountability body to keep Victoria on track with its commitments to closing the gap.
Nampijinpa Price, a National-turned-Liberal senator who stood as the face of the anti-voice referendum, criticised the state premier, Jacinta Allan, for giving “her middle finger” to all Victorians who voted no in the 2023 referendum.
In Victoria, 54.15% voted no while 45.85% voted yes to an Indigenous voice to the federal parliament.
In her statement on Friday, Nampijinpa Price said:
We all know where this treaty leads: Victorians will be divided by race.
The activists will be empowered to pursue their goals of reparations and segregation, driven, as they are, by retribution and resentment – not reconciliation and forgiveness.
And Victorian children will be taught a distorted and revisionist view of history so they are indoctrinated to feel national guilt instead of the national pride they should feel for Australia – a country where our achievements and successes far outweigh our wrongdoings and failures.
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Australians urged to get flu vaccine as flu deaths exceed Covid deaths for first time since 2020
Death data shows the flu is killing more people than Covid-19 for the first time since the height of the pandemic, AAP reports.
The figures have prompted one of the country’s top doctors to urge people to be vigilant against rising vaccine complacency, saying it was a wake-up call. The president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), Michael Wright, said:
This highlights the need for Australians to get the flu vaccine, particularly those at higher risk of complications … If fewer people receive the influenza vaccination, more people end up getting sick.
August saw 265 people in Australia die from or with influenza compared with 195 deaths associated with Covid-19, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday. It was the first month since February 2020 where influenza was more deadly than Covid-19.
This year’s flu season also produced a record 410,000 lab-confirmed cases of influenza, according to the RACGP.
More than 10% of Australia’s flu infections occurred in children under five, which Wright described as a “wake-up call” after estimates of falling vaccination rates, with just one in four children under five given a flu shot in 2025.
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Nuclear is a technology ‘we should consider for the future’, Sussan Ley says
Opposition leader Sussan Ley is speaking in Tomago, NSW, where she is attacking the government’s energy policy. Rio Tinto has suggested its aluminium smelter in the region could cease operations once its current contract expires, without government support.
Ley says:
This government needs to acknowledge that its energy policy is causing manufacturers to go out of business …
How dare we suggest to the generations that follow us that they should have a lower standard of living than we have and pay back a debt that we have accrued. I want the next generation to inherit opportunity, not debt.
When asked if nuclear would be the answer to keep manufacturing in Australia, Ley said:
Nuclear is a technology that we should consider for the future. We are technology agnostic. It is not about one technology over another.
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21-year-old dies in Queensland after being struck by lightning at sports complex
A 21-year-old woman died on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast yesterday after she was struck by lightning, emergency officials said.
Queensland Ambulance Service said paramedics were called to the scene in the suburb of Cooroy just after 5pm yesterday. Officials said:
One patient, a female in her 20s, was treated in a life-threatening condition and transported to Nambour hospital with a critical care paramedic onboard.
Cooroora United Football Club said the incident occurred on its grounds, in a post on social media. The club said it would not share any further details about the incident out of privacy of those affected, but said “it is important to share that those in and around the grounds, including both members and emergency services, showed admirable action, respect and care for each other”.
Police said a report would be prepared for the coroner.
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Lidia Thorpe welcomes first treaty with traditional owners and says PM ‘needs to take notice’
Victoria senator Lidia Thorpe welcomed the passage of Australia’s first treaty with traditional owners, as we reported in the blog earlier.
Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, said in a statement:
I congratulate the First Peoples’ Assembly on this historic milestone. And the whole country should recognise the decades of first peoples’ resistance, organising and activism that brought us here.
This treaty is welcome progress and a good start towards real self-determination.
Thorpe said the milestone should not be cause for congratulations to the Labor party, saying prime minister Anthony Albanese needed to “take notice” of the treaty in light of the failed voice referendum:
Labor will pat themselves on the back for this moment, but the truth is they are still destroying Country, locking up our people, and forcibly removing our children in huge numbers. I will not congratulate Labor for treaty while they continue harming our people.
Albanese needs to take notice of this. The federal government has completely stalled since the failed voice referendum. It’s for Albanese to get over it and move on.
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Mine explosion that left two dead happened when ‘shot firing’ was being prepared, company says
The company that owns the Endeavour mine in western New South Wales has provided more details about an incident that left two people dead in an explosion earlier this week.
Polymetals Resources said it did not yet know the cause of the explosion but said it took place during a time when “shot firing was being prepared as a secondary detonation activity”. Shot firers are responsible for assembly, positioning and detonating explosives to break solid rock.
Patrick McMullen, 59, and Holly Clarke, 24, were killed on Tuesday. Both worked as shotfirers.
The company said this morning:
It is hoped that outcomes from these investigations will help eliminate any re-occurrence of such an incident within the industry.
Dave Sproule, the chairman of the company, said:
Words fall short of how deeply affected the Polymetals’ family is by this tragic incident. The feeling of profound sadness when life is lost is never forgotten. We’re devastated by what has happened and share our deepest thoughts and condolences with the families, their friends and our colleagues. We are doing everything we can to support those affected.
The company plans to restore operations at the mine in stages, with some work set to begin early next week.
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AFP commissioner to sign new security agreement with PNG
Australian federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett will sign a new policing agreement with Papua New Guinea tomorrow meant to “improve the information flow and investigative support” with the Pacific nation.
Barrett said the new deal will focus on investigations that span jurisdictions and target organised crime networks in both PNG and Australia. She said:
This will streamline information exchange and sharing of police resources and technology, enabling them to disrupt threats earlier.
To keep Australia and PNG safe, we need to keep our region safe. And our great policing partners in the Pacific show what an important bloc of partners they are.
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What’s driving the sudden explosion in flies across Sydney?
Insect populations are booming across New South Wales, with flies swarming beachgoers, catching rides on pedestrians’ backs and trying to get a drink of the tasty nectar seeping from people’s mouths.
But are there more flies than usual – or has Sydney just forgotten what all the buzz is about?
“This call happens every year,” Tanya Latty, an entomologist and researcher in insect behaviour at the University of Sydney, tells Guardian Australia.
It’s spring in Sydney, that’s kind of what’s happening. We get used to there not being a lot of flies over winter and, when they show up in the spring every year, people ask if there are more than usual.
Read more here:
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Does the Albanese government have a transparency problem? – Full Story podcast
A report by the Centre for Public Integrity has accused the Albanese government of “leaning into a culture of secrecy”. Labor’s record on transparency also featured in parliament this week after independent ACT senator David Pocock led a revolt against the government for failing to produce a key report into “jobs for mates”.
Bridie Jabour talks to the editor, Lenore Taylor, and the head of newsroom, Mike Ticher, about whether the Albanese government is failing to live up to its own expectations on transparency.
Listen here:
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Potential law allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped criticised as ‘shocking overreach’
Proposed laws allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped from those evading arrest while accused of serious crimes would be a “shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system”, welfare advocates warn.
The amendment to the income apportionment bill, added by Labor this week during parliamentary debate, would mean police officers would have the power to request the cancellation of Centrelink payments to those accused of a “serious violent or sexual offence” when an arrest warrant had been issued.
Some advocates and social security legal experts, including the Antipoverty Centre, the Council of Single Mothers and their Children, the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia, the Australian Unemployed Workers Union and Everybody’s Home have said the amendment represents punishment without conviction and blurs the separation of powers.
The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, said the proposal was “completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice” and called on the government to scrap the amendment. Chambers said:
This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system. We’ve seen too many times what happens when governments rush through changes without thinking through the consequences. Robodebt should have been warning enough.
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At least 30 Coalition MPs and senators gathered for net zero meeting
The Coalition net zero meeting is about halfway through now – it started at 8am and is expected to run for three hours.
Here’s how it’s been taking shape.
It’s been called a “listening” meeting, so those in the room are given up to five minutes to say their peace about the Coalition’s energy policy and are expected to stay to hear the others.
It’s been organised by a joint Coalition backbench committee – led by Liberals Jane Hume and Simon Kennedy – but we’ve been told that so far no Nationals are in the room. The Nats federal council meeting is on this weekend, so at least a few of them are travelling for that.
Who’s in the room? I’m told there’s at least 30 people – and a broad mix of members including former energy minister Angus Taylor, moderate Maria Kovacic and conservative MP Tony Pasin.
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Five-year-old girl riding scooter dies after being hit by ute in Sydney
A five-year-old girl has died after she was hit by a car in Sydney’s north-west yesterday.
NSW police said the young girl was riding a scooter on a footpath in the suburb of Rouse Hill about 3.45pm. She was allegedly hit by a Toyota HiLux ute and emergency services were called.
Paramedics treated the girl at the scene before she was taken to the hospital in a critical condition, where she later died.
The driver of the vehicle, a 42-year-old man, was taken to the hospital for mandatory testing. A crime scene has been established and an investigation is ongoing. No charges have been laid.
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Maria Kovacic says Coalition must ‘have a pathway to reduce our emissions’
Maria Kovacic said net zero was “an outcome of the policy and we have to have a pathway to reduce our emissions and ensure that Australians have a clean and reliable energy grid. And that includes looking at gas and renewables, obviously, and we can also look at a pathway to unlocking nuclear technologies.”
Kovacic, asked if that should include a hard target for 2050 emissions, responded:
We’re still discussing that but thank you so much.
Tim Wilson, another moderate, said the party should be focused on “how do we get to net zero price increases and of course net zero outages”. He told Channel Nine’s Today show:
When Australians go and flick the switch on to walk into a room they want to know that the power’s going to turn on but, more important, they’re going to be able to afford the bill at the end of it and so that’s going be our focus.
Of course people care deeply about emissions but they want to make sure we get the price right, they want to make we have a reliable system and then they’ll be supportive of lower emissions too.
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Coalition MPs meeting to discuss net zero
Coalition MPs are meeting to discuss net zero and energy today, as the opposition remains tied in knots over its climate plans. We’re told there won’t be a formal final position on net zero today – it’s a meeting of backbenchers and leader Sussan Ley is visiting Tomago today instead – but it’s likely to result in some arguments.
Liberal senator and moderate Maria Kovacic said this morning that the meeting “won’t be any different from any of our other backbench meetings”. She said:
This is something that Sussan Ley, our leader, has determined we need to do in terms of all of the policy areas and we’ll have a strong discussion, as we always do. And it’s important that all MPs and senators are able to ventilate their views on all policy areas.
Kovacic said she thought Australians wanted the Liberals “to have a credible climate policy. I think it’s important that we understand that net zero, in itself, is not a policy.”
There is a view among some inside the Liberals that they could move away from explicitly sticking to the idea of net zero by 2050 but instead endorse an emissions reduction policy that would have similar goals.
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Children’s commissioner says reforms ‘very much’ the beginning
Hollonds added that she did not believe policy and accountability settings in government were right yet to best protect children in childcare. She told RN while it was “great” to see strong leadership from the government and states to address failings in childcare reform, “this is very much just the beginning”.
She said:
The truth is that, when it comes to children’s issues, we are sidelining them. And children often themselves say they feel invisible and can’t get the help that they need from service systems that are primarily geared towards protecting the adults, not the children in their care.
You know, we’ve got this mess of laws and policies and fragmented regulatory systems. And as I said, we saw that they’ve protected the adults, not the children. I think government actually does need help and that’s why I’m supporting the calls for an independent national childcare commission that would oversee the industry and design that childcare system that we want to see in the future.
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National children’s commissioner says work still needed to fix ‘accountability gaps that are obvious wherever we look’
Anne Hollonds, the national children’s commissioner, spoke to RN Breakfast this morning on the eve of finishing her five-year term in the role.
Hollonds said her tenure had been marked by a difficulty getting “attention to the needs of our most vulnerable children”, adding the federal government had taken a “hands-off posture” that was no longer working to tackle policy challenges. She said:
I think there’s a growing recognition that the old ways of thinking about how we deal with child safety and wellbeing is no longer working and that we need to work together across the federation.
Hollonds said she believes there should still be a federal minister for children, saying it was a “top priority” moving forward to “fix the accountability gaps that are obvious wherever we look”.
Police to drain dam in ongoing search for missing SA child Gus Lamont
South Australia police will continue their search for four-year-old Gus Lamont today.
Officials said the search will involve draining a large dam on the rural property, about 600 metres from the homestead where Gus was last seen. He has been missing since 27 September.
The dam is about 4.5 metres deep and was previously searched by police divers in the early days of the effort but draining will allow for a more comprehensive search to be completed. Police said the draining is being carried out to rule out the possibility Gus may have drowned.
Authorities are also continuing aerial imaging of an area out to 10km from the homestead. That effort is expected to take several weeks.
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Zali Steggall to host climate roundtable today
Independent MP Zali Steggall will host a roundtable meeting at Parliament House in Canberra today with Climate Change Authority boss and former NSW Liberal treasurer Matt Kean as the Liberal party holds a forum for backbenchers to discuss the federal party’s future energy policy.
Steggall is also pushing for the government to spend $4bn each year – or 0.25% of GDP – on climate adaptation.
The member for Warringah has already been calling for a national adaptation framework and resilience plan to deal with the impacts of climate change.
The government’s own climate risk plan painted a bleak picture and found climate driven natural disasters are already costing the economy $40bn a year.
In a statement, Steggall said:
Australia must move rapidly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But we must also prepare for the disruptions to come. Climate adaptation is an insurance policy for Australia’s future. By implementing this plan, the Albanese government can build the resilience our communities and economy desperately need.
Australian teachers losing collective billions in unpaid work each year
Teachers in Australia are losing more than $11.5bn a year in unpaid work, a Parliamentary Library analysis commissioned by the Greens has revealed.
The analysis, which assumes teachers work a median of 50 hours a week but are paid for just 38, found more than 320,000 full-time teachers across the country worked about $36,000 a year in extra unpaid hours, or almost a third of their average salary.
The analysis’ release on Friday coincides with World Teachers Day and follows a global report finding Australia is among the worst-ranked countries in terms of teacher shortages.
The Greens’ education spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, who is also a former teacher, said “it’s no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves”.
Our teachers are overworked, undervalued and face increasingly difficult and unsafe conditions in the classroom.
As a public school teacher myself for more than 25 years, I can tell you there is nothing more demoralising for a teacher than feeling like you’ve failed a student because you didn’t have enough time or enough resources.
For most teachers, teaching is a labour of love. But they can’t unlock our kids’ potential while they’re being smashed by pointless admin and standardisation, in a grossly under-resourced system.
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Childcare worker charged for allegedly slapping three-year-old in the face
A childcare worker has been charged with allegedly assaulting a child at a daycare centre in Sydney’s north-west earlier this week, police say.
In a statement on Thursday evening, NSW police said officers had began an investigation on Wednesday following reports of an alleged assault at a childcare centre in Dundas.
“Police were told the childcare worker – a 43-year-old woman – had allegedly slapped a three-year-old child in the face on Tuesday,” they said.
After inquiries, police attended a home in Dundas about 11.30am on Thursday, where the woman was arrested before being taken to Gladesville police station.
She has been charged with assaulting a school student while at school as well as common assault, and was granted conditional bail to appear before Burwood local court on 8 December.
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Labor MP to shave off his beard in hopes of raising $100,000
One of parliament’s biggest characters, Labor MP Dan Repacholi, is shaving off his enormous beard today in the name of charity.
The member for Hunter, a former Olympian and Commonwealth Games champion in pistol shooting, has worn his long beard for many years but has decided to take it all off in a bid to raise $100,000 for the Mark Hughes Foundation, Royal Flying Doctors Service and CareFlight.
The special envoy for men’s health has raised more than $76,000 so far. He says he will undergo the big shave today at Movember headquarters in Melbourne.
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Good morning and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to take over the blog. Let’s dive in.
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‘This is a historic moment for our people’, chair of First People’s Assembly says
The premier, Jacinta Allan, said it was the culmination of almost 10 years of work by the Victorian Labor government, which began in 2016. She said:
Treaty gives Aboriginal communities the power to shape the policies and services that affect their lives. This is how we build a fairer, stronger Victoria for everyone.
Ngarra Murray, the co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, thanked MPs who voted in support of the bill:
This is a historic moment for our people. We will tell our children about today, and they will tell their children, passing down to future generations the story of how decades of Aboriginal resilience and activism led to Australia’s first Treaty.
Treaty marks the beginning of a new era, one where First Peoples’ 60,000 years of knowledge and culture is respected and celebrated. It’s an opportunity for all Victorians to acknowledge our shared history, heal and move forward together.
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Australia's first Indigenous treaty passes
Australia’s first treaty with traditional owners has passed the Victorian parliament to cheers and tears in the public gallery.
After two days of debate in parliament’s upper house this week, the statewide treaty bill passed 21 votes to 16 just before 9pm. After the bill passed without amendment, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were unfurled from the public gallery and the Labor, Greens, Legalise Cannabis and Animal Justice party MPs who supported the bill turned around to applaud.
It establishes the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent representative body to provide advice to government, under a new statutory corporation called Gellung Warl.
Gellung Warl will also include a truth-telling body, to be known as Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, and an accountability body, known as Nginma Ngainga Wara. The latter will ensure the government upholds its commitments under the national agreement on closing the gap.
It makes Victoria the first state in the country to adopt voice, treaty and truth – the three pillars of reform requested in the 2017 Uluru statement from the heart.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the stories you need to get up to speed before Nick Visser comes along to take over.
Coalition MPs meet in Canberra today for their crunch meeting about net zero policy as Sussan Ley tries to steer MPs and senators towards a more centrist position on the issue that has already seen Andrew Hastie quit the frontbench. Meanwhile, independent MP Zali Steggall will host a roundtable meeting with the Climate Change Authority boss and former New South Wales Liberal treasurer Matt Kean. We’ll have more as it happens.
A new study by the Parliamentary Library has found that teachers in Australia are losing more than $11.5bn a year in unpaid work. Based on the assumption that teachers work a median of 50 hours a week, the analysis reckons they are paid for only 38. More details coming up.
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