As Australia’s coronavirus outbreak continues, a lot of important news has slipped under the radar.
From rare good news for the nearly extinct Kangaroo Island dunnart, to a groundbreaking decision for Facebook and Google, here are the stories you may have missed over the past week.
And here is last week’s list of stories – in case you missed those.
Bushfires released more C02 than Australia does in a year
Our unprecedented summer bushfires released 830m tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to government estimates, more than Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.
And if the bushfires were a country, they would be the sixth-most polluting nation in the world, behind only China, the US, India, Russia and Japan.
Kangaroo Island dunnart emerges on camera
At the start of the year, the population of the Kangaroo Island dunnart was thought to be only 500. Then, 90% of the threatened marsupial’s habitat was burned in January’s bushfires.
But in some rare good news, researchers revealed on Tuesday that their cameras had captured the creature in new locations – boosting hopes that it could be saved from the brink.
Porsche driver filmed and abused police officer after crash
Accused drug-driver Richard Pusey allegedly filmed and yelled at a police officer as she was dying, after he had been stopped for speeding in his Porsche in Melbourne.
Four police officers were killed on Wednesday when they were hit by a truck while they were impounding Pusey’s car on the Eastern Freeway. Pusey allegedly filmed a senior constable as she was calling for help, before fleeing the scene, a court was told on Friday.
Facebook and Google to share advertising money with Australian media
Tech giants Facebook and Google will be forced to share their advertising revenue with newspapers, at the request of treasurer Josh Frydenberg, as the coronavirus pandemic devastates local media.
The companies will now need to negotiate in good faith on how to pay news media for using their content, an arrangement to be enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Sixteen people arrested nationwide over child abuse website
Sixteen people across five Australian states have been charged with child exploitation offences after a two-year investigation across Australia and the US.
Four children were removed from harm as a result of the arrests.
Brisbane man pleads guilty to 23-day attack on woman
Queensland man Nicholas John Crilley has pleaded guilty to attacking, sexually assaulting and burning a 22-year old woman over three weeks of drug-induced violence.
Crilley, 34, plead guilty to 54 offences that occurred in June 2017. He will be sentenced on 1 May.
Raelene Castle steps down as CEO of Rugby Australia
The CEO of Rugby Australia, Raelene Castle, resigned on Thursday after being told she had lost the support of the board. Castle said the board told her they needed “clear air”. On Friday, the chairman, Paul McLean, said Castle had suffered “abhorrent” bullying from “faceless people” during her entire tenure.
Malcolm Turnbull memoir drama rolls on
And finally, the fallout from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s new memoir continues. After excerpts were variously leaked and published last week, it emerged that a senior adviser to Scott Morrison had sent pirated copies to at least 59 people.
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the agriculture minister, David Littleproud, both said they received copies, as the book’s publisher Hardie Grant said it would refer the issue to the Australian federal police.
The adviser, Nico Louw, later apologised and settled with Hardie Grant, as booksellers declared it a bestseller.
And in an interview with Guardian Australia, the former PM said his new role would be of a citizen and “activist”, commenting on public issues. “There is no shortage of fora to get your views across nowadays,” he said.
