Hi there. It's Wednesday, November 23 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Let's start here
Thousands of nurses across NSW are striking for 24 hours over what they say is a "staffing crisis" in the state's hospitals — the fourth time this year nurses in NSW have taken industrial action to demand mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios and better pay and conditions.
Speaking at the rally in Sydney, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary Shaye Candish said nurses were worn out by staff shortages in the state's hospitals.
Meanwhile, in Western Australia, the Australian Nursing Federation says it will only call off its planned state-wide strike on Friday if the WA government meets its demand of a five per cent pay rise.
Union state secretary Janet Reah called for a one-day strike to take place on Friday from 7am to 9pm across the public sector after the latest offer from the government was rejected, but says some wards would be exempt from the action, including emergency departments, intensive care units and neonatal intensive care.
What else is going on
- Police are investigating a fire at the Sydney home of friendlyjordies this morning. Law firm Xenophon Davis, which represents the YouTuber, claimed his home was "firebombed" — the home and a neighbouring property suffered "significant damage" but no one was injured.
- Victoria's electoral commission has limited the number of campaigners allowed at a pre-polling booth in Melbourne's north-west over concerns about poor behaviour and intimidation. Acting electoral commissioner Dana Fleming said the action was "disappointing but necessary" as "a small number of campaigners are consistently behaving poorly".
- Disgraced former NRL player Brett Finch has avoided jail for sending messages about child sexual abuse on chat service FastMeet after a judge accepted they were desperate attempts to feed his drug addiction.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Cristiano Ronaldo. The 37-year-old will leave Manchester United "with immediate effect" days after giving an explosive interview criticising the club's manager and owners.
- Sarah Harris. Network 10 has announced the Studio 10 host will join The Project panel after the departures of Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Helliar.
Coming up tomorrow
The ARIAs are back!
The annual celebration of all things Australian music will be hosted by Natalie Imbruglia and has a stacked lineup of performers and presenters.
It's the second year a Best Solo Artist award will be presented, rather than Best Female Artist and Best Male Artist, and the Breakthrough Artist award has been renamed in honour of the late Mushroom Records founder and key industry figure Michael Gudinski.
The nominees for Best Artist this year are:
- Baker Boy
- Budjerah
- Courtney Barnett
- Daniel Johns
- Flume
- Julia Jacklin
- Ruel
- The Kid LAROI
- Thelma Plum
- Vance Joy
It's all happening from 7:30pm AEDT on Thursday night. We'll be bringing all the key updates and award winners to you live, so join us then we break it all down.
You're up to date
See you tomorrow.
ABC/wires
