“Confused” is how Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says she feels about the way the Tasmanian government is continuing to support development in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA).
Key points:
UNESCO has urged the Tasmanian government “to avoid any development” at the World Heritage Area before the “plan for a comprehensive cultural assessment is implemented”
A Tasmanian Natural Resources and Environment Department spokeswoman said the Tasmanian and Australian governments had “received advice” the plan did not need to be implemented before developments take place
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek did not comment on whether she had any concerns about the Tasmanian government’s continued support of the development
Since 2014, the state government has been encouraging tourism operators to put forward their proposals for development in national parks, which it says will help create regional jobs.
Some proposals are up and running, but others are proving contentious.
With developers behind a proposal for Lake Malbena trying again to win approval, and plans for huts in a remote corner of the south-west yet to reach the approvals phase, will UNESCO’s stance on development have any impact?
What is the situation with the TWWHA?
UNESCO, the United Nations body that oversees World Heritage areas, in July 2021 urged the government “to avoid any development at the [TWWHA] before the detailed plan for a comprehensive cultural assessment is implemented”.
More secret files on US trade role to be made public
Mr Barilaro will appear next week before a parliamentary inquiry into his appointment.(AAP: Joel Carrett)
Secret government documents relating to John Barilaro’s appointment to a lucrative trade role in New York are set to be made public this morning.
Last week, the government agreed to stop the documents being deemed privileged, after the opposition fought to have them released into the public domain.
The documents are set to put the government under further pressure over the controversy that has been escalating for weeks.
The ABC understands there is growing frustration within the government that Premier Dominic Perrottet isn’t taking decisive action, while there are also ongoing questions about Trade Minister Stuart Ayres’ involvement and whether he misled parliament.
Mr Barilaro is no longer taking the job and will front a parliamentary inquiry into his appointment next week on Monday, August 8.
This week, Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown will front the inquiry for the second time.
Mr Ayres has released a statement on his Facebook page overnight, defending his actions in the controversy.
Mr Ayres said he had made decisions placing the interests of the community first.
“While I respected Mr Barilaro in his role as deputy premier, leader of the National Party and his passionate (and at times excessive) advocacy of regional NSW, I don’t think we ever called each other close friends,” he said.
“Every action I have taken has been to remove politics from the recruitment of these roles and put the people of NSW first.”
Sydney Metro faces serious risks, documents show
The price tag for the Sydney Metro City and South West had blown out by about $6 billion, budget papers revealed earlier this year.(Supplied: NSW Metro)
The Sydney Metro public transport project faces serious risks that have been revealed in a confidential internal document, the NSW opposition has warned.
NSW Shadow Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said the document, prepared by Sydney Metro officials, shows the project’s core strategic objectives are now at risk because of a range of serious issues.
The long list of risks, rated high or very high, includes further cost blowouts, safety and security concerns, inability to attract and retain skilled resources and compromised operations.
“After spending billions of taxpayer dollars, the government’s signature public transport project now faces a series of major risks, including failure to deliver expected long-term benefits as well as more delays,” Ms Haylen said.
“This will increase the total cost of the metro line between Chatswood and Bankstown via the CBD to $18.5 billion, which is far higher than the original budget of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion.”
In June, state budget papers revealed the price tag for the Sydney Metro City and South West had blown out by about $6 billion, as NSW’s major transport infrastructure projects face significant cost hikes.
Union slams new school trial
The teachers union says the new staffing resource will only touch the surface.(ABC News: Tim Swanston)
The NSW teacher’s union says the state government’s announcement of 200 school support staff is “not even window dressing”.
Yesterday, the NSW government announced a trial of new administration roles in public schools to help teachers with non-teaching tasks such as data entry, paperwork and coordinating excursions.
But the president of the Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the 200 support staff across the state would have next-to-no impact on teachers.
“This is not even window dressing,” he said.
“We need afundamental reset to deal with the underlying conditions that have created the teacher shortage, unsustainable workloads and uncompetitive salaries.”
The new roles will be trialled in public schools from term four.
Inquest into man fatally shot by police to begin
Jacob Carr, 53, was fatally shot by police on August 17, 2019.(Supplied)
An inquest is due to start today into the death of a Sydney man shot by police after a domestic violence incident.
Fifty-three-year-old Jacob Carr died after being shot by police in August 2019.
Officers say they were called after he fought with his mother at his nephew’s engagement party at Ingleside on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
They say after the fight, Carr went into a granny flat attached to the house and refused to come out.
Police say after they entered through an unlocked door, I pointed a gun at them.
He was shot in the leg but died on the way to hospital.
Family and friends say Carr had struggled with chronic pain and depression for years before his death.
DNA collection sites open for families of missing loved ones
Four pop-up familial DNA collection sites will operate this week.(Supplied: AFP)
Relatives of people who have been missing for a long time are being urged to provide DNA at collection centers across New South Wales from today.
The pop-up sites in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and Penrith are part of National Missing Persons Week and will operate until Saturday, August 6.
NSW currently has 751 outstanding cold cases, some dating back to the 1940s. There are also about 330 unidentified bodies.
It’s hoped the familiar samples can help find links between the two.
The manager of the NSW Missing Persons Registry, Glenn Browne, said the initiative, which is now in its second year, had been extremely useful.
“At the moment, we don’t have a direct result where we’ve identified an unidentified body but there have been a couple of cases where… we’ve discovered that we’re actually heading down the wrong path,” he said.
“[It] can rule out lines of inquiry for us just as easily as it can rule in certain lines of inquiry.”
Mr Browne also reassured people that the mouth swabs would only be compared against missing persons databases in Australia.
New Chinese cultural museum for Sydney
The Haymarket Library will be converted into the new Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA).(abcnews)
The contributions made by the Chinese community nationally and in NSW will be recognized in a new museum in Sydney — the first of its kind in the state.
Under the NSW’s government’s $2.28 million investment, Chinatown’s historic Haymarket Library will be refurbished into the Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA).
Minister for the Arts Ben Franklin called it a “wonderful project” that would “fill an important space in the cultural storytelling of this nation.”
Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure said the museum was also a wonderful example of the community’s multicultural success story.
“I think this will uniquely show how well our multicultural society works — highlighting our historical past and the contributions of the Chinese community,” he said.
“While this museum will be about celebrating their valued contributions, it will help foster greater unity and understanding of those of Chinese heritage and how they have helped make New South Wales the great state it is today.”
AK was full of life, kind hearted, and an amazing mother.
Key points:
AK’s family has remembered her as a warm, loving mother who was full of life
NT Police have been criticized for not releasing more information about the murder-suicide in which she was killed
Her sister says she doesn’t believe NT Police took her sister’s calls for help seriously
That’s how her heartbroken sisters remember the 30-year-old mother, who was allegedly killed by her partner last month, along with her 15-week-old baby, in Central Australia, north of Alice Springs.
“We loved her and we are going to miss her,” the sisters said.
Her family has given the ABC permission to share her initials and their images, in the hope that she is remembered as “more than a statistic”, and to push for systemic change.
AK’s partner’s body and a gun were also found at the scene, and Northern Territory Police have confirmed they are investigating the episode as a murder-suicide.
Police at the crime scene the day after the incident.(ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
Speaking out for the first time since her death, AK’s family said they’re frustrated at the lack of information that has been made available to them by police.
The Victorian government is under pressure to speed up promised integrity reforms, following a scathing report detailing “extensive” misconduct by its MPs.
Key points:
The Greens will introduce legislation this week to fast track anti-corruption measures
The proposed bill aims to stifle the influence of lobbyists and make ministerial diaries public
The government has promised to implement 21 recommendations from an IBAC report by June 2024
The Operation Watts investigation — a joint probe between the state’s ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) — a covered rampant nepotism and the widespread misuse of public resources within the Victorian Labor party.
The Victorian Greens will introduce an anti-corruption bill when parliament summarizes this week to strengthen IBAC’s powers and establish a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner within the next few months — almost two years sooner than the timeline indicated by the government.
The Labor Party has promised to implement all 21 of the report’s recommendations, which includes advice to establish a Parliamentary Ethics Committee and an Integrity Commissioner by June 2024.
But Brunswick MP and Greens integrity spokesperson Tim Read said the government should act immediately on the reforms.
Tim Read says integrity issues have been present in Victorian parliament for years.(Facebook: Tim Read Greens)
“There’s no reason why the government couldn’t make a good start on it this year and have an integrity commissioner appointed early next year,” Dr Read told the ABC.
“There’s a lot of precedent to this — it’s not as if there’s a hell of a lot of thought that needs to go into it.”
Catherine Williams from the Center for Public Integrity said the government must start implementing some reforms before November’s state election if it was determined to crack down on corruption.
“It’s very easy for governments to make promises to introduce change, however, we know from past experience what we need to see are steps being taken,” Dr Williams said.
“A commitment is one thing, what we really require is action.”
The Liberal opposition has also backed the push to speed up reforms, with Matthew Guy saying he would be “more than happy to look into it” when parliament returns.
Daniel Andrews has committed to implementing the recommendations from the report.
Premier Daniel Andrews said on Friday the government would be “faithful” to the timeline provided by the integrity agencies.
“Some of it will be able to be achieved quickly, other elements of those recommendations in that reform will take a bit longer, but we’re committed to all of them,” Mr Andrews said.
“If we can better it, if we can do it even faster, then of course we will.”
Reports reveal misconduct likely to be repeated
Last week, a fresh report from the Victorian Ombudsman into Labor’s red shirts affair warned that until corruption was addressed with the “necessary rigour”, the scandals were “unlikely to be the last”.
The 360-kilometre drive Paul Klotz has to make to get medical help for his chronic pain is “like torture”, according to the chronic pain sufferer.
Key points:
A new survey shows 53 per cent of regional Australians suffering chronic pain are not getting the medical help they need
70 per cent of people with chronic pain are regularly going without food
Chronic Pain Australia says sufferers are turning to self-medication due to a lack of medical help
He has issues with his back, which makes sitting in a car extremely difficult.
But it is just one part of his long and complicated medical history that means he regularly needs to travel from his home in Bundaberg, in Queensland, to get help.
He had a heart attack 20 years ago, a stroke seven years ago, he has epilepsy functional neurological disorder, and he had a bit of his bowel removed just before Christmas.
But getting treated for his chronic pain has been a long, slow and painful journey, as he said there were no appropriate medical services in his home town.
“To be honest, and to be blunt, they’re non-existent,” he said.
“The GPs do the best they can, but for cardiologists, oncologists, dermatologists, neurosurgeons, and neurologists, I have to get to Brisbane to see those.
Paul Klotz says many chronic pain sufferers cannot work full time and do not have the money to pursue medical help.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
“The expectation for me to sit in the car for six hours’ drive for a short appointment down there, and then have to face six hours coming back, it’s torture, pure torture.”
The ever-increasing cost of fuel and the regular need for accommodation is also a huge financial ask to cover for the disability pensioner.
Chronic pain sufferers going without food, medical treatment
Mr Klotz’s willingness to travel from regional Australia to a big city to seek medical help puts him in the minority, according to a new survey from the not-for-profit group Chronic Pain Australia.
President Fiona Hodson said the organisation’s annual survey showed that 53 per cent of chronic pain sufferers in regional Australia were not getting the medical help they needed due to their location.
Fiona Hodson says it is alarming that regional pain sufferers are not getting the medical help they need.(Supplied)
“It is quite alarming that there are that many people who are unable to access these services,” she said.
Ms Hodson said the lack of services often led people to self-medicate, and the recent survey of 1,500 chronic pain sufferers showed 48 per cent used alcohol to self-medicate.
That figure was 28 per cent for cigarettes and 26 per cent for non-medically prescribed cannabis.
Ms Hodson said the survey also showed that 70 per cent of chronic pain sufferers had gone without food in order to continue treating their condition, and 55 per cent said they had not been able to see a specialist due to the cost.
Having private health insurance did not seem to help either, as 65 per cent of respondents with policies said they were still going without food and fuel to get treatment.
“Health services and treatment options, which are inaccessible due to remoteness and also unaffordable for many, can force people living with chronic pain to seek out unsafe ways to manage and cope with their pain,” Ms Hodson said.
“Many don’t feel like they have a choice.”
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia said more money was needed to attract doctors to regional Australia.
President Megan Belot urged the federal government to bring back a Medicare rebate for GP-facilitated specialist appointments, saying it was lost in a change from emergency COVID measures.
“In rural settings, the local doctor is usually the ongoing care provider, so we need these GP-facilitated consultations to help the local team manage the patient’s condition in accordance with the advice from the consultant specialist,” Dr Belot said.
A traveler returning from Bali has been slapped with a hefty fine after trying to bring undeclared McDonald’s products into Australia.
The contraband Macca’s run included two egg and beef sausage McMuffins, hot cakes and a ham croissant.
It was detected at Darwin Airport by the facilities new detector dog Zinta last week, with the returning passenger issued a $2664 infringement notice.
Undeclared McDonald’s products were found by a detection dog at Darwin Airport last week, stoking foot and mouth fears. (Supplied)
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt said Australia is committed to staying “FMD-free”.
Zinta was placed at Darwin Airport as part of the Albanese Government’s tough new biosecurity defences. (Supplied)
“This will be the most expensive Macca’s meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali,” he said.
“But I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.
“Australia is FMD-free, and we want it to stay that way.
“It’s excellent to see (Zinta) is already contributing to keeping the country safe.”
Foot and mouth disease causes blisters on the mouth, snout, tongue, lips and between and above the hooves on the feet. (DAAF)
FMD is a highly-contagious virus that affects hooved animals.
An outbreak is currently spreading through Indonesia and Bali. If the virus reaches Australian shores it could cost as much as $80 billion over 10 years.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) says FMD can be carried in meat and dairy products, as well as in soil, bones, untreated hides, vehicles and equipment.
It can also survive in frozen, chilled and freeze-dried foods including meat and dairy products.
The worst 10 airports for flight delays around the world
To one of the first major political interviews of the morning, and Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy has fronted Nine’s Today Show.
The Labor senator was asked how confident she is in Australians voting “yes” in a referendum on whether to establish an Indigenous Voice to parliament.
NT Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy.
As you might be aware, there have been more than 40 referendums held since the federation. Of those, just a handful have been successful.
Here’s what McCarthy had to say:
Out of all the referendum only eight have passed. And we do reflect on the 1967 referendum in which there was overwhelming support, over 90 per cent, to allow the Commonwealth to make laws in relation to First Nations people.
What we recognize here, too, is the difficult task. I think, as the prime minister said, we know that failure is very possible because of the statistics. But the failure to not try is even worse.
What I came away with [the] garma [Festival] was sense of hope. The fire has been burning… ever since the Uluru statement.
For a referendum to be successful in Australia, it must achieve a double majority: a majority of those voting nationwide as well as a majority of voters in a majority of states.
For example, if 63 per cent of Australians vote “yes” to a Voice to parliament, and there is a majority of people voting “yes” in four out of six states, then the upcoming referendum would be successful.
Paul Haskell-Dowland has been in the cybersecurity education and research domain for two decades — and he is on a mission to teach the rest of us how to stay safe online.
It’s a significant job for the Professor of Cyber Security Practice at Edith Cowan University.
The cost of cybercrime in Australia is incredibly high, although the figure is likely even greater than the reported data suggests.
Cybercriminals operate in very sophisticated environments.(Supplied: Paul Haskell-Dowland)
“It was estimated [a couple of years ago] that the global cost of cybercrime … was going to hit the $1 trillion mark, and I believe it has passed that,” he said.
“It’s very hard to get an accurate indication of these figures, because so much of the cybercrime goes unreported.”
Professor Haskell-Dowland, who is also Associate Dean for Computing and Security, said for many people, their only insight into the world of cybercrime was what was portrayed in the media in movies like Hackers, and even the Diehard franchise.
“If we go back a few years and think about the Hollywood impression of cybersecurity, it was criminals in darkened rooms, sitting behind a keyboard, usually with a hoodie and tapping away at a computer and hacking into systems,” he said.
“We’ve had that glamorized view of cybercrime or cybersecurity for many, many years.”
Criminals increasingly sophisticated
Professor Haskell-Dowland said this portrayal was not entirely accurate and, in reality, cyber threats come from far more organized operations, which are “incredibly well-resourced”.
“This is a global network of cybercriminals, engaging in very significant levels of crime,” he said.
“We’ve seen cybercriminal groups who are incredibly well organised, are reporting profits of hundreds of millions of dollars … so they’re competing with large multinational corporations.”
With this high level of sophistication, individuals were becoming increasingly more susceptible to attacks.
Cybercrime is estimated to be a trillion-dollar industry.(Supplied: Paul Haskell-Dowland)
“It’s not just targeting one person, it could be targeting 100,000 people in just a click of a mouse, or a few key presses,” Professor Haskell-Dowland said.
He said there was an array of ways individuals could be compromised by this kind of activity.
“Sometimes it’s things like scams, but we also hear about things like ransomware, where people’s computers are taken over and their data or files are stolen or encrypted in a way that prevents them from accessing them, and then being forced to pay fines to recover that data,” he said.
“For the past few years, identity theft has been something that has raised alarm bells and people often see things like card-skimming being a bit of an issue.”
How to protect yourself
Professor Haskell-Dowland said there were several relatively simple ways individuals could protect themselves against cybercriminals.
He said the first involved looking at the “boring subject” of their password practices, which he said was of paramount importance.
Professor Haskell-Dowland says you should never use the same password for multiple accounts.(Supplied: Paul Haskell-Dowland)
“People find a password that meets the criteria, and then they reuse them on multiple systems, and that would be fine if all of the systems that they used were secure, and were never compromised,” he said.
“Unfortunately, all it takes is for the weakest one of those systems to be compromised and that one password that you thought was secure, is now in the public domain, it’s publicly available.”
Professor Haskell-Dowland, who personally has more than 500 passwords, recommends that passwords are not only unique to each site, but are also stored safely and securely.
“I use a password manager to make sure that they’re all stored safely,” he said.
“Even having a notepad of all of those passwords and keeping that locked away in a drawer at home is still better than having the same password on every single system.”
Professor Haskell-Dowland also suggested updating all systems and backing up data.
“Always apply updates to … every device that you’re using, including your mobile phone … to make sure that the cybercriminals don’t have an easy foothold into your system,” he said.
“Making sure that you have a copy of all of the important data … so that in the event that you get an attack, maybe you get some malicious software on a computer, you don’t lose everything.”
Targets go beyond the individual
Professor Haskell-Dowland said it was not only individuals who were susceptible to cybercrime. It also had the potential to be used as a hugely disruptive warfare strategy.
“We could be talking about the systems that control electricity, the systems that control water,” he said.
“The things that we utterly depend upon, for our day-to-day life… are often computer controlled.
“If you’re an adversary and you’re wanting to target a country, then it is much easier to attack infrastructure via digital means than it is to launch, for example, a missile to try and target a power station.”
Professor Haskell-Dowland says, unfortunately, many people still write down their passwords and leave them in obvious places.(Supplied: Paul Haskell-Dowland)
But despite the huge risks that cybercrime poses, Professor Haskell-Dowland said we should not “get too carried away with panic.”
“The issues in cybercrime are significant, and they are growing, but so is the defensive side — there’s an enormous amount of time, effort and money being spent on defending the nation and defending the individual,” he said.
“The reality is most cybercriminals are still very lazy in their perspective and they will go for the easiest targets, so simply making yourself that little bit more difficult to be a victim means that they’ll simply move on to easier and easier targets.”
Another senior doctor from the Canberra Hospital has lodged a case in the Federal Court, opposing an investigation by the hospital into claims of bullying and misconduct.
Key points:
Court documents lay out details of findings from several inquiries which drew on allegations from staff in the hospital’s cardiology department
Dr Alasady was told in March that he would be suspended, during a formal investigation
He says he has been treated unfairly and has been denied the opportunity to practice his profession
Cardiologist Muayad Alasady has been suspended by the hospital while the investigation takes place.
His statement of claim reveals he wants the Federal Court to revoke his suspension and stop the investigation, on the grounds he has been denied procedural fairness under his enterprise agreement.
The documents lay out details of findings from several inquiries that drew on allegations from staff in the hospital’s cardiology department.
The initial report, commissioned in 2020, listed allegations of inappropriate behavior by some people working in the department, with claims of bullying and outbursts, including swearing, kicking doors and throwing objects, and consultants shouting and screaming at each other.
The report found there was a culture of blame and a lack of respect for co-workers by some doctors.
And the report also noted there was a clash between Dr Alasady and another doctor.
But the court documents point out that managers considered the report and took no action against Dr Alasady.
The fact they didn’t tell him what they had considered was a breach of the enterprise agreement and a denial of procedural fairness, the documents claim.
The documents outline how the same thing happened with later inquiries that detailed similar allegations, to which he wasn’t able to respond.
Dr Alasady was told in March that he would be suspended, during a formal investigation.
In their submissions to the court, his lawyers said he had been treated unfairly.
“The effect of the suspension decision is that the applicant has suffered reputational harm and denied the opportunity to practice his profession,” the submission states.
Last month, intensive care doctor Bronwyn Avard took her case to the Federal Court after she was subjected to an investigation for misconduct, including allegations of bullying, and urged not to come to work.
Dr Avard said she believed she was the target of retaliation for raising safety concerns over several years.
A traveler from Indonesia has been fined thousands of dollars for sneaking two beef sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant into Australia.
Key points:
Biosecurity measures have ramped up since foot-and-mouth disease was detected in Bali
The fast food snacks were seized and will be tested for the disease
A domestic outbreak has the potential to decimate the Australian agriculture industry
Passengers returning from Indonesia have been facing tougher biosecurity checks, after the detection of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cows in Bali.
The highly contagious disease, which is yet to reach Australia, affects cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, and the virus would have severe consequences for the nation’s animal health and trade.
A biosecurity detector dog at Darwin airport sniffed out the fast food meat products in a passenger’s backpack last week, with the traveler fined $2,664.
The pork and beef snacks were seized and will be tested for foot-and-mouth disease, before being destroyed.
An outbreak of the disease in Indonesia has prompted Australian biosecurity officials to categorize some meat products as “risk items”.
Biosecurity measures have ramped up since foot-and-mouth disease was detected in Bali.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, said he wanted Australia to stay free of the disease.