Coalition will soon reveal ‘potential host sites’ for six nuclear energy plants: Dutton
Peter Hannam
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has used his speech at the Australian Financial Review’s business summit in Sydney to step up his advocacy of nuclear energy.
Dutton said the Coalition would soon reveal the “potential host sites” for six nuclear energy plants. Those sites, though, won’t include Tasmania (which happens to be holding state elections later this month).
Much of the speech was an attack on the Albanese government’s “renewables wonderland”. The former police officer, who said he “comes from a business background”, called for a “mature conversation” about nuclear energy.
Dutton played up the technology as having the highest yield for the lowest amount of land. He said he would listen to communities but also offer incentives for them to give the social licence for nuclear plants. (Asked about the incentives, he didn’t elaborate.)
Had he attended the Summit yesterday, he would have heard Kerry Schott, former head of the Energy Security Board, saying nuclear “really does not make sense for Australia”, as the AFR noted in print today.
Dutton said nuclear energy would provide cheaper, consistent and “increasingly cleaner” power for Australia, recognising perhaps that going down this very long path would mean coal and gas remains in the power grid longer.
The hurdles, though, aren’t low, even if Lucas Heights has been operating a small nuclear reactor since 1966. As Hugh Durrant-Whyte, a professor and also NSW’s chief scientist told that state’s estimates last week: “Nobody in this country has even the faintest idea how to build a nuclear power plant.”
Dutton said he wants the “scientific facts” on the table, and for a debate with PM Albanese in the National Press Club. Perhaps having a few scientists on hand might be helpful to test the ideas fully.
Key events
Body of elderly man found after housing complex fire
The body of an elderly man has been found in the ashes of a housing complex fire north of Brisbane, AAP reports.
Emergency services were called to the facility in Burpengary following reports of a blaze inside one of the units about 9pm yesterday.
The residence was well alight when they arrived and the neighbouring units were immediately evacuated.
Once the fire was extinguished, an examination of the scene revealed the body of a person believed to be an 83-year-old male resident, police said.
He remains unaccounted for.
A crime scene has been declared and investigations into the cause of the fire and formal identification of the deceased are ongoing.
Investigators are appealing to anyone with information or relevant footage to come forward.
Asbestos detected in soil slated for construction of dog park in Queensland
Eden Gillespie
Asbestos has been detected in soil slated for use at the construction of a dog park in south east Queensland.
Everleigh dog park in Greenbank is the first public space in the state to receive soil tainted by asbestos, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has confirmed.
The park is currently under construction and the area is not accessible to the public with remediation in progress.
It comes after several entities were identified as having received soil that was potentially contaminated with asbestos from a stockpile at the NuGrow waste facility in Ipswich.
Five sites that received the soil potentially tainted with asbestos are awaiting results.
They include:
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Kangaroo Point, behind the new residential development on Thornton Street, C.T. White park;
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Kingston, Groves Christian college;
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Rosewood, Walloon State school;
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Logan Reserve, new residential development at Stockland Halcyon Rise; and
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Morningside, Downtown Toyota;
Asking older Australians with means to contribute to aged care ‘meets community expectations’, says St Vincent’s
St Vincent’s has also called on the federal government to implement the recommendations of the aged care taskforce report in full, saying it will set the aged care system up to be “sustainable” for the next generation.
The expert panel recommended that older Australians with more wealth should have to pay more for the cost of their aged care, potentially from their superannuation balances:
St Vincent’s is Australia’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care services provider, operating 26 residential care sites along with in-home support. CEO Lincoln Hopper said:
Asking older Australians with means to contribute to their accommodation and daily costs of life – while government remains the majority funder of their care – is fair and meets the community’s expectations.
Hopper said fixing pressure points in the sector – such as addressing the challenges of providing complex care and the knock-on effect it can have in hospitals if not done properly – is “crucial”.
As a purpose-driven organisation, we’re particularly focussed on the taskforce’s recommendations to ensure a strong aged care safety net. We think what this report is proposing will achieve that.
These recommendations also pave the way for greater choice in models of care for older Australians.
Coalition will soon reveal ‘potential host sites’ for six nuclear energy plants: Dutton
Peter Hannam
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has used his speech at the Australian Financial Review’s business summit in Sydney to step up his advocacy of nuclear energy.
Dutton said the Coalition would soon reveal the “potential host sites” for six nuclear energy plants. Those sites, though, won’t include Tasmania (which happens to be holding state elections later this month).
Much of the speech was an attack on the Albanese government’s “renewables wonderland”. The former police officer, who said he “comes from a business background”, called for a “mature conversation” about nuclear energy.
Dutton played up the technology as having the highest yield for the lowest amount of land. He said he would listen to communities but also offer incentives for them to give the social licence for nuclear plants. (Asked about the incentives, he didn’t elaborate.)
Had he attended the Summit yesterday, he would have heard Kerry Schott, former head of the Energy Security Board, saying nuclear “really does not make sense for Australia”, as the AFR noted in print today.
Dutton said nuclear energy would provide cheaper, consistent and “increasingly cleaner” power for Australia, recognising perhaps that going down this very long path would mean coal and gas remains in the power grid longer.
The hurdles, though, aren’t low, even if Lucas Heights has been operating a small nuclear reactor since 1966. As Hugh Durrant-Whyte, a professor and also NSW’s chief scientist told that state’s estimates last week: “Nobody in this country has even the faintest idea how to build a nuclear power plant.”
Dutton said he wants the “scientific facts” on the table, and for a debate with PM Albanese in the National Press Club. Perhaps having a few scientists on hand might be helpful to test the ideas fully.
Fire in Victoria’s Sunshine West not a threat to the community: VicEmergency
More than a dozen firetrucks responded to a fire in Victoria’s Sunshine West early this morning, which has reportedly damaged a number of shops.
VicEmergency said the fire at Glengala Road is not a threat to the community but involves “numerous shops”. It said people should remain informed and stay away from the area.
Smoke will be visible from nearby roads and communities, VicEmergency says.
Formerly missing 12-year-old now back with Sydney family after being released from hospital
New South Wales police say 12-year-old Hussein Al Mansoory, who was found safe and well after being missing for more than 48 hours, has been released from hospital and is back at home with his family.
Superintendent Simon Glasser told Sunrise it was “fantastic” to be able to tell the boy’s family he had been found safe:
We had one of our sergeants drive straight to their house, pick them up and bring them to the scene where they were able to meet up with him … they are ecstatic …
He was released from hospital early last night and [is] back at home with family.
While police are still confirming all the details as to how he ended up in a stairwell at a medical centre, police believe the boy simply walked into the stairwell and “wasn’t aware that the door was unlocked behind him, and he must have believed he was trapped inside”.
50 treated and 13 hospitalised after ‘strong movement’ during Sydney to Auckland flight
Fifty people have been treated by ambulance crews and 13 people are in hospital after a flight from Sydney to Auckland experienced a “strong movement” mid-flight yesterday, that reportedly saw passengers suddenly thrown about the plane.
ABC News Breakfast has spoken to a passenger who was on board the flight, Brian Jokat, who said there was “no notification” of any rough movement ahead:
It was just instantaneous … People took flight inside the plane and if you were in the alleyways, you went forward and backward [and] if you were in your seat, you went straight up to the ceiling and bounced off the roof.
I just happened to be one of the lucky ones who was strapped in for that incident … I opened my eyes and the gentleman sitting next to me was on the roof of the plane. I thought ‘this is really strange’ and then, when he hit the turf a split second later and I just [thought] this is real, actually. And then mass chaos broke out on the plane.
Jokat said more than 50 people were injured and the roof of the plane was “broken in several places where people had went through the ceiling”. He said the experience was “really scary” and that he though the plane was going to go down – “you felt yourself almost at the top of a rollercoaster rise heading over the apex and heading down”.
Medics were on board “instantly” once they had landed, Jokat said, and passengers were clapping and joyous. Jokat briefly spoke to the pilot who reportedly said they had lost control of the plane after the gauges went blank for a second, but then “miraculously” turned back on and the plane righted itself.
Victorian police investigating fatal shooting this morning
Victorian detectives are investigating a fatal shooting in Greenvale this morning.
Police said in a statement a man was located outside a Buchanan Place home just after 4.30am today. Paramedics tried to revive the man, who is yet to be formally identified, but he died at the scene.
A crime scene has been established and police said the exact circumstances surround the death are yet to be determined.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information was urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Catholic Health Australia backs calls for wealthier Australians to contribute more to aged care
Catholic Health Australia has called on the government to swiftly implement the recommendations of the aged care taskforce, announced today.
Catholic Health Australia’s CEO, Jason Kara, said reforms are urgently needed, with most aged care providers running at a loss.
As our population ages and more people seek aged care, services will need additional funding to upgrade existing facilities and invest in new places.
The fairest way to deliver extra funding is to ask people who can afford it to contribute more for their accommodation and living expenses, costs they have covered over their adult lives.
Right now user contributions do not meet the cost of provision and research has shown people are willing to pay more for their aged care services.
A more sustainable funding model for the sector means services will be able to upgrade existing facilities and invest in new residential places, Catholic Health Australia says.
Using super for house deposits increases property prices by $75k: Super Members Council
Allowing first homeowners to withdraw their super for a house deposit could see property prices rise by nearly $75,000 across Australia’s five largest capital cities, according to new modelling from the Super Members Council (SMC).
Using retirement savings for housing would inflame an already-inflated property market and push the major capital city median price up by 9%, it says.
The SMC modelled a scheme that would allow first home buyers to take $50,000 from their super for a deposit, as has been proposed. It found the scheme fuelled demand and led to price increases that “quickly exceeded the $50,000 first homeowners could withdraw from super”.
The model showed prices spiking in all capital cities, with Sydney’s median ballooning by almost $80,000 and Melbourne by nearly $70,000. Perth was the highest, spiking $86,000.
The SMC’s CEO, Misha Schubert, said allowing super withdrawals for house deposits could raise prices for everyone:
We all desperately want more Australians to own their own home, but this idea won’t achieve that – it would just make that goal even harder for first home buyers by making house prices even more expensive.
SMC analysis found a 30-year-old couple who withdraws $35,000 each from their super today could retire with $195,000 less in today’s dollars – which would increase age pension costs, and likely be met with higher taxes.
First stage of the national climate risk assessment announced
Lisa Cox
The effects of climate change on water security, the natural environment, human health, infrastructure and national security are among 11 areas of Australian society the Albanese government will focus on as it develops a national adaptation plan for climate change.
The government has released the first stage of a national climate risk assessment, which identities 56 significant risks Australia is facing as a result of climate change.
From those 56 risks, the government has chosen 11 for more detailed analysis that will inform work on a national adaptation plan to help people, the economy and ecosystems respond to the effects of climate change.
The 11 risks cover the natural environment; primary industries and food; regional and remote communities; health and social support; infrastructure; defence and national security; communities and settlement; water security; supply chains; economy, trade and finance; and governance.
The assistant minister for climate change and energy, Jenny McAllister, said the adaptation plan would establish a “comprehensive framework” for adapting to nationally significant, physical climate risks:
Australians know that the climate has changed. They feel it on hotter days and experience it in extreme weather events which occur more frequently. This work will help us better prepare for the small and big challenges that climate change brings.
This national climate risk assessment is long overdue. It provides an evidence-based national picture of the emerging risks climate change poses to Australia’s community, assets and services.
The second stage of the national climate risk assessment – based on further analysis of the 11 risks – is due at the end of this year. The adaptation plan itself is due in 2025.
A discussion paper on the adaptation plan can be found here and the government is taking submissions for the next month.
PM says government ‘getting advice’ on restoring funding to UNRWA
Finishing up the interview, Albanese was asked whether Australia will be restoring funding to UNRWA.
This comes as former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans said the $6m in emergency funding should be released immediately, as Canada and Sweden have done:
Albanese said the government is “getting advice on that issue”, and added:
We doubled funding for UNRWA, we’re looking at a range of ways in which we can provide further support for Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering terribly.
We have called for a sustainable ceasefire, because what we know is that we see the pictures every night, there’s a catastrophic suffering occurring there, and we have consistently called for humanitarian aid, we’ve called for that to be able to be delivered to the people in Gaza.
We’ve called for a sustainable ceasefire, we’ve called for Hamas to release the hostages. And we have mourned the loss of all innocent life, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian, and we’ve also called for importantly, the political solution that is required, which is a two state solution, which I’ve called for, together with the prime ministers of Canada and New Zealand.
PM says Labor not proposing any taxes or levys on aged care
Turning to aged care, and the prime minister was asked about a new report released today:
Can the government now rule out a levy to fund aged care? Albanese replied that the report has been released and “we’re certainly not proposing a new tax or levy”, and that the taskforce did not recommend this:
But we want to sit down across the parliament and get agreement going forward because this is a problem. Not for a year, or indeed for a term of government. This is a problem that arises from the ageing of the population that’s been identified for a long period of time …
The aged care sector isn’t currently in a financial position to meet the expected demand which is there to deliver on quality improvements that we need and to invest in the future that aged care needs, and we expect our older Australians to be able to live in dignity and with respect that they deserve.
Albanese refuted the idea this proposal “punishes” wealthy Australians, and said this is about making the system “sustainable into the future”.
Albanese: federal government has not given up on treaty
Q: Has the government given up on a federal treaty with Indigenous Australians?
Anthony Albanese:
Well, treaties are being negotiated by states and territories, so we haven’t changed the position that we said before is the same, those processes are underway there.
There isn’t a single Indigenous community, of course, in Australia, it’s made up of a range of First Nations and those negotiations in places like Victoria [are] probably more advanced.
Each state and territory … is progressing, moves in their own way, whether it be Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, of course, has their voice in on a state level.
PM confirms NT housing boost based on three-bedroom homes, ‘up to 270 a year’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been speaking on ABC radio this morning, discussing the $4bn Indigenous housing boost announced for the Northern Territory.
Josh Butler brought us all the details around this earlier here.
Albanese said Indigenous housing was a priority for the government because “housing is the key to other opportunities in life”.
If you don’t have a secure home over your head, if you have overcrowding, then you will have not just housing problems, you’ll have health problems. You’ll have problems with justice issues inevitably that come from the tension that come from overcrowded homes and communities.
And you’ll have difficulty getting education – it’s hard to see yourself having a greater opportunity in life if you don’t have that security of a roof over your head … that enables you to actually go about the other things that that we need to close the gap on.
Asked if $4bn is enough to close the gap on Indigenous housing, Albanese responded it is a “major step forward”.
Q: You say “up to 270 homes a year”, could it be less?
Albanese:
Well, we think that the costings that we’ve made … is spot on the funding that is available. But of course, it won’t be one-size-fits-all. There’ll be some homes that are just for smaller families, but homes by and large, it’s based upon three-bedroom homes because we know that families in these remote communities tend to have numbers of children.
Search engines to block ‘deepfakes’ from results
Josh Butler
The eSafety Commission will from today require search engines to stamp out sexual abuse material on their platforms and bar their AI-generation tools from making such content.
As we reported last year, Australia’s online regulator will begin enforcing a new “search code” on platforms like Google and Bing, obligating them to address harmful material on their services.
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, said the rapid rise of AI generation services – including those from Google and Microsoft – had rendered a previous version of the search code “obsolete”.
The new rules will require search engines to prevent child sexual abuse material being shown in search results, and block their AI tools from creating “deep fake” versions of that content.
eSafety is working on other industry standards around private messaging services and other apps that don’t fall within existing codes. Those new standards will also focus on the risks of AI-generated content.
Major boost to Indigenous housing announced for Northern Territory
Josh Butler
The federal and Northern Territory governments have pledged to build 2,700 homes in remote areas, under a new $4bn housing agreement to be announced in Katherine today.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will announce the plan in the NT, a 10-year commitment in a bid to close gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians with the goal of halving overcrowding in the territory – a problem plaguing housing in remote Australia.
The $4bn plan is split between the two governments, with some money repurposed from other plans, and a new $844m commitment from Canberra.
The homes will be built across remote areas of the territory, with the location increasing costs for construction. Government modelling shows the cost of building an average three-bedroom in such areas would top $800,000.
The funding also includes money for repairs and maintenance, with plans for it to create local jobs and support Indigenous businesses. Albanese said:
We are committed to practical actions that improve the lives of First Nations people.
This landmark agreement between the commonwealth, Northern Territory government and Aboriginal Housing NT delivers a significant investment in remote housing in the NT over the next decade.
The Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, called it “an historic investment that will make a difference to the lives of so many Aboriginal people living in remote communities”:
Increasing housing supply will ease overcrowding, which we know is a major barrier to closing the gap.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and happy Tuesday – welcome back to another day on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be bringing you our live coverage today.
Making news this morning: the federal and NT governments have pledged to build 2,700 homes in remote areas as part of a $4bn housing agreement to be announced in Katherine today by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. The plan is split between the two governments, with some money repurposed from other plans and a new $844m commitment from Canberra.
From today, the eSafety Commission will require search engines to stamp out sexual abuse material from their platforms and bar their AI generation tools from making such content. We’ll have more on both these stories from our own Josh Butler shortly.
Moving to another announcement, and the government has released the first stage of a national climate risk assessment, identifying 56 risks the country is facing as a result of climate change. The government has selected 11 risks for more detailed analysis that will inform work on a national adaptation plan to help people, the economy and ecosystems respond. Lisa Cox will have more on this soon.
See something that needs attention on the blog? You can get in touch via X, @emilywindwrites, or send me an email: [email protected].
Let’s get started.
