Ita Buttrose says Nine strike on eve of Olympics ‘unwise’
Ita Buttrose also weighed in on the ongoing Nine Network strike for pay, which began last week, and said: “I think the print journalists at Nine have made an unwise decision.” Buttrose told ABC RN:
This is a major investment for the Nine Network for the Olympics. You’ve got not just the advertisers – which Mike Sneesby is doing over there in Paris, it’s part of a game – and you know, these are important times for anyone in the media …
If, as a company, you’ve made a major investment in something like the Olympics, you expect everyone to toe the line, quite frankly.
Key events
Guardian Australia nominated for two Kennedy awards
Guardian Australia has been nominated for two prizes at this year’s Kennedy awards.
Lorena Allam, Sarah Collard and Blake Sharp-Wiggins have been nominated in the Indigenous affairs reporting category for their exclusive on the secret burials discovered on the grounds of the Kinchela Boys’ Home:
Meanwhile, Allam and Christopher Knaus have been nominated in the outstanding consumer affairs category for their investigation into Centrepay, revealing how it was exposing scores of welfare recipients to financial harm:
The Kennedy awards received a record 1,014 entries this year, up from last year’s record of 720. The winners will be announced on 16 August.
Daniel Hurst
World’s rules being ‘twisted or broken’, Penny Wong says after Quad meetings
The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, is speaking alongside her Quad counterparts in Tokyo. She said:
We live in a time where our world and our region is being reshaped. Conflict is risking lives and is costing lives. Extreme weather threatens food and water security, and longstanding rules are being bent and twisted or broken. Countries face coercive trade measures, unsustainable lending, political interference and disinformation. All of these encroach on the ability of every country to exercise its own agency, to contribute to regional balance and, most importantly, to determine its own destiny.
Wong doesn’t name China, but it is clearly front of mind in some of those concerns in her list.
Searchers find body of man who fell into Brisbane River
The body of a man who fell into the Brisbane River has been located following a search over two days, AAP reports.
Emergency services rushed to the end of Boundary Street at the river, in the city’s south, about 4.40pm yesterday after being told a man fell in.
Witnesses told police the man was struggling in the water before they lost sight of him.
Police and State Emergency Service volunteers searched the river and banks but failed to find the man, calling off the search about 9.30pm.
The search resumed at first light on Monday with the man’s body found several hours into the morning. Police said a report would be prepared for the coroner.
The Bureau of Meteorology has published its weekly weather update, looking at the cold weather across the country:
Weekly Weather Update: Settled and cold in the east, a cold front approaches the west.
For the latest forecasts and warnings go to our website https://t.co/4W35o8iFmh or the BOM Weather app.
Video current: 12pm AEST Monday 29 July 2024 pic.twitter.com/MQB6z6SJPO
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) July 29, 2024
Chris Bowen calls for Barnaby Joyce to resign after bullet comment
The energy and climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has also called for Barnaby Joyce’s resignation over the comments he made comparing voting to using a bullet while speaking about Labor.
In a post to X, Bowen said:
Language is important. Robust political debate need not include violent and inflammatory imagery and language.
The fact that Mr Joyce thought that such language could be acceptable in any circumstances reflects on his judgment and his character. In an era of violence and tension, it is incumbent on all political leaders to keep their language within civil and non-violent norms.
I haven’t heard from Mr Joyce. In any event, his resignation would be the appropriate course of action.
Renewable energy body ‘horrified’ by Barnaby Joyce bullet comment
The Smart Energy Council says it is “horrified that the National party’s hatred of renewable energy has morphed into violent language”.
In a statement responding to comments made by Barnaby Joyce at an anti-wind turbine rally at the weekend, the council’s chief executive, John Grimes, said:
There’s no doubt that the Coalition has been weaponising anti-renewable sentiment, but we didn’t think they would go this far.
Renewable energy workers are heroes, they should never be threatened with violent language, and nor should our political leaders or any other members of the community.
Mr Joyce knows full well the political climate he’s operating in, one where disinformation is literally being used to justify assassination attempts.
The Nationals have long been the party for fossil fuel interests, I would bet even their coal and gas donors would be second-guessing their investment here.
Anthony Albanese has called for Joyce to be sacked, while Joyce has apologised for “using that metaphor”.
Wilkie urges Labor to implement gambling reforms after new report
Early this morning, Amy Remeikis reported on new research from the Australian National University showing that an increasing number of Australians are gambling online and entering “risky” territory.
As AAP reports, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has said the report came as no surprise:
The accessibility of phones has made it easier for people to gamble from their own lounge room and the proliferation of gambling advertising is enticing people to keep coming back for more. Meanwhile, the federal government has been sitting on their hands while many people suffer from gambling harm.
Wilkie urged the federal government to implement all recommendations from a standing committee report on gambling harm in Australia.
It’s unconscionable that it’s been more than a year since the report was released and the government is yet to implement the recommendations, including a ban on gambling advertising.
Earlier this month, Anthony Albanese said the government was still working through the report’s 31 recommendations.
East coast cold snap unlikely to be the last this winter, BoM says
As we flagged earlier, parts of Queensland awoke to a very chilly morning today – as well as much of eastern Australia.
As Daisy Dumas reports, the Bureau of Meteorology says a cold front has combined with clear and settled conditions to create the frosty weather and record-breaking lows being felt across the east coast.
From Tasmania to Queensland, minimum temperatures of about 5C below seasonal averages are being observed – and this blast is unlikely to be the last of the winter’s cold snaps.
You can read the full story below:
Half of under-40s expect to help parents in retirement – AMP survey
Half of young Australians believe they will need to support their parents in retirement, a survey by AMP has found.
As AAP reports, young people are reluctant to bring up the topic of intergenerational wealth, with three in five failing to broach the subject with their parents and even fewer explicitly asking for financial help.
At the same time, the survey of 2,000 people found half of young Australians believed they would need to support their parents in retirement. AMP director of retirement Ben Hillier said the findings revealed an interesting dynamic within families:
While many Australians under 40 are concerned about housing unaffordability and its impact on their long-term wealth and retirement, they are reluctant to ask for financial support from their parents, with many actually believing they will need to financially support their parents as they age.
In what is often called the “great wealth transfer”, baby boomers are in the process of handing down an estimated $3.5tr in gifts and inheritance to their children by 2050.
Earlier surveying by AMP suggests Australians over 65 broadly believed their children were facing equal or tougher financial conditions than they did at the same age but were simultaneously worried about their own financial security.
The survey found 40% of under-40s believed home ownership was a main contributor to wealth in retirement.
Daniel Hurst
More from Penny Wong’s address to the Quad meeting in Tokyo
Many countries in the Indo-Pacific region have previously said they want to avoid being drawn into an intensifying geostrategic contest between the US and China.
In an apparent nod to those concerns, Penny Wong told the Quad meeting in Tokyo:
We have listened, and we heard what our region wants: A region that is peaceful and that is predictable, that is governed by accepted rules and norms, where all of us can cooperate, trade and thrive.
A region where sovereignty is respected and competition is managed responsibly. Where size or power do not determine a country’s fate. Where no country dominates, and no country is dominated. Where we all share in our aspirations – and have choices available to realise those aspirations.
Wong insisted that the Quad was delivering for the region, including in Papua New Guinea, “where our coordinated efforts are helping the people of Enga as they recovered from a catastrophic landslide”.
She added that “peaceful countries” should “work together”.
Wong and her counterparts are expected to face the media in Tokyo in about an hour.
Daniel Hurst
Peace in Indo-Pacific ‘not a given’, Wong tells Quad members at Tokyo summit
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says peace in the Indo-Pacific is “not a given” and countries must “work together to preserve and strengthen it”.
Wong made the comments at the opening of a summit in Tokyo with her ministerial counterparts from the US, India and Japan. The countries are members of the Quad, an informal grouping that is viewed warily by Beijing, which regards it as an anti-China initiative.
Wong said Australia’s “belief in the strategic necessity of the Quad has only strengthened” over the past couple of years, because “our region and our world are being reshaped”. She told her fellow foreign ministers:
We all understand we face the most confronting circumstances in our region in decades.
Our work through the Quad reflects our collective determination to work more closely than ever with each other and with key partners to shape this period of change together – to shape the sort of region we want to live in.
