Light plane crash in central Victoria
Emergency services are responding to a light plane crash in Redesdale, central Victoria.
Five vehicles, including at least two CFA units and police, are attending the crash.
We’ll have more details on this soon.
Key events
Farming fuels NSW land clearing crisis: new government data
Land clearing that is driving NSW’s nature crisis is charging ahead with agriculture largely to blame, new government data shows.
An area more than 160 times the size of Sydney’s CBD was cleared in 2022, according to the latest study that tracks tree and land cover losses across the state, AAP reports.
The 45,000 hectares destroyed that year push the five-year tally above 420,000 hectares – more than one and half times the size of the ACT.
The NSW government released the data amid Australia’s ongoing fight against new European Union rules that will ban imports of Australian beef linked to deforestation.
Agriculture remains the primary driver of land clearing in the state, with significant volumes also lost to infrastructure and the logging of native forests.
While there’s been a downward trend in recent years, conservation groups say land clearing rates remain unsustainable.
WWF warns there’s no way Australia will keep its global commitment to end deforestation by 2030 if the worst offending states don’t lift their game.
Dr Stuart Blanch, the conservation group’s forest policy manager, said:
We are not on track to get there. And if NSW holds out, or Queensland, we can’t. This has implications for our national commitments.
Josh Taylor
The tech critic organisation Reset.Tech Australia has said the government’s revised misinformation and disinformation bill introduced into parliament this week lets tech companies off easy and stymies public accountability.
The legislation gives the Australian Communications and Media Authority powers to monitor and regulate how platforms are responding to misinformation and disinformation on their platforms. It included enforceable industry codes of conduct and also provides for standards to be introduced in the event that this form of self-regulation fails.
Reset.Tech has argued this self-governance method had already failed under voluntary codes and said the transparency reports required to be produced under the proposal are “worryingly poor” and the review process and public complaints process are defective.
On the other end of the scale, the Coalition has already indicated reluctance to support the legislation, after previously campaigning against the draft bill last year over alleged free speech concerns. X’s owner, Elon Musk, responded to the bill today labelling the government as “fascists”.
Sydney’s The Star casino has been issued with a show cause notice by the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC).
The NICC is seeking a response from Star as to why it should not take disciplinary action in respect of breaches substantiated in the second report from the Adam Bell-led inquiry into its operations, published last month.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, NICC said the notice relates to four significant breaches detailed in that report:
…including one that resulted in a cash fraud against The Star, a failure to run source of wealth checks on hundreds of members flagged as high risk, and fraudulent guest welfare entries that put already vulnerable customers at higher risk of harm.
The NICC has also issued correspondence to The Star in relation to its management, operation and culture, the adequacy and implementation of its remediation plan, and The Star’s overall suitability to hold a casino licence.
The casino has 14 days to respond before the NICC determines what action to take. Disciplinary measures open to it include cancellation of the casino licence and a pecuniary penalty of up to $100m.
Catie McLeod
More than 120 people running in the New South Wales local government elections have been identified by researchers as possible “fringe” candidates, including conspiracy theorists and people backed by a high-profile anti-lockdown campaigner.
These candidates make up about 3% of the 3,816 people vying for 1,230 council positions across NSW, according to new research. Some could be elected given a NSW Liberals bungle meant the major party failed to nominate more than 100 candidates.
Sixteen councils including Camden, Blue Mountains, Georges River, Penrith and Canterbury-Bankstown either have no Liberal candidates or fewer than they were meant to.
Australian National University politics lecturer Associate Prof Mark Chou said political parties were beginning to view local government as more of a “strategic front” – including those opposed to mainstream ideas or linked to specific ideological positions.
Chou, who has been reviewing the NSW candidates with researchers Benjamin Moffitt, Rachel Busbridge and Luke Dean, described the Libertarian party – formerly known as the Liberal Democrats – as the “most significant fringe group”.
Read the full story here:
Natasha May
Two people in NSW have died of heroin overdoses after using substances they thought to be cocaine, while another two people have been hospitalised.
NSW Health is warning people of the danger of using drugs thought to be cocaine due to the potential for unknown substances including opioids to be present.
NSW Health Chief Addiction Medicine Specialist, Dr Hester Wilson said:
A heroin overdose could quickly result from a single line. It is important that people recognise the signs of an opioid overdose early and know how to respond.
Opioids such as heroin can cause pin-point pupils, drowsiness, loss of consciousness, slowed breathing/snoring and skin turning blue/grey and can be life- threatening.
One of the dangers of illicit drug supply is the strength and contents of the substance you are getting is unknown and can be inconsistent.
Heroin and other opioids can be sold as or found in cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy). You cannot always tell the difference between these drugs by appearance.
In light of this detection, people who use drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA or opioids should carry naloxone.
NSW Health encourage anyone witnessing someone else experiencing any unexpected symptoms after using drugs to call 000.
Naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of opioids, should be given immediately if available too, the department urged. It does not require a prescription and is free for anyone at risk of opioid overdose in NSW.
Grahame McCulloch, the man appointed to steer the CFMEU’s Victorian branch after the union was plunged into administration, has quit just weeks after taking the role, a spokesperson for administrator Mark Irving confirmed to AAP.
No reason for the surprise departure or further detail has been given.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus placed the CFMEU’s construction and general division – including state and territory branches – into administration on 23 August following public allegations of intimidation, bribery and underworld infiltration at the union.
Irving was appointed as administrator and the roles of more than 200 elected CFMEU officers were terminated.
McCulloch had been appointed to helm the union’s Victorian branch, a role previously held by John Setka, who resigned following the allegations against the union.
Several trade unions have announced plans to fight the decision to place the CFMEU into administration in the High Court.
Paul Karp
Guardian Australia understands that Labor’s national executive has selected climate crisis and water policy expert Alice Jordan-Baird to contest the Labor-held seat of Gorton.
Jordan-Baird, who was backed by deputy prime minister Richard Marles, defeated Brimbank mayor, Ranka Rasic, who was backed by the Australian Workers Union.
United Workers Union national political coordinator, Jo Briskey, will contest the seat of Maribyrnong for Labor.
Both seats, vacated by Brendan O’Connor and Bill Shorten, are safe for Labor, so barring a major upset the Labor candidates will become MPs in the 48th parliament.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has confirmed reports that the mother of two boys found dead in the Blue Mountains had been sacked from a government department for reasons related to her mental health, AAP reports.
The bodies of two boys – Russell, aged 11, and Ben Smith, aged 9 – were found at their Faulconbridge family home on Tuesday.
Police are waiting to question their 42-year-old mother after she was taken from the scene to hospital with minor injuries.
No charges have been laid over the deaths of the boys.
Minns said on Friday:
The information I’ve been given so far is …the employee was let go from a NSW government agency …
It was challenged in the Industrial Relations Commission, the original decision of the government department was upheld, and I believe it was handled appropriately.
The premier said government departments would cooperate with any of the “major inquiries” into the boys’ deaths:
Both from the homicide squad and the NSW Police as well as potentially the Coroner’s Court as well.
If new information comes to light, of course government agencies and the NSW government will supply that to any independent investigation that takes place, this is a very serious alleged crime.
The father of the boys has asked for privacy.
Light plane crash in central Victoria
Emergency services are responding to a light plane crash in Redesdale, central Victoria.
Five vehicles, including at least two CFA units and police, are attending the crash.
We’ll have more details on this soon.
There has been a bit of talk today about the new draft legislation to crack down on scammers. My colleague Cait Kelly has looked a bit more closely at the proposal and broken down what it involves for you here:
