Queensland government accepts recommendation for caps on K’gari tourism
Andrew Messenger
The number of tourists on K’gari national park could soon be capped on the busiest days of the year, amid a wave of dingo attacks.
The Queensland government endorsed “in principle” a recommendation from a 2022 study that it regulate the number of vehicles that can book the boat to the island on the 20 busiest days of the year.
The idea “is undergoing practical evaluation and consideration”, the government said. It would be included in the development of a new camping booking system.
But the department of the environment rejected recommendations to introduce fishing licences to better understand the number of fishers and a levy on visitors to commercial and private premises. It said it has implemented a crackdown on permit holders to make sure they’re following the rules. It has also hired 24 additional park rangers.
The environment minister, Leanne Linard, said campers spent more than 337,000 nights on K’gari in 2023, a number that is increasing:
The study will help the Queensland parks and wildlife service develop a new draft management plan for K’gari to help balance visitor experience and protect the area’s natural and cultural values.
Previously known as Fraser Island, the huge sand island has the world’s best preserved dingo colonies. Several of the animals have been killed in recent months, after high-profile attacks on visitors. Rangers and the Butchulla people, who hold native title over the island, blame the sheer number of tourists on the island, and their bad behaviour, for the issue.
Key events
Greens senator ‘disappointed’ government has ruled out greater divestment powers for supermarkets
In case you missed it: the final report of the supermarket Senate inquiry was handed down yesterday, recommending that major supermarkets should be forcibly broken up if they engage in anti-competitive behaviour.
You can read the full details, and all the recommendations, below from Jonathan Barrett and Amy Remeikis:
The chair of the committee, Greens senator Nick McKim, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning and responded to news that the government has ruled out greater divestment powers. He said:
I’m disappointed because ultimately, the Greens established this inquiry because we wanted to put downward pressure on food and grocery prices because we understand how millions of Australians are really struggling to make things meet. Divestiture powers would accomplish that. And ultimately, the prime minister and Labor have now taken the sides of the corporate supermarket giants and their billion-dollar-plus annual profits, and in doing so, they’ve failed to take the side of millions of Australian shoppers who are really struggling to make ends meet.
McKim said a core recommendation in the report was to make price gouging unlawful, and if the recommendations are taken up as a whole, he has “no doubt that they will bring food and grocery prices down in Australia”.
Benita Kolovos
Allan responds to criticism Catholic schools missed out on $400 vouchers in budget
A key sweetener of the Victorian budget was $400 vouchers for students in government schools, but it has led to criticism given the program is not means tested – and Catholic and other faith schools miss out.
Asked if wealthy parents should give money back to their school, Jacinta Allan said she will be:
That’s ultimately a decision for every individual family. If I can give my own experience, I’m proud to send my kids to a great local government primary school and I’ll have a chat to the principal and say, our allocation can be be provided directly to the school because there’s a bunch of programs [that] our school provides. I’m sure that funding will be welcomed.
Benita Kolovos
Circling back to Victorian premier Jacinta Allan’s press conference
On the decision to delay the expansion of the free kinder program – a key election promise – Jacinta Allan said workforce shortages are to blame.
She has been taking questions on yesterday’s state budget, and said:
We know that there’s workforce shortages and pricing pressures on businesses and workforces around the globe, and we have to recognise that we can’t stubbornly push on and wish it was different.
We had to make a decision. We’re continuing our massive expansion of four-year-old kinder – it’s already happening in regional Victoria [and] is already happening in many parts of metropolitan Melbourne. We’ve just had to take a more gradual rollout as we achieve a full 30 hours of four-year-old kinder in the years ahead because we need to be able to train and scale up the workforce, which is why we’re spending more than $350m on early childhood workforce initiatives.
Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins to return to mediation this month
Amanda Meade
Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins will return to mediation on 21 May, according to a listing in Western Australia’s supreme court.
No details about whether the hearing is in person or online were available but a strategic conference is set down for Friday 24 May.
Reynolds, the former defence minister, is suing Higgins and her fiance, David Sharaz, over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation.
Higgins’s application to vacate the trial listed for six weeks in late July was turned down.
Last week Sharaz threw in the towel in his defamation battle against Reynolds, tweeting he would no longer fight the case.
Benita Kolovos
Will Victorians ever see the Melbourne airport train line built?
In yesterday’s Victorian budget the government said the project was at least four years delayed, due to an ongoing dispute with the airport’s operators.
Taking questions from reporters this morning, the premier, Jacinta Allan, said:
We’ve been really clear that we want to deliver these projects in the most efficient way in terms of time and value for money. I think that’s fair enough. The airport’s not putting a cent towards this project, not one single cent and [are making] demands on the state and federal governments that have been quite unreasonable.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier spruiks breakfast program included in state budget
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is at a primary school in Melbourne’s inner north spruiking the government’s breakfast program, funded in yesterday’s state budget.
She says $21.1m will help expand the program – which provides healthy breakfast for students as well as lunches, snacks and take-home food packs for students experiencing disadvantage – to every government school by 2025.
Allan says it’s a budget measure focused on “supporting families”:
It’s a recognition that families across the state right now are doing it tough. The cost-of-living pressures are real and it’s adding to the cost of everything, and we know that if we can provide practical support, primarily based in a school setting, we can make a real difference to students and their ability to learn and make the most of their time at school and a real difference to support parents and families as well.
But we’re expecting most questions today to be focused on several election commitments that have either been scrapped or delayed in the budget.
‘Pretty sad day’ when local government bans books, says NSW minister
The NSW health minister has said it’s a “pretty sad day” when local governments are concerned about banning books rather than concentrating on core issues such as roads and rates.
Ryan Park was on ABC Sydney this morning, responding to news that Cumberland city council had voted to place a blanket ban on same-sex parenting books at local libraries. You can read the full story on this below:
Speaking on the radio earlier today, Park said:
I think it’s a pretty sad day when local government is worried about banning books. I think the community and ratepayers out there would want them to concentrate on roads, rates and rubbish and making sure their local parks are clean, tidy and well kept.
That’s what I expect of my local council. From my years of dealing with the local council, I think those who focus on those sort of core issues tend to be doing well by the community.
Queensland government accepts recommendation for caps on K’gari tourism
Andrew Messenger
The number of tourists on K’gari national park could soon be capped on the busiest days of the year, amid a wave of dingo attacks.
The Queensland government endorsed “in principle” a recommendation from a 2022 study that it regulate the number of vehicles that can book the boat to the island on the 20 busiest days of the year.
The idea “is undergoing practical evaluation and consideration”, the government said. It would be included in the development of a new camping booking system.
But the department of the environment rejected recommendations to introduce fishing licences to better understand the number of fishers and a levy on visitors to commercial and private premises. It said it has implemented a crackdown on permit holders to make sure they’re following the rules. It has also hired 24 additional park rangers.
The environment minister, Leanne Linard, said campers spent more than 337,000 nights on K’gari in 2023, a number that is increasing:
The study will help the Queensland parks and wildlife service develop a new draft management plan for K’gari to help balance visitor experience and protect the area’s natural and cultural values.
Previously known as Fraser Island, the huge sand island has the world’s best preserved dingo colonies. Several of the animals have been killed in recent months, after high-profile attacks on visitors. Rangers and the Butchulla people, who hold native title over the island, blame the sheer number of tourists on the island, and their bad behaviour, for the issue.
Retail union backs proposal for compressed work week for Woolworths employees
Woolworths employees are one step closer to flexible working arrangements with the retail union backing a new proposal.
As reported in The Australian, delegates from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) have backed a proposal for a compressed work week as part of the new Woolworths enterprise agreement.
The enterprise agreement is one of the biggest in the country, covering about 130,000 workers.
Under the proposal – which remains subject to a vote of employees in coming weeks – workers would be able to complete their 38-hour, five-day working week over four days, by working four 9.5-hour shifts.
The SDA NSW secretary, Bernie Smith, is reported as saying workers would need to complete up to four weekend shifts over a four-week period as part of the arrangement:
That could be one weekend shift per week ie a Saturday or a Sunday, or it could be two weekends working Saturday and Sunday, and two weekends off. This is a common retail roster.
Support for a four-day work week has grown rapidly over the past few years. For more on this, you can read this fantastic piece from Celina Ribeiro:
More details on Australia’s sanctions on alleged Russian leader of ransomware group
As we flagged earlier, Australia has imposed a targeted financial sanction and travel ban on the Russian citizen Dmitry Khoroshev for his alleged senior leadership role in the LockBit ransomware group. You can read all the details on this below:
The Australian federal police published more details on the matter this morning. In a statement it acknowledged this is the second use of Australia’s thematic autonomous cyber sanctions framework, after sanctioning Russian man Alexander Ermakov in October for his role in the cyber-attack on Medibank.
The AFP is working with state and territory police to work through the 119 reports of crime involving Australian businesses and individuals who were targeted by LockBit.
In many cases, Australian victims had their data exfiltrated, encrypted, or both, severely impacting business and individuals.
The AFP is working closely with Australian LockBit victims and is assisting overseas law enforcement to help continue building a global case against the ransomware group.
The AFP acting assistant commissioner Chris Goldsmid said by taking away Khoroshev’s anonymity, it has “severely undermined [his] credibility with cybercriminals and also signals any dealings they have with him could be subject to law enforcement action”.
In Australia, we have a range of evidence and information to work through, including IP addresses, tools and software deployed on Australian-owned systems, plus the infrastructure and communication used by cybercriminals.
Palaszczuk appointed international ambassador for Smart Energy Council
The former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will become an international ambassador for the Smart Energy Council, the Courier Mail is reporting.
The official announcement will reportedly be made today, with Palaszczuk’s first project to be leading the council’s delegation to China on 10 June.
Palaszczuk announced her retirement from politics last December, stating she had “given my all” and “now is the time for me to leave”. She had served in the Queensland parliament for 18 years.
The Smart Energy Council is the independent body for Australian’s smart energy industry, focused on the transition to net zero carbon emissions.
The Courier Mail reports that Palaszczuk is not expected to have any formal engagement with the Queensland government in her role.
