Australia news live: police lock down Gold Coast beach after ‘suspicious device’ washes ashore; ex-Liberal MP to face trial on child sexual abuse charges
Lockdown after ‘suspicious device’ washes up on Queensland beach
AAP has more details about the “suspicious device” that washed up on a Gold Coast beach this morning, as we flagged earlier:
Police are on the scene at Main Beach after the object was spotted by a dog walker and surf lifesavers about 5.45am.
An exclusion zone of 100 metres has been established around the device while authorities examine it, and police have asked members of the public to avoid the area.
The Australian defence force has reportedly been notified, with media outlets saying it appears to be a military device, possibly a torpedo.
Images posted on social media by locals indicate the object is rusty and been submerged for some time.
Key events
First national ecosystem accounts released by the ABS
Petra Stock
Australian ecosystems stored more than 34.5m kilotonnes of carbon in 2020-21, a service valued at $43.2bn, according to the first national ecosystem accounts released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The experimental accounts – which quantify and value the country’s environmental assets – estimated that in 2020–21, climate regulation through carbon storage was the most valuable service provided by Australian ecosystems, a value that doubled in five years thanks to a higher carbon price and inflation.
Perhaps surprisingly the ABS found grasslands stored more carbon (14.4m kilotonnes of carbon) than forests (14m kilotonnes of carbon). Together these two ecosystems comprised the vast majority (80%) of Australia’s carbon storage.
Jonathon Khoo, ABS’ head of environment statistics, said grasslands contributed $18.1bn in carbon storage, followed by native forests at $17.8bn, and savannas at $7.1bn.
The accounts – which covered land, ocean and freshwater systems – found more water was used for hydroelectricity (48.3m megalitres) than for drinking (1.5m megalitres), although high rainfall in 2020-21 meant the monetary value of freshwater for drinking fell by more than a third from $307 to $198m.
In the five years between 2015 and 2020, 126 new species were added to the list of threatened species under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (with many more added since) and found average populations of threatened species, across all groups, had declined across the country.
The new experimental estimates also revealed the importance of natural landscapes like mangroves and saltmarsh, in protecting coastal properties against tidal and storm surges, a service the ABS valued at $65m.
Caitlin Cassidy
Shadow education minister accuses minister of lying in media release
Meanwhile in education estimates, the shadow minister for education, Sarah Henderson, has accused the minister of lying in a media release that said the Liberal party “ripped the guts” out of public school funding.
The Department of Education’s secretary was asked if the media release had been fact checked before it went public.
The assistant education minister, Anthony Chisholm, interjected that it “was a fact” the former Coalition “ripped the money out of public schools” when it came into government:
Billions have been ripped out of public schools and if you doubt me, let me point you to the 2014 budget overview page 7, there it is in black and white.
Henderson said it was “misleading representation” and annual school funding had increased year on year, requesting the department of education review its website and make any “appropriate corrections”.
Chisholm requested her to withdraw her request, and again pointed her to the budget:
I’m very surprised you’re coming in here and justifying your future cuts already … it’s extraordinary.
Krishani Dhanji
More on the Godwin Grech drama
After the break, the Asic chair, Joe Longo, wouldn’t speak about Godwin Grech specifically, but talks separately and more generally about the complexity in prosecuting cases related to insider trading.
Market sensitive information and trading on it ahead of that information being published or made known isn’t necessarily information [that] is going to prohibit you from trading, because there’s so many factors that go into an insider trading prosecution.
Then Deb O’Neill made this pretty pointed claim:
There are members of the Liberal party though who know exactly what Mr Grech was communicating to them at the time.
I believe it would be in the national interest if people of integrity who had that information and didn’t use it were able to inform the current interest.
There hasn’t been anyone named or accused in the estimates hearing.
Krishani Dhanji
Godwin Grech drama resumes at Senate estimates
The Godwin Grech drama has resumed at economic estimates today.
If you were following along yesterday, Labor senator Deb O’Neill brought evidence from a previous privileges committee inquiry that former Treasury official Godwin Grech had been “heavily involved” in the GFC bank package, and had been sending emails from his treasury account to senior Liberals. Here’s a recap of what she said:
The committee of privileges page 84, Mr Grech was heavily involved in the development of the Australian business investment partnership, ABIP, including attending meetings and negotiations with the major banks.
The Treasury submission to the committee of privileges included emails from Mr Grech to senior Liberal party figures and this ran across the period from September 2008 roughly around collapse of the Lehman brothers, through to the period ending June 2009.
O’Neill has brought up this evidence from the privileges committee again today, while Asic is fronting estimates, to discuss the investigation of insider trading. Her questioning sparks an uproar from the Coalition, with senator Andrew Bragg shouting:
This hearing is not about your political grubby machine … you are out of order.
The committee promptly went into a 25-minute break, and decides like yesterday, the questions from O’Neill are in order.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Solar panels for doctors, vets’ clinics
Doctors, dentists and vets will be able to secure cheap loans to purchase EVs and solar panels for their clinics under a new $20m investment.
The commonwealth’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is working with healthcare lender Credible to help medical providers cut their power bills.
Under the scheme, the businesses will be able to access loans with interest rates of up to 0.65% to purchase solar panels, electric vehicles and EV chargers. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said:
By providing access to cheaper loans, the Albanese Labor government is bringing energy bills down for good for Australian doctors, dentists and vets.
This CEFC investment is supporting small businesses to capitalise on the renewable revolution and play their role in the net zero transformation.
Ex-Liberal MP to fight child sexual abuse charges at trial
A former NSW Liberal MP has been committed to stand trial over multiple alleged sexual assaults, AAP reports.
Roderick “Rory” Amon is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy he knew on Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 2017.
The 35-year-old former MP for the seat of Pittwater appeared at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court today, when pleas of not guilty to all of the charges were formally acknowledged.
Amon is due to stand trial in the district court on 10 separate charges, including sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14. A bail variation was also granted unopposed, allowing him to live at a different address.
The former politician declined to answer questions from media outside court as he was ushered away alongside several supporters. One onlooker hurled verbal jabs at Amon.
Amon was arrested in August and charged with a series of offences, including five counts of sexual intercourse with a person over the age of 10 and under 14.
The matter is due to return to court on 28 March.
Tory Shepherd
Sharma questions Wong meeting with Ardern, representatives from Iran and Palestinian Authority last year
Back in Senate estimates, Liberal senator Dave Sharma has tried to take the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, to task for meeting with former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and representatives from Iran and the Palestinian Authority at the UN general assembly last year. (It has been a somewhat febrile time).
Wong said her counterpart was not there.
An official said they did seek a meeting with the then Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, but they were advised he was not attending.
Lockdown after ‘suspicious device’ washes up on Queensland beach
AAP has more details about the “suspicious device” that washed up on a Gold Coast beach this morning, as we flagged earlier:
Police are on the scene at Main Beach after the object was spotted by a dog walker and surf lifesavers about 5.45am.
An exclusion zone of 100 metres has been established around the device while authorities examine it, and police have asked members of the public to avoid the area.
The Australian defence force has reportedly been notified, with media outlets saying it appears to be a military device, possibly a torpedo.
Images posted on social media by locals indicate the object is rusty and been submerged for some time.
Tory Shepherd
Dfat reviewing US freeze on foreign aid, Senate estimates has heard
The Greens senator and foreign aid spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, has used Senate estimates to ask about the government’s response to the United States’ freeze on foreign aid – describing it as a “catastrophic blow” for the Pacific, Gaza, the climate, sexual reproduction and LGBTQ+ communities.
The Trump administration froze funds coming from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) soon after coming into power. The move has caused chaos, health crises, job losses and deaths. It has also left climate change and poverty projects in the Pacific in limbo.
Dfat official James Isbister said they are reviewing the situation and will continue to do so after 20 April, the end of the 90-day freeze:
The situation is fluid and we’re continuing to look at how we amend our programs in response.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Australia, as the largest development partner, takes a particular responsibility for the Pacific. But, she said, it’s “unrealistic to think a country of Australia’s size could make up the difference”:
Australia can do what Australia can do, and we will do that. But … Australia is not a great and global power so we have a set of responsibilities and we will discharge those.
Caitlin Cassidy
Targeted advertising campaign launched ahead of election with major push for private schools
Independent Schools Australia (ISA) has launched a major push for private schools ahead of the federal election, with a “school choice counts” targeted advertising campaign to begin from today in 17 seats, including those where independent families make up a significant proportion of the electorate.
At today’s launch at Parliament House, ISA CEO, Graham Catt, said families who chose independent schools “deserve fairness”.
Families make sacrifices every day to give their children the best start in life. They should not be publicly vilified or penalised for choosing an independent school.
The body is calling for “stable, predictable funding” that keeps private school fees “affordable” and for increased infrastructure funding and regional loadings for rural and remote areas. Catt also accused the Greens of peddling a “competition” between government and private sectors over school funding.
About 98% of public schools remain underfunded, the latest data shows, while the vast majority of private schools are overfunded. But Catt said most independent school families were “everyday Australians”, with the median independent school fee sitting at $5,537 a year.
The Greens attack hardworking families with misleading and inflammatory rhetoric. It needs to stop now. This election, we will make sure every independent school parent knows who supports them – and who wants to make their child’s education more expensive.
Petra Stock
NSW government announces support for three long-duration energy storage systems under state roadmap
The NSW government has announced support for three new energy storage projects capable of storing electricity for eight hours or more, under its electricity roadmap.
The successful projects include the Phoenix 15-hour pumped hydro project in Lake Burrendong, 35km west of Mudgee, and two 8-hour batteries located in Narrabri and Griffith.
Combined, the three projects represent 1.03 gigawatts (GW) or 13.79 GW-hours (GWh) of energy storage capacity. One gigawatt of energy stored could provide enough electricity, when released, to power half a million households for a day.
The projects are expected to create about 900 construction jobs and 60 ongoing positions and support reliable power at times of high electricity demand or low solar or wind generation, according to the state government.
The NSW minister for climate change and energy, Penny Sharpe, said the energy storage projects would provide jobs and investment for local and regional areas, as well “delivering a reliable energy system for the whole of NSW”.
Daniel Burrows, the chief executive of Eku Energy – the company behind the Griffith battery storage system – said the announcement was a significant milestone that would help deliver safe and reliable energy storage.
The tender is the fifth conducted under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, a 20-year plan designed to support investment in new renewable power and long-duration storage, ensuring reliability as the state’s ageing coal-fired power stations retired.
With the addition of these projects, the NSW government said it had now locked in 40% of its long-duration storage by 2030 target.
Hunter MP lashes Coalition nuclear plan as ‘ludicrous’ and ‘false hope’ for coal-fired power station workers
Hunter Labor MP Dan Repacholi, who was speaking alongside Jim Chalmers, was asked to weigh in on the opposition’s nuclear plan.
The Coalition has previously flagged the Liddell power station, within his electorate, as one of seven locations for a proposed nuclear plant. Repacholi said he was part of a committee on the matter, with 19 days of hearings and more than 850 submissions.
For me, and for the what the committee found out, there’s a lot more cons and pros on this subject. The biggest thing is it takes too long, it costs too much, it’s going to push our power prices up, [and] that is unacceptable for Australians.
The Hunter MP said the Coalition can’t detail costs, how long it would take to build the reactors, how much water it is going to use, or how many people they would employ.
What they’re doing is just giving out false hope that coal-fired power station workers in the Hunter, in Lithgow and all other parts of Australia where they’re saying that they’re going to put these seven sites, to give them false hope that they can out of a coal fired power station job and into a nuclear power job in that same time. It cannot happen. It is impossible. These will not be built until the mid 2040s – and that is only one, that is only one that is built by that stage – and then however long it takes to build the seven rest of them.
It’s just ludicrous what they’re trying to talk about here, and we need to keep on just showing the facts on this.
Chalmers outlines conditions he set for approving Qatar acquisition of 25% stake in Virgin
Earlier in the press conference, Jim Chalmers said he approved Qatar Airways’ acquisition of a 25% stake in Virgin Australia “based on some very strict, enforceable conditions”.
First of all, Qatar gets to appoint two board members out of 12 on the Virgin board. We have imposed a condition, which means that at least one of those has to be an Australian citizen, normally resident in Australia.
The other condition that I’ve imposed is to protect the data, to make sure that the data is not unnecessarily shared … I’ve also sought and received from both companies assurances about Australian jobs.
Chalmers says Australia still working towards exemption on US tariffs
Back to tariffs, Jim Chalmers said his preference is for Australia to “get a full exemption from these tariffs on steel and aluminum”.
So those other options … that the [US] treasury secretary was talking about yesterday, they’re not our preference, because our preference – our objective – is to get an exemption.
Now, again, we don’t take that outcome for granted. We know that there are policy announcements coming out of DC which have the capacity to affect our local industry. My job, the government’s job, is to stand up for local workers and employers and investors, and that’s what we’ve been doing.
Chalmers says Australia has ‘made it clear’ notice from Chinese vessels was ‘not appropriate’
On the Chinese vessels – which have been the topic of much discussion in recent days – Jim Chalmers said Australia has “made it clear that the notice that was given was not appropriate”.
As I understand it, [the foreign affairs] minister [Penny] Wong has discussed that with her counterpart and we have relayed that in other ways. Beyond that, you know, I’m reluctant to go too much further into the detail of that.
I’m aware that the deputy prime minister has already made extensive comments about that this morning … I want to leave the rest of the commentary to my colleagues.
Chalmers addressing media in Hunter Valley
We’ll go now to the Hunter Valley in NSW, where the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has been speaking alongside the local MP Dan Repacholi.
Chalmers said he had just returned from Washington and there was “a lot of uncertainty in the global economy, which is playing out in our own national economy and in local economies, like this one”.
Taking questions, Chalmers said he had “very constructive conversations … with my American counterparts”. On tariffs, the treasurer said Donald Trump would “make a final call about Australia’s bid”.
My job wasn’t to conclude those discussions, it was to inform them, and Australia has a very strong case to make about why we are different to some of the other countries that are of greater concern to our American friends.
Americans run a trade surplus with us, they have done since the Truman administration. Our steel and aluminum sectors are not big competitors with theirs. In fact, our businesses, Rio, BlueScope and others, are making a positive contribution and investing in local communities, in the US.
SafeWork issues six prohibition notices affecting all ventilation fans at Snowy 2.0, union says
Continuing from our last post: The Australian Workers’ Union said SafeWork NSW inspectors had conducted an assessment and have issued six prohibition notices affecting all ventilation fans at the project.
The AWU is demanding all ventilation equipment “undergo comprehensive inspection by the original manufacturers before any worker returns to the underground portions of the project”. Tony Callinan said:
These fans provide the essential ventilation that makes underground work possible. Their failure not only represents an immediate hazard from flying debris but could also create lethal atmospheric conditions underground.
Tunnelling is a dangerous industry but, Snowy 2.0 management just can’t seem to get the basics right. It’s the worst project I have seen in 20 years as an AWU organiser.
AWU provides more details on safety incident at Snowy 2.0
The Australian Workers’ Union has responded to the safety incident at Snowy 2.0 as a “catastrophic failure of critical ventilation equipment that could have resulted in worker fatalities”.
In a statement, the union said an industrial-sized ventilation fan about 2.5 metres in diameter “catastrophically malfunctioned, sending dangerous metal shrapnel flying through the air”.
By sheer fortune, no workers were in the immediate vicinity at the time of the failure.
The union said the incident comes one month after workers were forced to stop work after underground refuge chambers “were found to be inoperable and not maintained to the manufacturer’s specifications”. The AWU NSW secretary, Tony Callinan, said:
This latest incident represents a significant near-miss that could have resulted in workers being killed. Had anyone been in the path of this high-velocity shrapnel, we would be discussing fatalities rather than equipment failure.
Underground works halted at Snowy Hydro after fan falls and loses part of blade
Underground works have halted at major energy project Snowy 2.0, after a fan fell and lost part of its blade.
In a statement, Snowy Hydro said it would seek an “immediate independent safety review and audit” – which would require changes to principal contractor Future Generation Joint Venture’s (FGJV) leadership on the project.
Snowy Hydro confirmed no one was hurt during the incident, but work has been stopped to “allow inspection of all fans”.
FGJV will work with SafeWork NSW to ensure they are safe, with the aim of progressively restarting work.
Nothing is more important to Snowy Hydro than safety. Recent safety concerns at Snowy 2.0 have made it clear that as the client, our assurance role over FGJV’s activities requires this intervention.
Snowy Hydro said it was “committed to working with our workforce and unions to ensure that the safety standards we expect are in place at Snowy 2.0”.
