The Transport Workers Union (TWU) is calling on the administrators determining Bonza’s future to ‘explore every avenue’ to pay workers of the budget airline their wages as soon as possible, after most employees were stood down and told they would not be paid for work done in April. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) is calling on the administrators determining Bonza’s future to ‘explore every avenue’ to pay workers of the budget airline their wages as soon as possible, after most employees were stood down and told they would not be paid for work done in April. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he disagrees with a magistrate’s decision to release a former immigration detainee on bail and with the prosecutor’s decision not to oppose it. The man allegedly assaulted a woman in a home invasion eight weeks later;
The transport workers union urges Bonza administrators to ‘strain every sinew’ to pay employees’ wages, after the airline went into voluntary administration;
Family violence and sexual assault data of 4,000 Victorians collected over two decades by one of the state’s largest health services has been exposed;
The Flemington racecourse floodwall “most likely” caused houses to be inundated in 2022, an independent panel finds;
Data breach exposes family violence, sexual assault data
Family violence and sexual assault data of 4000 Victorians collected over two decades by one of the state’s largest health services has been caught up in a data breach, AAP reports.
Monash Health on Friday confirmed its involvement in a breach at external company ZircoDATA, which the health service used to scan archived historical documents.
The breach involved information from family violence and sexual assault support units at Monash medical centre, the Queen Victoria hospital and Southern Health from 1970 to 1993, the health service’s chief executive, Eugine Yafele, said.
Monash Health found out about the breach on 27 March, and believes it involves about 4000 people.
Asked why it took so long for the health service to make a public statement about the breach, Mr Yafele said Monash Health had to undergo a forensic investigation of its systems.
“Because of the passage of time and the sensitivity of the information we’re talking about, we absolutely needed to be sure that we are able to cross-check and get the right information,” he told ABC radio.
“It’s taken longer than I would have wanted.”
He said data accessed was “a range of stuff”, which could include names and addresses of its clients.
Monash Health’s systems have not been impacted.
“We are deeply disappointed to be in this position and understand the distress this may cause any impacted clients,” Mr Yafele said in an earlier statement.
“We take any matter involving cybersecurity extremely seriously.
“Our team is working tirelessly and diligently to verify those who are impacted and understand what data was compromised.”
Anyone who believes they may have been affected is asked to visit Monash Health’s website to register for updates or call its cyber breach support line.
An 11.5m rocket was successfully launched in the South Australian outback this afternoon.
German company HyImpulse launched the single-stage SR75 rocket from Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range, which is near Ceduna. The Light This Candle suborbital mission was the inaugural launch of the SR75, and the first from the Koonibba site.
The rocket will be recovered for post-flight analysis. The maiden launch was done to test the hybrid propulsion technology.
We are incredibly proud to have been a part of this historic mission. The Koonibba Test Range is world-class and hosting this mission has demonstrated the outstanding expertise and experience of the Southern Launch and HyImpulse teams.
Southern Launch developed the site in partnership with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation. The corporation’s Chair, Geraldine Ware, said it was “an incredible achievement for our community and shining light for First Nations people”:
We had more than 30 people from the community working throughout the campaign and to come together and see it launch was amazing. We look forward to the next launch from our launch pad.
Sky News apologises for $1m barramundi winner interview
Sky News Australia has apologised to Keegan Payne, a 19-year-old who caught a barramundi worth $1m, for questioning him live on air about claims he had stolen from a former employer.
It said in the apology:
On Wednesday 1 May 2024, Sky News Australia broadcast a live interview of Keegan Payne by Peter Stefanovic on First Edition. The interview concerned Mr Payne’s win in the Northern Territory’s Million Dollar Fish Competition.
During the interview Mr Stefanovic asked Mr Payne questions about claims he had been involved in the theft of a Polaris Ranger and Polaris Quad from his former employer in 2021.
Mr Payne confirmed the claims and apologised to his former employer on-air. Mr Payne’s former employer subsequently told Sky News Australia that he did not proceed with police charges and had accepted Mr Payne’s apology.
Sky News Australia and Peter Stefanovic apologise to Mr Payne and his family for raising these claims during the live interview about his million dollar win in the fishing competition.
Mr Stefanovic has reached out to Mr Payne and his family directly to convey his apology.
We covered the interview in Weekly Beast earlier today:
Former detective charged with perjury after allegedly giving false evidence: NSW police
NSW police say a former officer has been charged with perjury after an investigation into a sexual assault case.
In a statement, the force said that the case was heard in the Wollongong district court in February 2020.
In 2021, professional standards command officers started Strike Force Ephemeris to investigate the conduct of officers involved in the court case, police said.
Following extensive inquiries and upon receiving advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, police have charged a former Detective Senior Constable with giving false evidence under oath amounting to perjury.
The 48-year-old man was issued a future court attendance notice to appear before Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, 19 June 2024.
Investigations under Strike Force Ephemeris continue.
Dr Alexandra Jones, who leads the George Institute’s independent monitoring of the health star rating said the government’s review finding only 32% of products displayed the front-of-pack label was even lower than their own – with their last report in 2023 putting the percentage at 36%.
The George Institute’s monitoring has tracked uptake year on year (unlike the government’s) and found it reached 40% in 2019 but has subsequently plateaued and slightly declined in recent years, leading to the situation as acknowledged by the food ministers, in which the food industry is “significantly off track” from meeting its own target.
Jones says these figures show the system being voluntary for food manufacturers to display the rating is not working, and that only a mandatory label will make a difference in improving Australians’ diets. While the findings of the monitoring is disappointing, Jones said the language of the ministers’ communiqué is positive:
This is the most promising indication we’ve seen that ministers are serious about making the system mandatory.
Industry has had ample time now – they’ve had a decade – and it’s time for the food ministers to request regulators to start the process to make it mandatory.
Food industry misses targets, leaving sour taste in mouths of ministers
The food industry has only met half the target it set itself for health star rating uptake – results the food ministers say are disappointing and “significantly off track” as it considers making the initiative mandatory.
The federal, state and territory food ministers today met to discuss the results of their independent review of the health star rating system, which found only 32% of products which should display the health star rating currently do. That’s despite the industry setting itself a target to have 60% of products displaying a health star rating by November 2024.
It has now been 10 years since the government introduced the front-of-pack nutrition label to be a simple way for consumers to compare the overall nutritional quality of products on the shelf. However, because the system is voluntary, it’s largely used as a marketing tool for food manufacturers to spruik their healthier products, and leave off the unhealthier ones:
In a communiqué released after their meeting the food ministers “expressed their disappointment at the results, noting that uptake is significantly off-track to reach the final target by the end of 2025”.
Ministers re-iterated the need to consider mandating the system and will discuss this further at the July meeting. Officials will bring to the July meeting some preparatory work on implementation options.
Union urges Bonza administrators to ‘strain every sinew’ to pay employees’ wages
Elias Visontay
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) is calling on the administrators determining Bonza’s future to “explore every avenue” to pay workers of the budget airline their wages as soon as possible, after most employees were stood down and told they would not be paid for work done in April.
Emily McMillan, TWU’s national assistant secretary, said the situation was reminiscent of Ansett’s 2001 collapse which saw protests at airports for more than 100 days from workers fighting for pay after the airline became insolvent.
McMillan said:
The shock of Bonza falling into administration has barely subsided and workers are being forced to enter Centrelink queues. It’s appalling that Bonza has failed workers so spectacularly and that aviation workers are once again paying the price for a broken industry.
These are hardworking people with bills to pay and families to feed. They are highly trained. This is a devastating blow and a cause for great worry in a cost-of-living crisis. Bonza’s administrators must strain every sinew to find the means to pay these workers urgently. There is no greater priority than this.
The largest considerations of the meetings are the current status of the airline’s five Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft that remain parked at Melbourne, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast airports after their repossession by the newly formed company that owns a controlling stake in the leased planes.
Before a Cairns-based rescue aircraft arrived on scene, Thursday Island Water Police advised Amsa that the beacon may be associated with a 5m aluminium boat with three people on board that had failed to return to the Murray Islands.
When the aircraft arrived at the beacon location, Amsa crew found an upturned boat, with three people clinging to the hull amid adverse weather conditions of 1.5m seas and 20-knot winds.
Amsa said aircraft crew dropped a life-raft and communications kit to the boat, which allowed search and rescue officers to stay in communication with the vessel throughout the rescue.
A nearby fishing vessel was diverted to rescue the crew, and a police vessel from Thursday Island was also used.
The fishing vessel reached the life raft about 3.30am on Friday and rescued the people on board. Amsa said it understood all three people were safe, with no serious injuries.
‘Like letting a wildebeest loose on playing Beethoven’: constitutional expert lashes high court’s grasp of economics
Paul Karp
Constitutional expert and former Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven has launched an extraordinary broadside at the high court for a lack of expertise about economics.
States aren’t allowed to levy excises. What is an excise is in part determined by whether the tax is of such a nature as to affect the goods as the subjects of manufacture or production or as articles of commerce – thus the need for economic analysis.
Craven said:
History has revealed letting the high court loose on economics is like letting a wildebeest loose on playing Beethoven. They do not know what they’re talking about. They do not have degrees in economics. Their conclusions are fundamentally disputable and are unlikely to be right ...
Why on earth is the high court so confident of its economic capacity? ... It’s applying economic theory by a group of people who wouldn’t actually know how to buy a tram ticket. That is a major methodological problem. It’s economics performed by people who are not economists.
Craven is not alone in criticising the court’s decision.
Justice James Edelman, who was in the minority, said in the decision that “without any empirical or economic evidence” the majority had concluded that a tax of about $300 was “reasonably anticipated to have a real and substantial economic effect in the market for the sale of goods worth up to $300,000 each”.
Man arrested at shopping centre after allegedly threatening people with a knife
Victoria police have released a short statement about an incident allegedly involving a man with a knife at a shopping centre in Melbourne’s outer north-west.
Police said:
Brimbank Criminal Investigation Unit detectives have arrested a man following an incident at a shopping centre in Taylors Lakes.
Following further investigation, it is alleged the man stole a knife from a grocery store and used it to assault and threaten a 21-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman inside the shopping centre on Melton Highway about 12.50pm.
With assistance from the public a 30-year-old Sunshine man was swiftly arrested and is currently assisting police with their enquires.
He was also a great friend and mentor to me, as we worked together in our shared communities for many years. My thoughts and love are with Mayoress Nina Bleasdale and all of their family and loved ones.
Australia is below South Africa and North Macedonia in the rankings, but ahead of the US. Norway topped the list.
The index noted of Australia that:
Press freedom is not constitutionally guaranteed in this island-continent of 26 million people, but a hyperconcentration of the media combined with growing pressure from the authorities endanger public interest journalism.
Victorian parliamentary inquiry to examine urban sprawl and population impact on farming capacity
I had no idea this inquiry was happening, but it seems interesting: the Victorian Legislative Assembly’s Environment and Planning Committee is conducting an inquiry into securing Victoria’s food supply. It will examine the impacts of urban sprawl and population growth on arable land and the farming industry in Victoria. It is expected to report its findings no later than 31 December 2024.
