Australia news live: Hume sidesteps question over Taylor’s Icac mention saying ‘this is so distant from him’ | Australia news

A mass mortality event, potentially triggered by bird flu, mirrors what’s happened as the deadly disease spread overseas, environmental advocates warn.

AAP reports, more than 80 dead and sick greater crested terns have been found at an island called Baudin Rock in South Australia.

Authorities say it is likely to be the first mass mortality event from the deadly disease.

The Invasive Species Council’s chief executive, Jack Gough, said Australia was still at the very early stages of the H5 outbreak, but it could spread quickly.

It seems the virus is starting to take off, mirroring the experience in South America.

[That is:] early detections, then rapid increases in numbers and spread, leading to mass mortality events in wildlife.

Bird flu has caused significant illness and deaths in poultry, wild birds and mammals in Asia; Europe; North and South America; and the Arctic and Antarctic, according to Wildlife Health Australia.

Over 600 bird species and more than 100 mammalian species, including wild marine and land mammals, have been affected.

‘More than just objects’: Australian booksellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

Vendors and rare books experts are increasingly worried that these artefacts may be under threat of destruction by generative AI companies seeking to feed their ravenous technology with new texts.

Stephanie Convery writes the fears stem from a copyright lawsuit brought against AI company Anthropic in the United States by book authors. Unsealed court files revealed earlier this year that the company was engaging in the practice of “destructive scanning” – buying physical books, slicing off the spines to more efficiently scan the pages, then pulping the remains – and had sought to keep it quiet. The judge ruled this was lawful under US copyright law, as it amounted to “transformative use”.

The practice is now understood to be widespread among generative AI companies, and recent reports suggest intermediaries are stepping up to facilitate the process.

Australian secondhand booksellers are wondering if they have been caught up in the AI supply chain after they recently experienced waves of orders that did not fit with usual customer patterns.

Nation-first fully integrated bionic arm to hit shelves

A university startup has developed Australia’s first fully integrated bionic arm, giving hope to users who have given up on heavy, painful prosthetics, AAP reports.

Cost, weight and accessibility changes means 35–40% of prosthetic users in high-income countries end up rejecting their devices.

But after speaking to dozens of people with limb difference to identify key challenges over 10 years of development, University of Melbourne-led startup Meablex have developed a bionic arm that could change the experience of prosthetics for users.

It features soft and flexible materials that weigh about half what a conventional prosthetic does.

It’s also been designed with an adjustable socket to make the prosthetic easier to fit, and is more reliable to control than others currently on the market.

Senior research engineer Dr Alireza Mohammadi told AAP:

Our technology combines a lightweight 3D-printed prosthetic hand with a new sensorised socket that detects subtle muscle movement, rather than relying only on traditional electrical muscle signals.

He hopes the device can enter the market next year, following clinical trials and regulatory approvals later this year.

We’re not just looking at Australia, we are thinking more globally.

It will definitely affect many lives and many people that can use this device.

How a tragedy in a homeless camp laid bare regional Australia’s housing crisis

Three months ago, a homeless encampment in Wagga Wagga made headlines when a newborn baby died at a nearby riverbank after their mother gave birth in a tent.

Since then, the response to the growing crisis has been fractured and confusing and the community is divided on how to manage the camp.

Some have jumped in to help, while others have sided with the council in calls to clear it out.

Cait Kelly writes about the ways the housing crisis is playing out in regional Australia.

PM urged to stand aside special envoy after assault charge

The deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, has called on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to take action against his special envoy for defence, veterans’ affairs and northern Australia, Luke Gosling.

The MP has been charged over an alleged assault on the Northern Territory’s administrator earlier this month.

Hume told ABC’s Insiders it was a “pretty serious charge”.

It’s alleged at this stage but the charge has been laid.

Anthony Albanese has been very quick to condemn other people and request, in previous lives, that prime ministers stand down their ministers or their senior members of parliament for far less.

I think that he should live up to his own high expectations and stand Luke Gosling down.

Gosling previously said he could not comment as the matter was before the courts, but thanked his family and vowed to work to serve his constituents.

Penny Wong addresses Garma festival: ‘We are not a monoculture and we have never been’

The announcement was delivered before a powerful audience that included senior cabinet ministers Penny Wong, Malarndirri McCarthy and Jason Clare, and Pacific leaders including Timor-Leste’s prime minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão.

As the ripples of the announcement spread across Garma, AAP reports, Wong used her address to draw a contrast with those she suggested were trying to divide Australians.

At a time when there are those who seek to set us apart, First Nations peoples, with your generosity, remind us our many different stories brought together make us stronger.

We are not a monoculture and we have never been.

Continuing on from last post …

Djawa Yunupingu, leader of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, tied the new council directly to Yolngu law, ancestral obligation and an unbroken connection to Country, and said Yolngu wanted development and opportunity in a way that kept control on Country and in the hands of traditional owners.

We have tourism at Bawaka and Banubanu and it is my dream that there will be a five-star resort on this beautiful Country.

We have schools that are teaching our young people. We have a Garma Institute that will be our own university and it will hold our knowledge right here.

He said the Yolngu people knew every inch of their Country and the council would stand ready to work alongside the army, the navy and the air force to defend it.

It will work with the government and with mining companies, any company who wants to do business with us.

It will work in partnership with the Northern Land Council for the people. We will be a part of the economic life of this nation whilst never losing who we are and what we stand for.

Yunupingu thanked the Northern Land Council and its chair, Matthew Ryan, for protecting Yolngu interests and standing with them as they prepared for the transition, AAP reports.

Yolngu leaders in north-east Arnhem Land have announced a powerful new Dilak Land Council, declaring land rights are “coming home” to traditional owners, AAP reports.

On a national stage at the Garma festival, revered elder Djawa Yunupingu told leaders, politicians and visitors from across the country on Saturday real power must sit “fully into the hands of landowners”.

“I announce today that land rights is coming home to north-east Arnhem Land,” he said to rapturous applause.

There will be a new land council in Arnhem Land and it will be called the Dilak Land Council, and it will be the power for our future.

The move cements a new Aboriginal authority in one of the most symbolically important parts of the country and signals a fresh push for self-determination on Yolngu terms.

Jane Hume has said she will not comment on proceedings at the NSW anti-corruption commission after the federal opposition leader, Angus Taylor, was mentioned at a hearing.

He is not accused of wrongdoing and not a specific target of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations of corruption against people associated with the NSW Liberals.

Asked about the matter, Hume said she feels “this is so distant from him”.

Icac should be allowed to go through its processes free of political interference, free of commentary from politicians, and be allowed to run its course.

Writing the review into the 2022 election, we specifically said that each division needs to make sure that its constitution is fit for purpose and that that its membership is match-fit to fight elections.

I reiterate that point, it is so fundamentally important.

But this is an issue for Icac, it’s not something that I can comment on.

It’s not something that the leader is involved in, he hasn’t been named, he hasn’t been called, he hasn’t been approached.

It’s kind of very distanced, and I think that the Icac should be allowed to do what it needs to do.

Deputy Liberal leader says party will not govern in coalition with One Nation

Questions over whether the Liberal party would govern with One Nation have continued to follow the opposition as Pauline Hanson’s party grows in popularity.

But the deputy Liberal leader, Jane Hume, has brushed off such suggestions.

We are not forming a coalition with One Nation.

I think we couldn’t be any clearer than that.

The Liberals are already in coalition with the National party.

That coalition has been the foundation of very successful governments for 80 years now, and it will continue to be so.

Asked whether it could be a possibility in the event of a minority government, Hume noted the next election would not be for at least 18 months.

Governments have formed minority governments in the past with all sorts of parties.

Our intention is to win outright, and we do that by making sure that we present a credible plan and a credible team to deliver that plan.

That’s exactly what Angus Taylor and I I have been doing for the last 23, 24 weeks that he has been leader.

New Victorian premier urged to wind back predecessor’s commitments

Victorian senator and federal deputy leader of the opposition, Jane Hume, has said the state’s new premier, Ben Carroll, should undo plans made by Jacinta Allan.

I think the new premier should be looking at winding back an awful lot of the commitments that Jacinta Allan has made, certainly the business community has rightly expressed concern about this policy.

Let’s face it, the Victorian economy is tanking.

Businesses are declaring insolvency on a daily basis, or they’re pack up and moving interstate, the unemployment rate in Victoria is the highest in the country, our youth unemployment is more than double the national rate.

This should be the alarm bells for Victorian leaders to make sure that we inject new life in the economy – not keep holding it back.

The deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, has thrown her support behind a Victorian royal commission into corruption in the construction industry.

But she stopped short of calling for a federal royal commission.

She told ABC’s Insiders:

If you are serious about stamping out corruption in construction – which is causing costs for construction to rise so fast and all Australians pay a price for that – why not start with a Senate inquiry?

Anthony Albanese has shown such extraordinary lack of curiosity, a lack of interested into extent of corruption on construction sites right around the country, particularly when there is federal, commonwealth, taxpayer money that’s been involved.

Even after knowing that there were at least four allegations of corruption on the suburban rail loop site, Anthony Albanese committed $3.8bn of commonwealth taxpayers’ money to that project.

And I think that there are questions that that should be answered about that.

Gosling doesn’t need to be stood down from special envoy role, says Butler

The health minister, Mark Butler, has rejected calls for the prime minister to stand down Luke Gosling, who has been charged with assault by police against the Northern Territory administrator.

Butler tells News 24 (formerly Sky) that the role of special envoy has no executive function, unlike a minister, who would be stood down if charged by police or subject to an investigation.

So what’s the point of the envoy role then, asks host, Andrew Clennell.

Butler says the special envoy job doesn’t actually have any function that would “impact Australians” – ie it’s mostly a ceremonial role. Labor aren’t the first to have special envoys. You might remember that Tony Abbott was appointed special envoy for Indigenous Australians by Scott Morrison in 2018, but Labor has seven, including Gosling.

Butler tells News 24:

It’s important to remember what the job of special envoy is. It’s not a ministerial position. It doesn’t have any executive authority, any ability to make decisions that impact Australians, of course, as you know, if he were a minister, he would be required to stand aside.

You’re not required to stand down as a member of parliament if you’re charged. Obviously, there are some provisions around conviction, but he is really just a backbench member of parliament. He is not a member of the executive, and that is a fundamental distinction in the separation of powers.

Liberal MP Jane Hume to appear on Insiders

The deputy leader of the opposition, Jane Hume, will appear on ABC’s Insiders after 9.

Petrol prices set to rise as fuel excise relief ends

Drivers could soon pay more than $2 a litre for fuel and $2.40 for diesel after the government’s 16-cent discount ends at midnight.

The 32-cent per litre reduction in fuel excise, introduced in March at the peak of the fuel price spike, was halved to 16 cents in July.

The excise will return to its normal level on 3 August, adding 16 cents per litre to the wholesale prices paid by service stations.

Chris Bowen, the energy minister, told reporters on Saturday the government would not extend the temporary cost-of-living relief.

Obviously we always monitor the situation and take steps as necessary, but our policy decision is clear.

Aged-care nurses have been told they will get a a fifth increase to award wages this year as the final stage of a Fair Work Commission decision.

The government said yesterday the increase in annual pay packets, from 1 August, would mean registered nurses in the sector on the most common pay level had seen their annual salary increase by more than $36,000.

An enrolled nurse on the most common level and pay point will have seen their wage increase by almost $32,000 per year.

The aged care minister, Sam Rae, said:

Better pay for nurses means better care for older Australians – our record boost to wages is making it easier for aged care homes to attract and retain nurses, ensuring older people can access higher-quality, more consistent care.

AAP reported the pay increases came after it had obtained internal departmental documents showing Australia “would need an extra 35,000 aged-care workers this financial year as the population aged and more people required support”.

Good morning.

I’m Kat Wong, and I’ll be taking you through today’s news.

Australia is suspected to have experienced its first mass mortality event from the deadly strain of bird flu after more than 80 dead and sick birds were spotted off the coast of South Australia.

Meanwhile, Jamaica has upset Australia at the Commonwealth games after defeating the defending netball champions to reach the finals.

More coming up.