Here’s a recap of the major news developments of the day:
Booster vaccines against Covid 19 will be rolled out to the aged care sector within weeks, with the government expecting to offer third shots for all vaccinated Australians by the end of the year.
Former New South Wales premier Mike Baird has told Icac he was “incredulous” his successor, Gladys Berejiklian, had been in a secret relationship with the former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire and believed it “should have been disclosed”. Separately, the watchdog was told an ex adviser of Baird’s wrote that Berejiklian put a proposed $5.5m grant – which is now being examined by Icac – back on the agenda of an expenditure committee after “Daryl fired up”.
Covid-19 vaccinations will become compulsory for most Western Australian workers, including teachers and supermarket staff, by the end of the year. The premier, Mark McGowan, said the drastic step is necessary to prepare the state for community transmission of the virus.
Former attorney general Christian Porter won’t be investigated for possible contempt of parliament over his acceptance of anonymous legal fees, after MPs voted down a Labor motion for Porter to be referred to the privileges committee to determine if he acted in contempt of parliament. Speaker Tony Smith told parliament on Wednesday he was “satisfied that a prima facie case has been made out”, opening the way for the vote.
An article by the former NSW Liberal minister Pru Goward which portrayed lower socio-economic Australians as dysfunctional and lazy “proles” has been condemned as disturbing, abusive and inaccurate by anti-poverty advocates.
Novak Djokovic has been a lightning rod for discussion throughout the pandemic given his brilliance on the court and his role as a fledgling union leader for tennis players off it.
It has proven the case again this week after the 20-time major winner refused to outline his vaccination status in an interview with Serbian website Blic when asked about next January’s Australian Open.
The declaration by federal government ministers Greg Hunt and Alex Hawke on Wednesday that unvaccinated travellers will be prevented entry into the country has raised the stakes for Djokovic.
Will this development preclude the nine-time Australian Open champion from playing in Melbourne next year? What impact would the absence of his star power have on the tournament? And more broadly, what effect will this edict have on the first major of 2022, given it is estimated between half to one-third of the world’s top 100 players on both tours are not yet vaccinated?
Freak storms across the east coast of Australia have damaged buildings and pounded cities with hail the size of grapefruit.
The largest hailstone ever to fall in Australia – a whopping 16cm in diameter – was recorded in Queensland after heavy storms hammered the Mackay region on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday, a shopping centre in Coffs Harbour was evacuated after heavy rain collapsed the ceiling during a hail storm that battered northern New South Wales.
Police have found the bodies of two people who were aboard a motorboat that went missing off Tasmania’s northwest, as efforts to locate their friend continue.
Isaiah Dixon, Thomas Courto and Bree-Anna Thomas, who are all from the northwest, left Wynyard on a yellow and white 17-foot Caribbean around midday on Monday, reports AAP. They were reported missing by family that evening when they failed to return as planned.
Police discovered the bodies of Thomas and a man, who is yet to be formally identified, washed ashore near nearby Table Cape on Wednesday afternoon.
Police inspector Steve Jones said “the family ... have expressed their gratitude for the searches and particularly to the Wynyard community, who’ve been there in their time of need”. He added:
“We’ve narrowed it down to a search area and we’ll be narrowly focusing on that ... We always hold hope that we are going to find people alive, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Extensive land, aerial and sea search efforts to find the second man and the vessel were expected to go late into Wednesday evening.
Members of the northwest community were advised against taking their boats out to help the search on Wednesday due to rough conditions. Volunteers used their own boats in Tuesday’s efforts, with one person donating $500 worth of fuel to anyone who could go out.
The group’s boat was last seen on Monday anchored in Boat Harbour, northwest of Wynyard, and there is no hint of suspicious circumstances. Dixon held a boating licence, police have said.
Mobile phones belonging to the trio have not returned a signal since Monday afternoon.
Almost 1400 Victorian teachers and school staff are yet to confirm they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, reports AAP.
Ninety-eight per cent of more than 92,000 school staff surveyed in Victoria have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 85.5% have had both doses, a government spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.
But 1221 staff are yet to produce evidence they have been vaccinated, and a further 166 have indicated they have not been vaccinated and have not made a booking.
All school workers were required to have a first dose by 18 October or a booking by 25 October, and need to be fully vaccinated by 29 November, unless they have a medical exemption. They will not be able to return to school if unvaccinated.
As of Tuesday, 89.2% of Victorians aged over 16 have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 69.3% are fully vaccinated.
Sarah Hanson-Young has rejected Peter Dutton’s claim that her use of a GoFundMe page to pay for her defamation case raises “similar transparency issues” to Christian Porter’s declaration.
Hanson-Young told Guardian Australia:
“I was able to defend myself in court against harassment in my workplace because of the generous and overwhelming support of everyday Australians.
“There were 1800 donations. 1600 were under $100 and more than half of all donations were under $20. Eight donations were above the disclosable $300 threshold, the highest of which was $1000.
“This is what a true community crowdfund looks like. It is in stark contrast to large donations given in secret and hidden from the parliamentary register and the Australian public. I have declared all donations in the spirit of Members and Senators interests and Mr Porter should do the same.
“My successful case against Mr Leyonhjelm went all the way to the high court. I am forever thankful for the support of the thousands of Australians who chipped in and backed me. I am proud of this support and have nothing to hide.”
And on that note, I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Elisa Visontay while I go rock in a corner and process whatever it was this day was.
And we have another one tomorrow! Just like it! Huzzah!
A very big thank you to Mike Bowers for trekking all over this building (he ends up walking kilometres over the course of the day, getting from one chamber to the other and everywhere else in between) as well as to our tireless leader Murph, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst for keeping me abreast of what is happening as I yell at the screen.
I know you miss having comments – as I’ve said, so do I. But given some of the issues we are covering at the moment, we don’t have the resources to moderate every comment safely, and in those scenarios, it is best to be safe rather than in front of a court.
Thank you to those who have contacted me with their thoughts and questions – I am making my way through those messages now.
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning. Elias will take you through the evening and the team have everything you could need to know ahead of tomorrow coming – so stay tuned.
Until then, please – take care of you. We are living through some wild times and I know the toll this year has already taken. It’s not normal and you don’t have to pretend it is. Whatever is bringing you a bit of joy at the moment, I hope you get to hold on to it.
Meanwhile, on Instagram, the ACT Young Liberals are in full support of Matt Canavan and his “net zero would be a massive sell out of Australian interests. How would we build anything under a net zero target” comments and are lamenting it is a “shame you’re not in the lower house”.
That is the ACT (one of the most progressive jurisdictions, particularly when it comes to climate and energy policies) Young Liberals (the Liberal party being the one pushing for the net zero target by 2050).
Rio Tinto to switch Pilbara iron ore mines to renewables
Ben Butler
Mining group Rio Tinto says it will switch its iron ore mines in the Pilbara to renewables as part of a multi-billion-dollar pledge to accelerate its decarbonisation.
The move, announced to investors on Wednesday evening, would see gas phased out at the company’s Pilbara mines and coal eliminated from the electricity supply to its aluminium smelters.
It has warned that the future of its Australian smelters, at Boyne Island and Tomago, depends on being able to decarbonise their power supplies.
The accelerated decarbonisation planned by one of Australia’s biggest companies flies in the face of efforts by National party politicians to prop up the coal industry and heaps extra pressure on the prime minister, Scott Morrison, as he prepares for climate talks in Glasgow at the end of the month.
Rio said it aimed to reduce direct emissions from operations (scope 1) and ones from electricity it consumes (scope 2) by 50% by 2030, which it said was triple its previous target.
And it has brought forward a promise to reduce emissions by 15% by five years, to 2025.
Meeting the targets will involve spending about $7.5bn over the next eight years.
The company made no new commitments on scope 3 emissions – those created by its customers, largely steel mills in China, but chief executive Jakob Stausholm said the company was working on the problem.
Earlier this year Rio said it would work with steel mills to reduce their emissions by 30% by 2030, but environmental activists say the commitment is not enough and rival BHP has pledged to halve its scope 3 emissions by 2030.
Stausholm said Rio needed to assess how much the steel industry was doing about decarbonisation.
“That means we can firm up a number when it comes to the annual report,” he told reporters ahead of making a presentation to investors.
Stausholm said about 70% of the company’s planned emissions reduction would come from the aluminium smelters, which Rio says will require about 5GW of solar and wind power, together with “a robust firming solution” to ensure consistent supply.
“It’s fairly existential in my view, for those assets,” he said.
Just on a point of fact, when Peter Dutton was listing the ‘anonymous’ donors in Sarah Hanson-Young’s GoFundMe legal fund, he neglected to mention that they were under the donation threshold.
As Paul Karp has previously reported:
MPs are required to disclose a list of “registrable interests” including “gifts valued at more than $750 received from official sources, or at more than $300 where received from other than official sources”; and “any other interests where a conflict of interest with a member’s public duties could foreseeably arise or be seen to arise”.
So the A Anon and co Dutton mentioned donated less than $300. Those who donated over the threshold were named in Hanson-Young’s register.
So the government went against convention, which has been set down since federation, on the grounds it has asked for a clarification of the rules already.
