Workers to down tools in solidarity with CFMEU
From AAP: Workers will down tools in solidarity with the CFMEU as it moves to challenge external administration in the courts.
Rallies will take place in capital cities on Tuesday after the union’s construction arm and all associated branches were taken over following allegations of criminal links and corruption.
While people have a democratic right to peaceful protest “the taking of unprotected industrial action is not lawful”, a spokesperson for the CFMEU administrator said.
“The CFMEU is no longer involved in organising any protest tomorrow,” they said.
Key events
Tasmania SES is encouraging people to be prepared and informed with the potential for damaging and locally destructive winds to hit the state this week.
Acting SES Assistant Director Cheryl Ames said the severe weather is expected to develop early Tuesday morning and may continue throughout the week:
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a Severe Weather Warning for statewide damaging winds, with the potential for locally destructive winds.
Wind gusts around 100 km/h are possible in the north, with gusts around 110 km forecast for the rest of the state.
From Tuesday morning wind gusts are likely to reach around 125 km/h in elevated terrain and parts of the east coast between Swansea and Orford, before easing later in the evening.
‘We need a Senate inquiry’ into development on Murujuga in the Pilbara, traditional custodian tells committee
Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper has appeared at a public hearing for the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee inquiry into the Protecting the Spirit of Sea Country bill.
In early 2022, Cooper made an application to protect Murujuga, in the Pilbara, from further industrial expansion under Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. She is still waiting for a decision.
I am heartbroken, devastated and furious that our governments continue to allow Woodside, Perdaman and Yara to destroy our sacred rock art, our songlines and our precious marine sanctuaries.
I have now been waiting more than two years for a Section 10 application I filed in early 2022 under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
In those two years the development on Murujuga has continued unimpeded, and there has been irreversible and irreplaceable damage to my Ngurra. We are still waiting for any protection for our cultural heritage.
As far as I am concerned, we have now exhausted every form of process and now we need a Senate inquiry.
Uber drivers to stage protest this afternoon at Sydney domestic airport
Hundreds of Uber drivers went offline this morning, with a protest also planned this afternoon in response to the pay cuts that were announced in July.
Drivers say the changes to how fares are calculated will slash driver pay by up to 17% in some areas, creating a median pay cut of 8.4% in the city and airport area, where most Uber trips originate.
At 5:30pm today drivers plan to protest in the Sydney domestic airport private hire vehicle holding area.
Workers to down tools in solidarity with CFMEU
From AAP: Workers will down tools in solidarity with the CFMEU as it moves to challenge external administration in the courts.
Rallies will take place in capital cities on Tuesday after the union’s construction arm and all associated branches were taken over following allegations of criminal links and corruption.
While people have a democratic right to peaceful protest “the taking of unprotected industrial action is not lawful”, a spokesperson for the CFMEU administrator said.
“The CFMEU is no longer involved in organising any protest tomorrow,” they said.
Syphilis cases spiking in Queensland and affecting unborn babies
An outbreak of a treatable sexually transmitted disease has led to a dramatic rise in the deaths of unborn babies, AAP has reported.
Doctors fear more congenital syphilis fatalities are likely in Queensland, sparking calls for an increase in sexually transmitted infection screenings to bring it under control.
Syphilis cases are spiking in Queensland and affecting unborn babies after an outbreak in the state’s north-west, Brisbane’s Mater Mothers’ hospital said.
Four babies died in 2023 from congenital syphilis, when an infant is infected with the disease in the womb by their mother.
Obstetric medicine and infectious disease specialist Jill Parkes-Smith:
It is likely we will see more deaths if something doesn’t change
I have already seen more deaths from congenital syphilis than I ever expected to see when I became an infectious diseases physician.
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today – it’s been a busy one! Cait Kelly will be here to take you through the rest of our rolling coverage into this evening. Take care.
Strike Force Juneau to investigate fatal shooting of Tarek Ayoub
Homicide squad detectives with NSW Police have launched an investigation into the fatal shooting of a man in Parramatta this morning.
The well-known organised crime figure Tarek Ayoub, known as the “angel of death”, was gunned down in an alleged “execution-style murder” in Sydney overnight in what police believe is the first organised crime-related murder in the city in six months.
He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. A second crime scene was set up in nearby Granville, where a stolen sedan was found alight about 3.45am.
Detectives with the state’s homicide squad have commenced Strike Force Juneau to investigate the shooting.
As investigations continue, detectives are treating both incidents as linked.
Police are appealing for information about two men seen leaving the scene of the alleged arson on A’Beckett Street in a dark coloured SUV.
Anyone with information or CCTV/dashcam is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
BoM warning for damaging winds
The Bureau of Meteorology has published a severe weather update, looking at the damaging wind sweeping parts of southern Australia:
Zomi Frankcom’s family has ‘every right to be disappointed’ in report into her death, Mehreen Faruqi says
Deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, says that the family of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom – who was killed in an Israeli airstrike – has “every right to be disappointed” in the report into her death.
The ABC reported that her brother, Mal Frankcom, has called for those responsible for her death to be prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
In a statement, Faruqi argued that the report into Frankcom’s death, commissioned by the federal government, “was missing evidence, contained feeble explanations and let Israel completely off the hook”.
We will only uncover the facts and details with an independent investigation. If there is nothing to hide, let’s have a war crimes investigation. Zomi’s family deserves real answers and the perpetrators must be held to account.
Condition update on those involved in Engadine crash and alleged stabbing
Police also provided a condition update on those involved in yesterday’s crash and alleged stabbing in Sydney’s south.
A 48-year-old woman – who was a passenger in the Jaguar – was found with multiple wounds. She remains in St George hospital in a stable condition.
A 67-year-old man suffered a laceration to his abdomen. He also remains in St George hospital in a stable condition.
The female driver of the Lancer, aged 20, suffered a broken wrist.
The male police officer and the male passenger in the Lancer have both been released from hospital.
The 58-year-old man, who was been charged, remains in a stable condition under police guard at Liverpool hospital.
Man charged following alleged stabbing and crash in Engadine at weekend
A man has been charged following the alleged stabbing and crash in Sydney’s south yesterday.
Four people, including a police officer, were injured after a driver involved in the Engadine car crash allegedly stabbed his passenger before lashing out at witnesses who tried to help.
A 58-year-old man, who was allegedly running from the crash scene, was taken into custody with the deployment of a Taser.
He remains in a stable condition under police guard at Liverpool hospital. Police said that following investigations, a 58-year-old was today charged with a number of offences, including:
-
cause wounding/grievous bodily harm to person with intent to murder domestic violence related;
-
wound person with intent to resist/prevent arrest;
-
reckless wounding;
-
dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm – drive manner dangerous;
-
fail to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing grievous bodily harm;
-
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm;
-
affray;
-
hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty
He was refused bail to appear before Sutherland local court today.
Cait Kelly
Continuing from last post
Jordan van den Lamb says he is concerned to see the government spend billions on submarines while hundreds of thousands of homes sit empty.
He has also flagged Australia’s response to the conflict in Gaza, the “gutting” of the NDIS, the number of First Nations people dying in custody, and tax handouts for the ultra wealthy as key issues he wants to address.
Australia is one of the world’s wealthiest countries, but the wealth is increasingly concentrated among those at the top. I want to help turn that around by joining with others to organise and fight for a better society here in Australia, and for a better world.
The Victorian Socialists want to double the land tax on properties vacant for more than six months of the year and seize properties for use as public housing if vacant for more than two years without a good reason.
The next election will be on or before 27 September 2025.
Cait Kelly
Rental advocate purplepingers to run for Senate at next federal election
Rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, aka purplepingers, has announced he will be Victorian Socialists’ lead Senate candidate in the next federal election.
Van den Lamb has built a huge following over social media, posting videos about terrible rental standards and poor behaviour from landlords and agents. In a statement, he says:
I’m running for parliament because we need change. Landlord profits are at record highs, banking sector profits are at record highs.
Meanwhile, the lines for community food banks are longer than we’ve ever seen, and homelessness support services have reached a breaking point. This is a failure that we need to address urgently.
But the current parliament of landlords keep passing laws that increase the value of their own investment properties at the cost of those who live in the houses they hoard.
More to come in a moment.
Climate Council welcomes expert panel on monitoring methane emissions
Earlier today we flagged that Australia’s chief scientist, Cathy Foley, had been appointed by the federal government to lead an expert panel on making the monitoring of emissions into the atmosphere, such as methane, more accurate.
This has been welcomed by the Climate Council, with the head of policy and advocacy, Dr Jennifer Rayner, stating that cutting methane pollution is “our best chance to slow dangerous warming this decade”.
Properly measuring Australia’s outsized methane pollution is the crucial first step in making companies cut it … The new committee needs to do this work quickly so that we can get on with the essential next step of making fossil fuel companies cut the methane that is pouring out of their coal and gas mines and processing facilities, and threatening our kids’ futures.
Rayner said that every sector in the economy needed to slash climate pollution, particularly the agriculture sector, “which is also one of the most vulnerable to the extreme weather and unnatural disasters that come with a changing climate.”
If agriculture is not going to be brought into the emissions reporting scheme that already covers most other sectors, we need another clear plan to accelerate measurement, reporting and action on methane from industrial-scale farms.
