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Turning to state news, former Queensland premier Mike Ahern will receive a state funeral after his family accepted an offer from the state government.
Mr Ahern died aged 81 on August 11 at his Sunshine Coast home after a battle with cancer.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the service would be held in Caloundra on Friday.
Former Queensland premier Mike Ahern died aged 81.Credit: Fairfax Media
“As a mark of respect, the treasurer and I will be attending, along with the Member for Caloundra, to represent the government,” Ms Palaszczuk told parliament on Tuesday.
“Mike Ahern devoted his post-political life to charity and education and has been recognised with an Order of Australia.
“He was also named a Queensland Great.”
The former National Party leader was premier from 1987 to 1989 after the long reign Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and he faced the difficult task of steering the state during the fallout from the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police and official corruption.
AAP
The Australian Defence Force would quickly begin using locally made surveillance drones under an Albanese government push to make the nation’s military less dependent on cheap imported technology from China.
The government’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), a new agency created to spur innovation in the defence sector, has sought advice from Australian companies and research institutions about options to develop a sovereign, military-grade uncrewed aerial system (UAS) capability.
The Australian Defence Force has previously been reliant on small-scale drones manufactured by Chinese firm DJI.Credit: Reuters
The Department of Defence and the Defence Force announced earlier this year that they were downing their extensive fleets of drones made by Chinese tech giant DJI because of security concerns.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said it was a “no-brainer” for the government to encourage the use of locally made drone technology and expressed dismay the issue had not been addressed until now.
“We seem to be trailing the rest of the world,” Conroy said in an interview with this masthead.
Stephen Gageler has been named as the next chief justice of the High Court of Australia ahead of Susan Kiefel’s retirement later this year.
Gageler, who has served on the High Court since October 2012, will take up the role on November 6.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones has also been elevated to the nation’s highest court and will commence on the same date.
The High Court: Jacqueline Gleeson, James Edelman, Stephen Gageler, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, Michelle Gordon, Simon Steward and Jayne Jagot.
Gageler, a former Commonwealth solicitor-general, “is highly respected for his leadership abilities and deep knowledge and understanding of constitutional law,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said in a media release on Tuesday.
They said Beech-Jones had served on the NSW Supreme Court since 2012.
“In 2021 he was appointed Chief Judge of the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Judge of Appeal.”
Albanese and Dreyfus said in the statement the government consulted extensively in the lead-up to the decision. This included consultations with state and territory attorneys-general, the shadow attorney-general, heads of the Federal Courts, state and territory Supreme Courts, bar associations, law societies and other groups.
“The government thanks all those who provided nominations for these significant appointments. Justice Gageler and Justice Beech-Jones were strongly supported in the consultation process.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is speaking in Sydney alongside former Liberal MP Pat Farmer, as he runs around Australia to support the Voice to parliament.
He has told crowds that every other colony had recognised its Indigenous culture in their Constitution, and it was time for Australia to join them.
“A Yes vote is an opportunity to lift our nation up, to show that we’re a confident and mature nation who can come to terms with the fullness and richness of our history,” Albanese said.
He said it was a great privilege to share Australia with the oldest continuous culture on earth.
“Very soon, we will have the opportunity to recognise that in our Constitution, as every single former colony in the world has done, recognise its First Nations people.
“New Zealand did it in the 19th century, Canada did it in the 20th century, and in Australia, I sincerely hope we’ll do it in the 21st century.”
Albanese was with Farmer, who is running 14,000 kilometres around Australia for more than six months insupport of the referendum.
“The Australian people have supported me in my journey to support clean water projects, clean sanitary conditions, girls’ education in other nations, and I say now it’s time to look after our own backyard,” Farmer said.
“To make sure those children are not growing up in poverty-stricken areas,” he said.
The former politician said for those under the age of 35, the Voice was a “complete no-brainer”.
“I say, my journey is for all those people that are beyond that age, I say to all of them, ‘wake up, let’s not leave this to our children and our children’s children to fix the problems of the past’.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Sydney today and will join Lord Mayor Clover Moore, to meet Pat Farmer on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
Watch live below:
Record numbers of doctors, nurses and psychologists are applying to join the country’s health system, lifting the number of registered health professionals by 18 per cent since the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the system remains riddled with workforce issues.
Raw health professional numbers hide a more complex picture in Australia’s healthcare system.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
The raw numbers mask shortages in certain locations and categories, staff burnout, a rise in part-time work and layers of red tape.
Read more about why there is still a staffing crisis in healthcare.
Earlier, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten spoke about the scheme and suggestions it should move away from individualised packages.
Professor Bruce Bonyhady, who is co-chairing the government-commissioned review, will say in speeches today that a fundamental shift is crucial to curtailing spiralling costs and improving equity.
Shorten told Nine’s Today program that the NDIS wasn’t going anywhere.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says the government will clamp down on ‘waste and rorts’ in the scheme. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“We just want to make sure that every dollar gets through to the people for whom the scheme was designed,” the minister said.
He said there were some people abusing the scheme, but they weren’t necessarily participants.
“We have already started the process, it’s had nine years of neglect, but I do think we can make sure the scheme acts in the best interests of participants and that’s what taxpayers want to hear,” he said.
He said the government wanted to “moderate the rate of growth of the scheme”.
“We’ve put in some reforms, which are starting to show some green shoots of recovery, but we have to take, for example, little children who have a developmental delay, a sort of non-standard journey at a little age. We want to make sure that the NDIS isn’t the only off-ramp for them,” Shorten said.
The minister said the government also wanted to tackle those who were rorting the scheme, including providers.
“We want to clamp down on the waste and the rorts.”
Coles says the price of groceries is continuing to moderate and some fresh produce prices are decreasing at a time when families are demanding more value from the supermarket sector.
The grocery giant revealed today that its profits had increased by 4.8 per cent to $1.09 billion, with sales inching up by 5.9 per cent to $40.5 billion for the year.
The 2023 financial results are the first to be presented by newly appointed Coles boss Leah Weckert.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
The profit result was just short of market expectations, with analysts expecting it to come in at $1.1 billion.
Price inflation across the group’s supermarkets came in at 6.7 per cent for the year, but the company said inflation was slowing, with prices jumping by 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of the year.
More to come.
Returning to Nationals leader David Littleproud, who has been asked about Anthony Albanese’s son holding a membership of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge and gaining an internship at PwC.
Asked about the reports on Monday, Albanese declined to provide detailed answers, saying: “My son is not a public figure. He is a young person trying to make his way in the world.”
Littleproud also defended the prime minister’s son yesterday, and was asked on ABC radio whether he stood by those comments.
“Yes, I mean ... it’s up to the prime minister to declare whatever is within the requirements,” Littleproud said today.
“I have a real issue about us, and media, trying to bring in family members,” he said.
“When it comes to someone’s son or daughter that’s trying to make their way in the workforce, they need to be respected to be able to do that in their own merits.”
The Nationals MP said as the son of a former politician “you find your own way in life despite your family, not because of them”.
“I think it’s important that we protect our families. It’s a trying job,” he said.
In breaking business news, mining giant BHP says commodity demand is still relatively robust in China and India, but a slowdown in global economies is hitting iron ore prices as high inflation digs into its revenue.
Australia’s largest miner reported a 37 per cent slump in full-year underlying attributable profit to $US13.4 billion ($20.9 billion).
Inflation and slowing global growth is weighing on iron ore prices.Credit: Michele Mossop
Full-year revenue was down $US11.3 billion, primarily from falling iron ore, metallurgical coal and copper prices.
“Commodity demand has remained relatively robust in China and India even as developed world economies have slowed substantially,” chief executive Mike Henry said.
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2023-08-21 23:30:56Z
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