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Today’s headlines
By Angus Thomson
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for today. Thanks for following along.
Here’s what was making headlines today:
- Australian pro-democracy writer Yang Hengjun was handed a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court, in a decision that threatens to shatter the Albanese government’s push to stabilise relations between the two nations. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government was appalled by the decision and would pursue every avenue to secure a more lenient sentence for the father-of-two, but stopped short of withdrawing Australia’s ambassador from Beijing.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was met with applause as he presented Labor’s revised stage 3 tax plan to a meeting of the party caucus in Canberra, after a Senate committee was told Treasury began investigating changes to the legislated cuts in mid-December.
- Earlier, Treasurer Jim Chalmers slammed claims the fuel efficiency standard would increase car prices as “absolute rubbish”.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia kicked off its first ever two-day meeting to determine interest rate settings, and is widely expected to hold the cash rate steady at 4.35 per cent as the economy continues to slow.
Thanks again for your company. Caroline Schelle will be back tomorrow morning to keep you across the latest developments and I will be with you again in the afternoon. Until then, have a great evening.
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Pilot strike at Qantas subsidiary to hit fly-in workers
Hundreds of pilots working for a Qantas subsidiary could strike over stalled wage negotiations and cause flight disruptions and cancellations for regional travellers and FIFO workers.
The Australian Federation of Air Pilots has given notice to Qantas Group that its members working for Network Aviation and QantasLink in Western Australia have voted to stop work on Thursday for 24 hours.
Network Aviation, which is wholly owned by Qantas, is WA’s premier charter company for the mining industry.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The pilot group has been negotiating an enterprise agreement with Qantas to replace their previous pay deal, which expired in 2020.
Senior industrial officer Chris Aikens said the union had tried to reach an agreement with Qantas management, “but the company remains unwilling to revisit its inflexible wages policy”.
A spokeswoman for Network Aviation said the company was disappointed with the decision but was “working on plans to minimise disruption to our customers”.
The airline, which is wholly owned by Qantas, is WA’s premier charter company for the mining industry and also employs local pilots for the carrier’s regional arm QantasLink.
AAP
A 200-year-old boys’ school is going co-ed. Very few are complaining
By Christopher Harris
The country’s oldest Catholic school is preparing to enrol girls – and the process has not involved grown men crying, public rallies or legal letters.
St Mary’s Cathedral College, which includes Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among its alumni, on Monday opened applications to male and female students alike, from kindergarten to year 7 to start in 2025.
Anthony Albanese is an alumnus of St Mary’s Cathedral School.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Principal Kerrie McDiarmid said the concept of co-education was not a radical one, as girls were enrolled in the school at various times in its 200-year history, most recently in 1967. She said there was demand for places for girls.
“We do have waiting lists across the college. This allows us to open the doors to a number of students,” she said. “We’ve had a number of queries about potential co-education.”
St Mary’s is the fifth co-educational school created by Sydney Catholic Schools in the past decade. Cranbrook in Bellevue Hill will start to go co-ed from 2026 and Newington in Stanmore plans to become co-educational by 2033.
Read the full story by NSW education reporter Christopher Harris here.
Poll: Should dogs be allowed on trains?
By Angus Dalton
Now for something a bit different.
Generational inequality, housing in crisis and climate adaptation were the key pillars of discussion at this year’s Sydney Summit, but there was a more lighthearted idea that set tongues properly wagging: should we let dogs on buses and trains?
Should Rover have an Opal card?Credit: iStock
Dogs are already allowed on public transport in cities across Europe, South America and New Zealand, and the state’s top transport public servant flagged it was an idea on the agenda for Sydney, too.
Transport secretary Josh Murray told the summit any changes would require investment, consideration of health impacts and some legal tweaks.
“It’s definitely something that is being looked at,” Murray said. “It’s a very popular topic, and it’s also very split in terms of the discussions that we are having.”
Dr Jennifer Kent, an urbanism researcher from the University of Sydney who pitched the idea at the gathering of the city’s decision makers, said 77 per cent of Sydneysiders she surveyed either approved of the idea or didn’t mind.
“It comes with risks, but doesn’t anything that’s worth doing?” she said.
So – do you agree?
Analysis: Penny Wong won’t face a bigger test than this
By Matthew Knott
Usually cool and unflappable, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong was visibly shaken today as she responded to the shock sentence handed to Australian academic and pro-democracy writer Yang Hengjun.
Shaken: Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong today.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
And as foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott writes, it leaves the Albanese government’s China stabilisation strategy facing its biggest test:
Albanese’s oft-repeated formula of ‘co-operating where we can, disagreeing where we must’ with China paid off in October when Beijing released jailed journalist Cheng Lei and paved the way for damaging trade blockages to be lifted on Australian wine exports.
This was achieved without concessions from Australia on matters of core national interest and laid the foundation for a successful trip by Albanese to Beijing.
Yet just weeks after Albanese returned from China, trouble erupted when Australian sailors suffered minor injuries from sonar pulses allegedly issued by a Chinese destroyer. The government criticised China for unsafe and unprofessional conduct, but Albanese refused to comment on whether he raised the matter directly with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Wong has gone further following the Yang verdict by summoning Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade headquarters in Canberra for a scolding.
Read the full analysis of today’s news, and what it means for Australian relations with China, here.
Park rangers harassed and threatened amid brumby debate
Park rangers charged with culling brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park are being harassed and threatened amid the heated debate over controlling the feral animals, a NSW parliamentary committee has heard.
Since aerial culling restarted in October, National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers have faced increasing hostility from members of the public opposed to the plan, says the Public Service Association of NSW, whose members include park rangers.
Feral horses at Long Plain in the Kosciuszco National Park. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Assistant general secretary Troy Wright told the committee feral animal control was undertaken with pigs, camels, cats, goats and foxes to protect native ecosystems, yet only the horses attracted such high levels of attention from members of the public.
“There is [public] concern about the brumbies but not concern about the species that they threaten ... and our members are surprised by the weighting that appears to be given to different species,” he said. “It’s either Kosciuszko National Park or brumbies, we cannot have both.”
More than 800 feral horses have been shot from helicopters flying over the park since October.
The NSW government published data last year that showed there were 18,814 feral horses in the park, a sharp increase from the estimate of 14,380 horses two years before. In 2016, there were 6000 horses in the park.
Leisa Caldwell, a former member of the Kosciuszko National Park wild horse community advisory panel, told the committee the numbers were “biologically impossible” and their heritage value was being ignored.
“Brumbies have been in the mountains for nearly 200 years ... they have absolutely undeniable important heritage value to the Australian people and overwhelmingly meet significant heritage criteria,” she said.
AAP
Police investigate Jacob Elordi run-in with Kyle and Jackie O producer
By Karl Quinn
NSW Police are investigating an incident between Brisbane-born Hollywood actor Jacob Elordi and a producer for Kyle and Jackie O, after an attempted prank staged for the FM radio duo’s show went awry on the weekend.
The alleged incident occurred on Saturday at the Clovelly Hotel, where Elordi had spent the afternoon with friends.
Brisbane-born Hollywood star Jacob Elordi.Credit: Chris Pizzello
As he left the premises, Elordi was accosted by Joshua Fox, a producer for the stunt-filled breakfast show, which is expanding to Melbourne at a date yet to be confirmed. The exchange between the men soon turned sour after Fox refused to delete camera footage as per Elordi’s request.
“Officers attached to Eastern Beaches Police Area Command are investigating after a man was allegedly assaulted outside a hotel in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs,” NSW Police said in a statement.
“Police were told about 3.30pm on Saturday 3 February 2024 a 32-year-old man was allegedly assaulted by a 26-year-old man. The man did not sustain any injuries.
“Inquiries into the incident are continuing.”
Read the full story by Karl Quinn here.
Missing swimmer feared dead as Victoria’s drowning toll breaks record
By Lachlan Abbott
In Victoria, a 20-year-old swimmer is feared dead after he was caught in a rip off a Mornington Peninsula beach last night, potentially adding to this summer’s high drowning toll, which already broke records last month.
Three friends in their 20s were swimming at a beach on the Bass Strait side of Rye when two of the men got into trouble in the water, Victoria Police acting Inspector Dean Delle-Vergini said.
“One of the males was able to get out, and unfortunately, [the other] got washed away with the rip,” Delle-Vergini said. A female friend watched the incident unfold from the beach.
A Life Saving Victoria spokesman said on Monday that 14 people had drowned in Victoria in January – double the five-year average and more than any other January since detailed records began in 2000.
A total of 22 people have drowned since December 1, but that toll may change as coronial investigations pinpoint a cause of death. Eighteen people had drowned over the same period last summer.
Read the full story by Lachlan Abbott here.
Two men dead after 4WD plunges off cliff
By Heather McNeill
Turning to Western Australia, where two young men have died and another was injured after the car they were in plunged off a cliff on Sunday morning.
Police said the Nissan Patrol fell off a cliff on a private property near Horrocks Beach, about an hour north of Geraldton.
The cliff was estimated at 20 to 30 metres high.
The third man survived the fall and was found wandering on a road looking for help. He was taken to Geraldton Health Campus and remains in stable condition.
Read the full story by Heather McNeill here.
Incoming WA senator has ‘big shoes to fill’, says PM
By Olivia Ireland
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the newest member of the Labor Party caucus, WA senator Varun Ghosh, a former barrister chosen to fill the Senate vacancy left by Pat Dodson.
Ghosh joined the Labor Party in Perth, aged 17. He has an honours degree in law and arts from the University of Western Australia and a masters in law from Cambridge University in the UK.
Incoming senator for WA Varun Ghosh with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Albanese said Ghosh, the son of Indian immigrants who moved to Australia in the 1980s, was the embodiment of aspiration and a welcome addition to the party’s WA caucus.
“Varun … you will be a great voice for WA, and I was so pleased to support your candidacy and I say this as well, you’ve got big shoes to fill,” he said, paying tribute to Dodson, who resigned because of his recent treatment for cancer.
Albanese said Dodson, whom he described as the “father of reconciliation”, would be honoured again in parliament tomorrow.
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