We are wrapping up the blog for tonight. Here’s what made the news:
Bird flu has been detected at an egg farm near Meredith in central Victoria, authorities say. The Victorian health department confirmed a case of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza in a child who recently returned to Australia from overseas.
More than 80 Australians have touched down at home and been reunited with their families after being evacuated from New Caledonia following more than a week of deadly rioting. Another 100 Australians are set to be evacuated soon.
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has improvised Coalition policy on migration in a post-budget address, offering different targets for net migration than the opposition leader.
The audit came after calls from the shadow communications minister, David Coleman, who accused the Labor government and communications minister, Michelle Rowland, of “pork-barrelling” the $37.2m in grants.
Ultimately, the audit office gave the department a green tick for giving “clear and accurate advice” to the minister. The minister got the thumbs up as well for complying with the rules and recording her decisions. Funding outcomes for target locations was also deemed “proportionate”.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
In a media release on Wednesday afternoon, Rowland said the report cleared her of the accusations and said the Albanese government was providing the “vital investments needed to narrow the digital divide right across the country”.
While the ANAO’s report did not find any wrongdoing or maladministration, it did note a breakdown that the electorates receiving funding weighed heavily toward Labor marginal seats.
The ANAO’s analysis showed 74% of the 54 “target locations” chosen to receive the funding were in Labor electorates. Of those, 44 were deemed marginal.
Coleman said the funding allocation “cannot be described as equitable – unless Minister Rowland’s view is that 74% of electorates in Australia are held by the Labor Party”.
He added:
The minister owes it to Australians to apologise for her conduct in her selection of ‘target locations’ under Round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot program.
H5N1 bird flu would be ‘catastrophic’ to Australia, government assessment says
If the highly pathogenic H5N1 variety of bird flu arrives in Australia and establishes itself in wild bird populations, the impacts would be catastrophic, according to a government assessment.
The Invasive Species Council says detection of a non-H5N1 strain of bird flu at a Victorian egg farm this week should serve as a “wake-up call” for Australian governments. The council has been raising concerns since last year that not enough has been done to prepare a response plan for the deadly bird flu in Australian wildlife.
A risk assessment by Wildlife Health Australia for the federal government found “if establishment of the disease occurs within Australian wild birds there are likely to be substantial welfare, conservation, social and economic impacts across multiple sectors including the poultry sector”.
The assessment found, with a moderate degree of uncertainty, that establishment of H5N1 in Australian bird populations would have “catastrophic” impacts, which could include long-term population losses affecting several species, local extinctions of species, serious ecosystem effects or consequences for animal welfare. It found, with moderate uncertainty, that consequences would be high for poultry and minor for mammals.
H5N1 wouldhave catastrophic impacts on native birds and could lead to local extinctions of species like black swans, the Invasive Species Council says. Photograph: Travelscape Images/Alamy
The council’s advocacy director, Jack Gough, said with Australia the only continent yet to experience the deadly variety of bird flu, it was only “a matter of time” before the disease arrived:
If highly pathogenic bird flu turns up in Australia it will have catastrophic impacts on our native birds, and may lead to local extinctions of species like black swans.
The potential for environmental damage in Australia is catastrophic but, while our poultry industry has a detailed response plan, Australia does not yet have an equivalent plan for wild birds and at-risk mammals like sea lions.
It is critical that the Australian government immediately ramps up surveillance in wild bird populations.
Federal government says it has ‘swung into action’ on bird flu in Victoria
The federal government has enacted its emergency animal disease response plans to support the Victorian government’s response to the avian influenza (HPAI).
A statement from the minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, Murray Watt, says the government has been “preparing for a possible avian flu outbreak for some time” and that a meeting this morning brought together the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases to discuss “immediate response plans”.
Watt says while it is a relief this is not the new strain that is affecting the US and Antarctica, Australia takes any incident of high pathogenicity avian influenza in Australia “extremely seriously”.
Australia has effective, nationally-agreed response and cost-sharing arrangements in place to address animal disease incursions and outbreaks, and this has swung into action to support Victoria.
Australia is well practiced in responding to disease incidents in poultry and has successfully responded to eight outbreaks of HPAI in poultry since 1976.
Our hearts go out to the affected farmer and the community at this time.
Victorian opposition claims win after government backs down on GP tax
The Victorian opposition is claiming a win after the government backed down on a plan to make independent GPs working in medical centres pay payroll tax, or, as they liked to call it, a “health tax”.
The opposition leader, John Pesutto, says:
For months Labor ignored healthcare professionals about the dire impact on patients their insidious Health Tax was having. The Victorian Liberals and Nationals always stood against Labor’s Health Tax and today’s long-overdue backflip is a win for Victorians and for common sense.
The ICC has not yet made a decision on an application by the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, for the arrest of five people in connection with events in Gaza and Israel since Hamas’s 7 October attacks.
Khan said he had “reasonable grounds to believe” three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder, taking hostages, rape and sexual violence, torture and cruel treatment.
In addition, Khan said he had “reasonable grounds to believe” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the ensuing conflict, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and “extermination and/or murder … including in the context of deaths caused by starvation”. They have denied the allegations.
Dutton said the Albanese government should, in the first instance, pressure the ICC “to make sure that they reverse this terrible decision”.
The Australian Associated Press reports that Dutton said a Coalition government could cut ties with the court if it failed to change course:
I don’t rule it out … but I think the pressure at the moment needs to be for like-minded countries that share our values, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder … to make sure that this antisemitic stance that they’ve taken does not advance.
Australia is among 124 states that are party to the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, having joined when the Howard government was in power. The Albanese government has not commented on the specific application for arrest warrants but says Australia “respects the ICC and the important role it has in upholding international law” while adding that “there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas”.
‘Cross their legs?’: LNP MP demands Labor apologise for ‘mischaracterising my words’
'Cross your legs?': Queensland parliament reacts in disgust to LNP politician's comment – video
The LNP MP Ros Bates has accused Queensland Labor of “baseless misrepresentation” and demanded the health minister apologise.
Shannon Fentiman took offence after Bates yelled “cross their legs?” across the floor of parliament in question time.
The premier, Steven Miles, said it was “disgraceful behaviour”.
But Bates said the comment was “clearly not about the health minister”.
“It was about the alarming Queensland maternity crisis, which continues to worsen on her watch,” she said.
Shannon Fentiman is aware I am a victim of domestic violence. She is also aware I am a mother. For her to mischaracterise my words for her own political gain and attempt to portray me as a misogynist is deeply offensive.
Bates said her comment related to a question about the closure of maternity clinics in regional Queensland.
“With Labor suggesting women could just bypass their local hospital to go to another hospital to give birth, I could not believe Labor was telling mothers to “cross your legs” while in labour.
That is the comment I made.
Bates was first elected to state parliament in 2009.
More than30% of people who took their lives in 2019 were on welfare, AIHW says
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has just released some data that shows more than 30% of suicides in 2019 were people on the disability support pension (DSP) and newstart – despite being just 5.7% of the population.
During 2019, the most recent pre-Covid pandemic year, the age-standardised suicide rate among males who received unemployment payments was 2.8 times that of the male Australian population comparison. For females, it was 3.3.
During the same year, unemployment recipients accounted for approximately 20% of all suicide deaths among Australian males and females (across the same age range 15-66 years). Those on DSP were 14.5%.
The DSP recipient and Antipoverty Centre spokesperson, Kristin O’Connell, said:
The new figures on welfare recipient deaths by suicide are chilling, but reflect my all-too-frequent experiences supporting people who are planning to or have made an attempt as a result of dealing with “mutual” obligations or poverty.
Every government decision to leave us in poverty and subject people to abuse through “mutual” obligations is a decision that kills.
In 2020, Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank said the fastest and most effective thing the government could do to ease the mental health crisis was to keep the jobseeker payment at the poverty line.
The Morrison government plunged people back into deep poverty, and despite their claims to offer “cost of living relief” the Albanese government has continued the brutal welfare policies that led to these alarming suicide rates and widespread harm in our communities.
It’s not very often the government issues a media release with so many stakeholder comments, but it seems they’re keen to get across that all are supportive of this agreement. Here’s the others.
President of Australian Medical Association Victoria, Dr Jill Tomlinson:
General practice is vital for keeping Victorians out of hospital. After listening to advocacy from the sector, the state government has implemented changes that deliver certainty and clarity to Victorian general practices. While AMA Victoria acknowledges that there will be costs associated with this transition, it is extremely positive news for general practices, general practitioners and Victorians.
Australian GP Alliance deputy chair, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal:
On behalf of General Practice owners and patients who we care for, AGPA has sought clarity, consistency, stability and a fair and understandable system to work with. We thank the Victorian Government for their decision and commitment to the primary care sector as this outcome will support practices to remain viable into the future.
Dr Rodney Aziz from Primary Care Business Council:
We welcome this decision by the Victorian government which will relieve the immediate pressure on general practice and ensure primary care remains affordable for all Victorians as the cost-of-living crisis continues. As the representative body for more than 40% of general practice consultations across Australia, the Primary Care Business Council has advocated for a sensible approach to payroll tax and we commend the Victorian Government for making the right decision.
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) president Dr Dan Halliday:
ACRRM appreciates the Victorian Government’s decision to exempt bulk-billed consultations from payroll tax. However, national Medicare reform is still required to improve healthcare affordability.
Dr Louise Manning, president-elect of the Rural Doctors’ Association of Victoria:
The Rural Doctors’ Association of Victoria (RDAV) is supportive of the announcement by the Victorian Government of the exemption of retrospective payments of payroll tax for general practice covering the period up to July 1 2025. The accessibility of affordable primary care is of major concern to RDAV, and broader health system reform is needed to ensure the viability of private rural general practice into the future so that all communities can access safe and appropriate care close to home.
Victoria scraps plan to make independent GPs working in medical centres pay payroll tax
The Victorian government has backed down on a plan to make independent GPs working in medical centres pay payroll tax after a campaign by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the opposition.
In August last year, the Victorian revenue office published a ruling that confirmed for the first time that many independent GPs working in medical centres would be subject to payroll tax. Up until that point, it had been accepted across the industry that independent GPs, who lease rooms from a practice owner, had not been subject to the tax.
The RACGP and other bodies had argued as many as 90% of GPs were independent and the change would have forced doctors to hike their consultation fees. The opposition earlier this month had vowed to scrap the change if elected in 2026.
But in a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the treasurer, Tim Pallas, announced the change would not go ahead as planned at the end of next month.
He said after “extensive consultation with the primary care sector and work to align settings across the country”, all Victorian general practice businesses will receive an exemption from any outstanding or future assessment issued for payroll tax on payments to contractor GPs for the period up to 30 June 2024.
A further 12-month exemption from payroll tax for payments to contractor GPs, through to 30 June 2025, will be available for any general practice business that has not already received advice and begun paying payroll tax on payments to their contractor GPs on this basis.
Pallas said this exemption will be provided through his ‘ex gratia’ powers.
Then, from 1 July 2025, the government will provide an exemption from payroll tax for any GPs providing bulk-billed consultations.
Pallas said in a statement:
We’ve worked closely with the primary care sector on how we can best support them – and we’re making these long-term changes to provide certainty to general practice businesses and support more bulk-billing for Victorians.
RACGP chair Dr Anita Munoz said:
The prospect of retrospective tax bills on GPs was a source of enormous stress for many general practice teams and their communities. We are grateful the Victorian government has taken retrospective taxation off the table. This move will help keep local GPs’ doors open.
We appreciate the Victorian government coming to the table and working with us to find a middle-ground solution. GP practices now have the certainty we’ve been asking for and can plan for the future.
France to run evacuation flights from New Caledonia to Brisbane
France will run evacuation flights to Brisbane to get tourists out of New Caledonia, as the Pacific territory remains under a state of emergency and strict curfew.
More than 100 Australians and other tourists were evacuated on two Royal Australian air force planes on Tuesday. France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, is set to visit New Caledonia, will run subsequent flights out of the country.
Australian’s consul-general in New Caledonia, Annelise Young, said online:
“My team and I are continuing to work on assisted departures of Australians from New Caledonia, in close collaboration with local authorities.”
French security forces have secured the main road to New Caledonia’s international airport.
“Road operations on the way to La Tontouta continue. More than 90 roadblocks have been neutralised and are being cleared,” Young said.
Un grand merci aux autorités françaises pour leur soutien aux touristes australiens qui ont besoin de rentrer chez eux 🙏 many thanks to the French authorities for their support getting Australian tourists home @AusAmbFR@HC98800@FANC_Officielpic.twitter.com/yJ0EaxvFeW
The French president is expected to land Thursday in New Caledonia, a French territory of 270,000 where the indigenous Kanak people have waged a decades-long campaign for independence.
This month’s unrest has raised new questions about Macron’s handling of France’s colonial legacy.
Under the terms of the Nouméa accord, voting in provincial elections was restricted to people who had resided in New Caledonia before 1998 and their children. The measure was aimed at giving greater representation to the Kanak population.
The Kanak people make up about 40% of New Caledonia’s population and suffer significant economic and social disadvantage. Kanak groups argue the new voting rules would dilute their vote.
More than a week of rioting, looting and arson has left six people dead, including two gendarmes, and hundreds injured.
Child in Victoria records nation’s first human case of H5N1 bird flu strain
Calla Wahlquist
The Victorian health department has confirmed a case of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza in a child who recently returned to Australia from overseas.
It is the first human case of H5N1 in Australia, and the first case of this subtype of the virus being detected on the continent, amid a global outbreak. It means H5N1 has now been detected on every continent in the world.
It comes just a few hours after authorities confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu on a Victorian egg farm was not H5N1 but was another highly pathogenic strain, H7N7.
In a statement, the department of health said the child returned to Victoria from India in March. They suffered a “serious infection” but have since recovered.
The avian influenza virus was detected through further testing of positive influenza samples that takes place to detect novel or concerning flu virus strains, as part of Victoria’s enhanced surveillance system. Contact tracing has not identified any further cases of avian influenza connected to this case.
Chalmers attacks Taylor’s ‘shambolic’ press club speech after confusion over migration figures
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has taken aim at Angus Taylor for a “shambolic” address to the National Press Club further confusing the Coalition’s target for net migration.
Taylor said the Coalition wants a 25% cut over its term of government, despite Peter Dutton and others saying it wants to cut net migration from 260,000 to 160,000 (a 38% cut).
Chalmers told reporters in Tasmania:
Angus Taylor’s speech at the National Press Club was an absolute shambles. The centrepiece of Peter Dutton’s budget reply is now a smoking ruin because of Angus Taylor’s speech. The only thing that Peter Dutton wanted you to know in his budget reply was about migration, and Angus Taylor has completely and utterly stuffed up today in Canberra. Peter Dutton lowered the bar and Angus Taylor has tripped over it …
He couldn’t answer the most basic questions about the centrepiece of Peter Dutton’s budget reply. He couldn’t tell us where he would find hundreds of billions of dollars of savings. He couldn’t tell us how he would fund bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest Australians. He couldn’t tell us where the nuclear reactors are going to go or how much they are going to cost. But I think most fundamentally, he couldn’t explain the migration numbers which were at the very core of Peter Dutton’s budget reply.
. … Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor’s credibility was already not substantial, and now it is nonexistent as a consequence of this absolute shambles that we’ve seen at the press club.
Summaries from Covid-19 inquiry’s industry roundtables published
The federal inquiry into the Covid pandemic is progressing, with the process now moving into roundtable discussions with various industry stakeholders and experts.
The Covid-19 response inquiry, set up late last year, has published summaries of the first of its roundtables, with the health research and the freight & logistics sectors.
“The roundtables are being held to further explore the impact of the pandemic on key sectors and communities, and to open up further discussion in areas where we have heard differing views on the best ways we can move ahead in pandemic preparedness and response,” the inquiry’s panel members said in a statement last week.
“They also allow the panel to test early directions and stakeholder suggestions and refine the thinking on various themes and lessons learned.”
The summaries of roundtables held last week have been published today. The health research industry told the panel of “the importance of confidence and trust in the evidence by decision-makers and the public”, and that there “needs to be transparency in the evidence relied upon, including the details of modelling”.
“Established research and surveillance infrastructure is vital in crises, including understanding the wider health, social and economic impacts of public health measures, and how these are distributed within and across communities,” the panel wrote of the sentiments it heard from the industry.
Public trust is vital during a pandemic, and misinformation can quickly fill the void where there is limited sharing of evidence. Australia saw real research innovations during the pandemic, and these capabilities must be maintained so we are ready to go for the next pandemic.
The freight and logistics industry told the panel that it would welcome future crisis planning with government, including scenario testing exercises.
“Industry would find communication with governments more efficient if there was a single point of contact. A national approach to essential workers and cross-border travel would help freight and logistics businesses ensure they could keep functioning and minimise the risk of supply chain disruptions,” the panel said.
“Workers in the sector faced significant hardship due to operation of public health orders.
“Freight and logistics businesses would find it easier to keep track of requirements and provide practical advice to workers if public health orders were written in plain English, with any changes clearly communicated.”
