Waves up to 10m recorded off Brisbane and Gold Coast
Ben Smee
Waves of up to 10m have been recorded off parts of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, as Tropical Cyclone Alfred now sits directly east of the south-east Queensland coast.
Wild surf conditions were at their peak late yesterday, when 9.59m waves were recorded off Brisbane at 11.30pm
The Tweed offshore monitoring station recorded waves of 8.95m waves at 3pm on Monday.
Waves higher than 6m were also recorded at several Gold Coast beaches including Palm Beach and the Southport Spit.
Key events
Release ‘buried’ wedge-tailed eagle deaths report, Victorian Greens demand
Acting Greens Victoria leader Sarah Mansfield said her party would this week move a motion in the Upper House demanding that Labor publicly release a report on the state’s wildlife laws, triggered by the poisoning of hundreds of protected wedge-tailed eagles in 2018.
Despite an expert panel delivering their final report in December 2021, the state government has failed to respond to the report or make it public. Mansfield said the report could shape positive changes given the wildlife laws have not been updated in more than 50 years.
In August 2018, dead wedge-tailed eagles were found near Violet Town, in Victoria’s East Gippsland region. During an investigation into those deaths, the state’s environment department found more eagles, hawks and falcons on a nearby property. A wider search netted more than 200 dead native birds in the area, including 25 wedge-tailed eagles.
Tests of six eagles detected an insecticide used to control mites. The same agricultural chemical was found in the carcasses of animals suspected of being used as bait, with the department believing it may have caused all of the bird deaths. At the time, it was unclear whether the poisoning was an accident.
The latest call from the Greens follows reports that developers have ripped up critical habitat in the western grasslands.
“Labor’s inaction risks complete ecosystems and endangered species going extinct,” Mansfield said on Tuesday.
Labor has completely buried this report for over three years because they don’t like what it’s going to say.
The destruction of our western grasslands and the killing of protected wedge-tailed eagles is a total scandal. It should never have happened and the public deserves to know what the experts say about how we can stop it from happening again.
AAP contacted the Victorian government for comment.
– Australian Associated Press
Gallagher says opposition has ‘no idea how modern working families operate’
Katy Gallagher also accused the opposition of having “no idea about how modern working families operate”, in regards to their opposition to work from home arrangements.
Gallagher said these arrangements are part of the private and public sector, and “workplaces in the modern age”.
When you look at the announcements they’ve made today, apart from opposing sensible continued reforms in WGEA, they’ve announced they’re going to cut services, build $600bn worth of nuclear power stations, and other ideas are being copied from the United States.
I mean, that’s the world we’re in right now, and I think women have a right to feel at risk …
Gallagher urges Dutton to reconsider opposition to bill addressing gender pay gap
Katy Gallagher says there is a bill before parliament which recommends setting targets for larger companies with regards to the gender pay gap.
This was all agreed and had been bipartisan, tripartisan, whole-of-parliament supported until the last month, when Peter Dutton has reversed his position on that and said it’s too burdensome on companies to support that reform …
I imagine we can all understand why in this current environment, but I would urge him to reconsider that and put the interests of women and women at work number one before his own self-political interest.
Fifty six per cent of companies improved average total remuneration gender pay gap last year
Mary Wooldridge, the CEO of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, told reporters the gender pay gap has been “coming down slowly over time”, which prompted the investment measures to get this moving quicker.
Last year, 56% of companies improved their average total remuneration gender pay gap. We’ve also seen a big increase in the number of companies doing a gender pay gap analysis to understand what is driving gendered differences in their workplaces … These are critical actions that underpin action-taking on gender equality in the workplace, and they’re critical for driving change.
Wooldridge said that when looking at both the average and the median gender pay gaps, “only 15% of employers are in the target range for both of those measures”:
But that’s over 1,100 companies that are already meeting those benchmark performances, which is quite significant, and we do expect results to improve as we continue to publish information each year.
Gallagher addressing media in Canberra
The minister for women and finance, Katy Gallagher, has been speaking to reporters in Canberra about closing the gender pay gap.
She said there had been “good progress” overall towards achieving this, with a range of investments in the past few years for industries where women dominate – such as education and aged care.
We’ve seen that women are now earning $217 more per week than when we came to government in May 2022 as a result of some of those policies …
More employers reduced their gender pay gap this year, the size of the gaps are coming down and, importantly … we’re seeing more and more employers engage in what’s happening in their businesses.
Watch: Tropical Cyclone Alfred update
The Bureau of Meteorology has shared an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred, looking at areas of concern and potential crossing sites:
University of Melbourne bans indoor protests
Caitlin Cassidy
The University of Melbourne has banned indoor protests following last year’s pro-Palestine encampment that extended to the occupation of a department building for more than a week.
In an email to students yesterday, the vice-chancellor Emma Johnston announced the new rule, to take immediate effect on campus:
Indoor protest on our campuses and protest that obstructs entry or exits of buildings, or that unreasonably disrupts university operations, is prohibited.
The rule, introduced under the jurisdiction of the vice-chancellor, noted protest could “interfere with the rights of others to freedom of expression” and could be “intimidatory or harassing”.
The rule does not apply to industrial action. Any students who breached the rule risked being unable to attend class or exams, restricted from accessing the university or, in extreme cases, suspended or terminated.
You can read more about last year’s protests here:
Calla Wahlquist
Farming company fined for constructing dams in wetland without approval
A commercial farming company in Kempsey has been fined $224,000 and one of its directors a further $71,250 after being found guilty for 12 charges, including constructing dams in a wetland without approval.
The National Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) says it’s the highest total fine it has secured through a local court prosecution since the authority was established in 2018.
The sentence was handed down in the NSW local court this week after the court last year found the company, Green Leaf Australia, had used dams without approval, extended dams without approval, and constructed dams within nationally significant freshwater wetlands between 16 October and February 2021, including during “a period of very dry conditions”.
Some offences occurred within the Clybucca Aboriginal Area, significant to the Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr and Ngambaa peoples.
Magistrate Scott Nash said the decision to proceed with the works without approval was “reckless and motivated for financial gain.” The court also awarded $155,000 in costs to NRAR.
NRAR director of investigations and enforcement, Lisa Stockley, said the rules around constructing dams and carrying out works on waterfront land “exist to protect the quality of delicate ecosystems and ensure water is taken lawfully”.
Lisa Cox
Power bills would rise by more than $400 if renewables rollout stalled, modelling shows
Power bills for the average household would rise by more than $400 if the rollout of renewable energy stalled, according to new modelling commissioned by the Clean Energy Council.
The modelling, by Jacobs, compared the government’s ambition to reach 82% renewable energy by 2030 with the Coalition’s plan to limit renewable energy to 54% and rely on coal and gas while waiting for nuclear power stations.
The report used PLEXOS energy modelling software – the same energy market economic modelling tool as that used in separate modelling prepared for the Coalition – to simulate price estimates.
It claims greater reliance on coal and gas-fired generation would increase power bills for the average household in the national electricity market by $449 a year in 2030 and $877 for a small business.
The modelling also examined the potential impact on prices of a second scenario, where renewables were reduced and a major coal-fired power station had a significant and unexpected outage.
In that scenario, the report found average household prices within the national electricity market would increase by $606 per year in 2030, while prices for the average small business would increase by $1182. Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said:
Our modelling confirms that continuing to deploy renewable energy will keep wholesale electricity prices as low as possible. Clean energy not only works for Australia but it’s the cheapest path forward for our electricity bills.
Ben Doherty
Rudd says US alliance endures beyond vicissitudes of daily politics
Let’s circle back to the Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, who has been speaking at an ANU panel in Washington DC (you can read more on this earlier in the blog, here).
Rudd said Australians’ natural tendency towards skepticism was one of the country’s “commanding virtues”, but that the US alliance endured beyond the vicissitudes of daily politics.
It will never go perfectly smoothly: life’s not like that, politics is not like that, international relations certainly ain’t like that.
But I think ensuring we are confident of those fundamentals, and the fact that we have leverage and agency in the world, that we are not simply the passive recipient of forces generated elsewhere: that’s the competence I see reflected in our political leadership back home.
Rudd said he had a basis for optimism in Australia’s “confidence in values, clarity about our interests, clarity about our navigating a strategy for the future, [and] confidence in our underpinning security relationship with the United States”.
Postpone AFL season opener amid cyclone warning, Brisbane coach says
Continuing on from our last post:
The Brisbane Lions coach, Chris Fagan, is urging the AFL to postpone its season-opening match as the tropical cyclone approaches.
As AAP reports, Fagan said he hopes common sense prevails and league hierarchy postpone the Lions’ scheduled fixture against Geelong at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday night.
The sooner the decision is made, the better. It’s just a game of football. The safety of family and friends and staff and fans is the priority, that is why common sense has to prevail.
It’s a cyclone … I have seen the carnage they have caused at different periods of Australian history so I’m not too keen on the idea of things going ahead if it’s going to be like that … it can’t, can it?
The AFL chief, Andrew Dillon, said yesterday a decision to postpone the game could be made as late as Thursday afternoon.
Fagan said it was “logical” to postpone the game until round 3 when both Brisbane and Geelong were scheduled to have byes. The Geelong coach, Chris Scott, also demanded a decision from the AFL, as some Cats players were due to fly to Queensland later today.
We do need to know. Even in principle, the idea of getting on a plane and flying into the eye of a cyclone doesn’t sound like a great idea.
