Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully during the Senate inquiry into cost of living at Parliament House in Melbourne on Monday. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully during the Senate inquiry into cost of living at Parliament House in Melbourne on Monday. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Murphy said he first received a call about the Osprey aircraft crash after 9am yesterday. He immediately called the emergency operation centre – focussing on bushfires across the NT – to divert their focus to a rescue mission.
He said the crash was 2km inland from an airstrip, through rough terrain and heavy bushland, with emergency services deployed. Helicopters were used, as well as 4WD’s:
It was a long process [with] a lot of walking involved as well and getting patients back to the airstrip so they can safely be dispatched.
Murphy couldn’t comment on the specific injuries of those involved but said the injured were repatriated yesterday evening with the help of Care Flight and police aircraft, and are in the care of Royal Darwin Hospital.
The repatriation didn’t include the deceased, Murphy said:
That’s part of the recovery operation at the moment.
Murphy also said the investigation into the crash began yesterday.
We’ve got some detectives, we’re working closely with the transport investigators through [the] Defence Force and the US Marine Corps, that’s underway there.
We need to navigate through the scene carefully with the fire service as well, so that will be ongoing and obviously that in itself is will be enduring and complex.
Steven Miles rejects rumours of Queensland coup against Paluszczuk
Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles also used a press conference with Shannon Fentiman to pour cold water on days of leadership speculation around the eight-year old government.
Both have been floated as potential successors to the premier, Annastacia Paluszczuk.
The premier flew out of the country for a European holiday last week, on the back of one of the most controversial parliamentary sitting weeks of the year.
Miles pointed out that most of the cabinet has been there since they won government in 2015:
There are many, many people who could step up down the track. But what we have right now is a strong, stable united team, led by Annastacia Paluszczuk.
Asked by journalists if either wanted the top job, Fentiman and Miles heaped praise on each other’s performance in the current role.
Acting Queensland premier rejects youth justice criticism by eminent judge
The acting premier of Queensland, Steven Miles, has rejected criticism by former justice Margaret McMurdo that the government’s new youth justice laws were “madness” and part of a “race to the bottom”
McMurdo, a former president of the court of appeals, was appointed the head of women’s safety and justice taskforce by the Paluszczuk government and is currently a patron of the justice reform commission. In a column for the Courier Mail, she called for a bipartisan shift in approach on youth justice:
For the sake of our victims, our troubled young people and all Queensland taxpayers, I implore the premier and the leader of the opposition to abandon the madness of the current law and order youth justice action. Prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation in the community is the most effective way to reduce youth crime.
Miles rejected the criticism:
We are investing in rehabilitation. We are investing in community programmes, we are investing intervention and prevention, and those programmes are working. So it’s not fair to say that we aren’t focused on that. But what we also have is a group of violent repeat offenders, who police are concerned are a safety risk to the community.
Greens call for cuts to private education to fund public education to 100% of schooling resource standards
Public schools could be fully funded immediately if government spending on the private system was reduced by a third, the Greens have urged.
Following the release of a report today by the Centre for Future Work, the Greens have called on federal and state and territory governments to deliver 100% of the schooling resource standard (SRS) to all public schools at the start of the next national school reform agreement in 2025.
Currently, 98% of public schools are underfunded according to the SRS, the minimum amount required to deliver staffing and resources, while internal Department of Education figures released earlier this year found 1,152 private schools would be overfunded by $3.2bn.
The report found it would cost an additional $6.6bn a year to ensure all public schools receive 100% of the SRS. Private schools received $18.6bn in combined funding in 2021.
Greens spokesperson on schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
Before we start tinkering with teacher training and methodologies, let’s make sure that there are enough teachers in schools, and enough resources and support for them to deliver a good education for our kids.
There’s only one thing that will fix that: money. Right now, public schools don’t have enough, while private schools have too much. It’s as simple as that. Our kids are crying out for a chance and all they’re getting are pointless reviews and platitudes.
Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne in 2022. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
EY partner says no opportunity for firm to visit sites or consult when giving Commonwealth Games cost estimates
Dean Yates, a partner at EY, says the Victorian government’s constraints limited the consulting firm’s ability to provide a thorough cost estimate of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Speaking at a Senate inquiry examining the cancellation of the Games, Yates said there was no opportunity for the firm to visit games sites or consult with councils or venue operators:
It meant that we were estimating preliminary costs because the ability to verify those things were limited given the constraints that we had.
University of Melbourne staff to launch ‘unprecedented’ week-long strike
Caitlin Cassidy
The University of Melbourne is poised to kick off seven days of “unprecedented” strikes today, representing the longest ongoing industrial action of any Australian university’s history.
From midday, thousands of union members will march to the university’s Raymond Priestly building in their greatest push yet for secure work, a reduction in workloads and a pay rise in line with inflation.
Ready to join my brilliant teachers on the picket line this week for #UniMelbStrikes. They work bloody hard and deserve good secure jobs. pic.twitter.com/nHMs6JhWMG
Following today’s action, members from the Melbourne Law School, Faculty of Arts, student services, the library, the Victorian College of the Arts School of Art and the Faculty Fine Artsand Music Stagecraft team will remain off the job until the end of the week.
David Gonzalez, the NTEU University of Melbourne branch’s president, told Guardian Australia the university had repeatedly said it wanted to reduce its reliance on a casual workforce but were yet to produce a credible proposal.
If not now, when? With cuts to professional staff, the work doesn’t go away, it’s displaced to other people. Workloads for academics are never ending. People have had enough.
Since negotiations for the next enterprise bargaining agreement began a year ago, the union’s membership has swelled by 20%. Members are demanding a 15% pay rise over three years and for 80% of jobs at the university to be ongoing.
EY partner defends Commonwealth Games estimates provided to Victorian government before Senate inquiry
Dean Yates, a partner at EY, says he is confident the original costs for the Commonwealth Games provided to the Victorian government was robust. He is speaking before the Senate inquiry into the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Yates said the consulting firm provided a “range of estimates” which included a worst and best-case scenario:
We tested the validity of some of the workings there. We were very comfortable with the accuracy of the estimates.
They were early estimates because there was only a limited amount of information known.
The partner of a woman has been arrested by detectives after a three-month investigation, AAP reports.
Canadian national Tatiana Dokhotaru, 34, was found dead in her unit at Liverpool, in Sydney’s south-west, on the evening of Saturday, May 27. Dokhotaru’s partner, Danny Zayat, was found with her body and has since been charged with 22 domestic violence-related offences.
A court heard in July the pair were in a relationship for five years, but in May 2022 Dokhotaru took out an apprehended violence order against him.
On May 26 this year, Dokhotaru called triple zero but police were unable to locate which apartment in the Liverpool apartment tower the call was coming from, the court was told.
Police allege the call ended abruptly when Dokhotaru’s phone was hurled out of the apartment window.
Detectives arrested the 28-year-old Zayat in his St Clair home on Monday. He is being questioned by police.
A separate internal police investigation is looking into all other circumstances surrounding the triple-zero call and subsequent death of Dokhotaru.
Representatives from Ernst & Young are now appearing before the Senate inquiry into the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Dean Yates, partner at EY, says the consulting firm helped to develop the economic impact analysis as part of the event’s business case:
Our team has undertaken similar assessments using the same frameworks for other major events, for example the Grand Prix, the Olympic Games and other Commonwealth Games.
We stand by the work we did to assist with the development of the business case.
Yates said the Victorian government commissioned the consulting firm in 2021 to work on the Commonwealth Games business case.
Fortescue Metals chief executive Fiona Hick will leave the iron ore miner just six months after taking on the top role.
The change comes during a turbulent couple of years at Fortescue marked by a large number of executive changes and the pursuit of a new growth leg in hydrogen and clean energy projects.
Fortescue said in a statement that Hick made a joint decision with the board to leave:
The departure of Fiona has been both friendly and mutual and we warmly wish her the best for her future.
Hick joined Fortescue in February. She will be replaced by the head of operations, Dino Otranto.
