TOOWOOMBA, Australia — Prime Minister Scott Morrison hasn’t been properly briefed about Australian state Queensland’s quarantine camp proposal by his own department, the Premier says. The Wagner Corporation wants to build a Covid-19 quarantine facility that would host up to 1000 travelers and 300 staff at Wellcamp near Toowoomba. The federal government has repeatedly claimed that the plan lacks crucial details such as who will run the health operations and how much it would cost. Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland, won’t put a price tag on the facility but insists the prime minister has all the information required. “All of the…
Author: zenger.news
CANBERRA, Australia — Australians are being encouraged to share their experiences online of getting a coronavirus jab as the federal government tackles vaccine hesitancy. Health Minister Greg Hunt says people get the biggest boost of confidence from seeing others receive the vaccine. “As many Australians as possible to upload their photo — ‘this is me getting the jab’ or ‘I’ve had the vaccine’,” he told in a reputed radio station on May 19. “As we see more and more people have it, then that actually builds an effect in terms of confidence.” Hunt’s proposal comes after a poll published by Nine…
SYDNEY — A Senate inquiry into press freedom wants laws amended to better protect journalists and media organizations from federal police search warrants used to hunt down public interest whistle-blowers. The report released on May 19 acknowledges the odor of political interference and the perception “the Agence France-Presse does not always act with independence”, but stopped short of demanding an investigation. “Although examples of perceived departmental and political interference were noted, the committee did not receive sufficient evidence to substantiate suggestions of a lack of independence in the investigation of those matters,” the report said. The recommendations come two years after…
SYDNEY — Ambulance workers in the South-eastern Australian state of New South Wales have voted to take immediate strike action in non-emergency situations over a “humiliating” and “pathetic” pay rise offer. Non-emergency patient transport officers will strike until 6 am on May 20, the Health Services Union announced on May 20. The workers are outraged at an offer of a 0.3 percent pay increase, especially given the critical role in the pandemic, Health Service Union New South Wales Secretary Gerard Hayes says. “For the last year, patient transport officers have ferried Covid-19 positive patients from the airport to hotel quarantine, exposing themselves to a deadly,…
CANBERRA, Australia — People with disabilities have warned independent assessments are making it harder to access publicly funded support. Jeffrey Smart, who has Parkinson’s disease, told a parliamentary committee investigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme his independent assessment was inaccurate, incomplete, and irrelevant. He said the report would not be useful to determine eligibility or levels of support. It was done by a clinical psychologist who had little detailed knowledge of the condition, had not met him before, and, crucially, did not have access to his degenerative disease history. Smart said he was asked to make a cup of tea and…
MELBOURNE, Australia — When it comes to regional and rural Victoria, the 2021-2022 state budget is banking on a broader plan. In spruiking the spending for those not living in the Melbourne metropolitan area, the Victorian government points to the state-wide plan for mental health reforms and coronavirus recovery. Of the AU$3.8 billion ($2.9 billion) over four years being poured into mental health, about AU$700 million ($542 million) is going towards new and expanded regional mental health support services. Included in those reforms are crisis outreach teams, continued running of hospital outreach post-suicidal engagement program at South West Healthcare in Warrnambool, Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton and Mildura…
DARWIN, Australia — Peak environmental groups in Australia have applied for a Northern Territory government review of the water license handed to a massive Central Australian fruit and vegetable farm. Fortune Agribusiness wants to build a 3500-hectare irrigated horticulture project at Singleton cattle station, about 380km (236 miles) north of Alice Springs. The Northern Territory government awarded it the biggest water license granted in the Territory to extract 40 billion liters of underground water per year for 30 years, causing concern among native title holders and environmental groups. Arid Lands Environment Centre and the Environment Centre Northern Territory on May 20 lodged…
PERTH, Australia — Western Australia’s government has defended its failure to prioritize protecting subcontractors before the collapse of construction group Pindan. The Perth-based company has appointed administrators and is believed to owe tens of millions of dollars to staff and subcontractors. Pindan had several active state government contracts, including for the maintenance of public housing. Approximately, the Pindan group had 280 employees, 500 subcontractors, and 400 trade suppliers. The projects included AU$11 million ($8.53 million) renovation of Hedland High School, AU$35 million ($27 million) housing maintenance deal, and AU$4 million ($3.1 million) emergency services center. Finance Minister Tony Buti says the…
Australian economists have a broad range of expectations for the latest jobs figures, due to the uncertainty over what impact the end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy may have had. The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the labor force report for April on May 20. Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy is optimistic about what impact the end of the scheme in March might have on employment, having previously estimated up to 150,000 jobs could be lost. In a speech this week, Kennedy said the early indications are that while there have been job losses, many workers appear to have already…
Two men were convicted of stealing more than 3,600 ancient gold coins from a Dacian city abandoned in 2 A.D. and selling them at top auction houses have been caught. They were ordered to more than $5.2 million in compensation to the Romania state. The Court of Appeal in the Romanian city of Alba Iulia handed down the fine to the two tomb raiders, following a lawsuit filed by Romania’s Ministry of Culture in 2017. Former gold miner Darius Liviu Baci met jobless Mircea Mihaila when the two emigrated to Austria in the 1990s. The pair lived in a refugee…