Smithsonian returns Indigenous remains to Australia
The ancestral remains of 14 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, AAP reports.
A ceremony was held overnight in the US marking their repatriation to Australia before the Indigenous ancestors will be returned to their traditional custodians.
Of the ancestors, seven will be returned to custodians from the Ngarrindjeri community in South Australia, the Eastern Maar community in Victoria and the Yawuru community in Western Australia.
A further five will come home to Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia under government stewardship, while two will be returned to a community in Victoria.
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney welcomed the repatriation of the ancestors as an “important step towards reconciliation”:
This sets a positive example for other collecting institutions internationally in recognising First Nations people as the rightful custodians of their ancestors.
Since 1990, the remains of 1,700 Indigenous Australians have been returned from museums around the world, including 139 from the US. Arts minister Tony Burke said the government would continue to advocate for repatriation:
Bringing First Nations ancestors home – where they belong – is incredibly important work.
Key events
End to wage cap, new dispute resolution for NSW workers
An end to wage caps, fairer wage negotiation and dispute resolution are a step closer under landmark new industrial relations laws in NSW, AAP reports.
Hundreds and thousands of workers from health workers and paramedics to teachers and police are set to benefit after an industrial relations reform bill passed parliament today.
The legislation will overhaul the state’s Industrial Relations Commission, removing the power to cap wages, and reinstates a specific court to deal with work health and safety breaches.
Voluntary interest-based bargaining will mean agencies and unions will be required to sit down together to find mutually agreed improvements to pay and conditions.
A re-established Industrial Court will preside over workplace health and safety matters and underpayments.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the changes will signal the start of genuine, meaningful public sector bargaining.
It has been a long, difficult 12 and a half years for public sector and essential workers in NSW – but that is now at an end.
The wages cap is gone and workers will be able to negotiate for a fair and decent wage increase.
Parliament House will farewell a long-term, dedicated employee today.
Cleaner Luzia Borges is retiring after 35 years of working at Parliament House, since it first opened in 1988. Today is her last official day on the job.
Both prime minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton paid tribute to Borges’ work during parliament yesterday, where Borges sat in the gallery with her family.
Albanese said parliament undergoes continual change, with elected representatives, advisors and public servants moving around and moving on.
But Borges, he said, has been “one of those rare certainties”.
[She has been] here from day one when the flag first went up on this wonderful, new Parliament House that is, of course, above us; part of the office for every Prime Minister, going back to the great Bob Hawke, performing a demanding job.
It’s hard. It’s physical work every day, yet every day Luzia has such a genuine and joyful presence, a warmth that cheers even the coldest Canberra morning, a light that brightens even the glummest day.
There’s a magnetism about Luzia that over the years has drawn everyone to want to meet her and to have a chat and have a photo with her, from President Obama to the Dalai Lama. She’s got quite a collection.
Dutton said Borges was a “wonderful person, with a beautiful, warm heart”, and joked:
The point of relief for all of us is that you’ve said to us that there will be no book published in retirement! That will be a relief to prime ministers and ministers past and present!
Digging a little bit more into the marriage data …
The most popular date to get married in 2022 was 22 October, when 2,202 couples tied the knot.
That date is actually the fifth most popular wedding date in the last 10 years. The highest recorded number of weddings on a single day since 2012 was 10 November 2012, when 3,081 marriages occurred.
Australians like a classic spring wedding, it seems.
Record number of couples tied the knot in 2022
A record number of marriages were registered last year, according the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Figures released by the ABS today show there were 127,161 couples who married in 2022, an increase of more than 13,000 more than in 2019.
James Eynstone-Hinkins, ABS head of health and vital statistics, said:
There were around 79,000 marriages in 2020 and 89,000 in 2021, showing the impact the pandemic had on couples’ ability to get married in these years.
While this was the highest number of marriages on record in Australia, the marriage rate of 6.1 for every 1,000 people aged 16 years and up, is comparable with pre-pandemic years (5.6 in 2019 and 6.0 in 2018).
There was evidence of “pent-up demand” in the data from most states and territories, the ABS said, after seasonal trends for weddings were disrupted during the pandemic.
At the other end of the spectrum, 49,241 couples divorced in 2022, with a rate of 2.4 divorces for every 1,000 people aged 16 years and over.
‘Every scam stopped is a win for consumers’
As reported earlier, new figures released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority show that Australian telcos have blocked more than 336.7m scam texts since July last year.
Acma chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the figures provide “stark evidence” of the scale of scam activity, with about 16 scam texts blocked for every adult in the country:
There is no single or easy solution to address scams, however every scam stopped is a win for consumers and helps make Australia a harder target for these criminal syndicates.
These are promising results to report during Scams Awareness Week as telcos build their capability to help stop the relentless attacks by scammers.
Acma said it was developing the pilot of a Sender ID registry, which would help protect the message headers of brands and government agencies (eg MyGov) from impersonation by scammers.
Doctors for the Environment Australia to protest on steps of WA parliament
WA health professionals are to gather on the steps of state parliament, urging action on climate change to protect the health of Western Australians.
Doctors for the Environment Australia is calling for an end to any new fossil fuel infrastructure and production, the phasing out of existing fossil fuels, a removal of fossil fuel subsidies, investment in renewable energy and a fast-tracked transition.
The group said climate change threatens the WA health system, with the state “highly vulnerable” and already suffering the consequences of worsening heat, fires and smoke.
It said ambulance callouts were higher on hot days, with emergency departments facing increasing presentations of heat-related illness, respiratory disease, cardiovascular events and mental health conditions.
General practitioner and group spokesperson Dr Tim Leahy said:
We have just endured a record heatwave for November with Summer still to come. Emergency departments, hospitals, and GP practices are already seeing the impacts first hand.
Concerningly, two thirds of young Australians are now recognised as having their mental health negatively impacted by climate change and government inaction is reported as being the most important factor.
Gas extraction in WA will only drive further global warming. For the sake of our children’s health and to safeguard their future, we must act urgently …
The WA government needs to stop adding fuel to the fire, stop new gas projects, and contain the escalating health crisis.
Lisa Cox
NSW taxpayers being asked to ‘subsidise’ native forest logging
The NSW forestry agency has recorded an annual loss of $15m for its hardwoods division, the majority of which is produced through native forest logging.
According to NSW Forestry Corporation’s annual report “wet weather had a substantial impact on the production of hardwood timber and reduced the earnings” because logging cannot occur during wet weather. This meant timber production was 20% lower than expected.
General inflationary pressures also drove up costs, contributing to a financial loss for the hardwoods division that was $6m greater than the previous financial year, the report says.
The agency’s softwood plantations division made $19m in 2022-23, which was also lower than expected due to increased costs and reduced demand for timber, according to the report.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said the result for the hardwoods division meant NSW taxpayers were again being asked to “subsidise” native forest logging, which chief executive Jacqui Mumford said was a “a damning indictment on our state”:
The report shows that it cost $15 million more to cut down and pulp trees from native forest than was made selling them.
Once again, the taxpayer will bear the cost. These are vital funds that could be used to fund teachers, nurses, and national park rangers.
The NSW government has been under increased pressure over the impacts of native forest logging. The Environment Protection Authority has issued two stop work orders to the forestry agency in recent months over potential impacts on endangered greater glider habitat.
Smithsonian returns Indigenous remains to Australia
The ancestral remains of 14 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, AAP reports.
A ceremony was held overnight in the US marking their repatriation to Australia before the Indigenous ancestors will be returned to their traditional custodians.
Of the ancestors, seven will be returned to custodians from the Ngarrindjeri community in South Australia, the Eastern Maar community in Victoria and the Yawuru community in Western Australia.
A further five will come home to Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia under government stewardship, while two will be returned to a community in Victoria.
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney welcomed the repatriation of the ancestors as an “important step towards reconciliation”:
This sets a positive example for other collecting institutions internationally in recognising First Nations people as the rightful custodians of their ancestors.
Since 1990, the remains of 1,700 Indigenous Australians have been returned from museums around the world, including 139 from the US. Arts minister Tony Burke said the government would continue to advocate for repatriation:
Bringing First Nations ancestors home – where they belong – is incredibly important work.
Union celebrates split
The Mining and Energy Union has marked its first day of independence from the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union.
It is registered with the Fair Work Commission as a standalone trade union effective from today.
General president Tony Maher said it was a “historic day” for the union, delivering on a strong wish from members to be independent:
We have been representing coal miners since the 1850s, in various forms. Today’s Mining and Energy Union builds on our proud tradition and track record, with a clear focus on meeting the current and future challenges facing workers in mines, ports and power stations.
MEU general secretary Grahame Kelly said the transition from CFMEU to MEU would be “seamless” for members, with the day-to-say structures of the union unchanged:
The significance of our independence will be felt over time, with the ability to make our own decisions based entirely on our members’ interests.
Benita Kolovos
Greens react to Victorian code of conduct changes
The Victorian Greens spokesperson for integrity, Tim Read, who also chairs the parliament’s powerful integrity and oversight committee, has welcomed the changes to the ministerial code of conduct but says the state needs to go further:
Labor really shouldn’t have to be forced by Ibac and the Greens to introduce these long overdue reforms when there is so much more to do on raising integrity standards.
Investigation after investigation has shown that our state’s political integrity standards are lacking, and misconduct is rife …
Victoria could be a leader on integrity in our country and instead we’re a laggard. We need to legislate the codes of conduct for lobbyists, ministers and their staff and strengthen them to require clearer information on potential conflicts of interest.
Victorian government to make ministerial diaries public
Benita Kolovos
Victorian ministers will now have to publish their diaries, following an overhaul of their code of conduct that comes into effect today.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, announced a suite of changes to the code of conduct that include new reporting obligations that will require ministers and parliamentary secretaries to:
Disclose interests and declare conflicts for publication in the newly established ministerial register of interests.
Disclose accepted gifts, benefits and hospitality for publication in the ministerial register of gifts, benefits and hospitality.
Publish quarterly diary summaries containing details of scheduled meetings with stakeholders, external organisations and third-party lobbyists.
Ministers will also be banned from employing family members as staff or in certain public sector bodies.
The changes follow recommendations of two anti-corruption investigations, including Operation Watts, which uncovered “egregious” and “extensive misconduct” by Victorian Labor MPs, including rampant nepotism, widespread misuse of public resources and a culture of branch stacking dating back decades.
Allan said:
The updated code of conduct will hold ministers and parliamentary secretaries to the highest standards – that’s what all Victorians expect and deserve.
Birmingham urges respect for complexities
Meanwhile, opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham echoed his colleagues’ calls to maintain peace within Australia.
He told Sky News:
People are free in Australia to express their views [but] they should do so never in a way that intimidates others.
They must do so in a way that is respectful of complexities here and the fact that there are tragedies felt by all sides.
– from AAP
Don’t just listen to the loudest voices, Tony Burke says
The tone of debate and level of animosity in the community over the conflict between Israel and Hamas cannot be judged by the loudest voices, employment minister Tony Burke has said.
Speaking to AAP, he said:
There is a risk that if people just go to the loudest voices, they’ll find the most offensive comments.
You can misjudge a whole lot of the goodwill that is in fact there in Australian society.
Severe thunderstorms forecast for Queensland
More severe thunderstorms are likely for Queensland today, between Longreach and Maroochydore, and across central and southern parts of the state.
Heavy rainfall, large hail and damaging wind gusts are all possible, the Bureau of Meteorology warns.
Thunderstorms are also possible over south-east Queensland from late this afternoon.
⛈️Severe thunderstorms likely (red area) between Longreach and Maroochydore, and possible across central and southern #Qld, with heavy rainfall, large hail, and damaging wind gusts. Thunderstorms possible over #SEQ from late afternoon. Warnings if needed: pic.twitter.com/rMKftdgJP6
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) November 30, 2023
